Healthy Cities

How healthy are you?

According to the latest study here are how cities rank for health, the number following the city is the percentage that the city received on the study:

The top 10

1. Washington D.C.73.4
2. Boston 72.6
3. Minneapolis-St. Paul 71.7
4. Seattle 70.5
5. Portland, Ore. 70.4
6. Denver 69.9
7. Sacramento 65.8
8. San Francisco 64.7
9. Hartford, Conn. 64.4
10. Austin 63.9

The bottom five

1. Louisville 32.5
2. Detroit 31.9
3. Memphis 31.6
4. Birmingham 31.2
5. Oklahoma City 24.3

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-05-24-fitnessindex24_ST_N.htm

Comments are appreciated.

Who Am I?

I was born the youngest of three children in Pennsylvania on a small family farm. My mother introduced me to the world of nature which became a life long passion. I began writing at an early age and was published by age eleven. I was also an avid reader with the ocean being the common thread of my favorite books. I graduated from high school at the top of my class in 1925. I attended a college for women and became somewhat of a loner. I started with English but switched to biology. I graduated magna cum laude in 1929. When I went to graduate school I became a part-time student, taking an assistantship in the laboratory, where I worked with rats to earn money for tuition. I completed a dissertation project on the embryonic development of the pronephros in fish. I earned a master's degree in zoology. I intended to continue for a doctorate, but in I was forced to leave school to search for a full-time teaching position to help support my family. My father died suddenly, leaving me to care for my aging mother. I had a radio series about romance under water. My supervisor, pleased with the success of the radio series, asked me to write the introduction to a public brochure about the fisheries bureau; he also worked to secure me the first full-time position that became available. Sitting for the civil service exam, I outscored all other applicants and became only the second woman to be hired by the Bureau of Fisheries for a full-time, professional position. My main responsibilities were to analyze and report field data on fish populations, and to write brochures and other literature for the public. My family responsibilities increased in January when my older sister died, leaving me as the sole breadwinner for my mother and two nieces. I wrote many articles for many publications. There were so few jobs for naturalists that I switched to studying pesticides. I rose within the Fish and Wildlife Service, supervising a small writing staff by and becoming chief editor of publications. I wrote a book about the history of the ocean that became a basis for a documentary. Chapters of the book appeared in Science Digest and the Yale Review, a latter chapter winning the American Association for the Advancement of Science's. The book remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 86 weeks, was abridged by Reader's Digest, won the National Book Award and the Burroughs Medal, and resulted in my being awarded two honorary doctorates. Not much later family tragedy struck a third time when one of the nieces I had cared for died at the age of 31, leaving a five-year-old orphan son. I took on that responsibility, adopting the boy, alongside continuing to care for my aging mother; taking a considerable toll on me. I closely followed federal proposals for widespread pesticide spraying; the USDA planned to eradicate fire ants, and other spraying programs involving chlorinated hydrocarbons and organophosphates were on the rise. For the rest of my life my main professional focus was one the dangers of pesticide overuse. I feared the dangers and worked on a book that took longer to write when it was discovered that I had breast cancer. It was a Silent Spring. My main argument was that pesticides have detrimental effects on the environment; they are more properly termed "biocides", because their effects are rarely limited to the target pests. DDT is a prime example, but other synthetic pesticides come under scrutiny as well—many of which are subject to bioaccumulation. I accused the chemical industry of intentionally spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting industry claims uncritically. Some of my book detailed cases of human pesticide poisoning, cancer, and other illnesses attributed to pesticides. In one of my last public appearances I testified before President Kennedy's Science Advisory Committee. The committee issued its report on May 15, 1963 backing ny scientific claims. Before my death I received a flurry of awards and honors: the Audubon Medal (from the National Audubon Society), the Cullum Medal (from the American Geographical Society), and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. I died of a heart attack at the age of 57 in 1964. After my death I was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom, a US Postage stamp was named in my honor and my birthplace is a National Historic Museum. Who Am I?