WriterGal | Blogging | Articles | Movie Reviews | Commentary

Eliot Van Buskirk of Wired.com wrote an interesting article recently about Apple’s iTunes music store. In the article Buskirk explains since its debut five years ago Monday, Apple’s iTunes Store has sold more than 4 billion songs and accounts for approximately 70 percent of digital music sold worldwide. In the next five years it may well account for a staggering 28 percent of all music sold worldwide. This is a staggering prediction any which way you look at it. This is a revealing trend that puts into perspective how important online commerce has become in recent years.

This is funny to me because if you would have mentioned iTunes a few years ago I would have said “What is that?”

But now everyone seems to know what iTunes is. And I have to confess that (much like the rest of the world) I have become an iTunes junkie. It all started innocently enough with a few iTunes gift cards: I would receive them, go to the iTunes Store and begin to download some of my favorite songs. After a while of doing this I began to fret when I saw my iTunes credit balance drop down below a certain amount which only prompted me to purchase more cards. After a while I did not realize how many iTunes cards I was going through in a given month just so I can add music to my iPod Nano which I carry with me daily. At this point I have even started downloading music videos and movies.

I think iTunes is fantastic and as long as the artists get their cut of the cash what is wrong with using iTunes instead of buying the CDs in stores? A lot of stores buy used CDs and sell them for as much as you can get a new download from an artist on iTunes.

It is convenient for people that do not have much time to go to the music stores. With iTunes you can pick up a card even at the grocery stores now and use it at your office or library where you have a wi-fi connection.

In an age where comfort and time management are essential iTunes has the right idea on how to please its customers. Most of the music is sold for $9.99 unless it is a double CD or Live concert CD.

Using iTunes is a guilty pleasure for people of all ages. It is a service which I believe will stay vital and offer more to its customers over the next few years even when their competitors will try to come with a strategy to undermine or take away some of its marketshare.

Buskirk also mentions some other interesting points:

By 2012, digital music is projected to account for 40 percent of music sold, according to InStat. If Apple holds onto its current market share, it will account for more than one-quarter of all music sales by its ninth birthday. Not bad for freeware.

Digital Music News recently found that iTunes is installed on nearly 30 percent of all computers worldwide, making it the most widely installed music store application in the world.

The key to iTunes’ continued success has clearly been the iPod, but as iPod sales plateau, Apple may need to rethink its iTunes strategy, especially because its partners in the music business are looking for ways to give its competition an unnatural advantage.

Only Steve Jobs knows which of these paths Apple will take, but in general, iTunes’ prospects for the next five years looks about as bright as they have been for the last five.”

What will happen in the future? Will these projections prove to be accurate? There is only one way to find out. But in the meantime I will continue to make my purchases as an iTunes junkie and enjoy the cult of Apple.

Amber and Brandon Hebert, a married couple in Oregon went in search of a barn rental only to case out the place and then later allegedly robbed Robert Salisbury when he had left his home. The couple were said to have taken several saddles from the barn.

Then the two dunderheads thought to run a false ad on craigslist giving out Salisbury’s address offering everything he owned up for grabs in order to cover up their alleged crime.

Many devotees of craigslist took the ad seriously and walked away with whatever their heart’s desired of Salisbury’s personal possessions.

When the media reported the story people were shocked. The authorities made it known they would prosecute anyone who neglected to return the stolen items to them.

What the *$&#?

I have posted many times to sell items on craigslist in my local area and this pisses me off to no end. People like the Heberts ruin a good thing for us folks that are honest and enjoy selling and buying items off this website.

Sure you take a risk when you invite strangers to your home but generally you have someone else there with you when you show an item you have for sale or you meet at a very public place like Starbucks if you are alone.

My tips for a safe sale:

If you live in an apartment leave your door open so your neighbors can hear and see what’s going on.

Talk loudly. Who cares if your neighbor knows your selling your Beatles CDS? If it’s a toss up between your pride and your life Ringo won’t care he has enough cash.

Have a friend or neighbor hang out until the stranger buys or leaves your residence. Don’t encourage chit chat beyond the sale in case the person is a potential stalker. He doesn’t have to look like Jeffrey Dahmer to be dangerous. Remember Robert Chambers and Ted Bundy. If you get a good vibe be yourself.  Trust your own instincts. Okay so I am a native New Yorker. I am suspicious by nature.

If the person darts his eyes around your place instead of on the single item you are selling get them out into the hall as fast as possible and conclude your business ASAP.

Don’t leave any valuables or letters with important info lying around on tables and counters like bank statements etc. that someone can jot down numbers or remember them if they intend to commit some type of fraud.

Tell everyone how secure the place you live in is and that there are hidden surveillance cameras all around the building especially the elevators and stairwells.

Don’t leave the person alone to answer a phone or retrieve something in another room. If they are dishonest it can take seconds for them to rip you off before you knew what hit you. Never leave your handbag nearby and walk in another room. There’s trust and there’s sheer stupidity.

Tell anyone who threatens you if you are female your husband or boyfriend who is a martial arts black belt is in the back room on his computer. Even if it is your pet poodle Fi  Fi is scratching against the door wanting to piddle.

 Keep your cell phone handy in case of an emergency with 911 coded in so you need to press one number to access help if needed.

Those are a few of my tips. Although I will say in the last several years of my dealing with craigslist folks, most have been friendly happy go lucky people who just wanted a good bargain.

Drug Poisoning ranks second as the leading cause of deaths from injuries in the US. A federal report says gun related incidents and car accidents are the number one cause of injury deaths over the past 40 years.

More people are on prescription drugs than ever before according to the March Health Stats.

Methadone prescribed for chronic pain has increased the number of deaths caused by overdoses 500% up from 4462 in 2005.

Methadone is a difficult drug because it is only given through prescriptions unless you can get it from drug dealers on the streets. It is extremely dangerous because the pain killing properties fades after a few hours but the drug can remain in your blood stream for days.

The higher the dose the more it will stay in your blood stream. You may think since the pain has returned or your doctor says you can take the pill more than once a day it is safe but in many of these accidental deaths it is not the case. The doses were lethal resulting in the patient being unable to breathe causing them to die.

My question is why isn’t this drug taken out of the equation by the FDA? If they are aware that it is killing people why are they allowing doctors to prescribe it to their patients? Most people who are on pain pills and are addicted to them aren’t in their right mind most of the time to decipher how many pills they take a day. And in the doctor’s defense how is he/she to know what is a lethal dosage for one patient might be a safe dosage for another patient. Mix that with the fact that some doctors refill prescriptions without actually seeing the patient to know they may be on other pain killers from other physicians and neglect to tell them. It is a recipe for disaster.

Let’s face it we live in a pill happy society. Don’t get me wrong if you have an illness and require pills for your heart, diabetes, cancer to live I get that but a lot of what I see are pampered people unable to cope with everyday life looking for a quick fix to normal stress.

When I moved to Southern CA I never met so many women who couldn’t function without zanax and other anxiety drugs meant to get you hooked rather than cure the problem.

Hell we all have stress in life. It doesn’t magically go away when you take a pink pill. Taking these drugs only gets you addicted so you are searching for more powerful drugs to numb you from life.

My advice to alleviate stress is:

Get physical. Walk, Run, Take Yoga. Try to get rid of the stress without pills.

Eat Healthy.

Read a good book. Leave your life for a few hours and visit a foreign land or era.

Go the Holistic Route. Drink juices. Take mega vitamins if you need to pop a pill. Fool yourself into thinking it is an anxiety pill.

Maybe your doctor insists you have to take these drugs. Get a second opinion. If it is the same then take them as needed rather than in anticipation of an attack or unknown fear.

In cases of postpartum depression unlike Tom Cruise’s unpopular views I DO think people suffer from imbalances in the brain. I do believe Manic Depression and Bi-Polar disease is at an all time high-no pun intended and these documented illnesses do require prescribed medications. I am only speaking of the folks who medically do not require these pills but want to keep up with Joneses.

Remember we teach our children by our example. IF they see us popping pills or drinking alcohol to excess don’t be surprised if they come to deal with the same addictions in life.

Imagine being a parent and your child becomes ill and soon dies. The doctors all but confirm the death was caused by meningitis. Your only solace is your family’s belief your child could live on by donating his youthful healthy organs.

All the proper tests are said to be done and you move on as best you can after burying your beloved child.

Then to your horror you learn your son did not die of meningitis but a very rare and fast moving lymphoma cancer. That is what happened to Lisa Koehne and her son, Alex according to news correspondent, Nancy Cordes.

Both the recipients of Alex’s pancreas and liver died. The two men who received his kidneys had their organs removed and are currently undergoing chemotherapy.

Dr. Lewis Teperman, Director of Transplantation for New York University Medical Center was quote as saying, “It is a rare event.”

Maybe so Doctor but a tragic one that snowballed into a nightmare for five families.

What can be done about the screening process to avoid such a devastating series of events from happening again?

There should be some sort of wait period or way in which to harvest the organs and keep them until they can be tested for cancer before they are put into a dying individual who thought they were giving a gift rather than a shorter death sentence.

For those against organ donation it is a call for science to experiment and develop the types of implants that can act as a pancreas, liver and other organs within the body without causing more harm to the recipient.

If they can build an artificial heart couldn’t they build artificial organs to replace those that are no longer working in the body? Maybe these discoveries are not so far away and can add years to as many lives as organ donation has proven to be successful in the lives of dying patients.

Dr. Tomoaki Kat, a Miami transplant surgeon removed five organs in order to take out a tumor from a 63 year old woman.

During a groundbreaking 15-hour surgery, Dr. Kato’s team opened Zepp’s abdomen like the hood of a car and took out the entire engine: her stomach, pancreas, spleen, liver and large and small intestines.

The organs were chilled while surgeons detangled the two-inch tumor from Zepp’s aorta, the main blood-supply to those organs – and two other arteries.

Once the tumor was out, the organs, connected to new Gortex blood vessels, went back in.
“I’m shocked looking at it,” Kato said. “While we were watching she was like, ‘oh my goodness.’”

Now three weeks since the surgery, Zepp is looking at herself from the outside in – grateful that her gamble seems to have paid off.

“I thought it would be better to take a chance on living than on dying soon,” she said.

Zepp also said she want to prove to the world that inoperable cancers can be operated on. Her cancer is now gone, and she’s heading home.

This article appeared on AOL this morning. I found it amazing that they could put her organs on ice while the doctor took out her tumor. Imagine the kinds of surgery that can be done with this technique. People may very well live to be over a hundred years old if cancer and heart disease can be removed from our lives.