Monthly Archives: February 2022

Internet celebrity, serial break-in suspect and 500-pound black bear Hank the Tank was falsely accused at least partly.

The bear had been suspected of breaking into nearly 30 homes and causing extensive property damage in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., over the last seven months as he searched for snacks, earning him designation as a severely food-habituated bear and putting him at risk of being euthanized or relocated.

The fate of the rotund fellow became a cause clbre as photos of him circulated on the internet, where his many aliases included Yogi, Chunky and the Big Guy.

But evidence gathered after a break-in reported last week planted doubt that Hank had been the sole culprit in the crime spree, saving him from euthanasia by state wildlife officials.

DNA evidence collected from the most recent incident as well as prior incidents over the past several months prove that at least three bears were responsible for breaking into numerous residences, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement Thursday.

Hank had been implicated in last weeks break-in likely based on visual observation, according to the statement, but DNA evidence showed the real perpetrator was a female bear, said department spokesman Peter Tira.

Members of a homeowners association in the waterfront Tahoe Keys neighborhood voted last week to allow wildlife officials to set up traps on their properties to catch Hank. Even bear advocates admitted he should no longer be allowed to roam free, although they pushed for relocation over euthanasia in the event of his capture.

Hes on a mission. You can tell he likes to eat, said Ann Bryant, who oversees the Bear League. The Big Guy likes to eat where its easy to get food, and he doesnt like to forage.

In a post on its Facebook page Thursday, the advocacy group said, Hank no longer has a death sentence hanging over him and he is no longer going to have his freedom taken away from him by sending him to a sanctuary.

Those options are off the table, Tira said.

For now, the department will undertake a trap, tag, haze campaign during which bears will be captured, tagged with an ear tag and released using hazing methods such as air horns and paintball guns to instill a healthy fear of humans.

The program also aims to gather DNA to prevent the future misidentification of bears.

Wildlife officials urged residents and visitors of the Lake Tahoe area to bear-proof their food and trash to prevent human-animal encounters.

Increasingly, CDFW is involved in bear/human conflicts that could have been avoided by people taking a few simple actions, the department wrote. Improperly stored human food and trash are likely attracting bears into this neighborhood. We all need to take all precautions to store food and trash properly to protect ourselves, our neighbors and local bears.

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Tahoe bear Hank the Tank spared from euthanasia by DNA evidence - Los Angeles Times

Italians want to legalise cannabis and euthanasia despite a disappointing Constitutional court verdict not to admit two referenda on the topics and politicians apparent disinterest, according to activist Marco Cappato in an interview with EURACTIV.

Marco Cappato is an Italian politician and activist, ex-MEP with the ALDE political group from 1999 to 2009. He can be considered the Italian frontline leader in the struggle to legalise euthanasia and cannabis.

How did we arrive at the proposals of the two referenda on euthanasia and cannabis in Italy, and why are they two important topics for EU politics?

The Italian Constitution provides citizens with two instruments of participatory democracy: the first and more powerful one is calling a referendum to abolish a law. To be held, a referendum needs 500,000 signatures or the approval of five Regional Councils.

The second tool is the popular ballot initiative, which consists of a proposal to the parliament to discuss a specific law by gathering 50,000 signatures.

We tabled a popular ballot initiative eight years ago on legalising euthanasia and another one on decriminalisation of cannabis five years ago, with the Associazione Luca Coscioni. But the parliament never discussed the two proposals.

Therefore, to overcome this deadlock, we decided to gather signatures for referenda on cannabis and euthanasia, which the Constitutional Court assessed as not admittable last week.

Generally speaking, I think it would have been significant for EU politics to have a country such as Italy face these two issues with referenda. It would have been the first time in history.

I believe we are going toward the legalisation of euthanasia and cannabis worldwide anyway. And this is because our life dramatically changed in the last decades.

For euthanasia: our lives are longer and longer because of the advance in technology of medical treatments. As a consequence, the process of dying is becoming longer and longer. And if the process of dying will last longer, people have to be entitled to freely decide how they want to end their lives.

For cannabis: nowadays, we are aware that to create a drugs free world, as stated by the UN in a 1998 campaign, is an illusion. But at least, there is the possibility to decriminalise cannabis.

Those two goals will be achieved sooner or later. The problem is: when? It could take 10 or 15 years. In the meantime, people will continue to experience violence or imprisonment regarding cannabis or suffer when we talk about euthanasia. With the referenda, we aimed to accelerate this process.

Is there something that can be done at the EU level?

With the EUMANS association, a pan-European movement for civic participation, we will discuss how to deal with the two issues at the EU level on the occasion of our next congress in Warsaw next 11-12 March.

We indeed need the EU to solve this impasse: it is well-known that EU institutions do not have direct competences to legalise euthanasia or drugs. However, on end-of-life decisions, the EU could create a European living will (following the example of the EU Covid Certificate) as a legal instrument where people can state their will if they lose their abilities.

For instance, if an Italian citizen has their European living will pass, they can use it also in other EU countries if they temporarily move abroad for professional or other reasons.

Doctors of other countries can work according to the European living will pass if something severe happens to a person.

On drugs, you cannot legalise cannabis at the EU level. Nevertheless, there is a regulation on the cooperation of policies in criminal matters explicitly designed around the prohibition of drugs. The idea is to prepare a European Initiative Campaign, gathering one million signatures across the EU, asking to abolish the EU repression mechanism on drugs.

In general, I feel citizens are always missing in the political debates. Governments are at the centre of the landscape, but very few are left to civil society, NGOs or common citizens, cooperating at the EU level to reach common goals.

Citizens across Europe can cooperate on common goals regardless of what their governments are doing. What we would like to do with this congress in Warsaw is to reinforce the idea of the need for a civic movement that goes beyond electoral politics, which is fundamentally national business. Of course, there are EU elections, but national political dynamics still dominate them.

The Italian Constitutional Court declared that the two referenda on legalising cannabis and euthanasia, for which you gathered millions of signatures, cannot be held. What is your opinion on such a decision?

The decision was a political one. The Italian Constitution clearly states that the three issues on which a referendum cannot be held are fiscal and budgetary laws, amnesty laws, and ratification of international treaties. These are obvious and objective criteria.

Neither euthanasia nor cannabis is included in the subjects above mentioned. However, in the last decades, the court created more criteria that are very subjective, such as the clarity of the referendum the not-manipulation of the latter.

Those criteria are open to interpretation. This is transforming the admissibility judgement on a referendum into a political choice. The more subjective the way of deciding, the more the verdict is political.

So, of course, we defended with our lawyers the admissibility of the two referenda.

The court will publish their technical motivation soon. However, I believe that behind technical motivations, there are political stances.

The president of the Constitutional Court, Giuliano Amato, said that now the parliament should discuss these two referenda. However, as MPs did not do in the past, there are still no conditions to hold appropriate discussions on these two issues. Can you explain why it is so hard to consider new laws on cannabis and euthanasia in Italy?

This is a problem of democracy. The public opinion is ready in Italy to legalise euthanasia and decriminalise cannabis: a poll published on 17 February showed that more than 70% of people favour legalising euthanasia under certain conditions.

But the political system is stuck, very often by minority branches within parties. Do not also forget the influence of the Vatican City in these two issues. This incapability of deciding on cannabis and euthanasia represents a problem of Italian democracy, which is not in good condition.

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Activist, Italians ready to legalise cannabis and euthanasia - EURACTIV

Did Ottawa authorities really threaten to kill the pets of truckers to punish them for protesting Canadas vaccine mandates?

Thats what some on social media were saying after a tweet by Ottawa By-law & Regulatory Services on Feb. 17, a day before police started moving in to clear the downtown area of protesters who had been camped out on city streets for more than three weeks.

But thats a distortion of the tweet, which warned protesters who brought their pets along to the demonstration that the city may have to take their animals into "protective custody" should the owners be arrested.

"SHOCK POLICY: Ottawa may euthanize truckers pets as punishment," read a Feb. 20 Facebook post. Its a screenshot of a headline from the website The Counter Signal, a website that describes itself as helping "conservatives to fight back and share the news that Justin Trudeau would prefer to cover up."

Underneath that headline in the Facebook post is a photoshopped image of Dr. Anthony Fauci supposedly saying, "You stole that from me!" (That's a reference to another claim we already tackled here.)

The post was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Heres why the post is misleading.

By-law and Regulatory Services is a city law-enforcement agency that handles non-criminal issues, such as nuisances, business licensing and traffic. On Feb. 17, the agencys Twitter account, @OttawaBylaw, tweeted out a warning to protesters who brought pets with them that if protesters are jailed, their pets will be "placed into protective custody for 8 days." If arrangements arent made after that, the tweet said, "your animal will be considered relinquished."

We dont know how many protesters brought their pets along with them, but only one pet was placed in custody, officials said. On Feb. 21, the Ottawa Police Department reported 196 arrests of protesters.

Ottawa police and the Childrens Aid Society of Ottawa made similar statements to protesters, urging them to arrange care for their children should parents be sent to jail.

Jennifer Therkelsen, acting director of By-law and Regulatory Services, said that Ottawas Animal Care and Control By-law (2003-77) allows officers to take animals whose owners cannot care for them "as a result of incarceration, fire, medical emergency or eviction" into "protective custody."

"This authority is applicable citywide and intended to ensure the animals safety and well-being, including the provision of basic needs, while their owner is unavailable to do so," she said.

The bylaw declares the Ottawa Humane Society as the "operator of the pound."

"When the city places an animal in protective care, the owner has eight days to make arrangements for their animal," said Stephen Smith, a spokesperson for the Ottawa Humane Society.

Arrangements can be made by phone or the owner can have someone make them on their behalf. If that doesnt happen, the organization assumes ownership and assesses the animal for adoption, Smith added.

"We received one animal as a result of arrests at the protest, and the animal was returned to its owner the same day," said Smith.

The organizations euthanasia policy reads that it "keeps every adoptable animal until the right home is found, regardless of length of stay."

"Humane euthanasia" may be necessary when an animal is suffering incurably, is considered dangerous to the public or "professionally assessed as not suitable for adoption, either medically and/or behaviourally, using a best-practices protocol," the policy says.

The organizations most recent annual report covering 18 months in 2020-21 said it took in 2,585 animals, reunited 690 of them with their owners, adopted out 1,278 and transferred 73 to other shelters.

The shelter had a live release rate of 79.4% of animals taken in, the report said. There were 674 animals euthanized 39% of those at their owners request, 51% due to serious medical issues and 10% due to serious behavioral issues such as aggression and/or extreme fear, the report said.

Our ruling

A Facebook post said that the city of Ottawa may euthanize the pets of protesters as punishment for participating in the recent truckers protest against vaccine mandates.

The city did not threaten to kill any pets "as punishment." Ottawa By-law & Regulatory Services did tweet a warning that if protesters were incarcerated, the city would place their pets in protective care for up to eight days. If no arrangements were made to retrieve the animals by then, the pets would be considered "relinquished," it said.

Animals taken into the citys custody are brought to the Ottawa Humane Society, which says it euthanizes animals only if they have serious medical or behavioral issues, the organizations website said. Only one animal from the protest was brought to the shelter and it was returned to its owner, the shelter said.

While it is possible that any animal brought into the shelter may meet the agencys euthanasia criteria, the shelters numbers show such situations are rare.

We rate this claim False.

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No, Ottawa didn't threaten to punish protesters by killing their pets - PolitiFact

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Season 18 Episode 9 of Greys Anatomy, No Time To Die.

The last time we saw Kevin McKidds Owen Hunt, he was in an SUV, rolling down a ravine. The Station 19-Greys Anatomy midseason premiere crossover revealed Owens fate. He was rescued by the Station 19 crew and taken to Grey Sloan Memorial where he was treated for his extensive injuries, including to his spine and a shattered leg. He underwent a successful emergency surgery on both.

Also successful was Farouks miracle heart transplant surgery despite a bruise the donor heart had sustained in the crash.

Amid the joy, there was heartache too. Schmitt was having a very hard time after losing his first patient in the OR. The shock sent him into a catatonic state as he spent the episode vigorously scrubbing his hands until his friends intervened.

All three passengers in the SUV that crashed in the winter finale were dealing with the aftermath. While Owen was the only one seriously hurt physically, Teddy had a difficult time seeing him in pain while Hayes was struggling with the ethical dilemma posed by Owen in the finale when, thinking that he would most likely die, he asked Hayes to continue his efforts helping terminally ill soldiers get drugs for physician-assisted deaths.

Hayes confronted Owen who was undeterred in his commitment to help the veterans. Facing serious repercussions as an accessory if he didnt report his friend, Hayes opted to resign, telling Bailey that he was moving back to Ireland with his children. (Richard Flood, who plays Hayes, is said to be leaving Greys Anatomy.)

In romantic developments, Nick flew in to see Meredith, Amelia and Kai had another date while Jo and Link hooked up after months of sexual tension and cohabitation.

In an interview with Deadline, McKidd spoke about the crash and its aftermath, Owens decision in the car to sacrifice himself so Teddy and Hayes can live, the long recovery in front of him and what else is in store for the rest of the season. McKidd also addressed the issue of euthanasia.

DEADLINE: When you got the script for the winter finale, were you concerned about Owens fate?

MCKIDD: I remember back in Season 5 or 6 when we had the shooter episode, and Owen was shot in the chest. I remember that table read distinctly because I had only been on the show for two years. The table read was, Owen falls on the floor. Christina yells, Meredith, is he alive? and then I had to turn this page to see what Merediths response was. I remember that page turn was in slow motion to find out. She said, yeah, hes got a pulse and I was oh, OK.

It kind of felt like a repeat of that, which is the life of an actor. Such a strange life we live, at the stroke of a pen, a character could be gone. Its been an interesting, nerve-wracking time.

DEADLINE: What do you think about Owens decision to send Teddy and Hayes to safety and stay behind in the car, knowing that he would likely die?

MCKIDD: For better or for worse, Owen is quite an impulsive man and has been for many years. He goes with his gut, sometimes he gets it right, sometimes he gets it wrong. In this instance, sitting in the front of the car, he sees the writing on the wall, and I think it was the right call. it was pretty noble of him to do that. I love that about Owen. He is very flawed as a man as many people are but hes got a very good heart at the end of the day. I think what he is doing with the veterans is all heart, putting himself in jeopardy, bending the rules, thats the way he operates. Seeing these other vets in so much pain, hes found it morally very hard to deal with it but he is led by his heart.

DEADLINE: What is your position on physician-assisted death?

MCKIDD: Its a very hard topic. I think on balance, I support it as a concept because there is that thing of Do No Harm as an axiom for doctors but some of these [patients] are in so much pain that by withholding some way to help them, you are causing harm to that patient. Any case of euthanasia or assisted death has to be taken on its face value and on a case by case. I think in principal, the only correct criteria would be, if nothing else can be done medically, and there is so much discomfort and so much pain on the part of the patient, ethically I do support it.

DEADLINE: What is ahead for Owen in terms of recovery?

MCKIDD: He is in a lot of pain. He was mangled, mangled up in this car at the bottom of this ravine. He really took one for the team. His legs are in a complete mess. Basically what we will see is a slow road to recovery. And also there is some real medical jeopardy, he has a spinal injury as well his leg injury. The spine injury can potentially paralyze him or make him very compromised for the rest of his life. So he is not out of the woods by any means.

In Station 19, they recover his body in that mangled car wreck. He has a long way to go, its going to be interesting. Its been fun playing him. He is a man of action, Owen, and to see him really struggle with his physicality has been kind of fun to see in a strange way, walking around on crutches has been fun too. And there are a couple of episodes where I get to lay down a lot which is always pleasant, to get to lay down.

This brings out a lot of stuff between Owen and Teddy as recovery is frustrating for him. He just wants to get back to work, he wants to get to doing good medicine, to help the veterans, continue that project he feels very passionated about.

He gets impatient, and also there is a big debate between Teddy and Owen as things go forward. As the truth about what Owen has been doing comes out, Teddy has a lot of feelings about that so there is a lot of emotional fallout from this crash but also the work he has been doing with these terminally ill veterans.

This is going to cause a lot of emotional fallout in the second half of the season. Its very intense.

DEADLINE: You mentioned crutches, which is a good sign, but can you say whether Owen will be walking again?

MCKIDD: I cant say.

DEADLINE: We talked about Owens physical recovery? What about his mental recovery? He has a long history of PTSD, and the crash was certainly a traumatic experience.

MCKIDD: In the episodes weve shot so far, he is dealing with the physical side. We havent quite gotten to the psychological side. Most people, when they have gone through something like that, they would physically get themselves back from the brink and then the psychological fallout happens later. We havent quite touched on that but Im interested to see where that leads, whether it would trigger his PTSD or not.

DEADLINE: What will the impact of Owen continuing to help veterans be on his career? We saw Hayes quit over fears that it might be illegal.

MCKIDD:In Washington State, physician-assisted death is actually legal. But there is some grey areas within it. Owen does not follow the correct protocols. He does put himself in the harms way, and its very interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out because I cant tell you what happens but its a thing that I think Owen wants to get back to, the work that Noah, his veteran friend, was doing, trying to put pressure on Congress and take it to that level in trying to advocate for these veterans, get better care and bring more awareness. As far as potential fallout for Owen, that will continue to be a thread through the rest of season.

DEADLINE: How do you feel about Owen being the reason Hayes quit his job?

MCKIDD: The character of Hayes was already reassessing his life in Seattle, and I think this was probably another factor in his decision, hed already been mulling over where his life was headed. I think morally, Hayes feels very conflicted. Owen sees Hayes life so Hayes and and his child can go on and have a fruitful life so, in a strange way, Hayes kind of owes something to Owen but he also doesnt quite know where he stands on the ethics of physician-assisted death so I think it just creates that area where Hayes is. It pushes him towards a decision he was already on the way to.

DEADLINE: How were you able to keep Owens fate secret over the past couple of months?

MCKIDD: Im terrible at keeping secrets so I decided If you notice on my social media feed, I have been absent which is not like me. I just thought, Im going to spoil something, so I have been very away, and I think it helped create that mystery. Once the episode airs, I will be back online more. A lot of people have been asking me, Ive been itching to tell them but couldnt.

Original post:

Greys Anatomy: Kevin McKidd On Owens Sacrifice & Its Emotional Fallout In Intense Second Half Of Season 18 - Deadline

WATERGATE: A New History, by Garrett M. Graff. (Avid Reader, $35.) Employing all of the recent scholarship on the scandal that refuses to die, Graff presents a lively, comprehensive account full of sad, strange and interesting characters, not least of whom was Richard Nixon himself. Douglas Brinkley, reviewing it, calls the book dazzling: Graff explores the dramatic scope of the Watergate saga through its participants, he writes, and with granular detail, Graff writes about the white-collar criminals, hatchet men and rogues who populated the outer circles of Nixons covert operations.

CHILEAN POET, by Alejandro Zambra. Translated by Megan McDowell. (Viking, $27.) Zambras novel (about, yes, Chile and poetry) follows Gonzalo and Vicente, a father and stepson in Chile who have a complicated relationship both to each other and to poetry. Zambra uses their bond to think through literary, and literal, inheritance. As its jocular title suggests, Chilean Poet complicates the notion of an artistic birthright rooted in national identity while also acknowledging, with a tender and humorous shrug, that its not an easy thing to give up, our contributing essayist, Jennifer Wilson, writes in her review.

STOLEN FOCUS: Why You Cant Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again, by Johann Hari. (Crown, $28.) The author of Lost Connections and Chasing the Scream explores how technology disrupts our ability to concentrate. Hari focuses on the experience of living with too much information and stress, too little sleep and navel gazing. Some of the chapters are inspiring, such as the one that focuses on the concept of flow, Cathy ONeil writes, reviewing the book alongside Jacob Wards The Loop (which is also about technologys effect on our behavior). Even just focusing on focus for this much time is useful, and ends up giving the reader a novel and worthwhile way of measuring our quality of attention.

HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK, by Sequoia Nagamatsu. (Morrow, $27.99.) A devastating virus afflicts the world in this debut novel-in-stories (much of it written pre-Covid), with an array of inventive responses to the plague: among them, euthanasia amusement parks and robotic pets that speak for the dead. If youre a short-story lover as I am youll be impressed with Nagamatsus meticulous craft, Lincoln Michel writes in his review. If you crave sustained character and plot arcs, well, youll have to settle for admiring the well-honed prose, poignant meditations and unique concepts. Hardly small pleasures.

WOMAN RUNNING IN THE MOUNTAINS, by Yuko Tsushima. Translated by Geraldine Harcourt. (New York Review Books, paper, $17.95.) Originally published in 1980, this subtly powerful novel follows a single mother named Takiko, struggling to define herself while managing the pressures of parenthood. Her son becomes a source of unfathomable joy despite remaining something of a mystery, Anderson Tepper writes, reviewing the book with three other works of international fiction. When Takiko meets Kambayashi, a soft-spoken gardener, her complex range of emotions only intensifies, and the novel truly takes flight.

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8 New Books We Recommend This Week - The New York Times

They take dogs off of euthanasia lists and off of the streets in hopes of finding nurturing homes for them.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas Canines and their foster parents gathered at Nueces Brewing Company today to raise money and dog food so the Faith and Hope Foundation can continue to save lives.

Katelyn Pattison is a foster parent with Faith and Hope. Katelyn and her husband have a remarkable story about how they met this lovable pup on their way home.

"We were exiting off highway 44 here in Mackenzie, and there was a truck in front of us who almost hit Yams. Yams barely got out of the way, and so we pulled over to the side of the road." said Pattison. "I laid down between 44 and the feeder road just trying to get him come to me because he was running up towards the highway."

Yams approached them like he knew them and he was given a second chance at life.

Katelyn was grateful to have gotten him to safety. "He was pretty skinny when we got him. No one ever claimed him. We've had him since before Thanksgiving so he's still looking for that perfect home."

The mission at Faith and Hope is to give dogs a second shot at life. They take dogs off of euthanasia lists and off of the streets in hopes of finding nurturing homes for them.

Kim Griggs, board member of Faith and Hope, says there's a great need for fosters. "I always say that that is usually the most important link in the rescue chain as fosters, because we cannot pull from the local shelters unless we have an approved foster in place. And, you know, if we had more fosters we can send many, many dogs to new homes up north."

The organization has quite a few success stories. Little Ally was adopted in just one day.

"Most of the dogs that we have within our group right now are pulled from the local shelters, we also take in some strays and we are always in need of fosters and we're always in need of dog food and monetary donations because that's how we function is solely off of donations." Griggs said.

If you are interested in fostering or would like to know more about the Faith and Hope Foundation, please visit their website and Facebook page.

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Corpus Christi's Faith and Hope Foundation is on a mission to give dogs a second shot at life - KIIITV.com

One of the primary causes of erectile dysfunction (ED) in males is cardiovascular disease, such as hypertension (HT). As a result, the goal of this study is to see how quercetin (Q) affects the important biochemical parameters (nitric oxide, endogenous antioxidant enzymes)/specific enzymes (arginase, acetylcholinesterase and adenosine deaminase) linked to be responsible for smooth muscle relaxation in respect to sexual function. Wistar male rats (30) weighing 200-250g were placed into five groups at random as follows: normal control group given normal saline (CTRL), hypertensive rats administered 25mg/kg/day cyclosporine classified as ED group (HT), positive control administered Sildenafil (SIL, 5mg/kg/day), quercetin (Q) 25mg/kg/day (25 Q) and Q 50mg/kg/day (50 Q). For 30days, cyclosporine was administered i.p., while Q therapy was orally. HT was confirmed before the Q therapy after which the experimental rats were subjected to euthanasia. Nitric oxide (NO) levels, as well as enzymes [Superoxide dismutase, catalase, arginase, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and adenosine deaminase (ADA)], were measured in the corpus cavernosum. Cyclosporine elevated arginase, AChE and ADA activity while lowering NO levels. Compared to the control group, Q of both concentrations reduced the activity of these enzymes and improved antioxidant status and NO levels. Thus, one of the mechanisms of action via which Q acts in the management of ED could be its ability to modulate these important enzymes and boost NO production. 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

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Quercetin boosts nitric oxide levels and modulates the activities of arginase, acetylcholinesterase and adenosine deaminase in the corpus cavernosum...

Before you pick up How High We Go in the Dark, a buzzy debut novel by Sequoia Nagamatsu, be warned: This book is bleak. In a collection of interconnected stories, Nagamatsu follows the discovery and aftermath of a 30,000-year-old virus unearthed by the melting permafrost an Arctic plague that threatens and then reshapes the entire universe.

In the opening scene we meet an archaeologist grieving the loss of his daughter, a climate scientist who died while studying the remains of a girl that appears to be part Neanderthal, part alien life form. An ancient pathogen is unleashed, and from there the novel explores humanitys approach to sudden, overwhelming death. In an early and especially terrifying chapter, a young man takes a job at a euthanasia theme park where terminally ill children are put onto a roller coaster designed to kill them before the virus does. The desolate landscape of death and mourning takes off from there. We meet a scientist who raises pigs for transplant organs, an artist who crafts ice sculptures from the liquified remains of plague victims, a suicidal man who escapes into virtual reality. Each story relates something about how humans deal with loss and grief, and Nagamatsus writing is brilliant.

The novel has been compared to Emily St. John Mandels Station Eleven, and in fact, a display at my local bookstore drew a firm line between the two: If you liked that, youll like this. Im not sure I agree. Both novels portray a post-pandemic apocalypse. But while Station Eleven crafts an arching narrative focused on resilience, this one is often disjointed and confusing. Characters come and go so quickly, with only minor tie-ins to previous chapters, that its hard to elicit an emotional response to the overall story.

Fans of dystopian sci-fi may appreciate some of the world-building here, as will those wanting to dig into pandemic fiction. But I came away wanting more.

The rest is here:

'How High We Go in the Dark' explores a desolate but disjointed post-pandemic world - KMUW

By MICHELLE LOVE | Staff Writer

PELHAM Oak Mountain State Park is preparing for its annual Running for the Bulls 5k and 1-mile Fun Run, which will take place on Saturday, March 26.

The event has become one of the parks most popular runs as participants are encouraged to bring their dogs along on the run to benefit the local nonprofit Bama Bully Rescue.

Bama Bully Rescue is a volunteer-based organization dedicated to fostering and finding forever homes for pit bull type dogs that are often overlooked for adoption and are at risk for euthanasia.

We also strive to educate the public about the true nature of bully breed dogs, encouraging responsible ownership by offering training, behavioral and health care advice in hopes of decreasing the number of bullies that would, without such support, be relinquished by their owners, it reads on their website.

Participation in the Running for the Bull will allow the organization to continue their mission to rescue bully breeds from shelters, promote spay/neuter and educate the public about the true nature of bully breed dogs.

Registration begins at 7:30 a.m., and the races begin at 9 a.m. around the lake at OMSP.

The precise schedule is as follows:

Fees for the 5K (Human) Registration are $30 if signing up in February, $35 in March and $40 on-site. Fun Run registration is $5 and dog registration is $10 (includes a Bama Bully Rescue Bandanna).

For online registration visit http://bit.ly/RFTBreg

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OMSP to host third annual fundraising run for Bama Bully Rescue - Shelby County Reporter - Shelby County Reporter

Rare Disease Day is an annual event celebrated on the final day of February to promote awareness about rare illnesses and to increase access to treatment and medical representation for people living with rare diseases and their families. Bollywood films are often entertaining, including music, dancing, explosive climaxes, and combat situations. But every now and then, audiences get to encounter a film that tries to educate us alongside entertainment and makes us think hard about varied real life situations.

Take, for example, films about certain diseases or illnesses or physical conditions. Showing a rare ailment in a film necessitates extreme care, from writing the script to perfection to the actors portraying the characters to perfection onscreen.

Today, on the occasion of Rare Disease Day, lets go down memory lane and revisit some films of this century that made us aware of rare illnesses and helped dispel varied myths and stigmas that had been attached to them for years at a go.

This is yet another Amitabh Bachchan film that has made critics stand and applaud. In this Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, Rani Mukherji plays a deaf-mute-blind girl who is taught how to speak by Big B's severe taskmaster character, who subsequently develops Alzheimer's disease. This innovative short depicts two people teaching one other that life is full of possibilities if we are ready to perceive them.

The numerous problems that dyslexic youngsters encounter were concisely addressed in this Aamir Khan film. Learning and reading problems define the disease.

Ajay Devgn and Kajol played real-life couple Ajay and Kajol in the film U, Me, Aur Hum, which dealt with the theme of Alzheimer's illness.

This vengeance drama starring Aamir Khan was well received by moviegoers, but it also drew attention on anterograde amnesia, which causes short-term memory loss.

Amitabh Bachchan's performance as a 13-year-old boy rocked audiences to their core. In this R.Balki film, they also discovered the presence of progeria, an incredibly uncommon condition that causes youngsters to mature fast.

In this film, Shah Rukh Khan plays an Asperger's Syndrome sufferer. This condition has an impact on a person's capacity to socialise and communicate effectively.

Hrithik Roshan portrays a paraplegic patient in this Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. Because the injured spinal cord can't convey messages from the brain to the body, the patient is paralysed from the shoulders down with this condition. The documentary also addressed the question of euthanasia.

Karthik, played by Farhan Akhtar, is an introvert, and is often mocked by his employer and has had several disappointments in his life. However, one day he receives a phone call from an unknown person who offers to change his life. The film deals with the issue of schizophrenia which is eventually found out.

Priyanka Chopra plays an autistic girl in this film. Anurag Basu directed the film, which starred Ranbir Kapoor as Barfi, a deaf and mute guy who understands and cares for her. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with neurological development and results in situations in which the patient has difficulty speaking and socialising. It is frequently diagnosed in childhood.

Cerebral palsy is caused by faulty brain development and results in muscular movement disorders that impair the patient's ability to maintain balance. Kalki Koechlin is the protagonist in this Shonali Bose film, who has cerebral palsy but is determined to find the truth about her sexuality.

A lady, Rani Mukerji, with Tourette syndrome gets a position as a teacher at an exclusive school after repeated interviews and rejections. She quickly does all she can to help her rebellious and troublemaking kids realise their full potential.

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Rare Disease Day: Films That Dealt With Some Of The Rarest Of Illnesses - Outlook India