August 17, 2009: What is one significant news event that happened today?

U.S. busts largest-ever ID theft scheme: Federal prosecutors today charged a Miami man with the largest case of credit and debit card data theft ever in the United States, accusing the one-time government informant of trying to gain access to 130 million accounts.

I think Michael Vick and his interview last night with CBS was very interesting. CNN is hosting a video today, I posted the link.

I think today has been a very important day for a lot of people ( especially parents ) in East Germany ( Leipzig )! A year ago 8 yr old Michelle was reported missing by their parents - they looked all over for her for 3 days straight and could not find her. She was last seen leaving her school and never returned home!

The last person seeing her was her friend - she stated a guy told Michelle her mom had a accident and he was sent to pick her up! They found this little Girl 3 days later at the lake behind her parents house - raped and murdered by strangulation! They found the Guy who did this because he bragged about it to his friends - he was a 10 yr old neighbor!

He said he has planed this for weeks and was excited that it finally happened! Today the started the prostecution ( not sue how you spell it sry ) and he will most likely be charged to 10 yrs of prison! I added the link but it is in German sry could not find it in English!

Breakthrough For Parkinsons. Breakthrough 'could lead to better treatments for Parkinson's' Scientists have made a breakthrough in the understanding of Parkinson’s disease which they say could lead to better treatments for the condition. By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent Published: 7:00AM BST 17 Aug 2009 A drug usually used to depress the immune system in transplant patients can help protect cells from attack by the disease.

Although the drug's side effects mean it is unlikely ever to be used as a treatment for Parkinson’s, experts said that the research could pave the way for new drugs to tackle the disease. The devastating condition is caused by the progressive death of specific nerve cells inside the brain. These cells produce a chemical called dopamine, which acts as a messenger, and help to control movement in the body.

The new study, which used both fruit flies and skin cells taken from people with Parkinson’s, identified a way to stimulate the inside of the nerve cells, helping to protect them from being killed off in inherited forms of the disease. The researchers used a drug called Rapamycin, given to transplant patients to ensure their bodies do not reject the new organ. The tests showed that the drug was capable of protecting the cells from damage from two genes which can cause inherited forms of Parkinson’s.

However, experts warn that because Rapamycin could lead to Parkinson’s sufferers having extremely weakened immune systems it is unlikely ever to be used to treat patients directly. Yet they believe that by unravelling how the drug protects cells they could eventually discover new treatments for the disease, without such side effects. Dr Alex Whitworth, from the University of Sheffield “Although Rapamycin is not a ‘wonder drug’ for treating Parkinson’s, our study does show that the animal and human models that we used may be a valuable tool in the discovery of new drugs for directly treating the condition.

€œAnother exciting outcome of our study is that the positive effects were seen in both flies and human cells. €œThis shows that even simple animal models do work in some cases, and that human cells grown in the lab, may be a good method of screening for new anti-Parkinson’s drugs in the future. €?

Dr Kieran Breen, director of research and development with the Parkinson’s Disease Society, the main be “This is an exciting new development in the search for new and better treatments for Parkinson’s. €œCurrent treatments can only replace or mimic the effects of dopamine, rather than actually change the course of the condition. €œIt’s early days yet, and there’s a great deal of work to be done before we will know if these findings can be applied to all forms of Parkinson’s.

€œBut the discovery of this pathway may be the key to developing new drugs that could slow or even stop the progressive loss of nerve cells in the brain. €? Around 120,000 people in Britain have Parkinson’s, and another 10,000 are diagnosed every year.

The findings were published online by the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Jamaican Usain Bolt set a new 100m world record in a time of 9.58 seconds. How fast is the human limit? Over the past century the 100m time has consistently reduced by 0.1 second per decade.

This trend still has distance to go but must lead to a physical limit at some time. (unless time travel becomes the norm in future).

A Russian ship had been missing for more than two weeks. All crew members are doing well. Very interesting story, use link below!

The largest study of banknotes has found that 95% of dollar bills in Washington DC bear traces of cocaine! That frankly amazes me...

August 17, 1969 Woodstock Music Festival concludes On this day in 1969, the grooviest event in music history--the Woodstock Music Festival--draws to a close after three days of peace, love and rock...

The white house disabled the flag@whitehouse. Gov email address....

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.