KNIGHT WATCH

IS THE FOX STILL GUARDING THE HEN HOUSE?

In 1905 football was almost banned from college campuses because of being too dangerous. Since then innovations in helmets and pads have made football safer – except from heat and humidity. According to Larry Kenney, professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn Sate, playing in a typical uniform is like playing in a three-piece suit. Sweat can't cool players off because it can't evaporate and it's not uncommon during prolonged exercise for players' temperatures to reach 104. In 2004 the NCAA introduced preseason practice guidelines to help players slowly acclimate to exercising in heat and humidity, but guidelines aren't followed as closely as yard lines.

In January 2008 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a report that reviewed 1,446 fatal crashes. In 255 of those crashes air bags hadn't been replaced in the cars after previous accidents. There are 2 types of air bag fraud. In the first, body shops charge insurance companies $2,000 - $4,000 for air bags they don't replace. In the second, body shops charge customers for air bags; but instead of installing them, they return them to the manufacturers for full refunds. Obviously, when choosing a body shop, consumers can’t choose just anybody's shop.

In September 2008 Warner Bros. filed a suit in an Indian court against Mirchi Movies, maker of "Hari Puttar – A Comedy of Terrors". A spokesperson for Warner Bros. said the film's producers wanted to "confuse consumers and benefit from the well known and well-loved Harry Potter brand". The defendant's lawyers said Hari means God in Hindi and puttar means son in Punjabi. They explained that Hari Puttar is the story of an Indian boy alone in Britain who has to protect his father's top security computer chip from bungling burglars. The movie was released globally in October 2008 because the court found that all's fair in love and War-ner Bros.

Also in September 2008 Congress passed a law requiring food to be labeled with country of origin. The law covers raw meats and fish, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, macadamias, pecans, peanuts and whole ginseng – but it doesn't cover enough. It doesn't cover bulk processed foods. Raw chicken would be labeled - breaded chicken wouldn't. The law doesn't cover mixed products. Frozen peas would be labeled – frozen peas and carrots wouldn't. The law doesn't cover meat and shellfish sold in butcher shops. Although the acronym of country-of-origin labeling is "COOL" – it isn't.

ISN'T IT TIME TO TEACH PARENTING?

Although parenting doesn't stop when a mother goes to prison, the Ohio Reformatory for Women is one of very few prisons that addresses this problem. It has a program for non-violent, short-term offenders, who are pregnant or have infants. These mothers live in a special wing of the prison, where they're able to have their babies with them in their cells. Between prison roll calls these women are able to take their babies to an in-house nursery for parenting classes and other scheduled activities. It's hoped that programs like this will make it less likely mothers will commit other crimes. It's hoped that more family bonds will mean fewer jail bonds.

Unfortunately, family bonds don't prevent fathers from suffering postpartum depression. According to U.S. studies, ¼ of new dads experience feeling of sadness and worthlessness, as well as loss of interest in sex and hobbies, soon after their babies are born. Although sleep deprivation is thought to be a factor, postpartum depressed dads also experience a decrease in testosterone and an increase in estrogen. Because there's no medical explanation for this, psychologists theorize it's caused by feelings similar to sympathy pains. In fact, having a partner with postpartum depression doubles the likelihood the dad will have it too. Depression, no matter what the cause, needs professional treatment. These dads need to understand it can't be walked off.

The American Academy of Pediatrics wants all parents to understand that young children shouldn't have exotic pets – and chicks, hamsters, hedgehogs, lizards and turtles are considered exotic. These animals carry dangerous and potentially deadly germs. Eleven percent of salmonella in children is caused by contact with reptiles. Chicks and hamsters also carry the salmonella germ and hedgehogs carry bacteria that cause fever, stomach pain and rash. Children under 5 are particularly at risk because of their underdeveloped immune systems and their propensity to put their hands in their mouths – to which parents need to pay pet-icular attention.

Attention should also be paid to new research done by sociologists at Florida State University. A study of 13,000 adults found that parents aren't happier than childless adults. Not only does the parents' depression increase with each child they have, but it doesn't get better when the children move out. Because there doesn't appear to be a cure for this parenting phenomenon, maybe every child should send their parents sympathy cards on Mother's and Father's Day.

WHO'S MINDING THE .... ENVIRONMENT?

The Amazon is being deforested three times faster in 2008 than in 2007. Brazil's Environmental Minister attributes this to Amazon-region mayors ignoring illegal logging to get votes. Greenpeace attributes this to soy farmers and cattle ranchers clearing more land to profit from the rise in food prices. Although satellite imagery showed that 292 square miles were destroyed in August 2008 – compared to 89 square miles in August 2007 – that's not the whole picture. Twenty-six percent of the Amazon can't by seen by satellite because it's covered by clouds – clouds that don't have silver linings.

According to a study done by the International Union for Conservancy of Nature, 1 in 2 mammal species is in decline and 1 in 4 is at risk of extinction. This is because of what man has done to ecosystems worldwide. The IUCN's 2008 Red List of Threatened Species shows 450 mammal species are endangered, 188 are critically endangered and 27 are possibly extinct. The study's authors want governments and conservation groups to use Red List data to identify species and areas for conservation. They want conservation to make us see red.

Ozone should make us see red. Ozone is an atmospheric layer formed at an altitude of approximately 15.5 miles. By filtering sunlight, it protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays. In 2008 the hole in the ozone over Antarctica was 10.4 million square miles. That's bigger than in 2007, but smaller than in 2006. The size changes because of weather conditions. When gases like chlorine and bromine are present at high altitudes, they destroy ozone. Although these gases came from man-made products phased out 2 decades ago, the damage they still do hasn't been phased out.

Something that's being phased in is a new recycling program in Los Angeles. Two-gallon, kitchen pails are being distributed to houses in an experimental, garbage, pick-up program. Participants are asked to separate household scraps – things like bones, eggshells, meats and vegetables – from regular garbage and to put them into the pails. The pails are to be emptied by the participants into recycling bins for lawn clippings, which are collected by the city. LA hopes this will divert 600 tons of wasted food that goes into landfills every day. This pilot program adds 5,000 LA households to those in cities like San Francisco and Seattle that have been recycling food scraps into compost for years. Green waste shouldn't be wasted.

IS THERE ENOUGH CARE IN HEALTH CARE?

Because Anthrax is easily treated if caught early, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plans to use volunteer, government mail carriers to deliver emergency antibiotics to areas affected by anthrax attack. According to the plan, mail carriers will have advance supplies of antibiotics to protect themselves and their families; and they'll be escorted by local police as they deliver several days' worth of antibiotics and an anthrax fact sheet to residences. After the initial delivery public health authorities will set up re-supply centers. Considering anthrax-laced letters killed 5 people – including 2 postal workers – in 2001, the government didn't think very far outside the envelope for this plan.

The plan at the Wuhan Zoo in central China is to feed its 2 panda bears home-cooked, chicken soup to reduce their stress. According to zoo officials, the pandas were tired and suffering from shock due to the week-long National Day holiday, which brought 30,000 visitors a day to the zoo. The pandas were fed 2.2 pounds of soup in addition to their regular diet of bamboo, milk and buns. Reflecting Chinese tradition of drinking chicken soup for health, it's hoped the soup will also help the panda bears handle cold weather. Obviously, our mothers telling us to drink chicken soup when we have colds is advice to bear in mind.

Something else to bear in mind is that U.S. mammograms are read by only 1 radiologist. Ten years ago computer-aided detection was developed to improve cancer detection and it's now used for about 1/3 of the nation's mammograms. In Britain mammograms are read by 2 radiologists or technicians. However, British research has shown that a radiologist aided by a computer did as well detecting cancers as 2 human readers. This means American women won't have to pay with their health for insurance companies that won't pay for 2 human readers.

Finally, according to the American Psychiatric Association, 19 million Americans have phobias. They're the #1 psychiatric illness in women and the #2 in men over 25. Avoidance of the feared situations can't cure phobias, but Cognitive Behavior Therapy can. CBT is based on the belief that thoughts – not external things – cause our feelings and behaviors. Therefore, if we change how we think, we don't have to change the situation. Supposedly only 8 to 12 sessions of CBT are needed to cure a phobia – unless the phobia is fear of success.

IS IT A SIGN OF THE ECONOMY?

Because of the faltering economy more Americans are eating Spam. Although this has contributed to a 14% profit increase for the Hormel Company, Spam has been popular in Hawaii since being introduced there during WWII and today more is sold there per capita than anywhere else in the U.S. In fact, Hawaiian cookbook author Muriel Muira says Spam is Hawaii's favorite meat. In her new cookbook, "Hawaii Cooks with Spam", she substitutes Spam for crab in her sushi recipe and coats the rice with mayo. According to Muira, Hawaiians put mayo on everything; but I hope someone makes her eat those words.

The faltering economy is also responsible for people drinking less Starbucks coffee. That fact combined with overexpansion caused Starbucks to announce the closing of 600 stores. The economy is why Dillard's, The Gap and Home Depot are closing stores. It's why Bombay, Comp USA and Pep Boys are closing stores too. While stores that sell necessities – like CVS and Wal-Mart – continue to do well, the downward economy is expected to scare Americans into trying something new – saving money. Unfortunately, because the economy needs an influx of money, our saving won't save it.

Nothing can save the airlines from high fuel costs and the heavier a plane is the more fuel it requires. To lighten their loads some airlines have imposed new restrictions on both carry-on and checked baggage. Other airlines have stopped carrying bottled water. Continental is one of the airlines that's reducing weight by carrying less fuel. Continental recently sent a memo to its pilots stating that adding fuel without critical thinking ultimately reduces profit sharing and possibly pension funding. It seems management is throwing its excess weight around.

American dependency on gasoline for cars can be traced back 100 years to the Model T Ford. Although steam and electricity were options to power his cars, Henry Ford decided on gas. Gas-powered cars were easier to start and easier to refuel. Within 2 years Ford sold more than 10,000 Model T's. The pressure to manufacture cars faster led to his developing the automotive assembly line in 1913. It also led to his using only black paint because black paint dried faster. Because Ford could make the Model T more efficiently, he could reduce the price and sales soared. Unfortunately, the economy has changed. Hybrid and electric cars are what's selling now because gas in no longer af-Ford-able.

DOES A RIGHT CAUSE A RIGHTABOUT-FACE?

An airline passengers' bill of rights was passed September 5, 2008. If your plane is delayed 4 hours, you're entitled to a meal voucher. If it's delayed 8 hours, you're entitled to a hotel voucher. If the delay occurs after you're on board, you have the right to disembark after 90 minutes. Unfortunately for Americans, "Flight Rights" was passed by the Canadian government. Although the bill can't make airlines responsible for weather, a time limit for tarmac delays is an idea all airline passengers would like to see fly.

The concern for animal rights has had animal welfare groups outraged by the cruel treatment of horses sold for meat and they've been seeking federal regulation since 2001. Although they forced the closure of the last 3 U.S. slaughterhouses, many states don't have laws prohibiting new slaughterhouses and 100,000 horses a year are still exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. In September 2008 the House Judiciary Committee approved the "Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act". It would make possession or transportation of horse meat or horses for human consumption a crime punishable by up to 3 years in prison. Although it's uncertain if the act will pass this year, its sponsors aren't horsing around.

The right to have shelter influenced the 2008 awarding of the Curry Stone Design Prize, given annually to an individual or group who has developed a design solution with potential to create beneficial change in a vital community. The $100,000 prize went to MAA Architects, a South African firm that designed a $6900 house to replace dilapidated structures in Cape Town shantytowns. The 54-square-meter, 2-story house is built with sandbags supported by a wood frame and requires little or no electricity or skilled labor to build. In fact, MAA plans to build10 houses with volunteer help from the community – plans that won't be sandbagged.

Finally, after more than 20 years of peaceful protest and a few violent battles, the last two tree-sitters came down from the California redwoods they'd been protecting for almost a year. They came down because the Pacific Lumber Company, the largest private owner of old-growth redwoods, has new owners. Humboldt Redwood Company (owned by Dan and Doris Fisher of The Gap, Inc.) acquired Pacific Lumber in bankruptcy court. They pledged to spare any redwood born before 1800 with a diameter of at least 4 feet. That's a pledge tree-sitters can take sitting down.

ARE YOU INSECURE ABOUT SECURITY?

Is it just me or is there always another computer program to learn? Now I'm meant to learn how to protect my e-mails with encryption software. A friend suggested I buy the "PGP" program because its developer was mentioned in the "The DaVinci Code". PGP stands for Pretty Good Privacy – cute; but I wasn't convinced. The program requires both the sender and receiver to have an encryption key. Frankly, I could develop a much simpler, free program. Every time people write e-mails, they should pretend their mother is reading over their shoulder and then it wouldn't matter who else read it.

When I think wireless access, I think about being able to use my laptop in more places; but some cities are using wireless technology for surveillance. Oklahoma City has installed the world's largest, municipal, surveillance network, linking hundreds of video cameras. Chicago has installed the largest network of bus surveillance in the U.S., putting cameras on its 2,000 buses. Seventy-five percent of cities and towns with active or planned wireless networks will use them for public safety. That's an increase of 10% from 2006. When asked about the potential to violate peoples' privacy, a spokesman for the Office of Emergency Management and Communication said videos are destroyed after 30 days – but when he said that did his nose get longer?

Because the small, Texas town of Harold is 30 minutes from the county sheriff's office, school trustees worried about security in regard to school shootings. Their solution was to let staff carry concealed weapons. The staff must have a Texas license for a concealed weapon, be authorized by the district, receive crisis training and use bullets that minimize ricocheting. Of course, the 120 students might want the teachers to have anger management training too.

Although Iraq has more than 500,000 men in its security forces, the country's conservative beliefs have prevented women from joining. As of September 2008, however, 21 women are in the police force. They wear blue shirts and black trousers like the men, but their heads and necks are covered by a hijab. Because Iraqi men aren't allowed to search women, Al-Qaida has increasingly used female suicide bombers – 14 in Diyala province alone since November 2007. The primary job of the policewomen will be to search women at checkpoints. Two hundred more Iraqi women want to be policewomen – that's 200 more steps in the right direction.

WHAT'S IN IN INVESTMENTS?

The biggest investment most people make is a house. Then there's the cost of maintenance, repairs and improvements. After a few years remodeling is a possibility, but insurance is a must. With a house it's always something; but as long as the interest on mortgages is tax deductible, homeowners can sleep in a tax shelter.

Those who are skittish about investing in the stock market can let their money ride – on tractors. Antique tractor collecting became popular in the 1970's. Some names are familiar – John Deere and Case – and some aren't – Oliver and Silver King. Some are already restored and others are waiting for hope to be restored. As the number of tractor aficionados has grown, prices have increased. Prices drastically increased in recent years because of European investors benefiting from the exchange rate. Prices of older tractors can double in a year – making tractors a down-to-earth investment.

Then there's Elon Musk's out-of-this-world investment. Musk is the 37-year-old, mega-millionaire co-founder of PayPal, who invested $100 million of his own money in Space X, a low-budget rocket company. His goal is to radically reduce the cost of putting objects into space. Unfortunately, Musk's three attempts to put a Falcon rocket into orbit have failed - so it seems some things do require a rocket scientist.

No rocket scientist is needed to get to Mars – Mars, the chocolate manufacturer, that is. That Mars is investing $10 million to study the genetic makeup of cocoa. The world's cocoa supply is produced by 6 ½ million subsistence farmers in Africa and the Americas; but their plants are suffering from disease, pests and climate change. Knowing cocoa's genetic makeup will enable more resistant plants to be grown and Mars is willing to provide its information to anyone – even to the Hershey Chocolate Company. That is an offer that should be sealed with a kiss.

Finally, the owners of an upscale supermarket in Chevy Chase, Maryland have sealed the deal on investing $7,000 a year in a car wash for their shopping carts. According to the supermarket owners, shopping carts are more germ-infested than pay phones, soap dispensers and toilet seats in public restrooms. By spraying a peroxide-based mist on the carts, the system supposedly eliminates 99.9% of the germs. The company that makes the cart wash system has sold 20 units in the U.S. and South Korea. Unfortunately, that is far from a clean sweep.

ARE EVERYDAY HEROES A DAILY EXPERIENCE?

Tamien Bain was fourteen when he and two friends robbed a McDonald's. Tamien was tried as an adult and served twelve years in prison. Unlike some prisoners, he didn't find Jesus. He found music. Now twenty-nine, Tamien is known as Miami rapper "BAING The Locksmith"; and he knows it's never too late to be a hero. BAING started "Real Talk", a program which brings rappers to youth detention centers to talk about their mistakes and to share their music. BAING's latest music is a jingle which qualified him as one of five contest finalists. When BAING turned his life around, he turned in a complete circle. The jingle was for McDonald's.

Joel Armstrong was sitting in his second-floor, Spokane office when he saw that a duck had laid ten eggs in the awning outside his window. The day after the eggs hatched the mother duck jumped ten feet to the sidewalk. After the first duckling jumped, it lay limp on the sidewalk. That's when Joel jumped into action. With a friend telling him when each duckling jumped, Joel caught the remaining nine. Then, after the first duckling surprisingly revived, Joel put them all in a box and carried them to the river. When the mother duck waddled into the river, all ten ducklings followed. Obviously, this would be a better world if none of us ducked responsibility.

Sean Tevis is a Web designer who wanted to run for political office. After being told he needed $26,000 to campaign against the incumbent Kansas state representative, Sean went door-to-door. Two weeks, $25 and two dog bites later he decided to use his Web skills. Sean posted a stick-figure cartoon on line. In "Running for Office" a political advisor tells Sean it's easy to raise $26,000. He just needs fifty-two people to donate $500 each. Unconvinced, Sean keeps breaking $26,000 down until he gets to three thousand people donating $8.67. Less than a day later Sean reached his goal - proving small change can make big change.

Rochelle Behrens is a 25-year-old Washington lobbyist by day. By night she literally bridged the gap to clothes designer. Tired of having a gap between the buttons of her dress shirts, Rochelle designed a shirt with hidden buttons. Because these buttons button through the interior side of the shirt's placket, the shirt looks normal from the outside. Rescuing women from bra-showing gaps made her a her-o.

DO WE FIGHT CHANGE FOR EXERCISE?

The law for taxing cell phone use was written 20 years ago. That's when cell phones were the size and weight of bricks - when they cost $4,000 and were used only by top executives. Today they're smaller, lighter, cheaper and used by almost everyone – but the law hasn't changed. Personal calls made on company mobile phones are still taxable. The IRS considers them part of an employee's compensation package. Just like using a company car, employees are expected to document all use, indicating which was personal use. Obviously, a new law is called for – but not from a company cell phone.

Ken Smith, senior lecturer at Bucks New University in England, is calling for new spelling. He thinks some misspelling should be considered variant – not wrong. Among the 10 words he proposes for variant spelling are Febuary for February, twelth for twelfth and truely for truly Joe Pickett, executive editor for American Heritage Dictionary, says spelling changes aren't accepted until they become mainstream in print publications. Fantasy became an accepted variant for phantasy in the early 1900's. In 1996 consideration was given to alot as a variant for a lot – but for now it's still rong.

Most fisheries still operate on a simple system – when regulators declare opening day, fishermen catch fish as fast as possible. In the past few decades this has caused a 30% collapse in commercial fisheries worldwide. Now federal regulators are considering a catch-share system. Fishermen would be given a quota for fish to fill in a year and that quota could be sold. A survey of 11,000 fishermen worldwide found that fisheries using the catch-share system are only half as likely to collapse and that likelihood decreases the longer they use the system. Because this survey was published in Science magazine, it's obviously a fish story without exaggeration.

Unfortunately, not all change is good. The number of fireflies worldwide is decreasing. Although researchers attribute this to urban sprawl and industrial pollution, increase in artificial lighting is another factor. It interferes with females seeing and being wooed by flashing backsides of males. The severity of the decrease isn't known because among the 2,000 species of fireflies, many females spend most of their time on the ground and other females don't flash. Further complicating the count is their 1-3 week lifespan. Nevertheless, because these insects are key to understanding the health of an ecosystem, fireflies count.