Ever Seen a Cat with Thumbs?

Our new kitty, Diablo, has thumbs!

We'd noticed how huge his feet looked..... now that he's adopted us as his parents, we got a closer look.... this guy has thumbs!  (he's one of the nicest little boys that I've ever had!)
Polydactyl Cats wikepedia
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More Fun at the Beach

 We recently spent some time at the condo.  This time, it wasn't all play.  Our microwave had broken,  so we headed to Best Buy for a new one.

This was Dom's first attempt at installing an "over the range" microwave.  Of course, the mounting bracket from the old microwave wasn't compatible.  After a little bit of cussing and some borrowed tools, he put the little beauty up.  That boy can do anything!

Met our Donn and Linda for dinner at Dee's.  Had a wonderful visit. Great food and great friends!

Our bar across the street, Beach Bar and Package, is doing some serious remodeling.  Knocking out walls, put in a draft beer system, new paint and new furniture.  It's looking GREAT!

New Pills Gain In Cancer Fight, Till Cost Gets In Way

Feb. 26--For a decade, Jim Holt had beaten back multiple myeloma using every weapon in the arsenal:

Surgery to remove a baseball-size tumor from his head. A stem cell transplant at Duke University. Chemotherapy, multiple times.

When lab work showed the blood cancer's levels creeping up again in 2008, his doctor suggested a new oral chemotherapy drug called Revlimid.

The cost was a jaw-dropper: $8,000 a month.

Jump Here

Kruger said that particularly during the past five years, research has led to oral meds that stem cancer growth. They're turning cancers into chronic diseases that can be managed for years through medication.

If more patients could afford the oral meds, Kruger said, it would reduce hospital costs as well as the amount of time patients lose from work. He said each of the group's 12 practices has one employee whose sole job is to link patients who can't afford their oral meds with organizations that can help them.

Virginia's bill, if passed and signed by the governor, would provide more coverage for oral meds through private insurance plans and state health insurance. Some states have passed stronger legislation that require the coverage to be equal, while Virginia's bill would simply bring coverage of oral meds more in line with that of IV chemo.

Parity bills are important to people with multiple myeloma because they often use several methods to combat it, according to Meghan Buzby, who works for theInternational Myeloma Foundation.

In some cases, IV chemo will work for a while but then stops being effective. At that point, an oral medication is usually critical in fighting the cancer.

"When one method stops working, they need to go back into the toolbox," Buzby said.

BP faces billions in fines as trial for 2010 oil spill nears

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20043946

 What makes this trial so good for plaintiffs -- and a nightmare for BP, Halliburton and Transocean -- is that the spill was a chronicle of corporate failures. Federal investigators have concluded cost-cutting by BP and shoddy work by all three companies caused the blowout.

"It's the perfect case for plaintiffs' lawyers," said Blaine LeCesne, a tort law specialist at Loyola University New Orleans who's analyzed the case. "They have everything to gain by going to trial."

While the settlement haggling stretches through the weekend, the hundreds of lawyers who have come to New Orleans are primed for battle.

Garret Graves, an aide to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and a member of a federal and state council assessing damage from the spill, was adamant that any last-minute settlement in the price range of $20 billion would let BP off too easily.

"We're not going to sell short the citizens and we're not going to let BP walk away," Graves said.

Monsanto settles 'Agent Orange' case with US victims

Long-running suit claimed residents of Nitro, West Virginia were exposed to the carcinogenic Vietnam-era chemical weapon.

Chemicals giant Monsanto has reached a settlement with US residents who claimed they were poisoned by chemicals used in the manufacturing of the Vietnam-era chemical weapon Agent Orange.

The long-running suit was brought by residents living near a now-defunct Monsanto plant in Nitro, West Virginia that between 1949 and 1971 produced the agricultural herbicide 2,4,5 trichlorophenoxyacidic acid, a key ingredient in Agent Orange.

The weapon was used extensively during the Vietnam war, killing and maiming an estimated 400,000 people and leading to 500,000 birth defects. In 2005 a US court rejected a case brought by Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange.

The suit – filed on behalf of tens of thousands of people who lived, worked and went to school in Nitro after 1949 – claimed Monsanto spread toxic substances including dioxins, which have been linked to cancer, all over the town.

The plaintiffs say they were exposed to levels of dioxins 100,000 times higher than acceptable levels. "Dioxin is a known human carcinogen and is so hazardous to human health that no "safe" level of exposure has been established," the suit claimed.

As part of the settlement, the chemicals firm has set up a 30-year medical monitoring programme. Thousands of people who lived or worked in the Nitro area during the time period covered by the lawsuit will be eligible to apply for benefits. The company said that a $21m fund has been set up to pay for medical testing with a further $63m available over the 30-year life of the screening programme.

In addition Monsanto agreed to pay $9m for the professional cleaning of eligible homes in the Nitro area. The company also agreed to the Nitro residents' court-approved legal fees and litigation costs.

The settlement made no findings of wrongdoing against Monsanto.

Scott Partridge, Monsanto's vice president, said: "These settlements ensure that both individual and community concerns are addressed, and services are made available for the people of Nitro. We are pleased to resolve this matter and end any concerns about historic operations at the Nitro plant."

Nitro has a long history with warfare manufacturing. The town was given its explosive name when it was created in 1917 to service one of the US's main ammunition plants.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/24/monsanto-agent-orange-west-virginia?cat=environment&type=article

Agent Orange was the cause of Dominic's cancer