Elaine

On Sept. 30, 2004 Merck announced a worldwide withdrawal of Vioxx (rofecoxib). Vioxx had previously been prescribed in the treatment of arthritis and pain. Worldwide sales of Vioxx in 2003 were an estimated $2.5Billion and the drug was marketed in more than 80 countries around the world. This is one of several recent pharmaceutical products to have been put in the spotlight by both the national media and plaintiff lawyers.

Since sometime in the mid to late 90s a substantial number of pharmaceutical medications and medical devices have been removed from the market due to possible adverse health implications. The FDA acts as a regulatory body in approving health related products before they are marketed to consumers. The FDA moved to ban Ephedra in the US in 2004. However, the recent headlines about voluntary drug withdrawals have produced questions as to the FDA's recent performance.

Many people believe that the FDA did not test the drugs rigorously enough to determine all the possible health problems that they might cause. People believe that the rise in litigation over these medications was due to the fact that the FDA now allows pharmaceutical companies to fast track their products and get them through the process in a year. In fact, Vioxx was only released in 1999.

Some of the latest drugs where concerns have also arose are Bextra, Celebrex and Zyprexa. Litigation over these drugs may commence in the near future. US plaintiff lawyers have begun to put some serious time and research into possible claims that may arise from pharmaceutical drugs. Plaintiff lawyers also handle Mesothelioma, Car Accident, and a wide variety of different personal injury cases.

If you think that you may have been injured by one of these drugs that have recently made headlines, you may consider consulting with a lawyer. Many plaintiff attorneys handle cases on a contingency basis.

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You may republish this article on your own site. A link to Law Articles from your site would be most appreciated. Please do not alter the article. Thanks.

Richard Martin

There are many reasons why high school students drop out. Pregnancy, work, or family can keep you from graduating and earning your diploma. There are options for people like this. There are many adult education programs available.

An adult education is important because it opens up doors job-wise that would not have been there. If you find yourself stuck in a dead end job, with a boss you can't stand, there is only one way out. A higher education can be your only ticket to a profession that you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life.

A high school diploma or an equivalent adult education certificate proves that you are able to demonstrate basic skills such as attendance, social skills, and an ability to complete tasks. Without and adult education, you can not progress to the junior colleges or universities that are proven to improve your quality of life.

A minimum of a high school education is required for anyone applying for a government position. These positions usually offer good pay and excellent benefits. You can find a job with your city for everything from your local fire department to your local city library.

It is a statistical fact that people who earn a high school diploma, either from a high school or adult education program, lead to higher life outcomes, higher salaries and more satisfying jobs. Not having a diploma can keep you from improving your personal and financial situation and can frustrate those who do not have it. Without one, you are likely to find yourself in a low-income position with almost no opportunity for advancement and no way to better your situation through college or vocational degrees.

There is a new program at Continental Academy that provides adult education to earn your accredited high school diploma. Working at your own pace, you can turn in assignments at your own pace and work schedule with absolutely no deadlines to meet. You can obtain your adult education and earn a diploma that is accredited by several government organizations. You can be eligible for higher education in a college or university. Visit ContinentalAcademy.com for more information on how you can follow your dreams affordably and conveniently in the comfort of your own home.

Continental Academy is a distance education school located in Miramar, Florida. We specialize in home study school completion programs for students that are at least 16 years of age. At Continental Academy, students are our #1 priority. Our entire staff is committed to providing our students with the most enjoyable and successful learning experience possible.

For more information on adult education, please go to http://www.continentalacademy.com or call 1-800-285-3514.

Many teachers and professors these days use amplifiers to talk to the class. These systems are becoming more and more popular for the instructors. Currently there are several systems, most have a small mike and that goes down to an amplifier box that is worn on the belt or electronically transferred wirelessly to a sound system in the room.

Why are these systems becoming so popular? Well there are many reasons actually such as:

1.) Saving the Teachers Voice;

2.) Ability Talk Over the Disruptive Noise;

3.) The Classrooms are Very Large;

4.) The Higher Volume Helps Keep Students Attention.

Of course as the future progresses these technologies also advance and all these voice systems are about to really take a technology boost. In the near future there will be a paradigm shift in voice systems of this type due to advances in Military Applications. It is time to look ahead at solutions and advance our position in the war on terror.

Currently, systems are being tested which allow someone to communicate without talking, only thinking the words, which will vibrate the vocal cords slightly. In other high-tech advanced systems the person only needs to whisper under their breath. These systems are perfect for SWAT Teams, Special Forces or Flushing out insurgents in Iraq.

Generally when advanced technologies like this are perfected within a few years these technologies are transferred into the private sector. Thus we can expect these systems to make it into our classrooms to help with the issues of expanded classroom size and density. Perhaps this article might help you propel thought in 2007.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; www.WorldThinkTank.net/

Shingling or roofing a house is a major undertaking for a homeowner and extreme caution is required. This said, a Do-It-Yourselfer homeowner can shingle or roof their own home with a little knowledge and the right tools.

Required Tools

In order to roof a house properly and safely the following tools are needed: Ladders, Roof Jacks, Hammer, Carpenters Knife, Chalk Line, and preferably a compressor or nail gun.

Estimating Materials

Typically the roof is measured in squares, where a square represents 100 square feet. There are eighty shingles in one square. However, when you go to your local home improvement store shingles are usually sold in bundles. Usually three bundles equal one square, however this can vary slightly pending the shingle style.

Measure the area of your roof (length x width) and divide by 100 to get the number of squares required. Then multiply this number by three to get the number of bundles of shingles required for the job. Add an additional 10-15% for spare, leaning toward the 15% if your roof has hips and valleys.

Drip edge, ice and water shield, asphalt paper, flashing, roofing nails, and hip and ridge vents will also be required. The Drip edge comes in various lengths. Measure the outside perimeter of the roof to calculate the drip edge required. The ice and water shield, asphalt paper and flashing come in roles. Use your roof square area calculation for determining your asphalt paper requirements. Typically only one or two courses of ice and water shield is required along the bottom/eave of the roof and in the valleys. Calculate 2 times the length of the roof and valleys to estimate the amount of ice and water shield required.

Typically each shingle will require 4-6 roofing nails and flashing usually comes in 16 wide roles or 6x6 or 8x8 square inch steps. Step flashing is typically used around chimneys, dormers and side wall junctions. Hip and Ridge vent will vary with local building codes, however a rough estimate would be to measure the length of your roofs hip and ridges and take 75% of this figure for calculating the amount of vent required.

You should now be able to fairly accurately calculate the cost of material for roofing your home.

Installing the Drip Edge

Nail the Drip edge around the entire outside perimeter of the roof.

Apply the Ice and Water Shield Membrane and the Asphalt Paper

Apply the ice and water shield material such that it is flush with the drip edge. If the climate in your area has harsh winters and/or significant annual rainfall, add a second course of ice and water shield for added protection. You should also add the ice and water shield membrane in the valleys.

Next apply the asphalt paper to the entire roof, starting from the bottom and working towards the ridge. Make sure each course of asphalt paper overlaps the lower row by several inches (effectively shingling with the asphalt paper).

Install metal flashing

Install metal flashing in all of the valleys. Step flashing around chimneys and dormers will be added as the shingles are installed.

Installing the Shingles

Start the shingling at the bottom of the roof (or at the eaves). Lay a starter course such that the bottom edge of the shingle lines up flush with the drip edge. The starter strip is a tabless shingle that you make from the regular shingles using your carpenters knife.

Lay your next course of full shingles over the first course, staggering the starter joints from the first course to prevent water penetration.

Note: Sometimes you may want to start with a full or a partial shingle at one end. In either case, you want to try to avoid small shingle pieces at the far end of the roof. To prevent this, divide the length of the roof by the length of a full shingle and assess how much of a shingle length you want to start with. Ideally you do not want to have pieces smaller than 12.

Use a Chalk Line

To ensure your shingle courses run straight use a chalk line. Measure the finished reveal on your shingles. Usually this is about 5 inches. Then make marks every 5 inches on the gable ends of the roof. Snap a chalk line between the gable ends at each pair of marks all the way up the roof. This will ensure that you shingles run true and straight as you progress up the roof with the courses.

Vertical lines should also be snapped every 3 to 6 feet to ensure your tabs maintain alignment.

Use of Roof Jacks

After 3 or 4 courses of shingles have been installed using ladders, roof jacks may be necessary to access the upper courses. Roof jacks are steel brackets that hold planks in position for you to stand on. The roof jacks should be securely nailed through the decking and into rafters to ensure that they will support your weight.

Shingling Valleys, Chimneys, Skylights and Dormers, and Step Flashing

Shingling the valleys and installing flashing requires extra care. The shingles, typically coming from two intersecting courses when entering a valley, need to overlap each other such that no water penetration occurs.

Skylights, chimneys and dormers must be step flashed (step flashing is interleaved with each course of shingles) to ensure water is kept from penetrating the roof.

Adding the Ridge Vent and Caps

To complete the roofing project, ridge vents need to be installed. These are nailed to the top of the ridge and then capped.

The ridge cap prevents water from entering the home via the ridge vent, while still allowing the house to breath. The ridge cap is constructed out of individual shingle tabs that have their unfinished corners cut off at 45 degree angles. Each modified shingle tab, is nailed such that it overlaps the previous piece as you work your way down the length of the ridge vent.

For more help on Shingling Your Home's Roof, see HomeAdditionPlus.coms Asphalt Shingle Roofing Bid Sheet at http://www.homeadditionplus.com/Bid-Sheet-Ebook-info/Asphalt-Shingle-Roofing-Bid-Sheet.htm. The Asphalt Shingle Roofing Bid Sheet will help to ensure that your roof won't end up with a blue tarp over it and a dumpster sitting in your yard for weeks as you wait for the roofing contractor to come back and finish roofing your home.

Over the past 20+ years Mr. Donovan has been involved with building homes and additions to homes. His projects have included: building a vacation home, building additions and garages on to existing homes, and finishing unfinished homes. For more Home Improvement information visit: http://www.homeadditionplus.com and http://www.homeaddition.blogspot.com

A Little History

We continually get warnings of a Bird Flu pandemic. So far, all cases of Bird Flu have come from contact with infected birds. Half of those who have contacted the Bird Flu have died.

There has been no human to human transfer of the Bird Flu. The fear is that the virus will mutate to a form that will allow direct human contact to pass the virus.

The Bird Flu is related to the Flu of 1918 that started in the United States at our ports and then spread through military camps such as Fort Dodge, Iowa. The pandemic was worldwide and the death total exceeded that of the then current war, World War I known as the Great War.

To read about the 1918 epidemic go to http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/. The most susceptible victims were those between the years of 20 and 40. The young and old were spared as is predicted with the Bird Flu.

My father caught influenza in 1918. My cousins father was pronounced dead in France because he was near death. He was tagged on his toe as a goner. Somehow, he recovered.

The flu knew no boundaries. Hermits were found dead in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey and in other remote locations. Hospitals were crammed full and morticians and grave diggers were in short supply. See the Stanford University URL for the gory details.

According to the Stanford University reference, school children jumped rope to the following rhyme:

I had a little bird, Its name was Enza. I opened the window, And in-flu-enza.

A Little Flu Goes a Long Way

The influenza plague of 1918 was thought to have originated in Spain so it was called the Spanish Flu. It occurred in three cycles as it circled the earth again and again. Our reference URL from Stanford University says that 80-90% of the population contacted the Spanish Flu. Only two inhabited islands escaped the flu. As the article says, in India, the flu killed 50 out of every 1000 people or 5% of the population. Scientists are studying the flu of 1918 because they think it is similar or identical to Bird Flu.

The year before last when we had a serious flu epidemic, I was not able to get vaccine here in Idaho. Last year, I didnt even try. This is despite the fact that I am in the high-risk category because of my age, the fact that Ive had coronary by-pass surgery twice, and that I have the aortic valve of a kind donor pig. Most flu strains attack the very young and the old. The Bird Flu hits those in the middle the hardest, the 20-40 year olds. I worry more about my grandchildren than I do about myself.

The fact that we were in war helped to spread the flu in 1918. Well, we are in war now. Let me ask you this question; what do you think our government will be able to do before the Bird Flu hits? Many dont trust the government in emergency situations. The attack on 9/11 came as a big surprise. The Weather Service gave ample warning on Katrina and other hurricanes but the governments response was pathetic. Osama Bin Laden is still eating Shish Kabob.

Assuming that some scientific team in a government, university, industrial, or private laboratory does not come up with a vaccine, and that the vaccine can not be produced in very large categories before the Bird Flu begins to propagate from humans rather than from sick birds, what will you be able to do about it?

What is Your Community Doing?

Read the article at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3847203.html to learn what would be expected in Houston, Texas. The article does not reveal the Houston plan, it just says what would happen if the flu hit Houston. One thing is that the hospitals would be jammed, the doctors and nurses would be dressed in special biological warfare gear, and there would be shortages of medicines to treat the patients.

One of the dangers of Bird Flu is subsequent pneumonia. I cant think of a better place to catch pneumonia than in a hospital. I went through that last year when my hospital stay was 19 days instead of the 7-10 day normal recovery from a heart valve replacement. The bugs I had were very difficult to kill and I was taking antibiotics for two weeks after I got home. That may be a mute point. There will not be enough hospital beds anyway.

According to Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, vitamin C in large doses, 1-10 grams, can alleviate the symptoms of flu. The side affects of flu are what cause death. I take 2 grams of vitamin C each day but if I get cold or flu symptoms, I take the larger doses until the symptoms go away. Then I go back to my 2 grams to keep them away.

One thing we could do would be to get rid of the archaic custom of shaking hands. The Japanese never shake hands unless some American insists. They bow. If they get a cold, they cover their faces with medical masks.

Coughing and hand shaking are major methods of sharing the flu with your neighbors. Some politicians and church leaders who are tired of suffering from continual colds and flu bugs obtained from hand shaking carry medical wipes to clean their hands often after being exposed to the public.

I suggest you stock up on hand wipes and vitamin C.

I suggest you wash your hands frequently.

A public meeting is another sure place to get a bug. If you have symptoms of flu and are coughing, continually blowing your nose, and have a fever to boot, stay home. I dont care if it is your day to speak in church, stay home.

If you are a high-risk like me, ask your doctor what precautions you might take to prevent or treat the flu. You will not want to go into his office during a flu epidemic.

The agent causing flu is a virus. We do have some drugs that might help. Lets hope there are enough drugs and vaccines to protect all of us. Some say that such drugs will be in short supply. I'm sure that they will be.

Remember that if you hear that the Bird Flu is being passed from human to human rather than bird to human, STOP SHAKING HANDS.

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself "Taylor Jones, the hack writer."

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.aaaflagpoles.com

Before you read Part two take note of the simplicity of doing something like this. It does take some time to set up, but the benefits will out weigh the time it takes in a safer neighborhood, neighbors as your friends and the Criminals will go elsewhere.

You have probably driven through a neighbor hood where you have seen a Neighborhood Watch Sign.What this does is created an awareness that your neighbors are on the look out for suspicious persons and activities. This is pretty simple but the benefits go further than you might think. In Part One of this series, I discussed how the two-way radios can be helpful. Now imagine these signs on your street, and a few people making routine patrols in your neighborhood a few times a day with the radios with one home being the base. You can report suspicious persons and activities as you see them, which gives the police a better chance at heading it off at the pass. You might be thinking to yourself, The Police are never there when you need them. That is a common thought, however, how are the police to predict a burglar from breaking into your home? That isn't very practical. However, with cooperation from involved citizens, you can catch people red handed, or prevent the crime from occurring in the first place. And believe me, criminals do not want to test out neighborhoods that aren't safe for them. They will move to other places if you neighborhood had a good reputation on crime prevention.

There are stickers to put on your windows available too, which will most likely be seen by a perpetrator before they attempt to break in. And that will alert them that a neighbor might be watching. In most areas this works, because there is almost always a police officer close by that can be there within just minutes.

Where do you get these items? Many times your local Law Enforcement Center will provide the street signs, training materials, and window decals. These items are not very expensive if you would like to get them for your own neighborhood watch program. Below is a link where you can get these items for a reasonable price. You may also be able to work with your local Law Enforcement Center and they will purchase the items for you, because involved citizens help them To Serve and To Protect.

National Neighborhood Watch Institute

In addition to this I have created a template at my website that is available free of charge for anyone that chooses to use it. The template is a log sheet that you can use to keep track of all suspicious persons and activities reported within your neighborhood watch program. Below is a copy of a log sheet that you can cut and paste and use for free.

Neighborhood Watch Group ______________________________ Log Sheet

Date:__________________What did you notice? ___________________________________________

Description of Persons. _______________________________________________________________

Time of Day. _______________________________________________________________________

Potential Victim. ____________________________________________________________________

Did you get a License Plate? __________ Did you report it to the police? ______________________

Police Report Number. _________________ Did you inform the facilitator of your watch group? ___

Your Name. _______________________ Phone Number: __________________________________

Date:__________________What did you notice? ___________________________________________

Description of Persons. _______________________________________________________________

Time of Day. _______________________________________________________________________

Potential Victim. ____________________________________________________________________

Did you get a License Plate? __________ Did you report it to the police? ______________________

Police Report Number. _________________ Did you inform the facilitator of your watch group? ___

Your Name. _______________________ Phone Number: __________________________________

You may cut and paste this into your word processor and print it. It is free. Or you can make your own to fit the needs of your Neighborhood Watch Program.

2007-Mjbelectronics.com

MJB Electronics, http://www.nnwi.org/index.html