After saying that blogs are generous venues in which to educate, please let me draw your attention to a wonderful one by a medical doctor that I found in an article comment in the New York Times.
Dr. Alex Lickerman is writing a uniquely creative blog called "Happiness In This World" on many medical subjects, such as obesity, depression and even "fear of death" that could be very, very useful.
It is delightful, and a good antidote to my previous blog entry that said that physicians have to live with their knowledge of what they "could have done". It is one that I will, no doubt, return to and here's a link.
It's an extra special way to learn more from a reliable expert. Free! For now, anyway.
What's your favorite blog written by a physician? Please let me know.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Shane McConkey: Extreme Skier, Base Jumper
These amazing videos feature Canadian extreme skier Shane McConkey:
The Tyee
Here's another from Youtube.com via the Globe and Mail,
Sadly, McConkey, 39, died last Thursday (not shown here), "the first" to jump off a certain mountain in Italy with a parachute.
From: The Tyee,
"It's too easy see his death and to moralize. For those of us outside his tribe, it's easy to call him crazy and dismiss him because, in some way, it affirms our safe choices. (If letting your body wither behind a desk, eating fast-food, driving in rush-hour, road-rage traffic every day a safe choice... or even living). And, yes, for those inside his tribe or on the fringe of it, it's probably too easy to put him on a pedestal.
But the fact is Shane McConkey was [one guy] who reminded us all that if we have the audacity follow our dreams, well, we just might be able to fly."
There is more about him in this amazing video, but please DO NOT try this anywhere near home!
The Tyee
Here's another from Youtube.com via the Globe and Mail,
Sadly, McConkey, 39, died last Thursday (not shown here), "the first" to jump off a certain mountain in Italy with a parachute.
From: The Tyee,
"It's too easy see his death and to moralize. For those of us outside his tribe, it's easy to call him crazy and dismiss him because, in some way, it affirms our safe choices. (If letting your body wither behind a desk, eating fast-food, driving in rush-hour, road-rage traffic every day a safe choice... or even living). And, yes, for those inside his tribe or on the fringe of it, it's probably too easy to put him on a pedestal.
But the fact is Shane McConkey was [one guy] who reminded us all that if we have the audacity follow our dreams, well, we just might be able to fly."
There is more about him in this amazing video, but please DO NOT try this anywhere near home!
How Sick Can Healthcare Itself Get?
An interesting article in The New York Times highlights an issue that is gaining more press coverage:
people with multiple health problems — a condition known as multimorbidity — are largely overlooked both in medical research and in the nation’s clinics and hospitals".
Physicians should centralize patient care, because there isn't any excuse not to. They might cite privacy concerns, total lack of typing ability, time, funds for computer use, interest, or motivation. Whatever the excuses, they're just that.
In a medical system geared toward individual organs and diseases, there is no champion for patients with multiple illnesses — no National Institute on Multimorbidity, no charity Race for the Multimorbidity Cure, no celebrity pressuring Capitol Hill for more research"...“We often don’t know what the real safety or efficacy is for patients with multiple illnesses,” said Dr. W. Douglas Weaver, president of the American College of Cardiology...Changing that will require a major investment in research, guidelines and quality measures that include the kinds of complicated cases doctors see every day.
It's high time for doctors to use computers to centralize patient care. Computers should help control patient outcomes in every major way imaginable, from controlling healthcare costs to monitoring cancer treatments and the spread of epidemics. Healthcare costs should be organized for greater efficiency, so that healthcare is patient-based, not "greed-based".
Here's the thing, if it doesn't happen, apart from computer cognoscenti thinking physicians are slow, at some point doctors will realize how many lives they could have helped, but for their stubbornness, and they will have to live with that knowledge.
“I think everyone realizes that we need to figure out how to integrate care for our elderly patients with multiple chronic conditions,” said Dr. Ardis D. Hoven, an internist in Lexington, Ky., who is a trustee of the American Medical Association. “But we’ve got a long way to go. We’re just now beginning to verbalize this.”
Organized treatment is appropriate healthcare not just for the elderly, but for anyone with a serious medical episode or disease. If healthcare can control illness in any way by using computers to centralize and organize patient care, then it's totally irresponsible NOT to use them as much as possible. The search capabilities of computers make them mandatory methods of communication.
My recent entry here highlighted certain celebrity deaths attributed to lethal drug interactions. Doctors should organize total patient care, not expect patients to just "do it themselves". The more doctors' computers get together, the happier we'll all be.
There's just no excuse any more to put off healthcare reform. High healthcare costs hurt businesses and non-profits, and computers are terrific organizers. My question is, with the glut of specialist physicians in the United States, why has it taken so long to reach a discussion of centralized patient care -- greed in the drug and medical professions, or computer illiteracy?
people with multiple health problems — a condition known as multimorbidity — are largely overlooked both in medical research and in the nation’s clinics and hospitals".
Physicians should centralize patient care, because there isn't any excuse not to. They might cite privacy concerns, total lack of typing ability, time, funds for computer use, interest, or motivation. Whatever the excuses, they're just that.
In a medical system geared toward individual organs and diseases, there is no champion for patients with multiple illnesses — no National Institute on Multimorbidity, no charity Race for the Multimorbidity Cure, no celebrity pressuring Capitol Hill for more research"...“We often don’t know what the real safety or efficacy is for patients with multiple illnesses,” said Dr. W. Douglas Weaver, president of the American College of Cardiology...Changing that will require a major investment in research, guidelines and quality measures that include the kinds of complicated cases doctors see every day.
It's high time for doctors to use computers to centralize patient care. Computers should help control patient outcomes in every major way imaginable, from controlling healthcare costs to monitoring cancer treatments and the spread of epidemics. Healthcare costs should be organized for greater efficiency, so that healthcare is patient-based, not "greed-based".
Here's the thing, if it doesn't happen, apart from computer cognoscenti thinking physicians are slow, at some point doctors will realize how many lives they could have helped, but for their stubbornness, and they will have to live with that knowledge.
“I think everyone realizes that we need to figure out how to integrate care for our elderly patients with multiple chronic conditions,” said Dr. Ardis D. Hoven, an internist in Lexington, Ky., who is a trustee of the American Medical Association. “But we’ve got a long way to go. We’re just now beginning to verbalize this.”
Organized treatment is appropriate healthcare not just for the elderly, but for anyone with a serious medical episode or disease. If healthcare can control illness in any way by using computers to centralize and organize patient care, then it's totally irresponsible NOT to use them as much as possible. The search capabilities of computers make them mandatory methods of communication.
My recent entry here highlighted certain celebrity deaths attributed to lethal drug interactions. Doctors should organize total patient care, not expect patients to just "do it themselves". The more doctors' computers get together, the happier we'll all be.
There's just no excuse any more to put off healthcare reform. High healthcare costs hurt businesses and non-profits, and computers are terrific organizers. My question is, with the glut of specialist physicians in the United States, why has it taken so long to reach a discussion of centralized patient care -- greed in the drug and medical professions, or computer illiteracy?
Pay-Per-View vs. Free Articles and Books
Many newspapers and magazines now ask for payment in return for archived articles. If asked to divulge credit card information thrice in fifteen minutes, the answer is usually "no" and it's on to another site.
It's not just the two dollar fee (though that's annoying), it's the risk of giving away a credit card number, even to a "virus-protected site" that bothers and slows any surfer, as well as the time it takes to give a number to three sites in said fifteen minutes.
Those sites with articles one would half-heartedly like to read don't win; the sites aren't read (at least by one person) and the reader doesn't learn. It's a lost expense of time and money (and card information) for the reader if the article isn't read.
Robert Darnton, Director of the Harvard University Libraries claims that since many elite scientific journals now charge high prices (say, $180,000 for a year's subscription to a molecular biology journal), the Google book-scan project "could go horribly sour" if charges are made. He fears Google, or the Project, would start charging higher and higher rates to see its books. Many say it could become the world's largest digitized bookstore.
Pay-per-view is not the same as free. It's good, but it doesn't go far enough. It's not free. And having free information is as good as we can get it in this life.
Being able to continue to get royalties for out-of-print books sounds good for authors, but the book project could also signal a power shift away from copyright as information in general is shifted online.
Google says the books it digitizes are out-of-print "for a reason". That reason would be they aren't popular. But specialized information doesn't revolve around popularity.
Does digitizing an out-of-print book hurt an author's income, or does it preserve a book? Please leave a comment.
It's not just the two dollar fee (though that's annoying), it's the risk of giving away a credit card number, even to a "virus-protected site" that bothers and slows any surfer, as well as the time it takes to give a number to three sites in said fifteen minutes.
Those sites with articles one would half-heartedly like to read don't win; the sites aren't read (at least by one person) and the reader doesn't learn. It's a lost expense of time and money (and card information) for the reader if the article isn't read.
Robert Darnton, Director of the Harvard University Libraries claims that since many elite scientific journals now charge high prices (say, $180,000 for a year's subscription to a molecular biology journal), the Google book-scan project "could go horribly sour" if charges are made. He fears Google, or the Project, would start charging higher and higher rates to see its books. Many say it could become the world's largest digitized bookstore.
Pay-per-view is not the same as free. It's good, but it doesn't go far enough. It's not free. And having free information is as good as we can get it in this life.
Being able to continue to get royalties for out-of-print books sounds good for authors, but the book project could also signal a power shift away from copyright as information in general is shifted online.
Google says the books it digitizes are out-of-print "for a reason". That reason would be they aren't popular. But specialized information doesn't revolve around popularity.
Does digitizing an out-of-print book hurt an author's income, or does it preserve a book? Please leave a comment.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
On Madame Tussauds: The glory of being immortalized in a wax museum
Not that I can persuade anyone, but after visiting Madame Tussauds Wax Museum yesterday in New York City, I found myself having to defend it to a friend who thinks I am totally losing my mind if I think those figures are anywhere close to a likeness of the real person and hasn't been there. The Museum, near Times Square is at 234 West 42nd Street, N.Y.C. 10036, tel.(800)246-8872.
Trouble is, you see, I am one of the converted. I went to see Madame Tussauds in London a few years ago and it is absolutely the best; the best of all wax museums (if indeed there are many others), and possibly the best branch of its own museums. Both London and New York, at least, have detailed instructions on how models are made, and for more information there is a documentary linked here.
President Barack Obama zimbio.com
Before visiting President Obama in person, or really any of the famous people at Madame Tussauds, it would be a good idea to get a first impression by visiting the museum beforehand. It might take away some of the surprise, though. These are real stars of the day, and what a great record it is to have, now and for many years.
I did see detailed information on the Rachael Ray show of her experience with Madame Tussauds. That said friend thinks that all those chefs on television aren't really that famous. Yes, well. I remember hearing that her likeness was "most requested" of all the television chefs.
Rachael Ray in NYC popcrunch.com
Here is a summary (from nyc.com) of some of the models at the museum:
# The Opening Night Party, set in an Italian baroque garden, features Woody Allen, Bette Midler, Nicolas Cage, Hugh Grant, Oprah Winfrey, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Donald Trump:
# Madame Tussaud's Story, spanning 200 years of history, features Marie Antoinette and Napoleon's lover Josephine:
# Behind the Scenes is a multimedia exhibit about the process of creating the incredibly life-like wax figures at the museum featuring Al Roker and others:
# The Gallery, set in a meeting of the United Nations, features The Dalai Lama, Maya Angelou, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Buffalo Bill and Diana, Princess of Wales:
# Popular Culture, a whirlwind history of the trendsetters of the 20th century, features Mikhail Barishnikov, Babe Ruth, Janis Joplin, Charlie Chaplin, The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Bill Gates and Neil Armstrong:
There are branches of Madame Tussauds around the world. Models are rotated to other branches or archived to change the exhibits from time to time. Madame Marie Tussaud, a Frenchwoman, moved to London where she first opened a museum of her figures in 1835.
This website says that since 2007, anyone can get a wax figure made, if they can stand four months of detailed measurements and questions and around $270,000. That's why it's very much an honor to get a wax impression made.
What do you think? Do you believe the wax models at Madame Tussauds are identical and true to life?
Madame Tussauds Wax Museum link
Trouble is, you see, I am one of the converted. I went to see Madame Tussauds in London a few years ago and it is absolutely the best; the best of all wax museums (if indeed there are many others), and possibly the best branch of its own museums. Both London and New York, at least, have detailed instructions on how models are made, and for more information there is a documentary linked here.
President Barack Obama zimbio.com
Before visiting President Obama in person, or really any of the famous people at Madame Tussauds, it would be a good idea to get a first impression by visiting the museum beforehand. It might take away some of the surprise, though. These are real stars of the day, and what a great record it is to have, now and for many years.
I did see detailed information on the Rachael Ray show of her experience with Madame Tussauds. That said friend thinks that all those chefs on television aren't really that famous. Yes, well. I remember hearing that her likeness was "most requested" of all the television chefs.
Rachael Ray in NYC popcrunch.com
Here is a summary (from nyc.com) of some of the models at the museum:
# The Opening Night Party, set in an Italian baroque garden, features Woody Allen, Bette Midler, Nicolas Cage, Hugh Grant, Oprah Winfrey, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Donald Trump:
# Madame Tussaud's Story, spanning 200 years of history, features Marie Antoinette and Napoleon's lover Josephine:
# Behind the Scenes is a multimedia exhibit about the process of creating the incredibly life-like wax figures at the museum featuring Al Roker and others:
# The Gallery, set in a meeting of the United Nations, features The Dalai Lama, Maya Angelou, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Buffalo Bill and Diana, Princess of Wales:
# Popular Culture, a whirlwind history of the trendsetters of the 20th century, features Mikhail Barishnikov, Babe Ruth, Janis Joplin, Charlie Chaplin, The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Bill Gates and Neil Armstrong:
There are branches of Madame Tussauds around the world. Models are rotated to other branches or archived to change the exhibits from time to time. Madame Marie Tussaud, a Frenchwoman, moved to London where she first opened a museum of her figures in 1835.
This website says that since 2007, anyone can get a wax figure made, if they can stand four months of detailed measurements and questions and around $270,000. That's why it's very much an honor to get a wax impression made.
What do you think? Do you believe the wax models at Madame Tussauds are identical and true to life?
Madame Tussauds Wax Museum link
Police Dog Inspections At Schools: Necessary And Realistic?
From the Principal of suburban New Jersey's Millburn High School:
“The whole community in general is motivated academically,” Mr. Miron said. “But when you have 1,400 students in a school, to think that teenagers aren’t going to make mistakes, or that we’re somehow immune from problems every suburban and urban school is faced with, is just unrealistic.”
Student violence is a feared part of high school, as it is part of, say, going to a bank. But, for the kids attending a school with police supervision, what could be worse? Isn't security monitoring by police the ultimate in school supervision? Doesn't it signal a failure by a school to nurture a safe and secure environment where learning will happen?
As one student says,
“There were cops strolling around all week,”... “It was kind of distracting, sitting in class with cops walking by” and that most school students think the inspections are unnecessary "because most of the incidents involving drug or alcohol happened outside of school"."
I suppose what's new here as highlighted in this New York Times article is that such a well-regarded suburban high school had to resort to calling the police for drug-sniffing dog inspections.
Of course, parents and teachers don't want drugs in schools. Illegal drugs have long been a problem. Society as a whole should try to make schools safer in every way rather than less safe. It's necessary for students to know that there are consequences for bad behavior.
At some point, kids stop "telling the teacher" after another kid pushes them around the playground. What teachers need to convey is that kids can still "tell the teacher" when they need to. Parents are mainly responsible for their underage kids' social behavior. That's what parents are supposed to do.
But there also could be sinister consequences with the prospect of teachers intruding too much into the lives of students and the unofficial, personal dramas of their high school years. Teachers can't stalk students. In reality, teachers try to nurture a safe environment for learning, while students need to realize they can be punished. Teachers are professionals with limited working hours. They also have limited patience and can't be held responsible for illegal behavior by students, outside the school classroom and grounds.
But what more intimidating threat than police presence can a school make? Security monitoring by police dogs must be the ultimate in school supervision. What if teachers need to further curtail the activities of students, what more could a school do and still care about educating students? Can schools afford all the security they desire?
Perhaps the school is merely practicing self-defence, calling the police for help, as an accident victim might need help. Do police dog inspections help make schools safer from drugs and better places in which to learn? Does police security make kids feel safer and better able to learn?
Perhaps if many police departments around the country need guard dogs to go to schools that can call them up and ask for drug inspections with guard dogs, it might explain a question I posed in a previous blog entry, after I noticed a lot of ads for guard dogs.
“The whole community in general is motivated academically,” Mr. Miron said. “But when you have 1,400 students in a school, to think that teenagers aren’t going to make mistakes, or that we’re somehow immune from problems every suburban and urban school is faced with, is just unrealistic.”
Student violence is a feared part of high school, as it is part of, say, going to a bank. But, for the kids attending a school with police supervision, what could be worse? Isn't security monitoring by police the ultimate in school supervision? Doesn't it signal a failure by a school to nurture a safe and secure environment where learning will happen?
As one student says,
“There were cops strolling around all week,”... “It was kind of distracting, sitting in class with cops walking by” and that most school students think the inspections are unnecessary "because most of the incidents involving drug or alcohol happened outside of school"."
I suppose what's new here as highlighted in this New York Times article is that such a well-regarded suburban high school had to resort to calling the police for drug-sniffing dog inspections.
Of course, parents and teachers don't want drugs in schools. Illegal drugs have long been a problem. Society as a whole should try to make schools safer in every way rather than less safe. It's necessary for students to know that there are consequences for bad behavior.
At some point, kids stop "telling the teacher" after another kid pushes them around the playground. What teachers need to convey is that kids can still "tell the teacher" when they need to. Parents are mainly responsible for their underage kids' social behavior. That's what parents are supposed to do.
But there also could be sinister consequences with the prospect of teachers intruding too much into the lives of students and the unofficial, personal dramas of their high school years. Teachers can't stalk students. In reality, teachers try to nurture a safe environment for learning, while students need to realize they can be punished. Teachers are professionals with limited working hours. They also have limited patience and can't be held responsible for illegal behavior by students, outside the school classroom and grounds.
But what more intimidating threat than police presence can a school make? Security monitoring by police dogs must be the ultimate in school supervision. What if teachers need to further curtail the activities of students, what more could a school do and still care about educating students? Can schools afford all the security they desire?
Perhaps the school is merely practicing self-defence, calling the police for help, as an accident victim might need help. Do police dog inspections help make schools safer from drugs and better places in which to learn? Does police security make kids feel safer and better able to learn?
Perhaps if many police departments around the country need guard dogs to go to schools that can call them up and ask for drug inspections with guard dogs, it might explain a question I posed in a previous blog entry, after I noticed a lot of ads for guard dogs.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
“Knowing”: Hurry To See This Movie!
Nicholas Cage
PG-13, 130 min.
Directed by Alex Proyas, Nicholas Cage stars in "Knowing", an ambitious, high-budget drama/mystery/thriller movie that starts small and ends huge. The movie begins in 1959, in a wonderful, large classroom taught by Miss Taylor (Danielle Carter) in Dawes Elementary School situated in Lexington, Massachusetts. A time capsule is planted ceremonially and fifty years later in 2009, it’s taken from the ground, again with Miss Taylor (this time played by Alethea McGrath) nearby, cutting a ribbon and giving out envelopes. After that, everything that happens appears random, until it becomes clear that many of these odd events are connected and not random at all.
Cage plays John Koestler, an MIT astrophysics professor, widow and caring father, who in 2009 is able to put together a puzzle written onto a paper from the time capsule and, despite some initial skepticism, realizes that certain tragic events are about to happen. He gradually discovers exactly when they will happen and GPS coordinates show exact locations. He informs his skeptical colleague, his father, his son Caleb, played perfectly and sensitively by Chandler Canterbury, and Diana Wayland. Wayland, whose mother predicts the future events discovered by Koestler, is played by Rose Byrne with sensitivity, compassion and intelligence and becomes Koestler's new interest.
Yes, the trailer will tell you this, but the movie somehow becomes ever more broadly compelling and increasingly impressive. Officially all set in America, it’s filmed in many locations, with vistas and views, a Victorian home and a buckyball-shaped astrophysics building, an American subway and highway, New York City, Australia for the school scene and most of the alien scenes. There is drama and excitement created with special effects that get more spectacular until the end of the film.
It’s quite an exciting action thriller and enjoyable, despite many realistic crash scenes. There’s a fiery plane crash at close range, a long subway crash scene and vehicle crashes all filmed just feet away, giving the audience the feeling of being there. Mystery and suspense build with music, shadows, squeaks, drafty whistles, alien appearances and imaginings. The alien space-ship scene is as impressive as the ‘we’re here’ movie, E.T. Then there’s the final horrifying destruction scene.
Expensive, complicated, fast-moving special effects are balanced with tender, emotional moments. John Koestler (Cage) works hard to raise his son and to have good relationships. A convincing multi-generational dimension complements the cleverly-wrought fifty-year span of the movie. Koestler's findings have shocked him to his core, and his character winds up eventually in an emotional collapse caused by tragic events in this race-against-time schedule. He ultimately rushes to reach his father's house in Manhattan before the shocking conclusion.
“Knowing” is an instant classic, and an amalgamation of many old movies. While it's shocking for those living near New York City, it’s sure to join the list of “Best Destruction Movies of New York City”, like A.I.--Artificial Intelligence, Independence Day, Deep Impact and The Day after Tomorrow. Of course, this time it’s the entire planet that gets hit by a solar storm, and there’s nowhere to hide.
Intelligence is an important factor in “Knowing”, but this plot tells us that ultimately, it won’t save all of us. (It's a movie, so we just happily and temporarily suspend our disbelief reminded, as Lord Keynes has said, that "in the long run, we're all dead"). The idea is that intelligence might have saved John Koestler (Cage), if only he had been open to relationships with aliens. Instead the children, Caleb and Abby, become young Adam and Eve figures, are saved by the aliens (who have been speaking inside their heads) to continue life on a new planet. Young Lara Robinson plays both Lucinda Embry (author of the 1959 paper) and her granddaughter, Abby Wayland, with quiet authority.
Why are the aliens blond and attractively human-like rather than, say, purple monsters? (Maybe they were meant to look credible?). While these silent predators look piercingly intelligent, they're also a bit extravagant as they keep unexpectedly appearing, then mysteriously disappearing, building drama accompanied by ominous music and awesome special effects.
How were these special effects created? The crash scenes, the alien and spaceship scenes, and the Manhattan destruction scenes all took huge budgets and incredible computer wizardry.
"Knowing" is well worth watching, highly recommended for escapism at its finest. As far-fetched as its story sounds, the movie works as enjoyable entertainment, whether or not it convinces us that intelligence won't save us from the greater forces of nature, that nature is stronger than man (except for the two children, and a few other lucky ones). Wonder if Part Two is around the corner, about the children growing up?
It's such an ambitious movie that it deserves to win Academy Awards for Best Special Effects, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor.
A Twilight Trivia Quiz
For a change of speed, after the last serious post, here is a questionnaire to ask your favorite high school girl, from age about 11-18 or so. Good Luck!
Twilight Trivia! Yay!
Created by Emily Seymour
Okay are you ready? ARE YOU READY? =]
1) What cereal does Bella eat (mentioned in Eclipse)?
2) What is Bella's astrological sign?
3) Who is the principal of Forks High? (specific name)
4) What is Phil’s job, other than playing minor-league baseball?
5) What is Victoria’s power (not confirmed, but Edward assumes)?
6) Who does Charlie spend the day playing cards with? (first name only)
7) What is Tyler’s mom’s name? Mark’s mom’s name? (no ‘mrs.’)
8) What bathtub cleaner does Bella use?
9) Why is Angela’s house empty of her family when Bella helps with addressing letters? How many siblings does she have?
10) What kind of food does Esme bring from Port Angeles for Bella when she is taken hostage by Alice?
11) What month and year was Rosalie turned into a vampire?
12) How many humans has Rosalie killed?
13) How many siblings did Rosalie have when she was human?
14) What was Rosalie’s friend’s name?
15) What was that friend’s husband’s occupation? What was that friend’s child’s name?
16) Where did Rosalie live as a human?
17) What was Rosalie’s fiancée’s name? (full)
18) Her fiancée had some friends with him that night… what was one of their names, and where was he from? (hint, the fiancée asked him if Rose was as lovely as something from that state)
19) Why did Rosalie choose Emmett to save, other than because he was being mauled by a bear?
20) What does the flyer that Bella is told to throw away say on it? (exact words)
Answers will appear in a few days.
Monday, March 23, 2009
America Should Keep Its War Inside Itself
Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them.
- Robertson Davies, Canadian author
A few posts ago in my other blog (Grow Your Dollars), I was complimenting America on its progressive social values, but the latest salvo by Fox News ranting on in an anti-Canadian way has bothered me.
Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVKlFT58Zwc
Gentle Canadians and good Canadian officials are calling the piece disrespectful, ignorant, ill-informed, inaccurate, mean-spirited, offensive, disgusting "hate speech" and worse.
Of course, Fox News didn't verify its show with the truth, and is exhibiting another example of its low standards. If it doesn't care about the truth what can justify airing the segment at all? Nothing can justify televising ignorant views. Where is the adult supervision at Fox News, anyway? Haven't they employed any experienced citizens of the world to pre-edit their stories? Why didn't they research this piece?
Oh, why even dignify it with my attention? I am originally from Canada and the top Canadian General who is mocked, the "Chief of Staff", used to be a school friend. I can assure all my readers that he is from a fine family, and would have none of the articles of clothing referred to. I don't know whether the facts in the video are the truth or not. But such obvious disrespect, rudeness and narrow-mindedness is unacceptable to an international audience, offensive even to an audience of the international within the country. Nevertheless, it's sadly an omnipresent mindset all too commonly heard in American society. It just got on television this time.
It bothers me when American neighbors get this noisy on television and misbehave with a seeming drunken abandon of verbal abuse. This really shouldn't be acceptable behavior in America at all. The American public should be told the truth in the media.
A Canadian in the comments blog of The Globe and Mail said:
The sad thing is that Canada has been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Americans in Afghanistan since 2002 and has lost more soldiers per capita there than the Americans have - some even killed by Americans in so-called "friendly fire" incidents.
Another comment said most Canadians rank Fox News "a tabloid". In fact, Fox News says it has a policy according to Wikipedia, that is "just a policy and not a "law, rule, or regulation" to tell the truth, so "the whistle blower law did not apply". That was the case of Jane Akre. It merely proves my point that Fox does not value common journalistic practices, or even good human values, like truth, let alone compassion, kindness and justice.
Canadians are reacting with angry phrases like "A pox on Fox" and "Fox is to news what compost is to food (except that compost serves a purpose)"...What other human reaction could be expected? To close up and say nothing?
No wonder America has so many foreign enemies and is despised around the world. If it makes a laughingstock of and slanders its closest allies and neighbors, it clearly doesn't care about being liked or fear an aggressive reaction. That's not what good neighbors do...just ones who've fought and partied too noisily and haven't the forward vision to imagine the value of getting along.
But then with the economic war now raging within America, it's not so surprising that the rage should spill over to television. Personally, I had not noticed this show until it was brought to my attention, and don't know the names of the village idiots on it. This is one show that should stop immediately. It's just offended all Canadians.
Just be quieter about it, please, America? Keep the war within yourself. Please show a little self-discipline for a change and learn about your neighbors with peace and humility. Give them credit, too. Yes, all of that would make a most welcome change.
- Robertson Davies, Canadian author
A few posts ago in my other blog (Grow Your Dollars), I was complimenting America on its progressive social values, but the latest salvo by Fox News ranting on in an anti-Canadian way has bothered me.
Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVKlFT58Zwc
Gentle Canadians and good Canadian officials are calling the piece disrespectful, ignorant, ill-informed, inaccurate, mean-spirited, offensive, disgusting "hate speech" and worse.
Of course, Fox News didn't verify its show with the truth, and is exhibiting another example of its low standards. If it doesn't care about the truth what can justify airing the segment at all? Nothing can justify televising ignorant views. Where is the adult supervision at Fox News, anyway? Haven't they employed any experienced citizens of the world to pre-edit their stories? Why didn't they research this piece?
Oh, why even dignify it with my attention? I am originally from Canada and the top Canadian General who is mocked, the "Chief of Staff", used to be a school friend. I can assure all my readers that he is from a fine family, and would have none of the articles of clothing referred to. I don't know whether the facts in the video are the truth or not. But such obvious disrespect, rudeness and narrow-mindedness is unacceptable to an international audience, offensive even to an audience of the international within the country. Nevertheless, it's sadly an omnipresent mindset all too commonly heard in American society. It just got on television this time.
It bothers me when American neighbors get this noisy on television and misbehave with a seeming drunken abandon of verbal abuse. This really shouldn't be acceptable behavior in America at all. The American public should be told the truth in the media.
A Canadian in the comments blog of The Globe and Mail said:
The sad thing is that Canada has been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Americans in Afghanistan since 2002 and has lost more soldiers per capita there than the Americans have - some even killed by Americans in so-called "friendly fire" incidents.
Another comment said most Canadians rank Fox News "a tabloid". In fact, Fox News says it has a policy according to Wikipedia, that is "just a policy and not a "law, rule, or regulation" to tell the truth, so "the whistle blower law did not apply". That was the case of Jane Akre. It merely proves my point that Fox does not value common journalistic practices, or even good human values, like truth, let alone compassion, kindness and justice.
Canadians are reacting with angry phrases like "A pox on Fox" and "Fox is to news what compost is to food (except that compost serves a purpose)"...What other human reaction could be expected? To close up and say nothing?
No wonder America has so many foreign enemies and is despised around the world. If it makes a laughingstock of and slanders its closest allies and neighbors, it clearly doesn't care about being liked or fear an aggressive reaction. That's not what good neighbors do...just ones who've fought and partied too noisily and haven't the forward vision to imagine the value of getting along.
But then with the economic war now raging within America, it's not so surprising that the rage should spill over to television. Personally, I had not noticed this show until it was brought to my attention, and don't know the names of the village idiots on it. This is one show that should stop immediately. It's just offended all Canadians.
Just be quieter about it, please, America? Keep the war within yourself. Please show a little self-discipline for a change and learn about your neighbors with peace and humility. Give them credit, too. Yes, all of that would make a most welcome change.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Internet Rating Sites Are Beauties Of The Internet
Today an NPR segment discussed opposition to doctor-rating internet websites. RateMDs.com, for one, is a site that asks patients to rate doctors. Hotels and restaurants, plumbers, even Professors at Ratemyprofessor.com all merit review sites. These sites sometimes cause great harm to small businesses, but they can also raise standards, according to one pizzeria owner interviewed in San Francisco.
Of course, it is no less than a neurosurgeon, easily one of the highest paid arms of the medical profession, who has started a company selling so-called 'patient waivers' to other doctors. After waiting a few weeks for an appointment with some medical god, an unwary patient, perhaps sick, has to fill in a form saying the doctor he is about to meet can do no wrong, or if he does there won't be any consequences except in a court of law (the old-fashioned way, in other words).
This is so unreasonable, it's funny. It's high time for medical doctors to wake up and get over it. To get over the fact of their power over patients, and to get over the fact that they are dependent on the goodwill of patients for their practices. Doctors should realize that most of the time, the advice they offer is a commodity that patients can find elsewhere in America or abroad. Patients, after all, clearly experience immediate benefit staying away from bad apples in the profession. With the glut of doctors available, consumers need help with making choices using impartial, unpaid advice.
Good doctors need have no fear of these judgemental rating sites. If the professor rankings are anything to go by, it would appear that most students don't avail themselves of the opportunity to complain. Also, most faculty administrators are also themselves rated and don't make salary decisions of professors based on these rankings or any other. By the way, I noticed that Ratemyprofessor.com has entirely different rankings from U.S.News and World Report, a magazine that has been at the job awhile longer. Ratemyprofessors has 'best teacher', 'hottest' rankings and so on.
It's true that reviews of any kind on the internet are possibly skewed to the negative side, and negative reviews could impact business success. So be it, I say. If many unrelated people have the same impressions of service, then it's useful information for newbies and unsuspecting paying customers to know.
In the words of the founder of ratemds.com:
"John Swapceinski, co-founder of RateMDs.com, said that in recent months, six doctors have asked him to remove negative online comments based on patients' signed waivers. He has refused.
"They're basically forcing the patients to choose between health care and their First Amendment rights, and I really find that repulsive," Swapceinski said.
He said he's planning to post a "Wall of Shame" listing names of doctors who use patient waivers.
Segal, of Medical Justice, said the waivers are aimed more at giving doctors ammunition against Web sites than against patients."
Sorry, almighty Dr. Segal, but that's disingenuous. Since when are websites responsible for bad patient reviews? Doesn't make sense. Let's hope that this sort of medical information only improves service to patients, out of respect for those who must pay huge expenses. It should have happened a long time ago. Consumers do have time to make choices and it is in their best overall and financial interest to find good doctors, or at least avoid bad ones.
Doctors should make more use of computers to share expertise from distances. More uses will surely be found by doctors who aren't computer-phobic. Doctors who won't use computers and can't imagine the internet's mostly unleashed power for good in their profession make me impatient of their ignorance. Everyone can use a computer, like using a typewriter, or watching television without knowing how to fix it. It's great to be able to simply phone a doctor's office for that hazily remembered appointment time, a task that used to be impossible not so long ago in the pre-computer past.
Perhaps Dr. Segal doesn't read a movie or hotel review, or Consumer Reports before he buys a car or household appliance? But can you imagine his surprise if he had to sign a 'buyer's waiver' saying that complaints would be unacceptable?
Of course, it is no less than a neurosurgeon, easily one of the highest paid arms of the medical profession, who has started a company selling so-called 'patient waivers' to other doctors. After waiting a few weeks for an appointment with some medical god, an unwary patient, perhaps sick, has to fill in a form saying the doctor he is about to meet can do no wrong, or if he does there won't be any consequences except in a court of law (the old-fashioned way, in other words).
This is so unreasonable, it's funny. It's high time for medical doctors to wake up and get over it. To get over the fact of their power over patients, and to get over the fact that they are dependent on the goodwill of patients for their practices. Doctors should realize that most of the time, the advice they offer is a commodity that patients can find elsewhere in America or abroad. Patients, after all, clearly experience immediate benefit staying away from bad apples in the profession. With the glut of doctors available, consumers need help with making choices using impartial, unpaid advice.
Good doctors need have no fear of these judgemental rating sites. If the professor rankings are anything to go by, it would appear that most students don't avail themselves of the opportunity to complain. Also, most faculty administrators are also themselves rated and don't make salary decisions of professors based on these rankings or any other. By the way, I noticed that Ratemyprofessor.com has entirely different rankings from U.S.News and World Report, a magazine that has been at the job awhile longer. Ratemyprofessors has 'best teacher', 'hottest' rankings and so on.
It's true that reviews of any kind on the internet are possibly skewed to the negative side, and negative reviews could impact business success. So be it, I say. If many unrelated people have the same impressions of service, then it's useful information for newbies and unsuspecting paying customers to know.
In the words of the founder of ratemds.com:
"John Swapceinski, co-founder of RateMDs.com, said that in recent months, six doctors have asked him to remove negative online comments based on patients' signed waivers. He has refused.
"They're basically forcing the patients to choose between health care and their First Amendment rights, and I really find that repulsive," Swapceinski said.
He said he's planning to post a "Wall of Shame" listing names of doctors who use patient waivers.
Segal, of Medical Justice, said the waivers are aimed more at giving doctors ammunition against Web sites than against patients."
Sorry, almighty Dr. Segal, but that's disingenuous. Since when are websites responsible for bad patient reviews? Doesn't make sense. Let's hope that this sort of medical information only improves service to patients, out of respect for those who must pay huge expenses. It should have happened a long time ago. Consumers do have time to make choices and it is in their best overall and financial interest to find good doctors, or at least avoid bad ones.
Doctors should make more use of computers to share expertise from distances. More uses will surely be found by doctors who aren't computer-phobic. Doctors who won't use computers and can't imagine the internet's mostly unleashed power for good in their profession make me impatient of their ignorance. Everyone can use a computer, like using a typewriter, or watching television without knowing how to fix it. It's great to be able to simply phone a doctor's office for that hazily remembered appointment time, a task that used to be impossible not so long ago in the pre-computer past.
Perhaps Dr. Segal doesn't read a movie or hotel review, or Consumer Reports before he buys a car or household appliance? But can you imagine his surprise if he had to sign a 'buyer's waiver' saying that complaints would be unacceptable?
Did You Know?
From the Council on Foreign Relations: A Report
General James L. Jones
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22nd "U.S. National Security Adviser Jones gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 8, 2009.
Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today."See more of Jones' speech at digg.com.
This "chain of command" hasn't been in the news much lately. Were you aware of it?
Friday, March 20, 2009
Ski Accident Highlights Risk of Brain Injury
Natasha Richardson
It would appear to be true that Natasha Richardson could have been saved after her fall if she had been treated faster. But exactly who turned away the first ambulance is an unknown detail, as is why more attention isn't given to details of her injuries.
Most troubling was the general news:
...There is no helicopter or airplane-based ambulance service in the Laurentian hills where Mont Tremblant is situated.*
She and those around her must surely not have understood the urgency of the problem. If she had asked about emergency services, she might have suspected that she couldn't receive quick and aggressive medical treatment. But she probably didn't know the possible consequences.
.... Mont Tremblant frequently calls for ambulances after skiers experience minor falls. And just as frequently,...the ambulances are turned away*....
How many others suffer a similar fate after leaving a ski site accident?
Ms. Richardson, who suffered an epidural hematoma — an accumulation of blood between the brain and the skull — after her fall, could have been saved had she been treated faster.
A brain surgeon not involved in her treatment, Dr. David J. Langer, the director of cerebrovascular neurosurgery at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, Beth Israel Medical Center and Long Island College Hospital, said that a clot can develop from the bleeding following such a trauma.
Dr. Langer added that if a patient undergoes surgery — ideally within an hour of the injury — to relieve the pressure, remove the clot and stop the bleeding, the patient can recover.
“It can be quite dramatic,” Dr. Langer said. “It’s one of the most acute neurological emergencies. It’s one of the few times where it’s life or death, where you can truly save somebody’s life, or they die if you don’t get to them.”*
*The New York Times
Bonnie Fuller's wonderful blog entry at HuffPost gives three results of a head injury and hers was found to be the third:
1. "She may have a fairly rare underlying hematology condition called hypocoagulation, in which she lacks a blood clotting factor," says Dr.Sun [neurologist Dr. Dexter Sun, who practices at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Cornell in New York City]. This could be a genetic factor which had gone unnoticed throughout her life until now. When the clotting factor is missing, a minor bleed can become a hemorrhage.
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2. It's possible that Natasha could have been taking a blood thinner like coumadine, for another medical condition, that would have made it much more likely for her to bleed after any head injury, according to Dr. Sun.
3. Finally, and most likely, she did have a harder spill than what has been reported. Sometimes when this happens "you can have a high level cervical spine fracture or a fracture at the base of the skull," says Dr.Sun. When this occurs, and the injured person continues to move around as Natasha did -- not realizing that she was seriously hurt -- the spine can touch the brain stem and cause a severe brain injury.
The third result, which is what an autopsy ruled was the case with Natasha Richardson can itself cause three types of injuries:
A high impact fall on the head can also cause three different types of bleeding within the brain: 1) an intracranial hemorrhage, which begins as a microscopic rupture of a blood vessel deep within the brain, 2) a subdural hematoma, which is a bleed that occurs in the dura, which is the outer layer of the brain, or 3) an epidural hematoma, which is a hemorrhage, that takes place between the outer skull and the dura.*
*The Huffington Post article
While this could be useful information to anyone with a head injury, my intention is not to frighten my reader, or my friends who ski, and some who ski at Mont Tremblant....
But my burning question is, would other ski resorts have saved her, possibly by operating on her within the hour? Which resorts can offer that assurance of quick surgery when called upon?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Timing Is Everything
Citigroup Tower, NYC
If there is an aphorism that relates to fancy company headquarters, it's well-known:
"When an organization has a truly comfortable headquarters which meets all its needs, its decline has begun."*
If so, Citigroup better take notice.
Bloomberg is detailing the distinctive New York City Citigroup headquarters with an old-fashioned $10M taxpayer-funded interior redesign to reflect the needs of the "new" Pandit-led team. Obviously, only the "most expensive" will do.
*Thanks to tomstreeter.com
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Real Age -- Best "Preventive Healthcare" Website
Have you heard about "Real Age"? It's a website I really like, and can say it's very informative and useful to me. Everyone could wish they had these doctors teach them preventive health tips. There are many wonderful videos by Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen, and there are many healthcare tips on the website.
Here's a link to the website to take the YouQ test they talk about. Really amazing, and the website is expanding.
Also, the realage.com general health test is a wonderful one to update and retest from time to time. It's great because it's as private as your computer is, and a great way to learn how to improve your own health. Disclosure: no financial interest.
Here's a link to the website to take the YouQ test they talk about. Really amazing, and the website is expanding.
Also, the realage.com general health test is a wonderful one to update and retest from time to time. It's great because it's as private as your computer is, and a great way to learn how to improve your own health. Disclosure: no financial interest.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Does Talent Always Achieve Its Potential?
"Closely allied to indomitable American individualism, for one, is American optimism. Self-made men and women can and do shape their successful futures, we believe".
This HuffPost article* points out what many Americans believe, that destiny is shaped by the individual rather than the circumstances. Many Americans believe that life is the ultimate do-it-yourself project. One's future is a self-fulfilling prophecy that one shapes, that no other person or set of circumstances or opportunities can kill.
It is a fatalistic point of view that I cannot always agree with, because I think a person's spirit can be destroyed and our future is dependent on our circumstances and the relationships we have, how others treat us and whether they look up to us or are condescending. A lot of our future depends on whether others like us or not and whether they can open doors for us or not.
Children are dependent on parents opening doors for them. Opportunities aren't existent for everyone. We all have different circumstances and are dependent on the kindness of strangers as well as our families. It's not the information we have but how we use it that matters. It's true that we open most of our own doors, but we can't always choose which doors those are. In important ways, we are dependent on others to shape our futures.
Talent for anything must be nurtured. It can be squelched, I believe, as a plant that isn't watered will die a prematurely early death. "Use it or lose it" is a phrase that applies to talent, language-learning and our optimistic spirits. It's obvious to me that talent is not going to determine everyone's future. Talent has to be nurtured constantly in an atmosphere of encouragement until it becomes like big, like a strong tree that can stand up on its own.
As I grow older and wonder in awe how our needs and bodies change as we mature, it is obvious that we ourselves are the best to know what we need at any particular time. It's one thing to know what we need and another to be able to get it, at any age. It's also hard to ask for help to get what we need, if getting that help takes us outside our comfort zone, whether it's foreign travel, investing dollars wisely or taking a big career risk.
What do you think? Can a talent or innate gift die if it isn't nurtured? Some say no. I say yes. Soon I will write about educational psychology and the importance of self-fulfilling prophecies in an educational setting. Please leave your comments.
*The Huffington Post, "AIG and the 'Road Not Taken,'" Brian Shott
This HuffPost article* points out what many Americans believe, that destiny is shaped by the individual rather than the circumstances. Many Americans believe that life is the ultimate do-it-yourself project. One's future is a self-fulfilling prophecy that one shapes, that no other person or set of circumstances or opportunities can kill.
It is a fatalistic point of view that I cannot always agree with, because I think a person's spirit can be destroyed and our future is dependent on our circumstances and the relationships we have, how others treat us and whether they look up to us or are condescending. A lot of our future depends on whether others like us or not and whether they can open doors for us or not.
Children are dependent on parents opening doors for them. Opportunities aren't existent for everyone. We all have different circumstances and are dependent on the kindness of strangers as well as our families. It's not the information we have but how we use it that matters. It's true that we open most of our own doors, but we can't always choose which doors those are. In important ways, we are dependent on others to shape our futures.
Talent for anything must be nurtured. It can be squelched, I believe, as a plant that isn't watered will die a prematurely early death. "Use it or lose it" is a phrase that applies to talent, language-learning and our optimistic spirits. It's obvious to me that talent is not going to determine everyone's future. Talent has to be nurtured constantly in an atmosphere of encouragement until it becomes like big, like a strong tree that can stand up on its own.
As I grow older and wonder in awe how our needs and bodies change as we mature, it is obvious that we ourselves are the best to know what we need at any particular time. It's one thing to know what we need and another to be able to get it, at any age. It's also hard to ask for help to get what we need, if getting that help takes us outside our comfort zone, whether it's foreign travel, investing dollars wisely or taking a big career risk.
What do you think? Can a talent or innate gift die if it isn't nurtured? Some say no. I say yes. Soon I will write about educational psychology and the importance of self-fulfilling prophecies in an educational setting. Please leave your comments.
*The Huffington Post, "AIG and the 'Road Not Taken,'" Brian Shott
Monday, March 16, 2009
To Returning Vets: Start Blogging
This morning on NPR radio, a fascinating show on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) interviews doctors and a returned marine who said a hospital stay to get treatment for her PTSD was the only way she could return to normal life. She had worked in an office near an emergency care medical center in Afghanistan, and found herself "closing in" after her return to the U.S., breaking away from her husband and family of origin. After becoming addicted and arrested for drug possession, she turned herself in a second time for psychological care and finally after intensive cognitive therapy is improving.
PTSD is a growing and serious problem for the military. Military hospitals are finding ways of handling PTSD in returning soldiers by screening them for it when admitted.
All military personnel who have been stationed away from their families need to take a while to get reacquainted. Many of them will be fine, but some could fall away because of an immediate lack of structure or peer support after arrival.
Here's my advice to vets: start a blog. Seriously. Many Americans are hungry to know what went on in a tour of duty. Tell everyone what happened to you. Military vets might help themselves by describing their experiences, by thinking and blogging to let people know what their tour of duty was like.
It's a terrific inexpensive hobby and public libraries have computers now. A blogger can publish poetry and a diary of wartime experiences. Posted photos let us all see what happened abroad to help us understand. Several bloggers together can make joint collaborative blogs to share reminiscences and transition to civilian life. And vets in turn might be helped by someone who reads about their experiences.
It would really help a lot of returning veterans to have an immediate occupation by starting a blog, a reason for sharing, and one for which they already likely have the necessary skills, writing and typing. Their world experience will help many Americans learn what the military does. Blogging to inform and educate others can be significantly more useful to vets, their families and their readers than having less productive pastimes. All of America and the world might be reading and taking notice.
Why not start a blog? Most blogs are published either by Google blogger or Wordpress and can be free to start up. Don't let anyone discourage you or talk you out of it if you would like to try. It's a lot more useful than peacetime video games. Why not try? There aren't enough blogs written by veterans, either for veterans or for the general population.
Maybe I should start a local blog association to meet other bloggers (besides the one I've met) or better yet, an International or American Bloggers Association. Anyone interested can email me at shellsey@gmail.com.
PTSD is a growing and serious problem for the military. Military hospitals are finding ways of handling PTSD in returning soldiers by screening them for it when admitted.
All military personnel who have been stationed away from their families need to take a while to get reacquainted. Many of them will be fine, but some could fall away because of an immediate lack of structure or peer support after arrival.
Here's my advice to vets: start a blog. Seriously. Many Americans are hungry to know what went on in a tour of duty. Tell everyone what happened to you. Military vets might help themselves by describing their experiences, by thinking and blogging to let people know what their tour of duty was like.
It's a terrific inexpensive hobby and public libraries have computers now. A blogger can publish poetry and a diary of wartime experiences. Posted photos let us all see what happened abroad to help us understand. Several bloggers together can make joint collaborative blogs to share reminiscences and transition to civilian life. And vets in turn might be helped by someone who reads about their experiences.
It would really help a lot of returning veterans to have an immediate occupation by starting a blog, a reason for sharing, and one for which they already likely have the necessary skills, writing and typing. Their world experience will help many Americans learn what the military does. Blogging to inform and educate others can be significantly more useful to vets, their families and their readers than having less productive pastimes. All of America and the world might be reading and taking notice.
Why not start a blog? Most blogs are published either by Google blogger or Wordpress and can be free to start up. Don't let anyone discourage you or talk you out of it if you would like to try. It's a lot more useful than peacetime video games. Why not try? There aren't enough blogs written by veterans, either for veterans or for the general population.
Maybe I should start a local blog association to meet other bloggers (besides the one I've met) or better yet, an International or American Bloggers Association. Anyone interested can email me at shellsey@gmail.com.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Since When Are Blogs Vulgar?
In some ways, the blogosphere is...an insistent and vulgar demand for some responsibility, some moral and ethical accountability for previous decisions and pronouncements.
This quote is from the Weekend Opinionator, a blog about blogs in The New York Times. Vulgar? Yes, anyone can theoretically have a blog. Not many actually do.
If blogs are looked at as "vulgar" then I can counter that by saying that many new innovations, like household products, kitchen aids, computer related gadgets and software are considered "vulgar" until they reach a critical mass of owners. Then they're accepted, liked, even respected.
It's about as useful to compare blogs as to compare works of art and science, because that's what blogs are, works of the writing art, for expression. Content is all that matters, as it does for radio.
My two favorite celebrity blogs have different styles and both are extremely entertaining:
1.Jane Fonda's blog at janefonda.com, a very experienced, off-the-cuff style, very spontaneous and interesting because her life has been so fascinating. She's been at it for a long time.
2. This is Goop is at goop.com, Gwyneth Paltrow's elegant and ambitious blog, thoughtful and very prepared .
These give you the best, unedited insight into their true views. These ladies are especially harshly criticized for sharing opinions. Funny, but there aren't many celebrity blogs.
Then there are The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast and other aggregate blogs, which are online news breakers with longer magazine-style articles. Extremely useful and entertaining (and suitable for insomniacs), I enjoy them but wonder how the aggregate blogs will continue when founders stop paying contributors.
Some notable Professors are starting blogs and these can be very interesting and knowledgeable. A computer science professor at Princeton, Professor Bernard Chazelle's very entertaining and long-running blog "A Tiny Revolution" has links to other blogs.
It's helpful to find blogs that are useful to you, with a voice and information you want to know, and bookmark them, even subscribe. There are many fabulous blogs starting up all the time, one by one, little known.
The golden days of blogs are coming. It's terrific to have another source of information and entertainment. In American homes, radio, television, youtube.com and hulu.com offer live, visual action. Why not go to a live theatrical production, a sports game, a movie? Read a newspaper, your Kindle, your twitter, wherever you can with the time you have. Life is good.
This quote is from the Weekend Opinionator, a blog about blogs in The New York Times. Vulgar? Yes, anyone can theoretically have a blog. Not many actually do.
If blogs are looked at as "vulgar" then I can counter that by saying that many new innovations, like household products, kitchen aids, computer related gadgets and software are considered "vulgar" until they reach a critical mass of owners. Then they're accepted, liked, even respected.
It's about as useful to compare blogs as to compare works of art and science, because that's what blogs are, works of the writing art, for expression. Content is all that matters, as it does for radio.
My two favorite celebrity blogs have different styles and both are extremely entertaining:
1.Jane Fonda's blog at janefonda.com, a very experienced, off-the-cuff style, very spontaneous and interesting because her life has been so fascinating. She's been at it for a long time.
2. This is Goop is at goop.com, Gwyneth Paltrow's elegant and ambitious blog, thoughtful and very prepared .
These give you the best, unedited insight into their true views. These ladies are especially harshly criticized for sharing opinions. Funny, but there aren't many celebrity blogs.
Then there are The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast and other aggregate blogs, which are online news breakers with longer magazine-style articles. Extremely useful and entertaining (and suitable for insomniacs), I enjoy them but wonder how the aggregate blogs will continue when founders stop paying contributors.
Some notable Professors are starting blogs and these can be very interesting and knowledgeable. A computer science professor at Princeton, Professor Bernard Chazelle's very entertaining and long-running blog "A Tiny Revolution" has links to other blogs.
It's helpful to find blogs that are useful to you, with a voice and information you want to know, and bookmark them, even subscribe. There are many fabulous blogs starting up all the time, one by one, little known.
The golden days of blogs are coming. It's terrific to have another source of information and entertainment. In American homes, radio, television, youtube.com and hulu.com offer live, visual action. Why not go to a live theatrical production, a sports game, a movie? Read a newspaper, your Kindle, your twitter, wherever you can with the time you have. Life is good.
Friday, March 13, 2009
About Healthcare Change
Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer/boyfriend and doctor are being held in criminal connection for her death by flooding her irresponsibly with prescription drugs.
Anna Nicole Smith
It's true that Smith could have avoided taking them, although perhaps that proved as difficult to control as her personal weight was as an issue, a challenge she finally won. She and her son, Daniel, and actor Heath Ledger have died within the last 2 1/2 years, all from lethal prescription drug mixtures.
These recent celebrity deaths could and should spark more national introspection into an improvement in the field of healthcare. Healthcare changes. It always does. It's always a topic in America and some changes to bring down costs while improving care coordination would be helpful. We all want that.
A medical doctor on CNBC this morning said that each person's healthcare should be followed from a health episode's start to finish. There are incentives to the way healthcare is paid for that favor invasive surgery, for example, when a less invasive method might work but doctors are paid more for the more aggressive surgery. The entire system needs to be replaced with one that is illness-related, so that drugs are properly administered, not repeated or mixed, and so that the best doctors follow the entire illness. Usually, a family doctor or internist now acts as a gatekeeper and stands back rather than coordinating doctor care when specialists take over a serious illness. Insurance companies choose to pay for care or not, and become de facto drivers of healthcare.
Karen Tumulty, National Political Correspondent with Time Magazine, on NPR radio on Wednesday noon talked about her brother's health issues as an example of the American problem with reimbursement for long-term disease or catastrophic illness. The issue of healthcare insurance is such that even if you are mostly covered, sometimes you aren't. Tumulty gave the example that if your health insurance is a six-month contract, and your illness becomes serious, your insurance might stop paying, even if you had the foresight and ability to stay with the same company, because your early symptoms occurred in an earlier six-month contract, and is thus treated as another contract. Each medical insurance contract is brand new, and until Tumulty filed a legal "complaint" her brother's heavy medical expenses weren't paid.
Other countries consider American medical coverage a nightmare, even if other countries have healthcare issues of their own. The sick already are forced to deal with quixotic harassing paperwork, exorbitant expenses and reliance on stronger relatives. There is the issue of the high costs for tests and surgeries and recoveries that are driving Americans abroad for procedures.
The toll on families of the sick is getting worse every passing year. Trouble is, the motivation to make a big change, to rethink the salaries and payouts to medical insurance companies, drug companies and doctors, is extremely controversial, especially socially and financially.
At the same time, most companies would be doing better if they weren't in such dire financial straits because of healthcare costs. In America, costs are threatening many companies and non-profits' survival within America. High healthcare costs are bankrupting the car companies and many small companies, who are already burdened with high taxes and shrinking revenues and internationally high competitive rates for loans.
It's time for changes in healthcare, to simplify it for all, improve quality by avoiding repetition and cover the entire population. It's the right thing to do for all of us, for business, for the already sick and for the remainder of us who will episodically need it.
Let's just hope that Jon Stewart, the comedian, doesn't blame the healthcare crisis on medical journalists the way he is faulting financial journalists for the economic crisis.
Maybe all of the above is just wishful thinking. Peter Navarro, in his investment blog says: "In the last few weeks, it has become abundantly clear that the Republicans are far more effective as the minority party than the Democrats. Because this is so, the Obama Administration can likely forget about any real reform in health care....." Sad comment. What will it take to achieve healthcare reform?
Anna Nicole Smith
It's true that Smith could have avoided taking them, although perhaps that proved as difficult to control as her personal weight was as an issue, a challenge she finally won. She and her son, Daniel, and actor Heath Ledger have died within the last 2 1/2 years, all from lethal prescription drug mixtures.
These recent celebrity deaths could and should spark more national introspection into an improvement in the field of healthcare. Healthcare changes. It always does. It's always a topic in America and some changes to bring down costs while improving care coordination would be helpful. We all want that.
A medical doctor on CNBC this morning said that each person's healthcare should be followed from a health episode's start to finish. There are incentives to the way healthcare is paid for that favor invasive surgery, for example, when a less invasive method might work but doctors are paid more for the more aggressive surgery. The entire system needs to be replaced with one that is illness-related, so that drugs are properly administered, not repeated or mixed, and so that the best doctors follow the entire illness. Usually, a family doctor or internist now acts as a gatekeeper and stands back rather than coordinating doctor care when specialists take over a serious illness. Insurance companies choose to pay for care or not, and become de facto drivers of healthcare.
Karen Tumulty, National Political Correspondent with Time Magazine, on NPR radio on Wednesday noon talked about her brother's health issues as an example of the American problem with reimbursement for long-term disease or catastrophic illness. The issue of healthcare insurance is such that even if you are mostly covered, sometimes you aren't. Tumulty gave the example that if your health insurance is a six-month contract, and your illness becomes serious, your insurance might stop paying, even if you had the foresight and ability to stay with the same company, because your early symptoms occurred in an earlier six-month contract, and is thus treated as another contract. Each medical insurance contract is brand new, and until Tumulty filed a legal "complaint" her brother's heavy medical expenses weren't paid.
Other countries consider American medical coverage a nightmare, even if other countries have healthcare issues of their own. The sick already are forced to deal with quixotic harassing paperwork, exorbitant expenses and reliance on stronger relatives. There is the issue of the high costs for tests and surgeries and recoveries that are driving Americans abroad for procedures.
The toll on families of the sick is getting worse every passing year. Trouble is, the motivation to make a big change, to rethink the salaries and payouts to medical insurance companies, drug companies and doctors, is extremely controversial, especially socially and financially.
At the same time, most companies would be doing better if they weren't in such dire financial straits because of healthcare costs. In America, costs are threatening many companies and non-profits' survival within America. High healthcare costs are bankrupting the car companies and many small companies, who are already burdened with high taxes and shrinking revenues and internationally high competitive rates for loans.
It's time for changes in healthcare, to simplify it for all, improve quality by avoiding repetition and cover the entire population. It's the right thing to do for all of us, for business, for the already sick and for the remainder of us who will episodically need it.
Let's just hope that Jon Stewart, the comedian, doesn't blame the healthcare crisis on medical journalists the way he is faulting financial journalists for the economic crisis.
Maybe all of the above is just wishful thinking. Peter Navarro, in his investment blog says: "In the last few weeks, it has become abundantly clear that the Republicans are far more effective as the minority party than the Democrats. Because this is so, the Obama Administration can likely forget about any real reform in health care....." Sad comment. What will it take to achieve healthcare reform?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Bluetooth-challenged?
Just when life couldn't be easier, it gets harder again. When I bought a new cellphone last week, I assumed the new one would work to make my conversations in the car hands free as my previous one had done.
Not true. Here's news that not everyone realizes is a possibility: not all Bluetooth cellphones fit all cars with navigation systems offering Bluetooth. A Bluetooth cellphone must match the car, specifically the Bluetooth strength in a car's navigation system. Bluetooth connections in cars aren't uniformly compatible with any cellphone.
Maybe this could serve as a lesson to all to check car dealer's websites before purchasing a new cellphone so that your cellphone is the make and model that will connect to the make and model of your car's navigation system.
You might also check the car dealer's website to see whether your possible new phone will be able to add new phone numbers singly or in multiples in the navi's memory, and whether the phone will ring automatically each time the car is turned on. There are many more features in cellphones to check on the sites. We're all different and that's the beauty of choice.
Here is a website link to Lexus.com to view cellphone/Lexus compatibilities. This wonderful site allows you to compare cellphones by phone manufacturer, carrier, phone features and even compare complex capabilities side-by-side to help you narrow your search. Copying a page of your comparisons makes it easier for all when visiting the store. Buying online is a breeze, too, but it's good to be able to see your cellphone first before buying.
Even better is to prepare. A new one I bought as a replacement after my purse was stolen, though it kept the same carrier and telephone number, just didn't pair with my car's Bluetooth connection. No one could make it work. About seven people in the car dealership were consulted and after 2 1/2 hours, my new phone was declared defective.
When I checked the website, sure enough my exact cellphone wouldn't ever pair as it just wouldn't work with my model of car. Oddly no one at the carrier where I bought it, or at the dealership confirmed that as a fact. I had just been lucky that my last phone had matched the Bluetooth in the navigation system. Happily, my newest phone finally connects just fine...
Not true. Here's news that not everyone realizes is a possibility: not all Bluetooth cellphones fit all cars with navigation systems offering Bluetooth. A Bluetooth cellphone must match the car, specifically the Bluetooth strength in a car's navigation system. Bluetooth connections in cars aren't uniformly compatible with any cellphone.
Maybe this could serve as a lesson to all to check car dealer's websites before purchasing a new cellphone so that your cellphone is the make and model that will connect to the make and model of your car's navigation system.
You might also check the car dealer's website to see whether your possible new phone will be able to add new phone numbers singly or in multiples in the navi's memory, and whether the phone will ring automatically each time the car is turned on. There are many more features in cellphones to check on the sites. We're all different and that's the beauty of choice.
Here is a website link to Lexus.com to view cellphone/Lexus compatibilities. This wonderful site allows you to compare cellphones by phone manufacturer, carrier, phone features and even compare complex capabilities side-by-side to help you narrow your search. Copying a page of your comparisons makes it easier for all when visiting the store. Buying online is a breeze, too, but it's good to be able to see your cellphone first before buying.
Even better is to prepare. A new one I bought as a replacement after my purse was stolen, though it kept the same carrier and telephone number, just didn't pair with my car's Bluetooth connection. No one could make it work. About seven people in the car dealership were consulted and after 2 1/2 hours, my new phone was declared defective.
When I checked the website, sure enough my exact cellphone wouldn't ever pair as it just wouldn't work with my model of car. Oddly no one at the carrier where I bought it, or at the dealership confirmed that as a fact. I had just been lucky that my last phone had matched the Bluetooth in the navigation system. Happily, my newest phone finally connects just fine...
Monday, March 9, 2009
An Archaic Law Finally Bites The Dust
"SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Getting into a bar in Utah is about to become a lot easier.
Legislative leaders agreed Monday to eliminate the state's much-criticized private club system, which requires someone to fill out an application and pay a fee for the right to enter a bar.
Utah is the only state in the country with such a law.
Gov. Jon Huntsman has been pushing to eliminate the 40-year-old system in an effort to boost tourism and make Utah seem a little less odd to outsiders."The above quote is from The International Herald Tribune, and is currently widely reported. Did you know that? (I didn't, and also hadn't heard about it).
It's official. Today, all those over the age of 21 in Utah can finally drink in public. As a state that hasn't successfully stopped husbands (over 21) having multiple wives, why should this surprise? Millions all over the world would agree that Utah has strange laws. Perhaps this law had sound historical reasons -- settlers wanted to outlaw excessive drinking, perhaps, and effectively ended all public drinking. Laws were made for a reason, whatever it might be. But that law has outlasted its reason and rendered it obsolete. This is a law that might have been in the odd collection of state laws in this website.
Introducing the "Cobbe Portrait" of William Shakespeare
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has just announced today the appearance of the new "Cobbe Portrait" of William Shakespeare. It's conjectured and believed to be possibly the only true portrait of William Shakespeare that was painted during his lifetime.
"Cobbe Portrait"
William Shakespeare
"The research conclusively demonstrates that the Cobbe picture is the prime version of the portrait and establishes beyond reasonable doubt its descent to the Cobbes through their cousin’s marriage to the great granddaughter of Shakespeare’s only literary patron, Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton.
...The conclusion that the sitter is Shakespeare is strengthened by the fact that the original picture, the Cobbe portrait, was inscribed with a quotation from the Classical writer, Horace, taken from an ode addressed to a playwright."
The claim is backed with scientific research:
"The original and its copies are being considered together as a group for the very first time. Additional scientific investigation has been carried out to support the research including examination by x-ray at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, Cambridge, treering dating by Professor Peter Klein, Department of Wood Science, Hamburg University and infra-red reflectography by Tager Stonor Richardson."
Either it's the real thing, a mistake or another elaborate British hoax based on wishful thinking and financial incentives, of which there have been numerous precedents. With the imprimatur of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, this is the painting that should create news of interest to all fans of William Shakespeare and art history. For more information, please read the website of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The Lede article in The New York Times has a video of the unveiling.
"Cobbe Portrait"
William Shakespeare
"The research conclusively demonstrates that the Cobbe picture is the prime version of the portrait and establishes beyond reasonable doubt its descent to the Cobbes through their cousin’s marriage to the great granddaughter of Shakespeare’s only literary patron, Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton.
...The conclusion that the sitter is Shakespeare is strengthened by the fact that the original picture, the Cobbe portrait, was inscribed with a quotation from the Classical writer, Horace, taken from an ode addressed to a playwright."
The claim is backed with scientific research:
"The original and its copies are being considered together as a group for the very first time. Additional scientific investigation has been carried out to support the research including examination by x-ray at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, Cambridge, treering dating by Professor Peter Klein, Department of Wood Science, Hamburg University and infra-red reflectography by Tager Stonor Richardson."
Either it's the real thing, a mistake or another elaborate British hoax based on wishful thinking and financial incentives, of which there have been numerous precedents. With the imprimatur of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, this is the painting that should create news of interest to all fans of William Shakespeare and art history. For more information, please read the website of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The Lede article in The New York Times has a video of the unveiling.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Blog Name and URL Change
As time goes by, and I write and blog, my thinking continually evolves. With "Grow Your Dollars", my investment blog, being fun and having a new URL at grodollars.com, I decided to change my "Seashell Central" blog name to "Shell's News & Reviews" and change the URL again, from seashellcentral.blogspot.com, then www.shellmain.com to www.shellsnews.com.
You know it really amazes me that some of my friends who hear about my blog tell me they don't read blogs because they say a blog is for the purposes of self-advertisement and aggrandizement.
For those of us who keep blogs and are still stung by Sarah Plain's influential disparagement of bloggers, many would, I hope, agree with my fifteen-year-old daughter who says that Facebook and MySpace, maybe Twitter too, are the online homes of some self-promoters, not blogs. Maybe that's going a bit far; there are wonderful private photos going around on "friend sites". Having recently joined Facebook to see what all that excitement is about, I know I don't really belong there and am not sure to keep that account going. Confirming or denying friendship, especially with relatives, is a little superfluous at my age. Vagueness about friendships can be one of the luxuries of getting older. Friendships are so useful if life gets dull, and in need of spontaneity and comfort.
Blogs tend to be generous, confident expressions to help readers. There are so many blogs out there for:
1. technical support
2. breaking news to compete with CNN, such as HuffPost and Daily Beast
3. blogs for opinion polls or related to stories associated with news outlets
4. celebrity news blogs, about and by,
5. cooking and crafts of all kinds
6. sales-related blogs, reviews etc
7. photo journals for self-expression and family history records
8. investment blogs
9. "how to" do infinitely many things
and many more. They are all meant to be helpful and provide information, it seems to me. They all take effort (work)-- a good thing, and they tend to be free, given generously for free!
Blogs are excellent because they are working to correct what other media hands out, no holds barred. Also, if an expert writes a special authoritative piece, it will be influential in whichever media it appears. These experts might find getting published in a blog post quick, easy and straightforward. It's true that no one reads everyone's blog any more than they read everything by anyone, every book and newspaper. And that's okay. Guilt is surely not intended by blogsite developers and bloggers. Some attention to and recognition of bloggers tend to be appreciated as validation of worthy efforts in a useful occupation. Blogs are under-rated partly because they always have been, and mostly will be free to read.
Update1: This article in The Wall Street Journal called "How To Twitter" on Twittering, says "it's about promoting yourself."
You know it really amazes me that some of my friends who hear about my blog tell me they don't read blogs because they say a blog is for the purposes of self-advertisement and aggrandizement.
For those of us who keep blogs and are still stung by Sarah Plain's influential disparagement of bloggers, many would, I hope, agree with my fifteen-year-old daughter who says that Facebook and MySpace, maybe Twitter too, are the online homes of some self-promoters, not blogs. Maybe that's going a bit far; there are wonderful private photos going around on "friend sites". Having recently joined Facebook to see what all that excitement is about, I know I don't really belong there and am not sure to keep that account going. Confirming or denying friendship, especially with relatives, is a little superfluous at my age. Vagueness about friendships can be one of the luxuries of getting older. Friendships are so useful if life gets dull, and in need of spontaneity and comfort.
Blogs tend to be generous, confident expressions to help readers. There are so many blogs out there for:
1. technical support
2. breaking news to compete with CNN, such as HuffPost and Daily Beast
3. blogs for opinion polls or related to stories associated with news outlets
4. celebrity news blogs, about and by,
5. cooking and crafts of all kinds
6. sales-related blogs, reviews etc
7. photo journals for self-expression and family history records
8. investment blogs
9. "how to" do infinitely many things
and many more. They are all meant to be helpful and provide information, it seems to me. They all take effort (work)-- a good thing, and they tend to be free, given generously for free!
Blogs are excellent because they are working to correct what other media hands out, no holds barred. Also, if an expert writes a special authoritative piece, it will be influential in whichever media it appears. These experts might find getting published in a blog post quick, easy and straightforward. It's true that no one reads everyone's blog any more than they read everything by anyone, every book and newspaper. And that's okay. Guilt is surely not intended by blogsite developers and bloggers. Some attention to and recognition of bloggers tend to be appreciated as validation of worthy efforts in a useful occupation. Blogs are under-rated partly because they always have been, and mostly will be free to read.
Update1: This article in The Wall Street Journal called "How To Twitter" on Twittering, says "it's about promoting yourself."
Jon Stewart Spoofs CNBC
Jon Stewart was on David Letterman recently and a video is at The Huffington Post. Here's a quote:
"The thing that upsets me the most, honesty, there are three 24-hour financial networks," Stewart complained. "All their slogans are like, 'We know what's going on on Wall Street.' But then you turn it on during the crisis, and they're like, 'We don't know what's going on!' It'd be like turning on The Weather Channel in a hurricane, and they're just doing this: 'Why am I wet? What's happening to me? And it's so windy! What's going on, I'm scared!' How do you not know?
He criticized the three financial channels but I think there is another side. It's a flawed analogy. Funny, the way he says it, but I don't agree.
To explain the weather is not to be God and create weather. Weather reporters merely watch it, report on it and try to explain it.
Similarly, financial journalists understand Wall Street well enough to report what is going on, not fix it or change it. Financial journalists did not create the financial instruments and structures they are reporting on. They are watching it, too, and they do try to explain what's going on. But they aren't God, and they don't have all the answers. They aren't paid what investment bankers are paid. Economists don't understand and agree either.
Financial journalists report on finances just as sportscasters report on sports. On-air anchors may joke that they change the direction of the market, but that's very unclear. The market moves on news and emotion, it's true, but lots of other things, too, like data, charts, and external unpredictable shocks. Financial journalists don't have the easiest jobs and they are, with few exceptions, extremely skilled, experienced and impressively well-educated.
Do sportscasters make the salaries of sports greats? Do you think Jon Stewart and all his writers thought through this spoof?
"The thing that upsets me the most, honesty, there are three 24-hour financial networks," Stewart complained. "All their slogans are like, 'We know what's going on on Wall Street.' But then you turn it on during the crisis, and they're like, 'We don't know what's going on!' It'd be like turning on The Weather Channel in a hurricane, and they're just doing this: 'Why am I wet? What's happening to me? And it's so windy! What's going on, I'm scared!' How do you not know?
He criticized the three financial channels but I think there is another side. It's a flawed analogy. Funny, the way he says it, but I don't agree.
To explain the weather is not to be God and create weather. Weather reporters merely watch it, report on it and try to explain it.
Similarly, financial journalists understand Wall Street well enough to report what is going on, not fix it or change it. Financial journalists did not create the financial instruments and structures they are reporting on. They are watching it, too, and they do try to explain what's going on. But they aren't God, and they don't have all the answers. They aren't paid what investment bankers are paid. Economists don't understand and agree either.
Financial journalists report on finances just as sportscasters report on sports. On-air anchors may joke that they change the direction of the market, but that's very unclear. The market moves on news and emotion, it's true, but lots of other things, too, like data, charts, and external unpredictable shocks. Financial journalists don't have the easiest jobs and they are, with few exceptions, extremely skilled, experienced and impressively well-educated.
Do sportscasters make the salaries of sports greats? Do you think Jon Stewart and all his writers thought through this spoof?
Forbes List of World's Most Violent Countries
Here is a list from Forbes of the "most violent" countries today, from most (Somalia) on down:
1. Somalia
2. Afghanistan
3. Iraq
4. Congo, Democratic Republic of
5. Pakistan
6. Gaza
7. Sri Lanka
8. Yemen
9. Sudan (Darfur)
10. Zimbabwe
11. Ivory Coast, Cote d'Ivoire
12. Haiti
13. Algeria
14. Nigeria
I would recommend seeing the slideshow for photos and explanations.
1. Somalia
2. Afghanistan
3. Iraq
4. Congo, Democratic Republic of
5. Pakistan
6. Gaza
7. Sri Lanka
8. Yemen
9. Sudan (Darfur)
10. Zimbabwe
11. Ivory Coast, Cote d'Ivoire
12. Haiti
13. Algeria
14. Nigeria
I would recommend seeing the slideshow for photos and explanations.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Forever the Sickest Kids
It's Friday morning and the Dow has fallen 7% this week so far.
Chris Brown, a young singer I liked is in court on assault charges to another famous singer, Rihanna, which has me turning my interest in current pop over to teen bands, "Forever the Sickest Kids" and "Something Corporate" for a bit of sanity, although the latter's on hiatus. They've got the music in them. Youtube.com shows some great videos of them.
Something Corporate
This article by Vicky Ward of an upcoming article in Vanity Fair would appear to prove that the Noel family of Greenwich could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Madoff's Ponzi scheme. They're still "living large and loving life".
Makes sense that focusing on ways of being happy and at peace will take one's mind off the opposite. Doesn't it make you want to take up praying hard, if you don't already do a lot of it?
Chris Brown, a young singer I liked is in court on assault charges to another famous singer, Rihanna, which has me turning my interest in current pop over to teen bands, "Forever the Sickest Kids" and "Something Corporate" for a bit of sanity, although the latter's on hiatus. They've got the music in them. Youtube.com shows some great videos of them.
Something Corporate
This article by Vicky Ward of an upcoming article in Vanity Fair would appear to prove that the Noel family of Greenwich could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Madoff's Ponzi scheme. They're still "living large and loving life".
Makes sense that focusing on ways of being happy and at peace will take one's mind off the opposite. Doesn't it make you want to take up praying hard, if you don't already do a lot of it?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Canada Is Too Soft To Criminals - What Will It Take To Change?
The Canadian bus criminal deserves a worse fate than being ensconced privately in a hospital for the rest of his life. It's way too good a life for the likes of this sick man.
After all, isn't that how a very wealthy sick person is treated?
Canada is being too soft on him. He doesn't deserve such good treatment. Worse, it could encourage others with similar tendencies to do violent acts knowing the punishment sounds more attractive than fending for oneself, having to work and live a useful life.
Canada must appear very attractive as a safe haven for criminals. The law should be changed. It's supposed to act as a deterrent not a cushy boarding ticket. This criminal might free himself to escape more easily than he could in prison, and he might go anywhere in the world. Even in prison the cost of keeping him alive will be very costly.
He has single-handedly turned an open society into one that must treat all bus passengers now with suspicion. It has also hurt the travel industry. Every Canadian I speak to here in the United States vows not to take a bus in the Canadian prairies ever again.
It's absurd and sad that this Canadian-born and raised mother feels solely responsibility to change Canadian law. It's a crucial decision and important for the future safety of all Canadians.
Bus companies and Canadian tourism generally would profit if her fight's successful and should help take responsibility as well.
Justice must be swift and shown to be done.
Here's a related article to read for further information on the latest news.
After all, isn't that how a very wealthy sick person is treated?
Canada is being too soft on him. He doesn't deserve such good treatment. Worse, it could encourage others with similar tendencies to do violent acts knowing the punishment sounds more attractive than fending for oneself, having to work and live a useful life.
Canada must appear very attractive as a safe haven for criminals. The law should be changed. It's supposed to act as a deterrent not a cushy boarding ticket. This criminal might free himself to escape more easily than he could in prison, and he might go anywhere in the world. Even in prison the cost of keeping him alive will be very costly.
He has single-handedly turned an open society into one that must treat all bus passengers now with suspicion. It has also hurt the travel industry. Every Canadian I speak to here in the United States vows not to take a bus in the Canadian prairies ever again.
It's absurd and sad that this Canadian-born and raised mother feels solely responsibility to change Canadian law. It's a crucial decision and important for the future safety of all Canadians.
Bus companies and Canadian tourism generally would profit if her fight's successful and should help take responsibility as well.
Justice must be swift and shown to be done.
Here's a related article to read for further information on the latest news.
It's Too Late to Debate, Rush!
The Dow is sinking lower today, down -202 points at mid-day, and the Republican Party has also sunk to a low level again today with Rush Limbaugh, whom I haven't listened to, challenging the President to a debate.
Monday, March 2, 2009
"Amy's Song"
Here's a video of an amazingly good post-wedding party that is a performance. Gets better and better. Escapist.
Best Wedding Toast Ever!!!! (Amy's Song) - video powered by Metacafe
Best Wedding Toast Ever!!!! (Amy's Song) - video powered by Metacafe
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Robbed in Broad Daylight
As an update to "How Friendly is America?" my own purse was snatched today outside of my local grocery store around one o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. It must have happened while loading my car with groceries. What a shock! Hasn't happened before..."this is a safe area."
"It seems like now, since the economy has changed, [thieves] are getting a little bit more sophisticated and a little more brazen" says this current article from CNN about crime.
The economy has gotten so bad it's just a sign of the times that someone needed to spirit away my valuables, including my driver's licence, credit and bank cards, a cellphone. Really rattled me, but I guess the silver lining is that it could have happened in a worse place. I wasn't hurt physically and I was easily rescued by my family and the police.
If the perp is reading this, I hope he/she leaves a comment, to put it politely. That was so wrong. For shame.
"It seems like now, since the economy has changed, [thieves] are getting a little bit more sophisticated and a little more brazen" says this current article from CNN about crime.
The economy has gotten so bad it's just a sign of the times that someone needed to spirit away my valuables, including my driver's licence, credit and bank cards, a cellphone. Really rattled me, but I guess the silver lining is that it could have happened in a worse place. I wasn't hurt physically and I was easily rescued by my family and the police.
If the perp is reading this, I hope he/she leaves a comment, to put it politely. That was so wrong. For shame.
How Friendly is America?
In October, the Congressional Research Service estimated that in 2006 (the latest available figures), it cost $390,000 a year to sustain each American trooper overseas. The New York Times, March 1, 2009
A-hah! Finally, we have the average current cost of maintaining a single trooper. Reminds me of the high cost of paying an existing employee in a large company with healthcare, retirement matching and taxes.
Rationality should prevail. If the ultimate goal is to keep America's stature as the world's greatest military superpower, where is that ultimately going? Does America want to continue to give an image as a war-obsessed nation? Does it realize it's becoming fixated on war as a great national employer at the same time as it's becoming a bailout nation? Both are drains on individual national taxpayers. Can America keep on bailing out businesses and banks that are "too big to fail" forever? At a time of record national deficit, there is perceived to be excess cash in the government. It is alarming to me that America is losing the democracy it worked so hard to achieve.
There are fears. Whatever will returning troopers do when they come home? But paying the government for a huge military presence in Asia doesn't make sense if it comes at the price of unwanted national debt and social services we all need and want. There's a lot of work for returning troopers to do right here in America, life affirming work. What I think should be encouraged by the new Administration are programs to make American cities and education safer, and healthcare and old age affordable for all.Wouldn't America prefer to make a great national effort to promote and try to return to its former image as a desirable residential and corporate paradise with a high standard of living?
As far as taxes are concerned, there are varying priorities. Businesses need lower taxes. Everyone wants to pay less tax and be able to understand tax obligations and where they're heading. It's bad enough having to pay them at all. We need our basic security, justice and fire services, social services of healthcare and education, Social Security, and efficient border control. That's where my taxes (millions) should be going, not a foreign war (or an inefficient prison system).
Priorities must be made and that's exactly what's expected of the new Administration. All countries make priorities, whether they encourage popular, desirable, virtuous ones or not. Abroad generally, the American military is the bull in the china shop wherever it goes. A great deal of goodwill abroad towards America has been lost in recent years.
How is being a military presence going to make friends in the world? What do you think?
A-hah! Finally, we have the average current cost of maintaining a single trooper. Reminds me of the high cost of paying an existing employee in a large company with healthcare, retirement matching and taxes.
Rationality should prevail. If the ultimate goal is to keep America's stature as the world's greatest military superpower, where is that ultimately going? Does America want to continue to give an image as a war-obsessed nation? Does it realize it's becoming fixated on war as a great national employer at the same time as it's becoming a bailout nation? Both are drains on individual national taxpayers. Can America keep on bailing out businesses and banks that are "too big to fail" forever? At a time of record national deficit, there is perceived to be excess cash in the government. It is alarming to me that America is losing the democracy it worked so hard to achieve.
There are fears. Whatever will returning troopers do when they come home? But paying the government for a huge military presence in Asia doesn't make sense if it comes at the price of unwanted national debt and social services we all need and want. There's a lot of work for returning troopers to do right here in America, life affirming work. What I think should be encouraged by the new Administration are programs to make American cities and education safer, and healthcare and old age affordable for all.Wouldn't America prefer to make a great national effort to promote and try to return to its former image as a desirable residential and corporate paradise with a high standard of living?
As far as taxes are concerned, there are varying priorities. Businesses need lower taxes. Everyone wants to pay less tax and be able to understand tax obligations and where they're heading. It's bad enough having to pay them at all. We need our basic security, justice and fire services, social services of healthcare and education, Social Security, and efficient border control. That's where my taxes (millions) should be going, not a foreign war (or an inefficient prison system).
Priorities must be made and that's exactly what's expected of the new Administration. All countries make priorities, whether they encourage popular, desirable, virtuous ones or not. Abroad generally, the American military is the bull in the china shop wherever it goes. A great deal of goodwill abroad towards America has been lost in recent years.
How is being a military presence going to make friends in the world? What do you think?
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