Thursday, February 16
Sunny And Cold Morning Coffee Muses.
Tag: health
Mark Bittman Points Out A Inconvenient Truth
Reading Mark Bittman's blog this morning I saw this lead-in to a link I had to follow: Here’s the thing. A lot of stuff isn’t directly about food, but TB – that’s tuberculosis – is becoming, has become, antibiotic-resistant. And a lot of antibiotic resistance may be because there are…
Walk In Nature, It Restores The Mind
“Everybody,” Muir said, “needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” Turns out they were ahead of their time. “Attention Restoration Theory” or ART, which posits that a walk in the woods helps refocus…
What’s The World Like In The 21st Century?
I found this in my email reading today...It makes you wonder if the modern world is really all that modern after all. Apparently for about a third of the world's population not a whole lot has changed in 21 centuries... Cooking and Heating in the 21st Century. Some two billion…
Snowmagedon…It Didn’t.
The sun has risen on more frost covered morns than I can ever recall. But by mid-day the temperatures will be pushing into the mid 60's...even over 70 degrees. Then after sundown the temperatures fall again into the mid to low 30's...Only to repeat the roller-coaster all over again the next day.
TED Talks- Blue Zones
I found out about these Blue Zones a month or so ago. Went on the expedition with them to a Greek Island (virtually), read the info on their website, was intrigued by...And impressed with the simplicity of the idea. So when this TED Talk popped up on my Facebook Feed…
A Nation of Typhoid Marys – Nicholas Kristof
Think of the 47 million Americans who lack insurance. They are less likely to receive flu vaccines (which might or might not help), less likely to receive prompt care when they get sick, and less able financially to stay home from work — and thus they are more likely both…
Saturday Muses
I saw Patry's post about the medicinal use of red wine in the treatment of influenza... Patry Francis Red wine may prevent swine flu, which is the absolute only reason I drink it. http://www.anotherwineblog.com/archives/4253 I checked my stock and decided I needed to make a "medicine" run...Off to Spec's we…
Wednesday Morning Muse
Standing out in the backyard with my morning coffee as the sun rises, it was still. There was absolutely no breeze stirring, an unusual occurrence for here, at least lately...Cool and damp with dew on the grass, my body warmed by the rising sun. I was astonished to note the…
If they liked him any more…
...maybe they’d take away his parking space, too. What is it with Republican Governors these days. Especially, Republican Governors with national aspirations. It's almost as if they can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Even members of their own party have noticed. And it seems as if they…
a small stone – .picked up on a long walk and carried home in your pocket…
The cornbread I put aside for the next day...did not make it that long.
Play…Do You? I Know, I Don’t…Enough.
Another in the TedTalks Series of videos I try to visit on a weekly basis as a method of personal continuing education...Have a look at what a "play expert" has to say about the importance of play...Stuart Brown: Why play is vital -- no matter your age A pioneer in…
Sissy Farmer? I don’t think so…
Stumbling through my news reader I came across a reference and a video of Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. I have been aware of the work Joel is doing for a while. His success with Polyface is an inspiration that will become more important…
What, exactly, is a healthful food?
I have a confession to make...I just discovered Marion Nestle and her blog Food Politics. I know, I'm slow on the uptake sometimes. I find that my feelings about food are becoming somewhat activistic...I am getting more upset by the industrialization of our food on a daily basis. So you…
The Politics of Food = Food, Inc.
Reading the news this morning, I saw this short spot: Marion Nestle went to see Food, Inc and she gives it two thumbs up. I've only seen clips and heard a talk by the director and stars Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan about the making of the movie. It's going…
The Ethicurean: All steriled up: Produce safety guidelines throw sustainability out, keep toxic bathwater
Good article on the food safety issue from The Ethicurean Blog. Down on the farm Here’s a quick backgrounder: After the E. coli/spinach episode in 2006, big leafy greens producers in California (where the toxic spinach was grown) got together and drafted guidelines to reduce the risk of contamination on…
Peanuts…Get Your Peanuts Right Here!
It seems the story of the Peanut Corporation of America just keeps getting better and better as it shows just how poor America's food safety system really is... Even amid a national salmonella outbreak linked to peanuts, state health officials allowed a Texas peanut plant last month to continue shipping…
Potatoes…Not As Bad As You Might Believe
I grew up reading Jeff Cox in Organic Gardening & Farming (or vice versa depending on the year). I was happy to find him at the OrganicToBe.org blog. His article on potatoes not only fills in the history of the tuber but also gives recipes. He sure makes me feel…
Peanut Company Shuts It’s Texas Plant
It just seems to me that when you have production of goods going into so many food products you would have controls in place to insure the safety of the public...Doesn't it? Passing the responsibility off to others for the testing of the product is not an option. Both the…
Inspiring To Greatness
I watched and listened to this as it was given on Tuesday. It wasn't until today that I actually read it...I find myself even more encouraged than I was with the first hearing. I foresee the American people will be inspired to greatness once again. Maybe, just maybe, our leaders…
Peanut butter recall grows….
In the news... More than 125 products have been recalled in a salmonella-and-peanuts investigation that keeps getting bigger, federal health officials said Wednesday. The list ranges from goodies like cookies and ice cream to energy bars. Even food for pooches may not be entirely safe, with a national company recalling…
Peanut Butter – Second Strike
Health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools and restaurants to throw away containers of peanut butter that have been linked to the 43-state salmonella outbreak. The peanut butter, manufactured by Lynchburg-based Peanut Corp. of America and distributed by King Nut Cos. of Solon, Ohio, was recalled by the distributor…
Wednesday Morning Muses from here to there…
How do we manage to stay healthy in this season? Yesterday at this time it was in the 30's, the wind was out of the north. This morning it's 67 and the wind is balmy and out of the south. My poor sinuses can not figure out what they need…
Food Muses
Image via Wikipedia I missed this last Friday when it played on the local PBS station...It's nice to be able to catch it later on the "intranets"... Bill Moyers and Michael Pollan...What a pair. A very in-debth exploration of food policy in America ensued. Here is just a part... BILL…
Today’s Read
Reading my morning emails brought me this... 5 Myths About Our Ailing Health-Care System America has the best health care in the world. Somebody else is paying for your health insurance. We would save a lot if we could cut the administrative waste of private insurance. Health-care reform is going…
Waiting to exhale…
After years of having a daily routine, finding myself lacking one is more than a little uncomfortable. Getting up and having breakfast without that normal get out the door deadline has left me disoriented to say the least. Add to this the weather since we returned home from our trip,…
Corn…it’s only good for ‘shine.
Put that fruit juice down and grab a Coke. Haven't you heard? High-fructose corn syrup -- the ubiquitous sweetener found in everything from soft drinks to ketchup -- isn't bad for you at all. It's true, because I saw it on TV. The story behind the corn industry's cloying ad…
An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief – Michael Pollan
This link is as much for me as it is for you few folks who read these daily musings. Farmer in Chief By MICHAEL POLLAN Dear Mr. President-Elect, It may surprise you to learn that among the issues that will occupy much of your time in the coming years is…
The Mirrored Ceiling – Judith Warner
And, I think, they find her acceptably “real,” because Palin’s not intimidating, and makes it clear that she’s subordinate to a great man. That’s the worst thing a woman can be in this world, isn’t it? Intimidating, which appears to be synonymous with competent. It’s the kiss of death, personally…
Privatization hangover: State audit of health and human service agencies shows continuing management problems | Editorial | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
The drive to hire private contractors to take over duties performed by state employees in agencies under the oversight of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission — mandated by the Legislature five years ago — has been a slow-motion disaster. The commission was forced to terminate a major contract…
Musing at the start of a long weekend…
I took a day off from work today...It seemed like a good investment in mental health. My wife had already scheduled the day off planning for the scheduled arrival of our latest grandson. In case you are wondering, he's decided the schedule wasn't approved by his royal personage so he's…
The Bush America
Texas' overall uninsured rate of 25.2 percent, and its 20.2 uninsured rate for children, continued to be the highest in the country. Nationally, the number of people without health insurance last year declined from 47 million in 2006, the Census Bureau said. Median household income — meaning half of households…
Blueberry Muses
Up on the mountain behind my house, the wild blueberries are ripe and prolific. It’s public land, part of the Maine state-park system, so the berries are free for the picking. In a half-hour or so, if I’m lucky, I can fill a tin cup with enough berries for breakfast,…
Musing over the morning paper…
This has to be one of the strangest things about Texas Republicans... When health care in Texas makes headlines, the issues raised by administrators and physicians are hardly rosy. They include overcrowded emergency rooms, mounting hospital budget deficits created by unfunded indigent care, and uninsured rates for adults and children…
Food Musing
I have never felt that the Corporate pushers of GMOs were looking out for anything other than their own profits. That has led me to look on their actions in an unfavorable light. While this has always been a personal "feeling", I find my concerns expressed very well by this…
Just When You Write It Off…
Spring decides to pay another short visit. We had another "cold" front slide through yesterday. I think it would be more accurate to call it a dry front. Sunday morning we watched the humidity drop from 90% down into the 20% range before wandering back up into the 40% area…
Bill Moyers Journal . Transcripts
Bill Moyers Journal . Transcripts | PBS
May 2, 2008
BILL MOYERS:Welcome to the Journal.
I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, "Who's telling the truth over there?" Everyone he said. Everyone sees what's happening through the lens of their own experience." That's how people see Jeremiah Wright. In my conversation with him on this broadcast a week ago and in his dramatic public appearances since, he revealed himself to be far more complex than the sound bites that propelled him onto the public stage. Over 2000 of you have written me about him, and your opinions vary widely. Some sting: "Jeremiah Wright is nothing more than a race-hustling, American hating radical," one viewer wrote. A "nut case," said another. Others were far more were sympathetic to him.
Weekend Musing
The first wealth is health. - Ralph Waldo Emerson If you are as skeptical as I am about most of modern medicine's miracle drugs, you might not want to read this book review. It will just reinforce what you already assume is the truth... Big Pharma's Golden Eggs - washingtonpost.com…
Monday Morning Musing
Another Reason To Be A Localvore... Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird? - New York Times Migratory songbirds like bobolinks, barn swallows and Eastern kingbirds are suffering mysterious population declines, and pesticides may well be to blame. A single application of a highly toxic pesticide to a field can…
First Day Of Spring Musing
On the first day of spring I don't know whether to welcome spring or to welcome it back after our preview of summer over the weekend...This morning is starting out at 47° with the prognosticators pushing for the low 70's by afternoon. Now that is what I call spring. "What…
West Wing Marathon
Just wanted to let anyone who may wonder what has happened to me that I seem to have gotten the flue...Been holed up on the couch and the bed for three days now and it looks like I have a few more to go. To kill the time I went…
What a difference a day can make…
Yesterday morning at this time the temperature was in the 70's today it's in the 40's. Other than light rain falling I like today's temperature much better. ++++++++++ I see my ex-Gov is still at it. Compassionate Conservative that he is, he has been kicking SCHIP for a decade longer…
Wednesday Afternoon In Paradise
I had my first inspection of the ole vocal chords this afternoon. The Doc was happy with the appearance of my vocal chords so I guess I am too. It looks like it's time to pop the cork on that wine bottle I've been saving...Cameron Hughes Lot 21, 2004 Zinfandel.…
Musings of Fall…And traditions…And what we have given up…
Two Pigs - Verlyn Klinkenborg - York Times Over the course of just a few generations (in my case just two) we have gone from a world where everyone knew where their food came from to a world where you really don't even know which continent supplied the ingredients in…
End of the week musing…
The weather out is delightful, even the humidity has fallen below 90%. Morning temperature is 64°. The skys are clear and the day has yet to break. We should be heading into a beautiful weekend. It could be time for a photo road trip... ++++++++++ Well...It looks like the Industrial…
End of the week musings…
The morning reading of the thermometer shows that our last few days of precursor fall weather were just a tease as usual. The morning's low is in the mid seventies again and the afternoon highs haven't been pleasant even when the lows were ten degrees less...I guess my best shot…
Thursday morning muse…
We are having another of those needed fall mornings here. The temperature as I made the trek to the road with the contribution to the garbage gods this morning was almost pleasant. Sadly, the prognosticators are calling for 90° by the afternoon. But any morning that starts out in the…
Sebastian Mallaby – Bush’s Unhealthy Veto – washingtonpost.com
Bush the philosopher has one thing right: Human dignity is served when people make choices for themselves rather than being nannied by the government. But only simpletons suppose that this principle is absolute: Where unfettered private initiative produces evidently bad outcomes, most people prefer an alternative. This is why we…
Photo Friday – The Beach
Galveston, Texas as the sun comes up over the Gulf of Mexico on a fall Sunday morning... This week's challenge: 'The Beach'. Please read our Participant Guide before deciding to submit a link. Your link must be to a static page that will always show your challenge image, and not…
Tuesday Shorts…Short takes from my reader feeds….
This morning was another of those mornings when the weather outside is livable. Too bad it will not last... Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 91. Heat index values as high as 102. East wind between 5 and 10 mph. +++++++++++ Andy Griffin is on roll with another essay…
Tuesday in Paradise…Or, Every Cloud Does Have a Silver Lining.
Our cooler, wetter summer sharply cuts West Nile cases | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle Along with greener lawns and lower water bills, this summer's abundant rainfall is being credited with one more benefit: fewer human cases of West Nile virus."This season has been very different from last year," said Sandy…
Thursday Shorts….
Jim Hightower | CORPORATE AMERICA’S “CHEAP” IMPORT ADDICTION Let's be honest. China’s trillion-dollar-a-year export economy is based squarely on the country’s deliberate lack of humane standards. That’s precisely why our CEO’s rushed over there – every corner cut, every penny taken from workers and the environment, every product made on…
Saturday – First of September…High summer is over.
We slept in our own beds for the first time since Monday last night. The construction crew worked till almost 10pm making sure the most important part of the newly rebuilt bathroom was complete. Hopefully, today will put an end to the ongoing construction. I am ready to reclaim our…
The Bush Administration Drops The F-Bomb on Appalachia
It’s not straight from the VP’s mouth, but it’s straight from his policy book. Energy companies rule and all you folks living in the neighborhood can “just go f— yourselves” to quote on Administration Official.
Food or Not Food?
I am in the process of working my way through Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle...A Year of Food Life, so be prepared to see more on the state of American food. Every day that goes by I read another article on the epidemic of obesity in this country...And another article…
How should you spend your food dollar?
For the record...This is day 1 of week 2 Post-Radiation. In a bit of serendipitous follow-up to yesterday's post. My email brings me this from Grist...How to prioritize your organic food dollars to get the most from your budget. On prioritizing organic purchases | By Umbra Fisk | Grist |…
Tuesday Musing – Day +6
The whole time I was doing the seven weeks of radiation the technicians and the nurses warned me that the two to three weeks after the treatment ended would be bad to worse...They spoke truth. The burns on my neck didn't begin to manifest until after the last treatment was…
Fragments From Floyd: June 2002 Archives
Fragments From Floyd: June 2002 Archives June 5, 2002 Summer LightningThe animals have been tended, my wife and son have left for work, and I am alone watching the first rays of a humid, empty day through the windows. I am in my slippers, merely waiting, early into my second…
Musing my way through a mid summer Friday.
The bridge collapse in Minneapolis hadn't really impinged upon my conscious as I don't spend a lot of time on the TV. I have only seen passing references to the disaster on the net until this morning. I guess it was Eugene Robinson's column in the Washington Post; A Catastrophic…
Web wandering on a Thursday morning…
This story caught my interest the other day. A Factory Farm Near You - New York Times Once upon a time, only a decade or so, it wasn’t hard to know where factory hog farms were because they were nearly all in North Carolina. But since those days, the practice…
TGIF – The glow visible out of the corner of your eye is just me…
Todays number is 32...The effects of swallowing the sun are beginning to manifest themselves. The gravel in my voice has become a whisper this week (along with the voice itself), and my energy level has fallen to a new low. Almost done... I was running through my Reader today and…
It’s Thursday in Monsoon Land USA…
Todays number is 31...Look Ma, no voice...He said with a raspy whisper. If this doesn't look like the eye of an angry God, I'll eat my fire and brimstone upbringing. I have visions of a bird of prey here... The Helix Nebula Dust makes this cosmic eye look red.…
‘Tis The Start of Week Seven – Last of an Irradiated Time Zone
Technically, it's the last day of week six since the 4th fell in there and these treatments run their course in 35 days and not 7 weeks. But, since we started on a Wednesday, and we'll end on a Wednesday, this Wednesday will be the start of the week for…
And we start another week of chasing irradiated dreams…
Today's number is 28... Last evening we had a real gully washer of a thunderstorm roll through after 8pm. As Sherry and I sat at the kitchen table reading we started hearing distant rumbles. The first time, I pulled up the National Weather Service site and there wasn't anything showing…
Musing my way through Sunday Morning
Warning: Bush Bashing Political Rant Follows The New York Times has a great question in the first paragraph of this editorial... FEMA Runs for Cover - New York Times How many times can the federal government let down the victims of the hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf Coast two years…
Friday – Food and Faith in America
The number for today is 27...Almost there. There is a magical time of night that seems to call me on a regular basis...It's 3:33am. I can not recall how many time I have rolled over in bed at night and opened my eyes and seen the three threes glowing there…
#21 in the series…
Warning...Political Rant Coming Ok, if this trend continues, we are going to have to suspect divine intervention in the AG firings. How else can we explain the "fact" that no one had any input on which AGs were fired? Seems from all of the testimony so far that no one…
Wednesday – Short Muse On Day 20
Today is the end of my fourth week of radiation treatment. After today I will have three more weeks to go. The treatments have become a daily routine...The people at the treatment center are really nice and always courteous. The patients I see each day are all friendly. I have…
Come and lie prostrate before the alter of the Atomic Fire…Chapter 14
I rolled out of bed this morning to the sound of thunder and pouring rain. That seems to be the pattern around here the past week or so. What is unusual about that is thunderstorms, unassociated with a weather front usually don't happen before the sun has had a chance…
Saturday – The end of June, Twenty O’Seven
As I was reading my email and feeds I hit a link from Earth & Sky Blogs that led to the following video. "See" how the world is changing. Visual imagery can tell stories and truths which would be very hard to capture and communicate otherwise. Hans Rosling, Professor of…
Week 3 – Two down – Five to go
Well after a couple of weeks of playing target practice with a ray gun the sore throat they were promising has arrived. Looks like this most expensive of diets has now kicked into it's starting phase... Checking the news this morning I see Warren Buffett is living up to the…
TGIF – What do you say to a glowing coworker?
My short answer...If you have heard they have cancer, don't ask "How are you?" Talk about a loaded question with no real answers at the beginning of treatment. "How you feeling?" would be safer...just. "Hi!" is the best and the safest yet. My two cents thrown out into the blogosphere.…
Week 2 – Day 2 Working on an interior tan…
I had a funny thought as I lay on the...hmmm, I really don't know what to call it...the platform(?) while x-rays were taken of my throat before my radiation treatments started yesterday. I was recalling my elementary school days during the Cuban Missile Crisis when they would line us up…
One down, six to go – The end of the first week of radiation
So far so good. Other than a raspy voice not much to report after the first weeks radiation treatment. No news is good news I guess. The promised cooling effect of afternoon thunderstorms did not happen yesterday. So it was quite warm as I finished the yard in the late…
Day four in atom crunching…
The weather the past two days was...to be nice...wet. Occasional heavy thunderstorms interspersed with steady rain. Short periods of local street flooding. One of the changes I have seen in my half century in SE Texas (particularly the flat coastal plain) is the change in road building styles and flood…
Sunday Morning on Sunday Morning
I was sitting here checking out some WP plugins when I noticed the time. Poured my first cup of the morning muse and turned on "Sunday Morning". I was late for the preamble but caught most of the first story. Even Sunday Morning is on the sugar story and what…
Wednesday – Middle of the week musing
5:52am Currently: 75° Dewpoint: 73° Wind: Calm Humidity: 94% Pressure: 29.92 in Hg Average: High 90° Low 72° Record: High 100° (2006) Low 61° (1955) Today's Sunrise: 6:20AM Today's Sunset: 8:23PM (14:03 hours of sunlight) Yesterday on the drive to work the weather prognosticator was saying something about a heat…
It’s Sunday Morning – June 10, 20 O’Seven
I hope Charles Osgood doesn't get upset with me for borrowing his date format. I have liked the way it sounds ever since he started using in, I think it was Twenty O'One...Sorry for the sparsity of posts. I have been playing with WordPress for a few days now, first…
Bush and Health Care – Not
I didn't look to see how the op-ed pages tried to spin their own survey, but the data looks pretty bad for the gang in the White House. Nearly half of Americans don't trust President Bush to reform the nation's health-care system, a new Wall Street Journal Online/Harris health-care poll…
E. J. Dionne Jr. – Can the GOP Find Its Center? – washingtonpost.com
I found the following paragraphs most telling. In an article in the latest issue of the conservative Weekly Standard, Yuval Levin, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, explains the tension between the market and the family as clearly as anyone has: "The market values risk-taking and creative…
SENSIBLE PRIORITIES
Jim Hightower is one of the few Texas Progressive Politicians my generation has seen. He has a real talent for cutting through the BS that most politicians sling...Hey, how about indulging yourself with a hot new Maserati? Yeah, it's got a sticker price that'll make you go blind – but,…
Broder: Hoping against hope for happy ending to Bush tenure | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
This morning's OP-ED from David Broder makes some interesting points. He has divided the Bush Presidency into four phases. I think he should have added a fifth. In trying to gauge where things stand in our government after the political upheaval that has taken place, it helps to think back through the…
OpinionJournal – Featured Article
It is nice to read something on the Op-Ed pages at the WSJ that I can agree with for a change. Looks like the new Senator from Virginia has a way with telling it like it is... The most important--and unfortunately the least debated--issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a…
How William McGuire earned that fat paycheck | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
This story caught my interest today because the company I work for changed our insurance to United last year. Now I wonder who it is that is being insured.How William McGuire earned that fat paycheck | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Moral hazard theory, which has governed health insurance since the…
It’s The Economy Stupid
If there is any question about what happened yeaterday, think about this...Half full: Perceptions of the economy, like its rewards, vary wildly and help to explain the election results. | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Houston is an informative example. In a city that is home to some of the world's…
CNN.com – Democrats vow to block pay raises until minimum wage increased – June 27, 2006
CNN.com - Democrats vow to block pay raises until minimum wage increased - June 27, 2006: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Democrats ratcheted up their election-year push for an increase in the federal minimum wage Tuesday by promising to block a congressional pay hike unless some of the lowest-paid hourly workers get…
Minimum Wage / Maximum Pissed
The Carpetbagger Report: "It hasn't generated a great deal of attention, but congressional Dems are keeping Republicans on the defensive over a minimum-wage increase. At this point, the GOP leadership looks a little flustered.Last week, the House Appropriations Committee approved a $2.10-an-hour increase to the minimum wage, despite the demands…
Jim Hightower | HEALTH CARE MORALITY
Jim Hightower HEALTH CARE MORALITY: "How is it that the richest country with the most democratic ideals of any country in the history of the world has 45 million people with no health coverage and millions more with pathetic coverage? And how is it that We The People pay $1.2…
