I have been trying to find a great doctor for a while now. I have gone to a few different doctors, but I have been unhappy with the service I have been receiving. It seems that doctors nowadays don’t want to get to the bottom of the problem. They’re always prescribing something and sending me on my way. I don’t want my body to be reliant on pills. My insurance doesn’t cover the , however my husband mentioned that it would be a good idea to go there because it is more academic in nature, therefore they might be more motivated to get tot he bottom of the problem. I agreed with this idea and decided to make an appointment. I got transferred a lot on the phone until one women put me on my final transfer and said I should try Dr. Angela Chaudhari. She told me that she was young and a really great doctor and transferred me over to her office. I then left a message asking Dr. Chaudhari’s receptionist to call me back so I could make an appointment.

I felt so excited that I had finally found a doctor. I called my husband to tell him and he was also excited. Later that day I got the call back from Dr. Chaudhari’s receptionist. She was nice as she was taking all of my information. Then she asked “So you going to be paying for the visit with cash?” I explained that I would be paying in cash and that I do hold insurance, but they do not cover the University Hospital. I explained that I felt I would get the service at a research based hospital. She then, after taking all of my information, told me that Dr. Chaudhari does not take patients that pay in cash. She only takes patients that have insurance that cover that hospital.

I cannot explain how I felt at that moment. I sat in silence as I drove home and thought about what had just happened. I had just been discriminated against. They drew the conclusion that since my insurance didn’t cover their practice I wouldn’t be able to pay the bill. My thoughts soon turned into tears. I couldn’t believe it. I have never felt discriminated against, but I am sure that this is what it was and this is what it felt like.

Image Source: Ruby-Ellis Foundation

As a second year teacher I have often thought about leaving the profession. I decided to become a teacher when I was in college for reasons that I am not able to fulfill. The decision came in an instance when, on the first day of my class, my professor placed a blank map of the world and a list of nine countries in front of us and told us to place the countries where they belong on the map. I couldn’t do it. The feeling I felt at that moment was indescribable. As I looked around I noticed that there were many more in the class that were unable to fulfill the task. I realized that the only reason I, along with so many other American-born college students, could not meet the task at hand was because of our base education. It is at that exact moment I decided that I would become an elementary teacher so that I could be a better teacher than I had. I actually wanted teach geography.

I have come to realize, in my second year of teaching at a school that is failing the No Child Left Behind requirements, that the students I am teaching now are a lot worse off than I was at there age. My school’s daily schedule is now mandated by the district and consists of math and literacy all day long. They have taken away recess and now only allow elementary-age students to have one ten minute recess. The district has also said that there are to be no more than two field trips a year. This is a sad state in education. We are teaching these students to hate school. We are setting our future leaders up to drop out of school because it doesn’t offer them anything except math and literacy. What will happen when these students reach their twenty’s. Every company will be outsourcing to the better educated, well-rounded individuals. No Child Left Behind is hurting our country more than the politicians realize. I came across this video today. It is a little funny because it is so so true. How sad.

http://notonthetest.com/

With a Scoville rating of 100,000 – 350,000, the Habanero chili is an exceptionally hot chili, and eating one for the first time, is an experience I would not recommend to any one. But, if for some insane reason you do decide to try one, here are some tips that might help with the excruciating experience you are about to have:

1. Be Prepared
The most import thing here is not to drink water. Capsaicin is an oil, and drinking water would only make it worse by spreading it around. So, what you need is something which would absorb capsaicin, like: milk, yogurt, rice, or bread. Or you can eat more Habanero till everything is numb, and you have lost all sensation.

2. Do It For Money
For the pain you are about to go through—make it worthwhile. Take it as a challenge, and have people put money on you eating a Habanero.

3. Don’t Over Do It
If you have never tried a Habanero before then don’t over do it, because the chili will get you, and will get you good.

4. Keep Your Composure
Your reaction to the Habanero is going to be severe and one that can easily shatter your toughness. But, this is a challenge you took on, so to save face, the best you can do is to try and keep your composure. With a mouth, esophagus, and stomach on fire, this is going to be a hard one.

5. Expect the Worst
How you react to this hot chili is unpredictable, so go into this challenge expecting the worst. If you have low tolerance to chilies and lack the toughness required for this challenge, then don’t attempt it; just watch it on YouTube!

PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Chamberlain

More than a decade ago, when I first heard “The Star Spangled Banner”, the lines—”The Rockets’ Red Glare”—intrigued me. I wondered about what rocket was Francis Scott Key’s referring to back in 1814 when the poem was written? Even though I was curious, at the time there was no Wikipedia at hand for reference, and over the years, I never really took time to look up more about this question.

But, strangely enough yesterday, after watching a video on YouTube about the Taj Mahal, I chanced upon a video about Tipu Sultan, The Tiger of Mysore, and there it was; the answer to the mysterious rockets in The Star Spangled Banner.

The story goes back to the three decade long Anglo-Mysore wars of 1766 to 1799, when first Haidar Ali and later his Son Tipu Sultan kept the invading British and neighboring princely states at bay. The main weapon which gave Tipu Sultan and his father the edge were rockets.

Even though rocket artillery were used by the Chinese, Mongols, Turks—and later found its way in to Europe; its use was limited. It was Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan who took it to the next level. Instead of the traditional bamboo casing, they used iron casings, with sharp blades and iron point attachments, making Tipu’s rockets a lethal and effective weapon.

The British received an unpleasant surprise in 1780 when Hyder Ali brought into action the Guntur iron-cased rockets weighing more than 12 pounds each, mounted a 10-ft bamboo pole, that had a range of nearly half a mile

Eventually, the relentless British defeated Tipu Sultan, seized some of his rockets and shipped them back to Britain for further scrutiny:

These experiences eventually led to the Royal Woolwich Arsenal’s beginning a military rocket R&D program in 1801, their first demonstration of solid-fuel rockets in 1805 and publication of A Concise Account of the Origin and Progress of the Rocket System in 1807 by William Congreve [31], son of the arsenal’s commandant. Congreve rockets were soon systematically used by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and their confrontation with the US during 1812-14. These descendants of Mysore rockets find mention in the Star Spangled Banner.

So there you have it, the story of the rockets in The Star Spangled Banner. A fascinating example of how precisely things had to happen in history to have affected the present and the future, and how a single word in a national anthem could have a story of epic proportions.

Even though I am glad I know this now, I am a little saddened too, for India has forgotten this wonderful part of her history. I remember learning about Tipu Sultan and the Mysore Wars in school, but I have never heard about his rockets and his brigades of rocket men being mentioned. But, the British have kept this history alive, and Tipu’s rockets can be seen on display at the Royal Artillery Museum in London.

PHOTO CREDIT: juvertson | NASA

After upgrading to the recently released WordPress 2.5, I have been noticing duplicate autosave draft posts. Looks like this issue is caused by the use of custom fields in posts. The number of duplicate draft posts increases with the number of custom fields being used. There is an issue logged for this, and a discussion related to this issue underway in the forums.

The duplicate drafts are not deleted after the post has been published, and would require manual deletion. If you are experiencing this issue, then here is the suggested work around from the forum:

Before creating your custom fields SAVE your post.