NumberSix

Health Update, The Answer

2008-04-19T18:50:57Z

Saw my doctor yesterday and we looked over my MRI results, turns out I have Spinal Stenosis, which is a narrowing of the spinal canal which is compressing the nerves in my lower back as well as my left leg causing the pain.

So now, we look at options, worst case is surgery, hopefully a shot in the spinal collumn will do the trick and get me mobile enough to continue my strength training which will help the situation.

Luckily, it's not a serious condition, just delibitatinly painfull.

Yay for that at least!

I see the specialist June 4th, which kind of pisses mee off, I want to do it yesterday! I'm up to 4 Oxycodone pills a day, and a drool cup. And it doesnt kill the apin, it just makes me dopy enough that i dont have the energy to bitch much 8^)

If ABC ran the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

2008-04-19T18:29:17Z

*NOTE, the ABC debate in my view was a great example of whats wrong with modern media, it's not about piling on Obama or Clinton, it's about focusing on real issues as opposed to Jerry Springer style "controversies" I know it's kind of impossible, but I really wish that political discourse could go back to being a public service that broadcast TV is required to carry as a part of their license agreement, and that it could include a non-commercial clause for news programs like this so ratings and commercials wouldnt matter, broadcasting would just be viewed as part of the overhead of the business, theres a killion reasons why this isnt a functional solution, or even a effective one, I'm just ratteling off as i drink my coffee here, pay no attention...*

Now, to the humor!

This made me laugh,

From Obsidian Wings:

Presidential candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held this debate on April 16, 1858 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

MODERATORS:
CHARLIE GIBSON, ABC NEWS
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS

MR. GIBSON: So we're going to begin with opening statements, and we had a flip of the coin, and the brief opening statement first from Mr. Lincoln.
LINCOLN: Thank you very much, Charlie and George, and thanks to all in the audience and who are out there. I appear before you today for the purpose of discussing the leading political topics which now agitate the public mind.

We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you think Mr. Douglas loves America as much you do?

LINCOLN: Sure I do.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But who loves America more?

LINCOLN: I’d prefer to get on with my opening statement George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: If your love for America were eight apples, how many apples would Senator Douglas’s love be?

LINCOLN: Eight.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Proceed.

LINCOLN: In my opinion, slavery will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Excuse me, did an Elijah H. Johnson attend your church?

LINCOLN: When I was a boy in Illinois forty years ago, yes. I think he was a deacon.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you aware that he regularly called Kentucky “a land of swine and whores”?

LINCOLN: Sounds right -- his ex-wife was from Kentucky.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why did you remain in the church after hearing those statements?

LINCOLN: I was eight.

DOUGLAS: This is an important question George -- it's an issue that certainly will be raised in the fall.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you denounce him?

LINCOLN: I’d like to get back to the divided house if I may.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you denounce and reject him?

LINCOLN: If it will make you shut up, yes, I denounce and reject him.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you denounce and reject him with sugar on top?

LINCOLN: Yes.

STEPHANOPOULOS: No takesies-backsies?

LINCOLN: Yes.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Whoa, so you would consider a takesie-backsie?

LINCOLN: That’s not what I meant…

DOUGLAS: When I was 11, my grandpappy and I chopped wood and shot bears.

LINCOLN: Ahem, I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect slavery will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you love America this much (extending fingers), this much (extending hands slightly), or thiiiiiis much (extending hands broadly)?

LINCOLN: I think we covered this…

GIBSON: If I may interrupt…

LINCOLN: Please.

GIBSON: I noticed, Mr. Lincoln, that your American flag pin was upside down…

LINCOLN: Yes, the wind caught it. Now, as I was saying...

GIBSON: We get questions about this all the time over at Powerline and on Hannity’s talk show. Mr. Douglas has said this is a major vulnerability for you in the fall. So I’ll ask again – do you love America?

LINCOLN: (scowling with a forced smile). Yes.

GIBSON: If your love for America were ice cream, what flavor would it be?

LINCOLN: (pausing with disgust and turning back to camera) Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new -- North as well as South.

DOUGLAS: He didn’t answer the question Charlie. This fall, that question is going to be on the minds of the American public. I’ve proudly stated that my love for America is Very Berry Strawberry.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask it another way. If Elijah Johnson were chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, would you eat it? Or would you decline to eat it?

DOUGLAS: Personally, as for me, I would decline to eat it.

LINCOLN (shaking his head): Let any one who doubts, carefully contemplate that now almost complete legal combination -- piece of machinery, so to speak -- compounded of the Nebraska doctrine, and the Dred Scott decision.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We’ll get to Dred Scott in the second hour, time willing, but I want to get back to the ice cream question. And that's what we'll do, after the break.

"If Scientology is real, then somethings fucked up"

2008-04-16T01:02:27Z

I know, I know, sorry for a string of what sems like just bashing things. But this video is just so worthwhile, that iu figured, what the hell?

Jason Beghe is an actor who I have enjoyed for awhile in assorted roles. And he has been a big time Scientologist for years.
Well something woke him up, and he left the cult, and then he posted a snippet from a interview sharing some of his thoughts on what he had experienced and witnessed.

No big suprises or anything, it's just refreshing to see someone who is able to question his own beliefs, really question them, and if they dont make sense, make yourself evolve.

thats just awesome.

Viva le Evolution!

Dear God

2008-04-15T23:05:05Z

Thank you.

Aaron's penis.

They make me a pirate, a Steamy, gearhead pirate.

2008-04-14T00:45:00Z

I love Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.

If you havent heard it, wll it was released a few centuries ago, a double LP of the last great Rock Opera. (at least for a bit) Richard Burton was the narrirator, and he gathered the best aspects of The Moody Blues as well as other things and made a LP that I just adored as a kid.

Well, the times being what they are, they decided to have a big ol live concert of the work, in Britain (those bastards) no love for the yanks.
And then, because everyone likes a little exrea bling, they released a DVD version.
Everywhere but the US. (at least it feels like it.
Recently the Sundance Channel showed it, and even though the audio and video quality SUCKED, I completely loved it, and had to hear it in 5.1.

Say hello to my little friend, the intertubenets.
I snagged a copy of the region 2 release, and converted it so I could use it for myself. (a 7 Gig download, that took a while, but I wanted the real thing, not some crunched and stripped down skeleton)

heres the thing, I WANT TO GIVE THEM MY $20, but they dont want it.
(OK $12 Canadian)

Fine, I'll use that money to feed my parrot that they seem to want me to own.

So for those that have no idea what I'm on about, or those that know, and want a taste, Heres a youtube clip.
BTW, I want one of those costumes, nice freaken duds.

and a steampunk guitar? How sweet is that? I mean really!

I'll enjoy this now, but I'll still vote with my $$;s when/ if they decide they want my money.

Dear Mr. Pope while I'm going to hell anyway

2008-04-13T19:36:10Z

Dear Benny,

I read that your making a huge effort to fight demons, thats completely awesome! good for you!
Your educating a bunch of people in performing exorcisms so they can do battle with the minions of satan and protect your flock.

While I applaud the retro and "old skool" *spelled in hip-speak, cause I'm down with the kids out there* vibe of your 2008 fashion line, may i respectfully suggest that you first consider training those people to battle the minions of satan in a less esoteric fashion?

I mean, imagine if your ~~business..~~. er... Church put that much effort into uncovering pedophilic priests, stopping them and bringing them to justice?
I know it's not as sexy sounding as battling demons, but as you keep saying, real demons do exist, and it seems a lot of them are wearing priests robes as a disguise.
And while I'm no expert, it seems to me that every demon/priest you cast into the pit would save quite a few lives, or at least restore a bit of faith among those that are quickly losing it.

And really, isnt that your primary product? Your entire buisiness model is based on selling faith, no faith, no sin, no sin, no repentance, no repentance, no tithing.

So what do you say Benny? Shine that light of god you have on the cockroaches in your own house, your in a position where you can do some actual good in the world, save some children's lives, save some peoples souls..

Who knows, the first soul you save, may even be your own.

Thou shalt now go make me a tuna sandwich. Naked.

2008-04-13T19:11:40Z

I'm stealing this from the wonderfull Shelbel.
It's a awesome article by Mark Morford about the Catholic Church's "New Sin" product line.

A few wonderful quotes from the article, and then a quote by me, because.. well, I should provide something beyond a cut and paste eh?
..

"These are just the rules. I don't make them up, I just report the facts. Like this one: Do you have a healthy Adderall/Zoloft/Budweiser addiction that you couple with a severe case of keepin' your uppity and sexually dangerous wife in her gul-dang place? God loves you. And your fellow Republicans. Do you enjoy a joint with your wine and a few hits of Ecstasy at Burning Man and maybe some special mushrooms at SXSW as you play with a Pyrex dildo with your joyful girlfriend just after yoga but before meditating? Say hello to Satan for me, pervert."

"This same Catholic Church has been lying to young women for upwards of 2,000 years, telling them to loathe and mistrust their bodies and fear sex and restrain their natural urges and not to touch any naughty body parts until they marry a pasty middle manager who looks disturbingly like their father, and only he can touch their naughty bits and make them feel lousy about their bodies because he has no clue what he's doing. Praise!"

"Note to the Vatican: You want true sin? Here you go: Lying to women is a sin. Pathological hypocrisy is a sin. Half a billion dollars in pedophilia lawsuit payouts is a sin. Homophobia is a sin. Hiding those golden vaginas is a sin. And creating new sins in a strange attempt to stay relevant as your church withers and struggles and falters in the new and spiritually hungry but religiously mistrustful world, that's surely a sin.

No, wait. Check that. That's not a sin at all. It's actually just a sad, inexcusable joke."

And from me, to Shel,

*hrm, this is a cut and paste as well... ahh well, at least I'm ripping off my own content!*

I'm always amazed by people that hold onto the concept of the "infallibility" of the human Pope.
Of the many belief systems i dont get, it's right on up there because it's so mainstream, yet so nutty.

And "original" sin? The concept literally blows my mind.
I've had conversations with friends where they got really REALLY mad because I just cannot seem to get how either of those things have anything to do with anything attributed to god, Jesus, Buddah, Allah (or whomever) ever saying.

that whole aspect is the politics of control, the bureaucracy and the power struggle over the masses, nothing to do with what the whole religion is supposed to be about.

Or is that what the "belief system" is supposed to be about, but the Religion is the bureaucracy built on the belief system to consolodate power? I dunno, just thinking off the top of my head here)

I dont have any answers regarding our souls, our porpose, or life. I figure, be nice to people, leave the world a tiny bit better of a place than you found it, hug a lot, laugh a lot, do as little harm as possible...
"Do the best with what you got, and have a little fun along the way" ~ The Urban Peasant.

Sorry, but the moment that you even try to protect a child molester from basic justice, the minute you try and "protect" the sancitity and wealth of your orginization before you protect the rights, safety and best interests in those that have been abused.
The moment that happens, your orginization loses all right, all ability, loses every chance you ever had to try and educate me about your version of what sin is, about what right and wrong are, about who or what god is and what we are about. I cannot take you seriously.

People leave churches because they dont like the new caterer, why there was not a stampede of catholics storming out of their churches over this protection of child molesters is beyond me.

And now, these hypocritical pedophile-sympathizers are gonna tell me about a new batch of sins?
Well i guess teach what you know, and they sure as hell know a lot about sin.

Aqusition

2008-04-04T06:37:02Z

I now have season one of Voyage to the Bottom Of The Sea, as well as every episode of Doctor Who through mid-Peter Davidson!

(as well as the entire series of Pingu!)

I really need to blog a bit more, sorry all, I've been doped up to hell and back.

I just watched the first episode of Voyage, and man, it just makes me happy to watch it, it's not that great a series, pretty wretched in places, but I dig it.

Writer's Block: No Laughing Matter

2008-03-29T17:46:27Z

I usually feel that pretty much everything is open to either a humerous spin, or using humor to blunt a stressfull/horrid situation.

However, last night, I was talking to a friend who was telling me about a man he works with from Sri Lanka.
It seems that Sri Lanka has a major export in trafficing young girls for sex. They use some sort of a "worker administration" (I forget what it's called) and you can have them send a girl to you to "work"

I was pretty much.. well repulsed is waaay to tame a word. They do this world wide, and it's legal? There seems to be a major influx of this coming to the U.S. which.. well I know this sort of thing happens, but even with the cushion of a co-worker of a friend brings this to close to home.

I will go over the line to make people laugh, I'm known in Tikibar for saying some outrageous (but kindhearted always) things in order to raise spirits etc.

I play the role of a bit of a pervert, always looking for weirdness and humor and just plain WTF? things that will set a room screaming in laughter and shaking their head at what comes out of my mouth.

But in my most politically incorrect, perverted, twisted moment of humor. I can find nothing funny, nothing lighthearted, I am filled with nothing but shock and sadness, anger and revulsion, horror and a desire to harm those that would harm innocents.

I cannot use humor to protect myself from the feelings that knowledge gives me.

And on the night my Dad dies, I used sardonic humor to try and insulate myself from the pain. (Failed, but tried)

I think a persons body is their last line of defense, and believe that laws should keep out of it. I'm not "pro" prostitution myself, but I'm anti telling a woman (or man) what they cannot do with their body because I find it distasteful.

But consentual prostitution is not rape, it's not slavery. It's not... this.

Thats what I cannot joke about, in fact, it's something I cant even think about because it hurts. But now, it's in my head, and I want to stop it from happening. But it's not going to happen any time soon, this will go on, just has it has for centuries.

And that makes me weep.

What do you think is too serious to joke about?

View 500 Answers

GeekASM, screw the car, I want my Flying Sub!

2008-03-28T19:23:30Z

Stealing a moment to set up the burning of some essential viewing onto DVD for Josh, I came across what to me, is a site thats pretty damned close to geekasm porn.

Yeah, it’s safe for work, nothing nasty (sorry pervs)

But it becons me back to the days when I would save my allowance, and on Saturday morning, about once a month, make the trek to the model shop and buy something I lusted for, and spend a weekend putting it together.

Imagine the freaks that never stopped, imagine... oh sweetness and light, THIS is the sort of thing I want in a Home Theater room.

First Page.

A 8’ long model of the Seaview, built from scratch.

Link one exterior

Link two peering inside the portholes at the control room.

Link Three Control Room Exposed

Perhaps the coolest Pizza place in the solar system....

Space 1999 Eagle... is groovy

BSG... not a lot of detail, but still..

Flash Gordon-style ship (the real one, not.. well you know)

And the granddaddy of steampunk, the Uber of cool, Jules Vern’s Nautilus. I’m not the biggest fan of the Disney movie, but they got the Nautilus right, and I want one!

Link To Exterior1
Link to exterior2
Link to "Aaron needs to dry off his seat"

The only thing is, I want a life sized one 8^)

And a flying sub

And a TARDIS

Is it so wrong to still be a kid?

The most important development of our time

2008-03-18T19:45:16Z

A coffee printer

Yep
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PjgVeJkdBn0&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PjgVeJkdBn0&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

Not the cream of the crop

2008-03-15T23:42:31Z

Not the cream of the crop

It’s official, anyone can make a buck on the convention circuit.

ANYONE.

Here is a web page of the agent who represents some K level sci-fi performers with a few B’s thrown in.

Of course, the pic of two metal bikini’ed Leah’s makes it all worthwhile...

But REALLY?
Do we need to have so many people who’s claim to fame was that they were stormtroopers?

LINK to pile of "this is the best this convention could get?"

Among my favorits..

a Naboo Pilot.
Jinx’s driver in Die Another Day.
A senator Guard from Star Wars
Yaddle.
A medal bearer from the end of Star Wars
Maura Jade from the Star Wars "Expanded Universe"
*uuummm, what the hell is that? A game? I guess anything to have a hot Star Wars babe with a lightsaber*

Sy Snoodles! Fuck yeah!

Brindy Truchong... the best part of Star Wars in my opinion, she made it all come together.
And the Mouth of Sauron *I wonder how he did that mouth thing, that would be awesome to see*

They have some B level folks, like Russo from Lost, and Babylon 5. (a show I saw the first season of, although i hear its good)

But they do have raGenel Maydine who was the fucking MAN in Return of the Jedi! Hells yes! Nobody can argue with that.

And to top it all off, they have Huggi Bear from Starsky and Hutch.

Which leads me to a thought...

I should hook my star to this gravytrain, I was in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, (cut out of course, until Steve finally put out the ultimate edition to leave intact my 3 seconds of screentime because of pressure from the acadamy of motion picture ars and sciences for the loss of such a cinimatic gift to all humanity as my presence on screen was, so everyone buy the DVD and Blu-Ray again, because I luvs me some residual checks)
*when your as tight as I am with him, you call him Steve... really... *

**OK, so not really.**

So heres the deal, for $1000, I’ll come to your convention (you provide air fare, room, board and $4500 call girls in metal bikini’s) and I’ll sign autographs, as well as give a one hour talk on my 3 months on set. Including meeting the Frugal Gourmet, learning to play tennis with Stephen Spielberg, being taught to fall by the stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker, (a actual nice guy to a 11 year old kid). How I was allowed to be late on set one day when they called me in, but Steven *Steev-O to his buds* found out I was at the local movie theater seeing Jaws, and he told them to wait till after the movie was over, why I have not washed my left cheek since that summer (hint, it involves Terri Garr, and NOT Richard Dryfuss has been reported in the press, thats a visious lie).
For a extra $250 I’ll even tell about how my audition freaked out everyone in the room as well as that watched the film of it, and almost broke the camera they were using.

yeeeeessssss, perhaps being a Z level actor can be my big break... one day i can do Shamrock Shake commercials!

Fucking A.

File under :This looks like a good idea.

2008-03-15T20:28:30Z

Hey, look at that will ya? Natures just awesome.
It’s just like Jurassic Park isn’t it?

Why yes... yes it IS just like Jurassic Park.

Based on the tattoo’s at least he’s kosher.

I Am Legend Alternate Ending

2008-03-09T22:10:04Z

I saw this in the theaters, and while not a great movie, it was good, except I kind of hated it.

Why?
Because the most interesting aspect of the film (which I'll not get into just yet because of spoilers and such) was just dropped. Little clues and hints were here and there, but it just vanished, which I thought was pure lazy shit.

So if you havent seen the movie and are planning on watching it, see the alternate ending version . It's not great or anything, but it at least gives some meaning to hints along the way.

If you cant tell, this is not a movie I recommend seeing really. unless your in the mood for it, in which case, enjoy. I liked it fine, but wouldnt really watch the whole thing again myself, so i wouldnt recommend it, even though i wouldnt tell you to avoid it because it's crap because it's actually good, just not good enough for me to watch it again/recommend it, does that make sense?

Now, for those that havent seen it or wish no spoilers, go away.

Bye.

No really, see ya around.

Love ya, really, your awesome.

??

Good.

The thing I disliked about the movie was that (to me) the most interesting part of it was that the mutants were pretty obviously thinking, feeling creatures.
Even the fact that when the lead captures the female mutant, the male tries to get to her, burning himself in the sunlight, and then uses the same tactic on the hero later in the film.

There was organization, emotion, some memory of who they were, but it came to nothing, was just dropped. Which I thought was completely and utterly stupid and frankly, ruined the movie. Not that it was ever going to be a great movie in my eyes, but I like even my "pure entertainment" movies to have some internal logic, some respect for it's own plot.

Anyway, there yago, if you want to see the alternate ending, without rewatching the film on DVD heres a link.

LINK

It doesnt make the movie wonderfull or anything, it just makes more sense out of the movie than the original.

Where I respond to Sabalo about training well after the fact.

2008-03-09T21:20:11Z

Because I just dropped the ball on this one, and decided to respond with a actual blog as well as a reply to a thread that was about a week old.

Because I suck.

7 MPH counts as a run to my fat ass! Especially since I clock in at 3.4-3.6 MPH.
Of course, on weight training days I'm just using it to warm up get a bit of cardio and thats where I hit my target heart rate, once I get my assorted pains and whatnot under control, I might start pushing it a bit more, probably wait till i lose another 30 pounds before I go nuts on it.

I was at a pint of weights Mon-Wed-Fri with a hour walking on Tues-Thurs.
I'm trying to get back into that rhythm.

I'm all about comparing notes! As for the ball, I hear it's a really good tool. Also, since your in better shape than I am, some things that are completely kicking my ass, (and are free) but will make a huge difference is Bench Squats, Lunges, planks and the old standard of pushups.

And for a low cost, (no extra cost since you go to a Community Center) some dumbells are great, I started by doing a "seated arm curl" to wake my muscles up from their decades of slumber,now I'm doing a "Chest Press/Fly" using 10 pound weights.

I started doing the planks and pushups on the wall, now I'm on the floor, doing modified ones so I'm on my knees and not my toes, but I'm doing them, which is more than I've done before (EVER before), and the equipment price is certainly reasonable!

The planks are deceptive, they seem easy, but after a bit, they really stretch your back and work on the abdominal muscles.

I learned (as you did) not to push myself too fast, that way lies badness, pain and despair, in fact, I make myself continue at a certain weight even if I feel I could up it 5 pounds for a few workouts before I push up a notch, just because once bitten, twice shy. And because some days I am extra strong/flexable, but it doesn't always carry over, and is not the norm, so I want to make sure that it's a consistent improvement in abilities before I adopt it as my new "baseline"

But I make sure that every workout is hard, uncomfortable, it can hurt, but no "PAIN" with a capital everything.

Now that I'm in a new routine, I'm sore as hell, but thats normal, and not hurting myself, just my muscles trying to hit the snooze button.Still it's Sunday, I worked out Friday, and my body is still giving me a nice little "fuck you" with the soreness.

Of course, one thing that really makes me feel good is that I'm sore in places that I have never felt before, muscles I wasnt aware of, I can actually feel some muscular definition in my shoulders and arms below the layers of fat. Even though it's not a cosmetic improvment, it's something I can feel, and thats actually a greater motivation to me than anything else.

Another perk?
I've started buying a lot of shirts from Woot.com, and now even the 2X size is a tad large around the shoulder and chest.
The waist fits, but thats because I'm Captain Saggy. But thats improving as well.
(note, right now, my bench squats are not using any weights at all, and they kick my ass, but in a bit I should start being able to use a little weight)

A Playmobile Security Checkpoint TOY?

2008-03-07T17:35:29Z

OK, besides the fact that this toy is
A) Insane
B) Depressing
C) One of the most wonderful things I've seen in a year of Sundays and just makes me so happy.
D) There is no D
E) All of the above, including a secret letter that you dont know about.... yet.

The reviews on Amazon are right up there with the old Family Circus book and Tuscan Milk.

ENJOY!

Link to toy

Link to reviews

I have an idea for a playset..
"High School Drug Bust"

That would be awesome.

2008-03-07T16:58:54Z

Who knew?

Theres a huge fanbase for Disneys Haunted Mansion and the fan site is pretty damned awesome!

And they had their 10th anniversarry party... INSIDE the haunted mansion!

As someone who really enjoyed that ride, I would be all about that kind of party. Especially after the park closed!

Dinner would be fun, but screw that, let me wander through the ride!

One reason why I loved staying "on property" when I was there was that I was able to go to the parks after general admission closed, much cooler to wander around at 11PM (open till midnight depending on blah blah blah)
(hell, not that I've lost weight, I'll try Space Mountain, god knows I loved Mission Space)

*I'll take Coolest Party On The Planet For The WIN Gene"

LINK To Article

How to get good health information online? I stole this, admittedly

2008-03-07T04:53:23Z

Good and informative article on using the net as a way to educate yourself about health issues.
I'm just copy and pasting the whole thing here to save everyone (myself) the trouble of finding it again, (but I'm bookmarking all the sites listed)
Anyway, here yago.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- When Mary Ryan's 4-year-old nephew, Nick, landed in the hospital with a serious infection, her brother called her in a panic. Ryan isn't a doctor. She's not a nurse. She's a librarian.

Nick had cat scratch fever, and for weeks it was impervious to antibiotics. Desperate, the doctor in Nick's small town wanted to use a more powerful antibiotic that might save him -- but also might make Nick deaf.

Ryan's brother hoped she could find something -- anything -- that would save his son without disabling him. Ryan asked one of her colleagues, a research specialist at the Texas Medical Center Library in Houston, to search the medical literature. She came up with an article about an antibiotic that worked against cat scratch fever but wasn't toxic.

"We sent the doctor the whole article, and when he read it, he said, 'This is great. I hadn't thought of that,' " said Ryan, the president-elect of the Medical Library Association. Nick took the antibiotic and recovered without complications.

So if you're trying to find medical information for yourself or someone you love, and you're not lucky enough to have access to a professional research librarian, what do you do?

"The Empowered Patient" assumes you already know the basics of good Internet searching: .gov and .edu sites are to be trusted, as are sites for major health centers (think MayoClinic.com) and health organizations (such as the American Cancer Society's cancer.org).

"But there's so much more you can do. You can take this to a whole new level," says Jan Guthrie, director of The Health Resource, a for-pay medical research service.

So for the Internet searcher hungry for more, here are some tips for being a sophisticated surfer:

1. Use search engines that screen out the garbage for you

There's a lot of junk on the Internet. "It's the wild, wild West out there," says Alan Spielman, CEO of URAC, a company that certifies health Web sites. "You really have to be alert as you go through these sites."

To get rid of the junk, use a search engine that looks only at reputable sites that have been vetted by health professionals. Dirline, run by the National Library of Medicine, is one such engine, as are medlineplus.gov and Imedix.com. Healthfinder.gov searches for information on government health Web sites.

2. Find smart bloggers with your disease

Some bloggers do an excellent job of linking to resources specific to your disease. That goes for advocacy groups, too.

3. Invest 30 minutes in the pubmed.gov tutorial

Pubmed.gov searches the medical literature, but it isn't completely intuitive. It's worth the time to learn how to use it by doing the tutorial.

Nervous you won't understand the technical jargon in medical articles? Don't be, says Guthrie. She advises reading the very beginning of a study and the very end. "The conclusion will tell you whether the treatment they studied was effective, moderately effective, or not at all effective."

In addition, the Medical Library Association, has brochures called Deciphering Medspeak to help translate some of the more common medical jargon.

Tara Parker-Pope, a health columnist for the New York Times, found it useful to specifically search for review articles on pubmed when she was looking for treatments for her mother's esophageal cancer. Review articles give an overview of the latest research on a particular subject. "Review articles are an excellent way to get a lay of the land and to get the big picture on a topic," Parker-Pope says.

To find review articles on pubmed, go to the "limits" tab and then under "type of article", check "review."

4. Click on information about annual meetings

For example, let's say you just got a breast cancer diagnosis. You could go to asco.org, the site for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and look at information on new breast cancer treatments discussed at last year's meeting.

This is the way to get cutting-edge information, Guthrie says. "Information on new treatments is presented at conferences six to 12 months before it's published in a medical journal."

Guthrie says she managed to find out about a new treatment for tendonitis this way. "It wasn't even in the medical journals yet. We found one doctor in New York who was doing it. If I had tendonitis, it might've been worth traveling to him," she says.

5. When in doubt about a Web site, click on "about us"

Sometimes it's clear who runs a Web site. Often it's not. Clicking on "about us" should explain it. Knowing who's behind the information you're reading (especially if they're trying to sell you something) helps you evaluate whether the information is biased. If you can't figure out who runs the site, don't use it.

And here perhaps are two of the most valuable pieces of advice: Use Internet resources in combination. "An advocacy group or a review article by itself is pretty useless," Parker-Pope says. "No one of these works by itself."

The second piece of advice: Don't expect the Internet to cure your disease. "I wanted to find the needle in the haystack to cure my mother," Parker-Pope says. "But information doesn't cure cancer. It just leads you to the best doctor and the best options."

Parker-Pope never found the needle in the haystack. Her mother, Karen Parker, died nine months after her diagnosis. But because of what they found out on the Internet, Parker-Pope and her family had confidence she received the best possible care. "And feeling confident in your care is no small thing," she says.

Save The Humpback Chub!

2008-03-05T23:05:29Z

So I couldnt resist the Subject line... I admit it I'm always up for a cheap shot.

Still, all in all, THIS is something I would love to see in person.

From LasVegasNow.com

Billions of gallons of water will pour into the Grand Canyon and eventually into Lake Mead. The Bureau of Reclamation is planning a massive water release by opening the flood gates at the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell starting Wednesday.

The release will create a springtime flood along the Colorado River, like ones that occurred before the dam was built. The bureau says it will improve the ecology and recreation in the Grand Canyon.

But some believe the flood could harm sensitive areas.

The Glen Canyon Dam is upstream from Hoover Dam. Water that leaves that dam flows through the Grand Canyon and then ultimately ends up in Lake Mead before reaching the Hoover Dam.

Wednesday morning, the Bureau of Reclamation plans to open up the dam to send a massive amount of water flooding into the Grand Canyon.

It will come out of four massive jet tubes, which bypass the dam's hydroelectric plant. The hope is to mimic natural floods which occurred before this dam was completed in the 1960's, scouring miles of river banks in the depths of the Grand Canyon.

To give an idea of how much water is being released during that time, the total amount of water released will amount to about 2/3 of what Nevada is entitled to draw from the Colorado River over an entire year.

This experiment is set to last for a total of 60 hours.

Water managers hope it will help create a better environment for a 3 million-year-old fish called the Humpback Chub.

"It is an experimental flow and the intent is to take some of the sand that has accumulated on the river bottom, or washed into the river, and move that sand up onto the beaches and the banks to reestablish the beach habitat -- to recreate and restore some of the areas where the recreational campers go. And it also helps clean out the backwaters, so you can get some of the endangered fish species in those backwaters and they can be safe from predators in the main stream of the river," said Bob Walsh with the Bureau of Reclamation.

A similar experiment was held in 1996. As in the 1996 experiment, U.S. Geological Survey personnel will be staged in the Grand Canyon to monitor to the water flow and both its short and long term impacts on the floor of the canyon.

Less water will be released from Glen Canyon Dam during the rest of the year to make up for the water released over the next several days. In the end, all of the river water allotments will be exactly the same.

Conspiracy theory? Your Soaking In it!

2008-03-05T19:36:17Z

So heres a link to a interesting (and entertaining) article on 7 conspiracies that actually happened.

Turns out, just because your paranoid... well you know the rest.

(Shhhh Rupert Murdoch is listening)

LINK

Starting over, the LJ way!

2008-03-05T19:20:30Z

So I came here first because of the ever-fabulous tickly_Girl, and then, because I am a slug and a slave to routine, I never quite made the jump from a Myspace blog,

But now, my friend Sabalo has moved his insane Libertarian ass over here, and has forced me to buck up and restart. So i shall.

For all the loverly weight loss pals, I'll repost a few things, as well as starting to try and ween my Myspace readers over to this neck of the woods.
Myspace was never that great to start with, and frankly, the only reason i stay there is because I have a lot of good friends there (REAL friends, not Teila Tequila friends, if you know what i mean and I know that you do!)

Alanis Morissette

2007-04-02T22:17:56Z

I just completely and totally love this.

Chocolate Jesus

2007-04-02T12:39:39Z

I just love Tom Waits, I really really do.

A Pythons perspective of this new Iranian shitstorm

2007-04-02T05:33:28Z

I couldn't say it better.

Call that humiliation?

No hoods. No electric shocks. No beatings. These Iranians clearly are a very uncivilised bunch

Terry Jones
Saturday March 31, 2007
The Guardian

I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this - allowing them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that smoking kills. And as for compelling poor servicewoman Faye Turney to wear a black headscarf, and then allowing the picture to be posted around the world - have the Iranians no concept of civilised behaviour? For God's sake, what's wrong with putting a bag over her head? That's what we do with the Muslims we capture: we put bags over their heads, so it's hard to breathe. Then it's perfectly acceptable to take photographs of them and circulate them to the press because the captives can't be recognised and humiliated in the way these unfortunate British service people are.

It is also unacceptable that these British captives should be made to talk on television and say things that they may regret later. If the Iranians put duct tape over their mouths, like we do to our captives, they wouldn't be able to talk at all. Of course they'd probably find it even harder to breathe - especially with a bag over their head - but at least they wouldn't be humiliated.

And what's all this about allowing the captives to write letters home saying they are all right? It's time the Iranians fell into line with the rest of the civilised world: they should allow their captives the privacy of solitary confinement. That's one of the many privileges the US grants to its captives in Guantánamo Bay.

The true mark of a civilised country is that it doesn't rush into charging people whom it has arbitrarily arrested in places it's just invaded. The inmates of Guantánamo, for example, have been enjoying all the privacy they want for almost five years, and the first inmate has only just been charged. What a contrast to the disgraceful Iranian rush to parade their captives before the cameras!

What's more, it is clear that the Iranians are not giving their British prisoners any decent physical exercise. The US military make sure that their Iraqi captives enjoy PT. This takes the form of exciting "stress positions", which the captives are expected to hold for hours on end so as to improve their stomach and calf muscles. A common exercise is where they are made to stand on the balls of their feet and then squat so that their thighs are parallel to the ground. This creates intense pain and, finally, muscle failure. It's all good healthy fun and has the bonus that the captives will confess to anything to get out of it.

And this brings me to my final point. It is clear from her TV appearance that servicewoman Turney has been put under pressure. The newspapers have persuaded behavioural psychologists to examine the footage and they all conclude that she is "unhappy and stressed".

What is so appalling is the underhand way in which the Iranians have got her "unhappy and stressed". She shows no signs of electrocution or burn marks and there are no signs of beating on her face. This is unacceptable. If captives are to be put under duress, such as by forcing them into compromising sexual positions, or having electric shocks to their genitals, they should be photographed, as they were in Abu Ghraib. The photographs should then be circulated around the civilised world so that everyone can see exactly what has been going on.

As Stephen Glover pointed out in the Daily Mail, perhaps it would not be right to bomb Iran in retaliation for the humiliation of our servicemen, but clearly the Iranian people must be made to suffer - whether by beefing up sanctions, as the Mail suggests, or simply by getting President Bush to hurry up and invade, as he intends to anyway, and bring democracy and western values to the country, as he has in Iraq.

· Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python
www.terry-jones.net

Louis Armstrong and Johnny Cash - Blue Yodel No. 9

2007-04-01T13:59:42Z

I would have never guessed, but Louis Armstrong was a guest on the Johnny Cash Show. This and the story about Satchmo and Jimmie Rogers show how diverse musical tastes these men had and once again that music is a great connector.
This is from episode 38, Oct., 28, 1970 and must be one of Satchmo's last performances. He was such a great performer right to the end and the Nashville audience and Johnny just loved him.
Louis Armstrong cracks everybody up at the start of the song: Let's give it to 'em in black and white.

NumberSix

Health Update, The Answer

If ABC ran the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

"If Scientology is real, then somethings fucked up"

Dear God

They make me a pirate, a Steamy, gearhead pirate.

Dear Mr. Pope *while I'm going to hell anyway*

Thou shalt now go make me a tuna sandwich. Naked.

Aqusition

Writer's Block: No Laughing Matter

GeekASM, screw the car, I want my Flying Sub!

The most important development of our time

Not the cream of the crop

File under :This looks like a good idea.

I Am Legend Alternate Ending

Where I respond to Sabalo about training well after the fact.

A Playmobile Security Checkpoint TOY?

How to get good health information online? *I stole this, admittedly*

Save The Humpback Chub!

Conspiracy theory? Your Soaking In it!

Starting over, the LJ way!

Alanis Morissette

Chocolate Jesus

A Pythons perspective of this new Iranian shitstorm

Call that humiliation?

Louis Armstrong and Johnny Cash - Blue Yodel No. 9

Dear Mr. Pope while I'm going to hell anyway

How to get good health information online? I stole this, admittedly