Bioethical problems

Bioethical problems- How far can we go?

Progress in the life sciences is giving human beings new power to improve our health and control the development processes of all living species. Concerns about the social, cultural, legal and ethical implications of such progress have led to one of the most significant debates of the past century. A new word has been coined to encompass these concerns: bioethics. It touches most complex problems of the humanity.

Bioethics is a philosophical study about science that involves human and other living creatures directly: medicine and biology. Bioethics is frequently noticeable among disciplines such as: life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, philosophy, and theology, in many hard cases in which human life and dignity are in danger.

Bioethical issues has been discussed widely among centuries, lots of views has evolved with grater knowledge. Moment in history from when public attention focused on this case were biomedical experiments following the revelation of Nazi experiments conducted during World War II, later problem of life-ending medicine ethics, modern bioethics though concerns more about today’s biotechnology and it’s possibilities: stem cell research, genetic testing, cloning, gene therapy.

Human rights

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status,

Modern society and all humanity nowadays meet problems of unwanted life extinction and it’s termination. How to cope with life that have no chance to express itself and why should we do it after all? Are we in power to decide which life is valuable and which unwanted? Where to sart and when to stop artificial life elongation? Those questions should be answered by each and everyone with solemnity and morality.

Abortion- act of terminating unborn life. All of the arguments pro and against abortion boil down to six specific questions. The first five deal with the nature of the zygote-embryo-fetus growing inside a mother's womb. The last one looks at the morality of the practice. These questions are:

1. Is it alive?
2. Is it human?
3. Is it a person?
4. Is it physically independent?
5. Does it have human rights?
6. Is abortion murder?

Both sides use the same question s to support their logic and morality they just answer them.

An abortion can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced, in humans and other species.

An abortion is medically referred to as therapeutic when it is performed to:

• save the life of the pregnant woman;
• preserve the woman's physical or mental health
• terminate pregnancy that would result in a child born with a congenital disorder that would be fatal or associated with significant morbidity^[1 or
• Selective reduce the number of fetuses to lower health risks associated with multiple pregnancy

An abortion is referred to as elective when it is performed at the request of the woman "for reasons other than maternal health or fetal disease." Population control and one-child policy in China is often connected with this subject.

Euthanasia- practice of ending a life with mercy to dying person which terminate the pain and suffering. Is also seen as a voluntary suicide or as a murder when it has to be assisted. Proponents typically consider a death that increased suffering to be "wrongful" while opponents typically consider any deliberate death as "wrongful." Other case is life extinction and life support.

“Medicalized killing of a person without the person's consent, whether nonvoluntary (where the person in unable to consent) or involuntary (against the person's will) is not euthanasia: it is murder. Hence, euthanasia can be voluntary only.”

Several governments around the world have legalized voluntary euthanasia: The United Kingdom and United States among others.

All of activities that can increase fertility or lead to impregnation are also controversial:

• In-vitro fertilization
• Artificial uterus (or womb)- a device that allows to replace the process of pregnancy outside of a woman body, current technology does not allows to perform all the development of featus in artificial conditions.
• Artificial insemination
• Three-parent babies- human offspring that contain DNA from 3 parents. Is now researched in China but no fetus was born yet.
• Sperm and eggs (donation)

Future problem-Transhumanism

Transhumanism is symbolized by H+ or h+ and is often used as a synonym for "human enhancement" is an ideological movement or pseudoreligion that supports any kind of way which can improve human health or general condition. Science and technology is method to gain full humanity- transhumanity. Gains are to within those methods reduce poverty, disease, disability, and malnutrition around the globe but also to enhance human bodies at individual level, control the evolution of human and other creatures. Transhumanists are for instance not interested in preservation natural biodiversity and natural systems on any other purpose but to use it. Transhumanist goals can be gained by using: genetic modifications on human embryos in order to create “designer babies”.

Transhumanism has been described by one critics, as the world's most dangerous idea, while proponents claims that it is the "movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations of humanity"

Future of genetic engineering

Are you concerned about bioethical issues?

Are you human or transhuman:)?

Despite ventures and problems biotechnology has bright sides. Do you see any? (watch the film from the link above)

Culture Shock

The term, culture shock, was introduced for the first time in 1958 to describe the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment for example to another country. When everything is different: language, customs, level of development we can suffer from the lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new environment, and not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate.



The symptoms (emotional and physical) apear after the first few weeks of coming to a new place. It can be:

* Sadness, loneliness, melancholy
* Preoccupation with health
* Aches, pains, and allergies
* Insomnia, desire to sleep too much or too little
* Changes in temperament, depression, feeling vulnerable, feeling powerless
* Anger, irritability, resentment, unwillingness to interact with others
* Identifying with the old culture or idealizing the old country
* Loss of identity
* Trying too hard to absorb everything in the new culture or country
* Unable to solve simple problems
* Lack of confidence
* Feelings of inadequacy or insecurity
* Developing stereotypes about the new culture
* Developing obsessions such as over-cleanliness
* Longing for family
* Feelings of being lost, overlooked, exploited or abused

However, culture shock is not any medical term. It's just a common way to describe the confusing and nervous feelings a person may have after leaving a familiar culture.

Normally, we even don't realise how important for us is our culture. But if we have to face a culture which is different we can experience culture shock which has different stages:

The honeymoon stage
When you first arrive in a new culture, differences are intriguing and you may feel excited, stimulated and curious. At this stage you are still protected by the close memory of your home culture.

The distress (disintegration) stage
A little later, differences create an impact and you may feel confused, isolated or inadequate as cultural differences intrude and familiar supports (e.g. family or friends) are not immediately available.

Re-integration stage
Next you may reject the differences you encounter. You may feel angry or frustrated, or hostile to the new culture. At this stage you may be conscious mainly of how much you dislike it compared to home. Don't worry, as this is quite a healthy reaction. You are reconnecting with what you value about yourself and your own culture.

Autonomy stage
Differences and similarities are accepted. You may feel relaxed, confident, more like an "old hand" as you become more familiar with situations and feel well able to cope with new situations based on your growing experience.

Independence-stage
Differences and similarities are valued and important. You may feel full of potential and able to trust yourself in all kinds of situations. Most situations become enjoyable and you are able to make choices according to your preferences and values.

(adapted from Robert L. Kohls: Survival Kit for Overseas Living)



Of course, the length and intensity of each stage varies from person to person. Many factors contribute to the duration and effects of culture shock. For example, the individual's state of mental health, type of personality, previous experiences, socio-economic conditions, familiarity with the language, family and/or social support systems, and level of education.

after:http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/cGuanipa/cultshok.htm;



What do you think about it? Do you have some ideas how to fight culture shock?

Volunteer work

Let us begin by saying what volunteering is?

As the Wikipedia encyclopaedia states ‘Volunteering is the practice of people working on behalf of others or a particular cause without payment for their time and services’. Some people choose to volunteer purely because of their need to help the less fortunate and others may volunteer in order to develop their own skills, get job experience or just to do something different and have fun.

Who can become a volunteer?

People from all backgrounds can do volunteer work because there are many areas in which volunteers are needed.
But even though volunteer work is incredibly varied not everyone is suitable for the same kind of job. Depending on the tasks and responsibilities involved in the job a potential volunteer may have to undergo specific training or take a preparatory course in the case when special qualifications are needed - This is the so called ‘skills-based volunteering’.

What are the most popular Volunteering jobs?

Environmental Volunteering

In this case volunteers concentrate on matters concerning the natural environment. Volunteers usually conduct a range of activities, some of which are:
-environmental monitoring
-ecological restoration (e.g. re-vegetation)
-education of local people about caring for their environment
This can be a great opportunity for nature lovers to commune with the natural world.

Volunteering in Schools

Volunteering in schools is common all around the world, but is probably most widely extended in countries with a poor economy. In most cases you do not to meet high requirements in order to become a volunteer in a school. Parents, grandparent or community members are usually only asked to fill out a form. The responsibilities of a volunteer in this case can be very wide-ranging. A volunteer might be asked to do anything, beginning with helping to maintain tidiness on the grounds of school, fundraising to even teaching.
eVolunteering

eVolunteering has various other names, for example: online volunteering, micro volunteering, cyber service, telementoring or teletutoring, but they all mean the same – it is a term describing a volunteer who completes his/her tasks on the Internet using a computer offsite from the organization being assisted.
Corporate Volunteering / Employee volunteering
This refers to the companies which allow their employees to volunteer during work hours. This is regarded as one of the social responsibility activities of the company. Companies are willing to permit their workers to volunteer because it is a way of raising the loyalty among customers and enhancing the company’s image and reputation.

Who benefits?

Volunteering is beneficial not only to the people or organization the volunteers work for but also for the volunteers themselves. Often volunteering has a great impact on their lives and allows them to broaden their horizons. It is not only a way to make a difference but it can enable young people to get valuable experience and knowledge and in some cases even live through exciting adventures.

How to start?

This is really quite simple. Almost in every larger city around the world there are volunteer organizations of some sort. There are numerous websites on the internet that allow people to find the volunteering organization of their interest. These organizations often have their own internet sites which offer information about application, needed qualifications and the characteristics of the job.

Criticism

There are also negative opinions about volunteering. Some critics, such as Ivan Illich (the author of the speech ‘To Hell with Good Intensions’) claim that volunteer work is a way of extending power and authority over indigenous cultures around the world .
More recently the concept of medical-tourism also has been criticized by many people (this refers to volunteers travelling overseas to deliver care).

What do you think about volunteering? Have you ever been a volunteer? What area would you like to volunteer in?

What will happen if we continue to pollute and exploit the Earth in an uncontrolled way?

Must we still discuss this topic?!

Maybe you’ve read the topic of this presentation and you’ve thought: “Gosh, how long must I hear about world’s pollution? I’ve enough!”. And you’ve left the computer turned on, tried to watch something in TV, but you’ve seen Obama speaking about Gulf oil spill area, you’ve irritated more, left the room (TV turned on also), switched on the lights and took a newspaper. But then you’ve looked at an article concerning energy’s economy- and you’ve flied into a rage. Can’t we glance off the subject?

Unfortunately, we can’t. It is not for pleasure that everybody talk about it. If every day we are forced to follow the news about pollution, if more and more campaigns are lanced by countless organization, we can be sure that the problem is really important. Maybe we should try to imagine what are possible consequences of our destructive action. Let’s see….

Different human actions and it’s consequences

Air pollution

When you go out of town, you can finally take a deep breath and smell a fresh air. In a city, it’s impossible: too many cars, too many factories, power plants, too much exhaust fumes… It’s true, however, air pollution is present everywhere: because of using aerosol sprays, hair sprays, dry cleaners and others. Consequences? According to the researchers, the ozone depletion increases about 1% by year. What does it mean? The ozone layer protect us from harmful UVB ultraviolet light which lead to skin cancer, intoxication, ocular diseases. The EPA estimates that 60 million Americans born by the year 2075 will get skin cancer because of ozone depletion. About one million of these people will die. Concerning the environment, the most basic microscopic organisms such as plankton may not be able to survive. If that happened, it would mean that all of the other animals that are above plankton in the food chain would also die out. Other ecosystems such as forests and deserts will also be harmed.

Water pollution

Well, you know that the problem is very actual- there is more and more sewages in our rivers and the treatment of it is still insufficient. Every year, 14 billions pounds of sewage, sludge, and garbage are dumped into the world's oceans, 19 trillion gallons of waste enter the water also. What’s more, incidences of disasters, like the mentioned oil spill in the Gulf Coast in Mexico, are enormous and very difficult or even impossible to control. What are the possible results of still increasing water pollution? The death of milliards of fish and other animals and human food poisoning, skin diseases…

Noise pollution

Noise is among the most pervasive pollutants today. It negatively affects human health and well-being. Problems related to noise include hearing loss, stress, high blood pressure, sleep loss, distraction and lost productivity, and a general reduction in the quality of life and opportunities for tranquility. Animals also suffer from an excessive noise emission: they are often more susceptible to loud sounds and evidently don’t know what’s happening so are also very stressed and must to change their migration patterns.

Littering

It is one of the most current bad customs of today’s society. 75% of Americans admit to littering within the last 5 years. Every year there are numerous vehicle accidents caused by litter. People in these accidents are injured and sometimes even killed in their attempts to avoid litter in the roadways. Young children fall on litter in playgrounds, get cut and need medical attention. Many small animals crawl into bottles or jars and get stuck and slowly starve to death. Animals get caught in plastic six pack rings, plastic bags, fishing line and a multitude of throwaways. Birds that are stuck, can’t fly away from danger. Sometimes animals caught in six pack rings are strangled as they grow too big for the opening. Animals get cut, infected and die. Every year, millions of birds, fish and animals die from litter.

Energy waste

The consumption habits of modern consumer lifestyles are causing a huge worldwide waste problem. Having overfilled local landfill capacities, many first world nations are now exporting their refuse to third world countries. This is having a devastating impact on ecosystems and cultures throughout the world.

Global warming

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Almost 100% of the observed temperature increase over the last 50 years has been due to the increase in the atmosphere of greenhouse gas concentrations like water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane and ozone. According to scientist, by the year 2100, temperature will have increased by about 3° to 5° C (5.4° to 9° Fahrenheit). Results? Sea levels will rise by at least 25 meters (82 feet). Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns increase the frequency, duration, and intensity of other extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, and tornadoes. Other effects of global warming include higher or lower agricultural yields, further glacial retreat, reduced summer stream flows, species extinctions. As a further effect of global warming, diseases like malaria are returning into areas where they have been extinguished earlier.

I like green, I buy the ecological bags, I’m not concerned

Probably you do something to protect the environment. Yes, it’s quite sure, because nowadays you have to be a little green if you don’t want to be frowned upon. Recently in Poland a new rule have been introduced: you can’ take a plastic bag from a grocer’s shop without paying for it. There is also a kind of fashion for green “ecological bags” (it’s ecological, because it’s green). We can also segregate rubbish using specially designed containers (which content is often loaded in a common place). Am I ironic? Maybe a little. But it isn’t because I feel superior or I want to criticize Poles or any other nation. Quite the contrary, I believe in our sensibility. We need only to realize that all that jazz about Earth’s pollution is really well-founded.

Do you think the alarm is exaggerated? How do you imagine the world in the future if we continue to pollute it? What can we do to protect the environment- what are you doing personally?

Multi-generational family

How does the family look like at the beginning of XXI century?

The world has changed. According to these change appear new styles of life and new family models. Predominant pattern in nowadays world is a nuclear family consisting of only a father, mother and children. However the disadvantages of the modern nuclear family have prompted many of its critics to look for alternatives.

Extended and multi-generational families

In many cultures, such as in those of many of the Southern Europeans, Asians, Middle Easterners, Africans, Latin Americans, and Pacific Islanders, extended families are the basic family unit.

In the Polish tradition, maintaining close relationships within the family is well established.
Many families share housing with several generations because the persistent housing shortage, low incomes, and high rents leave them no choice. The transistion of Poland to democracy and capitalism improves quality of life and caused that young generation prefers living alone.

What about USA? The multi-generational American family household is staging a comeback, driven in part by the job losses and home foreclosures of recent years but more so by demographic changes that have been gathering steam for decades. Since 1990, the number of multigenerational families grew by approximately 60 percent. Today, there are almost four million American multigenerational households according to the new census data.

Advantages and disadvantages of living in multi-generational families

Experts, who provide clinical services to these families, states that advantages outweighed disadvantages, particularly for the oldest generation. Family closeness and increased tangible resources were the most frequent advantages given. Intrahousehold family relationship stress and issues of privacy were the most frequent disadvantages identified.

Multigeneral household structure allows families to come together to face the many trials of life, such as raising a child, caring for elders, single parenthood, and high cost of living and housing. Although the multigenerational family creates a safety network among its generations to face their obstacles as a whole, those obstacles still abound.

And what do you think about living in multi-generational family?


Bibliography:
http://wikipedia.org/
http://pewsocialtrends.org/
http://online.sagepub.com/

Hell during the living – depression.



Depression is a disease or weakness of man?

First, we should answer the question : what depression is.
By definition, depression is a condition characterized by mood deterioration , reduced energy, activity and interest.
But not everyone who is sad and feels pity has depression.
To diagnose depression, some symptoms must have reached the intensity of clinically relevant, because not every depression is a mental illness.

The most noticed and mentioned symptoms are:

- sadness, sorrow. Patient feels tired, lack of energy. He thinks: “I can’t complete the unfinished operations, I want to do nothing. “
- isolation from the environment, the abandonment of regular contacts
- lack of interest, and the important responsibilities
- anxiety, failing of the anger, crying, frustration
- symptoms of the body: headache, appetite disorder
- in the sphere of thought: a sense of guilt – reminding old mistakes, bad choices in life, a sense of small value, worthlessness of life, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts.
- deterioration of cognitive function – inability to focus, persevere in activities requiring men intellectual effort.

Causes of depression.

Causes of depression are not only biological for example: abnormal functioning of the CNS ( central nervous system). Psychological factors cause depression too. For instance:

- a negative way of thinking
- blaming for unfortunate situations
- remembering rather the bad than happy events
- submissive behavior pattern
- feeling of embarrassment, fear and retreat than taking the challenges
- deposition of the problems
- conflicts, quarrels at home
- open favoring siblings
- putting excessive demands
- psychological abuse, sexual harassment – called. bad touch.

To sum up, we can think that depression is a result of patient's character or way of thinking.. According to professor Antoni Kępiński depression is an illness that should be treated pharmacologically or by psychotherapy.
In interview, he said that patient suffering from depression isn’t able to help himself. Family has big influence on the patient’s mood too. By professor A. Kępiński , when the wife says to her husband, who is depressed: “Do not despair and go to work” it will not help him. Quite on the contrary, it will deepen the depression.

SOME STATISTIC ON DEPRESSION:

1. According to WHO ( World Health Organization ) 120 million people in the world are suffering from depression.
2. By the European Commission 4, 5 % of European population is affected by depression
3. Every year 58000 Europeans dies as a result of suicide.
4. 12 % population of France has a depression. Every year 65 000 000 antidepressant pills is sold in France.
5. Women experience depression about twice as often as men.
6. Over half of patients do not benefit from medical help
7. 40 % of the population of hospital patients and residents of nursing homes after 65 years of age suffer from depression.
8.More than 90% of people who died by suicide had been diagnosed with mental illness, commonly
a depressive disorder.
9.Depression is also known to weaken the immune system, making the body more susceptible to other medical illnesses.
10. By the year 2020, depression will be the 2nd most common health problem in the world.



More statistics:

http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_statistics_depression


Do you think that depression is an illness or weakness of man?
Do you know someone who was/ is depressed?

1. Film about Post-Partum Depression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qz-gdWtKaM&feature=player_embedded#at=75

2. Test: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale:

http://www.medafile.com/cln/HDRS.html

Untypical addictions

You don't smoke, don't drink too much alcohol, don't get drugs. You think "I'm free of any addiction". But are you sure? Maybe you're not? Let's see on some

UNTYPICAL ADDICTIONS

by Michał Bil

Workaholism

Workaholism is addiction to work.The phrase workaholic does not always imply that the person actually enjoys their work, but rather simply feels compelled to do it. There is no generally accepted medical definition of such a condition, although some forms of stress, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder can be work-related.
Workaholism is not the same as working hard. Despite logging
in an extraordinary amount of hours and sacrificing their health and loved ones for their jobs, workaholics
are frequently ineffective employees.
Although the term workaholic usually
has a negative connotation, it is sometimes used by people wishing to express their devotion to one's career
in positive terms. The "work" in question is usually associated with a paying job, but it may also refer
to independent pursuits such as sports, music and art.
A workaholic in the negative sense is popularly characterized by a neglect of family and other social relations.
Experts say the incessant work-related activity masks anxiety, low self-esteem, and intimacy problems. And as with addictions to alcohol, drugs or gambling, workaholics' denial
and destructive behavior will persist despite feedback from loved ones or danger signs such
as deteriorating relationships. Poor health is another warning sign. Because there's less of a social stigma attached to workaholism than to other addictions, health symptoms can easily go undiagnosed or unrecognized, say researchers. Workaholics feel the urge of being busy all
the time, to the point that they often perform tasks that aren't required or necessary for project completion. As a result, they tend to be inefficient workers, since they focus on being busy, instead of focusing on being productive. In addition, workaholics tend to be less effective than other workers because it's difficult for them to be team players, they have trouble delegating
or entrusting co-workers, or they take on so much that they aren't as organized as others. Furthermore, workaholics often suffer sleep deprivation which results in impaired brain
and cognitive function.
Like with other psychological addictions, workaholics are unable to see
that they have a problem. Confronting the workaholic will generally meet with denial.
Co-workers, family members and friends may need to engage in some type of an intervention
to communicate the effects of the workaholic’s behavior on them. Indeed, mental treatment
to cure a workaholic can successfully reduce the hours spent on the job, while increasing
the person's productivity. Studies show that fully recovered former workaholics are able
to accomplish in 50 hours what they previously couldn't do in 80.
Workaholism in Japan is considered a serious social problem leading to early death, often on the job, a phenomenon dubbed karōshi. If you want to know more, just watch the film at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C_roXUPYbs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workaholic

Internet addiction

Internet addiction disorder (IAD), or, more broadly, Internet overuse, problematic computer use or pathological computer use, is excessive computer use that interferes with daily life. These terms avoid the distracting and divisive term addiction and are not limited to any single cause.
Online activities which, if done in person, would normally be considered troublesome, such as compulsive gambling
or shopping, are sometimes called net compulsions. Others, such as reading or playing computer games, are troubling only to the extent that these activities interfere
with normal life. Supporters of disorder classification often divide IAD into subtypes by activity, such as excessive, overwhelming, or inappropriate pornography use, gaming, online social networking, bloggingJ, email, or Internet shopping. Opponents note that compulsive behaviors may not themselves be addictive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_addiction_disorder

Tanorexia

Tanning addiction is a rare syndrome where an individual appears to have
a physical and/or psychological addiction to sunbathing or the use
of tanning beds. The mechanism
of the addiction is unknown at this time.
Although the syndrome has not been officially described by the medical community, it may include the following reported symptoms:
· intense anxiety if a session
of tanning is missed
· competition among peers to see which can get the darkest tan
· chronic frustration about the color of one's skin, with the affected person being convinced his
or her complexion is constantly lighter
than it actually is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning_addiction

Bigorexia

Muscle dysmorphia (bigorexia) is a disorder in which a person becomes obsessed with the idea that he or she is not muscular enough. Those who suffer from muscle dysmorphia tend to hold delusions that they are "skinny" or "too small" but are often above average in musculature. Sometimes referred to as bigorexia, reverse anorexia nervosa, or the Adonis Complex, muscle dysmorphia is a very specific type of body dysmorphic disorder.

In this disorder a person is preoccupied
with thoughts concerning appearance, especially musculature. Improving becomes addiction to them. Muscle dysmorphia
is strictly connected with selective attention: individuals selectively focus their attention on perceived defect
(too skinny body, underweight etc.).
They are hypervigilant to even small deviations from perceived ideal and they ignore information that their body image is not consistent with reality.
Muscle dysmorphia can cause people to:
· Constantly examine themselves in a mirror
· Frequently compare themselves with others
· Hate their reflections
· Become distressed if they miss a workout session or one
of their many meals a day
· Become distressed if they do not receive enough protein
per day in their diet
· Take potentially dangerous anabolic steroids
· Neglect jobs, relationships, or family because of excessive exercising
· Have delusions of being underweight or below average in musculature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigorexia

Funeral addiction

Do you think it is possible to be addicted to going on funerals? If not, read that: Luis Squarisi, 42, from Batatais Brazil has attended every funeral in his home town for the past twenty years citing the death of his father in 1983 as the beginning of his morbid addiction. He later quit his job to continue his addiction.
"The first thing I do every morning
is turn on the radio to find out if anyone has died," said Luis. "If I don't hear it on the radio
I call the hospitals and local funeral home."
Funeral home spokesperson,
SO Vicente said, "We don't want him to go
to therapy, everyone expects to see him at
the funerals. He is famous already."

http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=59200

Photos from:

www.image.cbsnews.com/.../06/15/image1716891g.jpg

http://spyhunter007.com/Images/internet_addiction.jpg

www.maildigi.com/worlds-wackiest-addictions/

www.doctorsaloud.com/vb/t3072.html

What do you think about this addictions? Are they really dangerous? Have you heared
about some other "interesting" addictions?