As the country reels from news of yet another senseless mass killing in suburban Milwaukee, coming on the heels of the even more deadly massacre in Aurora, Colorado, Americans are left to wonder what could possibly be responsible for this outbreak of bloody insanity and murder. But as terrible as these two incidents were, they have an undeniable ring of familiarity about them – since the year 2000, there have been twenty-six cases of mass murder (four or more victims) in the United States, as opposed to twenty combined during the 1980s and 1990s. And
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Mankind has spent the last 6000 years or so trying to subdue and conquer the forces of nature, while nature has spent the same amount of time frustrating and confounding these efforts. Man’s attempt to master the natural world has obviously not been a complete failure, as the rise of the modern civilization that we all know and sometimes love would not have been possible unless we had found ways to successfully impose our material culture across the face of the entire planet. But as successful as we have been in carving out a place
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In the long and infamous history of the pharmaceutical industry, one of the all-time amazing achievements was pulled off in 1995 by a Stamford, Connecticut corporation known as Purdue Pharma. Somehow, this relatively unheralded drug company managed to convince the FDA to approve a prescription painkiller called Oxycontin for sale to the general public. This accomplishment was remarkable because Oxycontin is a powerful opiate, and just like any other opiate of similar strength, it causes feelings of euphoria in its users and is also highly addictive. Essentially, it is as if the government had suddenly
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There is no single pill or remedy that cures acid reflux (also called Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease or GERD). It is a condition that develops with time and lifestyle choices. The most recognized symptom of acid reflux is a persistent burning sensation in the mid-chest region and/or throat. This is brought on when stomach acid churns, coming up the esophagus and pushing through lower esophageal sphincter. Sometimes it comes up as far as the back of the throat and mouth. Just as there is no single cure for this condition, there is also no single cause.
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