Is there salmonella in my pb&j?

I recently read an article titled Peanut butter linked to salmonella outbreak on reuters.com, a news website. 399 people had been sickened by the illness and on Monday Minnesota health officials said that tests had confirmed the peanut butter bacteria as a perfect match to the bacteria in the salmonella virus. The peanut butter is suspected to have been the source in 30 Minnesota cases. On Saturday, King Nut Cos contacted its customers and had them remove the tainted peanut butter products from the market. King Nut is an Ohio-based company that sells its products to institutions, such as hospitals and schools, so they do not directly offer their products to people. Since September, at least 399 people in 42 states have been sickened by salmonella and 70 of them have been sent to the hospital. Some salmonella symptoms are abdominal cramping, diarrhea and fever. This virus can lead to death in any age person, so it is not a force to be reckoned with.
Hopefully all tainted products have been taken out of cafeterias across the country. It is daunting to think that the pb&j sandwich you just bought in the school lunch line could be crawling with the salmonella virus...sorry for ruining your meal if you are currently enjoying a pb&j. It is good to be educated though, because peanut butter is definetly not the only source of salmonella and it is better to spot the symptoms earlier than later.

third-hand smoke

I recently read an article on ABC news, titled 'Third-Hand' Smoke -- the Dust Finally Settles. It is an article about a new type of smoke that has been categorized as third-hand smoke. Third-hand smoke is smoke that lingers on clothing and toys and even though this may seem insignificant, studies show that this may cause harm to us. The studies not only showed that this can be harmful to children, but also that households where the individuals believed in this concept were two times more likely to have strict no-smoking policies. It is scary to think that the meal you just enjoyed at that smokey pizza joint could have been harmful to your lungs.
I found this article really interesting because I never knew that there was such a thing as third-hand smoke. You would obviously have to be wearing a lot of smokey clothing for this to dramatically affect you, but just the thought of it is a bit scary. I feel bad for little children who have parents that smoke because it isn't fair that they should have to have impaired health due to their parents bad decisions. I am glad that Minnesota has outlawed smoking in public areas because it is better for everyone's health and well-being.

The End!

I finally finished Confessions of a Shopaholic and it had a romantic, heart-warming ending. Last week’s reading ended in the beginning of her TV debate against Luke Brandon. Rebecca stepped on stage prepared for the worst, sweaty and nervous, but the debate turned out to be much different than she expected. She pulled out some intelligent-sounding facts and strong opinions and surprisingly Luke Brandon agreed with her. He put down the company that he was supposed to be supporting…on national television! The TV station liked Rebecca’s performance so much that they told her that they would have her come on the show once in awhile to answer peoples’ call-ins about their financial troubles. She delightedly accepted the offer and the cherry on top of the sundae was when Luke Brandon asked her to go out to dinner that evening for a “business meeting”. While at the TV studio she recognized her bank manager and they had a civilized talk about how she was going to straighten out her financial problems. They set up a meeting and Becky started to realize that she needed to face her troubles rather than run from them. After arriving back at her flat she went through a pile of letters, that would have scared her to death just a couple of days ago, and she got ready for her evening with Luke. She tried to dress very sharply and in a “businessy” sort of manner, but when she got to the restaurant she realized that it was more of a romantic feasting spot and she spotted Luke dressed in a more casual but dressy suit. They had a wonderful dinner and fabulous night. Luke showed an attraction to Becky when he put his hand on hers at the table and their attractions towards each other quickly spiraled into a whirlpool after they had a romantic kiss and got a hotel room together. We will just leave it at that…Becky had a new found lover and she finally took steps towards fixing her financial problems by using her money from the article and TV appearance to pay off her debts. This was a really great book!

Life takes a turn for the better

In this week's reading, life for Becky has finally made a turn for the better. She told her parents that she was being stalked by a man named Derek Smeath, but she didn't tell them that he was her bank manager. This helped her to disconnect from her hectic life and relax for a bit. The following morning she was talking with her dad over coffee and he mentioned that a big company had recently done really well and many people were profiting greatly from their stock in the company. Their neighbors had asked Becky the last time they had seen her if it would be smart to take their money out of that stock and she had advised them to do so. Sh fealt really bad about this terrible advise because they could have made $20,000! After looking through some paperwork though, she realized that this company was actually scamming people, so she called up the Daily World newspaper and said she had a great story to write. She was told to have it done by the next day and she did just that. Her article was published and she was excited that her life was finally going in the right direction. Just when things felt like they couldn't get any better, she got a call from the Morning Coffee studios asking if she would appear on their show. She gadly accepted and couldn't wait to be on tv. While sitting in the hair and make up chair of the Morning Coffee studios, she is told that rather than just talking about her article they decided to add a little twist to the show by having a heated debate instead. They infrom her that she will be debating against a representative from the big company that she slammed in her article. And guess who that person is...Luke Brandon. Becky gets really nervous as her enjoyable morning on tv has just turned into a nervous mess.

Will Things Ever Get Better?

So, Becky Bloomwood is finally going on a date with one of Britain’s richest bachelors and she is totally pumped. The date has a pleasant start as they step into a taxi and head towards what Becky suspects is a very posh restaurant. But…it turns out that they are going to Pizza Express for dinner. He offers to take her somewhere nicer, but in an attempt to seem kind and appreciative, she chooses Pizza Express instead. They share a bottle of champagne and have a nice discussion as they wait for their food. The only problem is that in an effort to appeal to Tarquin, Becky lies about herself and what she likes. She claims to love Wagner’s music and horseback riding and hate shopping. All of which are completely untrue. As they are discussing, Becky creates a fabulous story about how her dead aunt created a foundation for violinists in Mozambique. Tarquin finds this very interesting and quickly pulls out his check book to write a 5,000 pound check for the organization. He writes it out to Rebecca Bloomwood because Becky claims that she doesn’t know who to write donations out to. He hands over the check, but Becky can’t get herself to grab the check. This is the rectangular piece of paper that could clear away all her debt and she can’t get herself to grasp the paper! He simply burns it in the table candle and they continue their discussion. Later in the evening, he gets up to go to the bathroom and leaves his checkbook on the table. Becky starts leafing through it and to her surprise looks up to find Tarquin staring at her. She is very embarrassed and the date quickly ends. She gets home and talks to Suze about the date. Tarquin had already called Suze and told her that it just wasn’t going to work because he didn’t think Becky was interested in him. He said this to cover up the harsh truth and let the situation down easily. Becky feels terrible about what she has done and in an effort to cure her pain she of course…goes shopping. After loading her arms up with department store goods, she goes to the cash register to find that none of her credit cards work because they have all been cancelled due to the fact that she hasn’t paid her bills. She is very disturbed so she goes to her parents’ house to find some peace and quiet.

10th Blog Posting

Becky Bloomwood’s life is not going well, but luckily she gets a fresh start the next day as she goes to her job. While trying to proofread a boring stack of papers, she is gladly interrupted by a coworker who wants her to go to a personal finance fair. She is lenient at first, but the mention of a free champagne luncheon intrigues her. While scanning the sheet of information, she notices that Brandon Communications, Luck Brandon’s company, is hosting the fair. She decides to be a mature person and just proudly face him, if she encounters him at all. That Friday, she arrives at the personal finance fair, in a happy, “TGIF” mood. Given her bad luck, she of course is spotted by Luke Brandon who walks over in an attempt to start a conversation. Becky quickly ends their talk and walks away with the excuse that she needs to interview people for the magazine. In an attempt to escape Luke Brandon, she walks up to two, friendly-looking people and addresses herself, saying that she is interviewing people for her magazine. Becky is horrified to realize that the two people she is conversing with are the people from her bank that continually contact her about her overdue bills. She is embarrassed because she has made so many excuses as to why she hasn’t paid her bills on time. They eventually recognize her and she quickly leaves the fair after an awkward and humiliating encounter. Becky arrives home to find Suze, her roommate, reading a magazine with a list of Britain’s top 100 richest bachelors. Becky takes a look at the article and finds Luke Brandon on the list, but she is soured by his picture. She also finds Tarquin Cleath-Stuart on the list, Suze’s cousin. Tarquin has always had an attraction to Becky, but she has never really liked him much, though this list quickly changes her thoughts. He had asked her out to dinner a couple nights ago and she had hesitantly said yes. She had been dreading the dinner, but after seeing that his net value is 25 million pounds, her view is quite different. She dreams of marrying him and having lots of money. She is now thoroughly looking forward to going on a date with one of Britain’s richest bachelors.

Annotated Bibliography

Should the United States send birth control programs overseas in order to help correct overpopulation?

Xenia, Jillian. "Overpopulation". TakingITGlobal. 7 Dec. 2008 .
This article is written by a 17 year old Canadian student named Jillian Xenia. She talks about the causes of overpopulation in our world. The resources in our world are not evenly distributed and this leads to malnutrition and poverty in certain third world countries. The women in these third world countries don’t make enough money to pay for birth control, so they continue to have babies. A vicious circle is created because overpopulation leads to poverty and poverty leads to overpopulation. Female illiteracy is another issue because if more women in third world countries were educated, they could make better decisions for their family in knowing that they shouldn’t have more children than exceed their family’s resources. Religion also plays a deep role in overpopulation because many belief systems tell females that using birth control or having an abortion makes you a sinner. She ends the article by stating that what it all comes down to is inequality. If we all work together and educate each other we will have a much stronger world.

Bedard, Paul. "Third World Birth Control Tops Gore's". WestLake Solutions, Inc. 7 Dec. 2008 .
This article is about the views of Al Gore and how he has found a connection between overpopulation and pollution. He believes that over-seas birth control programs can help the overpopulation issue, which would then assist the pollution issue. He states that there are three solutions to overpopulation. First, he said that cutting child mortality rates will encourage families in developing countries not to have so many children. Second, making birth control information more easily available and culturally acceptable will help. Third, empowering women both socially and politically will allow them to participate in childbearing decisions. The article ends with a quote from Al Gore, “‘I can’t imagine that we would allow this [global warming] to happen.’” This article illuminates my topic by describing a significant effect of birth control programs in third world countries and how this doesn’t only affect overpopulation, but how it may also effect global warming.