Several years ago, our own justbob came up with the current name, “DeBlog,”  but it just doesn’t seem to be holding, as everyone calls it Jason’s Blog. What can possible override that?

The study found a nearly two-fold increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer among people who consumed at least two carbonated, sugar-sweetened beverages per week compared to those who did not consume soft drinks.

According to U of M Researcher Mark Pereira, “people who drink soda release a jolt of insulin into their pancreas, which may overwhelm the organ.”

But the study is based on “the dietary habits of more than 60,000 Chinese people who were observed for 14 years.” Uh.. what does this mean? That pop causes pancreatic cancer in Chinese people? Do other dietary habits come into play? And where the heck did they find 60,000 Chinese people in Minnesota? (Actually, our Asian population is twice that, but still… clearly the study was not conducted in Minnesota.)

Regardless, stop drinking that soda!

A group of students at the High School for Recording Arts in St. Paul wrote a song and produced a music video urging others to donate to Haiti. Their YouTube video has gotten over 128,000 hits with over 450 comments. And they performed the song Jan. 30 in front of a crowd of hundreds at the Mall of America, and Jan. 31 at the Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant in Minneapolis.

Sixth-graders at St. John Vianney School raised money from their own classmates. “In exchange for a donation, students could ditch their uniforms and wear clothes the color of a rainbow. The Rainbow for Haiti project generated $420 in a week.”

Andersen Elementary students, in Bayport, decorated soup cans for collecting money and raised $933 so far from the school community. “Next month, the students will work as servers and hosts and do other jobs at Leo’s Grill & Malt Shop in Stillwater. They plan to donate a portion of their tips to helping Haiti.”

And a group of Maple Grove High School students have even started a fundraiser called Hair Dying for Haiti, for which they’ve died their hair pink, purple, green and blue in hopes to raise money.

Huh?

Their efforts, along with other fundraisers by Maple Grove students, have raised $3,000 so far.

It’s been more than a decade since “Amy,” as she’s known in court papers, was first sexually abused by her uncle. The abuse ended long ago and he’s in prison, but the pictures he made when she was 8 or 9 are among the most widely circulated child pornography images online.

Should Amy get paid for the images that she claims hurt her every time they are viewed?

In Minnesota last month, a federal judge ordered prosecutors to explain why they didn’t ask for restitution in a case involving images of Amy.

A number of victims across the country have come forward seeking restitution from people who were caught with videos and pictures of their abuse. Now, judges are trying to figure out whether someone who obtains a picture taken years ago is directly responsible for the harm suffered by the victim. If the answer is yes, judges have the added complication of figuring out what amount is justified.

The blogger refers to this as a sexualized pose, to which many commenters have pointed out that her tucked position is indicative of the sport.  The author has followed-up, pointing out that while this is a skiing pose, it is not occuring “in action” and stands by her assertion as being sexual and objectifying the woman subject.

As a knucle-dragging male, I find it a stretch to think this image in any way sexualizes or objectifies Lindsey Vonn or in any way diminishes the contribution of women in sports.

So just how turned on are you?

Good news: The walleye harvest quotas for Mille Lacs Lake have been raised slightly for 2010.

And if you’d rather not get your hands dirty (or your ass cold), you can still enjoy a little fishing of sorts by attending the Fly Fishing Film Tour in March. Really? A fly fishing film tour? Wow.

(Can someone please explain how delaying payment helps to balance anything. According to state law, payments must be made by May 30th anyhow.)

Already, the Prior Lake-Savage School Board has responded to the reduction by cutting $3.7 million from its 2010-2011 budget. Seems like they’re not planning on seeing that money at all, eh?

The teachers’ union is planning its own counterattack, of course, and if you’re still planning on watching the Super Bowl — despite the lack of Vikings (and The Who playing CSI theme songs) — you’ll likely catch an the onset of Education Minnesota’s new TV ad campaign against budget cutters targeting schools to erase the deficit.

“There’s been much speculation about cutting education to solve the budget crisis,” [Education Minnesota President Tom] Dooher said at a news conference. “But cutting education is the wrong move at the wrong time. … Now is the time to protect it, reform the way we pay for it and make it our top priority. … Minnesota stands to lose its position as the nation’s leader in education, not because another state took it from us, but because Minnesota gave it away.”

Somehow, I doubt a four-day school week is the answer. But that’s exactly what is happening in school districts in west central and northern Minnesota.

Make no mistake about it: These decisions were entirely financial in nature. While school leaders intend to put the savings back into the classroom, and they certainly don’t want to see test scores, graduation rates or other measures of academic achievement fall, their main interest was not to better student achievement but to simply keep the doors open.

Meanwhile, Bernadeia Johnson, deputy superintendent of the Minneapolis schools, is preparing to take the reigns as the district’s superintendent. What does she have in mind? Watch this video and find out.

Hopefully, she’ll address the issue that Minnesota was among the lower tier finishers in a national report on practices for training, evaluating, and retaining quality teachers — scoring an overall D-minus. It seems we’re using “broken, outdated, and inflexible” policies that ultimately hurt how children learn. Oh, my. And on top of that, we’re breaking their backs!

Minnesota is one of 20 states to have a sex offender program; but it is the largest per capita in the country. Does this mean we have more sex offenders here? Hardly. It means we try to do something about it; we try to rehabilitate. But should we continue to put our resources into rehabilitative programs, or invest elsewhere?

Perhaps we should ask one of the boys sexually abused by former Minneapolis Park Police captain and longtime educator William A. Jacobs. Apparently, child porn charges have now been added to his roster as well.

Or perhaps we should look to our neighboring state, where a convicted sex offender strangled and stabbed his neighbor and her two teenage children in their trailer home. Clearly not rehabilitated.

In Burnsville next week, a forum is being held to discuss safety guidelines upon the arrival of new resident Dontay Lavarice Reese, 28, a Level III sex offender who is moving into the city. “Reese has a history of contact with juvenile female victims ages 13-16 that, according to police, has included penetration.” If he were my neighbor I’d sure hope he’d been through some kind of sex offender program. Wouldn’t you?

While “Obama is pitching $30B for small business lending on the grounds that this is where innovation, and thus jobs, are created,” writes Erik Hare, “the spirit of innovation in the USofA needs a lot more than that if it is going to be the engine of new growth and new jobs.”

An idea is just an idea.  In order to make it into “intellectual property” you have to “reduce it to practice” or show that it works. You then have to “teach” it in the right legal document known as a patent before the government recognizes this as something you can call your property.  From there, you own it for 20 years from the day of first filing.

Put patents aren’t easy to acquire. You have to prove it works, which means you need the resources and tools to “build” it. You have to know how to “write it up,” which is a complicated and grueling process. And even if you pull the whole thing off, “the US Patent and Trademark Office is currently taking about five years to grant patents.”

Yeah, that’s enough to stop you from even trying.

But Molly, commenting on the post, offers a solution: