City bites
A travel company recently selected some of the top Thanksgiving-related town names, leading off with Turkey, Texas.
Included on the list was our own Corn, OK.
The news release, compiled by TripAdvisor, describes Corn as follows:
Nearly an hour and a half due west of Oklahoma City, it is said that the town Corn originally received its name because the local post office was located in a corn field. Adding to its Thanksgiving status, Corn is known for its “Turkey Red” wheat, which the town has recognized with a milestone noting its historic first planting.
The list also highlights Cranberry, Penn., Pie Town, N.M., and Roll, Ariz.
There doesn’t appear to be a town named after my typical Thanksgiving Day meal memory. It would be called “Ohmigosh, I forgot to take the bread out of the oven!”
Burns Flat, perhaps?
Business Writer
Local hero
“Guess who died?”
The obits page jolted me this week with a dose of mortality. My first sports hero died. You’ve probably never heard of him, although a fair number of Oklahomans are familiar with the exploits of Evard Humphrey.
Evard was a stock car driver who won championships at Oklahoma City’s State Fair Speedway in 1964 and 1966. My father — a preacher, shade tree mechanic and auto racing enthusiast — began taking me to the races at the fairgrounds in 1967 after our family moved to Oklahoma. Daddy liked Evard, so naturally he also was my favorite driver.
I rooted for Evard every Friday night as long as he continued to race, first in his “sonic blue” car, and later in his “black magic” ride — both carrying his trademark No. 12.
Although I never shook his hand, I watched Evard in the pits and during his occasional visits to the stands. I thought he cut a dashing figure in his driving suit, and darned if the photos in The Oklahoman’s archive don’t back up those memories.
On the track, Evard was among the smoothest drivers. He took care of his equipment, was fast without being overly aggressive and generally avoided trouble (although I later learned that in his earlier days he didn’t mind mixing it up).
Like a lot of local kids, I was a big fan of the Dallas Cowboys, Oklahoma Sooners and St. Louis Cardinals, but if you had asked me which of my rooting interests I most wanted to win a championship, I would have nominated Evard.
Evard’s career wound down about the time that my adolescence and my father’s death caused my interest in attending the stock car races to wane.
Forty years after the first race I witnessed, I remain a fan of the sport. But there will never be a driver that I pull harder for than I did Evard Humphrey.
According to his obituary, Evard was 72 and “loved by all” — even some folks who never met him.
Business Writer
Why are more turkey-lovers flying?
Although I’ve only been covering air travel for a little bit over a year, I’ve noticed a trend: the amount of people flying is increasing.
OK, I can’t take credit for discovering this trend — the industry has been saying it for a while and travelers are getting accustomed to squishing up next to strangers. Both business and leisure travel is on the rise. More companies are sending workers to business meetings that require more than a walk down the hall, and more people are going on vacation. This makes sense to me.
But it’s the increase in Thanksgiving travel that has me perplexed. The Air Transport Association expects 27 million people to travel this Turkey Day season, a 4 percent increase from last year.
What? How is this happening? I understand there are millions of people who go visit out-of-state relatives this time of year; they probably do it every year. It’s a routine. But who are these new folks starting this routine this year? Did a couple million people wake up and discover a long-lost granny in
Tennessee who could use some company this year? Or did a few relatives decide to reunite after a long-standing feud over who gets grandma’s gravy boat? Why are folks who haven’t flown in years — especially for a piece of dry turkey and chunky mashed potatoes — suddenly taking to the skies?
Are you one of these folks? Where are you going, and more importantly why now?
Let me know.
Ja’Rena Lunsford, Business Writer
A server farm in the City
Perimeter Technology Center broke ground Monday on a multi-million dollar development that will some day be home to thousands of computer servers. The popular term is “server farm,” and in this instance the title seems to fit.
That’s because the ceremony was held on 15 acres of undeveloped ground located to the west of the current Perimeter Technology Center in northwest Oklahoma City.
It looked very much like pastureland that someone should have been hauling hay out of this summer. Maybe they did.
Perimeter bought the acreage plus six more immediately south of the Perimeter Technology building for which it has developed a long-range plan.
The sight of what amounts to a large pasture in the heart of the metro just off a busy boulevard like NW 39 surprised me as I watched the ceremony Monday afternoon. I have been to Perimeter Technology Center several times over the past few years and never noticed the big undeveloped space next door.
“We have been here for 10 years in this building, and didn’t start paying attention to this land until about a year ago,” said Stan Chase, Perimeter’s chief operating officer. “Never even thought about it, at all.”
Then they discovered it could be bought at what they considered a reasonable price just as their current data center next door was approaching capacity.
Now the land belongs to the seven Perimeter partners and a long-range plan has been developed to turn it into a data center part.
Monday’s groundbreaking, which featured Lt. Gov. Jari Askins as the keynote speaker, was for the first of up to 10 buildings planned in the development.
Perimeter Technology Center was created about four years ago in an existing data center once occupied by the former Williams Communications.
Five partners, Chase, Terry Morrison, Heath Rutz, Russ Koch and Todd Currie, all worked for Williams and had helped build and operate the data center when they worked for a predecessor to Williams Communications called Rock Island.
After the demise of Williams they created a business called Anodyne Technologies that operated the center. Parsons and Brad Thomas joined the group in 2004 when they created Perimeter Technology Center to operate it as a commercial data center.
Perimeter expanded to a second location Tulsa last year, but the growing demand in Oklahoma City prompted the development that culiminated in Monday’s groundbreaking. Perimeter envisions clients commissioning it to build and manage data centers specifically for them.
“That’s really what we see taking place here,” Chase said. “Having more and more companies saying ‘I want to build a data center for my company only and keep my stuff there, but we want you to build it and manage it.’ ”
Jim Stafford
Business Writer
Doggone good cause
Exactly one month ago, my husband and I welcomed a new addition to our family – the four-legged kind.
Carly is the perfect dog: She’s playful, social and gentle. She seems to think the dog park is as much for sniffing and chasing the other dogs as it is for wagging her tail at people’s feet for belly rubs.
She’s smart, too – housebroken in three weeks and just about crate-trained in four.
But when we first got Carly, she was very timid. She was scared of being in a new place, on top of fighting an upper respiratory infection and a case of ringworm. And that was after the Pets & People Humane Society ran up a $250 vet bill just to keep the small Dachsund-Sheltie mix alive.
On Saturday, the shelter is having a silent auction with dinner and live entertainment to raise money for them to continue their work. They still are looking for new and gently used items to sell at the event, which will be at 7 p.m. in the Dale Robertson Center in Yukon.
To donate items or for more information, call 350-PETS.
Wendy K. Kleinman
Staff Writer
The weekly news quiz
It’s time to see how much attention you’ve been paying to the news in the past week or so. From The Oklahoman’s news copy editors and designers, here’s a quiz:
1. Which Oklahoma lawmaker was the only one who voted to uphold President Bush’s veto of a $23 billion water projects bill?
a) Sen. Jim Inhofe.
b) Rep. Mary Fallin.
c) Sen. Tom Coburn.
2. Researchers found that more time spent doing which activity may lower children’s risk of becoming obese?
a) Sleeping.
b) Reading.
c) Playing video games.
3. Which NFL record did former OU running back Adrian Peterson NOT break recently?
a) Only rookie to rush more than 200 yards in a single game twice in the same season.
b) Most yards rushed in an NFL game.
c) Longest touchdown return in NFL history.
4. Which state resident wrote a poem about anti-Semitism and Nazis slaughtering Jews?
a) University of Tulsa professor Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
b) American Idol Carrie Underwood.
c) University of Oklahoma President David Boren.
5. The Rise School in Stillwater, which just had its grand opening, is only one of seven in the nation to do what:
a) Be a grade school for kids in state custody.
b) Focus solely on pregnant teens.
c) Educate preschoolers with disabilities.
6. Construction began last week on a new Educare center in Oklahoma City. How many other Educare centers does Oklahoma have?
a) 1.
b) 3.
c) 7.
7. The NBA commissioner issued a “stern” warning to the city of Seattle saying its continued lack of support for a new facility for the Sonics could cause the city to lose the NBA permanently. Who is the NBA commissioner?
a) Howard K. Stern.
b) A. Stern.
c) David Stern.
8. A former OU baseball player achieved his professional dream last week — managing a Major League Baseball team. Who is he?
a) Jamaal Charles.
b) John Russell.
c) Geoff Wynn.
9. What was one of the three states that rank below Oklahoma in overall health for 2007, according to the United Health Foundation?
a) Louisiana.
b) Vermont.
c) Missouri.
10. Meeting a key need in Duncan, a company will spend $3 million to build what?
a) An underground police operations center.
b) A children’s clinic that looks like a castle.
c) A minor league basketball arena.
11. As of Nov. 4, how many U.S. troops had been killed in Iraq in 2007?
a) 457.
b) 1,115.
c) 847.
12. A Hollywood writers’ strike has indefinitely delayed plans to shoot portions of “Saving Grace” on location in Oklahoma City. The TNT television show is set in Oklahoma, and its plot centers on:
a) An eccentric doctor who zips through space and time in a ship disguised as a phone booth.
b) A vampire private detective whose special abilities help him track down bloodthirsty killers.
c) A self-destructive police detective who receives guidance from a quirky angel.
13. Two state energy firms were expected to launch IPOs last week. What was one of them?
a) Oklahoma Gas & Electric.
b) SandRidge Energy Inc.
c) Oklahoma Natural Gas.
14. A group of veterans won a match Tuesday against Gov. Brad Henry and former Gov. George Nigh. What game did they play?
a) Dominoes.
b) Poker.
c) Monopoly.
15. A study says parents continue to be involved in their college students’ lives. What’s the study’s term for such parents?
a) Helicopter parents.
b) Long-armed moms and dads.
c) Control freaks.
16. Oklahoma State University’s athletic director is trying to get what teams on the football schedule?
a) Boise State and South Florida.
b) Central Oklahoma and North Texas.
c) Army and Navy.
17. Lost motorists who hate to stop and ask for directions may soon find help where?
a) Gas pumps featuring Google search access.
b) Billboards with easy-to-read city maps.
c) Homing signals that can be read by cell phone.
18. Of the 15 Oklahomans on Kansas’ football roster, how many are starters?
a) 3.
b) 6.
c) 9.
19. Rep. Randy Terrill, author of the state’s new immigration law, says he will file legislation that calls for more changes that would:
a) Build a fence between Oklahoma and Texas.
b) Make English Oklahoma’s official language.
c) Create a new enforcement task force.
20. A 13-year-old boy who fled to Mexico with a middle school teacher may have to stay in Mexico. Why?
a) Concerns about his parents.
b) He is an illegal immigrant.
c) He sought political asylum.
How did you do on the quiz? Here are the correct answers:
1-C; 2-A; 3-C; 4-A; 5-C; 6-A; 7-C; 8-B; 9-A; 10-B; 11-C; 12-C; 13-B; 14-A; 15-A; 16-C; 17-A; 18-B; 19-B; 20-B
Diabetes south of the border
During my recent vacation to Guanajuato, Mexico, I learned Oklahoma and Mexico have something unexpected in common: Diabetes now is Mexico’s leading cause of death, ravaging the nation just as it ravages Oklahoma.
Although diabetes is not the leading cause of death in the Sooner State (heart disease is), its toll is huge, especially among minority groups. I didn’t expect a more traditional, less affluent culture would have such a problem.
I thought the disease, at least the type 2 variety, was more of an affliction of rich countries where exercise is insufficient; inexpensive, nutritionally empty food is plentiful; desk jobs are the norm and stress is everywhere.
Sure, Mexican food isn’t always the healthiest cuisine, with its many fried delicacies, fattening sauces and lots and lots of carbohydrates, but people walk more, and fast food is less a part of people’s diets than here. And certainly not all Mexican food is unhealthy.
Granted, Hispanics on the U.S.-Mexico border (and in general) are more likely to have diabetes than whites, but I always figured that was more an issue of poor nutritional knowledge and the difficulty of eating well and working out when raising a family on little money than anything else.
So, I found several stories I read in Mexican newspapers while on vacation interesting. This is from a recent edition of the Mexican newspaper Milenio, handily translated using Google:
Mexico City – The Ministry of Health warned that the lack of prevention and education on diabetes are the leading causes of its growth, (so) it is necessary to work on measures to prevent it, especially in public schools.
The director of the Metabolic Syndrome Clinic at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Guadeloupe Fabian, warned that although the federal agency carries out activities important to control diabetes, it is essential that the Ministry of Education, universities and the pharmaceutical industry get involved.
Otherwise, diabetes … could become a pandemic.
Fabian emphasized that physical inactivity and poor diet are two predominant factors for the development of diabetes, which also affects children, and that 50 percent are related to problems of hypertension.
Sound familiar? Here’s more, from the Nov. 4 edition of El Universal:
Mexico City – Today it is natural to see a young man no more than 20 years old rely on injected insulin or suffer attacks of high blood pressure, conditions that two decades ago were exclusive to adults. The sedentary lifestyle, excess intake of junk food and a lack of natural nutrients are the main factors incidents youth to acquire these pathologies.
In view of Aurora Serralde Zuñiga, medical specialist in clinical nutrition at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán (INNSZ), the facilities of modern life based on technological devices promote less physical activity in young people. “On many occasions spend hours, for work or school, sitting in front of a computer or moving car and no longer walk,” he said.
In Mexico there are on average 6.5 million diabetics 20 years old or older.
“The genetic predisposition that the Mexican has the disease, coupled with bad eating habits and physical inactivity, results in juvenile diabetes,” said Jesus Montes Carrizales, a specialist in sports medicine of Tecnologico de Monterrey.
If the family pillar in the development of the young, not teaching good eating habits such as consumption of vegetables, fiber and water, and no physical activity … promotes the consumption of pizza, hamburgers and fries while watching television The young think that it is normal and healthy.
To prevent diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol and heart problems at an early age, both specialists invite young people to be physically active constant change the fries and soda for fruit and water, and leave the car for a walk.
And this from the newspaper’s Nov. 3 edition:
Mexico City – Mexico occupies ninth place worldwide in the number of patients with type II diabetes, totaling 6.6 million people with the disease, warned internal medicine specialist Paul Frenk.
If that trend continues in the coming years this figure could more than double, said the expert from the Latin American Society of Internal Medicine (Solami) and the American Diabetes Association.
Frenk warned that more and more young people, including children, are suffering the disease, which has become the common enemy to overcome throughout the world, and “in 2020 Mexico is expected to reach nearly 15 million diabetics.”
Frenk noted that the most regrettable matters is that increasing numbers of children and young people who develop the disease, which only some 15 years ago was designated for the elderly.
“We have the habits of our neighbors to the north, now the games are children via computer and fun is television and movies, and no longer exercise. Is a major problem and that we have to begin to change in the home and school,” he mentioned.
Diabetes is a serious public health problem, which will have an impact on catastrophic costs for both public health services, and for those who suffer and have no insurance or are covered by a social security program.
This due to diseases that develop as a result of diabetes, such as chronic renal failure, blindness and heart disease.
In Mexico diabetic retinopathy is the number one cause of blindness and is the first reason for myocardial infarction (heart attack), and that diabetes causes severe damage to the kidneys.
Any thoughts on diabetes in Mexico or Oklahoma? E-mail me at jraymond@oklahoman.com.
For more health and medical news and commentary, visit The Medicine Bag blog at http://blog.newsok.com/health.
Jeff Raymond, Medical Writer
Granny knows best
If you wait long enough you’ll find out everything your parents and grandparents told you is true.
Be honest: How many times has some well-worn admonishment or word of caution from your mother filtered through your brain when you least expect it?
When I read the recent headline saying “Extra weight might not be all that bad,” I had to laugh. My grandmother has been telling me that for years!
She was one of my best cheerleaders as I tried to lose weight last year. However, when I took the weight loss a little too far (in her opinion), she felt duty-bound to say something.
We all know that our wise parents and grandparents always feel duty-bound to say something about the way we live our lives, so I listened patiently, of course.
“Don’t lose too much weight. Any thing could come up and you won’t have anything to fight it with it,” she said, frowning at my baggy clothes.
By this she meant a little “extra” weight that might help me battle certain diseases. I would be considered pleasantly plump or something to that effect.
Anyway, I lost the weight because I needed to eat healthier and to lower my risk of falling prey to certain ailments that run in our family.
But I’ll chuckle all week about this. And I bet my grandmother has already cut out that article to show me … that she was right.
At 81, she’s lived a long time and it looks like she doesn’t always need doctors to tell her what’s what.
Granny does indeed know best
-Carla Hinton, Religion Editor
More on being sad….
An interesting question for depression sufferers and their doctors is why antidepressants work for some people and not for others.
If someone is diagnosed with depression, and his or her doctor prescribes a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) such as Prozac or Zoloft, only about 2/3 of people respond to a given drug.
The doctor typically will then try another, and another, until the right one is found. Meanwhile, the patient has endured additional weeks of depression and expenses.
Findings from the University of Iowa shed a little light on why these drugs work for some people and not for others.
“The study focused on a gene associated with the availability of serotonin, a chemical that at low levels can affect mood and sleep. The researchers found that among people with a variation in this gene, women were more likely than men to have altered processes related to serotonin,” according to a press release on the study.
The results were based on genetic analysis and depression assessments for 192 individuals and appeared online Wednesday the American Journal of Medical Genetics.
“While the finding is exciting, the researchers caution that they have not found a ‘depression gene,’ as genes alone cannot cause behaviors,” the release continued.
Researchers investigated the function of SLC6A4, a serotonin transporter gene. They found that chemically turning off the gene’s function occurred more often in women with the variant than men with the variant.
“This means that in some women less gene expression resulted in less mRNA, which is the genetic material that helps a gene make a protein,” according to the release.
Genes don’t code for behavior. They allow production of proteins, which may or may not influence behavior, depending on their function.
“The gene variant we studied may make some people more prone to develop depression if they experience more stress or abuse — similar to how, if two people have a genetic risk for osteoporosis, the one who runs may be more likely than the one who swims to actually develop osteoporosis,” one researcher said.
For more health news and commentary, visit The Medicine Bag blog at http://blog.newsok.com/health.
Jeff Raymond, Medical Writer
Depression by job
As I looked through the 1,200 e-mail messages I accumulated during my vacation, I ran across this.
According to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health released last month, full-time workers ages 18 to 64 in the “personal care” and “service occupations” had the highest rates of depression, followed closely by food service. The survey used 2004-06 data to determine depression rates by occupation.
During this time, an annual average of 7 percent of full-time workers ages 18-64 experienced a “major depressive episode” in the past year.
For women, the highest rates of depression were in food preparation and service occupations — 14.8 percent. For men, the highest rates were in arts, design, entertainment, sports and media — 6.7 percent.
The unemployed had higher rates of depression than did those employed full time and part time.
U.S. companies lost an estimated $30 to $44 billion a year because of depression-related lost productivity, absenteeism and low morale, according to a press release on the study.
And, of course, depression rates vary by occupation and industry. Seems obvious, but it’s interesting to see research bear it out.
Occupations with the lowest rates of depression were engineering, architecture and surveying; life, physical and social sciences; and installation, maintenance and repair.
As this is a health care blog, 9.6 percent of health care practitioners and technical personnel reported being seriously depressed.
I have one observation to make on the men’s end: Many people wind up in arts-entertainment-media jobs straight out of college, with stars in their eyes. When they find out how little money they’ll make, and realize how incredibly competitive the job markets are, they get down.
Take, for example, a dream job as a trainer with a professional sports team. Now imagine having to deal with the debt of a master’s degree, frequent travel, little respect and a paltry salary. That’s just one example I’m personally familiar with.
Wanna talk? E-mail me at jraymond@oklahoman.com. Also, check out The Medicine Bag blog at http://blog.newsok.com/health.
Jeff Raymond, Medical Writer
