Hasta La Gadget!

A few months back Facebook made it mandatory for you to download the standalone Messenger app if you wanted to keep in touch with your Facebook friends through your mobile device. Previously it was possible to chat with friends through the main Facebook app but that feature was unbundled in favor of Messenger. Clearly the idea was to establish Messenger as a product on its own, and to take that idea forward Facebook might soon allow you to play games in Messenger.

The world’s largest social network has confirmed that it is currently having discussions with developers to get them to develop games which can be played by users inside the Messenger app.

It seems that this plan is still at an early stage and major decisions regarding how this will actually work have not yet been made. Nevertheless the idea isn’t preposterous, people already use the app to pass the time and chat with friends and family, why not let them play games too?

The Information reports that Facebook sees this plan as a method of increasing engagement with Messenger users and maybe even generated additional revenue through the product.

Given that majority of the main decisions are yet to be made it could take some time before Messengers users are able to play games with each other within the app itself.

Facebook Messenger May Soon Allow You To Play Games , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — At the front of a classroom, health worker Cheryll Moore demonstrates “the nod” — a jerk of the head forward and then quickly back — a telltale sign of heroin use, though not necessarily of an overdose.

“In that scenario, they can go either way,” she said. “I would not leave them alone.”

After an hour or so of instruction that includes spotting signs of a life-threatening overdose, the class of ordinary people — couples, co-workers, parents, retirees and others — leaves with two vials of the prescription heroin antidote naloxone, better known by its brand name, Narcan.

It’s part of an effort to make naloxone available to more people than just police, paramedics and the addicts themselves.

Because of naloxone’s effectiveness in nearly instantaneously bringing overdose victims back from near-death, New York and a handful of other states are making the lifesaving drug available to virtually anyone willing to be trained to use it, hoping to better the odds it will be there when needed.

“Just in case,” said casino worker Diane Colby, as she left the class with her Narcan. “You never know when there could be an incident. You never can tell.” Like some others in the class, she said she doesn’t know any addicts, but wouldn’t necessarily be surprised to come across drug use where she works.

New York, California, Illinois, New Mexico and Washington are among the states that have passed laws to provide legal protections for prescribers who work with programs providing naloxone to laypeople. Proposed federal legislation would extend the protections nationwide.

New York also is among states no longer requiring a patient-specific prescription for the drug, instead allowing drug-prevention programs to share naloxone with trained recipients.

Since making the change last year, New York state says it has trained 10,000 laypeople on the use of the drug, sending them home with a rescue kit containing Narcan and a nasal atomizer used to spray it in an overdose victim’s nose. The state Health Department pays the $50 to $60 cost of the kits.

“We want as many people to have it as possible,” said Dan O’Connell, a director at the Department of Health, adding the state also is moving toward stocking high school health offices with the drug, in the same way they keep EpiPens on hand for life-threatening allergies.

They will join the ever-growing ranks of “community responders” to the unceasing opioid abuse seen in their various walks of life.

Deaths from prescription painkillers quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. In 2013, nearly 2 million Americans either abused or were dependent on opioids, and more than 16,000 people died from the prescription variety, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 8,000 other deaths involved heroin, to which many addicts migrate after becoming addicted to legal drugs.

Communities around the country responded by equipping police and other first responders, as well as addicts and their families, with naloxone. Officials said the effort to expand the reach of the drug was due to its effectiveness and lack of side-effects, and because there was no basis to early fears that better access to naloxone would increase heroin use or stop people from calling 911.

Nationally, there were 188 known community-based naloxone distribution sites in 15 states and the District of Columbia in 2010, the most recent year available, a CDC report published in 2012 said. Together, the programs trained more than 53,000 addicts, their families and friends and recorded more than 10,000 overdose reversals, according to the report, which endorsed community training as part of broader drug-prevention strategies.

But cost has been a concern, especially with the price of naloxone doubling over the past year or so. In March, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Rancho Cucamonga, California, which makes the nasal version, told The Associated Press the increase was due to more expensive raw materials, energy and labor.

State officials in New York and Ohio have negotiated discounts of $6 per dose off the Amphastar price but fears that higher costs could hinder access remain.

“It worked very much as advertised,” said Shannon Curry-Izzo, who found herself administering Narcan on a bathroom floor after having just assisted at an April training session in Buffalo.

“It took about a minute for them to come to. They woke up very groggy, very confused,” said Curry-Izzo, who manages a syringe exchange program. “This was my first time. I’m very glad that I was able to be there.”

In Buffalo, Erie County’s first few training sessions filled so quickly, generating wait lists, that officials scheduled a dozen more classes for between May and October.

Among the lessons in class are assembling the atomizer and depressing the plunger with enough force to create a mist, with the goal of spraying half a dose up each nostril. Narcan can also be injected. Trainees also learned they should leave some space between themselves and the patient after giving the dose because a drug user could become combative while in withdrawal, or physically ill.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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One afternoon in the summer of 2013, 6-month-old Hugo Garcia was hungry and his mom was out of his beloved purees.

Rather than going to the store, Anne Garcia decided to make her own. It came out fine and she enjoyed doing it. The part she didn’t like was using separate tools for grating, grinding and milling.

So over the next few months, Anne came up with something more efficient: a single 3-in-1 device. She put it on a crowdfunding website and generated enough support to launch The Gourmand’s Grater.

Here’s where the story zigzags in a most unexpected direction.

The following summer, Anne gave birth to a girl, Ariana. Six weeks later, the baby had a rough night. What seemed like a small breathing problem turned out to be the first sign of a rare, serious heart problem, one that would require several major operations.

The Garcias got lucky. Ariana came through like a champ. But that wasn’t enough for Anne.

Strange as it may seem, she discovered a valuable intersection between the development of her kitchen tool and her family’s journey through pediatric cardiology. She believes in it so much that she’s devoted her life to improving pediatric heart surgery.

Here is her amazing tale.

—

In 2011, Anne and Sergio Garcia were living in Houston when they realized they were burned out on corporate life. They took a sabbatical and set out for a year abroad.

Spain rekindled their zest for life, so they settled down in Madrid. Hugo was born there in February 2013.

Anne had been a lawyer specializing in banking and finance. Overseas, she became fascinated by making her own products. She started with a salad tosser and a portable changing station.

About the time that second career was taking off, so was the emerging technology of 3D printing. (While a traditional photocopy is basically a picture, a 3D print is more like a replica — an actual three-dimensional model that looks and feels like the original.)

Anne thought 3D printing could help her… eventually. Now, it was too expensive and not refined enough. So she used a machinist to crank out prototypes.

Then came the grater.

A machinist wanted $7,000 to create a prototype. A 3D printer could do it for $700; it’d be ready faster, too.

“Some of the blades weren’t as sharp as I needed,” she said. “Even so, to have the ability to play with it, to hold it in my hands and troubleshoot other areas, it was $700 well spent.”

In May 2014, Anne went to China seeking partners for the grater and other creations. Soon after she returned, Ariana arrived. And far too soon after that came a night with labored breathing.

Allergies, Anne thought. Still, it seemed serious enough to go to the hospital.

—

Doctors initially thought it was an infection. When oxygen didn’t help, they pushed for more answers.

Ultimately, they discovered that her heart formed the wrong way.

The two main arteries were in each other’s spot. It’s called transposition of the great arteries and it’s a critical congenital heart defect.

Think of it as faulty plumbing. Instead of oxygen-poor blood coming into the heart and oxygen-rich blood going back out, the oxygen-poor blood was going right back out while oxygen-rich blood was going right back where it came from, the lungs.

An operation called an arterial switch can correct it. However, Ariana was too sick for that. So doctors performed another procedure to improve her oxygen levels so she’d be healthy enough for the switch.

It didn’t work. Days later, she needed an open-heart operation. The surgeon, Dr. Enrique Garcia (no relation), cut a hole between the arteries so the oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich blood could mix. Almost a month later, Ariana was ready for the switch.

By then, Dr. Garcia, had become a trusted friend of Anne and Sergio. He’d also described his preparation for such a complicated procedure: The afternoon before, sitting at his desk, he studied the 2D images and sketched a plan.

“He even dreams about the surgery he’s going to perform in the morning. It’s like he’s practicing in his sleep,” Anne said. “I was like, ‘Wow, that’s intense.'”

It worked.

After 10 hours of surgery, Ariana’s arteries were finally where they belonged, and blood was flowing the right direction for the first time in her life.

Soon, necessity again began gnawing at this inventive mother.

—

What if we hadn’t been so lucky, she wondered.

What if their surgeon hadn’t been such a good dreamer?

Then she started pondering all the other skills needed to be a good surgeon: encyclopedic knowledge of conditions and solution, calmness, dexterity and more. She realized how many things had to go right.

That’s when it hit her.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if I could use 3D printing to help Dr. Garcia?” she thought. “Not only would parents be able to better understand their babies’ hearts, but it would allow him to actually practice — and perfect his plan — on a model before the surgery.”

She brought the idea to Dr. Garcia, explaining how MRIs and ultrasounds could become life-sized models using 3D printing, letting him practice on something akin to the real thing. Her mild-mannered friend became quite animated.

“How did you think of this?” he said.

She explained about her background. Then she asked if he really thought it could help.

“You have no idea what this could do,” he said.

—

During Ariana’s hospitalization, Anne connected with a friend of a friend, a pediatric heart surgeon in Oregon.

Fueled by Dr. Garcia’s excitement, Anne called him with a hypothetical question: What if you could put a patient’s 2D images into a folder on your desktop, and then a service would grab that information and turn it into a real-life, 3D model?

“Where is it?” he said. “How can I get it?”

Anne knew she was definitely onto something. She also soon learned she wasn’t the only one with this idea.

In fact, a conference on 3D printing of medical devices was coming up. The event was at the headquarters of Materialise, the leader in 3D modeling and printing. And it was in Belgium, just a short plane ride from Madrid.

So, off she went, this mother of two whose creative resume was dotted with items you might find at Bed Bath & Beyond, rubbing elbows with worldwide experts in high-tech, life-saving devices.

—

Anne gained a crash-course in emerging medical technology.

She also crashed into this realization: the world she’d envisioned creating already existed.

Software already was taking thousands of 2D images and creating a single 3D heart. Hardware was so advanced that models of hearts were being made using multiple colors and a variety of materials — flexible or rigid, depending on a surgeon’s preference.

“Initially, it was disappointing — there was no space for me,” she said. “Then I got a better view of what was going on and I realized there was actually a better space for me. I’m a lawyer and a project manager. They needed people with my skill set.”

Anne saw her role as someone who could help with scalability, a proponent who could vault 3D printing from an experimental option to a standard tool for all pediatric heart surgeons.

—

Considering how little margin for errors doctors have, it’s risky for them to rely on anything unproven. So her first goal is building a body of evidence — proof that it works.

So Anne is the project manager of a proposed study involving Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Texas Children’s Hospital, Children’s National Medical Center and Phoenix Children’s Hospital, with more hospitals still being recruited. It will compare pediatric operations with and without 3D hearts to see which have better outcomes.

The aim goes beyond persuading doctors and hospitals. The biggest difference-maker is the insurance industry. Getting them willing to pay for 3D prints would lead to much wider use.

Her pitch to insurers is pretty compelling: A single day in a cardiac unit can exceed the cost of a 3D printer and its materials. So if an operation using these prints gets a single child home a single day sooner, the investment in that printer would quickly pay for itself.

(Other studies involving 3D hearts are ongoing, too. Last November, one was presented at the American Heart Association’s flagship medical conference, Scientific Sessions, indicating the benefits of their use.)

There’s a second layer to Anne’s crusade, another role she is uniquely qualified to fill — that of a parent who’s been through it.

She offers support ranging from emotional to practical. She can provide families the resources they need to become self-advocates seeking the best care possible for their children.

Anne has coordinated her efforts into a single organization: OpHeart.

—

Ariana turns 1 on June 17, and is catching up on various developmental charts.

One big change is that the Garcias have moved back to Houston. Part of the reason is for her ongoing care with the experts at Texas Children’s Hospital. Being in the U.S. also makes it easier for Anne to run OpHeart.

As a lawyer, she fully understands all the delicate nuances involved in bringing 3D models into pediatric cardiac operations.

As the parent of such a patient, she knows how necessary it is.

“This is one of those rare times where the answer is really elegant and very simple,” she said. “Practice hearts make perfect surgery, and by ensuring that this tool is available for the benefit of all kids, more kids will live. It’s too important — and too easy — not to do.”

Hugo and Ariana

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By Catherine Gigante-Brown

Kids are constantly being told what to do and when to do it; what to eat and how to chew (mouth closed, please!); when to go to bed; what to read… I’m a firm believer that hair should be the one thing kids have control over. Sure, it’s got to be clean and not a health hazard (can you say lice?), but beyond that, the choice should be theirs.

I’ll never forget my mom telling me how horrified she’d been when her mother forced her to wear childish banana curls at age 13, refusing to let her get a trendy bob. Aunt Rose flew to Mom’s defense and convinced my grandmother to consent to a more stylish ‘do. It made all the difference. A Brooklyn version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” but with a happy ending.

I vowed not to press that kind of coiffeur stigma onto my child.

Flash back 10 years. My 5-year-old son, David, had been lobbying for a Mohawk since the previous summer. But as a brand-new kindergartener, my husband Peter and I didn’t want him to begin his school years labeled as the wild boy with the wild haircut. We hoped he would forget about it, but to David, summer meant one thing: Mohawk.

David was to be ring-bearer at his cousin’s wedding. I saw the horror in the bride-to-be’s face when she pictured a tuxed tyke with a savage haircut clashing with her gorgeous Vera Wang gown. We sagely decided to wait until after Vanessa and Louis tied the knot. Then it was straight to Bill Brooks’ barbershop on Main Street in Rosendale.

Although he’d buzzed heads for more than 40 years, Bill confessed that he’d never done a Mohawk before. He seriously considered the task at hand, firmly gripping David’s head in his palm like a golden brown coconut. My son’s hair began falling away onto his shoulders and the worn linoleum.

When Bill was done, somebody else smiled back at me from the chair. Where was my angelic little son? Instead, there was a pint-sized punk rocker in his place, the tiny scar where the fetal monitor had nicked his scalp clearly visible. David had swagger. David has sass. David had a Mohawk.

At first, I didn’t realize the full significance of David’s Mohawk, but it quickly became clear. This seemingly small change was a mammoth one in an almost-6-year-old’s life — he finally had say over something, even if it were just his own head. For David, the freedom to decide how to wear his hair was monumental. Choosing such an unconventional style was a declaration of his individuality, which was alive and well, even as a first-grader.

Maybe it was my imagination, but I could swear that David was strutting around like a proud mini-peacock. He had always been an energetic kid with an irrepressible joie de vivre. Now he had a new haircut to compliment his unique personality.

When a tattooed biker in McDonald’s gave David a thumbs-up, my boy beamed. But the rest of the world didn’t seem to agree. “I’m going to smack you when I see you!” my mother-in-law said when she heard about the Mohawk.

“It’s only hair,” I told her. “It’ll grow back.”

But few seemed to understand. At the playground, parents of ringlet-topped toddlers flashed me looks of disapproval when they saw David zipping around the jungle gym. “How could you give your son a Mohawk?” one even gasped, as though I was encouraging him to play with matches.

“Why not?” I shrugged. “It’s his hair.”

Peter and I didn’t let David get a Mohawk for the biker boys’ nods or to shock soccer moms. We let him do it for himself. Long after the Mohawk was gone, one important thing would remain: the self-confidence that comes with having made an independent decision. And that tiny sliver of freedom of expression would make all the difference.

Sometimes David wore his hair spiked like a cockscomb. Others, he wore it feathery like a baby chick. He wore his Mohawk to summer camp (exchanging encouraging head chucks with another older camper who sported one, too) and even to Vacation Bible School — no judgment there.

David’s Mohawk said he was a free spirit, that he’d made an unconventional choice which he’d thought through, petitioned for and stood by. It told me that when my son grew up, he would be solid, distinctive and determined — and would do just fine for himself. He was well on his way.

So, it was with a twinge of regret that I said farewell to the sun-kissed fringe running down the center of David’s scalp when he chose to get a more traditional school haircut that autumn. During the summer of 2005, David learned to read and taught himself to swim and to ride a two-wheeler. It was also what I fondly refer to as our Mohawk Summer. There will never be another one quite like it.

Since then, David has gone long and scruffy, military-style crew cut and back to a Mohawk. There was even an unfortunate choice of a thick, brushy stripe which made Peter and me cringe, especially when David decided to keep it for his school picture. (It was secretly a relief when he had it buzzed off.) But we’ll think back on his Eraserhead look in a couple of years and laugh. Hopefully.

Some like it cropped. Some like it braided, bouncy, bold, free. Some boys like it shaggy, trailing past their shoulders, some girls opt for a crew cut or bright blue highlights. And you know what? It’s all good.

This story by Catherine Gigante-Brown first appeared at ravishly.com, an alternative news+culture women’s website.

More from Ravishly:

Paranoia Is Killing Our Kids’ Independence
25 Ways To Conquer Chemo
Why I took My Son Off His ADHD Meds

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All eyes are on the Supreme Court as America awaits a final ruling on marriage for same-sex couples, expected this summer. Oral argument took place on April 28, with attorneys making the case on behalf of plaintiffs in marriage cases out of Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Michigan. In total, 30 plaintiffs are represented in the consolidated cases.

But this journey has been a long time in the making, and Americans from all walks of life have been a part of it. On the eve of the oral argument, more than 75 plaintiff couples in 55 marriage cases representing 33 states gathered for a special evening of commemoration and celebration, alongside Freedom to Marry and special guest Valerie Jarrett.

Take a look at this new video featuring footage from the event. And read the stories, below, of some of the plaintiffs who attended, including some whose stories you may not have known until now.

Tony Sullivan, 73, married his partner Richard Adams on April 21, 1975, in Boulder, Colo., long before marriage for same-sex couples was on most Americans’ minds and longer before a majority of Americans were in support. When Richard requested that his new husband, who is from Australia, be given a spouse’s visa, the official denial from the U.S. government referred to them as “two faggots.” The denial sparked a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in federal court. The two were together for more than 40 years, until Richard sadly passed in 2012. Today, Tony has a new film being released through PBS called “Limited Partnership” showcasing his and Richard’s love, in partnership with Freedom to Marry. In this picture, he appears with his two filmmakers.

Ninia Baehr and Genora Darcel won the first freedom to marry court case 19 years ago in Hawaii, which launched the ongoing global movement for marriage. The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that the state must provide a justification for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and Ninia and Genora became the poster children of marriage. In 1996, Judge Kevin Chang ruled that Hawaii had failed to prove a justification for marriage discrimination. The decision was placed on hold pending appeal and later nullified by a constitutional amendment, but Hawaii marked the first landmark victory for the freedom to marry.

In 2003, Julie Goodridge was one-half of the lead plaintiff couple in the now-famous Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which made Massachusetts the first state where same-sex couples could share in the freedom to marry. For the first time, Americans saw firsthand that marriage for same-sex couples helped families and harmed no one. Julie and her wife Hillary eventually separated after 19 years together, but remain good friends and worked together to raise their daughter Annie, who is now in college. In this photo, Julie is joined by others in the team that won marriage in Massachusetts, including Freedom to Marry’s national campaign director Marc Solomon.

Mary Jo Kennedy and Jo-Ann Shain, who have been together for more than 30 years, were plaintiffs in the 2004 Lambda Legal case that spurred the movement for marriage in New York. They became one of the first couples to marry when the Empire State finally ended its marriage ban in June 2011. The New York victory was transformative: it marked the first time a Republican-led chamber voted for marriage, and it more than doubled the number of Americans living in a state where same-sex couples could marry. In this photo, Mary Jo and Jo-Ann appear with Jon Davidson and Susan Sommer of Lambda Legal, two members of the legal team who participated every step of the way, and other plaintiffs in the New York marriage case.

Cari Searcy & Kim McKeand filed a lawsuit in Alabama in 2014, after having been together for nearly 15 years. The lawsuit sought respect for their legal marriage in order to share in all the protections needed to care for their son Khaya. When Khaya had to undergo surgery on his heart shortly following his birth in 2005, Cari was told she was not a legal parent and could not administer any care to her son. In January 2015, a federal judge ruled in favor of marriage in Alabama, but a March order has temporarily halted the issuing of marriage licenses in Alabama. The National Center for Lesbian Rights, the ACLU of Alabama, and the Southern Poverty Law Center have filed a motion seeking class-action status to bring the freedom to marry statewide in Alabama once and for all.

Last but not least, every plaintiff in the marriage cases at the Supreme Court this year joined the event. The plaintiffs represent and reflect the diverse array of same-sex couples who continue to be denied the freedom to marry – couples who can’t share in crucial protections that would put both their names on their children’s birth certificates, a widower who wants the simple dignity of having his spouse’s death certificate read “married,” and people aspiring to the dream of love and commitment affirmed.

As we look forward to a decision, we hope to keep the celebrations going this summer. We hope the justices see what a majority of Americans and so many lower courts have come to see: It is time to end marriage discrimination nationwide, leaving no state and no family behind. It is time for the freedom to marry.

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