Most of us have our cholesterol and other lipids checked every year. You might also ask your doctor to order a test for c-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation. However, my family doctor says that the c-reactive protein test is no longer in vogue and that the results would not alter the way she goes about preventing and treating heart disease.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Plastic Bottles in Garbage
If concerned (aka intrusive) citizens continue to harass individuals who use disposable plastic water bottles, then those individuals might start hiding their empty bottles in the garbage, where they won’t be seen (in dark plastic garbage bags), rather than in recycle boxes out front of their homes.
Multi-tasking, Texting, and the Service Economy
We hear all this hype on TV about how the younger generations are now experts at multi-tasking and texting and how video games help our children grow up to be surgeons. But who wants a surgeon who multi-tasks and texts? I mean neither multi-tasking nor texting contribute to a surgeon’s operating-room skills. Both multi-tasking and texting interfere with our ability to concentrate at the task at hand; multi-tasking and texting help us waste our time.
Multi-tasking and texting are products of our service economy; as skills they benefit secretaries, telemarketers, and corporate middle managers. Conversely, specialists (scientists, astronauts, mechanics, doctors, nurses, drivers, engineers, etc.) need to concentrate, not multi-task. Writers need to write, not text.
Did Alan Greenspan Cause the Economic Meltdown?
I am good at seeing patterns in life and in data, and I am often good at predicting (although sometimes I do not follow my own good advice), but right now I am unwilling to spend the time necessary to perhaps substantiate the following possibility:
When Alan Greenspan decided to pop the High Tech stock bubble by raising interest rates back in 1999 – 2000 (despite the fact that corporate leaders said he was doing the wrong thing, that he should let the good times continue), he did not take into account unforeseen disasters. Yet unpredicted disaster was on us soon enough, in 2001, when the World Trade Towers fell to dust on 9/11, furthering the decline on Wall Street and in our economy.
The Last of Brazil’s Lost Tribe
On the news last night, the reporter called it the lost tribe, but that label seems like propaganda, given that the news report was about how Brazil’s ranchers and farmers had exterminated the tribe over a number of years–obviously the tribe was not lost to these ranchers (or to the Brazilian government, which has been synonymous with unfettered ranching and rainforest destruction for decades now).
I mean the world has been after Brazil to change its ways. The world has been after Brazil for decades. Yet the Brazilian government allowed its ranchers to commit blatant genocide, and neither the United Nations nor any of its members have instituted sanctions against Brazil. I think this state of affairs–a renegade, evil Brazilian government; a United Nations that looks the other way over and over again, even after acknowledging the crime–shows us that our so-called world leaders are a sham. They come from the scrapings at the bottom of the barrel. They are not doing their jobs and are probably too brainwashed and greedy to ever do the right thing.
Spinal Stenosis and Surgery
One of my friends will soon find out if she needs surgery for spinal stenosis, a narrowing of her spine. Back surgery can be dangerous and often only partially alleviates the pain and immobility associated with spinal problems. I made an online search. The reputable sites recommend that patients obtain second opinions before proceeding with surgery. Here are links to valuable information:
Mayo Clinic’s spinal stenosis information: Mayo Clinic
Mayo’s section on spinal surgery: Back surgery: When is it a good idea?
Fitness and the Superbowl?
The Super Bowl was boring, as usual (you know . . . football) and had way too many TV commercials, as usual. And Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ half-time show was like brown snow — tired winter, dead flowers, bronchitis brought on by lifestyle — which brings me to my point: The half-time show’s producer (the company that put it on) asked for 600 volunteers (and got them), but I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would give their time for free to millionaires like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or to an event that makes millions of dollars (never mind the Super Bowl’s sponsors’ earnings, the ones who bought the commercials — they paid 2.7 million dollars for 20 seconds of air time).
Truth is Ugly
A quote from John Updike’s book Seek My Face, page 48:
Truth is ugly. We possess art lest we perish of the truth. The only virtue left in this day and age is courage before the hopeless.
He means your courage best serves the hopeless.
