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Posted Dec 20, 2005A 36-year-old slacker video game nut has to move in with his grandmother and her roommates, but he tells all his friends he's living with 'hot babes.'
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Story of the Day-Fire Burns at Old Executive Office Building
Fire at Executive Office Building Washington
The Old Executive Office Building (OEOB), now officially known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building (and formerly as the State, War, and Navy Building) is a federal office building next to the White House, on 17th Street, N.W., between Pennsylvania Avenue and New York Avenue, in Washington, D.C.
According to the National Register of Historic Places, the Old Executive Office Building, a National Historic Landmark, was built between 1871 and 1888. Designed by Alfred B. Mullett, Supervising Architect, in the French Second Empire-style, the building housed the Departments of State, War, and Navy. Much of the interior was designed by Richard von Ezdorf using fireproof cast-iron structural and decorative elements. The building gradually became seen as inefficient and was nearly demolished in 1957. Since 1981, major renovations have been performed, including the development of a comprehensive preservation program and the formulation of a master plan for the building's continued adaptive use. The building continues to house various agencies that compose the President's Executive Office, such as the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Council. However, its predominant purpose is that of the Vice President's Ceremonial Office, used mainly for special meetings and press conferences.[1]
Many celebrated national figures have participated in the historical events that have taken place within the Old Executive Office Building's granite walls. Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush all had offices in this building before becoming President. It has housed 16 Secretaries of the Navy, 21 Secretaries of War, and 24 Secretaries of State. Winston Churchill once walked its corridors and Japanese emissaries met there with Secretary of State Cordell Hull after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. President Herbert Hoover occupied the Secretary of the Navy's office for a few months following a fire in the Oval Office on Christmas Eve, 1929. In recent history, Richard Nixon had a private office there during his presidency. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was the first in a succession of Vice Presidents to the present day that have had offices in the building. A small fire on December 19, 2007 damaged the offices of the vice-president.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Executive_Office_Building
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/eeobtour/
Executive Building - Cheney's office fire
Fire Breaks Out at Eisenhower Executive Office Building Near White House
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317438,00.html
WASHINGTON — Thick smoke hovered over the nation's capitol Wednesday after a fire broke out on the White House compound in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The blaze started at about 9:30 a.m. near the ceremonial office of Vice President Dick Cheney on the second floor of the building. The vice president was across the street in his office in the West Wing of the White House at the time.
The Secret Service is disputing reports that they kept firefighters from entering the building, saying that they allowed access to firefighters but the agency maintained security.
Click here for more from MyFoxDC.com.
Cheney's ceremonial offices suffered massive water and smoke damage, and another staff member's office was damaged by fire. No one was hurt in the blaze.
Secret Service spokesman Darrin Blackford said the building was evacuated as a precaution. District of Columbia firefighters poured water on the flames and moved furniture from the building onto a balcony.
Secret Service spokesman Darrin Blackford said the Old Executive Office building was evacuated as a precaution. "Everyone has been evacuated safely," White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said. District of Columbia firefighters poured water on the blaze and moved furniture onto a balcony.
The Executive Office Building, a commanding structure with a granite, slate and cast iron exterior at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street, houses the Office of Management and Budget and staff of the National Security Council and other agencies.
Originally built for the State, War and Navy Departments between 1871 and 1888, the building was renamed in honor of President Dwight Eisenhower during the Clinton administration.
Fire breaks out near the White House
A Short History of White House Fires
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20071220/us_time/ashorthistoryofwhitehousefires;_ylt=Ahow8Ux_Ci8lfgA.hR6xWCGs0NUE
Putting aside the bizarre incidents - like the time an FBI informant set himself on fire in front of the White House in 2004 or the time a small plane crashed into the White House in 1994 - regular, workaday fires like the one that happened this morning in Vice President Dick Cheney's ceremonial suite at the Old Executive Office are not actually all that common on the White House grounds. Given the 27 wood-burning fireplaces, high volume of bureaucratic traffic and constant maintenance and refurbishing, it is not too bad a record.
In modern times, fires break out roughly two times every decade at the White House. The last real bonfire was way back in 1929 on Christmas Eve, when the West Wing was gutted by a massive conflagration. President Herbert Hoover had to leave his Christmas party to oversee the removal of important papers from the Oval Office. (But the Marine Band played on, and the First lady kept the party going.) The doozy, of course, was in 1814, when the invading Brits set the White House on fire. (Dolley Madison had to smuggle out the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington before the British troops got to the mansion.) Only the outside walls remained standing - and that was probably because of a timely thunderstorm that helped contain the fire. Scorch marks from that blaze are still apparent in some walls in the White House.
More recently, a small fire broke out on the exterior of the East Wing in 2000. That one started the way most White House fires start - as workers were painting or removing paint or otherwise refurbishing some corner of the place. In 1995, a tour bus burst into flames on Pennsylvania Avenue, across from the White House. The heat peeled the paint at Blair House, the presidential guesthouse. In the 1980s, there was a string of fire and smoke incidents under President Ronald Reagan, including one in the mess. But none did much damage.
Why haven't there been more fires at the White House? A serious fire detection system was installed in 1965. And it's very sensitive. When a sensor detects smoke, a warning goes off in the Secret Service's control center in the White House. The D.C. Fire Department is quickly called, and at least five engines and two ladder trucks respond from any one of several surrounding stations.(A unit is on hand anytime a helicopter takes off or lands at the White House.)
The response is slowed - slightly - by the Secret Service, which checks the ID of all the firefighters and then escorts them to the smoke. But the two organizations have fairly good relations these days, and the delay is usually only a minute or two. The best fire prevention system, though, is probably the security - and the workaholics. "If you had somebody walking through your house every floor, every day, you wouldn't have any problems either," says Walter Gold, executive director of the DC Fire Department Museum who responded in his volunteer capacity to the fire at the White House today. "It wasn't much of a fire," he says.
Fire out at building next to White House
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/19/eob.fire/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Firefighters quickly doused a two-alarm fire Wednesday in the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which houses the vice president's ceremonial offices and the majority of the White House staff.
Firefighting crews used axes to break windows on the third floor of the ornate building shortly after the two-alarm blaze broke out after 9 a.m.
The fire started near the vice presidential offices, CNN's Kathleen Koch reported.
At its peak, heavy black smoke streamed from the building. Video Watch smoke pouring from building »
Within an hour, smoke had stopped pouring from the building and was replaced by a fine mist of water, which the firefighters used to ventilate the building until they could get fans set up.
Vice President Dick Cheney's working offices are in the West Wing of the White House, where he was at the time of the fire.
The White House is adjacent to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. See how close building is to the White House »
There were no reports of injuries from the blaze, which appeared to be confined to the third floor, said D.C. Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter. Etter said the blaze appeared to have started in an electrical closet or a telephone bank.
"We have this under control," he said, adding that the building was evacuated.
The Secret Service and a number of other agencies were on scene, as were 15 fire trucks.
The building houses nearly all of the White House staff, including White House speechwriters, White House communications, senior staff from the Office of Management and Budget and the National Security Council.
It was constructed between 1871 and 1888 and has been undergoing renovations. Also called the Old Executive Office Building, the massive structure was originally built for the State, War and Navy Departments and is an example of the French Second Empire style of architecture, according to a government Web site.
The building is the site of a number of events, including ceremonial signings, news conferences and photo opportunities.
It was designed by Alfred Mullett, the supervising architect of the Treasury Department, and its exterior is composed of granite, slate and cast iron.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Story of the Day-Disease Turning Black TV Anchor White
Vitiligo (pronounced /ˈvɪdlˈaɪgoʊ/) or leukoderma is a chronic skin condition that causes loss of pigment, resulting in irregular pale patches of skin. The precise cause of vitiligo is complex and not fully understood. There is some evidence suggesting it is caused by a combination of auto-immune, genetic, and environmental factors. The population incidence worldwide is considered to be between 1% and 2% (0.74% in the United States).[1]
According to Diseases Database: "A disorder consisting of areas of macular depigmentation, commonly on extensor aspects of extremities, on the face or neck, and in skin folds. Age of onset is often in young adulthood and the condition tends to progress gradually with lesions enlarging and extending until a quiescent state is reached."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo
vitiligo news, vitiligo success stories, vitiligo information ...
http://vitiligocover.com/
Frequently Asked Questions About Vitiligo
http://www.vitiligosupport.org/faq.cfm
`I was still brown on the inside'
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/lifestyle/health_and_beauty/health_and_beauty_feature/s/1024944_i_was_still_brown_on_the_inside
WHAT if you were born into one race and found that because of a medical condition your skin colour changed and identified you with another?
That is one of the questions tackled dramatically by Manchester writer and performer, Rani Moorthy in her new one woman show, Shades of Brown.
The play, at The Library theatre this week, examines issues of skin colour seen through the eyes of three women, one of whom has the skin condition vitiligo.
The story was inspired by the real life experience of Sarojini Ariyanayagam, who began to lose her skin pigmentation due to vitiligo at the age of 12.
Now living in the US, Sarojini, who founded the Vitiligo Society, travelled the world for a cure to no avail. Eventually there was so little of her original colouring left she underwent a de-pigmentation treatment to make her completely white and virtually unrecognisable from the person she once was.
"I was struck by the idea that a Tamil woman, who lived in Britain, who was as brown as I was, could suddenly lose that colour. There came a point where she couldn't camouflage anymore. She realised she couldn't continue being a patch and in order to be whole she had to live as a white person," says Rani.
"It's being brown on the inside and white on the outside. It's very different to other skin disorders. There's no sense of a disease the way we associate with an illness. But what gets eroded is your sense of identity.
"My character is an Asian scientist - but when the science doesn't really help she's just got to deal with what's left. It's very emotional but I don't present her as a victim. She's courageous, she's got to make a decision that perhaps no-one in the audience has had to - what tribe she belongs to?"
Michael Jackson is the most famous sufferer of vitiligo. His extensive plastic surgery has left some sceptical about his condition and he's faced much criticism for rejection of his black identity because of his lightened skin colour. However, Jackson insists the lightening of his skin is due to vitiligo.
Both Jackson's and Sarojini's cases are extreme. However, to much lesser degrees the condition is fairly common, affecting about one in 100 people.
Dr Paul Griffiths, dermatologist at Octopus Health in Manchester city centre, explains: "You can get it on the whole of your skin, but that's not common.
"It's completely unpredictable, but if it's a small area that's been that way for some time then it's probably reasonable to presume that it's not going to develop dramatically."
Vitiligo isn't infectious and doesn't cause symptoms such as an itching or pain associated with other skin conditions. There is no effect on general health, although someone with vitiligo has to take extra care in the sun. Sunscreen of at least factor 20 is needed on the affected areas because the melanocyte cells, which produce melanin (skin pigment), are not active in these patches and don't provide any natural protection from the sun.
It's not clear what causes vitiligo although it is believed to have a genetic link. It is also thought to be an auto-immune condition, because it's sometimes linked to diabetes, thyroid disease and alopecia.
"There are probably many people with vitiligo who never visit their doctor," says Dr Griffiths. "But you should let a professional have a look at it because there are other medical reasons for loss of pigment. Using a special light we can see areas that aren't pigmented to make it easier to show the extent of the problem. The patient might also need to have some blood tests taken, just to make sure they haven't got any of the other auto-immune conditions sometimes associated with vitiligo such as diabetes and thyroid disease."
Treatments to restore pigmentation have variable success. The traditional treatment is steroid cream, which works in about 10-15 per cent of cases.
Tacrolimus, a cream recently licensed for eczema, is showing clinical evidence that it also helps with vitiligo but is not licensed for this yet.
"It's not easy to treat," Dr Griffiths adds. "It's more common on face, hands and feet, so sometimes you don't need to have the treatment all over.
"PUVA - involves taking a tablet that makes your skin sensitive to ultraviolet light. You then go into an ultraviolet light cabinet at the hospital a couple of times a week for the course of the treatment. This will improve maybe 50% of people.
"If the problem doesn't get better then you can either de-pigment the normal skin that's left or use a camouflage service run by the British Red Cross, which has a range of medical preparations to match to a person's skin type and hide the vitiligo."
'Nobody knows what causes it'
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/lifestyle/health_and_beauty/health_and_beauty_feature/s/1024943_nobody_knows_what_causes_it
VITILIGO, although more noticeable on more highly pigmented skins, affects men and women of all races.
Jane Murphy, 38 from Chorlton, first noticed changes on her knees when she was 11, but it was another 14 years before she received a diagnosis of vitiligo.
"It was just a couple of small patches that didn't go brown when I tanned. I didn't really know what it was - most people with vitiligo don't."
Jane first visited a doctor about the complaint 10 years later when it began to spread to her face and other areas of her body but it was another four years before she finally got a diagnosis.
"It took ages to get a name put to it. Nobody really knows what causes it even now - it's all a bit of a mystery really."
Jane doesn't have any associated auto-immune conditions, although there are genetic links. Her mum developed vitiligo when she was pregnant which later cleared during the menopause. Her granddad also had vitiligo.
"There doesn't seem to be anything that definitely helps," Jane adds. "I was sent to the Red Cross camouflage service and they were really helpful.
"If I don't wear make-up on my face then I'm quite conscious of it, but it doesn't really bother me.
"I suppose I'm fortunate in that I'm quite pale skinned anyway.
"Some people ask me what it is, but you've just got to get things in perspective.
"I avoid getting a tan. I should really wear sun block all year round. If I don't, I regret it because I just look very odd - there is absolutely no protection and I go bright red in patches."
Disease Turning Black TV Anchor White
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/disease-turning-black-tv-anchor-white/20071218140309990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
Lee Thomas' skin is betraying him.
His once brown, even complexion is now mottled with pale patches around his eyes and mouth, along his nose and on his ears; his arms, shoulders and chest are speckled and blotched.
"I'm a black man turning white on television and people can see it," says Thomas, an anchor and entertainment reporter for the local Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate. "If you've watched me over the years, you've seen my hands completely change from brown to white."
Thomas has vitiligo, a disorder in which pigment-making cells are destroyed. White patches appear on different parts of the body, tissues in the mouth and nose, and the retina.
"There is no cause. There is no cure, and it's very random," Thomas says. "I could turn all the way white or mostly white."
As many as 65 million people worldwide have the disorder, including up to 2 million in the United States.
Few people, outside medical professionals and those with the disease, had heard the term "vitiligo" until Michael Jackson revealed in the early 1990s that the disorder was behind his skin turning brown to white.
It's not fatal, but experts say vitiligo robs people of self-confidence, evokes ridicule and unpleasant stares, and pushes some into unforced seclusion.
The 40-year-old Thomas says that's not where the disorder needs to be. He openly talks about vitiligo and how it has affected his life and career, and has written a book about his journey titled "Turning White: A Memoir of Change." Along the way, Thomas says he's met others with the disorder and has become a celebrity spokesman for the Columbus, Ohio-based National Vitiligo Foundation.
Vitiligo attacks the soul and psyche, foundation executive director Robert Haas says.
"When was the last time you saw someone with vitiligo handling your food? It is the public's image that it is some leprosy-type of disease," he says. "A lot of folks feel this disease has trapped them and kept them away from their life goals."
That was Thomas' fear.
He uses a combination of creams and makeup to cover the growing patches of skin — which he calls devoid of color — on his face, hands and arms. Viewers, co-workers and, for years, his basketball buddies, were none the wiser.
Only family members and those closest to him knew the secret he had kept since age 25.
Thomas first noticed a change after getting a haircut while working in Louisville, Ky. He looked in a mirror and thought the barber had nicked him. A closer look revealed a pale spot, about the size of a quarter.
"I got two more on the other side of my scalp, on my hand and one in the corner of my mouth," he recalls in an interview from the station's studio. "That's when I went to the doctor and got diagnosed."
He didn't let it slow down his blossoming career. From Louisville, he soon landed at WABC in New York for three years beginning in 1994. After a short freelancing stint in Los Angeles, Thomas found his way to WJBK in Detroit in 1997. He has carved a niche in the Motor City market with his quirky, upbeat and humorous reporting style; his confidence, constant smile and positive air on the set mirrors his demeanor off the set as well.
Even though Thomas uses makeup to conceal his skin discoloration, he realized the vitiligo was becoming more obvious when he couldn't hide it from a preschooler during a story about a playground. His two-toned hands frightened the girl, who began to cry.
"I thought my career was over," says the Emmy award winner who routinely travels to Hollywood for one-on-one interviews with celebrities including Will Smith, Tom Cruise and Halle Berry.
So he gathered himself one day and approached the station's news director, prepared to walk away from television.
"She said, 'Let's just see what happens,'" Thomas recalls. "As it got worse, she kept encouraging me to tell my story."
Dana Hahn, WJBK's vice president of news, says the station was concerned about Thomas possibly leaving because of the condition.
"Lee is also a friend and we wanted to help," she says. "He had covered it up so well, we really didn't realize the impact it was having or how far it had spread."
Thomas finally agreed to tell his story on television in November 2005.
After the first segment on Thomas' vitiligo aired, Hahn says he took a leave of absence and missed the initial response from viewers.
"I received 40 to 50 e-mails a day the entire time he was gone," Hahn says. "So many people found support and encouragement in his story. I've never seen the kind of response to any story in my 12 years at Fox 2."
At the time, Thomas was already writing his book.
"As all those things happened, the tone of the book changed," he says. "I was writing for all those people who were afraid to come outside."
Dr. Sancy Leachman, associate professor of dermatology at the University of Utah, calls vitiligo stigmatizing, driving some to even consider suicide.
"They feel people are looking at them all of the time," she says. "They are very self-conscious about people staring at them in the grocery line. It can be a very demoralizing condition."
Thomas acknowledges he even preferred the security of solitude to the awkward stares of strangers when not wearing his makeup.
"There were times when I would not come out of the house," he says. "I call it a mental war. It was me saying, 'I don't want to deal with it today.' I never stayed in for very long. I know people who stay in now for months at a time."
When he's out socially now, Thomas forgoes the makeup he wears on camera.
He met his girlfriend of seven months, Karen Tate, at a vegetarian restaurant they both enjoy. She said when they're out together, she notices some people staring and making muffled comments about his appearance.
"He doesn't say anything," Tate, 28, says. "It doesn't really bother me. Some people are just rude."
She says she sees past what some people can't. "He just has a very free spirit. He is just a very nice guy. He opens up completely in his book. It is something he really wanted to do."
Surprisingly, Thomas gives vitiligo some credit.
"Having this disease forces me to focus on what I am: kind, caring, honest," he says. "There are people who have diseases that will kill them."
The Michael Jackson Syndrome: Vitiligo -1993
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