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Daily News Feed 10.13.2009/Vocab: triskaidekaphobia

Tuesday Oct 13, 2009 – By Clutch

Alonzo Mourning Takes Capitol Hill by Storm
Seven-time NBA All-Star and kidney transplant recipient Alonzo Mourning visited Washington, D.C. this week to meet with federal lawmakers – including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and other House and Senate leaders – to educate them about the impact of kidney disease and ask for their commitment to advance health care reform that will improve patients’ access and choice in receiving quality kidney care. Mr. Mourning was accompanied by leadership from Kidney Care Partners, a broad-based alliance of patient advocates, dialysis professionals, care providers, nurses and physicians groups, researchers and manufacturers working together to improve access, choice and quality of care for individuals with kidney disease and kidney failure. (Continue Reading…)

Obama Aide Accuses Fox of Operating as GOP Arm
One of President Barack Obama’s top aides says Fox News Channel acts like a wing of the Republican Party.
White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told CNN’s “Reliable Sources” on Sunday that Fox News operates “almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.” It’s another sign of the White House’s aggressively going after Fox. (Continue Reading…)

Crowning of First Non-Black Miss Hampton University Divides Campus
Hampton University crowned its first non-black Miss HU Friday, leading to a division on campus that prompted her to write President Barack Obama. Nikole Churchill, 22, competed against nine black students in the 15th annual Miss HU scholarship pageant. The senior nursing major attends the Virginia Beach campus and is the competition’s first non-black winner, according to executive pageant director Shelia J. Maye. Churchill, who is from Hawaii, wrote Obama on Sunday to tell him that her crowning was met with negative comments because of her skin color. She invited him to visit HU and speak about racial tolerance. (Continue Reading…)

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\ , noun:

Fear or a phobia concerning the number 13.

Past disasters linked to the number 13 hardly help triskaidekaphobics overcome their affliction. The most famous is the Apollo 13 mission, launched on April 11, 1970 (the sum of 4, 11 and 70 equals 85 – which when added together comes to 13), from Pad 39 (three times 13) at 13:13 local time, and struck by an explosion on April 13. — “It’s just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday”, Electronic Telegraph

Resource: Dictionary.com