Boyfriend

Realizing that the boy you love and is supposed to be your boyfriend does not love you actually, is quite daunting. It's true, I want to be loved and I would like to think that I am lovable. I don't want to end up alone, even though we come to the world alone and probably leave it alone...yet, until then, it is stimulating and reassuring to have a companion and love in your life.

His excuse: he can't love anybody. And here we go again, hope dies last, hoping that love will spring....

Main Concerns: Still Russia and Pakistan

All major news agencies, such as BBC, Bloomberg and the German Focus still report extensively about the natural disasters ongoing in Pakistan and Russia. In Pakistan, the floods now affect ca. 20 million people, who are threatened to be killed by Cholera and other diseases if not by the waters. In Russia, the wildfires come dangerously close to nuclear facilities around Sarov. Even though Russian officials claim that the fires are under control, nobody can be sure about that or another outbreak of fires. Everybody around here is concerned, donates and perhaps prays, as this is all one can do.

Garcia Marquez about Coffee

"Coffee is poison." (Garcia Marquez in Love in the Time of Cholera, 1985)

Professional Athletes and Sudden Death?

The magazine New Scientist (Vol 203 No 2725, 12 September 2009) had a closer look at the issue of sudden cardiac deaths in young sportsmen in September 2009. Shortly before that, two seemingly healthy athletes had died: the Spanish footballer Antonio Puerta and the British rower Scott Rennie.

Now the so-called 'Lausanne Recommendations' suggest regular physical examinations in order to detect problems triggering heart conditions that could be fatal. The pharma giant Merck elaborated in an article that an estimated 1 in 200,000 apparently healthy young athletes could develop abrupt-onset ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation and can die suddenly during exercise. Screenings to identify risk should be undertaken before the start of any professional sports activity with reevaluation every 2 years (for high school age) or every 4 years (if college age or older). Ultimately, they can save lives as there can be conditions which are silent.