A Report on Afghanistan Heroin Addicts

Journalist Yalda Hakim returns to her native country of Afghanistan. Here she documents the appalling living standards and the ravages caused by heroin addiction. Both shocking and emotional.




‘I’m so fearful. Every day I think, "Will that car in front of me explode?"’ Welcome to Afghanistan’s harsh reality. The Taliban are at the door and insecurity is getting worse. But it’s not the only issue. ‘I became addicted out of misery and frustration’. A man sitting outside a derelict building shows Yalda his amputated thigh. Inside, used needles carpet the floor and hang from the ceilings. ‘Heroin is cheaper than alcohol. You've already destroyed our country. Now we eat the poison, the rich and powerful eat the dollars.’ Later, Yalda visits the only rehab clinic for women and children. ‘When I wasn’t smoking, my body was in pain.’ Gul Pari is only twelve. She’s been addicted for six years. There are many children like her. Despite faint glimmers of hope, their future looks very uncertain.






source: http://journeyman.tv

Randy Pausch, Inspiring Professor, author of The Last Lecture, dies

Randy Pausch, the charismatic young college professor who fought his battle with pancreatic cancer in a remarkable speech widely-known as the "Last Lecture," has died at the age of 47 on Friday Jul 25th 2008. Pausch is survived by his wife, three children, his mother and his sister.

In addition to being recognized as a pioneer in virtual reality research, he became widely known as a gifted teacher and a mentor to many. Millions of people saw his inspiring "Last Lecture". The video went viral and has been downloaded by over 10 million people.

But Pausch's message was mostly one of hope. Even while dying, he encouraged people to embrace their lives and enjoy the time that they have.

In the two years since he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the Carnegie Mellon University professor became the public face of the illness and developed an affiliation with the El Segundo-based Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the only such advocacy group in the country.

Also Google source says that Randy was quite close to many of the people who were working at Google. Also Google condolences to Randy and his family.











Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/goodbye-to-randy-pausch-great-teacher.html

Doctors pull screws, nails from metal-eating man

LIMA (Reuters) - Doctors in a coastal town in northwestern Peru have rescued the innards of a 38-year-old man by removing 17 metal objects -- among them nails, a watch clasp and a knife -- that he ate.

Luis Zarate was taken to the regional hospital of Trujillo earlier this week by his family after complaining of sharp stomach pains. Doctors took X-rays of his chest that showed his insides littered with screws.

"There were 17 strange objects found at the level of his stomach and colon," said Dr. Julio Acevedo, one of the surgeons who operated on Zarate.

The black-and-white scans showed Zarate's skeleton interlaced with things like bolts, barbed-wire and pens.

"The objects had caused the stomach to expand," said Acevedo.

Doctors said Zarate was mentally ill but it was not clear why he ate the metal.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN1138346620080711

World's most obese man vies for different record

Mexico's Manuel Uribe, once the world's most obese man, is now vying for a different record: the human who has lost the most weight.

Uribe, who weighed as much as a small truck at more than half a tonne, is dieting while confined to a reinforced bed that he has not left for the past six years because he is so heavy.

He has lost 518 pounds since March 2006 on a diet of grapefruits, egg-white only omelets, fish, chicken, vegetables and peanuts.

Now weighing 717 pounds -- the size of three hefty men -- Uribe is still unable to move his swollen legs but hopes to get out of the house next month for only the third time in six years to celebrate his 43rd birthday.

He will still be in bed, hauled onto a tow truck for a trip to the mountainous countryside outside his home city of Monterrey in northern Mexico. It will be a rerun of a failed attempt in March that was thwarted when his bed hit an overpass.

Uribe spent the 1990s eating pizzas and burgers in the United States where he worked as a computer repairman. Addicted to junk food, he eventually tipped the scales at 1,235 pounds back in Mexico, bingeing on greasy tacos.

His bulk made him the world's heaviest man and won him a place in the 2008 edition of the Guinness World Records. Photos of his time in Florida and Texas show the transformation of a once chubby man to a bloated, whale-like figure.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN1330327620080513?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true