US Army Hero’s Spread Christmas Cheer in Bagram Iraq

By Army Spc. Michael J. MacLeod
Special to American Forces Press Service
Dec. 25, 2009

In the dew-laden predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, Everton Bushnell jumped into Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, with the two-year-old 82nd Airborne Division.

Twenty-five years later, his son, Ellsworth Bushnell, fought with the “All Americans” in Vietnam and spent six months as a prisoner of war.

And in September of this year, Army Sgt. 1st Class John Bushnell became the third generation of Bushnell’s to wear the All American patch to a war zone when he deployed to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade.

For the military intelligence electronic repair specialist, it has been the golden chalice of his 13-year Army career.

Its attainment marked the fulfillment of a family tradition that at times seemed like the prize of an Indiana Jones saga.

Bushnell knows what it’s like to part of a small unit, cut off from the main body.

“It’s called recruiting,” he joked.

“Where I spent the last 45 months on recruiting duty, most people had never seen an active-duty soldier in their lives.

In the Army, they teach you how to work with people during seven weeks of recruiting training, but when you get out there on your own and are no longer surrounded by other soldiers, it’s completely different,” he said.

Bushnell proved to be an exceptional recruiter, earning his gold badge and recruiting ring while bringing an average of 5.6 new soldiers into the Army every month, nearly three times the standard of two.

Yet, having deployed as a paratrooper with the 1st Corps Support Command to Iraq in 2003-04, the four hours of daily “cold calling” from a recruiting office left him unfulfilled.

Most of Bushnell’s complaining about wanting to deploy again fell on the kindred ears of other recruiters. But one day, a man standing in a Canton, Ohio, unemployment office overheard his bellyaching to be deployed again. The man turned out to be then-U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine.

Three months later, Bushnell received a flag that had been flown over the Capitol and a letter from DeWine thanking him for his service. But no orders off the recruiting outpost.

What he did enjoy as a recruiter was the visits by local veterans. One day, he recalled, an older man came into his office asking for a couple of key chains.

The Army-branded merchandise was supposed to be given to high school students, but Bushnell saved much of it for the vets.

“Are you a veteran, sir?” Bushnell asked.

“Yeah, I was in Vietnam. I was infantry,” said the man, a Mr. Luco. He was also part of the veteran biker group, Rolling Thunder.

 Bushnell gave him the key chains and thanked him for his service.

“No, thank you for what you all are doing,” Luco replied. “It’s much harder than what we did.”

“No sir, I wouldn’t be in this uniform if it weren’t for what your generation did,” Bushnell told the man. “We’ve just picked up where you guys left off.”

Then the vet told Bushnell a story. His grandfather had given his father a silver dollar to carry for luck in the Korean War. His father passed that same coin to him before he shipped to Vietnam.

One night, Luco said, the Viet Cong encamped around his unit, pinning the soldiers in a swamp for two and a half weeks. He rubbed that coin the entire time, he said.

Bushnell loaded Loco down with T-shirts, coffee mugs and other promotional items, nearly bringing the man to tears.

“This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” the man swore.

Two hours later, Loco reappeared, this time dressed in his biker’s garb. “I just wanted you to see how we dressed, and to thank you again,” he said, but when he shook Bushnell’s hand, he passed off that silver-dollar coin.

“It took every bit of discipline that I had not to break down in that office,” Bushnell said.

The first time he was “coined,” Bushnell was a young specialist. His children were conducting airborne operations from the back of the family van in the Post Exchange parking lot on Fort Bragg, N.C.

“Airborne!” Jump.

“Airborne!” Jump.

Army Lt. Gen. Dan McNeil, commander of 18th Airborne Corps, suddenly appeared. “Tell me, specialist,” he asked Bushnell, “do these young paratroopers plan to join the Army?”

Bushnell hadn’t joined the army himself until the age of 27. Raised on a 300-acre farm, he followed the rodeo circuit for a while after high school. Eventually, he married his high school sweetheart, Jenni, and took up trucking. In 1993, he heard the call to serve.

After basic training at Fort Knox, Ky., he served in South Korea, Fort Lewis, Wash., and Fort Bragg, though with the 20th Engineering Brigade and 1st Corps Support Command – never with the 82nd.

In spite of his constant pleading, the family tradition seemed to elude him.

For his indefinite re-enlistment – the one obligating his service to retirement – Bushnell traveled to his hometown of Tallmadge, Ohio, named for Revolutionary War Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge.

While on recruiting duty, Bushnell was asked to present a new memorial in his hometown square to those who had fallen in combat since the Revolutionary War. It was a pivotal moment.

“I told them, I don’t want a bonus. Just get me to [the 82nd],” he said.

In August 2009, Bushnell pinned on the rank of sergeant first class as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.

“It was a proud moment,” he said, “but what I remember most was putting the AA patch on my shoulder in 82nd Replacement in the Hall of Heroes. Holy cow,” I remember thinking, “I am finally here.”

Don’t unpack, they told him. In his career specialty of repairing anything that receives, transmits or stores top-secret information, there were only two open slots in the entire Army for his new pay grade.

More than likely, before the current deployment is over, Bushnell will receive orders to Fort Huachuca, Ariz. In the meantime, he will serve here as a platoon sergeant with Company B, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion.

“I always wanted [a specialty] with top-secret clearance that would give me a bigger picture of the Army,” Bushnell said. The downside is that his rank and job restrict where he is useful to the Army.

 Most of the Army’s intelligence equipment is covered under warranty should it break down, he said.

Bushnell’s time with the 82nd will be but a brief intersection. His time in service is greater than his grandfather’s and father’s combined; neither spent more than a few years with the division or the Army.

To wear the patch and to serve, and to be a part of the All American heritage, always was his goal.

“Was coming to the 82nd a good move career-wise?” he asked. “I don’t know. But yes, it’s been worth the fight to get here.

For the family tradition, for my personal motivation, to just be a part of the greatest Army division in the world – it fulfills a longstanding dream.”

Stay tuned for more Bushnell paratroopers. The kids are approaching recruitment age.

 

Source: Jackson NJ

 

Editor’s Note: Army Spc. Michael J. MacLeod serves in the Multinational Force West with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade public affairs office.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Fighting Cancer- T-Shirts and Laughter

by Howard Berkes
Dec. 25, 2009

Twenty-nine years ago, Linda Hill sat in a cancer center in California waiting for her first round of chemotherapy.

She was 19 and had a softball-sized tumor in her chest and a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Hill’s parents were told it was time to have their daughter do things she’d always wanted to do because she seemed to have little time left.

“I had it everywhere,” recalls Hill, now 48. “I had it in all my lymph glands — head to toe — and so it was quite serious.”

Hill noticed something about the other cancer patients in the waiting room, most of whom were quite a bit older:

“They were all just angry and bitter and sad,” she says. “And I thought, ‘I don’t want to live like that. I don’t want my kids to remember me that way.’ ”

 

Laughing At Cancer With Zingers

Three decades, seven kids and three more devastating cancers later, Hill has found a way to keep anger, bitterness and sadness at bay.

She laughs at cancer and all it has taken from her, including her thyroid, spleen, colon and breasts.

In fact, when we met in the ornate wood-lined lobby of the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Hill wore a faded green long-sleeve T-shirt with these embroidered words: “I lost my colon … but I’m still full of crap!”

The aphorism is just one of many cancer zingers that Hill has created for a T-shirt business that focuses on helping cancer patients cope.

She chuckles as she browses her T-shirt display just outside the institute’s gift shop.

“This is our No. 1 seller,” she laughs, as she pulls a mustard-colored shirt from the rack that features this message: “Of course they’re fake, the real ones tried to kill me!”

 

More Of Linda Hill’s Cancer-Fighting T-Shirt Humor

— Does this shirt make my boobs look small?

— I gave them my breasts and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.

— Mastectomy — a surgical procedure to help a woman find a real man.

—    I hope my kids inherit their mother’s prostate.

Linda Hill’s T-shirts are sold at cancer centers across the country and through her Web site.

 

The one-liners flow from the single mom, her five daughters and two sons. This is a family of practical jokers looking for laughs in the oddest places. Hill once put bouillon cubes in a shower head so the kids were sprayed with chicken broth.

And when the family chooses sides for games, there’s always one child protesting: “I don’t want Mom. She doesn’t have a colon!”

 

Battling Thyroid, Breast And Colon Cancer

So the Hills couldn’t help themselves when mom faced thyroid, breast and colon cancer — all in the past six years. As Linda was wheeled into surgery for a double mastectomy, a petite daughter tenderly whispered to her mom: “Thanks so much for making me NOT the smallest-breasted person” in the family.

With five girls, the breast lines snowballed. “You’re going to have to date guys who like butts and thighs,” the daughters joked. Two daughters, described by Hill as “rather well-endowed,” told her, “Guys are going to look you in the eye now, Mom.”

Hill remembers thinking, “We ought to put these things on shirts, because this is just so funny.”

Now, 800 T-shirts later, Hill has developed a fledgling market that helps patients laugh through chemo.

The shirts are sold for about $25 on Hill’s Web site, and at cancer centers across the country.

“Everybody has their own way of getting through things,” explains Hill. “This just must be my way of doing it.”

 

Ongoing Treatment

Hill is still being treated for breast cancer. So the jokes just keep on coming.

“They took a lump from my breast, so why not my thigh?” another favorite shirt says, prompting another laugh from Hill. “There’s not a woman on the planet that doesn’t relate to that one,” she says.

She pulls others from the rack outside the gift shop. “This is a great one,” Hill chuckles, reading the line a daughter wrote: “Mastectomy: $12,000. Radiation: $30,000. Chemotherapy: $11,000. Never wearing a bra again: Priceless.”

Gift shop manager Dianne Rydman watches the reactions of patients.

“We have a lot of people in here who don’t laugh about a lot,” says Rydman. “And they can sit out there and chuckle over that basket of shirts.”

Some of the shirts have serious themes, including: “Blue eyes run in your family. Cancer runs in mine,” or “Cancer took her life. It never touched her spirit.”

Hill’s smile fades as she pauses to consider those words.

“Cancer does not define us,” Hill asserts. “It’s not my colon that makes me love to bake. It’s not my breasts that make me crazy and outgoing.

And it wasn’t my thyroid that gave me my faith in God.”

But the smile returns as she reminds herself of all those body parts lost to cancer.

“At least I’ve had cancer on parts you can remove,” she jokes. “It’s a brutal weight loss program.”

 

Despite Losses, A Cancer Celebrity

Hill’s brand of chemo comedy isn’t making money. She says she’s $7,000 in debt, but still donates $2 from every sale to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. She’s not quitting her day job as a fresh produce manager for a food distributor.

She’s also become a bit of a cancer celebrity at the institute. Multiple primary cancers occur in only about 8 percent of cancer survivors, according to the American Cancer Society.

And Hill’s pattern of cancers illustrates a phenomenon researchers have documented.

At Huntsman, she says, she’s so prolific, researchers line up for blood and tissue samples after her procedures and surgeries.

“I can make a cancer cell, and I can make it fast!” Hill boasts.

And she’s survived longer than expected. Hill’s voice breaks again and tears flow as she describes the milestones she has managed to reach, despite all those cancers.

“I’m going to be a grandma,” she says, gulping for breath. “I saw another daughter get married. And I saw another football season of my son. I’ve got another graduating and going to college.

” Hill is almost whispering when she says: “And I’d rather they remember me having fun.”

She adds, “I can have a normal life and just joke about everything. Maybe it’s my way of dodging death.”

Hill quickly composes herself and gets back to the jokes, revealing the zingers to come.

“We’ve got one,” she says, chuckling again, “that’s going to look like a rearview mirror of a car that says, ‘Objects in shirt are smaller than they appear.’ ”

Hill is also hearing from people with cancers yet to make it on her shirts. Ovarian and pancreatic jokes are on the way.

But Hill’s best line isn’t on any shirt. She uses it to describe herself.

“I’m so much more than a boob,” she says, laughing. “I’m so much more than cancer.”

 

Source: NPR 

 

Editor’s Note: According to Howard Berkes Hodgkin’s Lymphoma And Multiple Cancers

About 8 percent of cancer survivors experience multiple primary cancers, according to the American Cancer Society.

And women like Linda Hill, who are first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, especially at younger ages, have dramatically increased risks for additional cancer diagnoses.

A 2007 paper published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology estimates the increased risk for Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivors for specific cancers. Compared with the risk in the general population.

Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivors overall have six times the risk of female breast cancer, four times the risk of colon cancer, and three times the risk of thyroid cancer.

Radiation exposure related to medical treatment is an established risk factor for both breast and thyroid cancers.

The paper’s lead author, Dr. David Hodgson, points out that the risks of multiple cancers are largely associated with treatments that are now outdated.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Won’t Cost You Thing

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
Dec. 25, 2009

Do you know what “Joy logy” means? It is the study of caring, sharing, and listening and Sacrifice.

This was written by Mr. Jeineke in 1975

We would like to know what you think: dan@goldcoastchronicle.com

What is a Joyologist? A joyologist then would be one who studies joy logy. Frankly our world could use a great many joyologists whose mission in life is to actively research the effects of discussing and sharing joy.

The research could branch out into how joy affects our careers, family lives, and friendships. The very act of doing the active research should spread jubilation throughout the world and bring about positive results. What a fun job!

All one needs to start with is to share the words joyism, joy logy, and joyologis with others. Use the words daily and make them a part of the world’s vocabulary.

The upcoming year is going to challenge us all. Here is something we need to think, this is from an unknown reader. It is called: Gifts That Won’t Cost You Thing

 

By Unknown

THE GIFT OF LISTENING…

But you must REALLY listen. No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response. Just listening.

 

THE GIFT OF AFFECTION…

Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds.
Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.

 

THE GIFT OF LAUGHTER…

Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories.
Your gift will say, “I love to laugh with you.”

 

THE GIFT OF A WRITTEN NOTE…

It can be a simple “Thanks for the help” note or a full sonnet.
A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime, and may even change a life.

 

THE GIFT OF A COMPLIMENT…

A simple and sincere,
“You look great in red,” “You did a super job” or “That was a wonderful meal” can make someone’s day.

 

THE GIFT OF A FAVOR…

Every day, go out of your way to do something kind.

 

THE GIFT OF SOLITUDE…

There are times when we want nothing better than to be left alone.
Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.

 

THE GIFT OF A CHEERFUL DISPOSITION…

The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone, really it’s not that hard to say, Hello or Thank You.

 

 

Source: Joyology

Meaning of Christmas Day

By Anna Morrison|
Dec. 24, 2009

“Boys,” said Mrs. Howard one morning, looking up from a letter she was reading, “I have had a letter from your grandmamma. She writes that she is returning to England shortly.”

The boys went on with their breakfast without showing any great amount of interest in this piece of news, for they had never seen their grandmother, and therefore could not very well be expected to show any affection for her.

Now Mrs. Howard, the mother of two of the boys and aunt to the third little fellow, was a widow and very poor, and often found it a hard task to provide for her “three boys,” as she called them, for, having adopted her little orphan nephew, she always treated him as her own son.

She had sometimes thought it strange that old Mrs. Howard should not have offered to provide for Leslie herself but she had never done so, and at last Mrs. Howard had ceased to expect it. But now, right at the end of her letter, Grandmamma Howard wrote:—

“I have been thinking that perhaps it would come a little hard on you to support not only your own two boys, but poor Alice’s son, and so, on my return to England, I propose, if you are willing, to adopt one of them, for I am a lonely old woman and shall be glad of a young face about me again.”

After thinking the matter over, Mrs. Howard decided she would say nothing about their grandmother’s intention to the boys, as she thought that it was just possible she might change her mind again.

Time passed on, and winter set in, and full of the delights of skating, the boys forgot all about the expected arrival of their grandmother.

During the Christmas holidays the boys one morning started off to Broome Meadow for a good day’s skating on the pond there. They

Carried their dinner with them, and were told to be sure and be home before dark.

As they ran along the frosty road they came suddenly upon a poor old woman, so suddenly that Leslie ran right up against her before he could stop himself.

The old woman grumbled about “lazy, selfish boys, only thinking of their own pleasure, and not caring what happened to a poor old woman!”

But Leslie stopped at once and apologized, in his polite little way, for his carelessness.

“I am sorry,” he said. “I hope I did not hurt you; and you have such heavy parcels to carry too. Won’t you let me help you?”

“Oh! Come on, Leslie,” said his cousins; “we shall never get to the pond at this rate!”

“Yes, go on,” said the old woman sharply; “your skating is of a great deal more importance than an old woman, eh?”

But Leslie’s only answer was to take the parcels and trudge merrily along beside his companion.

On the way to her cottage the old woman asked him all sorts of questions about himself and his cousins, and then, having reached her cottage, dismissed him with scarcely a “thank you” for the trouble he had taken. But Leslie did not take it much to heart.

He raced along, trying his hardest to overtake his cousins before they reached the pond, and was soon skimming about with the rest of them.

Squire Leaholme, in whose grounds the boys were skating, afterwards came down to the pond to watch the fun, and, being a kind-hearted old gentleman, offered to give a prize of a new pair of skates to the boy who should win the greatest number of races.

As it was getting late, it was arranged that the racing should come off on the following day, and the Squire invited all the boys who took part in it, to come up to his house to a substantial tea, after the fun was over.

How delighted Leslie was, for he was a first-rate skater, and he did so want a new pair of skates!

But the Squire’s skates were not to be won by him, for on the following day as he and his cousins were on their way to the pond, they came across the queer old woman whom they had met on the previous day.

She was sitting on the ground, and seemed to be in great pain. The boys stopped to ask what ailed her, and she told them that she had slipped and twisted her foot, and was afraid that her ankle was sprained, for she could not bear to put it to the ground.

“You mustn’t sit here in the cold,” said Leslie; “come, try and get up, and I will help you home.”

“Oh! Leslie,” cried both his cousins, “don’t go. You will be late for the races, and lose your chance of the prize.”

Poor Leslie! He turned first red, then white, and then said, in a husky tone of voice.

“Never mind…you go on without me.”

“You’re a good laddie,” said the old woman. “Will you be very sorry to miss the fun?”

Leslie muttered something about not minding much, and then the brave little fellow set himself to help the poor old woman home, as gently and tenderly as he could.

She would not let him come in with her, but told him to run off as quickly as he could, and perhaps after all, he would not be too late for the skating.

But Leslie could not bear to leave her alone and in pain, so he decided to run home and fetch his Aunt.

When Mrs. Howard arrived at the cottage, you can think how surprised she was to find that Leslie’s “poor old woman” was none other than Grandmamma Howard herself, who wishing to find out the

Real characters of her grandsons had chosen to come in this disguise to the little village where they lived.

You will easily guess which of the three boys Grandmamma chose to be her little companion. And oh! What a lovely Grandmamma she was, as not only Leslie, but his cousins too, found out.

She always seemed to know exactly what a boy wanted, and still better, to give it to him.

Walter and Stanley often felt terribly ashamed of the selfish manner in which they had behaved, and wished they were more like Leslie.

But Grandmamma told them that it was “never too late to mend,” and they took her advice, and I am quite sure that at the present moment if they were to meet a poor old woman in distress by the roadside, they would not pass her by, as they once did Grandmamma Howard.

Source: Apples 4 the Teacher

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Time to Remember Jesus

by Jim Liebelt
Dec. 25, 2009

But when the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman,
subject to the Law. Galatians 4:4 (NLT)

Most of us have our traditions when it comes to Christmas gift opening. Some families open their gifts on Christmas Eve.

Some families open their gifts on Christmas morning. Some spread out
their gift opening over several days to extend the enjoyment.

Regardless of when you open your Christmas presents, you likely feel that you have the “right moment”.

It’s fascinating to me that God’s gift to us, the birth of His son Jesus; when God became human, was just at the right moment. Not a moment too early; not a moment to late. “But when the right time came,” the Scripture reveals.

Thankfully, we have the certainty of Scriptures, that Jesus did come; that He lived among us; that He died for our sins; that He conquered death and rose again.

We have the benefit of those Christ-followers who have gone before us, passing down to us the assurance of Jesus’ life and ministry among us.

We share in the legacy of what God has done in human history and continue to do in during our time.

We are a part of His ongoing story in the world.

O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel (from O come, O come, Emmanuel)

we celebrate Christmas as the time to remember and give thanks
for Jesus, who came “just in time!”

 

 

Source: Home Word

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

My House to the White House

Teen Finds Dinosaur Fossil

By Laura Linn
Dec. 24, 2009

It turns out that fourth-grader Gabrielle Block, 9, has an eye for fossils. She is the first person to find a dinosaur bone at the new Dinosaur Park, a fossil site in Maryland, since the park opened to the public last month.

“Usually it takes a well-trained and practiced eye to be able to pick out the fossils from the rest of the clay,” park manager Donald Creveling told The Washington Post.

On November 21, Gabrielle found a half-inch fossil believed to be a bone from the tail of a small, meat-eating dinosaur. The dinosaur most likely lived more than 100 million years ago.

The fossil is now at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where paleontologists will examine it more closely.

Gabrielle found the fossil while sifting through dirt and rocks with her parents and 7-year-old sister, Rachael, who is the true dinosaur lover in the family.

“I was really excited and happy,” Gabrielle told The Washington Post.

Dinosaur Park

A dinosaur park may sound like something you’d see in the movies, with dinosaurs roaming among humans. Rather, it is an area of land where dinosaur fossils have been found that is open for public use.

Dinosaur Park in Prince George’s County, Maryland, is a 41-acre piece of land that is open the first and third Saturday of each month, so anyone who has an interest can hunt for fossils.

Gabrielle made her big find on just the second day the park was open to the public.

Amateurs, or nonprofessionals, and expert paleontologists have been finding fossils in this area for more than 150 years.

The state of Maryland created Dinosaur Park to preserve the fossil site from being destroyed by the construction of buildings in the area.

Creveling told The Baltimore Sun that Dinosaur Park is “one of the most productive sites for dinosaur and plant fossils east of the Mississippi River.” One big discovery made there was a 5-foot-long dinosaur bone in 1991.

The fossil was later identified as belonging to a brachiosaur that was at least 60 feet long and weighed several tons. The dinosaur likely lived during the Cretaceous period, between 65 million and 144 million years ago.

 

From Dinosaur to Fossil

Millions of years ago, dinosaurs roamed over much of what is now the U.S., but the chance of finding a dinosaur fossil in your backyard is slim. Why? Many factors need to be just right for a fossil to form. Maryland’s climate and landscape during the time dinosaurs roamed the Earth varied.

Parts were steamy, volcanic lowland, while other areas were shallow, warm sea. The region was overflowing with life. The conditions were perfect for the preservation of dinosaur remains that would eventually become fossils.

The bones and shells of organisms that lived on land and in the sea were quickly buried in sediment, or tiny grains of material like ash, sand, and clay. This sediment was washed into the low-lying areas from the sea.

If the organisms’ remains were not destroyed, they eventually became fossilized.

How? As sediment accumulates, pressure causes the sediment to harden into rock. A fossil may be created that preserves an impression in the rock of bone, shells, or even plants. The remains within the sediment can also become petrified, or turned to stone.

This happens when minerals dissolved in water soak into the buried remains. Eventually, the minerals replace all or part of the organism remains, turning them into rock. The fossil that Gabrielle found is an example of a petrified fossil.

Paleontologists believe Dinosaur Park has many more fossils yet to be found. And Rachael Block hopes to follow in Sister Gabrielle’s footsteps by finding one of the dinosaur fossils that is still buried.

“I promised [Rachael] we’d go back next time [Dinosaur Park] is open,” her mom told The Washington Post.

Source: Scholastic News Online

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Lookout for Santa

by Cladine Zap
Dec. 23, 2009

Christmas Eve is a busy day for one Santa Claus of the North Pole. But just leaving out cookies and milk and hoping that St. Nick will make it to your house is so last century.

This year, with the help of social-networking tools and GPS, you can track Santa’s movements throughout the night, from your mobile phone, your computer, or your car.

Normally, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) is the U.S.-Canadian military organization that watches over the air and water for security threats.

But on Christmas Eve, the command center switches to Santa mode, and operation Santa Tracker is in full force.

The live tracker incorporates radar, satellites, “Santa Cams,” and yes, even fighter jets, to follow Father Christmas on his goodwill gift-giving tour.

Last year, the Colorado Springs command center needed 100 phones and 25 computers to handle almost 70,000 calls and 6,000 emails from some 200 countries who wanted to know when Santa would make it to their town.

And if Yahoo! searches are any indication, NORAD may need more than that this Christmas Eve. Queries have soared 240% for “santa tracker norad” in the last day alone.

Lookups have also increased on “santa trackers,” “live santa tracker,” and “norad santa tracker games.”

NORAD has a partnership with Google Maps, which incorporated Santa’s path on its map software, as well as on Google Earth.

(Last year the tech company mistakenly placed Toronto on the U.S. side of the border. But that has since been corrected — international crisis averted.)

This year, the vehicle-navigation company OnStar is on board with GPS tracking, so drivers with the in-car GPS can keep an eye on Santa’s trip while en route to Grandma’s house.

The NORAD Santa Tracker will also be up on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. Don’t say Santa doesn’t keep up with the times.

Follow Buzz Log on Twitter.

 

Source: Yahoo News

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

America We Have Come Too?

By Adam Parker
The Post and Courier
Dec. 21, 1009

After charges that it illegally promotes Christianity with a nativity scene at Fire Station 12 in West Ashley, the city of Charleston removed the crèche from display.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, which advocates separation of church and state, sent a letter dated Dec. 17 to Mayor Joe Riley and Fire Chief Thomas Carr notifying them of the city’s Constitutional breach and requesting removal of the crèche from the fire station.

The letter expressed dismay that the problem has occurred for at least six years. A local resident had complained to the organization about the crèche, the letter states.

“As you are aware, this display has been erected each year in December since at least 2004,” wrote Freedom from Religion Foundation staff attorney Rebecca S. Kratz.

“Last year’s display included an illuminated Latin cross (the preeminent symbol of Christianity) atop the firehouse roof.

We were pleased to learn that as of the date of this letter, the Fire Department appears to be honoring the separation of church and state by at least not displaying a Latin cross this year.”

A large, white, illuminated cross was on display Sunday evening at the station, though no crèche was to be seen. The nativity scene had been removed Thursday in response to the complaint, according to fire department personnel.

The cross was leaning against a stone memorial to the nine firefighters who died in the 2007 Sofa Super Store blaze. It was not part of a Christmas display, firefighters at the station said.

The complaint was referred last week to the city’s legal department which, citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings, advised that the display be removed, according to the Fire Department’s public information officer Mark R. Ruppel.

“The Supreme Court has said that the United States’ Constitution prohibits governments from taking any action that appears to promote one religion over another,” city officials said in a statement.

“The crèche is the universal symbol of Christianity, and therefore, based on the law; it was removed from the fire station.

The City and the Fire Department fully support everyone’s right to practice his or her religion in our city.”

Fire departments and holidays often are intertwined. Civic parades almost always include fire trucks and department representatives, and stations typically feature holiday decorations.

St. Andrew’s Fire Station on Ashley River Road includes a mechanical, life-sized Santa Claus and other Christmas decorations. Firemen at the station and main offices on Wentworth and Meeting streets were high on ladders stringing lights last week.

Station 6 on Cannon Street was dressed in seasonal garb, its doors and windows framed by white lights. Station 5/10 on Nicholson Drive at Savannah Highway featured a festive image of a fire truck painted on a wood board and mounted on an exterior wall, with the phrase “Merry Christmas” framed in lights.

First Amendment controversies are not new to South Carolina. Most recently, a federal district court judge ruled in November that a specialty vehicle license plate with the statement “I Believe,” and including the image of a cross overlaid on a stained-glass window, was unconstitutional because it was based on a discriminatory law promoted by Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and passed by the Legislature in 2008.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation argued in its letter to the city that displaying religious symbols on city property “unmistakably sends the message that the City of Charleston endorses the religious beliefs embodied in the display” and therefore excludes residents who do not subscribe to those views.

“There are ample private and church grounds where religious displays may be freely placed,” Kratz wrote.

“Once the city enters into the religion business, conferring endorsement and preference for one religion over others, it strikes a blow at religious liberty, forcing taxpayers of all faiths and of no religion to support a particular expression of worship.”

Source: Post and Courier

 

Editor’s Note: You can reach Adam Parker aparker@postandcourier.com. We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Bad Posture Means Pain

by Catherine Clarke Fox
Dec. 18, 2009
Stop! Freeze right there!

Now, without moving a muscle, check out your posture. If you’re like a lot of people at the computer, you are sitting sort of slumped over, leaning toward the computer with your shoulders rounded instead of sitting up straight.

Ergonomics refers to the study of the relationship between people and their surroundings. If you are slumping at the computer, you have poor ergonomics.

It might not seem like such a big deal, but think about how much time you spend sitting at the computer. And then you might go on to spend a little more time slouching in front of the TV playing video games.

And then you get up to go to school the next morning and find yourself leaning forward to balance a very heavy backpack crammed with books.

Add all that up, and you get a lot of hours of sitting or standing with poor posture. When you don’t practice good ergonomics, that’s when the pain sets in.

James Melody of Houston, Texas, is the last person you might expect to be affected by a little thing like posture. James, 14, is an excellent athlete.

He plays baseball and basketball and wrestles. But last spring when baseball training started up, he noticed pain in his back around his shoulder blades.

“At first I thought it was just sore, but the pain gradually built up into something more,” he remembers.

The pain got so bad that his mother took him to see a physical therapist, an expert who can help with pain in joints and muscles.

When ergonomics expert and physical therapist Bill Case saw James in his office, he realized that baseball training wasn’t the cause of the discomfort. “He was in tip-top shape, but I saw his rounded shoulders right away, and asked his mom if he sat at the computer a lot.”

When James practiced pitching, the pain he felt came from muscles that were already strained by poor ergonomics.

Case wants kids to understand what he explained to James: You can end the pain or avoid it altogether with a few small changes.

He even has a computer workstation set up in his office so he can show patients how to sit correctly.

“It is just great how these problems can be reversed,” says Case. “I tell kids that when the way they sit feels good, it is probably wrong!”

He means that sitting up straight will seem weird at first, but after a week or two you will feel the benefits.

James has a tip: Make sure the chair is close enough to the computer table, or else you won’t be able to help leaning forward.

“Sometimes it slips your mind, and you fall back into the old way for a while,” he says. “But when I feel stiffness in my back, I correct for it now.”

James also learned to wear his backpack correctly. He used to find himself leaning backward because his pack was too heavy and his straps were too loose.

Lots of kids think hanging a backpack off one shoulder or letting it dangle on long straps looks cool. But there’s nothing cool about being sidelined by pain.

So besides being mindful of good posture when playing video games or surfing the Internet, James says, “Now I pack the heavier stuff closer to my body, and raise the pack on my back with the adjustable straps.”

And that’s just what the physical therapist ordered.

James has been feeling great ever since he made a few changes, and you can too. Just follow these tips:

Good Ideas for Gaming and Computer Use

• Sit up straight with your shoulders back.
• Make sure your feet are on the ground.
• Take frequent breaks; walk around and stretch.

Better Backpack Strategies

• Carry less. Buying an extra set of books to keep at home is less expensive than doctor visits.
• Tighten straps so the weight is close to your body, and don’t let the backpack ride below the waist.
• Put the heaviest items closest to your back and the pack will be less likely to pull you out of balance.
• Kids should not carry backpacks that weigh more than 10 to 15 percent of their body weight. So students weighing 100 pounds (45 kilograms) should not carry more than 10 to 15 pounds (4.5 to 6.8 kilograms) in their packs.

Source: Kids National Geographic

Editor’s Note: Photograph by Martha Melody. We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

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