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:: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 ::
More on SARS and ARDS
A while back I posted about SARS and ARDS. I didn't quite understand ARDS and how it related to SARS. In fact, I wasn't sure if it was a disease or simply the results of another disease and/or injury.
Eileen Rubin Zacharias, President of the ARDS Foundation was kind enough to send me an e-mail explaining:
"Jack, unfortunately, ARDS can be caused by anything. Currently, there are approximately sixty known precipitating causes. And one of our doctors, in fact, one from Toronto, verified that SARS has indeed become yet another precipitating cause to ARDS; Every ARDS patient is ventilated mechanically, most put into a drug induced coma for days, weeks or months. Half of those who get ARDS die. No prevention and no cure for ARDS. No press, either.
Dick Schaap, sports commentator, died from ARDS about a year ago, last January, after knee replacement surgery. (article copied at the bottom of the email) Jim Henson died from ARDS, but that was five years before I got it, and I was ill in 1995;
Here are all of our SARS/ARDS posts:
http://www.ardsil.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=15&t=000040
http://www.ardsil.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=23&t=000012
And this is what ARDS patients look like in crisis: http://ardsusa.org/patientphotos.htm"
People, January 14, 2002
Copyright 2002 Time Inc.
People
January 14, 2002
SECTION: TRIBUTE; Pg. 119
LENGTH: 314 words
HEADLINE: Great Sport;
A gift for storytelling--and making friends--defined sportscaster Dick Schaap
BODY:
Dick Schaap's last weeks were nothing like his vibrant life. The celebrated sportscaster checked into Manhattan's Lenox Hill Hospital Sept. 19 for what he thought would be routine hip replacement surgery. But acute respiratory distress syndrome, a rare complication of surgery, caused his lungs to fail, and the normally garrulous Schaap, 67, lay still and silent in intensive care for 13 weeks before he died on Dec. 21. "It's unbelievable," says his son Jeremy, 32, a fellow ESPN sportscaster. "He was perfectly healthy when he walked in, other than a sore hip. He couldn't have been busier." (Lenox Hill declined to comment.) Known for his quick wit and graceful writing style, Schaap will be most remembered for the passion he brought to his work. Born in Brooklyn, he was a columnist for the New York Herald Tribune before branching out to television in 1971 to report for NBC and later ABC. His poignant, intimate stories, such as one on AIDS-stricken decathlete Tom Waddell, were landmark features, and he would go on to win six Emmys. But Schaap also took on politics and pop culture, writing more than 30 books, including the seminal 1968 sports confessional Instant Replay with Green Bay Packer Jerry Kramer. "He was the smartest, funniest, quickest guy in the room," says Mike Lupica, his friendly sparring partner for the last 12 years on ESPN's The Sports Reporters. "You couldn't top him."
Yet the outgoing Schaap, who was married three times and fathered six children, took as much pride in his legion of friends as in his work. In his last days, though, only flashes of his lively, generous spirit remained. When Lupica came by the hospital, Schaap, by then unable to speak, slowly lifted his IV-strapped hand. "He gave me the finger," says Lupica with a laugh. "It was like he was saying, I'm not in great shape, but I'm still me. It was pure Schaap."
GRAPHIC: COLOR PHOTO: NEIL LEIFER, "I collect people," Schaap (with Muhammad Ali and Billy Crystal in '01) once said.; COLOR PHOTO: ADAM SCULL/RANGEFINDERS/GLOBE PHOTOS, "He had so much respect for those he covered," his son Jeremy says of Schapp (in '00).
LOAD-DATE: January 3, 2002
I suggest you head over to the ARDS Foundation Website and read about it. I don't see any links for donations, but if you are interested, drop a line to Eileen, and I'm sure she could arrange something.
:: Rick Shantery 7:41 PM [link this] ::
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Jack's Been MIA
Like my fine furry friend over at the Bunny Blog, I have been either too tired or too busy to post anything, all the while I still have people visiting the site. I am going to make a better effort at putting information up.
:: Rick Shantery 7:23 PM [link this] ::
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:: Friday, April 25, 2003 ::
Jack Doesn't Like This At All
Go read this article. Go ahead, I'll wait and be here when you get back. Be sure to read it carefully. Some of it might be a little techincal, but I think you'll get the idea.
OK, now I hope you're thinking the same thing I am.
Our old buddy Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina) is trying to shove this down all our throats, and its frightening to me. I hope it is to you too, no matter where your beliefs sit on the politcal spectrum.
I've recently become more interested in Linux. One reason is to expand my knowledge and marketability, because Linux is appearing more and more in the datacenter.
Also, because I just can't stand Windows XP.
So, I'm using Windows 2000 Professional, which still has the original Windows Media Player 6.4 on it. Why? Because 6.4 is without the "digital rights management" junk, and WMP 7, 8, and 9 are bloated hogs that will crash your machine and eat resources. There are plenty of alternatives for Window users. Also, Windows 2000 doesn't have the 'registration' feature that won't allow you to re-install your operating system if you replace your computer. You have to buy XP again if you get a new computer.
Of course, Palladium/TCPA or whatever its name-of-the-day is will break Windows 2000 (unless it gets TCPA "patches") and Linux. With TCPA eventually finding its way to being embedded into CPUs, there is going to be little choice for the consumer. So, keep the pressure on your elected officials to reject this bad legislation.
My blog has been getting a lot more hits from people on Google searching for how to install Java on Red Hat Linux, (see this post below) so hopefully that means a lot more people are trying out Linux, and would be angry at these sort of changes.
Don't just sit there, do something about it.
Oh yeah, today is my blogs first birthday....
"Happy Birthday to me....happy birthday to me..."
:: Rick Shantery 11:07 PM [link this] ::
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:: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 ::
Come-on, Give Me A Break
"Now this really pisses me off to no end!" - David Lo Pan, Big Trouble In Little China
Excuse me, but I am tired of the sycophantic, whiny, brain-dead morons who insist that because some money gets taken away from them due to their cavernous piehole spewing forth unintelligent political statements against the people who are giving them the money that their "rights" have been abridged.
What am I talking about?
Well, Jack's referring to Mr. Theo de Raadt (Is it pronounced "Rat"? It should be), the lead developer of OpenBSD, an allegedly secure Operating System (Based on Berkley's BSD Unix-like system). The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently awarded a 2.3 million dollar grant to Mr. Raadt's group to increase security and do other research and development with the software system to make it even more secure, so the military may use it as well.
You would think that a person with a highly developed technical brain would figure out it was asinine to make disparaging statements about the organization giving him the money.
Let's see, someone hands you millions of dollars from another country to help you work on your project, and you say things like: "I actually am fairly uncomfortable about it, even if our firm stipulation was that they cannot tell us what to do. We are simply doing what we do anyways — securing software — and they have no say in the matter," Mr. de Raadt said in a recent e-mail exchange. "I try to convince myself that our grant means a half of a cruise missile doesn't get built." He also goes on to say: "We're not doing anything for them. They just fund us to do what we do," said Mr. de Raadt, a 35-year-old graduate of the University of Calgary's computer science program. Mr. de Raadt is no fan of the U.S. military at the moment. He calls the war in Iraq an oil grab. "It just sickens me."
Then, he has the gall to whine, bitch, moan, and complain when the military pulls funding for the project.
What the hell was he thinking? Obviously there's little in his brain other than 1s, 0s, and computer code. If he's going to shoot off his mouth, he has to understand there will be consequences. Then get this, somehow he relates the money-pull to somehow limiting his speech: "In the United States today, free speech is just a myth," de Raadt said.
WTF? I just don't get how these people's brains are wired. I always knew that programmers were a different sort. Though you have to be to sit in front of a little computer screen and type out excruciatingly tedious and meticulous instructions for your very stupid but very fast computer to follow. How in the hell is this limiting his free speech? I didn't see the military holding a gun to his head and forcing him to take the money. I don't think he's in jail or has been charged with any crime, other than gross stupidity.
However, the sugar daddy took the cookie jar away, and now he's whining and crying like a 3-year old.
This is US Taxpayer money Mr. Raadt, we've worked hard for it, don't slap us in the face with your emotional rants and then complain when we take it back.
If he didn't agree with the US Government (and especially the military), which he is welcome to do, he should have never taken the money in the first place. Of course, most of the time those researchers have no idea how to put that amount of money to good use. They were using some of the cash to foot the bill for a conference of some sort, and now they can't pay for it. Serves them right.
:: Rick Shantery 12:35 AM [link this] ::
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:: Sunday, April 20, 2003 ::
Wow, I Found My Champions Stats
Champions is a role-playing game (Dungeons & Dragons is probably the most famous) where the participants create and play Super-Hero type characters.
You know: the Flash, Spiderman, Superman, Batman - those types of guys.
Seems that someone made up the Champions' Stats for Jack Burton. Even if you don't understand most of the article, it makes for an interesting read.
Check it out.
:: Rick Shantery 10:27 PM [link this] ::
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