Giggle

New directions in addiction treatments

2009-11-19T10:02:00.000-08:00

As we learn more about that most remarkable of creations, the human mind, we're finding out a lot more about what makes effective treatments for all sorts of things. So it is with drug treatment, just as it is for so many other things. The first and most obvious thing we've found is that there's no one treatment which works for everyone. There are different reasons for, different causes of, addictions and thus different treatments which work.

We've also found that the physical part of addiction is possibly the least important part of it. It isn't so much that the body craves a particular drug, although of course it does. It's what happens after the body is cleansed, after total sobriety has been achieved. What was it that first led to the addction? Was there, is there, some underlying problem that needs a solution before the desire for the drug can be banished? Drug treatment is therefore now regarded as an holistic exercise: we need to look at the whole person, not just that part craving one or another pharmaceutical hit.

Fortunately, while we've realised that addiction is more complex than we first thought (it wasn't all that long ago that it was simply put down to a lack of moral fibre) we've also found a number of treatments that help. There are those who respond best to medically drven drug treatment programs. Others better to ones based upon therapy. So the move now is towards completely integrated places like the Pat Moore Foundation which is able to offer all of the potential treatments and work with the individual to decide which is the best for that individual. To find out more click through any of the links.

2009 World Series MVP

2009-11-04T23:19:00.000-08:00

And the 2009 World Series MVP is: Hideki Matsui.

Matsui is the first Japanese born person to win the Most Valuable Player of the World series award (and no doubt that will do wonders for the popularity of baseball in Japan!) and he basically won it on the back of his record breaking performance in Game 6.

It's appropriate that the 2009 World Series MVP went to Matsui as in that clinching Game 6 he drove in 6 of the Yankees 7 runs. That beats the previous (jointly held) record of 5 RBIs in a World Series clincher.

What might be a little more bittersweet is that this was likely Matsui's last game in a Yankees shirt: and the Yankees parade 2009 on Friday might be his last appearance in a Yankees shirt.

For this winter he becomes a free agent and so might not be with the Yankees next season.

Another way of looking at it of course is that he's certainly maximised his value on the free agent market with that performance, hasn't he?

New Katie Holmes information source

2007-06-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for news on Katie Holmes and her husband, Tom Cruise?

If you are looking for that sort of news then you'll want to head over to this blog, dedicated to news about Katie Holmes.

There's a mixture of news reports, photos and video pieces, all dedicated to bringing you the latest on Katie Holmes.

Gadgets

2007-06-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not sure what you'd use it for either, other than to point people at it and see if they laughed.

But here's the new must have addition for your PC set up. The USB Missile Launcher.

Plug it into a USB port, load the software and you can fire a foam missile 10 feet.

Err, quite, so what would you use it for then?

Hijabs and Taekwondo?

2007-05-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

Err, really, you can actually do Taekwondo while wearing a hijab?

The Muslim hijab, banned at a taekwondo tournament in Quebec last month, will be allowed at the 2007 World Championship in Quebec City later this month, the International Taekwon-Do Federation announced on Friday.

The decision by a Quebec federation last month to bar a team of Muslim girls from taking part with their hijabs at the regional tournament had prompted protests of discrimination, but Quebec federation officials said it was a matter of safety.

That group was affiliated with the World Taekwondo Federation, a rival group to the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF), which said on Friday it would temporarily allow the head scarves at its May 31-June 3 championship.

Maybe there's a special version, like the Burquini?

Nice Ringtones Site

2007-04-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

"Ringtones are undoubtedly one of the most popular features that somebody can download from the net. While searching for Ringtones I found a very cool site. GoldRingtone.com is the best site to download free ringtones without restrictions. The information mail I received from the site says that the database is enriched with new ringtones every week. I decided to test it and download some ringtones (Rihanna’s Unfaithull is cool) and it works just fine.

I have to notice that the site offers free free MP3 Ringtones, Real Tones, Midi Ringtones. Every carrier is available. Get free Cingular Ringtones and free Sprint Ringtones.

Besides the site has an informative blog for mobile phones and a page dedicated to the famous Mosquito Ringtones. Do you know what a mosquito ringtone is? It is the new, cool weapon that children use in order to receive a call or an sms without being noticeable from the adults. This is due to the fact that the adults can’t hear some high frequency sounds.

Well, I suppose that Goldringtone is the ideal site for someone who wants to download one or more free ringtones, easily.

New Sandra Bullock Vehicle

2007-03-18T10:28:00.001-07:00

Sandra Bullocki is back in action in the new romantic thriller "Premonition".

Sandra Bullock stars in a new romantic thriller as a woman caught between what she knows is reality and a nightmare that she fears will come true. Alan Silverman has a look at Premonition.

The apparently idyllic life of suburban housewife Linda Hanson is devastated by what the police officer at the door tells her. Then she awakens the next morning to find her husband Jim in bed next to her and very much alive.

But when the pattern starts to repeat ...when she wakes up to find her family in mourning ...Linda begins to believe that she is experiencing a Premonition and becomes determined to change the tragic fate it foretells.

Sandra Bullock stars as Linda and says she had to come to terms with her own beliefs about the unsettling feeling that something is about to happen. "I do think that there is something to human nature. You can call it intuitiveness or 'gut instinct' ...people who know things that have happened. It has happened to a lot of people, so when someone says to me 'I had a bad feeling that something is going to happen and then it did,' I don't know how to explain it. It can't be explained by science, but I believe in that happening," says the actress.

Another one to avoid there I think.

Antonella Barba Nude Pictures!

2007-02-25T09:19:00.001-08:00

Yes, we've been able to track down those famous nude pictures of American Idol's Antonella Barba.

There's also some definitely not safe for work ones there of Barba apparently deep into certain sexual acts. There's a facial resemblance certainly, but unless (and we say this after exhaustive pictorial research, all undertaken entirely upon your behalf of course) she's had fairly radical surgery to her chest, it's not the same person.

Actually, Antonella is not quite nude in the pictures, or at least that set of them that we're going to point you too. They're more cheescake than they are anything as raunchy as Playboy puts out. You'll probably see more flesh at Mardi Gras although, to be fair not flesh quite as good looking as that of Antonella Barba.

The link to more from this photo set is here.

Technorati tags: antonella barba, nude pictures, american idol

Antonio Banderas

2007-02-13T10:05:00.001-08:00

Looks like Antonio Banderas is going to expand his directorial career:

Spanish actor Antonio Banderas said on Tuesday his second stint at the helm of a movie, a coming-of-age piece set in his native Malaga, had sharpened his appetite to spend more time directing.

Speaking at a news conference at the Berlin film festival after a screening of the film, in Spanish "El Camino de los Ingleses" and in English "Summer Rain", Banderas said he was also likely to be the writer on the next project he undertakes.

As an actor, he is known for his portrayal of Zorro and his voice role as Puss in Boots in "Shrek 2" and he made his debut as a director with 1999's "Crazy in Alabama", starring his wife, Melanie Griffith.

I'll admit that I've never really quite understood this. Why do people think that being a good actor will make you a good director, or a good writer?

Technorati tags: antonio banderas, banderas, melanie griffiths

Harry Potter Doesn't Die

2007-02-02T09:24:00.001-08:00

Or at least so claims an American academic:

Harry Potter's days may be numbered.
J.K. Rowling, author of the popular fantasy series about the boy wizard and his battle with the evil Lord Voldemort, announced Thursday that the final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," will be released on July 21.
And Rowling has a more ominous warning: two main characters will die before the series ends.
But James Krasner, a professor of British literature at the University of New Hampshire, believes Harry will ultimately live to tell another tale.
Why?
Because "good has to win."
"Certain art forms are meant to fulfill expectations, to give gratification," Krasner said. "If you read a romance novel and the lovers don't get together in the end, you're not interested."
Krasner said Rowling's threat to kill off at least two main characters in the final book is a way of "taking control" of her creations. It's not uncommon for authors whose characters have become wildly popular to engage in a tug-of-war with readers over who the characters belong to, he said.

That stories are supposed to work in a particular way would seem to me to be a fairly weak piece of evidence to use.

Technorati tags: harry potter

Di Caprio and Scorcese

2007-01-18T09:46:00.001-08:00

Leonardo Di Caprio says that it's a joke that Martin Scorcese, the veteran film director, doesn't have any oOscars. That's odd, I'd have thought he got one either for Taxi Driver or Raging Bull.

Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio said on Thursday that director Martin Scorsese deserved to win an Oscar for his new movie, "The Departed", adding it was a "joke" the veteran director still had not been awarded for any of his works.

"It would be wonderful if this film was rewarded, I think it very much deserves it," said DiCaprio, who stars in the crime thriller that won a Golden Globe award for best film this week.

"And I certainly think the man to my left does. It's quite long overdue, almost a practical joke at this point that that hasn't happened," he said, referring to Scorsese who was also attending a news conference ahead of the film's opening in Japan this weekend.

Despite being regarded by many as a master of cinema, Scorsese has never received an Academy Award for a single film, including for such revered works as "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver"

OK, so people agree that he should have got one for those two films but didn't.

Technorati tags: Martin Scorcese, Leonardo Di Caprio, movies, Oscar, Golden Globe

Windows Live

2006-12-10T09:25:00.001-08:00

So does this windows live product actually work?

Technorati tags: windows live writer

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2006-11-29T05:31:00.001-08:00

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