Odds n’ Ends (13)

I am going to take a break from discussing the importance of Baptism for a while, and shift gears to discuss some interesting headlines in the news:

 

1). How Dangerous is Russia? Russia is facing a financial crisis as great as when the collapse of Communism took place during the Reagan years. Here's some information to think of: Russia is the world's 2^nd largest oil producer, and with the decrease in oil prices, Russia is facing budget deficits. Russia and China issued stark warnings recently about the impact of the crisis on their recently booming economies in 2009, as stocks and oil prices took a hit from economic gloom over Christmas.

A top official in Moscow warned that the crisis could spark popular unrest after a Kremlin economic aide said Russia next year would have its first budget deficit since the 1998 financial crisis, which brought the country to its knees. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081224170802.mlmyh761&show_article=1.

Russia may be causing increased tensions in the Middle East to increase oil prices. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123172143660372413.html

And then add in that Russia's Prime Minister Medvedev and former ruler Vladimer Putin are fighting. Russia and the Ukraine are fighting over oil supply, which has cut off Europe from Russia's oil production (http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/russia-ukraine-trade-blame-as-europe/299801?cid=13.) So this is one area of the world to keep your eye on during the New Year.

 

2). Growing Replacement Teeth. http://technutnews.com/2009/01/13/chew-on-this-well-soon-be-able-to-grow-replacement-teeth/

 

3). What Drugs are in your Drinking Water? A comprehensive survey of the drinking water for more than 28 million Americans has detected the widespread but low-level presence of pharmaceuticals and hormonally active chemicals. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16397-top-11-compounds-in-us-drinking-water.html. Although the drugs are in small amounts in our water, there still are some scary drugs in the top-11 list, including: Estrone, an oestrogen hormone secreted by the ovaries and blamed for causing gender-bending changes in fish; Meprobamate, a tranquiliser widely used in psychiatric treatment; and, Atrazine, an organic herbicide banned in the European Union, but still used in the US, which has been implicated in the decline of fish stocks and in changes in animal behaviour, and two different kinds of antibiotics.

 

4). Puberty Blockers recommended for Transsexual Teens. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026864.100-puberty-blockers-recommended-for-transsexual-teens.html?page=1;
TRANSSEXUAL children as young as 12 should be given drugs to postpone puberty and make it easier for them to change sex at the age of 16 if they still want to. That's the suggestion of controversial draft guidelines, the first of their kind, issued last week by the international Endocrine Society.

The guidelines state that transsexual children and young teens who have begun early puberty should be given puberty-blockers to avoid inevitable changes to their bodies, which they perceive as out of line with their true gender. In the worst cases, these changes can drive children to self-harm or even suicide.

 

That's all for now – May God bless you with greater knowledge of Who He is through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. /s/Tom