I am off to Colorado for the weekend.  I’m gonna get up high to get out of the heat.  Things are afoot.  There is a full moon and you never know what is going to happen.

 

 

This picture has nothing to do with anything, except for the fact that I may see it this weekend.

 

A 25-acre blaze in Emigration Canyon, just east of Salt Lake City, was brought under control this evening.  The fire was sparked by construction workers at the site of a new fire station.  The fire initially threatened several homes; however winds shifted the flames toward the northeast, away from the properties.  Authorities ordered a precautionary and voluntary evacuation for 16 homes in the area.

 

The fire authorities sent in more than 50 firefighters, aided by engine and tanker companies, as well as water- and fire retardant-dropping helicopters and airplanes.  No injuries or property damage were reported. 

 

The fire was called accidental.  Construction crews were working on the new fire station's foundations, grinding reinforcement bar, when sparks few into nearby oak brush.  Someone was overheard saying, “Jeez, if the fire station was completed this wouldn’t be an issue…”

 

There are plenty of things to make fun of Utah about, but this is something to be happy about: Utah is the 44^th fattest state in the country.  Put it another way, Utah has fewer obese people than 42 other states and the District of Columbia (I know – not a state).  The report "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America," was released today by the Trust for America's Health.  Between 2004 and 2006, 21 percent of Utah adults were reported obese - a 3 percent increase over the 2003 to 2005 average. Only Colorado, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Montana fared better.  This actually surprises me because the last time I was in Boston I saw a LOT of fat people.  The rest of Massachusetts must not have enough Dunkin’ Donuts stores to get up over that obese mark. 

 

But even better yet for Utah is that the state was the best as far as childhood obesity.  Only 8.5 percent of kids ages 10 through 17 who are overweight, despite the fact that Utah is not among the 17 states that requires their school lunches, breakfasts, and snacks to meet higher nutritional standards than the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires.  That goes to show you that the high birth rate among the Mormons is promoting competition for food among the state’s younger residents.  Actually, I sure the overbearing sense of peer pressure among Mormons to look good so as to get a spouse by age 20 comes into play somewhat.  A decent rate of meth use can’t hurt either. 

 

In reality, the results of this report don’t surprise me much.  Most people in Utah are very active in outdoor activities and in sports.  Additionally, the state population is still relatively small compare to other states and there is a decent amount of agricultural jobs, which usually don’t result in too many fat people.  Of the states that were less fat than Utah, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island surprise me, especially with the number of Dunkin’ Donut stores in that part of the country.  Maybe the miserable winters help them burn off the excess.

 

Mississippi, the state with the highest rate of obesity, (30.6%) has the highest rate of adult hypertension, physical inactivity and the second highest rate of adult diabetes.  But good luck getting the Moon Pies and pork rinds out of their bloated, greasy hands.

 

 

A man allegedly shot another man with a nail gun during an altercation at a construction site Wednesday in a suburban area south of Salt Lake.  Yes, after weeks of weighty issues and unfunny news, I’ve finally got something to truly sink my teeth in (that doesn’t involve a drunk celebrity that only requires two firing neurons to poke fun of).

 

Police believe that 26-year-old Pedro Contreras intentionally shot a co-worker with the nail gun after the men had argued earlier that day.  My money is that the argument was either about a woman or soccer.  Police believe Contreras may be in Kearns (a suburb west of Salt Lake) or on his way to Denver where he has family (and more nails).  He was last seen driving a silver 1987 Mitsubishi Mighty-Max pick-up (with a large air compressor in the back).  If you have any information on Contreras you should call 1-800-328-6245 (1-800-EAT-NAIL).

 

Okay, let us take a second to break this down.  If memory serves me correctly, nail guns have a safety feature that allows them only to be “fired” when the end of the “barrel” is pressed against a surface.  This keeps people from just popping nails into the air like a normal handgun on New Year’s Eve.  So, either this guy was 10 fee away, or so, and held the “barrel” down with one hand while firing with the other, or he walked up to the guy and pushed the nail gun against the other guy and tacked down his shingles.  Actually, that is what this story is missing – whether or not anything was nailed to the victim, like a “Kick Me” or “Ask Me about My Green Card” sign.

I heard this story two weeks ago and completely forgot about it because of the avalanche of bad news items.  So, back to stupid stories for Utah:

 

Lindsay Lohan was holed up inside a luxury drug-and-alcohol rehab center at the Sundance resort trying to halt her recent career free fall.  Lohan was supposed to be in Utah for this year’s Sundance Film Festival premiere of her movie, "Chapter 27," but couldn’t because she was in rehab.  She appears to be on the Brittney plan of celebrity crashes.

 

According to a CBS News radio report, Lohan checked in to the Cirque Lodge, a residential treatment center in Provo Canyon where a 30-day stay costs some $30,000.  According to Cirque’s Internet site, the center offers substance-abuse treatment at its Sundance lodge and a sister facility near the mouth of Provo Canyon in Orem.  Past guests have included Mary-Kate Olsen and David Hasselhoff (not the Hof?!).

 

Utah makes a great place for alcohol rehab.  Sure, a person can still get alcohol, but you have to know where to look.  Ms. Lohan could pay someone to make a beer run for her while here, but she would have to make sure to get someone who knows how to buy alcohol rather than most of the people that live in the Orem/Provo area. 

 

She wasn’t here for very long - she has an Aug. 24 court date in California.  Notice in the following picture here newest fashion statement.

 

 

Switching to politics, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson was on a recent Alaskan cruise sponsored by progressive magazine The Nation with Ralph Nader.  Nation readers, who paid up to $8,657 each for the cruise, treated Salt Lake's crusading mayor as a hero.  It is a shame the mayor feels the need to go places other than his city to feel loved.  Oh wait, maybe because he is never here in the first place.  The magazine had a fawning January cover story on Rocky with a photo of the mayor’s head superimposed on Sly Stallone's body.  Rocky gave a speech on impeaching President Bush.  He also schmoozed with Nader, whom he consulted for advice on his post-mayor career goals (annoying complainer people have learned to ignore).

 

Nader hasn’t stated whether he'll run for president again next year.  He and Rocky spent a lot of time huddling together on the cruise that observers speculated about a possible Nader/Anderson ticket in 2008.  Considering there are at least 8 viable candidates who have been out there since the start of this year, the two better get started soon if they want people to even know they are running.  I really and truly hope Rocky latches onto Nader and LEAVES UTAH.  There is a big, bright world out there waiting for you, Rocky.  But you already know that, because you’ve spent more time out there over the last four years than here where you were voted in as mayor.

 

The point of this site is to feature stupid stories for Utah.  Unfortunately, the story from Utah this month has been the miners trapped in the Crandall Canyon coal mine.  The owners have all but officially called off the search for survivors.  It has been over 13 days now and they haven’t found anyone.  On top of that three miners have died in the rescue operations due to unstable ground around the mine.  The families are made that the owners are ready to call it off, and that is understandable.  Those men are their loved ones and they don’t want to give up hope until every option has been exhausted.  At some point the work has to stop and they are getting very close to that point.  The owners have poured a lot of effort and money into this search and they can’t be faulted for the effort.  There are debates about whether a rescue drill should be used to lower someone down to the mine – but that would be as dangerous as resuming the effort to clear the area that killed the three rescuers.  At some point it will be time to change the rescue to a recovery effort.  It is a sad thing to say, but mining is dangerous work and sometimes these things happen.  Just like working at sea, Mother Nature can turn on someone without a moments notice.

 

Oh, and Michael Vick is going to plead guilty for his role in dog fighting.  Good, this can leave the news and we can get to our lives while the legal system takes care of the matter.  I know that isn’t how it works.  Let me put it another way: this has competed for headlines with the coal mine accident and for what?  There are professional athletes out there still playing and getting paid millions who have done things that could be considered worse.  You know little things like unintentional manslaughter, drunk driving, abuse, battery, and various other crimes against HUMANS.  It goes to show you that most people care more about their pets than other people.  Sure, Vick has made some odd choices, considering the fact that he is a FAMOUS ATHLETE that is paid MILLIONS of dollars and it in the PUBLIC EYE ALL THE TIME.  But there are other guys still out there playing with very questionable backgrounds and choices and nobody is protesting them.  Great message we are sending to the kids. 

I got up early this morning to watch the Key Bank Tower in downtown Salt Lake come down this morning.  They imploded the 20 story building around 6:40 AM today to make way for the City Creek Center – a new open-air mall going in downtown that will also have residential and business towers attached to it.  It was impressive – but would have been better if I could have seen it.  I went to a place above the town on one of the hills in which I thought I would have a good view.  Wrong – there was a building right in the way.  I felt a little better after I got home and watched the video feed from one of the TV stations.  The only good line of sight of the building was from the west side of town, which doesn’t have any hills over on that side.  Also, there was a stiff wind blowing all the dust that way, so I’m glad I went to the spot I did, even if all I saw was the dust cloud shoot up.  It was still pretty interesting watching the dust cloud go up and then just slowly spread out over the north and west side of town.  The LDS temple got covered.  It is only fair; they are the ones putting up this new mall.  I’m sure there will be plenty of people out sweeping up the mess today.

 

Here is a video feed of the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a sad note, the rescue effort of the trapped miners in the Crandall Canyon mine took a bad turn the other day as some of the rescue workers died in a small cave-in while trying to get to their co-workers.  Now Congress is vowing to get to the bottom of the safety issues that led to these events.  Sure, Orrin Hatch is part of the group, but so are Edward Kennedy and George Miller of California.  They are calling this “extremely disturbing”.  Disturbing?  Well, it isn’t good, but there are some inherent risks with mining that can’t be avoided.  Even the best constructed mines pose some risk of cave-in.  Those miners go in there knowing this.  Sure, the owners of the mine could have done more, and I’m sure that will show up as the different groups sift through the facts of the matter.  I personally hope owner Murray is told to close shop (after paying for clean ups and employees) and quit mining.  He has been in front of Congress railing against more mining regulations concerning safety.  Well, part of me agrees – these are mines after all and will never be 100% safe, but some of his practices add to the risk in ways that aren’t needed.  

 

But let us take a moment and put this in perspective.  The other day China lost 180 coal miners during a flood in the shafts after a heavy rain.  So far this year, China has lost 2,163 coal miners.  I thought China was supposed to be one of those worker’s paradise communist countries I heard so much about as a kid.  We have national coverage out the ying-yang for 6 miners stuck after a cave in, and now three deaths trying to save them.  Just think of what the news would be link if we had lost 2,000+ miners this year alone.  It tells us a great deal about our standards of safety when 6 trapped and 3 dead make everyone shout for strong safety procedures.  In some respects we are so risk averse that these things get us very worked up, but on the other hand we have raised the bar high enough that these sorts of accidents are considered major, whereas in China it may not have even made the news.

This Saturday morning the Key Bank tower in downtown Salt Lake City will be demolished, as in imploded.  This will be cool and if I can get my butt out of bed early enough, I will go someplace I can watch it.  I won’t be close to it, I’ll go up one of the many hills we have around the city and watch it.  But of course there are people complaining that the dust will cause problems.  Sure it will – so don’t stand to close when they blow that sucker up.  Really, what a bunch of whiners…

 

I'll try to get pictures.

A few odds and ends:

 

The "Duct Tape Bandit" who had his head wrapped in duct tape to conceal his identity, walked into a liquor store last Friday in Ashland, Kentucky, police said.

Shamrock Liquors store manager Bill Steele used a wooden club to get rid of the tape-head, according to a report by WSAZ-TV in Huntington, W.Va.

Kasey G. Kazee, 24, of Ashland, was charged with first-degree robbery, according to Ashland Police.

Kazee, in an interview with the TV station, denied he was the bandit who robbed the store of two rolls of change. He pleaded not guilty Monday and bond was set at $250,000.

Another example of what swims at the shallow end of the gene pool.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_duct_tape_bandit;_ylt=Aui5_tWpWIlTIQFu9didg5EE1vAI

 

 

And this story is just crazy.  Jose Offerman, looking for a last chance to get back into the majors, turned violent at a minor league game Tuesday night.  Hit by a fastball, Offerman charged the mound with his bat and swung at least twice, striking the opposing pitcher and catcher.

 

Offerman, playing for the Long Island Ducks, was arrested on assault charges. The independent Atlantic League suspended him indefinitely Wednesday and expected to make a final decision by the end of the week.

 

Piss away your career – good job.  There is a problem with this though – PETA won’t be outside picketing to make sure that the league commissioner kicks Offerman out because no dogs were hit by a bat.

 

 

And on to very recent Utah news - Rescue crews attempting to make contact with six miners trapped inside the Crandall Canyon mine reported detecting noise from below today.  They are going to try for a fourth bore hole tonight targeting the location of those sounds.  The miners have been trapped since Aug. 6, with no clue as to whether the men are injured or dead.  The noises were heard through two of six geophones, electronic receivers for detecting vibrations passing through rock.  But rescuers did not hear the pattern of three thuds followed by silence, which is what miners are taught to do to communicate their location following a mine collapse.  These guys have been down there for 10 days now without much in the way of water.  If they are still alive, I will be very surprised. 

 

 

As part of my continuing community service of trying to educate people about pharmaceutical products and the need to be careful when buying anything over the internet, please take a look at the following from FDA’s MedWatch service:

 

FDA warns consumers and healthcare professionals to avoid using Red Yeast Rice and Red Yeast Rice/Policosonal Complex, sold by Swanson Healthcare Products, Inc. and manufactured by Nature's Value Inc. and Kabco Inc., respectively; and Cholestrix, sold by Sunburst Biorganics because the products may contain an unauthorized drug that could be harmful to their health. The products, promoted and sold over the internet as treatments for high cholesterol, contain lovastatin, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Mevacor, a prescription drug approved for high cholesterol.

 

Lovastatin can cause severe muscle problems leading to kidney impairment. The risk is greater in patients who take higher doses of lovastatin or who take lovastatin and other medicines that increase the risk of muscle adverse reactions such as nefazodone (an antidepressant), certain antibiotics, drugs used to treat fungal infections and HIV infections, and other cholesterol lowering agents. Consumers who use any red yeast rice products should consult their healthcare provider if they experience any problems that may be due to these products.

 

Read the complete MedWatch 2007 safety summary including a link to FDA

News Release at:

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety/2007/safety07.htm#redyeast

 

The MedWatch service monitors adverse drug reactions as well as warns consumers about potential problems with products in the prescription, OTC, and medical device realms.  So, how does one get an over the counter “neutraceutical” product to reduce cholesterol?  Easy – put a proven prescription cholesterol lowering drug in there.  This would be known as “misbranded and adulterated” in the pharmaceutical business.  Basically, lying and cheating. 

 

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  There is no “cure” for cancer.  There are no “miracle” weight loss products (well, maybe tapeworms, but I don’t recommend those). 

 

Well, let’s see what’s going on in sunny Utah.  We have a mine accident that seismologists now say was the cause of an earthquake, or a seismic event, not the other way around.  We have a mine owner saying that the press is blowing the seismologists suggestions out of proportion and demanding that a news helicopter be told to leave the area.  Oh, and he is accusing the unions of prodding the media to put extra coverage on the event because he has a non-union mine.  Another “seismic event” occurred today that has postponed any rescue attempt.  Odds are that the men trapped down there will die of suffocation (if they are currently alive) before anyone can get to them.

 

We have a governor that is calling an emergency Cabinet meeting to coordinate the state’s efforts to help rescue the miners.  He is also getting people to look into mine safety around the state.  This, after the governor’s meeting last week’s meeting to look at bridge safety around the state.  Currently there are 200 high-risk bridges in Utah being inspected.  The governor thought it a good idea to push ahead the normally scheduled inspections and get them all done by September.  So, evidently it takes a major accident for the government to get its act together and do its job of inspecting safety.  I’m glad we aren’t paying these guys.  Oh, wait a second…

 

Lastly, I think it is actually cooler in Salt Lake City this week than many parts of the East.  That is, of course, taking the heat index into account.  It was 92º F here today, with a whooping 9% humidity.  And since the fires have slowed way down due to the cooler weather and, believe it or not, rain we have been getting, all of the sudden it seems nice enough outside to actually walk to the car.

A lot has happened this week, but I’m going to focus on the stupid.  First of all, have you heart about the couple in Arkansas that had their 17^th child the other day.  Yes, 17.  No, they are not adopted.  It gets better!  The Duggars live in a 7,000 square-foot house (would almost need to) and all of their kids have names that start with the letter J.  Somebody needs to take these folks about back and sterilize them.  The best quote is from the proud mother who went to the hospital around 5:00 am and had the child around 10:00 am.  “It actually went fast,” she said.  “I guess once I started progressing, it went within 30 minutes.”  Well, after 16 kids, you would think the 17^th would just fall out while she was doing laundry one day.  Michelle has had her womb occupied for 10.5 years.  That may seem a bit low – 17 kids would work out to roughly 12.75 years.  She has had two sets of twins.  Oh, and the kids are home-schooled.  Well, with that many you practically have a class room full already so why not.  Someone needs to inform this family that contrary to popular belief, the United States is not under-populated and doesn’t need any help growing its numbers.

 

News from Utah: Gary Coleman was cited for disorderly conduct last week after someone saw the former child actor (sure he has done stuff since, but nobody cares about it) get into a “heated argument” with a woman in Provo.  Apparently, he now lives in Utah, moving out here after he made the movie Church Ball, which pretty much did nothing for his career.  Arnold, I mean Gary, has been seen around Park City during the Sundance Film Festival over the last few years.  It is his way of networking since he has a hard time affording airfare to L.A.  I guess my only question is why hasn’t Gary managed to wiggle his way onto the cast of Big Love yet?  I think it would be a natural fit…