Seth Weber didn’t need to visit the Da Vinci Science Center on cheap valentines day jewelry for it to occur to him that there might be some science behind the mysteries of love and romance.

The assistant U.S. Attorney met his wife, Stephanie Olexa, five years ago when she took the stand as an expert witness in an environmental crime prosecution.

“She was cute and she could make science understandable to a third-grader,” Weber said. About a year later, he asked her out, there were sparks and the rest is…what, a series of chemical reactions?

Is love and attraction nothing but a heady mix of pheromones and the drive to procreate?

Standing in front of the museum’s Our Chemical Romance exhibit on the power of scent Saturday night, Olexa hedged a bit. Perhaps there are some things even the periodic table can’t explain.

“As a scientist, of course there is chemistry … it’s meeting someone special, it’s the pendants energy connection,” Olexa said, sounding, in the end not so scientific.

The couple was among about 130 people who attended the $85-a-person fundraiser, billed as a Celebration of Love and Science, on Valentine’s Day at the Da Vinci Center.

The catered event included dance lessons, the opportunity for couples to mix their own perfume, romantically inspired foods such as raw oysters and, for parents, free baby-sitting, perhaps the most powerful aphrodisiac of all.

While the theme was science, the evening was mostly about couples just having a good time.

Ask dance instructors Lynn and Bob Kettenburg, who spent the evening cajoling earrings timid couples into strutting their stuff on the dance floor.

Forget chemistry. They’re believers in the power of the rhumba.

They should know. The couple met 15 years ago when Bob Kettenburg, 68, decided he wanted to enter dance in competitions with Lynn, 59.

She thought he was crazy. Six months after dancing competitively, romance blossomed.

They’ve been married for 12 years and won multiple championships key rings in the Silver division.

“That’s what the rhumba will do,” Lynn Kettenburg said.

Triton College issued the following news release:

The Triton College Flower Shop is hosting its annual cheap valentines day jewelry Sale now through Feb. 14.

Remember your valentine with these Flower Shop specials:

* Two Rosebud Vase – $15

* Three Rose Arrangement in a Black Container – $20

* One Dozen Red or Colored Roses in a Vase – $60

* Balloon Bouquet, (One Mylar and Three Latex) – $6

* Single Stem Rose with Greens and Filler Wrapped – $7

* Also Available – A Selection of Green and Blooming Plants at Discounted Prices

Pre-book your orders via e-mail to flowershop@triton.edu or by calling (708) 456-0300, Ext. 3552, today!

You can also check out our great selection of Valentine’s gifts by visiting the Flower Shop key rings (Room R-201) in the Robert M. Collins Center (R Building, east campus), 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Friday, or our Cafeteria station in the Student Center (B Building, west campus),11 a.m.-2 p.m.,Tuesday-Thursday.

Triton College is located at 2000 Fifth Ave., River Grove.For more information about US Fed News contract awards please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, US Fed News, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.

This week, a Supercuts customer survey revealed what men and women are thinking about for Valentine’s Day this Saturday, February 14. Over 2,400 Supercuts clients responded to an online survey and the answers varied from very funny to delightfully heartwarming (see also <http://www.newsrx.com/library/topics/Supercuts.html> Supercuts).

“Supercuts customers are always straightforward with their comments and feelings; and this is no tiffany and co exception,” said Todd Scott, Supercuts brand director. “Single or married, this Valentine’s Day is about spending quality time with friends, family and loved ones.”

So — let’s cut to the chase — the Valentine’s Day gifts! What are men getting for their women?

Men have a trio of gifts they are looking at – cards (53%), flowers (51%) and jewelry (15.3%). Yet, 59% of the women are expecting candy! Get going guys!

And interestingly, over 1,000 women took time to write what they wanted for Valentine’s Day. Answers ranged from diamond engagement rings or time with family and kids, but the most popular was a simple card (60.4%) and dinner out. Respondent #403 gave in and said ‘OK OK, I secretly wouldn’t mind flowers!’ silver key rings while #1189 is the envy of all women because she ‘received a full-length, red fox fur.’ One popular request (at least from respondents #20, #91, #496, #1206) — a new Wii! And in the ‘It Doesn’t Hurt to Ask’ department, one woman requested a million dollars.

Hundreds shared their plans as well. Many are making a special dinner because, as respondent #55 said, “…just being with my Valentine makes me feel good.” Romance is in the air – one Supercuts client will “treat my wife like the beautiful bride she is.” And then there are those who are not planning to do much more than respondent #712 who will go that extra step and “take a shower.”

Supercuts singles (16.7%) consider friends and family members their Valentine, and they will be out in force this Saturday. Supercuts couples — over 63% of the respondents — are going out for a romantic dinner. And because Supercuts clients are well-groomed, it’s not surprising that 52% are getting a haircut to look good for Valentine’s Day; while 24% of women talked about purchasing new clothes and getting their nails done (15%).

And what gifts do men want? Many didn’t request anything but a card and time with their sweetheart; silver necklaces or as respondent #66 said ‘can’t tell you here….’

Keywords: Supercuts.

THE Philippine National Police (PNP)has announced the arrest of the leader of the bloody Valentine bombing that killed three persons in Makati City.Dinno-Amor Rosalejos Pareja, the leader of the Rajah Solaiman Movement, a group of Christians who had converted to become Islamic militants, was captured at his hideout in Sitio Tuca, Dayawan, Marawi City on Friday, national police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa told a news conference Wednesday.

In his message, Verzosa immediately commended operatives of the Intelligence Group and the Lanao del Sur Police for the arrest of Pareja, who is known to have links with the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiah and the al-Qaeda terrorist organizations.

Verzosa said the US Department of Defense had offered a $90,000 reward for information leading to the tiffany and co arrest of the suspect. He also turned over P.5 million to the informant who supplied vital information leading to the arrest of Pareja.

“I am very glad to acknowledge the help of our confidential informant who provided the information that made this operation possible. Thus, I am turning over the amount of P500,000 cash offered by the DILG [Department of the Interior and Local Government] as reward for the information that led to the arrest of the wanted terrorist suspect,” the national police chief said.

Verzosa described Pareja as a skilled bomb-maker who was trained by Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both Jemaah Islamiah militants who fled Indonesia to the Philippines to escape prosecution for the deadly 2002 Bali bombings.

Also known as Khalil Pareja, Abu Jihad and Al-Luzoni, the suspect is to stand trial in connection with the bombing in Manila’s financial district on Valentine’s Day in 2005. On that day, three persons were killed and several others wounded when an improvised explosive device was detonated inside a passenger bus traveling along EDSA in Makati City.

Pareja will also be tried for the 2005 twin bombings in Zamboanga that wounded 26 civilians and left 10 soldiers of the 71st Infantry Battalion in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, dead.

The same year the suspect took part in a “failed bombing operation” codenamed “Big Bang” that targeted Manila silver rings establishments frequented by Americans and other foreigners, Verzosa said.

In March 2005, he fled to Central Mindanao and joined the group of the late Abu Sayyaf leader, Khaddafy Janjalani, after police and military personnel raided the Rajah Solaiman safehouse on Lilac Street, Regalado Subdivision, Quezon City, and seized about 600 kilograms of explosives intended for the planned bombing operation.

In November 2006, under instructions from the late Abu Sayyaf sub-commander Jainal Sali, Pareja led a group in casing bombing targets in Cebu City, for an attack planned to coincide with the 12th Asean Summit.

Manila called off that leaders’ meeting at the last moment, citing an approaching typhoon.

Pareja assumed a senior leadership role in the RSM following the arrests of RSM leader Ahmad Santos and RSM second-in-command Pio De Vera in October 2005. He was elected as the new Amir, or leader of the RSM in a meeting held in Sulu. Present in the meeting were key members of the RSM and Jemaah Islamiah leaders, Umar Patek and Dulmatin, whom he referred as his mentors.

The identification bracelets on at least one of the babies apparently switched at birth at the University of Virginia Medical Center were so loose they could easily be slipped on and off the infant’s wrist and ankle, the child’s mother says.

The bands are put on newborns to prevent mix-ups in the maternity ward. Hospital rules say the tiffany bracelets should be applied tightly enough that they must be cut off or a security lock broken to remove them, hospital spokeswoman Marguerite Beck said Sunday.

But Paula Johnson, the mother who discovered the switch, showed USA TODAY the I.D. bracelets she had saved from the birth of her daughter in June 1995. The tiny, pink bracelets are still locked, and their security pins are intact. Neither bracelet had been cut.

Johnson recalls easily slipping the bands from the wrist and ankle of the baby she thought to be her daughter after coming home from the hospital.

Johnson said she also slipped off her own security bracelet, which matches the child’s, without cutting or breaking the lock.

The bracelets may provide a clue to how things went amiss.

“Nothing is 100% foolproof,” Beck said Sunday. “The I.D. bracelets are designed to have a security rings lock to prevent them from slipping off.” University and state police are investigating the mix-up.

Identification numbers were printed on the bracelets. The baby’s name, Callie Marie, was handwritten in capital letters.

The hospital believes that Paula Johnson’s biological daughter was switched with the biological daughter of Whitney Rogers. The two had babies 15 hours apart. Since then, the two families are believed to have raised each other’s children, now 3.

Results of genetic tests are expected this week to confirm that Rebecca, the daughter of Rogers and Kevin Chittum, is the biological daughter of Paula Johnson.

The families of the swapped babies met for the first time Friday and Saturday. The bracelets two 3-year-olds did not attend.

Treating pain involves multiple modalities. From medications to physical therapy and acupuncture, the options are numerous and varied. However, despite physicians’ best efforts to provide pain relief, many patients continue to have pain. Increasingly, patients are trying unconventional treatments in place of traditional, evidence-based medical treatments. In fact, the interest in alternative medicine has grown considerably in recent years.1,2 A population-based survey3 indicated that 4 of 10 Americans used complementary and alternative medicine for chronic conditions in 1997 and made an estimated 629 million visits to practitioners of alternative medicine, far exceeding the 388 million visits that were made to primary care physicians during the same year. In addition, the total out-of-pocket expenditures related to the use of complementary and alternative medicine in 1997 were estimated at $27 billion, which is comparable to out-of-pocket expenditures for all physician services.3,4

Many methods used in alternative medicine are insufficiently tested or not tested at all.5 Despite the enormous interest of the general public in alternative medical treatments, little evidence-based research supports claims about the efficacy of such methods. The reasons include lack of interest by the academic community, lack of financial support by corporate sponsors to fund research because the medications are already available, and difficulties in applying current regulatory criteria to alternative medicine.1

One alternative method previously untested in the United States is the use of “ionized” wrist bracelets for pain relief. Promotional information from the manufacturer states that the ionized bracelet can “energize the whole body,” “relieve pain the natural way,” and balance “Yin & Yang (positive and negative ions).” According to the Yin– Yang theory, a relationship exists among acupuncture points, meridians, and the electric currents of the body. An electric current is generated by an interaction of positively and negatively charged ions. If the flow of energy called “chi” remains unimpeded and in balance, individuals are believed to remain physically and mentally balanced and therefore in peak health.6 According to the company’s promotional information, the bracelets were invented by Dr Manuel Polo in 1973 in Spain. The “natural series” bracelets used for this study were 85% copper and 15% zinc, and the cost was approximately $50 each. More expensive models (up to $179) are available from the manufacturer. The ionization process is a secret process not revealed by the manufacturer. A small study (50 patients) from China (not found in a review of the literature) reported benefit with use of the ionized bracelet for headache and for back, hip, leg, and hand pain over a 6-week periods Although numerous professional athletes such as golfers, basketball stars, weight lifters, and hockey players have given testimonials regarding the benefits, questions remain about the effectiveness of these bracelets in relieving pain. We performed a randomized double-blind trial to assess objectively the effects of these ionized wrist bracelets on musculoskeletal pain.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Volunteers were recruited from advertisements posted at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla, in 2000 and 2001. Participants included 610 men and women, 18 years of age or older, who had self-reported pain at the beginning of the study in at least 1 of the following areas: neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, upper back, mid back, lower back, hips, knees, ankles, or feet.

Both ionized and placebo bracelets were provided by the manufacturer. The appearance of each bracelet was identical. The identity of each bracelet was blinded to the manufacturer, participants, and researchers until the study was completed. Specific instructions were given to each participant for correct placement of the bracelets according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. This study was approved by the Mayo Foundation Institutional Review Board, and participants gave informed consent.

Procedures

Participants were randomly assigned to receive either an ionized wrist bracelet (Q-Ray, QT, Inc, Elk Grove Village, Ill) (n=305) or a placebo wrist bracelet of identical appearance (n=305).

Demographic information, collected on all 610 participants in an initial questionnaire, included age, sex, ethnic background, whether the participant had ever seen or used an ionized bracelet, and whether the participant believed that such a bracelet would reduce joint or muscle pain. Participants were asked to indicate the area in which they had pain and whether they had had a serious injury at that site. For each location where pain was present, participants rated the intensity of the pain on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 indicating “very little pain” and 10 indicating “pain as bad as it could be.” A follow-up questionnaire was given to evaluate pain at these locations after participants wore the bracelets for 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. In this questionnaire, pain was rated on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 indicating “no pain,” 1 indicating “very little pain,” and 10 indicating “pain as bad as it could be.”

Primary End Points

For each location where pain was present at baseline, changes in pain score were calculated by subtracting the baseline score from the follow-up score at each time point. The percentage of patients whose pain score had improved was also calculated for each time point.

Two primary end points were defined for evaluating efficacy. The first was the change at 4-week follow-up (day 28) in the pain score at the location with the highest baseline value (maximum pain score). The second was the change at 4-week follow-up in the sum of the pain scores for all locations.

Statistical Analysis

Comparisons between groups were based on rank sum tests for quantitative variables and chi^sup 2^ tests for dichotomous variables. Tests about whether the percentage of patients with improvement exceeded 50% within each group were conducted at each time point with the use of a normal approximation to the binomial distribution.

All tests for efficacy were 1-sided because they addressed a 1-sided question. All tiffany jewelry other tests were 2-sided.

Stepwise linear regression was then applied to determine whether group allocation would become significant after adjusting for other factors. The end points used were the 4-week changes in the following scores: maximum pain score, sum of pain scores for all locations, and pain scores for the individual locations where pain had been reported at baseline. The possible confounding variables considered were participants’ age, sex, racial origin, whether they had seen the bracelets before, whether they had used the bracelets before, whether they believed that the bracelets could reduce joint or muscle pain, whether they were taking medication for pain, and the magnitude of the baseline score. The significance level used as a criterion for entering and staying in the model was P<.10. “Group” was then added as a variable in the final model to determine whether there was a difference between those who wore the placebo bracelet and those who wore the ionized bracelet, after adjusting for all significant factors.

RESULTS

The mean age of the 609 participants who gave their age on the questionnaire was 48.27 years (SD, 13.46 years; range, 18-88 years). Of 608 participants who gave information on sex, 157 (25.8%) were male and 451 (74.2%) were female. Of 607 participants who gave information on racial origin, 533 (87.8%) were white and 74 (12.2%) were of other racial origin. Of 409 participants who answered the question about whether they believed the bracelets can reduce joint or muscle pain, 327 (80.0%) gave a positive and 82 (20.0%) a negative answer.

Comparisons at baseline between those who wore the placebo bracelet and those who wore the ionized wrist bracelet are summarized in Tables 1 through 3. The groups did not differ significantly from each other at baseline for any variable except elbow injury (Table 3). In view of the large number of statistical tests undertaken, some comparisons might have been expected to differ significantly by chance.

No significant differences were seen between groups for either of the primary end points, ie, change at 4-week follow-up in maximum pain score and in sum of pain scores for all locations. The groups did not differ in the magnitude of change in these variables at any time point during the study, although statistically significant decreases from baseline were observed within each group at all time points (Figures 1 and 2). Similarly, no significant differences were seen between groups in the mean change from baseline after 4 weeks at any site where pain had been pendants present at baseline, although significant decreases from baseline were observed within each group at each site (Table 4).

When the percentages of patients with improvement in maximum pain score or sum of pain scores for all locations were evaluated at each time point, we again saw no significant difference between groups, although within-group improvement rates were significantly greater than 50% in most instances (Table 5).

Analyses were also undertaken in which comparisons were made between groups after adjusting for other factors that may influence change in pain (eg, age). The results of regression analysis taking such factors into account are listed in Table 6. For each end point, the factors that were significantly (P<.10, see Subjects and Methods section) associated with change in pain scores were identified, and then treatment group was added to the regression model. In each case, no significant association with treatment was identified. This indicates that the failure to identify an effect from the ionized wrist bracelet beyond the effect available from placebo cannot be ascribed to other factors.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study suggest that the use of ionized bracelets for treating muscle and joint pain was no more effective for relieving musculoskeletal pain than was the use of placebo bracelets. However, both groups showed subjective improvement in pain scores.

Up to 30% to 40% of patients with a wide range of clinical conditions, such as pain, asthma, high blood pressure, and even myocardial infarction, have reported subjective improvement with the use of placebos. However, the effectiveness of placebos has been questioned recently. In an analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment, Hrobjartsson and Gotzsche7 found little evidence that placebos had powerful clinical effects except for “possible small benefits in studies with continuous subjective outcomes and for the treatment of pain.” Additionally, earrings therapeutic patterns that heighten placebo effects are especially prominent in unconventional healing, and this form of healing may have “enhanced” placebo effects in particular conditions.8 Although the goal of our study was not to assess the effectiveness of placebos, our results supported the benefits of using placebos to treat pain. The participants in both the ionized and the placebo bracelet group showed a subjective improvement in pain scores. This study did not include participants who received no bracelet. Such a group would have allowed us to study pain in an untreated group during the same period and could have strengthened the results of this study. Accordingly, it is unclear whether pain would have improved in similar populations with observation alone. Further studies could help clarify this issue.

CONCLUSION

Alternative medical treatments are increasing in popularity. Although patients may perceive benefits from alternative medical therapies, there is little objective evidence to support the effectiveness of most alternative methods. Our finding that the subjective improvement in pain scores was similar for ionized and placebo bracelets questions the benefit of using an ionized bracelet. As practicing clinicians, we need continued research to test claims made by manufacturers of alternative medical products to ensure that our recommendations are adequately and sufficiently supported by objective, research– based evidence.

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I’m Melissa Block.

Unidentified Man #1: Hey, how are you? Happy new year.

BLOCK: Today, just outside Washington, DC, 27 wiry young men from 14 countries posed for official photographs in biking shorts and their new blue and white team jerseys with a yellow band on the sleeve. This was the unveiling of the 2005 Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, with Discovery taking over the sponsorship from the United States Postal Service.

Unidentified Man #2: Please welcome six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

(Soundbite of cheering and applause)

BLOCK: Lance Armstrong got the first of his record-breaking six Tour de France wins in 1999, just three years after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which had spread to his lungs and brain. His remarkable comeback after surgery and chemotherapy made many suspicious. He’s been accused of doping, a charge he’s denied. In person, Lance Armstrong is smaller than you might think, with intense focus. He wears one of his now ubiquitous Live Strong yellow wristbands. The proceeds from their sale go to his cancer foundation. We sat down to talk with Armstrong just before the media events this morning.

I want to ask you the big question that I think everybody’s wondering about, which is whether you’re going to race in the Tour de France this year.

Mr. LANCE ARMSTRONG (Six-time Tour de France Champion): That’s a good question. I asked myself that a lot, too, and I still am undecided. First and foremost, I’m going to focus on the spring classics, and then probably, as soon as they’re done, I’ll decide on whether or not we race in July or wait a year.

BLOCK: You’ve got a new team sponsor, though, and I would imagine there’d be a lot of pressure. They’re going to want to see you race in the race that most people pay attention to.

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Well, there’s no doubt that the Tour is the biggest race in the world and the one that Americans know almost exclusively. I mean, if you ask them about Tour Flanders, they wouldn’t know what you’re talking about. But, you know, I think the important thing to know is that obviously I’ll do whatever they wish. If they want a Tour in 2005, then that’s what they’ll get, and I’ll do it with all the professionalism and motivation that I always do.

BLOCK: At this point in your career–you’re 33 now?

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Yes.

BLOCK: Do you feel pressure inside yourself to diversify? I mean, you’ve done this amazing thing and won the Tour six times. Do you think, `You know, what I really want to do now is go for the one- hour record’?

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Right.

BLOCK: `I want to show that I’m the best overall in this sport’?

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Yeah. Those events or those goals like the hour record are interesting and fascinating to me. The hour record is something I’ve never done in terms of racing on the track, and it’s something that hasn’t really been done in cycling in probably 20 years. There’s been a few attempts but not a lot of attempts in the last 20 years, and it’d be cool to bring that back. But I think the thing that I have to keep in mind is I’ll never be able to do what the pillars of the sport or the legends of the sport did 20, 30 years ago where they won the classics, they won the tours and then at the end of the year they set the hour record. That’s not the way cycling is today. Cycling has drastically changed, and riders are much more specialized, so you don’t have riders racing from February till October, at least at a high level. And especially the riders who want to win the biggest race of them all, they just simply can’t keep going throughout the year. So, you know, I’ll never be able to do what Eddie Merckx did.

BLOCK: Eddie Merckx is the Belgian racer who did it all, basically.

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Right. Eddie Merckx is–I think everybody in the sport would agree he’s the best of all time. He has the most victories. He won the most tours. He did it all.

BLOCK: I want to ask you about doping. I know you’ve said a lot of times that you’re the most frequently tested athlete; you’ve never tested positive. But there are constantly questions and allegations being raised about you and your performance. What’s it like to try to perform under that cloud? How do you handle that?

Mr. ARMSTRONG: I’ve lived with speculation and the stories for six years, and, I mean, I think a lot of that began in ’99 when I came back from a life-threatening illness. ’99 was a very interesting year for a lot of reasons. Number one, I won my first Tour. And I think, more importantly, it was the year that followed 1998, which was arguably the biggest doping scandal in the history of all sport.

BLOCK: In the Tour de France specifically.

Mr. ARMSTRONG: In the Tour de France. And so, you know, cycling has been in the crosshairs for the last six years. And the person who then comes along, wins the hardest race of the year, doesn’t just do it once barely but does it six times, which some could perceive as comfortably, I think that’s normal and natural that he gets asked those questions. Now there’s not a ranking on who gets tested the most. I mean, I don’t know if I get tested more than Michael Phelps or if I get tested more than Barry Bonds. I don’t know. But I know that I get tested a lot, and I know that I declare where I am 365 days a year if they want to come test me. I know that I’ve never tested positive, which I know is not a great excuse because then the talk begins of, `But he has something undetectable.’ It’s very hard to disprove that. I mean, I can’t– I’m not going to argue that.

But–and the final thing I’ll say is I think if you stacked up all the sports–basketball, baseball, football, cycling, swimming and track and field, tennis–there’s no sport that’s done more to fight doping than cycling. I’m proud of our sport for that. And I fear that more positives paint our sport in a bad light, but I’m certainly not worried about them catching this team because it’s simply not going to happen.

BLOCK: Some in the cycling press have faulted you for maybe being defensive about doping as opposed to using your platform…

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Right.

BLOCK: …this huge platform that you have around the world, to really speak out about necklaces doping, specifically in cycling…

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Right.

BLOCK: …and to acknowledge that it’s a problem and say that more should be done.

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Right. Well, I would say that, but, quite frankly, I don’t think more can be done. What more could be done to fight doping in cycling? Have people live with the riders? From where we are today, that’s the next step, and that’s obviously never going to happen in any sport or any facet of life. So, you know, to go out and criticize our sport–I’m not going to do it.

BLOCK: You’re in a sport that keeps you in Europe for a good part of the year. You’ve got three young kids back home in Texas. Is there part of your mind that says, `You know, retirement is something I can imagine’?

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Yeah.

BLOCK: `I can think about a time when I’m going to be home…’

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Sure.

BLOCK: `…and not racing around Europe.’

Mr. ARMSTRONG: I can, and I do think about that. My son now is five and a half, and we have discussions about cycling and about what that means for me to have to go away. And, quite frankly, he tells me. He’s like, `I wish you would stop because if you continue racing, that means you have to leave for a long time.’ And so it’s odd to have a heart-to-heart with a five-year-old, but they can do that. And that affects me. But, you know, I’m not here for 10 more years, and I think the upside is that when I am done and they’re having all their functions that they have all year long, I will be at home a lot more than your normal 9-to-5 dad.

BLOCK: You’re wearing a Live Strong bracelet. A lot of people are wearing them. How many have been sold so far?

Mr. ARMSTRONG: I hear numbers from 28 to 30 million. Either way, it’s a lot.

BLOCK: Yeah. Have you seen specific ways that these are paying off in some way, how key rings they’re being put to use, the money from them?

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Well, of course, along the way they’ve become some sort of a statement or a fashion statement or a trend. But for me, the original idea and the original thought was that they would just be a symbol of hope and courage for cancer survivors and their families around the world, this message of hope and courage and inspiration and fighting. And even when perhaps somebody doesn’t make it–I mean, I get e-mails all the time where, you know, they want to be buried in the thing, and it’s stories like that that you don’t want to hear, you don’t expect to hear, but when you hear it, it moves you. And obviously the fad will fade. In the future, you know, perhaps we sell a few, but they’ll go to the most meaningful people.

BLOCK: I read that in your autobiography, you said about cycling, `I didn’t do it for pleasure; I did it for pain.’

Mr. ARMSTRONG: (Laughs)

BLOCK: I don’t know if you still think–feel that way.

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Yeah, I still like to suffer.

BLOCK: You do?

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Yeah.

BLOCK: I guess I was wondering whether there’s any point when you’re riding tiffany and co when you might remember what it was like to be a kid in Plano, Texas, getting on a bike when it was just for pleasure…

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Right.

BLOCK: …when it was just a fun thing to do.

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Well, I still go out and love to–you know, when you’re suffering, you look straight ahead. And when you’re having fun and it’s pleasure, you’re looking left and right and looking around. And I get to do both of those. But if it was just about going out and looking around and seeing the countryside, I wouldn’t do it. But for me, that ability to go out and suffer and feel like I’m working for a living and trying to create something, create a victory or create a good team or create history, that’s the most rewarding.

BLOCK: Lance Armstrong, thanks very much.

Mr. ARMSTRONG: Yeah, thank you.

BLOCK: Lance Armstrong says he’ll decide in late April whether he’ll race in the Tour de France this year. He says he’s committed, with his Discovery sponsors, to racing in at least one more Tour and maybe more.

(Soundbite of music)

BLOCK: You’re listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.

To see more of the Connecticut Post, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.connpost.com. Copyright

Jun. 21–Starting Sunday, Stop & Shop Supermarkets in Connecticut will sell red, white and blue wristbands in bins near the registers, with the proceeds going to veterans’ groups in the state to help soldiers injured in the “War on Terror.”

The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes is giving the Quincy, Mass.-based grocery tiffany and co chain 492,000 bracelets, which the company will sell for $2 each at its Stop & Shop and Giant food stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Washington, D.C. Stores in New Jersey won’t carry the bracelets because there aren’t enough to go around, company spokeswoman Faith Weiner said.

“We thought that it would be a great patriotic symbol of support,” she said.

The partnership with the coalition came out of a dinner that Stop & Shop President and Chief Executive Marc Smith had with coalition founder Roger Chapin, Weiner said. Smith was had been looking for a way to help wounded veterans, she said.

“Marc felt that the public, and especially our customers — if they knew what these men and women needed would want to help,” she said.

The funds raised will help wounded veterans put their lives back together, she said. That earrings assistance could be financial or structural, such as building a ramp onto the house of a veteran who uses a wheelchair.

“We understand the government is helping them — [but] we know the government can never do it all,” she said.

The bracelets cost the coalition 41 cents each, and the coalition will recover that cost, Weiner said. The remaining $1.59 will go to local groups to help veterans, but Weiner on Monday did not have a list of how the money will be distributed or to which agencies or groups.

However, she said, the coalition won’t be able to use any of the money for its administrative costs, and “Stop & Shop isn’t making any money [on the sales].”

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. (To access color photos of the following recalled products, see CPSC’s Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov.)

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. The CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products — such tiffany jewelry as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals — contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC’s hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC’s teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270 or visit CPSC’s Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov/talk.html. Consumers can obtain this release and recall information at CPSC’s Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov.

Firm’s Recall Hotline: (800) 994-6260

CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060323/DCTH011 ) pendants (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030904/USCSCLOGO ) Name of Product: Reebok Heart-Shaped Charm Bracelets Units: About 300,000 Importer: Reebok International Ltd., of Canton, Mass. Hazard: The recalled jewelry contains high levels of lead, posing a risk of lead poisoning and adverse health effects to young children. Incidents/Injuries: Reebok has received a report of a death caused by lead poisoning of a 4-year-old child from Minneapolis, Minn. The child reportedly swallowed a piece from one of these bracelets. Description: The recall involves an 8-inch long metal bracelet with a heart-shaped charm. The name “Reebok” is engraved on the one side of the charm. The charm bracelet was provided as a free gift with the purchase of various styles of children’s footwear. Sold at: Major shoe stores nationwide from May 2004 through March 2006. The manufacturer’s retail price of the shoes ranged between $33 and $50. Manufactured in: China. Remedy: earrings Consumers should immediately take the charm bracelets away from children and dispose of the entire bracelet. Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Reebok at (800) 994-6260 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit Reebok’s Web site at http://www.reebok.com.

Domestic violence suspects awaiting trial in Orange and Chatham counties might be ordered to wear monitoring bracelets to track whether they get too close to their alleged victims while out on bond.

The counties’ sheriff’s offices, along with sheriff’s offices in Alamance, Pitt and Rockingham counties, have received grants totaling nearly $725,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice to test the bracelets in a two-year program.

“It’s a way of adding another layer of supervision for that individual between the arrest and when they go to court,” Pitt County Sheriff Mac Manning said.

Manning’s office has been testing the bracelets on domestic violence suspects for about a year. A judge can order a defendant to wear one of the bracelets as a condition of release from jail while awaiting trial.

The bracelets provide 24-hour, real-time monitoring and alert law enforcement of violations. If a suspect gets closer than he is supposed to be to an alleged victim’s home, for example, an alert is sent to a domestic violence officer’s pager. An alarm also goes off if the bracelet is tampered with or removed.

The time between a suspect’s arrest and trial or plea can be particularly difficult for victims of violence, said Donna Kay Smith, interim executive director of the Family Violence Prevention Center of Orange County.

“When somebody is arrested, it can make them angry,” she said. “Violence is tiffany jewelry very much about having power and control over another person, and when you have someone arrested, it shifts the balance of power and control, and that can make them even more violent as they try to get that back.”

Orange County Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said he hopes to have the program running in his office by January.

“We think it will be another way to lend assistance and some more protection for victims of domestic violence,” he said.

Sgt. John Guard of the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office’s Domestic Violence Prevention Unit said he’s optimistic about results so far. There have been 11 incidents — arrests or calls — among the 53 suspects who have worn the bracelets in the past year. Among domestic violence suspects the Sheriff’s Office arrested in 2004, the rate of reported repeat incidents in the same calendar year was about 36 percent.

Guard cautions that the program shouldn’t be seen as the solution to the problem of keeping victims safe.

“I believe this is going to be a good program,” he said. “But we should never put the blinders on and say any one thing is going to eradicate domestic violence or increase victim safety. … It’s a societal issue.”