Archive for November, 2009

Mehmet Oz, M.D.: Flicking The Switch: The Phenomenal Circuit Board of The Epigenetic Frontier

There are many myths that surround procreation. Perhaps the biggest one is that a baby will inherit its genetic blend from its parents and whatever winds up in this software code of life is to be endured for better or worse. Nothing can be done to change it. We were taught that we are stuck with our genes, so thank your parents and grandparents for your athletic prowess, musical ability, diabetes or pear-like profile. Stop any ten people on the street and ask them what they can do about their genes and I bet all ten throw up their hands in surrender.
But in recent years a medical concept called epigenetics is turning this paradigm on its head. It’s the subject of my show on Tuesday and my new book with Dr. Michael Roizen “YOU: Having a Baby.” Epigenetics reveals how our ancestors developed tools to turn on or off our genes in order to give our species the ability to rapidly adapt to a changing environment. This means we have inherited the ability to control how our genes are used.
Let me explain. Located along our DNA, genes serve as the blueprints of our body. These control everything that make us “us” – from our height, frame and eye color to mental health, intelligence and countless other characteristics. “It’s in his genes” is a casual expression to describe anything from love of baseball to a Type A personality. But identical twins who have identical DNA can have different characteristics, allergies, personalities and abilities. Their DNA is pre-ordained, yet their response to environmental factors in-utero is not. To prove this point, scientists studying populations exposed to different environmental stress have noticed startling differences. For example, during World War II thousands of fetuses were exposed to the 1944 winter famine in the Netherlands. By the time of their birth, the war had ended and the babies were provided adequate nutrition, but over their lifetime, many more than expected developed diabetes and hypertension, reflective of a “thrifty phenotype.” Even more surprisingly, the children of these famine babies also continued the trend of chronic illness even though the famine had long passed. Scientists point to this example as proof that genes can react to environmental factors, and for years we have tried to understand how we could extrapolate that thesis to practical everyday living tips.
Now here is the wow factor. You have almost 25,000 genes in each nucleus of each cell in your body. Liver, bicep, hair, sperm, pinky toe – doesn’t matter – all types of cells have a complete operating manual for being human. But cells have to do only one thing, so they don’t need the entire set of instructions. Ever try to thumb through your car’s operating manual on a rainy night when looking for the spare tire release lever? Same situation. The cells find what they need by certain tags – called epigenetic tags – along the genome that tell it what to do. So the core issue is where the tags are, and what you do while your baby is developing makes all difference. It’s epigenetics that make us unique. It sounds better to belt out “I gotta be me!” than “I gotta be epigenetically distinct!” – but you get where I am coming from.
We don’t know everything about how epigenetics works during pregnancy, but we do know that the foods you eat and the chemicals you ingest or inhale push a lot of circuit breakers on or off in your baby. We also know that this isn’t limited to a developing fetus – this continues throughout your life, your child’s life, and can be passed on from generation to generation. By taking proactive healthy steps, you are actually giving your great grandchildren an advantage and a better set of genetic circuit breakers!
So if we nudge our epigenetic tags through simple behaviors, it can make a world of difference. Two areas that will have massive influence on your child’s life are weight and intelligence. You can take Omega 3′s as a supplement and eat foods like oily fish that are rich in the nutrient to help all the developing fetal brain tissue grow as healthy as possible. Same goes for moms who eat enough folic acid, which not only prevents spina bifida but also reduces childhood cancers. Also, I want to emphatically dispel the myth that you should “eat for two” during your pregnancy and gain weight with abandon. This is dangerous nonsense that could predispose your offspring to childhood obesity. You can have 100 calories extra in your first trimester, 250 extra in the second and 300 calories more in the home stretch. My wife and I have four children so I have witnessed both the cravings and the days when you can’t look at food – these are guidelines and they won’t be exact, but they will have a huge influence on your baby’s epigenetic outlook. Your baby will thank you, so will your grandchildren and their grandchildren and so on. For more specific tips, go to www.doctoroz.com or watch Tuesday’s show where we get into this topic in great detail with some real world experts.

Steve Parker: Our automotive radio shows this weekend

Join us LIVE Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern (NEW TIME!) and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com for our exclusive LIVE motoring and motorsports talk shows!

Steve Parker’s The Car Nut Show
NEW TIME! Join us LIVE every Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern

Some major car news this week: Toyota has admitted a major mechanical problem with its 3.8 million recalled Toyota and Lexus vehicles, after denying it just a week ago. And the “acceleration incidents” are not because of the wrong-sized floor mats; it’s the gas pedals and maybe the ECUs in all the vehicles, too. And this week Toyota also announced a 110,000 unit recall of their Tundra pickup. Also, the Euro company which was negotiating with GM to buy Saab has backed out of the deal … and there was plenty more, too. Let’s discuss! The call-in number is: 213-341-4353.
Toyota’s Camry, America’s best-selling car, may have deep-seated throttle problems

Steve Parker’s World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm

This morning I had my first drive in the Chevrolet Volt extended-range hybrid and I’ll have my first report on this critical car for GM. Thanksgiving night I went to the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale Speedway and we’ll have a full report on the great competition there. This week is NASCAR’s “Champion’s Week” and for the first time ever it’s being held in Las Vegas … and fans can pay to attend and see their favorite drivers reap their rewards. Plus plenty from racing’s ‘silly season’. The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. Join in!
Jeff Gordon finished third in NASCAR point standings this season

Podcasts of both shows are available one hour after the live shows conclude. That’s our NEW TIME this Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern time every week on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

More on Cars

Kim Morgan: Ugly Talents: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Thanksgiving brought me to one of my favorite dysfunctional romances and one memorable social occasion. 

Good, better, best, bested. Many of us can understand this.

Back when I was a teenager studying movies, one of my film professors said to me, “Watch Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf every three years of your life; you’ll understand and relate to it better upon each viewing.” Perhaps horrifyingly (to some, not me), but ever so poignantly, he couldn’t have been more correct. Mike Nichols’ debut film, the adaptation of Edward Albee’s searing stage play, is a blisteringly real, and though mostly stage-bound, a wonderfully, living, breathing depiction of the destructive and at times, psychotic battles between an aging alcoholic couple intent on outdoing each other with clever, though wickedly malicious verbal gymnastics.

A shocking picture for 1966, the film was an expletive-ridden salvo that frightened some and impressed many. So notable was Woolf that the picture that was the first to use the words “goddamn” and “bugger” went on to Oscars galore, earning Elizabeth Taylor a greatly deserved second Academy Award. It also garnered Sandy Dennis a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, a win for Haskell Wexler’s gorgeous cinematography (he was the last to win for a category that doesn’t exist anymore — best Black and White cinematography). On top of those accolades, the movie was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Richard Burton), Best Supporting Actor (George Segal), Best Director (Mike Nichols), Best Screenplay (Ernest Lehman), Best Sound, Best Original Music Score (for Alex North’s at times gentle, haunting score), and Best Film Editing. Though Oscars are no barometer of greatness, they can point out a certain zeitgeist. This one? Mr. Burton referring to Miss Dennis as “monkey nipples.”

Though Bonnie and Clyde helped kick-start the emerging ’70s cinema, Virginia Woolf was a formidable front runner and, in a few ways, more disturbingly violent. In it, words and deeds are doled out with a ferocious vitriol that’s remains unmatched, at least in terms of eloquence. Nothing so nasty has ever been so sickly beautiful.

And dammit if Liz’s dumpy, yet oddly sexy drunk and Burton’s broke-down “bog” aren’t beautiful losers. Never mind how toxic they make their lives. Beginning with a gorgeous title sequence during which we watch History Professor George (Burton) and his saucy and sauced wife Martha (Taylor) walking back from a function drunk and cackling, the movie immediately places us in their dark, disconsolate universe — one of shattered hopes, nihilism, and dipsomaniacal game playing. To George’s surprise, Martha is expecting guests (at such a late hour) and, after their return home where she famously utters the Bette Davis line “what a dump” while harping on George about a movie: “What’s the name of the picture?” (I’m always happy I know the name of the picture. It was the misunderstood, borderline brilliant King Vidor camp-fest Beyond the Forest). She eats chicken (she really eats that drumstick — and it’s kind of beautiful), calls George a “cluck,” and they booze it up. And booze it up. And booze it up. And then come the guests. Opening the door to a couple of young, unsuspecting colleagues, well, oh my. These two have no idea what they’re in for.

Nick (Segal) and Honey (Dennis) are attempting to be cordial, but since Martha’s father holds weight in the university, Nick’s going to sit this one out, no matter how weird, no matter how sexual, no matter how “Georgie Boy!” it gets. And the two-hour party (in movie time, the picture takes the group into the wee hours) goes beyond weird — it enters a vortex of nasty, though sometimes wistful, revelations for both parties. The two couples become increasingly sauced, and move their action to a nighttime bar where a vulgar dance breaks out between Nick and Martha (Oh how I love this dance). Things fall apart. The center cannot hold — just the way George and Martha like it. Nervous Honey admits she yearns for a baby. “Well built” Nick admits his wife (whom George calls “slim hipped”) had a hysterical pregnancy. George recalls a tragic story of a child killing his parents that’s probably about him. And Martha, well, she pulls out the big guns by bringing up the “blue-haired, blonde-eyed” kid (the game, “Bringing up Baby”). And that is quite enough — George digs in his claws once and for all.

With such substantial, fearless performances, and Nichols’ active, observing camera, the picture attains a visceral power that leaves the viewer both raw and transfixed. There is little respite from these character’s actions, and even moments of humor are soon met with yet another discomforting bout of disgrace, cruelty, or sadness. But it never becomes sickening; on the contrary, there’s a sense of nobility to this movie that’s unusual for its often-crass subject matter. And once we make it through this harrowing night, we learn that there’s a lot of love between dueling G and M. George and Martha may be poster children for extreme dysfunction, but dammit if they’re not meant to be. And there’s something oddly romantic about that. By film end, I am firmly on their side. All these inane romantic comedies are supposed to make you feel inspired by love. Not me. I’m pro-George and Martha. I want them to never lose each other — ever. Have another drink and stick it out with your “quietly noisy relaxed intensity.”

So professor was right. Watching the movie every three years does deepen the experience. And in my perhaps, perverse case (I’ve been watching the thing about once a year since then), I feel a sadness, nostalgia and fondness for G and M. Again, there’s something heroic about their dissipation. When Martha sticks up for George after her indiscretion with Segal (“Him can’t. Him too drunk.”) and the broken-down couple take to calling Segal “houseboy, well, at that point, I get it. Quite simply, I love George and Martha.

Find yourself a healthy relationship, fine. Good luck. But if not, and if you’ve found your soulmate, even in the bottom of a liquor bottle, then, I say, “Get the Guests,” get your booze, get your dreams, get your nightmares, get your monkey nipples, and hold on to each other. Even if you have to cradle a bottle of gin in the process. After all, Martha’s “thirsty.” 
 

Read more Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun.

Kim Morgan: Ugly Talents: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Thanksgiving brought me to one of my favorite dysfunctional romances and one memorable social occasion. 

Good, better, best, bested. Many of us can understand this.

Back when I was a teenager studying movies, one of my film professors said to me, “Watch Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf every three years of your life; you’ll understand and relate to it better upon each viewing.” Perhaps horrifyingly (to some, not me), but ever so poignantly, he couldn’t have been more correct. Mike Nichols’ debut film, the adaptation of Edward Albee’s searing stage play, is a blisteringly real, and though mostly stage-bound, a wonderfully, living, breathing depiction of the destructive and at times, psychotic battles between an aging alcoholic couple intent on outdoing each other with clever, though wickedly malicious verbal gymnastics.

A shocking picture for 1966, the film was an expletive-ridden salvo that frightened some and impressed many. So notable was Woolf that the picture that was the first to use the words “goddamn” and “bugger” went on to Oscars galore, earning Elizabeth Taylor a greatly deserved second Academy Award. It also garnered Sandy Dennis a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, a win for Haskell Wexler’s gorgeous cinematography (he was the last to win for a category that doesn’t exist anymore — best Black and White cinematography). On top of those accolades, the movie was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Richard Burton), Best Supporting Actor (George Segal), Best Director (Mike Nichols), Best Screenplay (Ernest Lehman), Best Sound, Best Original Music Score (for Alex North’s at times gentle, haunting score), and Best Film Editing. Though Oscars are no barometer of greatness, they can point out a certain zeitgeist. This one? Mr. Burton referring to Miss Dennis as “monkey nipples.”

Though Bonnie and Clyde helped kick-start the emerging ’70s cinema, Virginia Woolf was a formidable front runner and, in a few ways, more disturbingly violent. In it, words and deeds are doled out with a ferocious vitriol that’s remains unmatched, at least in terms of eloquence. Nothing so nasty has ever been so sickly beautiful.

And dammit if Liz’s dumpy, yet oddly sexy drunk and Burton’s broke-down “bog” aren’t beautiful losers. Never mind how toxic they make their lives. Beginning with a gorgeous title sequence during which we watch History Professor George (Burton) and his saucy and sauced wife Martha (Taylor) walking back from a function drunk and cackling, the movie immediately places us in their dark, disconsolate universe — one of shattered hopes, nihilism, and dipsomaniacal game playing. To George’s surprise, Martha is expecting guests (at such a late hour) and, after their return home where she famously utters the Bette Davis line “what a dump” while harping on George about a movie: “What’s the name of the picture?” (I’m always happy I know the name of the picture. It was the misunderstood, borderline brilliant King Vidor camp-fest Beyond the Forest). She eats chicken (she really eats that drumstick — and it’s kind of beautiful), calls George a “cluck,” and they booze it up. And booze it up. And booze it up. And then come the guests. Opening the door to a couple of young, unsuspecting colleagues, well, oh my. These two have no idea what they’re in for.

Nick (Segal) and Honey (Dennis) are attempting to be cordial, but since Martha’s father holds weight in the university, Nick’s going to sit this one out, no matter how weird, no matter how sexual, no matter how “Georgie Boy!” it gets. And the two-hour party (in movie time, the picture takes the group into the wee hours) goes beyond weird — it enters a vortex of nasty, though sometimes wistful, revelations for both parties. The two couples become increasingly sauced, and move their action to a nighttime bar where a vulgar dance breaks out between Nick and Martha (Oh how I love this dance). Things fall apart. The center cannot hold — just the way George and Martha like it. Nervous Honey admits she yearns for a baby. “Well built” Nick admits his wife (whom George calls “slim hipped”) had a hysterical pregnancy. George recalls a tragic story of a child killing his parents that’s probably about him. And Martha, well, she pulls out the big guns by bringing up the “blue-haired, blonde-eyed” kid (the game, “Bringing up Baby”). And that is quite enough — George digs in his claws once and for all.

With such substantial, fearless performances, and Nichols’ active, observing camera, the picture attains a visceral power that leaves the viewer both raw and transfixed. There is little respite from these character’s actions, and even moments of humor are soon met with yet another discomforting bout of disgrace, cruelty, or sadness. But it never becomes sickening; on the contrary, there’s a sense of nobility to this movie that’s unusual for its often-crass subject matter. And once we make it through this harrowing night, we learn that there’s a lot of love between dueling G and M. George and Martha may be poster children for extreme dysfunction, but dammit if they’re not meant to be. And there’s something oddly romantic about that. By film end, I am firmly on their side. All these inane romantic comedies are supposed to make you feel inspired by love. Not me. I’m pro-George and Martha. I want them to never lose each other — ever. Have another drink and stick it out with your “quietly noisy relaxed intensity.”

So professor was right. Watching the movie every three years does deepen the experience. And in my perhaps, perverse case (I’ve been watching the thing about once a year since then), I feel a sadness, nostalgia and fondness for G and M. Again, there’s something heroic about their dissipation. When Martha sticks up for George after her indiscretion with Segal (“Him can’t. Him too drunk.”) and the broken-down couple take to calling Segal “houseboy, well, at that point, I get it. Quite simply, I love George and Martha.

Find yourself a healthy relationship, fine. Good luck. But if not, and if you’ve found your soulmate, even in the bottom of a liquor bottle, then, I say, “Get the Guests,” get your booze, get your dreams, get your nightmares, get your monkey nipples, and hold on to each other. Even if you have to cradle a bottle of gin in the process. After all, Martha’s “thirsty.” 
 

Read more Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun.

Lincoln Mitchell: The KSM Trial and Republican Attacks

The recent attacks on the decision by President Obama and Attorney General Holder to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM), one of the masterminds of the September 11th terrorist attacks, constitute one of those political moments where partisan sniping dominates everything else. For many Americans where KSM is tried is something of a non-issue a technicality that has little bearing on their lives, so long as justice is served. However, for many Republicans, none more so than former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani it is an opportunity to get some media attention and take a cheap shot at the president.

Giuliani has gotten more publicity in the last six weeks or so than he has since his ill fated presidential campaign collapsed more than a year and a half ago. Most of that publicity was not due to his doing but to those of Giuliani’s New York Yankees as they won their 27th World Championship. The former mayor was present at almost every home game sitting in seats in the new Yankee Stadium that most Yankee fans would love to have, even if it meant spending nine innings with America’s erstwhile mayor. By vociferously attacking the Obama administration, Giuliani briefly made himself relevant again, albeit in a transparently silly and partisan way, accusing Holder and Obama of not taking the threat of terrorism seriously because they want to try KSM in a civilian court.

If it had been a Republican president who had called for KSM to be tried in New York, Giuliani almost certainly would have applauded the decision as giving New Yorkers a chance to host the trial of the man who sought to destroy their city. Moreover, if Obama had moved the trial out of New York on the grounds that a New York trial would give KSM a platform for his anti-American rhetoric, Giuliani and other Republicans would, not without reason, be lining up to accuse that president of cowardice and of lacking faith in America.

Other Republicans, most notably John Ashcroft, have suggested that trying KSM in New York is a security threat and that New Yorkers will fear another attack if KSM is tried in their city. This assertion is even more transparently a case of partisan sniping than Giuliani’s comments. Imagine if a former Democratic Attorney General suggested that the trial should be moved because otherwise New Yorkers would fear another terrorist attack. Giuliani would almost certainly be the first, and loudest, to yell that New Yorkers are afraid of nobody and demand the opportunity to sentence KSM in New York. Comments like those of Giuliani and Ashcroft amount to little more than partisan bickering, but the more serious attacks on Holder’s decision have been based on his choice of locale for the trial, but for his decision to try KSM in a civilian court.

The president’s critics argue that if the War on Terrorism is truly a war, than people like KSM who are captured overseas should be tried in military tribunals rather than civilian courts. This argument is not altogether unreasonable, as a strong case can be made that people like KSM are enemy soldiers and should be tried as such. It is, however, worth remembering that the debate about the status of captured terrorist suspects did not begin with Obama. It was the Bush administration, specifically former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who insisted that people like KSM were, in Rumsfeld’s words, “(N)ot PoWs. They will not be determined to be PoWs.” This decision was made so that the US would not have to apply the rules laid out in the Geneva Conventions about the treatment of POWs to these terrorist suspects. Rumsfeld, and the Bush administration, settled on the awkward and legally ambiguous term “unlawful combatants” to describe the status of these people.

The Bush administration did not set a very good or clear precedent regarding treatment of captured terrorists like KSM; and the Obama administration has certainly not yet come up with a comprehensive solution to this dilemma. Holder’s decision may be the best that can be done at this time, or it may be a mistake and a bad precedent. It is not, however, as Holder’s critics suggest, a politically motivated move by the Attorney General or the administration. On the contrary, Holder has boxed himself into a no win situation here. If, for some reason, KSM is acquitted, many Americans will feel that justice was not served at that our government let a dangerous, and murderous, terrorist go free. If Holder, as is likely, gets a conviction and KSM receives either the death penalty or a very long prison sentence, the world will not, as some in the administration have suggested, look admiringly at the US criminal justice system, but will assume that the fix was in before the trial even started.

More on Barack Obama

Steve Parker: NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson – By the numbers

Sunday was a big day for record-making and -breaking in NASCAR. Jimmie Johnson placed fifth in the Homestead/Miami race, but he’s Number One — again — in America’s favorite motorsport.

Johnson has won his fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup title — the first driver ever in NASCAR’s 61-year history to accomplish this truly remarkable feat.

Also Sunday, 50-year old Mark Martin, the oldest full-time driver in Sprint Cup, took second place in Sprint Cup points for a record fifth time. Martin, a tough little piece of gristle, is one of the smartest and certainly most-technically skilled drivers to ever sit behind the wheel of any race car.
Johnson’s near-perfect pit crew in action this season at Pocono

But has a fault from which Jimmie Johnson and Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knauss, don’t seem to suffer: Martin has emotions and he shows them; they don’t call Johnson and Knauss “the Icemen” for nothing.

Martin, the best driver to never win a series title, will be back next season. Like the Cubs’ fans say, “Just wait’ll next year!”

At the same time, drivers from the Rick Hendrick Motorsports stable set yet another record by finishing their Chevy Impalas in the top three places for the Sprint Cup season; Johnson first, Martin second and Jeff Gordon third.

And there’s more for the stat-crazy racing fan: In 2009, Ford drivers won a total of only three Sprint Cup races. Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray were the Ford drivers with the victories. And in spite of Jack Roush owning no less than five factory-supported Ford teams, most his drivers, including Carl Edwards, never went to victory circle this season. A quick look through the record book shows that even Toyota teams won nearly ten Sprint Cup races in their Camrys, about 30% of the year’s events.
Sometimes it seems Mark Martin will NEVER win a Sprint Cup title!

How difficult is it to win one championship title? I’ve met and interviewed and observed plenty of motor racing series champs in all the major disciplines. Series title-holders are always so different from their fellow competitors that you walk away saying to yourself, “Whatever that guy’s got, I want some of that, too”.

So besides skill in the car inside and out and that vague, undefined “extra” which makes champions, imagine the difficulty of winning more than just one title in Sprint Cup, or any major series (which makes Michael Schumacher’s seven World Driving titles in Formula 1 all that more amazing).

Besides Jimmie Johnson, only NASCAR legends including Lee Petty and his son Richard, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt (Sr.) and Jeff Gordon have won more than two titles in their careers; Johnson’s four-in-a-row is unprecedented.
Ford driver Carl Edwards had plenty to celebrate in 2008, but this season he didn’t notch a single Sprint Cup win and Ford had only three overall

Johnson was interviewed after his title win by National Public Radio. Apart from being referred to as “Mr. Johnson,” possibly a first by any reporter addressing Jimmie, uh, Mr. Johnson, the record-breaker said he was truly worried after his third-lap crash at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks before the final race of the year.

When his crew toiled for about an hour in the Texas heat and practically rebuilt the damaged race car while Johnson sat in it, never leaving his seat, he told NPR that after the wreck, and the entire following week leading up to Phoenix, the sport’s penultimate race, it was the only time during the Chase that he was nervous about having to actually “defend” his third championship, that he might not be able to make four-in-a-row history with the 100-or-so points of cushion he lost in the Texas shunt.

He didn’t need to worry too much; he dominated and won Phoenix and essentially clinched the championship at that one-mile desert track the Sunday before Homestead/Miami.
Jeff Gordon (photo) is third in overall Sprint Cup season points, Mark Martin second and Jimmie Johnson first — a huge statement by the Rick Hendrick team and Chevrolet

Johnson also told NPR that he has chronic motion sickness, that if he’s in the back seat of a car, like a NYC taxi, for “10 to 15″ blocks, he invariably gets physically ill. Like many people (including me), when he’s driving a car on the street or track he has no problems.

“Some people might say it’s a control thing,” Johnson told the interviewer, “and I wouldn’t disagree with them.” My own experience is that concentrating on driving takes your mind (and stomach) off whatever discomfort you might be feeling. Maybe I do have something in common with Jimmie Johnson after all!

More on Cars

Megan Smolenyak: Unclaimed Persons

It’s a quiet epidemic and I’m mystified why it gets so little attention. In fact, most are probably still unaware of it, but ask any coroner or medical examiner and you’ll get an earful about the struggle to deal with the growing number of unclaimed persons. These aren’t John and Jane Does. Rather, these are people whose identities are known, but whose relatives aren’t, so they are – just like the items that accumulate at lost-and-founds – frequently unclaimed. The same thing that happened to the gloves you left on the train can happen to the widowed great-aunt whose younger relatives have lost touch with her.

The coroners of most counties are required to make every possible effort to locate and notify a decedent’s next of kin, and having worked with a number, I know they try their best. But we’ve become so mobile and our lives so busy that the problem is exploding just as many of the offices are wrestling with the budget cuts that are affecting government entities across the board.

People become unclaimed for a number of reasons. Sometimes they simply outlive most of their family. A disturbing number are homeless vets, while others might be the ne’er-do-wells of their families. Some are vagabonds by nature whose families get used to only hearing from them every few years, so no one notices until the silence goes on for a decade. They may be immigrants who have lost contact with relatives in the old country. And in some instances, they are grudge-holders, participants in a family feud that all parties have stubbornly refused to resolve.

When I learned of this problem about five years ago, I volunteered my services as a genealogist to help a couple of coroners’ offices. As you might expect, there were some reservations at first. How could a genealogist find next of kin if they couldn’t be found using conventional methods – searching the deceased’s apartment, checking numbers on their phone bill, interviewing their friends, and so forth? But it turns out that a genealogical approach is often complementary to that taken by law enforcement, so in a surprising number of cases, it’s possible to turn up a relative or two.

A few years ago, a friend and I decided to make a video for RootsTelevision about a couple of the cases I had tackled – one for Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania and one for San Bernardino County, California. If you’re curious, I invite you to watch the video that follows, but my main reason for mentioning it is that our making it available online provoked a deluge of requests from other genealogists wanting to do the same. In an attempt to harness this enthusiasm, we created Unclaimed Persons, a volunteer group that operates mainly on Facebook. The group was launched in June 2008, and to date, volunteers have successfully located relatives for 114 decedents.

So why bring this up now? Admittedly, this isn’t the cheeriest of subjects to address as we approach the holidays, but the timing is actually very appropriate because this is one of the best opportunities for a little preventative medicine. This year, when you get together with family, please consider calling that uncle no one’s heard from for years. If you’re not sure where he is, challenge a few of the Internet gurus in the family to see if they can pick up his trail. And even if your elderly cousin has Alzheimer’s and is living in a nursing home cross-country, send a holiday card because that might be just the clue officials need to find her family when she passes away.

Finally, if you’re one of the grudge-holders, please think twice. If you watched the video, you know that one of the cases involved a man who was found in a jeep in the desert. He was one of 11 children, so had plenty of relatives. Why the rift? More than 50 years ago, he had refused to get out of the bathroom when shaving one morning so his then four-year-old nephew could use it. That nephew now had grandchildren, but the family had chosen to hang on to the hard feelings of that morning for decades. Sadly, many family feuds have their origins in small episodes like this.

So whether you’re the missing uncle or the one who doesn’t really care that much that the uncle is missing, pick up the phone. You don’t even have to mend fences. Just call and say how you can be reached. Save yourself and your family unnecessary worry or drama, and save the overworked medical examiners’ offices and kind-hearted volunteers yet another unclaimed person case to solve. And if you happen to feel that it’s time to mend that fence, so much the better!

More on Holiday

Tara Stiles: Should Insurance Companies Pay For Preventive Care?

Should government pay for preventive care? Should insurance companies? This topic has been coming up lately around the studio. We encourage people to come to class frequently to give them the best possible benefits. The once a week Strala class is fine for relaxation, or a fun social activity, but if you are interested in cultivating a healthy mind and body, more regular practice is necessary.

This brings many people to the problem of managing their already tight budgets. In New York City it tends to break down something like this: Rent, food, insurance, fun. Similar to the fundamental problem of the food diary, we forget to account for mindless spending as well as mindless calories. Clothing and drinks seem most always to get left off the list. I see people complaining on Facebook that they don’t have enough money for yoga and in the same message planning to meet their friends out later for drinks.

I do understand what it’s like to struggle and be concerned about money. I’ve been there. I think because of a variety of factors from my childhood leading up to now, I will always feel like I am struggling in some way. That’s a whole other cause for stress that leads to sickness. We offer a free (bailout) class once a week at the studio open to anyone. We even offer full and partial scholarships, but in my experience, people don’t appreciate what they don’t pay for. I’d rather have someone hand the studio $200 cash and we give them back some of it every time they come to class until it’s all back in their wallet, than hand out scholarships to someone who heads to the bar or Urban Outfitters after. We’re all here together to get healthy and feel good, so we can live our best lives. We want to be surrounded by people cultivating the same for themselves.

It’s all where your priorities are. You have to want it for yourself. A regular practice puts you back in touch with you. You don’t need all the stuff to be happy.

The question has come up a few times in the studio if insurance companies would cover preventive care. Many companies do, which is fantastic, and smart. Rodale, the publisher of Men’s and Women’s Health magazines, also publisher of my first book, out Aug 31, 2010, Slim Calm Sexy (shameless self promotion in spirit of HuffPo blogging) reimburses their employees for yoga classes. Other companies have similar policies. A few people I’ve met at the studio have had strong recommendations by their doctors to practice yoga for specific cases like high blood pressure and vertigo, but as a general practice I really don’t think insurance companies and government are there yet.

How would insurance companies make money from healthy people? They wouldn’t. Hospitals would be ghost towns. Diabetes and heart disease would become an epidemic of the past. Pharmacies would become dusty and irrelevant. No more need to prescribe anything for anxiety, depression, insomnia or weight loss. Viagra would go out of business because people would be having the best sex of their lives, and if they are too old or not in the mood, they would realize that it’s not appropriate to take a pill to get it up. People would make better choices, be happy from the inside out, and actually be nice to each other. People would choose careers that they actually wanted to do, rather than follow a path out of fear of failure, or desire to build protective piles of cash around themselves. People would care about things less and people more.

That reality will never be a decision of insurance companies, or government. That has to be a movement of the people. You have to want it for yourself. You have to be healthy because you want to. Waiting for an outside authority to shine the light for us – whether a doctor, insurance company, or whatever – will never work so well as taking back our responsibility and making our own choices. We all have to find our own way and there are people that can help you along the way to get there. Just look around.

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Steve Parker: Weekend automotive radio show line-ups

Join us LIVE Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern (NEW TIME!) and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com for our exclusive LIVE motoring and motorsports talk shows!

Steve Parker’s The Car Nut Show
NEW TIME! Join us LIVE every Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern

Part One of a two part interview with JC Agajanian, Jr., one of the American automotive world’s best-known stars. JC talks about Southern California and if it doesn’t get enough respect in the racing world, hits on this week’s upcoming 69th Turkey Night Grand Prix the family has been promoting for 54 years and plenty of auto insider stories you probably never heard before. Also, MOTOR TREND Magazine has named the entire Ford Fusion family of cars as their 2010 Car of the Year; let’s discuss! The call-in number is: 213-341-4353.
JC Agajanian, Jr. (left) presents an award in 2003 to legendary racer Parnelli Jones

Steve Parker’s World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm

Part Two of our exclusive interview with JC Agajanian, Jr., and he discusses this Thursday night’s Turkey Night Grand in Los Angeles where four champions in USAC will be named. It’s the 69th running of the event, making it the second-oldest annual auto race in America, and possibly the world, next only to the Indy 500. Plus — Did Jimmie Johnson win his fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup title today? Tune-in, join in and find out! and Plus all the latest on the “silly seasons” in all the racing series in the world. The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. Join in!
Did Jimmie Johnson make even more racing history today?

Podcasts of both shows are available one hour after the live shows conclude. That’s our NEW TIME this Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern time every week on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

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Jason Rosenbaum: Insurance Company Greed Kills Jobs (rally photos and video)

Yesterday in Chicago, a message was delivered: Insurance company greed kills jobs, and we’re not going to take it anymore.

Eight small business owners from around the country met at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Chicago, where the insurance industry was holding their national conference. They were there because they had sent a letter to Karen Ignagni, the insurance companies’ top lobbyist, requesting a meeting.

The small business owners’ letter read:

Our businesses are facing dire choices- between being able to reinvest profits into the future of our businesses and meeting the ever-growing costs of health care coverage; between denying our employees coverage for needed medical services and having to cut their jobs entirely.

…

Ms. Ignagni, we are not simply opportunities for profit. We are people trying to provide for our families, contribute to our local economies, and make ends meet in this recession, who believe you should look us in the eye, hear our stories, and understand what you are lobbying against.

We plan to be at the Renaissance Hotel at noon on Tuesday and hope to see you there. Please understand that we are not interested in discussing these issues with a representative or spokesperson. With our livelihoods on the line, we feel the least you could do is participate in this meeting personally.

Ignagni didn’t show up yesterday.

She didn’t have the courage to look these small business owners in the eye and hear their stories. People like Mecheall Williams from Louisiana, can’t afford to stay afloat and give his employees insurance, and who worked to woo back one of his best employees even though he couldn’t offer her health insurance, and a few weeks after she agreed to work for him again, got sick and had to go to the drive an hour to the hospital because she wasn’t covered. Or Rick Poore from Nebraska, who said his skyrocketing health care costs are preventing him from purchasing another printing press for his t-shirt business, or giving his employees a raise they deserve. Or Alton Johnson from Arkansas, who may have to drop insurance coverage for his employees because his premiums keep rising.

Outside the Renaissance Hotel, five hundred people marched in solidarity with the small business owners inside – labor, community organizations, MoveOn.org local councils, doctors and medical students, and other health care supporters, all pulled together by Citizen Action of Illinois.

The small business owners, led by Wendell Potter, left the hotel and joined us outside when it was clear Ignagni wasn’t going to show up. There, we heard the truth from a man who used to attend conferences like the one in Chicago today, but as a member of the insurance industry.

As Wendell has told the world over and over, the insurance companies are the biggest enemy of reform we have. They will do anything to keep health care in Wall Street’s hands, and protect their obscene profits and bonuses. If that means killing jobs and their fellow Americans to do it, so be it.

Karen Ignagni couldn’t even meet with the entrepreneurs she’s putting out of business. But no matter. The insurance industry can’t stop health reform from happening, especially the kind they fear the most – reform with a public health insurance option to give us a choice and to finally end their profiteering ways.

With reform, we’ll be on our way to getting our economy and our lives back on track.

(also posted at the NOW! blog)

I’m proud to work for Health Care for America Now

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