| Sholeh Patrick
Oscar-winning actor Heath Ledger died this week, at 28. With "sleeping pills" in the headline, I assumed suicide. The latest speculation after an inconclusive autopsy includes a possible overdose.This much is known: Like a lot of us, he couldn't sleep. Between work and worry, Ledger was averaging two hours a night. He took a variation of the popular Ambien.I stick to the generic "PM" version near the Tylenol, but I too now succumb. More and more I hear how common not just OTC, but the prescription level habit is becoming. We are too busy, too stressed, and too into quick fixes. We are becoming a sleeping-pill nation. For Heath, it probably killed him.Sleep is as important to survival as food and water. Without it, we fumble, falter and literally go crazy. So if it's a chronic problem, perhaps it's better to trash the bottle and look at why.
Too cool for school
Mafia, born Norris Patterson in 1931 in Detroit, started playing music at 5 years old, got married at 17, had a daughter and became a mailman. After 12 years of marriage, his wife contracted an illness and died. He reacted by immersing himself in music, quitting his postal job and sending his daughter to live with his mother-in-law in Ohio. He never remarried. He began working seven nights a week playing saxophone at the legendary 20 Grand Lounge on 14th Street at Warren, a hub of the Detroit soul music scene. "It was a beautiful place," he says. "They had all the Motown acts, all different acts in there. It was on that high of a level. I was in the house band." Soon, Berry Gordy had him playing sax for his fast-growing Motown Records label, and 20 Grand owner Ed Wingate hired him for his Golden World Records.
Easterbrook: Kill the clock!
ET on Oct. 15, the Buccaneers, last year's NFC South champion, won their first game of the season. Stat of the Week No. 4: Seattle is 4-1 despite being outscored. In seven quarters, spanning from the end of their game with the Giants to halftime this Sunday, the Seahawks were outscored 85-13. Stat of the Week No. 5: Donovan McNabb and Marc Bulger have combined to throw 23 touchdown passes and three interceptions. Stat of the Week No. 6: Buffalo had a scoring drive of minus-12 yards. Stat of the Week No. 7: Bill Parcells joins Tony Dungy and Mike Shanahan as the only coaches to beat all 32 NFL teams (possible because they beat their present clubs while coaching elsewhere.) Stat of the Week No.
Harper 'sabotaged' climate change efforts: Dion
And you think telling one smoker in a room full of smokers, some of them chain smokers, to quit will actually clean up the room? I think maybe a person saying, 'we all have to stop,' is a better leader than the one who says, 'I will stop,' but in reality just hides his smoking habit from the rest.
I think Mr. Harper's insistance that all stop polluting is a better call then Dion's 'We signed an agreement, but we didn't live up to it,' call. Posted 01/12/07 at 3:24 PM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment .
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