Melanie Oudin

Melanie Oudin

In her run to the quarterfinals of the 2009 U.S. Open, 17-year-old Melanie Oudin distinguished herself for exceptional mental toughness. Her focus and her ability to compartmentalize were further underscored by a potentially distracting domestic situation. According to records from Cobb County (Ga.) Superior Court, on July 24, 2008, Melanie's father, John Oudin, filed for divorce from Melanie's mother, Leslie.

In his initial complaint, John Oudin filed for divorce on grounds of adultery, alleging that Leslie was "unfaithful during marriage." In her response to the complaint, dated Aug. 12, 2008, Leslie Oudin denied the allegation. In a sworn statement made on Aug. 10, 2009, John Oudin specifically alleges his wife had been unfaithful with Melanie's coach, Brian de Villiers. "I didn't initial [sic] take any action regarding my early suspicions because I didn't want to believe my wife was having an affair with my daughter's tennis coach. On December 29, 2007, I confronted my wife about whether she was having an affair with Brian de Villiers. I confronted Brian de Villiers separately. My wife and Brian de Villiers both admitted to me they were having an affair."

John Oudin also states in the affidavit that Melanie suspected the alleged affair. "Both [Melanie and her twin sister, Katherine] asked me point blank if I thought Mom was having an affair with Brian. When I asked why they had suspicions, Melanie told on one occasion she woke up at 1:00 a.m. in her hotel room and Leslie was not there. She called Brian's cell phone and connected with her."

Colloidal silver

Colloidal silver

Colloidal silver has appeared in the news yet again. It's one of those stories that comes around every year or two: maybe someone's decided to start selling it again or perhaps yet another man has turned blue as a result of taking it. The time of the story may change but the story itself is always the same. Colloidal silver is another one of those health fads which while it is based in a minor part of reality, is in fact a scam and a fraud. You see, while colloidal silver might indeed have certain antibiotic effects, it also has some rather bad side effects. And not only that, we now have vastly better antibiotics which you should be better off using rather than the colloidal silver. Here's an example of the sort of claims made for colloidal silver:

There's few problems with those claims: for example, cellulitis is not a bacterial infection. Nor is osteomyelitis. If it is effective against epiglottis in children (something we are most dubious about) why isn't it in adults? These are the sort of claims we associate with snake oil salesmen I'm afraid, not with proper medicine. It's also worth noting that penicillin has been shown to be more effective in those diseases where bacteria are indeed present: which is why the medical world uses it and its derivatives rather than silver.

Oh, and you know that silver is a heavy metal? So drinking a solution of it is giving yourself heavy metal poisoning? And if you want the full skinny on colloidal silver you can always read Quackwatch: Colloidal silver is a suspension of submicroscopic metallic silver particles in a colloidal base. Long-term use of silver preparations can lead to argyria, a condition in which silver salts deposit in the skin, eyes, and internal organs, and the skin turns ashen-gray. Many cases of argyria occurred during the pre-antibiotic era when silver was a common ingredient in nosedrops. When the cause became apparent, doctors stopped recommending their use, and reputable manufacturers stopped producing them. The official drug guidebooks (United States Pharmacopeia and National Formulary) have not listed colloidal silver products since 1975.

Apple announcement

Apple announcement

Rumors have circulated that Apple could make the long-awaited announcement that songs from the Beatles catalog will finally be added to iTunes for download. To be sure speculation about the Beatles inclusion in iTunes is a well-worn Apple rumor, but some have noted that if such an announcement came today, it would coincide with the launch of the Beatles-based version of Rock Band as well as digitally remastered CD versions of the Beatles catalog, both to be officially launched today.

(For our money, we’re not betting on a Beatles announcement. Especially since the email invitation sent to reporters showed the dancing silhouette of a person with an iPod and the words: “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it,” a clear reference to the Rolling Stones anthem.) There was also some talk that Apple could potentially introduce a long-awaited tablet device. But most essentially expect a refresh of Apple’s iPod line with a version that includes a camera. Such low expectations might damp any push to sell Apple shares, says Chris Whitmore, a Deutsche Bank analyst covering Apple.

Yesterday, Barron’s Steven Sears reported that options traders had been taking bullish positions in the stock. But he noted, “even though investors are positioning for stock gains, traders are also setting up a “buy the rumor, sell the news” trade should case Apple’s announcement fall short of the hype.” “If there is any selling the news today, I’d expect it to be modest and short lived. We’re buyers on any pullback and view $225 as a reasonable medium-term target,” he wrote in an e-mail to MarketBeat.