Get going

I've been pretty happy these past few days. :)

Army to honor soldiers enslaved by Nazis

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- The U.S. Army says it will honor the "heroism and sacrifice" of 350 U.S. soldiers who were held as slaves by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Bernard "Jack" Vogel died in a Nazi slave camp in the arms of fellow U.S. soldier, Anthony Acevedo, in 1945.

Bernard "Jack" Vogel died in a Nazi slave camp in the arms of fellow U.S. soldier, Anthony Acevedo, in 1945.
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The decision by the Army effectively reverses decades of silence about what the soldiers endured in the final months of the war in 1945 at Berga an der Elster, a subcamp of Buchenwald where soldiers were beaten, starved, killed and forced to work in tunnels to hide German equipment.

More than 100 U.S. soldiers died in the camp or on a forced death march. Before they were sent back to the United States, survivors signed a secrecy document with the U.S. government to never speak about their captivity.

"The interests of American prisoners of war in the event of future wars, moreover, demand that the secrets of this war be vigorously safeguarded," the document says.

CNN last month reported the story of Anthony Acevedo, who was a 20-year-old medic when he was sent to Berga with the other soldiers. Acevedo kept a diary that details the day-to-day events inside the camp and lists names and prisoner numbers of men as they died or were executed. See inside Acevedo's diary »

That story prompted a chain of events, including hundreds of CNN.com users urging their congressional leaders to honor the soldiers of Berga. Two congressmen, Reps. Joe Baca, D-California, and Spencer Bachus, R-Alabama, wrote U.S. Army Secretary Peter Geren and asked him to recognize the 350 soldiers.
Don't Miss

* Lawmakers seek honors for soldiers held by Nazis
* After 63 years, man learns of brother's death
* Vet breaks silence on Nazi slave camp

The Army recently responded to the two congressmen, saying it is working "to determine an appropriate way to honor the heroism and sacrifice of these soldiers. We expect this review to be complete by March 6, 2009."

After learning of the Army's decision, Baca said in a press release, "The courage and perseverance they demonstrated in enduring such inhumane conditions is awe inspiring, and I am pleased the Army has opened a more extensive investigation into honoring these men."

For the dozen of Berga survivors who are still living, the news came as a shock. Many had long ago given up hope that their country would ever recognize them for what they endured.

"It's amazing," said Morty Brooks, now 83, when informed of the Army plans. "It's a recognition that's many years past due. No particular notice was ever given to us by the government, and it should be part of the military's annals."

Acevedo, now 84, noted the ages of the remaining survivors -- all of whom are in their 80s. Some are in failing health. He said he hopes the Army can reach its decision before March, because of the possibility some could die before then.

"If they can do it a lot sooner, we would appreciate it much," he said. "I thank God I'm still able to communicate and express myself with dignity, and I'm hoping the other fellas are able to communicate also.

"I've always been proud to be a U.S. soldier. It did me some good, with God's help and faith. I'll pray for everybody, all my other fellas."

He said the 350 soldiers are heroes who "exposed our lives for our country, for democracy and freedom of speech." The soldiers, all of them survivors of the Battle of the Bulge, had originally been sent to a POW camp known as Stalag IX-B in Bad Orb, Germany. From there, the Nazis separated the 350 soldiers based on being Jewish or "looking like Jews" and sent them to the slave camp around February 8, 1945.Video Watch Acevedo describe treatment in the camp »

In Boston, Martin Vogel sits quietly in his home. His brother, Bernard "Jack" Vogel, died in Acevedo's arms at the age of 19 in April 1945. Bernard Vogel had tried to escape from Berga with another soldier named Izzy Cohen. Both were captured and forced to stand in their underwear outside the barracks for at least two days until they collapsed.

The last words Bernard Vogel ever uttered were "I want to die, I want to die." Listen as Acevedo tells brother of victim: "I held him in my arms" »

Martin Vogel, 82, said that "since learning of my brother's death in 1945, a week has not passed that I don't think of his untimely death. Many questions had gone unanswered during this time."

After talking with CNN.com and the few remaining survivors, he said, "My thoughts have come into a clearer focus. I have learned of the last few days of [Bernard's] life and what horrendous event took place prior to death. This has at least crystallized the uncertainty of his death and brought a close to this chapter."

Vogel still gets emotional talking about his brother's death. He wrote his thoughts so he wouldn't cry talking about it.

He continued, writing that questions remain on many issues, including the fate of his brother's captors and "the unwillingness of the Army to publicly document the capture and imprisonment of these soldiers. ... The least is I now know Jack died with friends near him, giving him comfort in his last moments."

The two Berga commanders -- Erwin Metz and his superior, Hauptmann Ludwig Merz -- were tried for war crimes and initially sentenced to die by hanging. But the U.S. government commuted their death sentences in 1948, and both men were eventually set free in the 1950s.

Charles Vogel, the uncle of Bernard and Martin, was outraged at the decision. At the time a powerful Manhattan attorney, he petitioned President Harry Truman, Secretary of State George Marshall and Defense Secretary James Forrestal to overturn the commutation.

Charles Vogel also helped form a group called "Berga Survivors" after the war in which some of the slave camp soldiers would meet to discuss the best way to pressure the government to honor them and allow them to testify against Metz and Merz.

In a bulletin from one of their meetings in early 1949, the "Berga Survivors" appeared optimistic the government would act. "Your cooperation now is doubly important, for things are beginning to break our way," the bulletin says. "A little enthusiasm, a little more cooperation, a little more action will accomplish a great, great deal now."

It adds, "You can aid in the campaign to get Washington to procure full justice for us."

More than six decades later, it appears the work of the original "Berga Survivors" group was not in vain. Most have since died, but the few who remain alive say they will never let their fellow soldiers be forgotten.
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"It's finally gotten to a point where the Army is coming to their senses after they had ignored us in the past," Acevedo said. "Why the silence all these years? It's time to recognize all these soldiers who sacrificed their lives."

CNN.com has located 14 Berga soldiers who are alive and will keep working to find if any others are still living.

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Updates

So Christmas is finished. I'm feeling much better. I've been trying to surf for the past couple days.

Not much interesting happening.

Just don't forget to watch your daily Ninjai Chapter. :)

Merry Merry Christmas!

:) so it's finally Christmas. It's a beautiful day at the beach here. I'm in charge of making the cake today. I'm just waiting for it to finish baking. It's like 5 inches thick and 2 feet long, so it's taking quite a while to finish baking.

If only people were still as kind today:

He rode the 'Orphan Train' across the country

PUEBLO, Colorado (CNN) -- Orphan Train rider Stanley Cornell's oldest memory is of his mother's death in 1925.
Stanley Cornell, right, and his younger brother, Victor, were adopted from an "Orphan Train."

Stanley Cornell, right, and his younger brother, Victor, were adopted from an "Orphan Train."
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"My first feeling was standing by my mom's bedside when she was dying. She died of tuberculosis," recalls Cornell. "I remember her crying, holding my hand, saying to 'be good to Daddy.' "

"That was the last I saw of her. I was probably four," Cornell says of his mother, Lottie Cornell, who passed away in Elmira, New York.

His father, Floyd Cornell, was still suffering the effects of nerve gas and shell shock after serving as a soldier in combat during WWI. That made it difficult for him to keep steady work or care for his two boys.

"Daddy Floyd," as Stanley Cornell calls his birth father, eventually contacted the Children's Aid Society. The society workers showed up in a big car with candy and whisked away Stanley and his brother, Victor, who was 16 months younger. Photo See the Cornell family album »

Stanley Cornell remembers his father was crying and hanging on to a post. The little boy had a feeling he would not see his father again.

The two youngsters were taken to an orphanage, the Children's Aid Society of New York, founded by social reformer Charles Loring Brace
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* In Depth: Focus on Giving
Impact Your World
o See how you can make a difference

"It was kind of rough in the orphans' home," Cornell remembers, adding that the older children preyed on the younger kids -- even though officials tried to keep them separated by chicken wire fences. He says he remembers being beaten with whips like those used on horses.

New York City in 1926 was teeming with tens of thousands of homeless and orphaned children. These so-called "street urchins" resorted to begging, stealing or forming gangs to commit violence to survive. Some children worked in factories and slept in doorways or flophouses.

The Orphan Train movement took Stanley Cornell and his brother out of the city during the last part of a mass relocation movement for children called "placing out."Watch Cornell share ups and downs of his family story

Brace's agency took destitute children, in small groups, by train to small towns and farms across the country, with many traveling to the West and Midwest. From 1854 to 1929, more than 200,000 children were placed with families across 47 states. It was the beginning of documented foster care in America.

"It's an exodus, I guess. They called it Orphan Train riders that rode the trains looking for mom and dad like my brother and I."

"We'd pull into a train station, stand outside the coaches dressed in our best clothes. People would inspect us like cattle farmers. And if they didn't choose you, you'd get back on the train and do it all over again at the next stop."

Cornell and his brother were "placed out" twice with their aunts in Pennsylvania and Coffeyville, Kansas. But their placements didn't last and they were returned to the Children's Aid Society.

"Then they made up another train. Sent us out West. A hundred-fifty kids on a train to Wellington, Texas," Cornell recalls. "That's where Dad happened to be in town that day."

Each time an Orphan Train was sent out, adoption ads were placed in local papers before the arrival of the children.

J.L. Deger, a 45-year-old farmer, knew he wanted a boy even though he already had two daughters ages 10 and 13.

"He'd just bought a Model T. Mr. Deger looked those boys over. We were the last boys holding hands in a blizzard, December 10, 1926," Cornell remembers. He says that day he and his brother stood in a hotel lobby.

"He asked us if we wanted to move out to farm with chickens, pigs and a room all to your own. He only wanted to take one of us, decided to take both of us."

Life on the farm was hard work.

"I did have to work and I expected it, because they fed me, clothed me, loved me. We had a good home. I'm very grateful. Always have been, always will be."

Taking care of a family wasn't always easy.

"In 1931, the Dust Bowl days started. The wind never quit. Sixty, 70 miles an hour, all that dust. It was a mess. Sometimes, Dad wouldn't raise a crop in two years."

A good crop came in 1940. With his profit in hand, "first thing Dad did was he took that money and said, 'we're going to repay the banker for trusting us,' " Cornell says.

When World War II began, Cornell joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He shipped out to Africa and landed near Casablanca, Morocco, where he laid telephone and teletype lines. Later he served in Egypt and northern Sicily. While in Italy, he witnessed Mount Vesuvius erupting.

It was on a telephone line-laying mission between Naples and Rome that Cornell suffered his first of three wounds.

"Our jeep was hit by a bomb. I thought I was in the middle of the ocean. It was the middle of January and I was in a sea of mud."

With their jeep destroyed and Cornell bleeding from a head wound, his driver asked a French soldier to use his vehicle to transport them. The Frenchman refused to drive Cornell the five miles to the medical unit.

"So, the driver pulled out his pistol, put the gun to the French soldier's head and yelled, 'tout suite!' or 'move it!' " Cornell recalls.

Once he was treated, Cornell remembers the doctor saying, "You've got 30 stitches in your scalp. An eighth of an inch deeper and you'd be dead."

Cornell always refused to accept his commendations for a Purple Heart even though he'd been wounded three times, twice severely enough to be hospitalized for weeks. He felt the medals were handed out too often to troops who suffered the equivalent of a scratch.

His younger brother served during the war in the Air Force at a base in Nebraska, where he ran a film projector at the officers' club.

As WWII was drawing to a close, Stanley Cornell headed up the teletype section at Allied headquarters in Reims, France. "I saw [Gen. Dwight] Eisenhower every day," he recalls.

On May 7, 1945, the Nazis surrendered. "I sent the first teletype message from Eisenhower saying the war was over with Germany," Cornell says.

In 1946, the 25-year-old Stanley Cornell met with his 53-year-old birth father, Daddy Floyd. It was the last time they would see each other.

Cornell eventually got married and he and his wife, Earleen, adopted two boys, Dana and Dennis, when each was just four weeks old.

"I knew what it was like to grow up without parents," Cornell says. "We were married seven years and couldn't have kids, so I asked my wife, 'how about adoption?' She'd heard my story before and said, 'OK.' "

After they adopted their two boys, Earleen gave birth to a girl, Denyse.

Dana Cornell understands what his father and uncle went through.

"I don't think [Uncle] Vic and Stan could have been better parents. I can relate, you know, because Dad adopted Dennis and me. He has taught me an awful lot over the years," Dana Cornell says.

Dana Cornell says his adoptive parents have always said that if the boys wanted to find their birth parents, they would help. But he decided not to because of how he feels about the couple who adopted him. "They are my parents and that's the way it's gonna be."
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Stanley and Earleen Cornell have been married 61 years. She is a minister at a church in Pueblo, Colorado, and is the cook at her son's restaurant, Dana's Lil' Kitchen.

Stanley Cornell believes he is one of only 15 surviving Orphan Train children. His brother, Victor Cornell, a retired movie theater chain owner, is also alive and living in Moscow, Idaho.

CNN News

Year in pictures

Yay! Ninjai Update!

Dear Ninjai Fans,

We’re happy to announce we have continued and are continuing to move forward as quickly as possible with Ninjai. The reason it’s taking so long is because we have upped the quality and we only have a small animation crew. The great news is that our present work is of such high quality that it compares to some of the best big budget animation films. In fact, we did some tests of our new footage at a local theater comparing it to some big budget Hollywood production and it looked just as good. Not only does the quality of the animation look awesome on the big screen, the action sequences are mind-blowing.

We have therefore decided to up the quality of the entire story and release it as a feature length movie in as many theaters as possible.

We want to assure you that our gang working on a live-action production, Karma Kula, has not in any way slowed down or interfered with the Ninjai animation. Our animation art crew is separate from the live-action crew and both teams are working hard on parallel productions. Of course with the live action guys helping us with the martial arts sequences.

We will keep you posted as we progress in this exciting development, so please watch for further announcements.

- The Ninjai Gang

I never fail to check out the year in pictures of MSN. I really like the way they do it.

Don't forget to check out this year's:


I'm feeling a bit more normal today. Went for a run, lifted weights, then swam.

Driving to meet up with the rest of the family tomorrow.

Of course, don't forget to watch your daily Ninjai Chapter.

tired

I'm much better today, but still tired.


Don't forget to watch your daily Ninjai Chapters

Beautiful day

Beautiful day today.. perfectly sunny and windy, just how I love it. I'm feeling a bit better now. Over my fever. Nothing worse than being all fuzzy headed and mucousy.

I've been keeping myself smiling with these otter pictures:







Of course, don't forget to drop by and watch your daily Ninjai Chapter

dreams

Dreaming.. dreaming of another world
far, far away from this boiled down croiler.

szzz.. I've had fever. been sick. Trying to get some rest tho.

Don't forget to watch your daily Ninjai Chapter

Brain soggy

I feel like complete shit right now. My brain's all soggy, I've got a cold, cough, and asthma. I'm just really out of it. Like, CRAP. wah.

But hey.. The Ninjai Gang's updated their Karma Kula website.
Of course, don't forget to watch your daily Ninjai Chapter.

Word from the Ninjai Gang!

OMG OMG!! I knew there was hope!!

Hey Guys,

We've been really busy working hard on the new Ninjai animation. But we will be putting a new homepage up before Christmas updating you guys on what's going on...

Thanks,
The Gang

Ninjai Forums

Dreaming.. dreaming

I've been depressive again. I don't know why.

Gotta love em foals.





Don't forget to watch your daily Ninjai Chapter

emergency in icy Massachusetts * Story Highlights * Declaration frees federal aid to help in storm recovery * 180,000 Massachusetts custo

emergency in icy Massachusetts

* Story Highlights
* Declaration frees federal aid to help in storm recovery
* 180,000 Massachusetts customers were without power Saturday
* 1,300 expected to spend the night in shelters
* Much of ice melted Saturday but refroze during the night
A severe ice storm prompted President Bush to declare Saturday that a state of emergency exists in northern Massachusetts, a move that authorizes the use of federal aid to help the recovery effort.
This week's ice storm felled many trees in Boston and elsewhere across Massachusetts.

This week's ice storm felled many trees in Boston and elsewhere across Massachusetts.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are to coordinate relief efforts in the counties of Berkshire, Bristol, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Suffolk and Worcester.

By Saturday night, there were 180,000 customers without power, said James Mannion, deputy public information officer for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

The declaration "frees up resources from other states around us," he said, adding that state officials have asked FEMA for cots to be used in 70 shelters, where 1,300 people were expected to spend Saturday night.

In addition, 750 National Guard troops were deployed in the affected area, he said.

Though much of the ice melted Saturday, it refroze Saturday night.
Don't Miss

* Storm leaves 1 million without power in Northeast

"The big problems here are, obviously, the power outages," he said.

Some towns, like Westford, a town of 16,000 residents in northeastern Massachusetts, had no power, he said.

Officials were working to clear roads so that power crews could get in.

Gov. Deval Patrick declared a statewide state of emergency on Friday in response to the storm, which struck Thursday and continued into Saturday.

Milder weather was forecast for Sunday.

Ninjai's still famous!

The Essentials: Ninjai

Welcome to The Essentials, a weekly column at ANImosity spotlighting cutting edge animation that paved the way, started a movement, or is just plain too awesome to miss.

Face it. Ninjas are played out. We've been bombarded with ninja movies, tv shows, video games, ninja advice columns, ninja Facebook applications and countless ninja t-shirts so much that they're no longer a badass icon, but rather a washed out pop culture joke.

But not all is lost, some seek to restore the ninja to it's former fabled glory. Ninjai is a series that tells the story of a young ninja who has lost his memory and sets out to find his purpose. Along the way he runs into a few friends and a few enemies. Well, mostly enemies.

ninjai_moon.jpgThis brings us to hallmark number one of the Ninjai series: the violence. Yes, thecharacter of Ninjai may only be 8 or 9 years old, but nearly every episode has him decapitating at least one foe in full digital glory. The actionis fast and extremely stylized, to the point where you might wonder which big Hollywood director had a hand in the action scenes. Even the orchestral music is original and sounds like something off the big screen and has a distinctly oriental flavor. There's also a great mix of humor and quiet moments that really add some depth to each episode and remind you that, even though he just killed a horde of enemy ninjas, Ninjai is still just a child.

takabath.jpgAs the series goes on, you'll gain a little (and I stress a little) more of the backstory, but what really drives the plot is the fight for survival that goes on in nearly every episode. Most episodes (or chapters, as they call them) leave the door open for the next episode while completing the subplot from the last one. Sadly the series is incomplete and currently ends on a cliffhanger after the 12th episode. Even after enjoying some airtime on cable TV's G4, the creators still haven't finished off the series, however they still claim to be interested in doing so.

Ninjai really sets the watermark high for all action cartoons, online
or otherwise. There's lots of ninja cartoons out there, but Ninjai
really sets itself apart with it's fantastic art, fast action,
professional caliber music and it's charming characters. If you're into action, if you're into ninja's, if you're into anime, if you're into animation at all, this is one of the defining works of animation, NOT done by big studios, but a group of people who just wanted to make something cool.

Animosity Online

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Feed them Cheese, A Modern Day Queen of Scots

Some logic going. :)

An Italian solution: Parmesan for the needy

MILAN, Italy – Let them eat cheese. With data showing a growing underclass and food lines now in most major cities, the Italian government has come up with a way to help the needy while propping up one of its iconic industries.

Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia has committed to buying 100,000 66-pound (30-kilogram) wheels each of Parmigiano Reggiano and the very similar Grana Padano cheese to donate to the needy.

Producers sought government help in the face of prices that have fallen some 25 percent over the past five years, said Giorgio Apostoli, who represents dairy farmers for the Coldiretti agriculture lobby. The producers faced pressure from distributors who offer sharp discounts on the grateable cheeses to lure shoppers into supermarkets,

The government said it will buy 3 percent of the annual production at market prices. The Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano consortia put the value at euro50 million ($66 million).

"It's a help. It doesn't resolve the problem, but it is a help," Apostoli said Thursday. "This is a crisis of pricing, not of consumption," Apostoli said, noting that while consumption of the more expensive Parmigiano Padano has fallen slightly in the last year that of Grana Padano has risen slightly.

Apostoli said the measure doubles the usual government acquisition of Parmigiano and Gran Padano under an EU program to provide food for the poor. Italy was allocated euro66.4 million in 2008, which will nearly double to euro129 million next year, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

The government also plans to convene a round table with distributors to negotiate sales promotions that will be fairer to producers, as well as launch campaigns to promote Italian Parmesan abroad, where it can command higher prices.

An overwhelming 85 percent of the Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano produced is consumed in Italy; Coldiretti estimates that some 60 percent of that is sold at discounted prices.

Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano cheeses are produced according to very strict traditions tied to their geographic origins — primarily the Po River Valley of northern Italy — specifying everything from the aging process to the origin of the milk used. Italy is jealous even of the name Parmesan, having gone to the EU seeking to ban its use by copycats cashing in on the culinary tradition.

Yahoo! News

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Of vets and christmas

I would be so stoked if someone gave me a nativity for Christmas. Of course it's the last thing anyone would think of getting me tho. :'(

Vietnam vet with PTSD goes to Iraq: 'It made me worse'

DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNN) -- Bob Konrardy carried the guilt with him for more than 40 years. A platoon commander in Vietnam, Konrardy was wounded when shrapnel tore through his body. Four comrades carried him to safety in a poncho for more than an hour while the firefight raged.
While in Iraq, the Humvee Konrardy was riding in came under attack. "I could've been killed," he says.

While in Iraq, the Humvee Konrardy was riding in came under attack. "I could've been killed," he says.
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"These four guys went back to help the platoon because they were still fighting, and all four of those guys got killed," Konrardy says. "I felt guilty for 40-something years."

Two years ago, Konrardy got to thinking: He'd be a Santa of sorts for soldiers in Iraq as a way to help him deal with his conscience.

He would collect autographed college and pro footballs, letters from local kids and other mementoes from home to help inspire the troops in Iraq. Then, he would have the goods delivered to his old platoon serving in Iraq, the First Cavalry Division.

He initially thought he'd have the material shipped. But his plan changed when the military signed off for Konrardy to deliver the goods in person and work as an embedded journalist for a local paper.

The 65-year-old grandpa was about to head to one of the world's most dangerous places. Video Watch "I could have been killed" »

"I wanted to maybe bury some Vietnam demons and just make a difference with this platoon and maybe make up for what I didn't do with my old platoon," he says. "I thought it was going to go one way. It went the other. It made me worse."

He adds, "I couldn't sleep before, but now it's worse. I hate to see it get dark. I get extremely nervous. I get uptight. I just don't like to see it get dark. And once it is dark, I'm on edge until it gets dawn."

Konrardy's story is one of patriotism, heroism and torment -- a war veteran unable to escape what happened in 1965, when he was just 23.

"Here's a guy who is a true American hero in his own right. He was wounded in action in the Iadrang Valley, and he comes into a combat zone 40 years later," says Maj. Chris Rogers, the operations officer of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, when Konrardy embedded with them.

"In my opinion, he's a guy who has done it all -- bled for his own country -- and he's more interested in telling the story of today's generation of young heroes than trumpeting his own horn."

Konrardy was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder shortly after he retired from John Deere in 2002, when he says his disorder really kicked in. He once sleep-drove to a Wal-Mart about 20 minutes from his home at 3 a.m. He doesn't recall how he got there or how he got home. He only remembers a guy mopping the floor asking if he could be helped.

Other times, he'd patrol the neighborhood in the wee hours of the night with his loaded 9-mm pistol on his hip. His counselor with the Department of Veterans Affairs once asked what he would do if the police ever stopped him.
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"I said, 'I'll just shoot out his windows and escape and evade back to the house. I think it'd be fun.' She didn't like that answer," he says with a laugh. "So I'm lucky because that's probably what I would've tried to do."

Konrardy checked himself into a VA facility in Des Moines, Iowa, to get help for his PTSD. He chuckles more when he recounts trying to escape from the place and police approached him. "I rolled down a hill and started running so they couldn't catch me. They said that was the wrong thing to do." Learn about PTSD and how to get help »

He says he was then put in an isolation ward for 11 days and nights, and eventually released. It was August 2005.

Fast forward to the fall of 2006. That's when Konrardy spoke to his grandson's eighth-grade class about his war experience. They thanked him for serving his country. "Nobody had ever done that before, for serving in Vietnam," he says.

He started e-mailing members of the Army's First Cavalry Division as part of his grandson's "adopt a platoon" project. He got autographed footballs from the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts, as well as from the University of Tennessee and University of Georgia.

Even the players at local St. Ambrose University chipped in with a football of their own: the game ball from their championship game. "I just wanted to do something and make up for what I didn't do for my guys," Konrardy says.

His family gathered for Christmas that year and he told of his plans to travel to Iraq. "Everybody cried," he says. "I said, 'Hey, this is a chance of a lifetime. I have to go.' "

Quizzed about why a man who was held in a VA facility a couple years earlier was cleared to travel to Iraq, Konrardy laughs. He says CNN is the first to ask that question.

But he adds the original plan was for him to not go into combat. "On the way over, I didn't think I'd be going out."

By March 2007, the old warrior's boots were on the ground in Baghdad. His plan was to hand out the 95 pounds of goods and kick back with the soldiers at base camp, collecting their stories and gathering video to give to their families back home. Konrardy handed the St. Ambrose football to a soldier named David W. Behrle, a 20-year-old from Tipton, Iowa. He scooped it up and cherished it.

Konrardy was officially in Iraq as an embedded journalist to file blog posts for "The Quad-City Times." He had not intended to go into combat, but that quickly changed. He says the commander said if he wanted to get to know the troops "you've gotta be proactive."

Konrardy says he hopped into a Humvee and began patrolling the tight streets of Baghdad with the unit. He was assigned the back right seat for four days.

His Humvee once struck a dud of a roadside bomb that blew the tire out underneath where he was sitting. Gunfire erupted. "Looking back, I'm thinking, 'Wow, I could have been killed,' " he says.

He's still haunted by another time in Iraq -- not because of what happened, but because of what he didn't do.

"I'm going to the bathroom and I hear somebody crying. My first instinct was to be a grandpa: I'm going to go in and I'm going to hold this young kid whoever it is and just say, 'I know where you're coming from. I've been there. Let's just talk.' "

He adds, "But I chickened out. I didn't do that. Now, I wish I would have."

A few weeks after he left Iraq, soldiers he befriended were riding in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle on patrol around Baghdad. He says the soldiers had recently saved a young Iraqi girl who had been shot in the head from insurgent crossfire. But on this day, May 19, 2007, a roadside bomb went off, killing all six soldiers inside.

One of those killed was Spc. David Behrle, the soldier who loved the football hand-delivered by Konrardy.

"I took that hard. It still bothers me," Konrardy says.

Outside his Iowa home, a flagpole stands on Konrardy's lawn. A fallen soldier monument sits at its base with a pair of boots, rifle facing down and helmet with the name "Behrle" on it.

Behrle's family was so moved by Konrardy they had it built for him. Kneeling next to the monument, Konrardy says, "It reminds me of Dave. But it also reminds me of the Behrle family and how close we've gotten with them and how great they've been in my grieving for Dave and helping me ... try to readjust to the things I went through in Iraq."

"They say I helped them; I say they helped me."

The lifelong Republican recently did something he thought he'd never do: He says he voted for a Democrat for the president of the United States. Thousands of American troops will soon be returning home in need of help just like him.
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Konrardy, who is still getting PTSD treatment, wishes the rest of the nation could better understand what that's like.

"I just want them to realize the life of a soldier is not what you think," he says. "It changes you for the rest of your life."

Source

poor dude.. he needs to pray or something.

Awesome musicians

Here's some other vids: all around pretty awesome stuff.


Christmas is just around the corner... unlike my parents, I have some kind of innate love for nativity scenes. I like it much better than anything else about Christmas.
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Dogs are smarter

Scientists are so dumb. I knew this already. I see it with my dogs all the time.

Why dogs can sense fair play

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Dogs appear to experience a range of complex, unpleasant emotions such as jealousy and pride, scientists have discovered.
Dogs hate their owner showing affection to other dogs.

Dogs hate their owner showing affection to other dogs.

Until now, this type of behavior had only been shown in humans or chimpanzees, but researchers suspected that other species that live together could be sensitive to fair play -- or a lack of one.

"We are learning that dogs, horses, and perhaps many other species are far more emotionally complex than we ever realized," Paul Morris, a psychologist at the University of Portsmouth who studies animal emotions, told The Sunday Times.

"They can suffer simple forms of many emotions we once thought only primates could experience."

Scientists noted that dogs hate to see their owners being affectionate to other dogs and can suffer if a new baby or partner arrives on the scene.

To test the theory, Friederike Range and colleagues at the University of Vienna in Austria asked 33 trained dogs to extend a paw to a human.

The animals performed the trick virtually all of the time whether they were given a reward or not -- when alone or with another dog.

But the dogs' enthusiasm waned when they saw other dogs being rewarded but received nothing themselves.

Dogs that were ignored extended their paws much less often, doing so in only 13 out of 30 trials. They also showed more stress, such as licking or scratching themselves.

"They are clearly unhappy with the unfair situation", Range told New Scientist magazine. She also suspects that this sensitivity might stretch beyond food to more abstract things like praise and attention.

"It might explain why some dogs react with 'new baby envy' when their owners have a child," she said.

Source

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This is something we've probably never had: happy family.. mixed.. haha check out these ligers.

Boredom

Defines my day...

Defines my dreams...



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Pacquiao dominates, stops De La Hoya in 8th round

Pacquiao dominates, stops De La Hoya in 8th round

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Manny Pacquiao fought a lot bigger than he looked. Oscar De La Hoya simply looked old. Pacquiao dominated his bigger and more famous opponent from the opening bell Saturday night, giving De La Hoya a beating and closing his left eye before De La Hoya declined to come out of his corner after the eighth round.

The fight was so lopsided and De La Hoya looked so inept that it could spell the end for boxing's richest and most marketable star.

It was only the second time in De La Hoya's 16-year pro career that he was stopped in a fight, and it was made even more shocking because it came at the hands of a fighter who fought at just 129 pounds months earlier. At the age of 35 he seemed not only well beyond his prime, but unable to offer any answer to the punches that Pacquiao was landing almost at will.

De La Hoya's left eye was closed shut as he sat on his stool after the eighth round and the ring doctor, referee and his cornermen discussed his condition. De La Hoya offered no complaints when his corner decided he had enough, getting up from his stool and walking to the center of the ring to congratulate the victor.

"You're still my idol," Pacquiao told him.

"No, you're my idol," De La Hoya said.

Two of the three ringside judges scored all eight rounds for Pacquiao, while a third gave De La Hoya only the first round. The Associated Press scored every round for the winner.

De La Hoya was taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons after the fight.

It was lopsided from the beginning, with Pacquiao landing punch after punch while De La Hoya chased after him, trying to catch him with a big punch. Pacquiao was winning big even before the seventh round, when he was pounding De La Hoya against the ropes in his corner and catching him with huge shots that knocked him across the ring.

De La Hoya remained upright, but with one eye closed and his reflexes seemingly gone there was no chance he was going to land the big punches he would have needed to turn the fight around. Ringside statistics showed Pacquiao landed 45 power punches in the seventh round to just four for De La Hoya.

"He's just a great fighter," De La Hoya said. "I have nothing bad to say about him. He prepared like a true champion."

Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 knockouts) came up two weight classes to fight for his biggest purse ever, while De La Hoya dropped down to meet him at 147 pounds. Though De La Hoya (39-6) towered over Pacquiao and had a big reach advantage over him, Pacquiao had no trouble getting inside what few jabs De La Hoya threw to land his shots.

Pacquiao was credited with landing 224 of 585 punches to just 83 of 402 for De La Hoya.

"We knew we had him after the first round," Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach said. "He had no legs, he was hesitant and he was shot."

Roach trained De La Hoya in his last big fight a year ago and said De La Hoya simply couldn't throw punches when he needed in that fight. That was magnified even more against Pacquiao, who not only was as elusive as Floyd Mayweather Jr. but threw punches back that kept De La Hoya off pace.

"Freddie, you're right," De La Hoya told the trainer after the fight. "I just don't have it anymore."

If De La Hoya's career is over, it will be the end of a remarkable story that began when he won the Olympic gold medal in Barcelona in 1992 and went on to become the biggest box office attraction in the sport. But while he sold tickets, De La Hoya hadn't won a big fight in six years, and there were whispers long before the fight that he had nothing left.

"My heart still wants to fight, that's for sure," De La Hoya said. "But when your physical doesn't respond, what can you do? I have to be smart and make sure I think about my future plans."

De La Hoya not only dropped down to fight for the first time at 147 pounds in seven years, but actually came into the ring unofficially weighing less than Pacquiao. Both fighters got on scales in their dressing rooms and De La Hoya was 147 while Pacquiao was 148 and a half.

Pacquiao earned his biggest purse ever, a guaranteed $11 million, while De La Hoya was expected to make at least twice that in a fight by the time all the pay-per-view revenues are totaled up.

Source

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Fun

hm..I'm kinda sore today. Slept in... so I was in bed til like.. 6 am today.

I'm usually up by 4 am.

zz.

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mm

God I am just so starving today!



what I'd give to eat these things. mmm



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Why Do the Mentally Ill Die Younger?

I saw this article on CNN today.. does that mean I'm going to die younger? :D

Why Do the Mentally Ill Die Younger?

Cynthia Scott is your average health-conscious 56-year-old. She watches what she eats, drinks lots of water and takes a multivitamin every morning. She goes for frequent walks and visits her doctor regularly for checkups, including cholesterol and diabetes screenings.
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Scott also has schizoaffective bipolar disorder, a mental illness she keeps in check with a low dose of Zyprexa. If you were to ask Scott, she would say she is a healthy person overall. So she was shocked when the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) published a study two years ago called Morbidity and Mortality in People with Serious Mental Illness. The report analyzed data from 16 states and found that, on average, people with severe mental illness die 25 years earlier than the general population. "Hearing that made me so sad," says Scott. (See the Year in Health, from A to Z.)

The findings were a bombshell for the rest of the mental-health community. "The study jarred the field," says Dr. Bob Glover, the executive director of NASMHPD. After the 2006 report came out, many mental-health agencies in the U.S. made it an immediate priority to figure out why their patients die sooner and how to improve their longevity. Says Glover: "Mental health has been late to the dance in terms of looking at the connections between mental health and physical health. It may be moot what you're doing for mental-health needs if people are dying so early from physical causes."

Indeed, the causes of physical illness and death among psychiatric patients are much the same as those in other groups — cigarette smoking, obesity, diabetes — and are treatable. The problem is that people with serious mental illness tend to be low on the socioeconomic totem pole and often don't get the best available health care. Frequently, their own doctors pay little heed to their patients' physical health. "Medical doctors think, 'Well, they're crazy,' so they don't take their concerns seriously," says Wendy Brennan, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in New York City. "Their very real physical symptoms are often dismissed."

One of the most common contributors to early death among mentally ill patients, for instance, is smoking. While about 22% of the general population smokes, more than 75% of people with severe mental illness are tobacco-dependent. According to Glover, a study conducted by NASMHPD after the publication of its mortality study found that 44% of all cigarettes in the United States are consumed by people with psychiatric histories. "I used to run state hospitals, and we'd use cigarettes as reinforcement — 'You did good; you get a cigarette,'" he says. "When people didn't do well, we took away their tobacco privileges. We were part of the problem." The agency is now working to make state mental hospitals smoke-free by 2011.

Obesity is another big risk factor. People with depression or bipolar disorder are about twice as likely to be obese as the general population; in people with schizophrenia, that likelihood is three times greater. This is in part because so many psychotropic medications cause weight gain. At many state hospitals, says Glover, "you'd see a woman be admitted at 120 lb. Three to six months later, she'd weigh 200."

Obesity-related illnesses, like diabetes, are so prevalent among the mentally ill that health officials call them an epidemic within an epidemic. For example, about 13% of schizophrenic adults in their 50s have received a diabetes diagnosis, compared with 8% of the general population of the same age. In October, the NASMHPD released another report, with recommendations for treating the particular problem of obesity, including giving those with severe mental illness better access to dietary consultations and promoting the prescription of low-weight-gain antipsychotics. The agency is currently working on creating a tool kit for federal health-care providers to better inform them on the issue.

At NAMI–New York City, after reading the 2006 mortality report, health workers held focus groups to assess their patients' health concerns. There were many — foremost among them, the simple desire to feel deserving of good health. "The most shocking thing was that people really wanted to be healthy but there was a disconnect," says program associate Katie Linn, who ran the focus groups. "A lot of it came down to self-worth — they didn't feel like they were worthy of taking care of themselves."

Based on the participants' responses, NAMI created a program called Six Weeks to Wellness, a weekly class that teaches everything from proper nutrition to controlling anxiety through yoga and meditation. "It's been wildly popular," says Linn. "It helps to say, 'Your health is important to us.' They've never heard that before."

For the NASMHPD, the next logical step is to educate the doctors who care for the mentally ill. This month, the agency will release guidelines for standardizing the medical tests, assessments and care given to mental-health patients in the public system. The recommendations include taking regular measurements of patients' height and weight, checking their glucose levels and carefully evaluating their medication history. Psychiatrists, likewise, are not exempt. According to Mental Heath America, based in Virginia, a recent survey of people with schizophrenia revealed that they rarely discussed physical health with their psychiatrists. So the organization is working on an initiative with the American Psychological Association to better educate mental-health specialists about the physical concerns facing patients with serious mental illness.

As for Cynthia Scott, over the past two years she has taken her health consciousness to a whole new level, regularly attending NAMI's yoga workshops in New York City. "I'm big on taking care of myself," she says.

Source

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Dream dreaming... oohh baby

beautiful beautiful... hmmm mmm...


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Hair colors

Stupidity Comes in all hair colors

That's a good one, isn't it? Haha!


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Feetish

My uncles have unbelievably nice feet. Seems like a lot of Asians have much nicer looking hands and feet. Not ALL of them of course, but a lot of them do. Japanese, Chinese.. real nice! My dad's feet? God they're butt ugly.

Look at this poor kid's feet, so young yet so ugly already. Usually babies feet are cute.

But the kid's face makes up for his ugly feet.

Get a Ninjai desktop or something today..

half and half

Haha check out this silly Japanese film

Silly silly people. :)

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Happy Thanksgiving

Woohoo! This is the first time I've spent thanksgiving on my own. It was all right. Just watched movies all day.

hmm.. what cuties Sampras' got


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Ninja music

aweeee.. just check out these week-old puppies!!




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A little thinking

I've been so busy I've hardly had much time to think. Funny thing is that now that I have hardly been eating any sugar, it's so easy to keep those few extra pounds off!

I was reading extensively about the relation of sweet cravings and the spleen and how sugar really just fucks up your system, so I've stopped eating sugar like- well, like I usually do. It's not an easy thing to do that's for sure, but I think it's well worth the effort.



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Bit of air.. bit of undecision

I'm undecided. What to take... political science? Psychology? What is better? hmm.. mm

ANyway, maybe I should just stop thinking at all and just laugh it off...

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