Turns out that the U.S. Preventative Task Force issued a new statement that advises women between the ages of 40-49 that they don’t really need mammograms. This announcement prompted fierce debate over the issue, at which point “The Today Show” brought on their Chief Medical Editor to discuss it.
And it just so happens that CafePress Shopkeeper Kathleen Moore was watching this segment, and it got her pretty fired up. Here’s what she said:
I was watching The Today Show this morning, and they were interviewing Dr. Nancy Snyderman about this new study that recommends doing away with routine mammograms for those under 50. She said, “You may have to screen up to 1900 women in that between-the-ages-of-40-49 group to save one life — so it is pitting the American Cancer Society against some other academic groups.” I found myself responding out loud to the TV “that 1 in 1900 is my sister!” My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer thanks to an under-40 routine mammogram. Then I started thinking about all those “1-in-1900s” — they’re all someone’s sister, or mother, or daughter, or wife. We know that a mammogram catching something doesn’t necessarily save a patient’s life, but early detection gives you the best chance.
To me that cuts to the heart of the issue: when you start making public health decisions based on statistics instead of medical science, you lose sight of the point — to save and preserve life. In cost-analysis terms, 1900 procedures for the benefit of one person may seem ludicrous, but to that one woman’s sister it means the world.
Kathleen started the 1 in 1900 shop to inspire her friends and family, and tells us she’s donating proceeds from the sales of the shirt to the American Cancer Society.
To put some perspective on the number: 1 in 1900 is 48 people at a sold-out Los Angeles Coliseum. It’s 4,368 people in Manhattan. It gives you 1/6 the lifetime odds of accidentally dying via firearm (that troubling statistic is one in 300 people), but about the same as your odds of dying in a year due to an accidental injury (1 in 1600).
So: is that one person in 1900 enough of a reason to continue with early-detection mammograms? While the debate continues around not only the necessity of the test itself but whether or not insurance companies will begin to deny coverage for under-50 mammograms given the new position of the government, we’ll go to the polls:
Well, actually, it all started with a spider drawing.
Well, no, it actually all started with an overdue chiropractic bill and the resulting email exchange regarding that bill. (As well as, one might imagine, a terrifically colorful childhood.)
Ill-adjusted (that’s a chiropractor joke, folks – sometimes you just have to walk through that door) Australian e-mail guerilla aficionado David Thorne bravely addressed this overdue bill by sending a personally-crafted drawing of a 7-legged spider (some might call it “defective;” we call it art) as compensation. This back-and-forth exchange didn’t, regrettably, get him out of his bill (art valuation is so subjective). The e-mails did however make him groovily e-famous, putting him in hallowed company with likes of RatherGood and Beached As and the Flying Spaghetti Monster – namely, as an insider T-shirt joke among those of us who simply spend far too much time on the interwebs (a series of tubes). The spider first made an appearance on T-shirts last year and has been adorning the chests of snarky e-mail fans ever since.
We too had the distinct pleasure of an intriguing e-mail exchange with David Thorne (and a spider drawing exchange, to be entirely truthful), and as it happens seems we’re not alone. David now has a book out (with the rather jaunty title “The Internet is a Playground“), and so if you feel a need to immortalize the digital playground that binds us all together, hey – buy the book. It’s funny. And it gives you an excuse to doodle spiders with a questionable limb count.
We recently asked David 5 Very Important & Investigative Questions to get to the bottom of this offbeat merchandising success story. Here is our official 1-part, 5 question interview:
1. CP: Do you believe that the 8th leg of the spider is worth more than any individual of the 7?
DT: Surprisingly enough, every day I am sent emails with an attachment of the missing leg from people thinking they are the first to do so. I now have enough collected to make several hundred spiders. If each of those was actually worth the original, I would have enough money to quit my job and devote my time to developing my idea for a television series about a talking car that fights crime.
2. CP: How has your CafePress shop changed your life?
DT: The extra spending money each month has come in quite handy. Not that long ago, I worried a lot about paying the bills, having food in the fridge and even buying my son a birthday present. Now that I can afford decent drugs, these things no longer concern me at all.
3. CP: Why did you write a book?
DT: There was certain content on the website that had to be removed or amended due to legal reasons. This did not apply to the book which annoyed some and amused me. I also had a few people at the time telling me that it would be great if the content was in book form so they could give it to people they don’t like. 4. CP: Have you seen Jane since your coy email exchange?
DT: No, I have not been back to that chiropractor and will never go to another. It is a well known fact that the medical test for becoming a qualified chiropractor is to sing as much of the ‘hip bone is connected to the thigh bone’ song as you can remember. This test can be completed online or by mail.
5. CP: Why is Australia so freaking far away from everything else?
DT: Although Australia is well known for its native pandas and snow capped mountains, its large volume of New Zealand immigrants, spiders the size of small children and khaki wearing crocodile wrestlers means that the distance from other countries is probably best for all. The only country worse, and thankfully even further away, is New Zealand.
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So if you want to support David’s effort to improve his attitude and overall worldview via abundant self-medication, buy the book. And if you just want to enjoy some free laughs, check out the 27bslash6 website.
Such is the argument made by the folks over at Rescue Marriage, who have authored the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act. Inspired by the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which was promoted and funded by the Protect Marriage camp to “restore marriage and protect California children,” Rescue Marriage founder John Marcotte realized that truly protecting marriage meant going well beyond limiting its legal status to heterosexuals.
Marcotte sees the primary threat to marriage as the dissolution thereof, and therefore seeks to protect the sanctity of marriage by outlawing divorce in the state of California.
To help get the word out, Marcotte started the Rescue Marriage T-shirt shop so that supporters can show the world that they truly stand behind government-mandated marriage protection.
We spoke with Marcotte, and asked him whether or not he thought this bill would pass. His answer: “Proposition 8 passed on the grounds that it protects traditional marriage and our children, so I don’t see any reason that this bill – which truly protects marriage by preventing its demise – wouldn’t pass. I mean, if all the people who voted for Proposition 8 don’t vote for this, they’d be hypocrites. You don’t think that California voters are hypocrites, do you?”
The Rescue Marriage camp has organized a Wedding March on the Capitol to be held on November 14th, 2009. The march invites all of us to “Participate in democracy the American way: by shouting angrily, using inflammatory rhetoric and memorizing jingoistic slogans to chant or misspell on signs.”
Whether the people of California will take this next step in preserving traditional marriage has yet to be seen. Some residents have expressed that banning divorce infringes on their civil rights; to those people, Marcotte says, “Sometimes other people have to give up their rights in order to protect my idea of traditional marriage.”
UPDATE: Rescue Marriage has a new Public Service Announcement to explain the issue:
March organizers Equality Across America to demand equal civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people across the nation. They also set up a shop with cool National Equality March T-shirts and gear so activists could sport their support for a good cause.
The march followed a Human Rights Campaign dinner that included remarks from President Obama, who promised to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and voiced general support for the gay equal rights movement. More specific issues of timelines and legal actions weren’t covered, but the ever-arresting Lady Gaga (who had the night before performed at the HRC dinner) made sure that the President knew that the finer points needed to be addressed by saying, “Obama, I know you are listening… We will continue to push you and your administration to bring your words of promise to a reality.”
Project 350 is a grassroots movement looking to inspire the world to take action toward solving the global climate crisis.
Toward that end, Project 350 has organized an international day of climate action to be held on October 24th, 2009. This is a day to showcase the number 350 at an “iconic” place in your community, document it, and share it with 350.org so that they might relay your message of support to global leaders.
Understanding that people are walking billboards, 350.org set up a CafePress shop so that climate activists can sport their support and, one hopes, inspire others to do the same. We spoke with the folks at Project 350 about the shop, and here’s what they said:
“Its funny, it is actually a good story how we´ve been using Cafe Press…. we´ve managed to get materials (tshirts, stickers) to local grassroots climate change advocates in places as far flung as Paraguay, Nuie, and Moldova through the service…. mostly with the credit we´ve racked up selling gear to people who are buying it! So your products will show up all around the world on October 24th, the international day of action we´re organizing.”
To help support the 350 cause, CafePress has issued a coupon for 20% off 350 T-shirts and merchandise. The code runs through Wednesday, October 14. Code (to be used at checkout): PROJ350
If you’re still wondering what they’re all about, here’s a video that explains the finer details:
The battle over the Mojave Memorial Cross saw the inside of the Supreme Court this week, as the Justices began to ponder the Constitutionality of a cross residing on public lands.
Congress at one point tried to transfer the land around the cross to veteran’s groups in order to eliminate and Establishment Clause violations, but that attempt was blocked. At this point it seems that the Supreme Court mayrule on the transfer of the lands to a private group rather than the Constitutionality of the cross itself, rather than setting a precedent that might affect other such lands (Arlington National Cemetery being the most obvious).
Justice Anthony Scalia was particularly fired up, noting, “I don’t think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead that that cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that’s an outrageous conclusion.”
The folks at Liberty Legal who started the donttearmedown.com site (and shop) were encouraged by a Barna poll, which concludes that 92% of Americans feel the cross should stay.
It is worth noting that the cross, which is indeed a Christian symbol, is actually an ancient symbol used by many people and religions. Justice Scalia pointed out that the cross is meant to honor all war dead – not just the Christian ones. But, as ACLU counsel Peter Eliasberg pointed out, “I have been in Jewish cemeteries. There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew.”
The ruling for case 08-472 isn’t expected until early next year. In the meantime, the cross stays (boarded up).
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is October, and with it coming up we’re seeing a lot of great new breast cancer designs come through on the subject. Everything from funny to serious to hip and edgy would indicate that breast cancer is, most definitely, something that affects women (and men!) from all walks of life.
We’re accustomed to the edgy when it comes to breast cancer. In fact, cancer in general spawns a lot of edgy content; the trend with cancer T-shirts has a lot less to do about being a “victim” and a lot more to do with kicking cancer’s a$$. That being the case, it’s pretty hard to surprise us with breast cancer awareness art – but it would seem that some television viewers (and CNN anchors) aren’t so initiated:
We have our own video on the subject, and while there’s a lot less… er, focus… on the actual subject at hand (the boobs, not the cancer), we find this story of one woman’s cure campaign to be inspired, inspiring and just downright nice to hear.
Michael Vick got the go-ahead from the Philadelphia Eagles to play his first game since he was released from prison on federal dogfighting charges. With starting QB Donovan McNabb out with a cracked rib, Vick may see some field time this Sunday against the Chiefs. He won’t be the starting QB, but he may be out there.
Since Vick is back in sports, perhaps its only fitting that some of the surviving dogs from his property are doing the sports thing as well.
One of the organizations that evaluated and placed some of Michael Vick’s dogs has had a CafePress shop for years, and their ace trainer (and owner of many Bad Rap T-shirts) Linda adopted one of the Vick dogs. Audie is seen here at left raising money for the Western States Police Canine Association. Humans do bike rides and walks for these kinds of causes; dogs, apparently, get wet. (No canines were harmed during the filming of this fundraiser, but they were perhaps a bit disgruntled at the gratuitous baths.)
When Audie’s not doing his part to make sure his policedog friends have teflon vests (they are officers, after all), he’s practicing to be an agility star. He’s not making millions of dollars a year, but hey – he’s in it for the sport, not the glory. Ah, the things dogs can teach us.
The classic 1980 hit “Fame” is all polished up for the 21st century with a new script and cast (though Debbie Allen is back as the Principal), and although the movie isn’t out yet the fan-created merchandise fun has already begun.
The new movie launches September 25th, so you still have some time to make your own T-shirts or outfit yourself in someone else’s. Dream it. Make it. Wear it.
Now let’s see if you can get through this post without getting Irene Cara’s timeless “Fame” theme song out of your head… because I can’t. Now I too want to live forever, and I wanna learn how to fly (high).
VH1 has a divalicious live concert in store for us on Thursday, wherein divas like Cyndi Lauper, ADELE and Miley Cyrus will perform as a fundraiser for Save the Music. Also on the lineup: an impressive roster of American Idol alumni. Paula Abdul is hosting the show, and we’ll see performances from Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks.
In addition to the show, VH1 has launched a limited edition concert T-shirt to raise funds for Save the Music Foundation.
So if you’re not in NY but you want to support music education programs in style, you’re in luck. Buy a T-shirt, save the music, feel like a diva. See? That was easy.
That’s the statistic for the number of women between 40-49 who are diagnosed with breast cancer.
To put some perspective on the number: 1 in 1900 is 48 people at a sold-out Los Angeles Coliseum. It’s 4,368 people in Manhattan. It gives you 1/6 the lifetime odds of accidentally dying via firearm (that troubling statistic is one in 300 people), but about the same as your odds of dying in a year due to an accidental injury (1 in 1600).
