Category Archives: Health & Medicine

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POLLS SHOW TWO-THIRDS OF THOSE WHO ACCEPT THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE DON’T KNOW WHAT ALS IS

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imageSilicon Valley, California (The Adobo Chronicles) – According to latest reports, the ALS Association has raised more than $22 Million from its Ice Bucket Challenge which has taken the U.S. by storm.

Silicon Valley tech companies have counted more than 1.2 Million social media videos of Americans dousing themselves with a bucket of ice as part of the fundraising phenomenon. Many of the videos by company CEOs, celebrities, politicians and others from all walks of life make no mention of the disease they are supposedly raising funds for.

Random polls show that two-thirds of those who have taken up the Ice Bucket Challenge don’t know what ALS stands for or what the disease is all about.  Are you one of those people? Take this short Adobo Chronicles poll and find out.

Business, Health & Medicine, Technology, The Media

WALMART, TARGET, COSTCO RUN OUT OF PLASTIC BUCKETS

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imageBentonville, Arkansas (The Adobo Chronicles) – The country’s top giant retailers — Walmart, Costco and Target — have all reported that they have fully run out of plastic buckets in their stores and outlets. An independent investigation by The Adobo Chronicles has confirmed the disappearance of the 3, 4 and 5 gallon containers from the retailers’ store shelves across the country.

A spokesperson for the Arkansas-based Walmart said that their inventory of buckets began diminishing two weeks ago when the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge started to trend on social media. “Now, our supply is down to zero,” he said.

Costco, on the other hand, appealed to its members to stop calling customer service inquiring about the availability of plastic buckets. “There is absolutely nothing to go around and no delivery expected from our suppliers for the next six months,” it said in a statement from its corporate office in Seattle, Washington.

Estimates place the number of Ice Bucket Challenge videos posted on the Internet at 1.2 Million. “That’s 1.2 Million buckets purchased in just the last two weeks,” a spokesperson for Target said.

That, of course, is assuming each video involves just one individual.

Hardware stores are worried that they may also run out of tin buckets very soon.

Health & Medicine, Human Interest, International, The Media

HOT WATER BUCKET CHALLENGE LAUNCHED TO RAISE MONEY FOR SELFITIS CURE

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Martha Stewart, left, and Mark Zuckerberg accept the ice bucket challenge

San Jose, California (The Adobo Chronicles) – By now, most people with Internet access are familiar with the ice bucket challenge intended to raise funds to help find a cure for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”  ALS is  a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS often leads to paralysis.

The challenge involves people either dousing themselves with a bucket of ice and posting a video on social media, or making a  donation to the ALS cause.  Unfortunately, many people, including celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg and Martha Stewart chose to douse themselves with ice instead of making a donation.  While the challenge campaign has gone viral, donations were not at levels the campaign organizers had hoped for. In California, Governor Jerry Brown reminded people to consider the state’s water shortage before accepting the ice bucket challenge.  “They should just donate,” he said.

Now, a similar campaign has been launched on the Internet to help raise funds to find a cure for selfitis. (Recently, the American Psychiatric Association officially declared the taking of selfie photos and posting them on the Internet a mental disorder).  Instead of a bucket of ice, the selfitis challenge involves people dousing themselves with hot water, or making a donation.  Most people are choosing to donate.

While no official numbers have been released by either the ALS or the Selfitis groups, there is great speculation that more funds have been raised by the hot water bucket challenge.

Moral of the story: pick your challenge wisely.