Health Tips

Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey

Today I went to the Goreme Open Aır museum, whıch ıs a collectıon of cave churches and burıal places from around the 10th to the 12th centurıes.

Cappadocıa was home to three famous early theologıans. Basil the Great and his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and their friend Gregory Nazianus. They ınfluenced the doctrıne of the trınıty and the development of the Nicene Creed.

There ıs a polıcy of no pıctures allowed, at tımes posted and at tımes not. I took some anyway because some tımes the guards basıcally allowed ıt or looked the other way. There were a few decoratıons that I dıd not recognıze, but the maın players were all there as ın other Eastern Chrıstıan churches. The Dark Church had the most extensıve preserved frescoes, perhaps because ıt was too dark ın theır to desecrate the frescoes by crossıng out eyes etc.

It ıs easy to see how the Chrıstıans hıd here from ınvaders, as they would blend ın to theır surroundıngs and someone would really have to want them dead to chase them up the clıffs. Most of the Chrıstıans that were left ın Cappadocıa left for Greece ın the 1920s,

Also went to the El Nazar church whıch was not part of the open aır museum. In all ıt cost me 31 Turkısh Lıra ın admıttance fees, about 20 dollars.

Went back and dıd laundry, whıch took about forty-fıve mınutes to fıgure out how to work the hostel’s washıng machıne whıch was all ın Turkısh. I thınk I dıd hot water for extra cycles because ıt took a whıle. Hung dry.

Had meat and potatoes wıth rıce for dınner, only sıx Lıras or about four dollars.

The owner of the ınternet cafe just “put me ın charge” as he goes and eats wıth hıs frıend. Guess I just sıt here untıl he gets back and lısten to hıs Amerıcan top 40 musıc (Lady Gaga ın Turkey).

Takıng a bus to Antakya, Bıblıcal Antıoch, tomorrow mornıng and then headıng ınto Syrıa the day after that (ıf all goes as planned).

from: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kaisersnuggle/1/1283453159/tpod.html

A troubling scheme was recently uncovered involving the swindling of elderly nursing home residents and their families out of tens of thousands of dollars reports the Clarion Ledger.

The plan involved an ex-nursing home social worker who told residents and their families at the Belhaven Senior Care Center that they needed to pay money to ensure that their Medicare benefits were maintained. Ponchie McCollough, one of the perpetrators, would demand checks ranging from $400 to $2,500 from the unsuspecting victims. Of course many families and residents trusted the word of the supposedly honest workers at these facilities to guide them through the process of receiving Medicare benefits. When McCollough demanded money to ensure that the aid was provided and care was continued, many of these families believed her and paid.

The families would make the checks out to McCollough’s co-conspirator, an administrator at the facility who would then cash the checks and the two would pocket the funds. Two other co-conspirators were also involved in parts of the scheme, helping McCollough funnel the money from the unsuspected elderly victims.

To make matters worse, nursing home staff members failed to report the abuse even after it was uncovered. In particular, two employees were indicted by authorities for assisting in the elder abuse by failing to report any of the criminal acts. An operations director and a billing director at the facility have been charged as “accessories” following the theft. They both attempted to help McCollough avoid getting caught and having to return the money. Both of those employees worked for the consulting firm which owned Belhaven.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti continue to be disgusted and disappointed in the lengths that many of these employees go to take advantage of their position when they are supposed to be aiding these vulnerable residents. When six different employees are involved in a scheme that seeks to break the law and harm residents, there is clearly a fundamental nursing home problem. Unfortunately, every day new reports flood in about employees abusing residents in different ways. None of the abuses should be tolerated. Please report any incident of neglect or abuse at nursing facilities near you and help put an end to the problem.

from: http://rss.justia.com/~r/IllinoisNursingHomeAbuseBlogCom/~3/UWviWBfcwj8/six_people_indicted_following.html

There has been a flurry of political stories in recent weeks about the electoral difficulties Democrats face this fall. It seems Washington is finally catching on to the fact that the Democrats' hold on the House is in dire jeopardy, and that a 1994-style, 52-seat pickup is a real possibility.But this should not come as a surprise, as the data have been pointing to Democratic losses in the 50-seat range in the House for some time now. Washington continues to be disconnected from the political reality that the polls and the electorate have been sending consistently over the past year. …

from: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/02/bigger_than_1994_106985.html