Illinois 3rd in death-reporting errors

When it comes to living folks being reported as dead in the Social Security Administration's Death Master File, Illinois has the third-highest error rate in the country, with 13.2 mistakes per 100,000 people, according to a Scripps Howard News Service report. Only the District of Columbia (17.9) and Louisiana (15.0) make mistakes more often.

In 2007, 461 Illinois residents erroneously were declared dead; in 2008, another 1,675 joined them.

Doug Nguyen, deputy regional communications director for the Social Security Administration in Chicago, said the high rate of mistakes here is because Illinois is not among the 30 states involved in Electronic Death …

Suicidal Behaviours Among Polish Youth in Light of the Following Papers: Suicidal Behaviour in Children and Adolescents. Parts 1 and 2/REPLY

Dear Editor:

It appears from the literature reviews by Dr Margaret M Steele and Dr Tamison Doey1'2 that, both in America and in Europe, a broad definition of attempted suicide (AS) prevails, interchangeably replaced by deliberate self-harm (DSH), which is not, however, informative as to whether any suicidal intentions are associated with a self-harm action.3 Polish studies4 suggest that psychiatric patients with multiple DSH incidents without suicidal intentions differ from AS patients, for example, by personality profiles and emotional intelligence levels, what prompts an immediate assumption that differentiation between these 2 groups of patients is of therapeutic …

Unknown problem interrupts Mars lander's task

The first sample of Martian dirt dumped onto the opening of the Phoenix lander's tiny testing oven failed to reach the instrument and scientists said Saturday they will devote a few days to trying to determine the cause.

Photos released by the University of Arizona team overseeing the mission showed a scoopful of dirt sitting on and around the open oven door after being dumped by the craft's 8-foot robot arm. But none of it made it past a screen and into the tiny chamber, one of eight on the craft designed to heat soil and test gasses for signs of water or organic compounds that could be building blocks for life.

Nothing seems to be wrong with the dirt delivery …

[ TECH BRIEFS ]

Agilent to sell chip unit

Agilent Technologies said it will sell its chip unit to two buyoutfirms for $2.66 billion, as well as sell and spin off other assetsand cut 1,300 jobs as part of a restructuring program. The maker ofelectronic test and measurement products plans to use proceeds fromthe deals for a $4 billion share repurchase program. Kohlberg KravisRoberts & Co. and Silver Lake Partners said their purchase ofAgilent's chip business will create the world's largest privatelyheld independent semiconductor company. The companies said they areequal partners in the venture. Shares of Agilent soared 14.8 percent,up $3.92, to $30.33. Agilent was spun off from …

Vietnam War hero was Mississippi Civil Rights Activist

Vietnam War hero was Mississippi Civil Rights Activist

The late Milton Lee Olive III, who, at 18, was the first Black to be awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War, preferred to work as a Mississippi civil rights activist but was forced to return to Chicago where he later joined the Army, his cousin revealed Sunday.

Dr. Barbara Penelton, professor and chair of the Teacher Education Department at Bradley University, broke her silence about young Olive, fondly nicknamed "Skipper" by his family and friends.

An educator for 29 years, Penelton said what her cousin wanted more than anything was to fight for voter rights for his people--becoming a …

Frankel aims to live up to hype at Ascot

LONDON (AP) — Named after one of America's greatest racehorse trainers and sired by champion thoroughbred Galileo, Frankel was always destined for big things.

Few, though, could have predicted how great the horse would turn out to be.

The unbeaten 3-year-old colt has captivated the public's imagination in Britain and worldwide with a breakthrough year in 2011, establishing himself as one of the best horses of his or any generation.

The world's top-ranked flat-racing horse will look to live up to his reputation by winning his ninth straight race Saturday — the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at the inaugural British Champions Day at Ascot.

"Even when you are rating …

Some examples of Internet `hijackings'

Some instances of Internet outages caused by hijacked traffic, as listed by the Department of Homeland Security and other sources:

April 1997: MAI Network Services, an Internet service provider in Virginia, passes bad routing information to Sprint, which relays it, causing widespread outages.

April 1998: An Israeli ISP causes widespread outages.

December 1999: AT&T's server network is hijacked by another ISP.

May 2000: Sprint addresses hijacked by another ISP.

April 2001: Global Internet carrier Flag Telecom hijacks …