Rodeo is enjoying a big surge in popularity these days. Nearly every night you can find a bull riding competition on TV. A new study published in this month's
Sports Medicine Reports shows that serious rodeo injuries are both common and preventable, but many bull riders are nonetheless unwilling to wear protective head gear.
Reuters summarizes the study, saying:
A study of nearly 2,000 professional rodeo
events between 1981 and 2005 found that half of all injuries occurred
during bull riding. Knee and shoulder injuries are most common,
according to Downey, but "most alarming" are the head injuries.
Concussions account for nearly 9 percent of all bull riding injuries,
he notes.
Yet,
despite medical opinion that bull riders should wear protective head
gear, head gear is a rarity in rodeo, according to Downey. What's more,
outside of high school competitions, there is no requirement that
competitors who've sustained a concussion get medical clearance before
returning to the sport.
Other
typical rodeo injuries include finger amputations during calf roping,
sprains to the knee, shoulder or ankle, and chronic problems that
develop from such injuries. Riders are also at risk of being gored or
stomped after dismounting or being thrown from an animal.
Protective
vests have been found to lower the risk of rib fractures and
penetrating chest wounds, Downey points out, and rodeo competitors have
been fairly open to using them. Few are willing to use head gear,
however.
A 2002 analysis of professional rodeo injuries in Canada from 1995 to 1999 says bull riding accounted for
the greate
st injury frequency (141) and incidence density (32.2
injuries per 1,000 competitor-exposures).
The 'God-O-Meter': Tracking Presidential Candidates
Beliefnet has an interesting, constantly updated feature called the
"God-O-Meter," which keeps a "God count" -- that is, how many times presidential candidates mention God in their campaign rhetoric.
Senators Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., lead the pack. Obama's Web site just launched a
"People of Faith for Barack" section, which is enough for Obama to peg the God-o-Meter.
Beliefnet explains:
The God-o-Meter (pronounced Gah-DOM-meter) scientifically measures
factors such as rate of God-talk, effectiveness—saying God wants a
capital gains tax cut doesn't guarantee a high rating—and other
top-secret criteria. Click a candidate's head to get his or her latest
God-o-Meter reading and blog post. And check back often. With so much
happening on the campaign trail, God-o-Meter is constantly
recalibrating!
The No Pin Zone
The last time flag lapel pins made news was just before the ground war began in Afghanistan, only that was about whether
news anchors should wear flag pins on the air.
Now even the politicians can't decide whether to wear the pins. All this started, of course, with
Obama saying that wearing the flag pins has become a substitute for true patriotism and that he wouldn't be wearing one.
Click here to see a video of Obama saying this.
McCain, and senators Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John Edwards, D-N.C., also seldom wear flag lapel pins. Ike and JFK didn't either. Richard Nixon did.
Of course, this little spat does once again put TV anchors in an interesting position. If they wear a pin on the air now, does it mean they oppose Obama?
This whole flag pin thing sparks some deeply emotional reactions. A Missouri lawmaker
got so upset when a university TV station banned flag pins from anchor lapels that he threatened the station's state funding.
A year ago, Andy Rooney said this on "60 Minutes":
There's a silent little war going on in this country. It's between
people who wear the American flag in their buttonhole and people who do
not.
Every night on the evening news, you see people - politicians
mostly - being interviewed or giving speeches wearing a little metal
American flag. Are they suggesting they love America more than I do?
If a politician running for office has an opponent who wears a
flag, he usually thinks he has to wear one too. He's afraid people
might say he isn't as patriotic as his opponent is.
President Bush always wears an American flag. Would we think he was
un-American if he didn't? His father wore one sometimes, didn’t wear
one other times.
I think politicians wearing the American flag are a fairly new
phenomenon. Politicians weren't wearing them as much just a few years
ago not as much as they are now.
President Bush didn't wear one when he was governor of Texas. I
don't remember seeing Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy or Dwight
Eisenhower wearing one. We did come across a picture of Nixon in the
70’s wearing a flag. Maybe he started it.
I've always wondered if a politician, who wears a flag when the
cameras are rolling, wears one on Saturdays when he's home alone in his
old clothes. Or is he only patriotic in public.
E-mail-Free Fridays
Some businesses are kicking the e-mail habit one day a week.
Smile Recognition Cameras
The newest technology in personal cameras
can detect if a subject is smiling. If a person isn't smiling, the camera can wait and then snap when the subject smiles. Face recognition technology in these consumer-level cameras can tell what is a face and what isn't. It also makes sure the face is in focus. Amazing.
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Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
I was married to a bull rider. Many won't wear...
