Category: Health

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We need a single payer option

Health care reform is essential in this country. People are dying so that other people can put dollars in their wallets. That is wrong.

Kimberly Young, vibrant 22-year-old who was working at least two jobs in Oxford after graduating with a double major in December 2008, became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost. "That’s the most tragic part about it. If she had insurance, she would have gone to the doctor," Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate, said. [Source, Crooks and Liars, R.I.P. Kimi Young, 22, Another Casualty of Our For-Profit Deathcare System.]

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We have a new baby in the house!

Dear Knox County Schools, If I beat your fancy $500 electronic baby, does my son lose points because abusive granddad was raised in the 70s? Sincerely, I have 5 children I know what a baby crying all night sounds like and so does my son I thought I was done when Cathy said we couldn’t have a 6th

Yes, we have an electronic baby in the house this weekend. The irony is that Noah has probably changed more diapers and spent more baby time than many of his schoolmates ever will. If this is demented sex education lesson on abstinence, I give the schools an F because we don’t educate through fear and making the wonder of life a thing to dread. If the lesson is truly about the responsibility of caring for a child, I give this gadget an A+. This is a cool toy and Mattel had better step up because my 7 and 4 year old children are loving it! The diapers even have to be changed! Oh, I like the fact that there are no Caucasian electronic babies because I’m sure my son’s absentee interracial girlfriend is going to be quite the buzz at the inlaw’s church. I wonder if Noah will have the wherewithal to actually turn electrobabe into the daycare instead of carrying he/she/it into the teenager’s sanctuary.

Update: I just learned that the baby and Noah are more than a certain distance apart that the baby’s head explodes because Noah has an electronic wrist band secured to his wrist. Side note, you really should secure the bands a little tighter because I’m quite certain that I could slip it off Noah’s wrist so that he could help Evan get to sleep but no, we will be honest and I will take over for Noah tonight. Of course, I could get Evan to sleep easier if your do dad had a mute button! I must say that it is amusing watching Noah try to put electrobabe down long enough to play his video game only to have crying drag him away from the keyboard with a grin and an eyeroll.

Update: Electrobabe turned off about midnight. I have the sneaky suspicion the program was set up wrong and we’ll be seeing this child again.

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My child’s safety is more important than your schedule

Update 31 Aug 2009: Mr. Roy Mullins contacted me today to say the stop will be returned to Aspen Drive and Huntington Road. My many thanks to Mr. Roy Mullins, Knox County Schools, and the Transportation Department!

Dear Knox County Schools,
Today is my anniversary. The present that you gave me is a rejection letter with a line of bull regarding my child’s bus stop. See, 8 years ago you and I spent 3 years establishing a new bus stop for the elementary students that gets them safely away from S Northshore Drive and adds no time to your route. I’ll grant you an added 30 seconds to 2 minutes depending on traffic. For 5 years the bus route was run without problem safely within our neighborhood on a road parallel to S Northshore. Now you’d have my children stand on the edge of a 40 mph road with a blind corner and a blind hill. Already once this first week of school, I had to move a child from the left side of the road where he was standing in the path that cars use to whip from 40 mph down to the 25 mph neighborhood road. The corner is blind with overgrown bushes and had a car turned in the child would have been dead long before the driver saw him. Is that what will have to happen for you to see this stop as dangerous? Will a child have to die? You also seem to have a stop prior to ours. I am not yet sure how that is possible because anything before us is supposed to be in the parent responsibility zone which means all the other children in our neighborhood should now be granted busing. It’s a shame that you and I both have to put resources into this needless battle (a 2nd time) when our time could be spent doing something productive for our school system.
Sincerely,
Doug McCaughan

ps. You know. I really had hoped that KCS had reached a point of wanting to work together to improve our education system instead of playing games and fighting.

(you’ll have my official letter soon)

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Dropping Public Option is NOT an Option

Contact your representative today! It’s easy. Just click here. Tell your representatives that giving up a public option is NOT an option. A pubic option is indispensable! Government run health care is not about jobless people or illegal aliens. Government run health care is about the millions of people who cannot get insurance and therefore cannot get affordable health care. The reasons people cannot get insurance vary from being self-employed (living that American dream!) and either not having enough employees or enough profits to get affordable health care, to pre-existing conditions which may or may not even be a factor in their health care (did you know being on anti-depressants 10 years ago could be enough of a pre-existing condition to deny you insurance coverage even if you no longer use the drugs?), to working jobs with inconsistent work schedules which cause the employee to be laid off for lengthy periods of time such as construction and fisheries (that lobster you enjoy so much was probably caught by a U.S. citizen without insurance), people who have maxed out their insurance such as the mental ill (just because they are ill doesn’t mean they should be shoved away), and the elderly.

50 million people is a lot of people. That means you probably know several people without insurance or health care. They are probably ignoring conditions that could be treated which will result in more expensive care in the long term or early death. So if you don’t believe we need government backed health care, have lunch with one of these people today, look them in their eyes, and explain it to them.

Remember, these people do not want insurance! They want health care!.

Update: My apologies for the numerous grammar errors and word omissions in this post. I believe most have been corrected. I was a bit rushed this morning and really did not have time to be posting but felt this issue deserved attention. It definitely won the "2009 post in greatest need of an editor" award.

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Don’t use DEET!

Several years ago I committed to keeping DEET away from my children. Every now and then I waiver and allow a DEET based mosquito repellent to touch their skin but it still makes me cringe. Why? DEET hurts them!

We’ve found that deet is not simply a behavior-modifying chemical but also inhibits the activity of a key central nervous system enzyme, acetycholinesterase, in both insects and mammals [Source, Physorg.com, Vincent Corbel from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement in Montpellier]

I have since tried natural repellents using a concoction which included eucalyptus and lemongrass, and tried others with DEET alternatives such as Picaridin (which years from now may have as bad a rap as DEET). I have had good results with the natural products as well as the DEET alternative products. I am satisfied enough to know that I never need to use DEET again.

DEET is serious bad! You need to stop using DEET on your children!

The active ingredient in many insect repellents, deet, has been found to be toxic to the central nervous system. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology say that more investigations are urgently needed to confirm or dismiss any potential neurotoxicity to humans, especially when deet-based repellents are used in combination with other neurotoxic insecticides. [Source, Physorg.com, Popular insect repellent deet affects nervous system: study]

DEET was discovered in 1953. If it is truly neurotoxic to humans, what of today’s ailments and afflictions will be contributed to DEET?

See also: Evidence for inhibition of cholinesterases in insect and mammalian nervous systems by the insect repellent deet from BMC Biology.

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Swine Flu May Be In The House

We have a child in quarantine. Several scouts in our troop have come down with Type A flu. Type A flu is not necessarily H1N1 but likely to be. More details after I finish my programming. This has caused great soap opera quality drama. Cathy will likely post information before me at either Domestic Psychology or on Twitter here.

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Show went pretty well

Share photos on twitter with TwitpicI really enjoyed tonight’s juggling show. A friend from the juggling club showed up and showed some real expertise. He obviously practices far more than I do. We started with the setting sun blinding me. For much of the first show I might as well have had my eyes closed but unfortunately could not use that as an excuse for my drops. I tried to introduce a new trick that I’ve wanted to do for years but forgot to bring a longer rolla bolla board. Coupled with my nerves and having the rolla bolla on slick concrete, the trick met with fail (but not fall). The 2nd time I tried it I picked a volunteer who was too young. That was awkward and I should have bailed. I didn’t even try getting her up on the rolla bolla. Going to set that trick aside for older audiences only and only after I’ve fine tuned it. Performing that one was a bit like a magician buying a new trick on the way to the performance and trying it out for the first time in front of the audience.

On the most exceptional side, Mike and I were able to jump right into some decent passing without even a warm up. We even braved 7 torches although we rethought that one quickly and adjusted down to 6. I think if the two of us would practice together with any regularity we could be passing 9 clubs and torches in no time. I would love to put together a fully produced show at some point Karamazov style with musical accompaniment, laser lights, video screens, smoke machines, okay wait…maybe just music and microphones and we can grow from there. I had a blast! I owe Mike big time.

In other news, The Flying Karamazov Brothers have a three letter domain name! Wow!

crystal ballsteaching Amyhappy jugglerteaching EvanJump!waaaay up there

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Dr. Internet

Dr. Internet - What's this?Okay. What disease do I have? My leg has acquired a rash. I’ve never seen anything like this. When I sit at my chair and put my foot under my seat, the skin from the calf touches the thigh exactly where the marks are so it is likely the rash started in one place and spread to the other but it is not getting an larger nor spreading anywhere else. Doesn’t seem to be getting better either.

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Child Protective Services – Don’t read this

Juggling with EvanJuggling with Amy
Juggling with SarahJuggling with Sarah
Cathy on topJuggling with Noah

Here’s some additional information about the rolla bolla from my comment on Cathy’s flickr set:

I now get to tell a story which may or may not add a little bit of a technical appreciation for what’s happening in this picture. My rolla bolla freaks other jugglers out. Mine is completely homemade. It uses a 4 inch diameter thick pvc pipe. The board itself happens to be exactly the same length as a shelf in a homemade bookcase I built for my dorm room in college because it is one the shelves which happen to be precisely 19 inches in length. Most jugglers are more accustomed to using rolla bollas closer to 3 feet long. For instance, Dube’s is 29 inches (btw, there’s your spec).

Juggling is all about physics. This is center of gravity trick. The longer the board, the greater the center of gravity. In essence, if you drew a line from the ground up to the top of your head (or the head fo the person on your shoulders) that divided your torso symmetrically and simply made sure that line never passed over your foot, you would never fall down. Since my board is so short, there is very little room for error. One way to cheat the physics is to use a larger diameter piece of pvc but frankly the 5 inch pvc tends to flatten a little taking away from the visual effect (in addition to simply being disproportionate to the other equipment and plain ugly).

Regarding the pvc when making a homemade rolla bolla. I learned the hardway that the pvc pipe should be the same width as the board (or slightly larger). If it is smaller you create a third degree of freedom and you might as well be doing this trick on top of a ball.

Don’t use those stupid stoppers on the bottom of your board! If you look at the Dube rolla bolla you will see that the underside of the board has stops at each end. This prevents the board from flying at high velocity to your left or right severely hurting people. Instead the board stops and you go flying at high velocity to the left or right breaking yourself and the people standing beside you. When we were first learning this trick. My brother fell off the board and sent it flying into a filing cabinet. 3 days later we were still trying to open the drawer. Without the stoppers you can safely take the board to the very edge without falling. I mean the very edge being exactly at the halfway point on the pvc pipe. Instead of the stoppers, control your board.

You can break things with a rolla bolla! These things may include: glass, bones, teeth, spines, and metal cabinets. When learning to stand on a rolla bolla do these things:

  1. Get a partner! Have the partner stand behind you with their arms underneath your armpits but not touching you. When you fall, they will spot you and keep you from breaking yourself
  2. Make sure your feet are at the edges of the board.
  3. Wear shoes!
  4. Practice daily in short spurts
  5. Start with the board touching the ground on one side and about one third of the board on the pipe. Starting by jumping up to a horizontally balanced board is cool and fun but an advanced trick that will land a beginner on their hind side.

The rolla bolla will increase your balance, develop your abs and back, and tighten your buttocks.

Warnings!

  1. Don’t let people stand to your left or right. I cannot emphasize this enough.
  2. If you fall…er…when you fall, think of yourself as being on a skate board or inline skate. Protect your wrists! Better to belly flop on concrete than to impact your wrist, elbows and knees

I will happily get together with anyone that wants help learning the rolla bolla.

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Can I borrow your mic for Friday?

site_img_us_pro_wcm16_lKNOXVILLE: Do you have a Shure WCM16 Hypercardioid Headworn Condenser Microphone I could borrrow for Friday night? Actually, any head worn countryman style microphone with a T4 connector will work. (Two would be ideal as I have a partner working with me)

Several years ago I loaned my wireless headset microphone to a friend. He crushed it. I thought nothing of it because I figured the expense in my rig was the transmitter and receiver so I’d just buy a new mic. However, I only do 3 or 4 juggling shows a year so there was no rush to find a replacement. I’ve been asked to juggle Friday night at West Park Baptist Church’s fireworks show from 7pm-9pm possibly with a show on the main stage (which would require me being mic’d). Lapel microphones are horrible for juggling and a hand held mic is just comedic. I promise I won’t crush your microphone!