Sign the Pledge to Honor Our Vietnam Veterans!

We must continue to honor our

veterans and fallen soldiers who sacrificed

everything to fight for our country in Vietnam.

The Vietnam War is the longest-running war in American history. It claimed over 58,000 American soldiers.

As the years pass, we must continue to honor veterans and fallen soldiers who sacrificed everything for America in Vietnam.

We cannot forget about the 98,000 who were left disabled, the 5,000 who lost limbs, the 800 prisoners of war, or the 2,000 who, to this day, still have not been accounted for.


We must also pay tribute to the soldiers who returned and faced difficulties coming back into society. Many of them were met with disrespect, the American public having blamed them — not the government — for the war. Many sustained severe PTSD. Some described the after-effects of Vietnam to be worse than the war itself.

Sign the pledge declaring your support for all of the Vietnam service members — both the fallen soldiers and living veterans — for their tremendous sacrifice to our country.

http://www.theveteranssite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=10&campaign=VietnamVeterans

Sponsored by: The Veterans Site


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Perseids meteor shower peaked Aug 13, still visible tonight!

“The Perseids meteor shower radiate[s] out from the constellation Perseus, which is located in the eastern horizon during August,” Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration acting administrator Nathaniel Servando said in an astronomical diary.

But Servando said the bright moonlight may interfere with the view of fainter meteors. “Meteors are easiest to see if there is no moonlight and light pollution at all.” He added August is one of the most popular times of the year to observe meteor showers.


Constellations visible 
Servando also said constellations like Leo, Ursa Major, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, and Sagittarius are most prominent during August.

At the northwestern horizon, the constellation of Leo, the Lion, is about 30 degrees from the horizon. “In this constellation, an asterism known as the inverted Question Mark, or sometimes known as the scythe, can be figured out,” Servando said.

He elaborated that such an asterism represents the head of the lion.
Visible in the north are the constellations of Ursa Major, the Great Polar Bear, and Ursa Minor, the Small Polar Bear.

Another asterism can be found along the constellation of Ursa Major, the well-known Big Dipper.

“Navigators at night use the Big Dipper to locate the North Star Polaris. By using the distance between the two stars Dubhe and Merak, on the tip of the ladle just measure five times the distance downward to determine the position of the North Star, Polaris,” Servando said.

Facing the south, zodiac constellations can be found, including the constellation of Virgo on the southwestern horizon.

Libra, the Scale, Scorpius, the Scorpion, and Sagittarius, the Archer, follow Virgo on the southeastern horizon, respectively.

Even the Southern Cross (Crux), the smallest constellation in terms of area, can be seen, and points out the South Pole. On its left are Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri.

“Using a telescope, Alpha Centauri will reveal another companion star, called Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Earth, which is only 4.3 light years away,” Servando said.

Planets visible
Servando said Mercury can be observed during the first week of August, in the western horizon after sunset.
It will reappear from sky view in the eastern horizon, 30 minutes before sunrise during the last week of August.
But Venus will be lost from view in the sky during August, as it will pass behind the Sun as viewed from the Earth on Aug. 16. Venus will become visible again in October.

Mars will be visible in the early morning hours throughout August, easily identified by its reddish color.
Jupiter will be visible in the morning sky throughout the month and will lie among the background stars of the constellation Aries, the Ram.

“With the aid of modest-sized telescopes, major atmospheric features such as the two dark equatorial belts will be seen. Jupiter will be easy to identify with the naked eye because of its brightness and does not twinkle like stars,” Servando said.

Saturn can also be observed in the evening sky throughout the month above the western horizon, among the background stars of the constellation Virgo, the Maiden.

It will appear as a yellowish brown shining at magnitude +1.29, and can be seen with a simple pair of binoculars.
Larger telescopes can bring out its other spectacular features — such as its satellite, Titan and the Cassini Division in its rings.

Uranus and Neptune will appear as blue spots in the sky if viewed from a telescope.

“Both planets will be observed from late in the evening until dawn throughout the month. Uranus will be glowing at a magnitude of +5.78 while Neptune will be dimmer at magnitude +7.83. The planets will lie among the background stars of the constellation Pisces, the Fish, and Aquarius, the Water Bearer, respectively,” Servando said. — JE, GMA News
By Dan OBrien

Can behavior problems be a sign of giftedness?

Yes, absolutely. Children who are gifted are often mistakenly suspected of having ADHD or other disabilities with behavioral elements.

That may be because along with other gifted characteristics, many gifted children exhibit so-called sensory sensitivities, which can make them seem difficult or uncooperative.

Such kids may become exhausted by classroom noise or be distracted or disturbed by the flicker and buzz of fluorescent light. They may complain about scratchy shirt labels or sock seams and recoil from bright lights, harsh sounds, "bad" smells, or certain food textures. They may also talk rapidly or compulsively, have boundless energy, or display compulsive habits or tics.

Heightened sensitivity combined with heightened intensity is known as overexcitability. Kids with emotional overexcitability experience a more intense range of emotions – whether happy, sad, or angry – than a regular kid. Sensitive kids are more prone to depression, guilt, and physical responses to emotions, such as stomach pains or headaches due to anxiety.

Some gifted kids' brains consume glucose far more quickly than is typical. If their blood sugar levels dip too fast, it can cause sudden, inexplicable meltdowns, poor judgment, or lack of impulse control. (Frequent high-protein, low-sugar snacks can alleviate this problem.)

Very bright children are often unusually strong willed, negotiate like lawyers, use sarcasm to make a point, refuse to suffer fools, or are overly critical. Sometimes, gifted children are disruptive in classrooms because they refuse to do exercises they consider to be busywork. Of course, all of this can be true of any kid, it's just more so for gifted children. Misbehavior in the classroom can sometimes indicate that grade-skipping could be in order.

So how can you tell whether your child's misbehavior is due to giftedness? One sign is if the unwanted behavior is specific to a situation. Maybe your child mucks up only at school. But at home, he's consumed with a project or pastime, often getting lost in the activity and losing track of time, or isn't easily deterred from the task (he doesn’t hear you calling him for dinner because he's engrossed in a book, say).

If that's the case, you may have a gifted kid on your hands. In either case, misbehavior needs to be dealt with and not just tolerated, regardless of the reason for it.

Another way of teasing out giftedness versus straight-up misbehavior is to observe how your child acts in settings where he's engaged in activities he likes with kids who share his interest and abilities. If he's focused, engaged, and cooperative, that may explain why he acts out in situations where he's not stimulated enough.


Written in consultation with Linda Powers Leviton, a psychotherapist specializing in the needs of the gifted, and James T. Webb, a clinical psychologist and lead author of "A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children".

Soldier Missing from Vietnam War Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
            Army Chief Warrant Officer George A. Howes, of Knox, Ind., will be buried Aug. 5 in Arlington National Cemetery.  On Jan. 10, 1970, Howes and three aircrew members were returning to their base at Chu Lai, South Vietnam aboard a UH-1C Huey helicopter. Due to bad weather, their helicopter went down over Quang Nam Province, Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.).  A search was initiated for the crew, but no sign of the helicopter or crew was spotted.
            In 1989, the S.R.V. gave to U.S. specialists 25 boxes that reportedly contained the remains of U.S. servicemen related to this incident.  Later that year, additional remains and a military identification tag from one of the other missing servicemen were obtained from a Vietnamese refugee.
            Between 1993 and 1999, joint U.S./S.R.V. teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted three investigations in Ho Chi Minh City and two investigations in Quang Nam-Da Nang Province (formerly Quang Nam Province).  A Vietnamese citizen in Ho Chi Minh City turned over a military identification tag bearing Howes’ name and told the team he knew where the remains of as many as nine American servicemen were buried.  He agreed to lead the team to the burial site.  In 1994, the team excavated the site and recovered a metal box and several bags containing human remains.  In 2006, the remains of three of the four men were identified and buried.  No remains could be attributed to Howes given the technology of the time.  In 2008, given advances in DNA technology, the remains were reanalyzed.
            Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used dental comparisons and mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of Howes’ sister and brother—in the identification of the remains.
             For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, call (703) 699-1169 or visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo .