Everything you need to know about summertime exercising

As August slowly fades out of existence and the long summer days begin to grow shorter, many of us will start to take solace in the fact that we can begin to exercise outside without melting in the sun. But let’s face it; the humid days and harmful rays have not deserted us quite yet, and squeezing in a run or bike ride seems more like a punishment than a smart fitness choice. Although exercise is vital to a healthy lifestyle, working out in the heat requires a few extra safety precautions.

Beat the Heat
When it comes to exercising in the summertime, it’s important to remember just how dangerous the heat can be. According to the Centers for Disease Control, hundreds of people die each year in the U.S. due to the heat. Throw intensive cardio activity into the mix, and heat becomes even more of a threat.

If you can’t safely compete with the heat, you can do your best to avoid it. Rather than skip your outdoor workouts altogether, try exercising in the early morning or late evening when the sun is not blazing. However, if humidity is the culprit, losing the sun won’t make much of a difference. Instead, head to the gym or swim laps in a pool. Of course, taking a day or two off from your normal workout routine is never a bad thing; periodically taking days off allows your body to rest and your muscles to repair themselves.

Sweat More, Drink More
Shape magazine says that an individual in a warm climate (you know, the one you are attempting to sprint repeat miles in) can sweat up to three liters per hour! That’s a lot of sweat! And because your body is about 70 percent water, it is important to maintain proper hydration. Temperature regulation, nutrient transportation, and cell oxygenation all rely on water, and the more you sweat, the more difficult these processes become.

Drinking water during and after exercise is not enough! Muscles’ elasticity also depends on water, so your workout will actually feel easier if you hydrate before you begin exercising. Dehydration occurs when the amount of water leaving the body surpasses the amount of water coming in. And because it’s pretty difficult to run laps when you are passed out on the pavement, be sure to gulp up some extra H2O to compensate for the heat.

Cut Yourself Some Slack
Working out in the heat does not just feel harder, it is harder. According to Shape, your skin relies on the air being somewhat dry so that your body’s moisture can easily evaporate. On a humid day, when the air is full of moisture, it is more difficult for you to sweat. This causes your body temperature to remain high and your workout to feel more difficult.
Don’t beat yourself up over a workout that feels sluggish or unproductive. Stop if you feel light headed, and slow down or lessen the duration of your exercise in severe heat and humidity.

Exercise should always be something beneficial you do for your body. Any time the act of working out becomes dangerous (as it often can in extreme heat), the negative effects outweigh the positive impacts, and exercise should be terminated. When it comes to working out in the heat, be cautious, be smart, and be strong.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The federal job safety agency fined SeaWorld Orlando $75,000 on Monday for three violations uncovered while investigating the February death of a trainer who was grabbed by a killer whale and dragged underwater.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration categorized the most serious violation as “willful,” or showing indifference or intentional disregard for employee safety. That citation, carrying a $70,000 penalty, was for exposing workers to drowning hazards when interacting with killer whales.

The agency proposes not allowing trainers to have any physical contact with Tilikum, the killer whale responsible for trainer Dawn Brancheau’s death in February, unless protected by a physical barrier.

The OSHA report described Tilikum as having “known aggressive tendencies.” The six-ton whale was one of three orcas blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after the woman lost her balance and fell in the pool at Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria, British Columbia. Tilikum also was also involved in a 1999 death, when the body of a man who had sneaked by SeaWorld Orlando security was found draped over him.

Sea World trainers were forbidden from getting in the water with Tilikum because of the previous deaths. But the killer whale still managed to grab Brancheau’s long hair as she laid on her stomach on a cement clab in three inches of water. The cause of death was drowning and traumatic injuries.

The OSHA report also suggests that trainers not work with other killer whales at the park, either in the water or out of water, unless they are protected by a barrier, deck or oxygen-supply system underwater.

“SeaWorld trainers had an extensive history of unexpected and potentially dangerous incidents involving killer whales at its various facilities, including its location in Orlando,” OSHA said in a statement released with the report.

The second citation, deemed serious, was for failing to install a stairway railing system beside the stage in Shamu Stadium. That citation carried a $5,000 penalty.

The third citation was considered “other-than-serious” and was for failing to have weather-protected electrical receptacles at the stadium. That citation didn’t have a penalty.

SeaWorld spokesman Fred Jacobs said the park will contest the citation.

“SeaWorld disagrees with the unfounded allegations made by OSHA today,” Jacobs said in a statement.

From the Associated Press

BEIJING – Performing animals in Chinese zoos and parks are often trained using abusive practices, including routine beatings, and are housed in inadequate shelters, according to a report by a Hong Kong-based animal welfare group released Monday.
Bears are regularly whipped and beaten with sticks, elephants are prodded with metal hooks, and tigers and lions are defanged and declawed, causing them chronic pain, said the Animals Asia Foundation in a 28-page report.
The group surveyed animal performances and living conditions at 13 zoos and safari parks in China over a yearlong period until this August.
“The combined aspects of performances, abusive training methods and inadequate housing conditions are causing severe animal suffering for many thousands of performing animals across China,” the report said.
Earlier this year, the problem of animal mistreatment in China was highlighted with the reported deaths of 11 rare Siberian tigers at the Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo in the frigid northeast over a three-month period. The tigers had reportedly starved to death after being fed nothing but chicken bones for weeks.
Last month, the State Forestry Administration ordered a crackdown against operations that mistreated wild animals for performance purposes.
The order criticized animal parks for being “obsessed about financial profits while not paying enough attention to protective measures. Illegitimate methods are taken in treating wild animals … This not only brings potential risk to the endangered wild species and the public health, but also tarnishes China’s role and reputation in protecting wild animals.”
The Animals Asia Foundation said black bears are the most popular animal performers, typically forced to ride bicycles, tricycles, and even horses. They were required to balance on balls, perform acrobatics, and even ‘box’ each other. The bears were regularly whipped or beaten with sticks by their trainers, it said.
“All of the performances observed were based upon fear and intimidation. To force animals to perform unnatural tricks, circus showmen frequently engage in negative reinforcement, whipping and striking the animals repeatedly,” the report said.
Lions and tigers, which were forced to jump through burning hoops, had all their teeth removed for security reasons. That caused caused severe pain since it exposed nerve endings in their mouth and gums. Elephants were prodded with metals hooks to perform tricks like kneeling on their front legs and stepping over people.
The report said animals are often housed in cramped concrete enclosures or cages, sometimes with no visible access to water. Some showed physical signs of being underfed, ill, or beaten.
“Animal performances portray the animal to the public in a humiliating way that does not promote empathy and respect. There is little educational value in seeing animals in conditions that do not resemble their natural habitat,” said David Neale, the group’s animal welfare director.

VENICE, La. – BP PLC  gave some assurance Monday to shrimpers, oil workers and scores of others that they will be paid for damage and injuries from the explosion of a drilling rig and the resulting massive oil spill in the Gulf.

A massive amount of crude oil lurks off Gulf Coast shores, threatening to devastate ecosystems to livelihoods from Louisiana to Florida. What began as an oil rig explosion has turned into a potential environmental disaster of epic proportions.

A fact sheet on the company website says BP takes responsibility for cleaning up the spill and will pay compensation for “legitimate and objectively verifiable” claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses. President Barack Obama and several attorneys general have asked the company to explain what exactly that means.

People like Dana Powell, manager of the Paradise Inn in Pensacola Beach, Fla., have feared what will happen to the Gulf Coast’s staple industries such as tourism and commercial fishing.

“Now when there’s a hurricane, we know it’s going to level things, devastate things, be a huge mess and it’s going to take several years to clean up,” she said. “But this? It’s going to kill the wildlife, it’s going to kill lifestyles — the shrimpers, the fishermen, tourism. Who’s going to come to an oil-covered beach?”

BP CEO Tony Hayward said Monday on ABC’s Good Morning America that BP was not responsible for the accident. He said the equipment that failed and led to the spill belonged to owner Transocean Ltd., not BP, which operated the Deepwater Horizon rig.

Guy Cantwell, a Transocean spokesman, responded by reading a statement without elaborating.

“We will await all the facts before drawing conclusions and we will not speculate,” he said.

A board investigating the explosion and oil leak plans to hold its first public hearing in roughly two weeks. The cause of the April 20 explosion, which killed 11 workers, has not been determined.

Coast Guard Capt. David Fish, chief of the Washington-based Office of Investigations and Analysis, said the six-member board — three from the Coast Guard and three from the U.S. Minerals and Management Service — will likely meet in the New Orleans area and take testimony from experts and workers who survived the disaster.

“We want to get it public because that’s just what our rules are and while everything is fresh in everyone’s mind, particularly with the witnesses,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hayward said chemical dispersants seem to be having a significant impact keeping oil from flowing to the surface, though he did not elaborate.

The update on the dispersants came as BP was preparing a system never tried to siphon away the spill of crude from a blown-out well a mile underwater. However, it will take at least another six to eight days before crews can lower 74-ton concrete-and-metal boxes being built to capture the oil and siphon it to a barge waiting at the surface.

That delay could allow at least another million gallons to spill into the Gulf, on top of the roughly 2.6 million or more that has spilled since the April 20 blast. Those numbers are based on the Coast Guard’s estimates that 200,000 gallons a day are spilling out, though officials have cautioned it’s impossible to know exactly how much is leaking.

By comparison, the tanker Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons off the Alaska coast in 1989.

Crews continued to lay boom in what increasingly felt like a futile effort to keep the spill from reaching the shore, though choppy seas have made that difficult and rendered much of the oil-corraling gear useless.

In Pensacola, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist characterized the spill as “sort of an underground volcano of oil.” He said Monday that BP was responsible for the cleanup and added “we’ll be more than happy to send them the bill.”

Everything engineers have tried so far has failed to stop the leak. After the explosion, the flow of oil should have been stopped by a blowout preventer, but the mechanism failed. Efforts to remotely activate it have proven fruitless.

The oil could keep gushing for months until a second well can be dug to relieve pressure from the first.

Besides the immediate impact on Gulf industries, shipping along the Mississippi River could soon be limited because the slick was precariously close to a key shipping lane. Ships carrying food, oil, rubber and much more come through the Southwest Pass to enter the vital waterway.

Shipment delays — either because oil-splattered ships need to be cleaned off at sea before docking or because water lanes are shut down for a time — would raise the cost of transporting those goods.

“We saw that during Hurricane Katrina for a period of time — we saw some prices go up for food and other goods because they couldn’t move some fruit down the shipping channels and it got spoiled,” PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said.

The Port of New Orleans said projections suggest the pass will be clear through Tuesday.

Obama toured the region Sunday, deflecting criticism that his administration was too slow to respond and did too little to stave off the catastrophe. The administration has also strongly defended any comparison to the slow response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

A piece of plywood along a Louisiana highway had these words painted on it: “OBAMA SEND HELP”

The containment boxes being built were not part of BP’s original response plan. The approach has been used previously only for spills in relatively shallow water. Coast Guard Adm.Thad Allen said engineers are still examining whether the valves and other systems that feed oil to a ship on the surface can withstand the extra pressures of the deep.

BP was trying to cap the smallest of three leaks with underwater robots in the hope it will make it easier to place a single oil-siphoning container over the wreck. One of the robots cut the damaged end off a pipe at the smallest leak Sunday and officials were hoping to cap it with a sleeve and valve, Coast Guard spokesman Brandon Blackwell said Monday. He did not know how much oil was coming from that leak.

“We see this as an opportunity to simplify the seafloor mission a little bit, so we’re working this aggressively,” BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said.

A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the volume of reserves, confirmed reports that tens of millions of barrels of oil were beneath the seabed being tapped by the rig when it blew up. Bob Fryar, senior vice president for BP in Angola, said any numbers being thrown out are just estimates at best.

On Sunday, fishermen from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle got the news that more than 6,800 square miles of federal fishing areas were closed, fracturing their livelihood for at least 10 days and likely more just as the prime spring season was kicking in.

Peter Young has worked nearly 18 years as a fishing guide and said he’s afraid his way of life may be slipping away. The government has overreacted by shutting down vital fishing areas in the marshes, he said.

Until he sees oil himself, Young will keep fishing the closed areas.

“They can take me to jail,” he said. “This is our livelihood. I’m not going to take customers into oil, but until I see it, I can’t sit home and not work.”

A mantis shrimp is neither a mantis nor a shrimp; however, their physical features resemble that of both species. They can reach a length of up to 38 centimeters and they may exhibit multiple colors from brown to bright neon hues. They are common predators found in the shallow waters of the tropical and subtropical marine habitats, and they reside mostly in burrows and holes. The mantis shrimp are currently referred to as thumb splitters due to the fact that they are able to dismember small human appendages with ease. With their powerful claws, they are able to stun, mutilate, or spear their prey. In some rare cases, larger species of mantis shrimp are capable of breaking through aquarium glass with a single strike.

Did You Know? The swing of a mantis shrimp is so powerful that one of its mighty blows counts as two strikes due to the impact of its appendage on the victim and the shockwave that follows. Even if it misses, the shockwave is sufficient enough to kill or stun its prey.

Mantis shrimp are generally solitary animals that live in burrows and only come out during feeding time or when they relocate. In order to obtain their food, they either wait for their prey to chance near them or they hunt, chase, and kill them. The type of mantis shrimp is dependent on their claw structure. Spearers contain spiny appendages that are attached to barbed tips and are used to stab and grab prey. Smashers, on the other hand, contain a more complex club used to smash their meals apart. These appendages also possess a sharp edge which can cut prey while the mantis shrimp swims. The strike of a smasher is so rapid that they may swing at speeds equal to that of a .22 caliber bullet.

The little red heart on your driver’s license now represents more than just vital organs like your heart or liver: it can represent your face.

The first full face transplant in the world was completed in a Barcelona hospital on a Spanish farmer about a month ago. This complex procedure took a surgical team of 30 and 24 hours in the operating room. During the surgery, doctors lifted an entire face, including jaw, nose, cheekbones, muscles, teeth and eyelids, and placed it masklike onto the man, Dr. Joan Pere Barret told The Associated Press on Friday.

The recipient had been involved in a gun accident which destroyed his entire face below the eye sockets. A ventilator did his breathing for him and he ate with a feeding tube. It has been called a success, but the patient will not be released from the Vall d’Hebron Hospital for another few months. His eyesight was unaffected by either the accident or the ten surgeries he has now undergone. Doctors say he will have recovered enough to eat and breathe on his own in a week. This is a step forward in medicine, and the success of a surgery like this could pave the way for more routine transplants. But will plastic surgeons seize this opportunity to market a cure for insecurity?

Plastic surgery addiction is already a problem that Americans face in today’s competitive society. The Associated Press reported that unlike operations involving vital organs like hearts and livers, transplants of faces or hands are done to improve quality of life, not extend it. They make a good point.

Where would we draw the line? How could we separate those seeking out transplanted organs to “improve their quality of life” and those who see transplants, like plastic surgery, as a trend? What about those who claim to have psychological problems who blame their appearance for those problems?

Would Britney Spears be entitled to a hair transplant on the same level as a child with cancer who will never be able to grow hair again?

This is the reality we may be stepping into. With great power comes great responsibility, and we should make sure early on that we put that responsibility in the right hands.

From the Associated Press

GULFPORT, Miss. – Necropsies completed on five of the 25 dead sea turtles found along Mississippi beaches in the past few days show no evidence of oil killing the reptiles.
Brian Gorman of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Gulfport, Miss., said Monday that no evidence of oil or contamination has been found. But he says that doesn’t mean further analysis won’t reveal something.
The carcasses are badly decomposed. Gorman says necropsies on the remaining turtles will be performed later.
At least six of the 25 turtles are the endangered Kemp’s ridley, which breed nowhere else in the world but on beaches in Mexico and southern Texas. They’re considered among the most imperiled turtle species.

On Apr. 14, Iceland’s volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted, filling the clouds and sky with tons of ash. This volcano caused Europe’s aviation safety authorities to be faced with an unprecedented dilemma and take drastic action to avoid a loss of power disaster caused by engine damage. Europe’s airspace was shut down the next day.

On Apr. 14, Iceland’s volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted, filling the clouds and sky with tons of ash.

France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, and the Netherlands also announced the complete or partial closure of their airspace, authorities in each country said. Volcanic ash can cause jet engines to shut down. Matthew Watson, a geophysicist at England’s Bristol University said, “You really need two things to happen: you need the volcano to stop emplacing ash to the altitude that commercial aircraft fly at, 30-35,000 feet, and you then need the upper level winds to blow the ash and disperse it out of the airspace.”

The ash plume drifted between 20,000 feet and 36,000 feet (6,000 meters and 11,000 meters), where it could get sucked into airplane engines. The smoke and ash could also affect aircraft visibility. The disruption caused havoc for air travel around the world. The Air Transport Association of America said member airlines canceled about 165 flights to and from Europe on Thursday due to the volcanic activity. U.S. carriers operate 337 flights to and from Europe each day, according to the association, whose members carry more than 90 percent of U.S. passengers. An emergency evacuation affecting 800 people was conducted near the volcano due to flash flooding from glacier waters, according to Rognvaldur Olafsson of Iceland’s civil protection agency. The cloud, floating miles above Earth, wrecked travel plans for tens of thousands of people, from tourists and business travelers to politicians and royals. Iceland, a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic’s mid-oceanic ridge, and has history of devastating eruptions.

Have you ever loved someone so much, that you would be willing to leave your life behind and walk across the country for him or her? Luke Robinson is doing just that, and all in memory of his beloved pooch Malcolm.

The walk is called “2 Dogs 2,000 Miles,” but Hudson and Murphy will have walked well over 2,000 miles on their journey.

In 2004, at just six years old, Malcolm was diagnosed with bone cancer. The dog received health treatment that slowed the cancer’s progression, but it eventually reached his lungs.

After a two-year battle, Malcolm passed on. Robinson was devastated, but mourned just as the loved ones of many cancer victims do: he decided he wanted to find a cure.

After selling his truck and putting all of his belongings in storage, Robinson set out on the trip of a lifetime. In Mar. 2008, he and his two Great Pyrenees dogs, Hudson and Murphy, began a cross-country walk from Austin to Boston. Their mission is to raise awareness about canine cancer, and show that humans can benefit as well.

The walk is called “2 Dogs 2,000 Miles,” but Hudson and Murphy will have walked well over 2,000 miles on their journey. On Jun. 19, Robinson and his pups will walk the last mile into Boston with friends and supporters, following a memorial service for all those lost to cancer, human or animal.

Celebrations will follow in the Boston Common with the Puppy Up! Festival. There will be vendors, animal welfare booths, music, contests and much more. The crowd will move to the Fairmont Copley Plaza at night for dancing, dinner, and auctions.

Robinson will also launch phase two of “2 Dogs 2,000 Miles” that night. He hopes to get two million dogs to walk just two miles for cancer. This is just one more step toward aiding the study of comparative oncology.

Dogs develop cancer naturally, just like humans. Cancer research can reap the benefits of studying pets with cancer, because those cells are biologically comparable to those of humans, there is a large population of cats and dogs with pre-existing cases of cancer, and it occurs in them within years (rather than humans, who can develop it over decades).

According to 2MillionDogs.org, veterinarian oncologists believe there are between four and eight million cases of cancer in pets, and most never receive adequate treatment. If comparative oncology is increased, more pets will have access to the latest drug candidates. Additionally, grants from private and public sources will help subsidize the costs, and help more families afford treatment for their pets.

Animal testing rates would minimize, as well, because the pets do not have be given the cells to make them sick. Not only does comparative oncology aid in the quest for the cancer cure, it will help your four-legged best friend to enjoy a healthier, happier life.

Robinson, Hudson, and Murphy will be in Connecticut until the end of this week. To follow the rest of their journey, learn more about comparative oncology, and lend your support, visit 2Dogs2000Miles.org.

JERUSALEM – Israel on Sunday lifted a ban on Apple Inc.’s popular iPad tablet computer, ending restrictions that had been imposed over concerns the gadget’s wireless signal could disrupt other devices.

FILE - In this April 7, 2010 file photo, an Apple customer displays the new iPad, left, next to his iPhone in Palo Alto, Calif. Apple Inc., reports quarterly earnings Tuesday, April 20, 2010, after the market close. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)

Communications Ministry officials conducted “intensive technical scrutiny in a controlled laboratory” before deciding to allow the iPad into the country, said Yechiel Shabi, a ministry spokesman.

Israel announced the ban shortly after the iPad’s April 3 launch in the U.S. Officials said at least 10 of the flat, touchscreen computers were seized at the country’s international airport.

Shabi said owners of the confiscated iPads would be permitted to retrieve them.

Israeli standards mirror those of many European nations, but Israel has been the only country to ban iPad imports ahead of the product’s international release. Apple has delayed the launch until late May, citing heavy sales in the U.S.

The iPad combines the features of a notebook computer with the touch-pad functions of the iPod.

The ban prompted grumbling from Israeli tech enthusiasts and software developers in a country that is widely considered to be a technology powerhouse.

Shabi said the Communications Ministry quickly reached out to Apple to seek more information about the machine’s wireless signals.

“Of course, in the mainstream media, it was bad PR and we didn’t like this,” Shabi said. “But we said we would test it and it took us a week. I think that is very fast.”

The ministry has denied the ban had anything to do with concern that the signal could cause interference to signals of military equipment, as one lawmaker, Robert Ilatov, told the Haaretz newspaper last week.

“We have nothing against Apple products. We like the iPhone here in Israel,” Shabi said.