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Soldiers: Sill barracks infested by mold
Mold infests the barracks that were set up here a year ago for wounded soldiers after poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center triggered a systemwide overhaul, soldiers say.
Twenty soldiers, who spoke to USA TODAY early last week, say their complaints about mold and other problems went unheeded for months. They also said they had been ordered not speak about the conditions at Fort Sill.
Officers at the Army base last week ordered that ventilation ducts in two barracks be replaced and soldiers be surveyed, anonymously if they wished, about any concerns. Maj. Gen. Peter Vangjel, the commanding officer, said it was “inappropriate” for soldiers to be ordered not to talk about the mold.
“We’re going in and we’re going to take care of this for these guys,” he said over the weekend.
Images of mold growing on walls of wounded-soldier bedrooms at Walter Reed last year, along with issues of bureaucratic delays in health care, led to an overhaul of the Army’s wounded-care system. Warrior Transition Units (WTU) were created to expedite the care and treatment of wounded and ailing soldiers.
Army commanders testified before Congress on July 22 that the population of wounded and ailing soldiers in the units had doubled from 6,000 to 12,000 since the program’s inception in June 2007, straining resources at several installations.
Early last week, soldiers told USA TODAY that in April they first noticed what looked like layers of mold in flexible air ducts above their rooms when ventilation covers were removed to be cleaned. “[The duct work] was just caked black,” says Sgt. Willard Barnett, 51, an Iraq war veteran.
Some soldiers say they have been affected by air in their rooms.
“When I wake up in the morning, I have crud in my eyes, and I have like this slimy phlegm in the back of my throat,” says Spc. James Dodson, 26.
Vangjel and Forster said they were unaware of any complaints in April.
Bridgford says that Aug. 8 lab tests, taken in response to a July 25 inspector general’s review, show the barracks have “common mold” that is not hazardous. He also says some vents were cleaned earlier this year. Mold infests the barracks that were set up here a year ago for wounded soldiers after poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Cent... more -
In search of Mao's China by bicycle
There's a nice video at the likn, I couldnt find how to post it (flash)
Tai-chi and bikes.
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Good perspective when he shares the road with the bus.
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By Mike Lopresti, Gannett News Service
BEIJING — As an out-of-towner on a bicycle, trying to fight four city buses for the same lane, my life flashed before me outside the gates of the Forbidden City. With Chinese subtitles.
But let's not get ahead of the story.
The idea Tuesday was to party like it was 1969. You might remember pictures from Peking back then. More people on bicycles than you could shake a red book of the thoughts of Chairman Mao at.
To relive the good old days, the solution seemed obvious. Commute from the Olympic media center to downtown on a bike. Twelve miles, door to Gate of Heavenly Purity.
One problem. They don't make morning rush hours like they used to back in Mao's salad days. According to the Olympic information desk, in 1978 there were 77,000 vehicles in Beijing. This year, there are three million.
So instead of the Cultural Revolution, we'd be getting southern California. But away we went anyway, a small gaggle of Americans. Besides, there was a story on the Olympic News Service about a grandmother who came on the back of a tricycle 1,440 miles from the Hunan province to see the badminton competition.
And even that wouldn't make it embarrassing if I chickened out, except she's 97.
My bicycle cost $40. One speed, and no foot brakes, but they threw in a bell.
- - - fulls tory at above link - - - There's a nice video at the likn, I couldnt find how to post it (flash) Tai-chi and bikes. - ... more -
USA Today covers Twitter. Fail Whale warms up for prime time?
I've been wondering for a while what the mainstream event would be that brings Twitter into the mainstream. What do you think, is this it? (Or are we still waiting for Paris Hilton to sign up...)
Current twitter accounts:
@current_com = Current.com: http://twitter.com/current_com
@currentvc2 = VC2: http://twitter.com/currentvc2
@current_it = Current Italy: http://twitter.com/current_it
@infomania = Infomania: http://twitter.com/infomania
... I've been wondering for a while what the mainstream event would be that brings Twitter into the mainstream. What do you think, i... more -
AOL to serve digital ads for 'USA Today' parent company
Gannett Co., which operates 23 television stations and 85 newspapers in the U.S. including USA Today, has signed on AOL's Platform-A as its digital advertising partner. More specifically, it'll be using Platform-A's Adtech, marking the U.S. debut of the formerly Europe-only division.
When the deal has rolled out completely, it'll encompass all of Gannett's local news markets for both print and broadcast, USAToday.com, and other Web properties that the company owns. No target date was provided. But it's a big deal for AOL, considering the reach of USA Today as well as the opportunities for local ad targeting. According to Nielsen, Gannett's Web properties have 25 million unique visitors per month.
"We selected Adtech because their top tier technology will allow us to seamlessly execute and deliver for advertisers at both a local and national level," Chris Saridakis, Gannett's chief digital officer, said in a release from the two companies. "With the Adtech platform, advertisers of all sizes will be able to easily reach our affluent, active online audience, whether it's through broad national campaigns, audience segmentation, or locally targeted campaigns."
AOL acquired the Germany-based Adtech last year. The company has been doing business in Europe for about a decade. Gannett Co., which operates 23 television stations and 85 newspapers in the U.S. including USA Today, has signed on AOL's Platfor... more -
Sony Brings 'Live' Events to Movie Theaters
LOS ANGELES — Sony Pictures studio unveiled plans Wednesday for a new digital cinema unit to bring filmed presentations of Broadway shows, rock concerts and sports events to specially equipped movie theaters nationwide.
The new venture, dubbed the Hot Ticket, will launch in August with a presentation of the final staging of the music and dance extravaganza Delirium from Cirque du Soleil, which closed its worldwide tour in London in April.
In September, the final performance in the 12-year Broadway run of the hit musical Rent will be presented.
"Our mandate will be to identify the one-of-a-kind, and sold-out events that people around the country most want to see ... and present them to audiences everywhere," Sony distribution president Rory Bruer said in a statement.
Hot Ticket presentations will be shown in high-definition format for limited engagements only, starting out on roughly 400 to 500 screens in theaters across the country, with audiences paying roughly $20 a seat, Bruer said.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: United States | London | Canada | Boston Red Sox | New England | Broadway | Tour de France | Reuters | Sony | Walt Disney Co | Viacom | Hannah Montana | Cirque | Soleil | Rent | Placido Domingo | Rory Bruer | National Association of Theatre Owners | John Fithian | Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert | Delirium | Hot Ticket | Showcase Cinemas
The new Sony business is capitalizing on a sweeping upgrade of movie houses being undertaken by major theater chains and studios to bring state-of-the-art digital projection technology to thousands more screens in the United States and Canada.
Besides lowering distribution costs for studios, digital technology is seen as paving the way for the introduction of more "alternative content" to theaters, helping exhibitors bolster sagging admissions, especially on weekdays.
Sony is hardly alone in bringing such non-movie entertainment to a theater near you, but it is believed to be the first major studio to create a separate unit devoted to such content.
"We're excited to be on the ground of floor of what is going to be a new business for movie theaters," Bruer told Reuters.
About 5,000 of nearly 39,000 U.S. cinema screens are already digitally equipped, and that number is expected to climb steadily, said John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners.
He called Sony's move a "confirmation that everyone in the movie industry envisions the cinema as a growing entertainment destination for a variety of products."
"It's significant that Sony recognizes the potential for alternative content in cinemas by creating a separate unit," he said.
The Sony initiative builds on a trend that has been evolving in the movie industry for some time.
Concert films have long been popular offerings at the multiplex, and the Walt Disney Co. scored a box-office bonanza with its recent 3-D release Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert.
Landmark Theatres screened opera star Placido Domingo's 40th anniversary concert in 22 playhouses last month, and several theater chains have teamed up to show auto racing, soccer matches and even Tour de France competition.
National Amusements, the controlling shareholder in Viacom, has been screening high-def broadcasts of select Boston Red Sox baseball games in its Showcase Cinemas in New England since 2003. LOS ANGELES — Sony Pictures studio unveiled plans Wednesday for a new digital cinema unit to bring filmed presentations of Broadway sh... more -
Start-up: affordable solar power possible in a year
Another message from our friend Bill Brown at NMGlobalWarming.org up in Taos, New Mexico.
Greetings, All -- The solar power industry is rapidly pushing toward economic parity with old technology fossil fuel power. SUNRGI of Silicon Valley, California is promising -- perhaps with slightly excess optimism -- economically competitive solar photovoltaic power by 2009. The solar power industry as a whole is looking at economic parity by 2010 to 2015. OPEC yesterday was looking at $200-per-barrel oil in the very near future, which would represent a price increase since 1999 of 1,000 percent (that is one thousand percent over the global $20 per barrel oil price in 1999).
Place your bets now on where the world should be heading in terms of a new clean energy economy.
-- Bill Brown
www.nmglobalwarning.org
From your friends at TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com Another message from our friend Bill Brown at NMGlobalWarming.org up in Taos, New Mexico. ... more
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