Men's Health Magazine has named Cleveland the second most sleep deprived city in the United States in their latest issue on newstands now. The only city that Cleveland is getting more sleep thab us is Miami according the article. Philadelphia and Orlando are also sleep deprived according the magazine.The survey took into account how much we snore (guilty on this account), sleeping pills, and how much tv is watched during latenight hours (hey-we weren't the ones that scheduled the Browns on primetime 3 times this season).

The most rested cities are (likely a code-word for boring) are Madison, WI, followed by Sioux Falls, SD; Montgomery, AL; and Wichita, KS. After reading the results, I think I need a nap

Tom Jones played busker for the day in London when he made a surprise appearance as a street performer. Jones was doing the gig for a good cause as he wanted to raise awareness for a cancer charity. When passers-by realized who was doing the singing a crowd of gathers took in the performance.

A witness told the AFP

"We just happened to be walking past and I heard this singing, and I thought it sounded like Tom Jones,"

Want to see Jones in action on the streets in London? Here is a video clip of the days proceedings:

Motrin had to pull a new advertisement after moms who use baby slings were angered by the spot. Motrin responded to the backlash, which started on the social networking site twitter.com, by releasing a statement that said:

I am the Vice President of Marketing for McNeil Consumer Healthcare. I have responsibility for the Motrin Brand, and am responding to concerns about recent advertising on our website. I am, myself, a mom of 3 daughters.

We certainly did not mean to offend moms through our advertising. Instead, we had intended to demonstrate genuine sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their babies. We believe deeply that moms know best and we sincerely apologize for disappointing you. Please know that we take your feedback seriously and will take swift action with regard to this ad. We are in process of removing it from our website. It will take longer, unfortunately, for it to be removed from magazine print as it is currently on newstands and in distribution.

Here is the spot that is garnering so much attention. What do you think of the advert?

While the fires continue to rage in Los Angeles and Montecito, San Diego got their own taste of Mother Nature's fury this morning in the form of a 4.1 magnitude earthquake that was felt over a wide area of San Diego County Monday morning.

The earthquake, which is classified by the US Geological Survey as a "light" earthquake, was felt at 4:35 AM. It was centered about ten miles north of the Palomar Observatory, and 20 miles east of Temecula. There have been reports of people feeling the quake from Twentynine Palms to downtown San Diego.

According to the USGS, a light 4.1 earthquake would not typically be expected to cause injury or damage.

Fire officials in California said that winds of "near hurricane force" have now grounded some of their water dropping aircraft, as firefighters in northern Los Angeles continue to battle a wildfire that has already forced thousands to evacuate and that has burned 10 homes.

The California Highway Patrol shut down a section of Interstate 5 near Sylmar early Saturday as flames spread west towards the freeway, marking the second freeway closing recently due to the fire.

5,000 residents in the area have been evacuated since the fire began late Friday. More evacuations are under way, and patients at one hospital were evacuated when the fire knocked out power.

A separate fire is also blazing through the Santa Barbara area community of Montecito, which began on Thursday 100 miles northwest of LA, and has since forced the evacuation of 5,400 homes. At least 100 homes have been gutted by the blaze. There have been no reported fatalities, however, 13 have been injured, three of which are suffering from burns and 10 suffering from smoke inhalation.

This past Sunday, November 9, CVS/pharmacy launched its new Health Savings Pass, which will help reduce the cost of health care, particularly for the uninsured. It costs just $10 annually to enroll in the program, which will then allow consumers to fill a 90-day prescription for more than 400 common generic medications for just $9.99 at their local CVS.

In addition to the prescription savings, consumers will also receive a 10% discount on health services at all 8 MinuteClinic locations in Cleveland. In the Cleveland area alone there are an estimated 10.9% of people uninsured, and another 7.2% statewide that are unemployed.

Consumers may obtain a Health Savings Pass at any of of the more than 6,300 CVS locations nationwide. Alternatively, you may also enroll online at www.cvs.com or by calling 1-888-616-CARE (2273). A complete list of medications covered can also be found at the CVS website. MinuteClinic locations and services may be found at minuteclinic.com.

The Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2009 were announced Wednesday at the sixth annual Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit. The list of emerging technologies and breakthrough devices and therapies was carefully selected by a panel of Cleveland Clinic physicians and scientists. These innovations range from electronic medical records, to minimally invasive surgeries to treat uterine fibroids, to repair heart valves, and to remove organs through the body's natural orficices, and more.

Here's a list of the top ten, in order of #10 to #1:

10. Private Sector National Health Information Exchange: A comprehensive system of electronic health records that link consumers, general practitioners, specialists, hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes, and insurance companies is in the process of being established. Primarily a private-sector effort, this computerized system has the potential to replace paper-based medical files with digitized records of patients' complete medical history.

Agh, the benefits of having an influential area news website. Earlier this week, I was able to attend a great rock concert and an event that featured a number of music industry heavyweights. While those events might sound like a lot of fun, the most useful thing that came my way was an email from CVS which gave me the heads up to promote the drug store giving out flu shots at Cleveland area stores. After I wrote about the area stores who are offering the service, the good people at CVS offered a free flu shot at one of the stores and, considering I lived within walking distance to the store that was giving them out tonight, I decided to take them up on the offer. The pharmacist at the Berea CVS, Nancy Yates, was more than helpful to see that my needs were served in the store.

As the weather is beginning to turn and the holiday season gets ever so nearer, we are once again reminded of one of the perils of the season - the flu. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that all children between the ages of 6 months and 19-years-old, adults 50 and older, and those who work in the healthcare industry get an annual flu shot. If you do not fall into one of those categories, it still can't hurt to get one.

CVS offers flu shots without an appointment at more than 500 MinuteClinic locations and during flu shot clinic events in select CVS pharmacy stores nationwide. Consumers are encouraged to call 1-888-FLU-SHOT or go to www.cvs.com to view a list of flu shot clinics available.

Flu shots at CVS pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations are just $30 and may be covered by insurance.

Here's a list of upcoming flu shot clinic events in the greater Cleveland area:

November 4:

Mayfield Heights, 1451 Som Center Rd. (440) 937-4027 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

South Euclid, 4469 Mayfield Rd. (216) 382-6780. 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

November 5:

Berea, 212 West Bagley Rd. (440) 243-6676 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Mayfield Heights, 5901 Mayfield Rd. (440) 646-1555 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

After thirteen long years of research, the Japanese Suntory company have finally perfected the mythical blue rose. For a long time, blue roses were merely the stuff of legends, signifying mystery and were believed to be able to grant the owner youth. Breeders have long attempted to create a blue rose through cross-breeding and genetic engineering, but rose petals lacked the enzyme needed to create a blue pigment and so they consistently failed.

But now, the myth has become a reality. The very first real blue roses are now on display in Japan, and will go on sale to the public next year. Of course you can expect these roses to cost you much more than your average rose, simply because they're new, they're rare, and a lot of people will want them.

So how were they created? Japanese Suntory worked with the Australian company Florigene, who took the delphinidin gene (which creates the blue color) from a petunia. They took that gene and inserted it into a mauve roses known as the Cardinal de Richelieu, and the resulting flower was a dark burgundy color due to an excess of the blue pigment cyanidin. They then used RNAi technology to reduce the cyandin pigment, which eventually resulted in the final blue roses which was unveiled today at the annual Flower Expo in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.