Signs of Depression

Depression varies from person to person, but there are some common signs and symptoms. It’s important to remember that these symptoms can be part of life’s normal lows. But the more symptoms you have, the stronger they are, and the longer they’ve lasted—the more likely it is that you’re dealing with depression.


you feel hopeless and helpless
you can’t control your negative thoughts, no matter how much you try
you have lost your appetite or you can’t stop eating
you are much more irritable, short-tempered, or aggressive than usual
difficulty concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions
fatigue and decreased energy
feelings of guilt
feelings of  pessimism
insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or excessive sleeping
irritability, restlessness
loss of interest in activities or hobbies once pleasurable, including sex
persistent aches or pains, headaches, cramps, or digestive problems that do not ease even with treatment
persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" feelings
thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts

Glass home in Tokyo, Japan

Privacy is lacking in this Tokyo glass home - Yahoo! Real Estate: "In a connected world where privacy is a valued, but diminishing part of daily life, home remains a reliable refuge. But here’s one home that intentionally strips away even that illusion for its inhabitants. In this nearly transparent Tokyo home, known as House NA, outsiders can see everything and everyone inside.

Tucked into a quiet residential neighborhood, this three-story, 914 square-foot home was created by an award winning Tokyo architect named Sou Fujimoto. His unusual design, with high glass walls and varying sized modular tables, contains 21 “floor plates” for residents and guests to sit, work, cook, eat, sleep, or play. Some of the floor plates are heated to provide comfort in the winter."

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Mexico drug wars: 49 headless, dismembered bodies found dumped along highway | The Lookout - Yahoo! News

Mexico drug wars: 49 headless, dismembered bodies found dumped along highway | The Lookout - Yahoo! News: "Forty-nine headless, dismembered bodies were found along a stretch of highway in Mexico on Sunday" The mutilated bodies "scattered in a pool of blood"—some with their hands and feet "hacked off," according to the Associated Press—were discovered by local authorities on the edge of the town of San Juan on a road that connects Monterrey to the Texas border.
The bodies were thought to have been dumped there by a drug cartel, authorities said. A welcome sign near the killing field was filled with graffiti with the message, "100% Zeta."
Zetas is one of the two largest drug cartels in Mexico. The other is the Sinaloa Cartel.
This is not an attack against the civilian population."
But the escalating violence between the two cartels has resulted in a recent rash of symbolic slayings.
On April 17, according to the AP, mutilated bodies of 14 men were left in a minivan in downtown Nuevo Laredo. On May 5, the bodies of 23 people were found, some hanging from a bridge and others decapitated and dumped near city hall. On May 9, 18 dismembered bodies were discovered outside Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city.

Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey are considered Zetas territory, while Guadalajara has been controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel.
In September, a Sinaloa drug gang dumped 35 bodies in Veracruz, Mexico. In August, a Zetas attack on a Monterrey casino left 52 dead.
Domene said Sunday's victims—43 men and 6 women—would be hard to identify because of "the lack of heads, hands and feet."
Since 2006, when Mexico's President Felipe Calderon announced a crackdown on cartels, more than 47,500 people have been killed in drug-related violence.

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College Interest Set to Double

 With federal student loan interest rates set to double July 1, the Senate failed Tuesday to get enough votes to take up a bill to extend low 3.4% rates for another year.

The vote was 52-45 to take up the bill, 8 fewer than the 60 needed to officially start debating the bill. Senate Republicans and Democrats are still negotiating a compromise, and the Senate could vote again this week.

In Washington, many lawmakers in both parties agree they'd like to extend the current 3.4% rates for another year. What they don't agree on is how to offset the $6 billion it would cost to do so, a substantial hurdle..............

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Obama supports same sex marrige

Obama announces he supports same-sex marriage - CNN.com: President Barack Obama said Wednesday he supports same-sex marriage, raising the political stakes on an issue over which Americans are evenly split.Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who on Wednesday said during an appearance in Oklahoma, "I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman."Obama said in an interview with ABC News, "At a certain point I've just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."

Obama once opposed such marriages. He later indicated his views were "evolving."

"I had hesitated on gay marriage, in part, because I thought civil unions would be sufficient," the president said. "I was sensitive to the fact that -- for a lot of people -- that the word marriage is something that provokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs." Obama was "disappointed" by Tuesday's vote on the issue in North Carolina, which he described as discriminatory against gays and lesbians, a spokesman said earlier Wednesday.

North Carolina voted to implement a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, which was already prohibited by state law. Supporters of the measure pushed for the constitutional amendment, arguing that it was needed to ward off future legal challenges.




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Vanessa Williams' Memoir

Vanessa Williams, the singer, actress,and beauty queen, previously starred in movies such as Eraser (1996), Soul Food (1997), and Johnson Family Vacation (2004) has written along with her mother a memoir entitled You Have No Idea: A Famous Daughter, Her No-nonsense Mother, and How They Survived Pageants, Hollywood, Love, Loss (and Each Other). In this revealing memoir, Williams details her many youthful transgressions, from smoking marijuana -- and definitely inhaling -- to exactly what happened that summer when she posed for photos that would lead to her losing the Miss America title. Helen Williams sounds off about the challenges she and her husband had raising her strong-willed daughter. 

Aloha! Bobby Brown is Getting Married

Bobby Brown and his fiancée, Alicia Etheridge, have finally set a wedding date after 2 years of being engaged. It's the same weekend Brown's band New Edition will be performing in Honolulu. The nuptials will take place on the weekend of June 15th and Brown will be flying out some of his family and friends to the island, to witness the ceremony. They have been engaged since May 2010 and have one child together.