About Us
Mission Statement
Rules of Conduct
 
Name:
Pswd:
Remember Me
Register
 

Insert title here
Author: TriSec    Date: 02/13/2010 11:45:50

Good Morning!

Remember when an early Saturday morning blog meant one thing? Well, I'm back to doing that again! And I'm hopeful that as 2010 turns into a better year than 2009 (how can it not?) I'll be able to get back to regular donations again.

The Red Cross has significantly updated their website recently...there's a ton of new information out there. There's even a new widget to find out if you're eligible to donate...even if you think you're not, you might be surprised at what you find.

As for me, I gave up donating blood years ago; I went bigtime. The Dedham Red Cross has called me one of their most productive platelet donors, and I've never given less than a 'double'. It's not a hard thing to do, but it does require a little bit bigger time commitment than a routine blood donation.




During a platelet donation, a small portion of your blood (less than one pint at a time), is drawn from your arm and passed through a sophisticated cell-separating machine. The machine collects the platelets and safely returns the remaining blood components, along with some saline, back to you. After the donation you can resume your normal activities, avoiding heavy lifting or strenuous exercise that day.

A single platelet donation can provide enough platelets for a full therapeutic dose for a patient in need. In fact, some platelet donations yield enough platelets for two or three therapeutic doses. By contrast, it takes about five whole blood donations to produce a single therapeutic dose. Many patients who need platelets are undergoing chemotheraphy or organ transplant and have weakened immune systems. A platelet dose from a single donor reduces the patient’s exposure to multiple donors and is therefore preferred by many physicians.


So why not call your local Red Cross today and make an appointment?



So, how many of you watched the Opening Ceremonies last night?

I'm a bona-fide Olympics Geek...perhaps by virtue of having attended the 1976 Montreal games as a child. In any case, the Winter Olympics are going on, but something curious happened on the way to the alpine events.

Al Gore intervened and warmed up the West Coast.

It's true; since because Washington got buried by snow this past week and the Right declared "Global Warming is dead!" then it stands to reason that someplace that normally does get buried by snow and they don't have any must be Al's fault too, right? RIGHT?

Actually, all 50 states have some kind of snow cover right now. Which doesn't happen that often.


Snow in all 50 states?

While Olympic officials are scrambling to ensure there is enough snow for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, many parts of the United States are seeing more than their share of the white stuff.

As odd as it may seem, if reports are accurate, this calendar year will be the first in quite a while where there has seen “snow cover” at some location in all 50 of the United States. Reports from the panhandle of Florida indicates that they are seeing some wet snow today, and that enough of it is falling, and it is cool enough that the snow could even stick. While most people don’t envision snow falling in such southern states, an especially wet and cold winter has spread the white stuff out to everyone.

The average reader may not realize that even Hawaii sees at least a little snow every year, though it’s generally at the top of its highest volcano peaks, and generally not enough to really measure.

One Oklahoma student is taking the odd development to heart, and has begun to document where and how much snow has fallen through a database of pictures. Patrick Marsh is a meteorological student at the University of Oklahoma who is asking anyone who can visually document a fresh snowfall from certain states to send him those pictures. Marsh says if he’s able to pics from all 50 states he’ll put them in a Google earth map, making a snow snapshot of America.


So....

Wrapping up something I blogged about last week, today is the Scout Sabbath for those among us that are Hebrew or Islamic faith...and tonight we'll be having the Pack's Blue & Gold banquet and birthday party. Of course, since my Pack can't possibly have any events without a dark cloud hanging over us, here's something from the local paper about our charter organization....that fortunately doesn't involve any of my scouts that I'm aware of.


 

2 comments (Latest Comment: 02/13/2010 20:57:27 by livingonli)
   Perma Link

Share This!

Furl it!
Spurl
NewsVine
Reddit
Technorati