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Wednesday, December 14, 2005

These are short blurbs about current events in the business world.

Monday, July 18, 2005

The outer bands of the Category 4 storm Hurricane Emily started to affect Jamaica shortly before 8:00am Saturday. Increasing winds and rain swept the island nation throughout the afternoon as the eye of the storm passed 100 miles off the southern coast. Utility poles were downed and storm debris closed the seaside highway to the international airport. Other roads were reported closed as well.

While islanders did not get through the two storms unscathed, and 4 people were left dead, the Land and Environment Minister Dean Peart told reporters, “Mercifully, Jamaica was spared the worst”.

Buses were sent by officials to southern coastal areas to evacuate residents from the flood prone region, but most refused to leave and preferred to ride it out beside 8 foot waves that pounded areas of the coast line. Wind gusts of 155 mph doubled over palm trees in the capital city of Kingston.

At a southern penninsula seaside fishing villiage, Port Royal residents boarded up and prepared for the worst again, as surfers gathered nearby to take on the challenge of 15 to 18 foot waves. “If I’m going to die, it’s going to be right here,” said a local resident Gordon Murphy, 39, with his 2-year-old son. “What’s next?” he joked, “[Hurricane] Franklin?”

Many shops and businesses stayed open as long as they could, classifying it as another inconvenience despite its near Category 5 strength. Instead of the possible disaster that many prepared for, by late afternoon, Emily had all but disappeared. Light scattered showers in some areas of the island were the only remnant, as residents went about their lives after the second hurricane scare in as many weeks.

Supplies that many stocked for Dennis and Emily may yet be put to use. Many wonder what storms are yet to come. Authorities say this will be one of the most active hurricane seasons in history. Emily was the strongest and earliest to form this year since records, dating back to 1860, have been kept.

Earlier, Emily stuck Grenada on Thursday with nearly a direct hit. A national disaster was called the day after its winds ravaged hundreds of homes and killed at least one man.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

A paste containing synthetic tooth enamel can seal small cavities without drilling. Kazue Yamagishi and colleagues at the FAP Dental Institute in Tokyo say that the paste can repair small cavities in 15 minutes.

Currently, fillers don’t stick to such small cavities so dentists must drill bigger holes. Hydroxyapatite crystals, of which natural enamel is made, bond with teeth to repair tiny areas of damage.

Yamagishi and colleagues have tested their paste on a lower premolar tooth that showed early signs of decay. They found that the synthetic enamel merged with the natural enamel. The synthetic enamel also appears to make teeth stronger which will improve resistance to future decay. As with drilling, however, there is still the potential for pain: The paste is strongly acidic to encourage crystal growth and causes inflammation if it touches the gums.

The paste is reported in the journal Nature.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005A team of Australian surgeons yesterday reattached both hands and one foot to 10-year-old Perth boy, Terry Vo, after a brick wall which collapsed during a game of basketball fell on him, severing the limbs. The wall gave way while Terry performed a slam-dunk, during a game at a friend’s birthday party.

The boy was today awake and smiling, still in some pain but in good spirits and expected to make a full recovery, according to plastic surgeon, Mr Robert Love.

“What we have is parts that are very much alive so the reattached limbs are certainly pink, well perfused and are indeed moving,” Mr Love told reporters today.

“The fact that he is moving his fingers, and of course when he wakes up he will move both fingers and toes, is not a surprise,” Mr Love had said yesterday.

“The question is more the sensory return that he will get in the hand itself and the fine movements he will have in the fingers and the toes, and that will come with time, hopefully. We will assess that over the next 18 months to two years.

“I’m sure that he’ll enjoy a game of basketball in the future.”

The weight and force of the collapse, and the sharp brick edges, resulted in the three limbs being cut through about 7cm above the wrists and ankle.

Terry’s father Tan said of his only child, the injuries were terrible, “I was scared to look at him, a horrible thing.”

The hands and foot were placed in an ice-filled Esky and rushed to hospital with the boy, where three teams of medical experts were assembled, and he was given a blood transfusion after experiencing massive blood loss. Eight hours of complex micro-surgery on Saturday night were followed by a further two hours of skin grafts yesterday.

“What he will lose because it was such a large zone of traumatised skin and muscle and so on, he will lose some of the skin so he’ll certainly require lots of further surgery regardless of whether the skin survives,” said Mr Love said today.

The boy was kept unconscious under anaesthetic between the two procedures. In an interview yesterday, Mr Love explained why:

“He could have actually been woken up the next day. Because we were intending to take him back to theatre for a second look, to look at the traumatised skin flaps, to close more of his wounds and to do split skin grafting, it was felt the best thing to do would be to keep him stable and to keep him anaesthetised.”

Professor Wayne Morrison, director of the respected Bernard O’Brien Institute of Microsurgery and head of plastic and hand surgery at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital, said he believed the operation to be a world first.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only Japanese civilian to be officially recognized as having survived both the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in August of 1945 at the conclusion of World War Two, has died this Monday at the age of ninety-three, due to stomach cancer—one of the numerous illnesses that he suffered throughout his lifetime as a direct result of his exposure to nuclear radiation.

Mr. Yamaguchi, although he was against his nation’s involvement in the War, worked as a engineer for Mitsubishi—a company that helped equip and supply the Japanese Imperial Army. He was on business in Hiroshima at the time of the first bombing on August sixth. His almost direct exposure to the atomic explosion temporarily blinded him, ruptured his ear drum (leaving him permanently deaf in his left ear), and severely burnt the top half of his body. Three days later, having gone back to work in Nagasaki, he was approximately three kilometers away from the site of the second bomb. Although he was exposed to significant radiation in this instance as well, Mr. Yamaguchi was left relatively unscathed.

Following Japan’s surrender and the end of the War days later, Mr. Yamaguchi worked as a translator for the occupying American forces and later as a local schoolmaster, before eventually returning to Mitsubishi—which had since then become an automobile manufacturer.

In his later years, Mr. Yamaguchi became a respected lecturer who gave talks about his experiences, and publicly spoke out against the stockpiling of nuclear weapons.

For instance, in 2006, he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. “Having been granted this miracle, it is my responsibility to pass on the truth to the people of the world,” Mr. Yamaguchi said to the Assembly. He went on to say, “My double radiation exposure is now an official government record. It can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die.”

When asked by the British Broadcasting Corporation what his reaction was to Mr. Yamaguchi’s death, the mayor of Nagasaki said that “a precious storyteller has been lost.”

Among the family and friends Mr. Yamaguchi left behind were his three adult children—who have also had health issues in their lifetimes thus far that they think may have be related to their father’s initial exposure.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Yesterday, the Milwaukee County district attorney charged Cory J. Feerick, a 33-year-old from Brookfield, Wisconsin, with five misdemeanor counts of stealing US$35,000 worth of flush valves from fast food restaurants and university toilets and urinals. If convicted, Feerick could spend to 9 to 45 months in jail, and pay between US$10,000 and US$50,000 in fines.

Initially arrested in late January following a local news television story on the thefts, he stands accused of stealing parts worth between US$300 and US$600 each from locations that included Milwaukee Area Technical College, Waukesha County Technical College, ITT Technical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, the Pick ‘n Save on Capitol Drive in Brookfield, and the Arby’s also located on Capitol Drive in Brookfield.

Feerick was dubbed the “Backpack Bathroom Bandit” by the media because video showed him committing the thefts while wearing a backpack. The thefts reportedly took place in September and October of last year, with several area police departments involved in investigating them.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

On Sunday, Team Penske driver Joey Logano claimed his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the 2016 season in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The 200-lap race began with Logano starting from the pole position, and featured nine cautions and fourteen lead changes between eight different drivers.

Despite starting first, Logano was quickly overtaken on the first lap by Furniture Row Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. Truex led the race until Logano reclaimed the first position on lap ten, a position he would keep until the the first cycle of green flag pit stops around lap 40. Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski took the lead during the pit stop cycle by staying out on the track. Keselowski, low on gasoline, led until a caution came out for a spin by Truex around lap 46. During the caution, Keselowski pitted and returned the lead back to his teammate, who led the race until lap 93.

Two other cautions slowed the race between the first caution and lap 93. The first occurred when Kyle Busch’s engine failed around lap 53, forcing the driver to a last-place finish in the race. The other caution was caused by contact between the cars of Chris Buescher, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and A. J. Allmendinger ten laps later. Between laps 93 and 103, Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman, Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, and Paul Menard led at least one lap. Logano returned to the lead on lap 104, a few laps before a caution when Jeffrey Earnhardt’s car caught fire. After the caution, Logano remained in first until Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott passed him on lap 117.

Elliott kept the lead until lap 149, when he was briefly passed by Logano. Elliott retook the lead for three more laps on lap 150 before returning the lead back to Logano, who led until the seventh caution was called around lap 156 for of a collision between Danica Patrick, Brian Scott, and Casey Mears. Logano held the lead on the ensuing restart and led through two more caution periods that were called in the final 50 laps. The first began around lap 164 because of a collision involving Johnson, Trevor Bayne, and Ryan Blaney, while the final caution of the race was called with about ten laps remaining after Denny Hamlin suffered a tire puncture on the front straightaway and collided into the SAFER barrier. On the final restart, Logano retained the first position and led the remainder of the race to capture the fifteenth win of his career.

After the race, Logano, who led a race-high of 138 laps, praised his team, saying “Team Penske gave me a great race car. Everyone did a great job figuring out exactly what this car was going to do. This is Ford’s backyard, Roger [Penske]’s backyard; this is a great win”. Elliott, who finished second in the race, expressed disappointment with his result, claiming he “messed up” by not using the correct gear. Larson, Keselowski, and Kevin Harvick completed the top-five finishers, while Carl Edwards finished in the sixth position. Tony Stewart finished seventh ahead of Austin Dillon and Jamie McMurray, who finished eighth and ninth. Kurt Busch completed the first ten positions with a tenth-place finish. In post-race inspection, Larson’s car did not pass laser inspection, prompting NASCAR to impound his car so it can be further evaluated. Any possible penalties are to be announced in the next week.

In the drivers’ championship, Harvick led Kurt Busch and Keselowski with 526 points. Edwards and Logano were fourth and fifth with 472 and 455 points. Elliott was sixth with 453, followed by Johnson with 441. Truex was scored eighth ahead of Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, who completed the top-ten. The 2016 season is scheduled to continue on June 26 with the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.