Joe South dies at 72: singer-songwriter 'Games People Play'

Joe South, a versatile singer-songwriter who penned "Games People Play," "Down in the Boondocks" and other pop-rock hits in the 1960s and '70s, has died. He was 72.

South died Wednesday at his home in Buford, Ga., northeast of Atlanta, said Butch Lowery, president of the Lowery Group. The company published South's music. Marion Merck of the Hall County coroner's office said South died of natural causes stemming from a heart attack.

Beginning in the late 1960s, South rode a wave of success with his combination of melodic songs and compelling lyrics. Billy Joe Royal scored a hit with his cover of "Down in the Boondocks" in 1965, and Deep Purple had one with "Hush." Then South won Grammy Awards for song of the year and best contemporary song of 1969 for his own recording of "Games People Play." He had hits with "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" and "Walk a Mile in My Shoes." He collected a Grammy nomination for country singer Lynn Anderson's recording of "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden."

"The Grammy Awards are a very nice gesture by the record industry, but they can really mess up your head," South told Times rock critic Robert Hilburn in 1970, months after he accepted the honors for "Games People Play."

"The Grammy is a little like a crown. After you win it, you feel like you have to defend it. In a sense, I froze. I found it hard to go back in to the recording studio because I was afraid the next song wouldn't be perfect."

He struggled emotionally after his brother, Tommy Souter, committed suicide in 1971. Drug abusederailed South's career, and he disappeared from the stage and recording studio while living in Maui in the early 1970s. His first marriage ended in divorce, and he made comeback attempts to little notice.

He eventually went through drug rehabilitation programs and married his second wife, Jan, in 1987.

Born Joseph Souter in Atlanta on Feb. 28, 1940, he began playing guitar when he was about 11. He was later signed to a recording and publishing contract by country music disc jockey Bill Lowery.

In 1958, South recorded his debut single, a novelty song called "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor." His hit song-writing abilities were next on display in 1962 when the Tams reached No. 1 with their R&B recording of "Untie Me."

South worked as a session musician for a time, playing guitar on Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools,"Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde," Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" and albums by Eddy Arnold, Marty Robbins and other country, R&B and rock bands.

South was an inductee in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

'HONEY BOO BOO' FAMILY We Make Waaay More than $4k an Episode!!!

On Wednesday, June Shannon, the mother of six year old Alana Thompson, better known as “Honey Boo Boo,” said she and her family make more than $4,000 an for their TLC reality TV show named after the pageant princess.

According to TMZ, after a report that stated Thompson and her family made somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000 per each episode of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” Shannon spoke to the online tabloid saying it was much more than that, but she would not divulge the dollar amount, only saying “We’re very well compensated.”

Nonetheless, she also said that the show provides more than a good income for the family, noting, “We’re making memories to last a lifetime.”

Shannon also told the website that although she and her family have been highly criticized and called terrible things due to their lifestyle, she welcomes the "haters" as they add ratings to the show.

“It’s weird that haters know more about our show than our amazing fans,” she said.

credit : "http://www.examiner.com"

Fan falls to death at Houston Texans' Reliant Stadium

 

A 25-year-old fan died after tumbling about 60 feet from a fifth-floor escalator at Reliant Stadiumduring a preseason Houston Texans game, officials said Friday.

Jonathon Kelly of Houston fell to the ground floor during the Thursday night game against the Minnesota Vikings, and frantic witnesses called police to report where his body had landed, police spokesman John Cannon said.

The fall appeared to be an accident, according to police, who didn't immediately release the victim's name pending notification of his family. But the Harris County medical examiner's office released Kelly's name and hometown Friday evening.


RELATED: Are you smarter than an NFL quarterback? Take the quiz!

Kelly was traveling down from the fifth floor when he fell to the ground, said Mark Miller, the general manager of SMG-Reliant Park. Two medical teams working at the stadium treated the man at the scene before he was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he died, he said.

Staffers monitor fan safety at each escalator landing, Miller said.

"We make sure they're not overloaded and we try to operate them in the safest possible manner," Miller said.

The bank of escalators in the northeast corner of the stadium where the fall occurred was closed for inspections, and Reliant Park officials are reassessing safety procedures, he said.

But Texans President Jamey Rootes indicated that security and safety changes were unlikely because of the fatal fall.

"We have our procedures in place, the league has a whole comprehensive set of best practices relative to fan behavior and stadium security," Rootes said. "We've always been rated at the very highest level ... I don't know that anything changes."

The Texans open the regular season on Sept. 9 with a home game against the Miami Dolphins.

The fall wasn't the only fatal incident at a Texas sport venue in recent years. In 2011, a firefighter attending a Texas Rangers game in Arlington died when he fell from the left field stands while reaching for a baseball tossed his way by All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton.

Shannon Stone fell about 20 feet onto concrete when he tumbled over the left-field railing after catching the ball and falling into an area out of sight from the field as the Rangers faced Oakland. Cooper Stone, his 9-year-old son, witnessed the fall during the second inning.

In April, a statue of Stone and his son was dedicated to Rangers fans in front of the home plate gate at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Railings also were raised throughout the ballpark before this season.

Princess Diana'sซ15-Year Death Anniversary

 
It may be hard to believe, but today marks the 15th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Diana and her companion Dodi Fayed died from injuries sustained from a car accident in Paris, France on August 31, 1997. Driver Henri Paul was also killed, and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones sustained major injuries. At the time, their Mercedes were being pursued by paparazzi. None of the occupants were wearing seatbelts.

An 18-month French investigation found Paul responsible for the crash. Paul was intoxicated at the time, and lost control of the car. Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi's father, claimed his son and Diana's deaths were part of a conspiracy theory orchestrated by the royal family. An Al-Fayed spokesperson said the couple were engaged at the time of the accident. Subsequent investigations dismissed these theories.

Diana was only 36 at the time of her death, and left behind two sons, Princes William and Harry. The entire world mourned the passing of Princess Diana, with an estimated 2.5 billion people watching her funeral. In the 15 years since her death, laws limiting the paparazzi have strengthened, and the Royals have moved on with their lives.

Still, we can only wonder how life of "The People's Princess" and her family would've turned out had she lived. Click on the gallery above to see how her death affected the royal family and other figures, including Elton John and George Clooney.

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Who is Mia love?

"Why did Mia Love get a coveted slot at the Republican National Convention? Mia Love is Haitian American, the first black mayor in Utah and is running for a seat in Congress."

Utah congressional candidate Mia Love said Tuesday it's possible to "revive" the American dream she came to know as the daughter of Haitian immigrants by focusing on self-reliance, not President Obama's failed policies.

Love is a darling of tea-party and conservative Republicans for her groundbreaking role in state politics as Utah's first black woman to become a mayor."Mr. President, I'm here to tell you the American people are awake and we're not buying what you're selling in 2012," Love said.

She now stands to become the first black Republican woman in Congress if she topples Democrat Jim Matheson in the November election.

Love's speech lasted only a few minutes but she was an instant hit, drawing numerous ovations, even chants of "U-S-A."

"Let me tell you about the America I know," she said. "My parents immigrated to this country with 10 dollars in their pockets and the hope the America they heard about really did exist. When tough times came, they did not look to Washington, they looked within. So, the America I grew up knowing was centered in self-reliance and filled with the possibility of living the American dream."

Love took office as mayor of Saratoga Springs two years ago. Dubbed a rising GOP star, she has been getting a lot of support from top Republicans, with more to come.

Arizona Sen. John McCain and House Speaker John Boehner made recent stops in Utah to help Love raise money, and she was endorsed by Ann Romney, the wife of GOP presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney, in June. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to give Love another boost Sept. 7.

Tuesday, she boosted the crowd.

She called President Obama's version of America a divided one, often pitting people against one another "based on income level, gender and social status."

"We are not better off than we were four years ago and no rhetoric, bumper sticker or Hollywood campaign ad can change that," she said.

She said the American dream is not just her story, or President Obama's story but "our story."

Love said it's possible to restore and revive the American story with Romney and running mate Paul Ryan.

"The world will know it, our children will tell it, and our grandchildren will possess it for years to come," she said.

Matheson held a news conference in Salt Lake City earlier Tuesday, a sharp contrast, he noted, to Love's convention appearance.

"She's back at a party meeting in Florida giving a partisan speech, while I'm here in Utah talking about real issues," he said.

Matheson also accused Love of supporting efforts to get rid of federal aid for college students.

"If you want to talk about pursuing the American dream," he said, "the American dream is about educating ourselves. I'm here in Utah for Utahns standing up for what they want."

Meanwhile, a Democratic-leaning group, the House Majority PAC, launched an online ad claiming Love has consistently supported tax increases in Saratoga Springs.

"If you like how she raised taxes in Utah, you'll love Mia Love in Congress," the ad says.

A local Utah non-profit, the Alliance for a Better UTAH, issued a statement Tuesday claiming Love's plan would eliminate all government support for student loans. The statement said Love put herself through college in Connecticut using federal student aid programs.

Meet Venus the famous chimera cat who's winning fans world-wide with her striking appearance

When there seems to be a new cute kitten gaining YouTube fame each week, it’s tough to stand out from the cat crowd.


But that’s certainly not a problem for Venus – the ‘two-faced’ cat who is the internet star du jour.


The feline’s face is perfectly divided in two – one half is jet black while the other is calico. And, as if this wasn’t enough, her eyes are different colours too – one is ice blue, the other is green.




Who you calling two-faced? Venus - with her face perfectly divided into two colours and with her different coloured eyes - is the internet star of the moment

Venus is known as a chimera cat because of her genetic composition and her different eye colours are caused by heterochromia.


Janus, the Roman god with two faces, would have perhaps been a more obvious deity to name the three-year-old cat after, even if she is a female.


Venus has several YouTube videos which have been seen about 154,000 times with thousands clicking the 'like' button.








Seriously sweet: Venus has attracted world-wide fame thanks to her striking appearance


Unsurprisingly, Venus now has her own Facebook page too where she has attracted more than 22,000 fans.


However, Venus is learning that world-wide fame has its downsides too as she has been unfavourably likened to Harvey Dent, Batman’s nemesis Two-Face.


Venus’ proud owner describes her lovingly as a ‘gentle’ and ‘perfect’ pet with a deceptively big appetite.


‘As tiny as she is she likes to pick the giant pieces of food from the dog food bowl rather than eat her cat food,’ the owner writes on Venus’ Facebook page.


Credit :  http://www.dailymail.co.uk 

Hormone therapy use among women continues to drop

Years after a large study on hormone replacement therapy revealed health risks among older women using it to prevent chronic disease, the number of women who take hormones continues to decline, according to a new study.

The researchers found that in 2009 and 2010, less than five percent of women over age 40, who had already gone through menopause, use either estrogen alone or estrogen and progestin. That compared to about 22 percent in 1999 and 2000.

Dr. JoAnn Manson, a leader of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) research and a professor at Harvard Medical School, said it was appropriate that there was a decline in the number of women using hormones.

The WHI reported in 2002 that taking estrogen plus progestin appeared to increase the risks of stroke, heart disease and breast cancer.

"We now understand that women more distant from the onset menopause and at increased risk of cardiovascular disease have adverse outcomes on hormone therapy and that hormone therapy should not be used for prevention of heart disease or prevention of chronic disease because it is associated with some risks," Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, told Reuters Health.

The latest report, which included survey responses from more than 10,000 women, shows a steady drop and supports the results from other studies assessing the short-term impacts of the WHI.

Brian Sprague, the lead author of the current study and a professor at the University of Vermont, and his colleagues found that as the years progressed, fewer and fewer women reported taking hormones.

"From this study we have no way of teasing out what's driving these changes," Sprague said, adding that it's likely due to concerns from both women and their physicians about the health risks of taking hormones.

AN OVERREACTION?

The increased breast cancer risk from hormone therapy was a major driver in turning people away from hormone therapy, said Dr. Robert Langer, a research member of the WHI and currently the principal investigator at the Jackson Hole Center for Preventive Medicine in Jackson, Wyoming.

"I think it's a really substantial overreaction" to the harms that were found in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study, Langer told Reuters Health.

The WHI found that eight additional women out of every 10,000 would get breast cancer, an increased risk of 26 percent.

But he said those results applied to older women taking hormones to prevent chronic disease, not necessarily to younger women seeking relief from menopausal symptoms.

"The pendulum may have swung too far in the direction away from hormone therapy use," Manson said.

Hormones are considered the most effective treatment for moderate and severe symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes and night sweats.

For those women who use hormones, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends they be at the lowest dose and for the shortest amount of time.

Manson said it's possible that concerns over the health risks of hormone therapy may be preventing women from getting relief from symptoms.

"In a younger woman who has hot flashes, night sweats, and impaired quality of life, it is very likely that the benefits of short term hormone therapy will outweigh the risks," she said.

She advises any woman seeking relief for menopause symptoms to discuss her individual risks and benefits of hormone therapy with a doctor.

After the initial findings in 2002, subsequent studies - both from WHI data and other trials - have tried to clarify the health risks of hormone therapy for different age groups.

For younger women closer to menopause, for instance, some studies have found an increased risk of breast cancer while others have found a lower risk of heart disease and death compared to women not taking hormones.

Manson is part of an ongoing trial looking at the effects of hormone therapy on heart disease risk for women ages 42 to 58 - a younger age group on average than the WHI.

Another ongoing study is comparing the heart disease risks among women who begin taking hormone therapy soon after menopause or more than a decade later.
Credit: Reutor

CNN Camerawoman Hit With Nuts At RNC Convention In Tampa

In Tampa on Tuesday a person attending the RNC convention at the St. Pete Times Forum was thrown out of the event for throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman. The person throwing the nuts was heard yelling,”this is how we feed the animals.”
“CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum earlier this afternoon,” the statement read. “CNN worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment.”

Listen everybody, here at wqyk we know that not everybody has the same opinion but we are all people, no one should be treated this way. We ask the listenrs of WQYK to be respectful to everybody.

Just Disgusting! Black CNN Camerawoman Had Peanuts Thrown At Her During RNC (DETAILS) Read more: http://globalgrind.com/news/republican-national-convention-attendee-allegedly-threw-nuts-black-cnn-camerawoman-details#ixzz24xg4bWZC

The GOP's ugly side revealed itself during the Republican National Convention last night, as an attendee in Tampa, Florida allegedly threw nuts at a black camerawoman working for CNN, taunting, “This is how we feed animals” before she was removed from the convention.

As reported by Talking Points Memo: 

The CNN official declined to confirm specific details of the incident but generally confirmed an account posted on Twitter by former MSNBC and Current anchor David Shuster: “GOP attendee ejected for throwing nuts at African American CNN camera woman + saying ‘This is how we feed animals.’”

It is not clear whether the alleged culprit was a delegate or attending the convention in some other capacity.

In a written statement, CNN addressed the matter but divulged few details: “CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum earlier this afternoon. CNN worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment.”

According to Politico however, RNC spokesperson Kyle Downey said: 

"Two attendees tonight exhibited deplorable behavior. Their conduct was inexcusable and unacceptable. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated."

It’s a sad fact that this has become the unsurprising behavior of the Republican Party in 2012.

Breast Cancer Drug Might Help Men on Prostate Cancer Therapy

Thebreast cancer drug tamoxifen may reduce some of the side effects caused by hormone therapy for prostate cancer, according to a new study.

Androgen-suppression therapy is often used to slow the progression of advanced prostate cancer. But these drugs, which block testosterone activity, can cause side effects such as breast enlargement and pain that may stop men from using this treatment.

German researchers examined the results of four independent clinical trialsthat examined the use of tamoxifen to manage these side effects in prostate cancer patients undergoing androgen-suppression therapy.

The study found that tamoxifen reduced the risk of breast enlargement and breast pain in men at three, six, nine and 12 months of treatment compared to men who did not take tamoxifen. Overall, tamoxifen was more successful in reducing breast symptoms than radiation therapy or treatment with the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole, which is also used to treat breast cancer.

Few of the men treated with tamoxifen stopped taking their medication during their year of treatment. Tamoxifen caused no significant side effects, according to the researchers.

The study appeared online Aug. 27 in the journal BMC Medicine.

"Not all men will suffer [breast enlargement] during anti-androgen therapy. However, if men know that there is a successful option for reducing the breast symptoms associated with treatment for prostate cancer, they may be more likely to see their doctor when symptoms of cancer first appear, and consequently reduce the number of unnecessary deaths," study leader Dr. Frank Kunath said in a journal news release.

Credit: medicine.net

In wake of Perry Hall shooting, Ray Rice speaks out against bullying

Ravens star Ray Rice took to Facebook in the wake of the shooting at Perry Hall High School to speak out against bullying and urge kids to befriend the lonely.

Saying he was "pretty much moved to tears" by news of the shooting on the first day of school, Rice wrote at length, urging kids to be nice to one another.



"I am speechless and pretty much moved to tears," Rice wrote. "How is it that there is such a lack of SIMPLE HUMAN DECENCY AND KINDNESS toward one another? How does bullying reach THIS level?? Some people might think that bullying is only between two people and bystanders are not affected. Well that is crap! EVERYONE is affected. I am affected, YOU are affected. TWO lives have been hurt now...the shooter and the victim. RIDICULOUS! I can't possibly yell it loud enough or say it often enough - BE KIND TO EACH OTHER!"


Bullying is a meaningful topic for Rice. In June he spoke to thousands of people about it at Merriweather Post Pavilion, part of his "A Ray of Hope: A Pro-Kindness, Anti-Bullying, Teen Suicide Prevention Outreach."

On Facebook, he told young people they could be a "hero" by being nice to someone who needs a friend.

"What if this kid had a friend to talk to???" He wrote. "The outcome may have been SO different."

He continued: "Students...today when you go to school...Sit with someone who is alone at the lunch table, befriend the new kid in class, lend a helping hand, make it a point to be kind, and if you see something that is not quite right, say something!! You can be a HERO to someone, just by being their FRIEND!"

Rice also urged people to be more aware, looking for young people who might be in distress.

"Bullying or not, how does nobody notice that something is going wrong in the kid's life? How do people stand by and do nothing?" he wrote. "We need to start saying 'what's wrong?' and do something about it before tragedy strikes! I can't help but wonder if someone was kind to these kids if their paths would have shifted long ago and tragedies would be averted. Just makes me think...and wonder...and hope for better things."

credit "baltimoresun.com"