Shortwoman.com

I saw the news today, oh boy.

I made the mistake of watching my local noontime newscast. Here were the items covered before breaking for weather:

Yesterday’s school shooting!!! Complete with interview of distraught parents!!!
Benghazi!!! No, nothing new to report. Just Benghazi!!!
Firefighter pointing out what he thought was a deceased victim before the fire truck ran over her…. last year!!! New footage!!!
Identification of a snowboarder who unfortunately died on Mount Charleston (yesterday)
Kids set fire in vacant house (yesterday).
Late night shooting in North Las Vegas.
Sentencing delayed for the alleged pimp (who allegedly shot another pimp, causing him to crash into a taxi and burst into flames) on [unrelated] sexual assault charges. This is one of those cases that would make a better CSI script than the stuff they film sometimes.

Apparently, it is not newsworthy that:

Congress is working on an important budget bill (and congrats to the feds for having a $53,000,000,000 surplus in December!).
Germany may or may not be trying to negotiate a “no-spy” treaty with the United States.
75 leading economists think our minimum wage workers deserve a raise.
Some men in Congress want to make women pay out of pocket for abortions regardless of whether they are medically necessary.
Anything whatsoever is going on about the NSA, the promised list of upcoming “reforms,” and the court cases involved.
There are stalled bills to restore food stamps and extended unemployment benefits.

I could go on this way for a while, but there’s no point. Apparently I’ve been watching News Lite: 25% less relevance. I wonder how it compares to original News as far as facts.

In Closing: antibacterial soap, West Virginia chemical, and just maybe if either of the political parties actually tried representing We The People, there wouldn’t be a record level of “independents“.

Music Monday: Billie Jean

Perhaps the essence of a play in 3-5 minutes is Billie Jean. Paired with an iconic video, it solidified Michael Jackson as an adult pop singer whose color did not matter. And it turns out there was just as much drama in the recording studio as in the actual song:

Oh, one more thing. It’s kind of important. If you don’t like the idea of random people being able to contact you through G+, you’d better read and follow the instructions in this article.

In Closing: the official excuse is to prevent unauthorized export; hero; Pope Francis continues to preach common sense along with lovingkindness and compassion; NSA scandal junkies need to be aware that Bruce Schneier is planning to post an “exploit a day” (yes, he has a working RSS feed); on college; on employment; on the Fed; the Japanese appear to be getting serious about whiskey; and just a little round up of some of the smarter things I’ve seen on other people’s blogs this week.

Go ahead, buy premium. You know you want it.

I realize this one is subtle. But if you look at the directions, the hand is pushing the middle button. The middle button on this pump just happens to be the expensive stuff.

In Closing: ok, you’ve done without your NSA, privacy, government spying, Ed Snowden, cover-ups, terrorism over-reach, and related stuff links for far too long; a nice collection of health, health care, health insurance, Affordable Care Act, and hospital issues links; the magic of adjusting portion sizes (did you notice that 2 Oreos is now a serving when it used to be 3?); race, school discipline, and getting arrested; it turns out most people work because they want to get paid; and burgers.

Music Monday: The Jimmy Webb Principle

In his book, Jimmy Webb tells us that the very best popular songs are actually complete plays in 3 to 5 minutes. We will be exploring that idea for a while on Music Monday, but let’s start with the Master himself….

In Closing: I seem to recall Jesus saying something about how the poor would always be with us; a few choice items on dietary choices; now that’s just plain dumb; Janet Yellen; glad I’m not up north; follow-up; oops; bwahahaha; reality check; Cambodia; free house, just add land; and I’m not sure how anybody is dumb enough to think that a for profit company can reduce costs without also reducing service.

Spinal Reflexes and Brain Dead People

In a recent post, I mentioned having learned that “There’s an area of your brain that handles a reflex to turn your head and look before you even form the question ‘What was that streak of orange and roaring noise?'” While this is true, it’s a relatively complicated reflex. There are some reflexes so important that they are completed before any message is sent to the brain at all! A good example of this is pulling back from something that hurts you. You’ve already reacted to the hot pan in your hand or the LEGO you stepped on in the dark before you ever think “Ow!”

One way this was demonstrated in lab was with a short film of a frog that had been “pithed.” It used to be done commonly in some science classes but by watching the film, it didn’t have to be repeated in every lab, every semester. The college saves money, fewer frogs die, we still learn. This procedure does render the frog brain dead: the parts of the frog that say “Heart, beat!” or “Lungs, breathe!” still work; the parts that say “I’m hungry” or “I like lily pads” or “Ow!” are gone. Over the course of this short film, we watched the frog react to painful stimuli using nothing more than spinal reflexes (regrettably, I can’t find a Youtube clip in English that demonstrates well). We were reminded by the narrator several times that the frog is not feeling anything, is not “trying” to do anything. The parts of the brain that feel or try were gone. It’s just reflexes.

At the end, the lab instructor — an older lady who had initially trained as a nurse in Brittain’s Army — told us that we needed to remember this film because those of us going into patient care were likely to someday encounter brain dead patients and their families, and their families would be desperate to attribute reflex movements to improvement in their condition. In fact, she remembers that the first time she saw these reflexes in person, “It scared the bejabbers out of me!”

And this brings me to the sad story of Jahi McMath. Last month, tonsil surgery went wrong for Jahi. She experienced severe bleeding, cardiac arrest, and brain death. She is currently on a ventilator — the part of her brain that would say “Lungs, breathe!” doesn’t work anymore either. The brain death was confirmed by no fewer than 5 licensed physicians, 3 of whom were selected by the girl’s family. She’s actually been declared dead. Nevertheless, the family has hopes that she will get better and wants her transferred to another facility. One doctor says he thinks the girl is not brain dead because “he visited Jahi’s bedside and observed her responding to her grandmother’s voice and touch with a squirming movement.”

Now, I’m not a neurologist, but I think I’ll take the word of multiple neurologists and other doctors over the word of one pediatrician who thinks he saw something that can be explained by simple spinal reflexes.

Talks to allow transfer this unfortunate young lady to another facility are ongoing at this moment. In the highly emotional words of the hospital’s lawyer: “It’s horrible that this child has died. It’s also horrible that it’s so difficult for her family to accept that death.”

In Closing: pre-employment credit checks; college education; sequestration; “reality” TV; deliberately hard maybe?; “Hi guys!”; Bill!; and doge.

An apology and explanation, of sorts

A few weeks ago, I needed to buy cat food and cat litter. I was in a little bit of a hurry that particular day, so when I found there were no carts inside the pet supply store, I did not return to the parking lot to search for one. I casually picked up a 30 pound bag of cat litter, placed a 5 pound bag of cat food on top, and briskly walked to the check-out stand.

Now, if you like humor, think about this mental image: a 4’11” redhead in full airport-walking mode carrying two heavy, bulky objects.

I didn’t think a thing of it until the cashier asked if I would like help out to my car.

So this is my apology. I’m sorry that I forget not everybody can do that. I forget that not everybody can hike themselves around 6 miles of hilly sidewalks and still be ready to do it again the next day. Unless I have house-guests to remind me, I forget that many people consider my almost-daily workouts to be “extreme” if not “crazy.” I forget that most of my classmates take the elevators up to third floor classrooms — or avoid classes in those rooms altogether! — instead of taking the stairs.

But here’s why I say it’s only an apology of sorts. I firmly believe that most people can get in pretty good shape too. In fact, almost everybody can engage in some new behavior that will at least let them be healthier next year, as long as you are actually conscious. I was not born with somehow superior genetics, I was not thin and athletic as a child. I can do many things today that I could not when I was younger because I worked at it. This is where you might say “oh sure, she must spend 3 hours a day at the gym!” Not true. Sure, I do some workout most days a week, but it does average out to less than an hour a day and most of it is in the comfort of my own home.

New Years is a time when a lot of people make empty promises to themselves to engage in new, healthier habits. I know that the overwhelming majority of these promises are empty and soon to be broken, because if it were really important, you wouldn’t wait until some magic date on the calendar. However, you’ve got a much better shot at a modest goal or three than a huge change of lifestyle so keep that in mind if you want to make changes for the better.

That said, I will still share some items that I hope will help you be healthier at the end of 2014 than you are today:

“If you’re a woman who thinks it’s okay to tell a skinny woman that she needs to eat a sandwich, I hope you don’t mind when that skinny woman tells you that you’re a fat ass. Because that’s exactly the sort of shaming you’re giving her.” Don’t feel so “good” about yourself that you have to put others down.
If you’re going to get busy in the gym, don’t forget flexibility training. Even football players benefit from yoga. That’s right, I linked to the sports section and the world didn’t end.
You do have the time to cook good food, if you plan ahead.
Two from Tom Venuto: on attitude and predictions.
I still stand behind these two posts on diet and exercise.

Good luck next year. We could all use it.

In Closing: I didn’t know legless land fish existed; more researchers under the delusion that people can shop around for a hospital; another crappy ruling from another judge who doesn’t understand security vs liberty; that oughta work!; you don’t suppose income inequality and NAFTA could be related, do you?; new crypto; and a few pictures.

Music Monday: Got Plans?

In Closing: the TSA; I hope I never need this drug; power of the purse-string; the end of the Kombi; yet another heaping helping of NSA, FBI, Snowden, privacy, and related links (oops, the money might actually be on We The People’s side this time); um, yes; Chinese food; REAL ID is still out there; cannabis; killer cows; part-time; sorry, those 70+ grocery stores weren’t making enough money; apparently the conservatives are on to Pope Francis’s source material; and the middle class.

In Closing: yes yes yes, of course I’ll serve up more NSA, privacy, and Ed Snowden links, you can count on me!; RIP Kalashnikov; ancient super-volcanoes; he’s got the right to say stupid, hateful shit and I’ve got the right to continue ignoring him; nice doggies, bad handlers; not sure why people think they have the right to ignore the law, nor why they think kids having babies is a good idea somehow; a few moments of economic clarity; wouldn’t get much traction as the Screw Everybody Treaty; rich white criminal; zero thinking policies; would require backbone; Cuba; or, you know, we could start school late enough that kids don’t have to walk in the dark.