No longer is it the biggest, longest, most used or highest of its kind. But 75 years after it was built — against all odds — California’s Golden Gate Bridge remains one of the most widely recognized structures in the world. Poised against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean, hung dramatically between two headlands in San Francisco and Marin County (the Golden Gate), the famous bridge is the symbol of America for the Pacific hemisphere. First opened to cars on May 27, 1937, the bridge has endured as both a practical artifact of modern transportation and an icon of human achievement.
More HERE, with some stunning photos.
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State Health Facts “The Kaiser Family Foundation presents statehealthfacts.org, an innovative resource for free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data on all 50 states.”
There are fewer people with Internet access in the entire continent of Africa than in New York City alone. – Provided by RandomHistory.com
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Watching dissidents is a booming business in China
BEIJING (AP) – Every workday at 7:20 a.m., colleagues pick up Yao Lifa from his second-floor apartment and drive him to the elementary school where he taught for years.
This is no car pool. Yao is a prisoner, part of a China boom in outsourced police control.
By day, Yao is kept in a room, not allowed to work and watched by fit, young gym teachers and other school staff. At dinner time or later, he is sent back to the apartment that he shares with his wife and 3-year-old daughter. A surveillance camera monitors the building entrance, while police sit in a hut outside.
“At school, if I have to go to the bathroom, someone escorts me. Most of the time, I’m not allowed to speak with others or answer the phone,” Yao said in a recent late-night Internet phone interview from his home in Qianjiang city. “When they bring me home, they sign me over to the next shift.”
Like the blind activist Chen Guangcheng until his escape from house arrest last month, Yao belongs to an untold number of Chinese activists kept under tight control by authorities, even though in many cases they have broken no law.
Read MORE.
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If you are elderly and poor, prison is better than a retirement home
If you are in old age, with no family and little money, your options are slim if you need living assistance.
Wasting away at home is a tragic possibility and government funded retirement homes might only be an option once your assets are depleted. Would you be better off committing a crime and going to prison where you receive food, clothing, and medical care? We decided to find out.
Regardless of your state, province, or national government, going into old age and needing care while holding little or no individual assets is a dicey situation. Would you be better off in a prison than a retirement home if you lack financial assets or family?
The Pros of Prison
Let’s look at some of the positives of incarceration. Prison is cheap (if not free), provides a steady supply of food, a relatively high level of healthcare, and some social interaction. In the best situations, you could take classes for college credit, learn a new trade, or spend your days catching up on television.
While standards and settings can change from prison to prison, if you find yourself in a minimum security Federal prison, your quality of life will be pretty good. While you can’t pick your roommate or the denizens of your cell block or leave, your status as an elderly individual (and hopefully your lack of violent crimes) will likely land you amongst criminals of a similar threat level (i.e., low). Depending on the facility, you might even be able to roam park-like portion of the grounds. Policies do exist to accrue inmate housing costs from personal finances, but if you lack assets, this will not be a problem for you.
Federal prisons, at least in the United States, are a much safer place than state prisons. Federal prisons are often home to white-collar, non-violent offenders, and violent attacks occur at less than half the rate of state prisons. These prisons are typically located on or near military installations (like FPC Montgomery on the grounds of Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama), where prisoners can work in clerical positions and even take in a movie at the serviceman’s theater on the grounds of the base.
Read more HERE>
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6 Fires that Changed the World
British troops burning the white house in 1814.
Nobody needs convincing of the massive damage that fire can cause, but sometimes a fire can be so overwhelming that it changes the course of history.
Here are 6 fires that changed the world.
MORE.
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Common Antibiotic Linked to Heart Risk
Zithromax, or azithromycin, is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in the US, in part because it requires a shorter course of treatment than other antibiotics. Recently, however, it was linked with an increased risk of sudden death in adults, particularly those with heart disease. Doctors may therefore want to consider alternative antibiotics for patients at risk for heart problems. Amoxicillin, for example, was not linked with an increased risk of death. More …
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I would watch it!
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DENVER — Steve Crecelius is a prominent local photographer. He’s lived his entire life as a man but recently discovered – he is in fact a female.
“I remember wearing my mom’s clothes and makeup, very secretly, not telling anybody,” Crecelius said.
From a young age, Crecelius identified more with being a female, but hid behind a male persona.
“When I was 17, I was working my first part-time job at a TV station as a floor cameraman and the person in charge said to me, ‘You know, you walk like a queer.’ And I thought I was hiding who I was, and I wasn’t,” he said.
About 40 years later, a revelation:
“I had a kidney stone and we’re in the emergency room,” Crecelius said. “The nurse is reading the ultrasound and says, ‘Huh, this says you’re a female’.”
It turns out Steve was born intersex, meaning he has both male and female parts. The diagnosis was a shock, but also a relief.
“It validated everything I had always felt inside,” he said.
Read more HERE>
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Do not let this happen to you this Memorial Day weekend!
Originally posted 2012-05-27 11:13:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter