Saturday, December 11, 2010

[Peckers_Pics] Twink Wars; Dec 12, 2010 - Safe PICS For All Ages, Rated G



 
Twink Wars; Dec 12, 2010
Safe PICS For All Ages, Rated  G
 
Diet & Fitness:
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Today's Health - Wellness / Exercise / Reflections:
Reduce Your Indoor Asthma Triggers
By National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences /Dec 11, 2010
 
Once considered a minor ailment affecting only a few, asthma is now the most common chronic disorder in childhood, affecting an estimated nine million American children under the age of 18.

And despite improvements in diagnosis and management, and a better understanding of the causes, the numbers have progressively increased over the past decades. In the United States alone, more than 11% of adults and 12% of children have been diagnosed with asthma.

An inflammatory disease, asthma can occur along the entire airway, from the nose to the lung. Once the airway becomes swollen and inflamed, it becomes narrower, and less air gets through to the lung tissue. This causes symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and trouble breathing.

During an asthma attack, the muscles around the airways tighten, and the asthma symptoms become worse than usual.

The fact that asthma runs in families suggests that genetic factors play an important role in the development of the disease. If one or both parents have asthma, the child is much more likely to develop the condition – this is known as genetic susceptibility.

However, environmental factors also contribute to the disease process. Recent studies show that exposure to indoor allergens, from house dust mites, cockroaches, dogs, cats, rodents, molds and fungi, are among the most important asthma triggers.

Your Indoor Environment
From 1998-2002, researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Department of Housing and Urban Development conducted an extensive survey to assess the prevalence of these indoor allergens in American homes.

The results of this survey, known as the National Survey of Lead and Allergens in Housing, showed that more than 46%of homes have levels of dust mite allergens high enough to produce allergic reactions. Nearly a quarter have allergen levels high enough to trigger asthma symptoms in genetically susceptible individuals.

The survey also found that nearly two-thirds of American homes have detectable levels of cockroach allergens, with higher concentrations in high-rise apartments, urban settings, older homes and homes of low-income households. Approximately 10% of homes had cockroach allergen levels above the threshold for triggering asthma symptoms.

One of the most surprising findings from the national survey was that 100% of U.S. homes had detectable levels of dog and cat allergens, even though dogs were present in only 32% of the surveyed homes, and cat ownership was reported in only 24%.

Most homes had levels of dog and cat allergens that exceeded the threshold for allergic sensitization, while about one-third of homes had allergen levels high enough to produce asthma symptoms.

Reducing Indoor Allergens
Beginning in the 1990s, scientists developed an intervention program that targets six major classes of allergens that trigger asthma symptoms – dust mites, cockroaches, pet dander, rodents, passive smoking and mold.

Children who received the intervention had fewer unscheduled clinic visits, a reduction in the use of albuterol inhalers, and more symptom-free days over the course of the study than those in the control group.

Here's how you can reduce these allergens in your own home.

Dust mites
These tiny microscopic relatives of the spider live on mattresses, bedding, upholstered furniture, carpets and curtains.

They feed on the flakes of skin that people and pets shed daily and thrive in warm and humid environments.

No matter how clean a home is, dust mites can't be totally eliminated. But you can greatly reduce their numbers.

Preventive strategies:

  • Use a dehumidifier or air conditioner to maintain relative humidity at about 50% or below.
  • Encase your mattress and pillows in dust-proof or allergen impermeable covers (available from specialty supply mail-order companies, bedding stores and some department stores).
  • Wash all bedding and blankets once a week in hot water (at least 130-140 degrees Farenheit) to kill dust mites. Non-washable bedding can be frozen overnight to kill dust mites.
  • Replace wool or feathered bedding with synthetic materials and trade traditional stuffed animals with washable ones.
  • If possible, replace wall-to-wall carpets in bedrooms with bare floors (linoleum, tile or wood) and remove fabric curtains and upholstered furniture.
  • Use a damp mop or rag to remove dust. Never use a dry cloth, since this just stirs up mite allergens.
  • Use a vacuum cleaner with either a double-layered microfilter bag or a HEPA filter to trap allergens that pass through a vacuum's exhaust.
  • Wear a mask while vacuuming to avoid inhaling allergens, and stay out of the vacuumed area for 20 minutes to allow any dust and allergens to settle.
Cockroaches
These are one of the most common and allergenic of indoor pests.

Recent studies have found a strong association between the presence of cockroaches and increases in the severity of asthma symptoms in individuals who are sensitive to their allergens.

These pests are common even in the cleanest of crowded urban areas and older dwellings. They're found in all types of neighborhoods.

The proteins found in cockroach saliva are particularly allergenic, but the body and droppings of cockroaches also contain allergenic proteins.

Preventive strategies:
  • Keep food and garbage in closed, tight-lidded containers. Never leave food out in the kitchen.
  • Don't leave out pet food or dirty food bowls.
  • Eliminate water sources that attract these pests, such as leaky faucets and drain pipes.
  • Mop the kitchen floor and wash countertops at least once a week.
  • Plug up crevices around the house through which cockroaches can enter.
  • Limit the spread of food around the house, especially in bedrooms.
  • Use bait stations and other environmentally safe pesticides to reduce cockroach infestation.
Pets and animals
Many people think animal allergies are caused by the fur or feathers of their pet. In fact, allergies are actually aggravated by the following:
  • Proteins secreted by oil glands and shed as dander
  • Proteins in saliva (which stick to fur when animals lick themselves)
  • Aerosolized urine from rodents and guinea pigs
Keep in mind that even when animals are out of sight, their allergens aren't. This is because pet allergens are carried on very small particles. As a result, they circulate in the air and remain on carpets and furniture for weeks and months after a pet is gone.

Allergens may also be present in public buildings, schools, and other places where there are no pets.

Preventive strategies:
  • Remove pets from your home if possible.
  • If pet removal isn't possible, keep them out of bedrooms and confined to areas without carpets or upholstered furniture.
  • Bathe pets weekly to reduce the amount of allergens.
  • Wear a dust mask and gloves when near rodents.
  • After playing with your pet, wash your hands and clean your clothes to remove allergens.
  • Avoid contact with soiled litter cages
  • Dust often with a damp cloth.
Mold
Several molds that grow both indoors and outdoors produce allergenic substances. These allergens can be found in mold spores and fungal structures such as hyphae, which anchor the mold and absorb nutrients.

Outdoor molds are seasonal, first appearing in early spring and thriving until the first frost. But there's no definite seasonal pattern to molds that grow indoors.

Indoor molds are found in dark, warm, humid and musty environments such as damp basements, cellars, attics, bathrooms and laundry rooms. They're also found where fresh food is stored, as well as in refrigerator drip trays, garbage pails, air conditioners and humidifiers.

Outdoor molds grow in moist, shady areas. They're common in soil, decaying vegetation, compost piles, rotting wood and fallen leaves.

Preventive strategies:
  • Use a dehumidifier or air conditioner to maintain relative humidity below 50% and keep temperatures cool.
  • Vent bathrooms and clothes dryers to the outside, and run bathroom and kitchen vents while bathing and cooking.
  • Regularly check faucets, pipes and ductwork for leaks.
  • When first turning on home or car air conditioners, leave the room or drive with the windows open for several minutes to allow mold spores to disperse.
  • Remove decaying debris from the yard, roof and gutters.
  • Avoid raking leaves, mowing lawns or working with peat, mulch, hay or dead wood. If you must do yard work, wear a mask and avoid working on hot, humid days.
Adapted from "Asthma and Its Environmental Triggers" and "Allergens & Irritants" by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health.
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San Jose, CA - Gay Pride; Aug 22, 2010
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San Jose, CA - Gay Pride; Aug 22, 2010
Gay and homeless: In plain sight, a largely hidden population
Every year, hundreds of gay youths end up on the streets of L.A. County, where they make up a disproportionate share of the people under 25 who are homeless. 'They haven't been on the streets for years and years,' an advocate says, 'so they don't look bad.'
 
Los Angeles Times; Dec 12, 2010; By Alexandra Zavis
 
The city hipsters sipping expensive coffee and chatting on cellphones did not give a second look at the two young men cutting across a Hollywood courtyard on their way to bed down in a nearby park.

AJ, 23, and his boyfriend, Alex, 21, hide their blankets and duffel bags in bushes. They shower every morning at a drop-in center and pick out outfits from a closet full of used yet youthful attire.

"If I could be invisible, I would," AJ said. "I feel ashamed to admit that I'm homeless."

Every year, hundreds of gay youths end up alone on the streets of Los Angeles County, where they make up a disproportionate share of the at least 4,200 people under 25 who are homeless on any given day.
 
A recent study found that 40% of the homeless youths in Hollywood, a gathering spot for these young people, identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or unsure of their sexual orientation. Five percent say they are transgender.

But it is a largely hidden population, said Simon Costello, who manages the drop-in center frequented by AJ and Alex.

"They haven't been on the streets for years and years," he said, "so they don't look bad."

Blending in is part of how AJ and Alex survive on the streets. Police officers are quick to issue tickets, and the streets are full of predators.

In recent weeks, a Times reporter and a photographer spent time with several gay homeless men in their early 20s.

The men agreed to speak openly about their lives, including illegal drug use and other criminal activity, on the condition that their full names not be used. Using public records and other sources, The Times was able to independently verify some details they shared about their family histories.

***
Gay and transgender youths become homeless for the same reasons as others their age. Many come from families with a history of abuse, neglect, addiction, incarceration or mental illness. But they say their sexual or gender identity often plays a role in the breakdown of their families.

"Queer" was among the more polite names Christopher was called while growing up, before he even knew what the barbs meant.

A slight 22-year-old with a shock of red hair, he said he stood out in his large Latino family in Pacoima, a place he calls "the ghetto of the Valley."

"My cousins were gangbangers," he said. "They're talking about girls and parties … and I knew in middle school that I liked boys and wanted to hold their hands."

At school, classmates would pelt him with food and milk cartons. To dull the hurt, he turned to alcohol and drugs. He stole money from his grandmother, swallowed his brother's medication and cut himself with razors.

When he turned 18, he said, his grandmother kicked him out of the family home. She filed a restraining order against him in court.

"I been hearing about my peers committing suicide because of the teasing and bullying … and of course I understand," he said, staring at a web of scars on his left forearm. "But then I go, 'How come that's not my story? Why didn't you kill yourself? How did you make it through all that?'"

Christopher said that on his first night without a roof over his head, he shared a drink with two men who took turns raping a girl who had passed out on the side of a highway.

Soon he was selling his body on Santa Monica Boulevard to support a methamphetamine habit. He and his friends used the drug to stay awake, he said, so they would not get jumped. They shared a room and a soiled mattress in an abandoned building. "No plumbing, no electricity," Christopher said.

***
AJ was just 16 when his Vietnamese immigrant father told him to get out of his house, unable to accept his admission that he was gay. Any effeminate gesture, AJ said, would drive his father to beat him.

For a time, AJ moved between the homes of friends and relatives in California and Colorado while he worked a succession of jobs. Some paid well enough for him to get his own apartment. But, he said ruefully, "It has been hard to sustain my sobriety."

When he was fired from his last job in July, he had no place to go but the streets.

He met Alex at the drop-in center operated by the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. Tired of his father's drunken rages, Alex left his home in El Paso in June and caught a train to Los Angeles with a friend. He thought there would be more opportunities here. After two weeks, his backpack was stolen along with the only possessions he had with him. He still hasn't found work.

AJ and Alex bonded quickly. Both lost their mothers to drug overdoses and struggled to be accepted by their fathers.

On a recent night, the couple headed to a park, one of their favorite spots to while away time during the hours the drop-in center is closed. The restrooms are open late. Friendly neighbors stop to chat while walking their dogs; once, they ordered pizza for them.

They spread a sleeping bag on the lawn, then pulled out a bottle of cheap gin, which they mixed with diet Mountain Dew. They said they collected store gift cards, which are offered by many institutions as incentives to attend therapy sessions, then traded them in for cash to buy the beverages.

"We're not alcoholics," Alex said. But sometimes their life is difficult, he said, "and we have to numb it down."

Soon they were singing along to songs stored on a cellphone with no service. As they neared the end of the bottle, AJ became by turns angry and despondent. All he could think about was getting high, but he did not have the cash to buy crystal meth.

"Let's go," he told Alex. "I want to prostitute myself."

Alex tried to distract him with a bite of hamburger, but AJ pushed it away and groaned.

Finally, they crawled underneath some bushes to go to sleep. As they curled up in each other's arms, cheerful chatter wafted over them from a late-night picnic, punctuated by the thwacks of tennis rackets hitting a ball on an illuminated court.

***
For some gay youths alienated from their families, the foster care system provides sanctuary. But too often, said Costello, the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center's associate director for children, youth and family services, they bounce between foster parents and group homes until they turn 18. Once emancipated, they have nowhere to go.

Jonathan, a gregarious 21-year-old with a marijuana leaf tattoo on his arm, said he had more than 20 placements between the time he was removed from his parents' home at 5 and aged out of foster care three years ago.

"I had anger management issues," he said.

When he was 9, Jonathan said, one of his foster mothers left him alone with two men who raped him.

"I used to hate gay people because of what happened to me," he said.

But he recently told his best friend that he is bisexual. They were in a cell waiting to see a judge about a pair of tickets they'd been issued for riding a train without paying.

Jonathan said he has lost track of the number of times he has been arrested. He hangs out in skateboard parks and often sleeps on a rooftop, where he feels safe.

The first thing he does when he wakes up is reach for a marijuana pipe. Staring through the pungent haze from his spot on the pavement early one morning, he had a commanding view of the Hollywood Hills.

"You see those houses on the hill?" he said. "I'm a have one of those one day."

***
Getting off the streets is a challenge for many of these young people. The L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center is one of several Hollywood organizations that assist homeless youths. Among them, there are only about 200 beds available.

Christopher credits the center — and the kindness of a teacher who took him into her home for a time when he was being bullied — with keeping him alive.

But it has not been easy. Soon after he was admitted to a transitional living program operated by the center, he was kicked out for getting into a fight with his boyfriend. Months later, Christopher asked the center for another chance.

"I was so tired … so broken and hopeless," he said. "I was desperate for something different."

With their help, he completed a rehab program, passed the high school equivalency test and moved into a sober-living home. He now works part time dispensing frozen yogurt and has a tiny apartment of his own.

"I'm a part of society," he said. "I couldn't be any happier."

Jonathan says he isn't sure that he wants to go into transitional housing — too many rules. But he has plans. He would like to go to college, maybe become a doctor or a lawyer so he can help others like himself.

"Things are going to work out," he said. "Remember this face."

AJ has promised Alex he will stop doing crystal meth. They are looking for work, but are finding it difficult without an address.

AJ was diagnosed with depression and applied for a bed at a shelter operated by a mental health center. But when two beds became available one morning, the staff had no way to reach him. By the time he checked in with the center that afternoon, the spots had been snapped up.

A few days later, there was good news. Another bed was available. AJ, worried that Alex could not cope alone on the streets, made his boyfriend take the bed. They held hands on the bus and kissed goodnight outside the metal gates.

To be close to Alex, AJ started sleeping under a nearby bridge. There were rats and piles of trash. He spread cardboard on the ground before putting down a blanket. His last $2 went to buy a bottle of vodka. When that was gone, he grabbed another bottle from a supermarket shelf and sprinted out the door.

He tried to bum a cigarette off a passerby, but the man ignored him. Furious, AJ threw down the backpack in which he had stuffed the bottle, then burst into tears as vodka seeped onto the pavement.

Spending a night apart from Alex, "it seems so small," he said later. "But when you have nothing but each other, it's huge."
Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges."

....Jake

URGENT:  Boycott Gold's Gym, Target and Best Buy for donating money towards anti-gay political candidates/organizations and to Proposition 8 (California) to prevent gay marriage. I would not purchase "Blood Diamonds," nor should a person / organization be contributing funds to both Hitler / Nazi's and the Jews at the same time!   Obviously giving money to the Jews and not Hitler/Nazi's was the right thing to do.   Hence, these companies violated my trust and well-being.   They gave money to my enemy who would terminate me from my job, deny me housing and send me to a Internment camp.  Therefore, goodbye Gold's Gym, Target and Best Buy!  The CEO's of these companies have been insensitive to our reaction and do not even comprehend their actions!  What takes so long to "fire" these Neanderthals?



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"Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges."

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