Delaware – Taking Charge Where Obesity is Concerned

Some local coalitions are getting creative to get children’s weight back on track.  One local coalition of Delaware County organizations has created a program called Healthy Living Take Charge!  Their goal is to take concrete steps to lower the county’s high obesity rates among adults and children.

As Tamara White, co-chairman of Healthy Living and a Delaware County Health Department employee, said, “Instead of reinventing the wheel, coming up with a program that may get funded for a couple of years and that’s it, we created small grants to assist agencies that already have a good track record creating obesity-focused programs. The focus on obesity is what we needed in this community and this way we’re working on this issue.”


Healthy Living Take Charge! is using its $14,000 in mini-grant dollars to offer money to programs that address both nutrition and physical activity.  They are trying to encourage day cares, preschools and other agencies that work with young children to use their forum to address obesity and to teach children at an early age.

How Hubble Works: Part 3

The Hubble Space Telescope is in orbit around the earth, completing one orbit every 97 minutes. At 5 miles per second, the speed at which Hubble is orbiting, it would be possible to travel the span of the entire United States in just 10 minutes. During its travels Hubble’s mirror catches light from space and passes it into several different scientific instruments.
Contrary to the belief by many that telescopes work by magnification of objects, the real power of telescopes is in their ability to collect more light than the human eye can collect unassisted.  The size of the mirror in a telescope determines the amount of light that the telescope can capture. The larger the mirror, the more light is captured, and the better the telescope can see. Although there are ground-based telescopes with mirrors larger than Hubble’s 2.4 meter diameter, because Hubble is above and outside of the earth’s atmosphere, Hubble is able to view the universe with unsurpassed clarity.

Hubble is outfitted with several different instruments which examine the incoming light from space in different ways. Together the information gathered from the many instruments on Hubble can give a more complete picture of the universe, extending and expanding our knowledge astronomically.

Pesticides Linked with ADHD: The Latest Findings

A new study, conducted by Brenda Eskenazi at the University of California at Berkely, and published in the August 19th issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found fascinating results about ADHD.  They point to a connection between prenatal levels of exposure to metabolites of organophosphate pesticides and an increase risk for ADHD in children.

The researchers, examining 300 children enrolled in the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas, found that pesticide exposure during pregnancy didn’t significantly increase the risk of ADHD for children ages 3.5, but did seem to be highly associated with children around 5.


In another study, published in Pediatrics by Dr. Marc Weisskopf of the Harvard School of Public Health, researchers found that these pesticides may increase the risk of ADHD in children ages 8-15 years.

Choosing the Right Laptop

Now you’re a student, if you don’t have one already, you’re going to need to invest in a laptop.  Since there are so many different ones available on the market, it is worth doing a bit of research before making the purchase.  Here is a brief list of some of the things you might want to look out for:
a)    Price – that is probably the most important factor.  You don’t want to start going over your budget before you’ve even started your college years. Make a complete budget for your needs during college and feature the laptop into them. Don’t go over, no matter how tempting a particular model looks.
b)    Weight – laptops can vary tremendously in how heavy they are.  If lagging around a heavy laptop is going to be burdensome for you, choose one that is lighter in weight.  Check out the different models for how they feel before purchasing.
c)    Apple or PC – if you are a graphics person, you might want to choose an Apple laptop.  They are also generally known to be more stable and dependable and crash less often.  On the other hand, they tend to price somewhat higher so bear that in mind if you are interested in the Apple.  The PC, while running slightly cheaper, can also benefit those who want to have exactly the same programs as the majority of other people since there are more PC than Apple users these days.

d)    Storage – make sure you have a safe place to store your laptop in your college dorms.  Never leave it out or exposed.  Laptops are so popular with thieves.
Go get yourself a laptop for your college needs. Just make sure you research the various models ahead of time.

Hubble’s Discoveries: Part 2

The Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating twenty years of exploration and discovery of the vast universe in which we are just a small part.  Until Hubble allowed astronomers to probe into the deepest reaches of space, cosmologists could only guess the age of the universe to be somewhere between 10 and 20 billion years. With the help of Hubble the age of the universe is now given a much more accurate figure of 13-14 billion years.

Many key features of the universe have been discovered with the unique visualizing abilities of Hubble, such as dark energy, a mysterious force which accelerates the speed with which the universe is expanding. With the help of Hubble our understanding of how galaxies form has been advanced, as well as how solar systems and planets are born. Other planets have been observed orbiting their own suns in their own solar systems, proving that our solar system is not at all unique in the universe, something that was always conjecture, but never before actually visualized.


The amount of information spewing forth from Hubble is enormous, allowing astronomers to publish, as of today, over 6,000 articles based on data from Hubble. The Hubble Space Telescope has made a revolutionary difference in mankind’s understanding of the universe.

College Drinking Advice

Now that you are on your own in the world and free to explore all sorts of different avenues, you might want to take heed of the following advice for when you go to the bar or a nightclub.  Unfortunately, it’s not like drinking used to be a few decades ago; there are – at least potentially – a lot of pitfalls.  There are many unsavory characters hanging out at these places that you really want to try and avoid.  And if you can’t avoid them, you certainly want to make sure they stay far away from your beverage.  There have been too many reported cases of young innocent women going to the bar for a pint or two and passing out having no remember of what happened to them.  This is because something was slipped into their drinks.  So here’s what you should consider at all times:
a)    Always go with a friend; make sure there are at least two of you who are looking out for each other;
b)    Make sure you supervise your drink at all times – never leave it alone even for a second;
c)    Do not let anyone else buy you a drink;
d)    Make sure the put/bar you are frequenting has a good reputation and nothing untoward has ever happened there;

e)    Do not drink from anyone else’s glass unless you know them very well;
By following these basic rules you should be okay.  Remember, being lax for even less than a minute can land you in serious trouble.  It’s just not worth it.  There is no reason for you not to have a great time drinking during your college years, as long as you follow the above basic rules.