The First Lady Takes on Childhood Obesity

Washington (CNN) -- Michelle Obama is telling America that it's time to get moving. In a news conference set for noon Tuesday at the White House, the first lady will introduce a national effort to combat childhood obesity. Read the FULL story

The Smithsonian: Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells

In 1951, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, created the first immortal human cell line with a tissue sample taken from a young black woman with cervical cancer. Those cells, called HeLa cells, quickly became invaluable to medical research—though their donor, who turned out to be Henrietta Lacks, remained a mystery for decades. Read FULL story

3 Sisters, All Centenarians, Break World Records

Maggie Thornton Renfro will be 115 in November. She is the 7th oldest in the world. Her life will be celebrated alongside her three sister, Carrie, 107, and Rosie Thornton, 103.

Maggie Mae Thornton Renfro spends her days singing. The 114 year old lived by herself until she was 106 years old, then adopted daughter Mattie Ellis moved in, helping with day to day chores like cooking breakfast.

Read full story

The Dangers of Cosmetic Surgery

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This is a sad but all increasingly common story. We live in a instant, everything right now culture that promotes the must have "perfect" body. With constant bombardment of skinny women found on most women magazine covers, some women are pressured to seek extreme means to achieve what they believe to be the perfect body.

You can find similar stories of many other women by searching "woman dies from liposuction". [TRUE STORY] In the case of Bernadette Poma, 48, doctors stated that Bernadette died at the weekend because her heart could not withstand the intense toxic shock. Bernadette,a Florentine woman died after what should have been a simple liposuction on her thighs went wrong. Her husband said he had picked her up from the clinic after the treatment to give her slimmer legs and she had been fine. She felt unwell the same night and by the following morning was admitted to intensive care. She spent a week fighting for her life against what doctors call an extraordinary invasion of bacteria. "My mother was beautiful," her 17-year-old son, Paolo, said. "She didn't need this treatment, it was just to make her even more beautiful". Source: The Independent News

There is a long list of women who sadly succumb to the pressure of seeking synthetic means to achieve the skinny image. Here are a few:

• Usher's ex-wife, Tameka Raymond, recovered from cardiac arrest while prepping for liposuction. "Raymond never had the liposuction. According to Dasptry, after her cardiac arrest, Raymond was immediately revived and placed in an induced coma."


• Kayne West's mom, Donda West died from complications after receiving a combination breast reduction and tummy tuck


• James Brown's wife, Adrienne Brown died from complications of cosmetic surgery. A coroner's office official pointed out that she already had a bad heart and was weak from the hours of the liposuction surgery she had undergone.


• Jornal de Noticias, died from a pulmonary embolism three days after liposuction to reduce her waist. The autopsy revealed that she suffered second degree burns to her waist and abdomen.

World's oldest person dies in Los Angeles at 115

By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer John Rogers, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – Although she liked her bacon crispy and her chicken fried, she never drank, smoked or fooled around, Gertrude Baines once said, describing a life that lasted an astonishing 115 years and earned her the title of oldest person on the planet.

It was a title Baines quietly relinquished Friday when she died in her sleep at Western Convalescent Hospital, her home since she gave up living alone at age 107 after breaking a hip.

She likely suffered a heart attack, said her longtime physician, Dr. Charles Witt, although an autopsy was scheduled to determine the exact cause of death.

"I saw her two days ago, and she was just doing fine," Witt told The Associated Press on Friday. "She was in excellent shape. She was mentally alert. She smiled frequently."

Baines was born in Shellman, Ga., on April 6, 1894, when Grover Cleveland was in the White House, radio communication was just being developed and television was still more than a half-century from becoming a ubiquitous household presence.

She was 4 years old when the Spanish-American War broke out and 9 when the first World Series was played. She had already reached middle age by the time the U.S. entered World War II in 1941.

Throughout it all, Baines said last year, it was a life she thoroughly enjoyed.

"I'm glad I'm here. I don't care if I live a hundred more," she said with a hearty laugh after casting her vote for Barack Obama for president. "I enjoy nothing but eating and sleeping."

Her vote for Obama, she added, had helped fulfill a lifelong dream of seeing a black man elected president.

"We all the same, only our skin is dark and theirs is white," said Baines, who was black.

The centenarian, who worked as a maid at Ohio State University dormitories until her retirement, had outlived all of her family members. Her only daughter died of typhoid at age 18.

In her final years, she passed her days watching her favorite TV program, "The Jerry Springer Show," and consuming her favorite foods: bacon, fried chicken and ice cream. She complained often, however, that the bacon served to her was too soft.

"Two days ago, when I saw her, she was talking about the fact that the bacon wasn't crisp enough, that it was soggy," Witt said.

She became the world's oldest person in January when Maria de Jesus died in Portugal at 115.

The title brought with it a spotlight of attention, and Baines was asked frequently about the secret to a long life. She shrugged off such questions, telling people to ask God instead.

"She told me that she owes her longevity to the Lord, that she never did drink, she never did smoke and she never did fool around," Witt said at a party marking her 115th birthday.

At the party, Baines sat quietly, paying little attention as nursing home staffers and residents sang "Happy Birthday" and presented congratulatory notices from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and others. But she laughed when told the Los Angeles Dodgers had given her a cooler filled with hot dogs.

With Baines' death, 114-year-old Kama Chinen of Japan becomes the world's oldest person, said Dr. L. Stephen Coles of the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks claims of extreme old age. Chinen was born May 10, 1895.

The oldest person who ever lived, Coles said, was Jeanne-Louise Calment, who was 122 when she died Aug. 4, 1997, in Arles, France.

Associated Press writer Solvej Schou contributed to this report.

What's Your Personality Type?

I was looking at Tonyatko's video tonight about different personality types based on the Myers-Briggs standard. Out of curiosity, I took my test on Similar Minds HERE just to see what the test would say. My results came back as: ISTJ. I then took this information over to Personality Page HERE to learn that ISTJ equaled a Duty Fulfiller. I read the description of a Duty Fulfiller. To my surprise, the description was extremely close to who I am. I've been working hard on my weaknesses for a while to ensure overall balance in my life.

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Myers-Briggs is not always accurate and results are contingent upon the answers submitted by the participant.

ISTJs generally have the following traits: (True)

* Value tradition, security, and peaceful living
* Will work long and hard to fulfill duties
* Can be depended on to follow through on tasks
* Loyal and faithful
* Stable, practical and down-to-earth
* Family-minded
* Dislike doing things which don't make sense to them
* Dislike abstract theory, unless they see the practical application
* Natural leaders
* Prefer to work alone, but work well in teams when necessary
* Extremely observant, they take in facts via their senses and store them internally
* Vast, rich inner store of facts which they rely on to understand problems which they encounter in their lives
* Profound respect for facts and concrete information
* Make decisions objectively, applying logic and rational thinking
* Dislike change, unless they are shown it's benefit in a concrete way
* Have strong opinions about the way things should be done
* Appreciate structured, orderly environments
* Have very high standards for their own behavior and the behavior of others
* Not naturally in-tune with other people's feelings
* Able to accomplish almost anything if they put their minds to it
* Community minded "good citizens"

Possible Career Paths for the ISTJ: (I majored in MIS in undergrad & focused heavily in systems analyst and software engineering. I went to law school and practiced law for 10 years. I'm now studying holistic health to enter the medical field.)


* Business Executives, Administrators and Managers
* Accountants and Financial Officers
* Police and Detectives
* Judges
* Lawyers
* Medical Doctors / Dentists
* Computer Programmers, Systems Analysts, and Computer Specialists
* Military Leaders

ISTJs as it relates to Relationships
ISTJ Strengths (True)

* Honor their commitments
* Take their relationship roles very seriously
* Usually able to communicate what's on their minds with precision
* Good listeners
* Extremely good (albeit conservative) with money
* Able to take constructive criticism well
* Able to tolerate conflict situations without emotional upheaval
* Able to dole out punishment or criticism when called for

ISTJ Weaknesses (I'm more of a mediator/negotiator...win-win-win. I do believe I'm right a lot of the time but can admit when I'm wrong. Once I learn what a person needs are, I try hard to meet those needs including praise and affirmation. However, compassion does not come naturally. I really have to work on it. For the most part, I'm not touchy feelly. I have this sense of "knowing" and intuition. I believe this comes from my connection with the Most High. This knowing helps to guide me through my daily life. I've learned to listen and follow this path even when it goes against my logic and reasoning. This spiritual aspect of my personality has proven to be right time and time again.)

* Tendency to believe that they're always right
* Tendency to get involved in "win-lose" conversations
* Not naturally in-tune with what others are feeling
* Their value for structure may seem rigid to others
* Not likely to give enough praise or affirmation to their loved ones

ISTJs as Parents (True)
ISTJs are faithful and devoted parents who can be counted on to put forth their very best efforts towards raising their children in positive, comfortable, secure homes, and to promote their growth in such a way that they will become secure adults who know their place in life within our society.

ISTJs as Lovers (True)
ISTJs are committed, loyal partners, who will put forth tremendous amounts of effort into making their relationships work. Once they have made a commitment to a relationship, they will stick with it until the end. They gladly accept their duty towards fulfilling their role in the relationship.

ISTJs as Friends (True- I'm still learning in this area. I like to keep my circle of friends small although I know a lot of people. I still have to work on patience although I'm a lot better than I was before.)

Although friendships do not rank highest in the ISTJ's list of important relationships (whose duties and obligation to the Family rank above all else), they do value these relationships and put effort into enhancing and maintaining them. The ISTJ is likely to choose to be around people who have similar interests and perspectives to their own, and are likely to not have much patience with people who are very different from themselves.

16 Personality Types
* ISTJ - The Duty Fulfillers
* ESTJ - The Guardians
* ISFJ - The Nurturers
* ESFJ - The Caregivers
* ISTP - The Mechanics
* ESTP - The Doers
* ESFP - The Performers
* ISFP - The Artists
* ENTJ - The Executives
* INTJ - The Scientists
* ENTP - The Visionaries
* INTP - The Thinkers
* ENFJ - The Givers
* INFJ - The Protectors
* ENFP - The Inspirers
* INFP - The Idealists

You Inspire Me -- Esperanza Spalding

Her music brings me great joy! Learn more about Esperanza here