Antibiotics...

A couple of links for the day, with a quick story.

I had to take some antibiotics over the summer. I had some sort of an infection that had the lymph nodes in my neck so excited that it looked like I was growing a goiter. It was uncomfortable, but I tried to be patient and let it (whatever it was) run its course and get better on its own. But it didn't, and I eventually ended up seeing my doctor, who seemed pretty confident that I was suffering from a bacterial infection of some sort (probably caused by one of the usual summertime suspects: an insect bite, or a dirty scratch, etc).

Ten days of antibiotics got my neck back down to normal size, but it also made a disaster of my digestion. My doctor warned me. She even suggested that I go ahead and take some probiotics along with the antibiotics (at which point, I wondered how they would manage not to cancel each other out!) to try to mitigate the disruption that the antibiotic was going to cause in my gut. I'm not sure if the probiotic supplement helped or not -- perhaps it would have been worse if I had not been taking them, but as it was, I was not feeling like I had a happy gut for about a month after.

I'm really grateful that antibiotics were an option for me. The alternative is pretty horrifying. But that is just the path we're headed down on this planet if we don't stop abusing antibiotics:

Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future

After 85 years, antibiotics are growing impotent. So what will medicine, agriculture and everyday life look like if we lose these drugs entirely? 

I'm also grateful that the emerging science of the microbiome is cluing us into ways we can manage our exposure to drugs that don't discriminate between beneficial and harmful bacteria:

How To Recover Gut Health After Antibiotics

There was a time when I didn't worry a whole lot about keeping wounds clean (hell, I'd let the dog lick my boo-boos if it amused her). But I'm starting to suspect that I'm one of many people who have been taking antibiotics for granted. And now we're learning that having to take antibiotics is a double whammy: it could diminish the drugs' utility for everyone, and it messes up the individual's microbiome. I hope it's a long time before I need to go there again.

UPDATE: Why the post-antibiotic world is the real-life version of the zombie apocalypse

More math and science

Wow. This post about winning the Price is Right is completely over the top. But at least it gives me something to link to on a day when I was going from one thing to another and got almost no computer/reading/writing time. Sorry to everyone (except maybe my brother!). Hopefully something more substantial tomorrow...

Elpis*

After Friday's post about fibonacci, I have to make a confession. Even though I like math -- and believe in it -- every once in a while, I still buy a lottery ticket. This, even though I know that the odds of winning the lottery are only ever-so-slightly increased when I actually buy a ticket.

But occasionally I still buy a ticket. When I do (as I did this past week), something funny happens. I don't look to see if I won. Because after I buy the ticket and right up until I find out the result of the drawing, it becomes Schrödinger's lottery ticket.

Follow me here with the cats and lottery winnings.

On one hand, it occurs to me that maybe I don't even want a cat.

I'm chugging along pretty well here in life. I've got a nice home and have appropriate amounts of good food to cook and eat. I stay warm if not all that fashionable. Emmie lives nearby in a nice house of her own. We both drive cars that are probably not long for this world, but her office isn't too far away and I don't need my car very often -- I can get to most places I want to go to on my bike or on foot. Simple is good. Less is more. So, why mess with a good thing?

On the other hand, though, I also don't want to find out that the cat is dead.

It'd be nice to get a hassle-free car, and there are a few things around the house that need attention that I just can't afford to pay for right now. G-Dog works way too much as it is, and I'm trying to find a job, but given my age and inconsistent employment history, whatever I find is not going to pay for a car or a bathroom redo any time soon.

So I just leave the box alone. I don't look to see the winning numbers. That way, the cat is both alive and dead. My life is simple and my problems are solved.

*And, if you'll forgive me another container, the title of the post is a Pandora reference. Perhaps when it comes to Schrödinger's lottery ticket, though, unlike in the greek myth, Elpis is the first thing to escape when the box/jar is opened. And it is that spirit of expectation that makes the lottery ticket fun -- and maybe even worth a buck every once in a while.

I've been a fan on Fibonacci for years

This guy takes fibonacci to levels that maybe only my brother can truly appreciate, but then he brings it back around to a place that we all will love.  ;-)

Wordy Wednesday

I don't have a photo ready and the day is almost over, so here's a bit of babble... It's been a busy week so far, and this evening I was occupied with making soup and then roasting the chestnuts I picked up at today's farmers market (thanks to UTC's biology department). Yum!

So, instead of a picture, I'm going to remind you of what an awesome month this is. November, 2011...

Yesterday, it was (twice!) 11:11 on 11/1/11. And next Friday (Veterans Day), we'll get (twice!) 11:11 on 11/11/11! And as an extra bonus, it will be Nigel Tufnel Day! (I think there may also be something about the end of the world in there, too, not to mention a rush on weddings.)  ;-)

And then today was also the second day of the Días de los Muertos. And a rare, eight-digit palindrome day.

But most importantly, November (No-shave November for some amongst us) is the month of my favorite holiday of the year, and I really should be doing some planning for that epic meal...   oh, it's going to be awesome...   :)

Happy Hump Day, everyone!!

Doesn't it make common sense?!?

"We degrade faith by talking about religion” - Bob Dylan

I wonder what the Vatican thinks of this guy and his stance on the Komen Foundation.

Toledo Catholic Bishop Leonard Blair has banned parishes and parochial schools from raising funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, citing concerns that the global anti-cancer giant may someday fund embryonic stem-cell research.

I already know how how Jebus feels about him...

We must end all breast cancer research, now, because if a cure isn't found using traditional methods, science will turn it's cold, secular gaze upon our poor defenseless blastocysts, shredding their tiny trophoblasts and greedily ripping the genetic material from the their cute little blastocoeles. It's far better that children lose their mothers, that lovers lose their partners, that parents lose their daughters, that women suffer long, painful journeys to Heaven.

It's what makes God happy.

(Title quote from a May, 2007 Rolling Stone interview, via Gus.)

Weekend Links

Well, this was supposed to go up over the weekend, but the days have gotten away from me. G-Dog got home from one trip and turned around and left on another, we had some family in from out of town for a brief visit, and then yesterday was so freakin' gorgeous that I spent the whole afternoon outside... and so on... but enough with the excuses -- here are a few bits of interest...

• Gorgeous aerial nighttime shots of New York and Las Vegas!
• Best. Graph. Ever.
• Slow Money -- how would the world be different if the money you spent (even just 1% of your assets) stayed in your local economy?
• The fun and the frightening!
• Food can be grown just about anywhere.
• Best spelling bee contestant ever -- he's awfully composed for someone so young!
• All of Popular Science is now online (137 years worth)!
• Are there any mammals in that sushi you're eating?
• Google search suggestions.

Snow Day Links

Wow! It's been a while since I've caught up on this blogging thing! But this evening it will be a relief to listen to some music (the end of the Olympics gives us permission, finally, to turn off the TV) and see what's been going on in the great tubes of the internets!

• I love TED, warts and all (check out this TED Talk from (autistic) Temple Grandin... and speaking of autism...).

• Mark your calendar/save the date! Friday, March 26, 2010, 9pm: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. I can't wait!

• This is a great piece of flash fiction.

• Jon Stewart: CPAC, Ricky Gervais, Progressivism, Health Care, Bank of America!

• Bill Maher: Atheism, Health Care (with Chris Rock).

Move It!

I've got a high counter (a bar) that sits between my kitchen and dining room. A while ago, when I threw my back out, that counter became my office, because while my back was healing, sitting was not an option. I put my laptop on the counter and pushed the bar stools out of the way and just stood there, tapping away at the keyboard. Eventually, my back got better, but I still do the standing-at-the-counter thing a lot anyway. It's comfortable. Turns out, I'm not very good at sitting still -- I fidget, I itch, I rock, I pace -- and standing makes it easier to wiggle around. Have to stop for a minute to try to think of that word I'm after? I walk over to the window and stare at the trees while I'm cogitating. Waiting for the computer to finish uploading those images? I stretch my back or go rub the dog behind the ears.

Well, it turns out, this is a good thing. Your chair is your enemy.

It doesn’t matter if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest of the day sitting — in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home — you are putting yourself at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you.

Not only is it good to get up and move around, but if you're doing something boring, it might be far more enjoyable to do it while you're huffing away on the treadmill. And especially if you're trying to memorize stuff, it might go quicker if you're walking while learning.

Maybe the practical lesson is that we enjoy learning dry stuff when walking but not when stationary. Pity the 99.9% of students who study stationary. Ideally you’d listen to a lecture while walking somewhere, perhaps around a track.

Now, that guy I just linked to might be a little batty, but he also might be right (the idea goes way back). I mentioned last week that I've been watching videos on the treadmill. Well, here's what I did in our little home gym (the view is pretty much the same from the elliptical machine, which sits right next to the treadmill). It's a basic DIY setup:

It's all in a little room on the back of the house that used to be a porch (hence the brick wall). I think the strange little bookcase used to be an entertainment center back before we bought the house. I filled it in with shelves and that's where I keep all the wonderful books Emmie and I used to read together when she's was a wee one (I miss reading with a little kid at bedtime!). Anyway, it's got a wider shelf part way down and I stuck a folding table on that, and bungeed it down, to be sure my computer won't go flying if I spazz out while exercising (which is a pretty regular occurrence). We've got either some big wireless headphones or an extension cord for actually stringing earbuds over to the computer's jack, so that it's possible to hear the audio over the noise of the equipment. And voila! I can operate it all using my little apple remote! And between TED and Lecture Fox, I have to remember to stop when I'm working out. I suppose I could also throw in a DVD, stream something from Netflix, or fire up some Hulu too... ack!! someone get me off of this thing!

OK, so anyway... seriously, before you move on to your next thing, get up and move around a little bit. Stretch your back. Take a few deep breaths. Wiggle your legs. I have a friend who sets an alarm when she's working at the computer -- just a reminder to get up at least once an hour. Apparently she's on to something. (I wonder if there's an app for that?)

Science! Arrrrgh!!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

UPDATE: more here!

Weekend Links

There's an awful lot of weird weather out there this weekend, so I gather a lot of folks are trapped in their homes.

Now first of all, that's no reason to sit in front of the computer all day! Get up and move around, people! If you don't use it, you'll lose it. I don't want to hear any excuses! ;-D

And second, as long as you're sitting at the computer anyway (for a quick break between your Jack Lalannes and your Jane Fondas, right?), here are a few tidbits for your amusement...

• What’s the worst snow storm you can remember? (Mine is the Blizzard of '77.)

• Is Coca-Cola saving the earth?

• Can you possibly resist a list that has in its #2 position, "Oreo Cookie Death Filling?" It's the 6 Weirdest, Scariest Processed Foods!

• If you're in the mood to experiment, Google released beta versions of their Chrome browser for the Mac and Linux this week! (Speaking of Google, have you seen google goggles yet? It's one of the many cool things that has me lusting after the Droid way more than the iPhone these days.)

• Is it the gift that keeps on giving? Or the gift that keeps taking away?

• Gretchen Carlson is an idiot. On purpose (jon stewart clip!).

• Eww (this is why you're supposed to use your elbow to cover your cough or sneeze, as I recently learned from my sister-in-law, the elementary school teacher).

• Brands that will disappear in 2010.

• Can you drive a stick? I've never driven anything but, to the point where trying to drive an automatic freaks me out. Plus, transmissions cost a whole lot of money to fix, but clutches don't cost much, so maintaining cars with manual transmissions can be quite a bit cheaper.

• Toilet Graffiti... my favorites are #7 and #8.

Sunday Links & a Song

This is a short list, especially considering the fact that it's been a while since I've done links, but I'm tired of the politics that are filling our headlines. The best course of action here is to hide in the great music of geniuses like Elvis Costello (while reading a bit about the other stuff):

• Two can play that game (and some other protest signs -- some of my favorites: "My two moms can beat up your 14 wives," and "They're the ones that keep having gay babies!").

• Sigh. Back to health care. Let's just go ahead and cover everybody already -- even the constituents who manage to survive Boehner. One way or another we're going to pay for their health care anyway.

• I just started trying out google sidewiki this weekend. As one contributor pointed out, the implications here are numerous -- and not all positive -- but the potential is exciting.

• A Chattanooga suburb (East Ridge) made Boston.com's Big Picture last week. Seriously, we got a LOT of rain.

• And finally... the Origin of Stupidty

Two posts, two people

Both of these appeared to me today from facebook friends who don't know each other:

Children with Diabetes:

Imagine viewing over 800 kids checking their blood sugar all at once before breakfast. Imagine!

Or imagine having to descend on your preschool child multiple times a day and stabbing him or her with a needle while listening to uncomprehending screams of protest.

And then please consider giving something -- even just a few bucks -- to Joshua's ride (there is no minimum donation!). You don't have to know this guy (I don't! He's a FOAF!) to give:

For the first time, scientists are predicting that we CAN expect to see a cure well within our lifetime!

Now, more than ever, you can make a crucial difference. Won't you please give to JDRF as generously as possible? Together, we can make the cure a reality!

I gave a bit. I bet you could too. Click the "donate to this rider" button!

We Like the Moon

Forty years ago today, earthlings walked on the moon for the first time. Is the spirit that took us there still alive today?

"But this is not merely a race. Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share." -- JFK

Watch more video at ReelNASA or try this mission tracker, or even do a bit of sightseeing. Also, Joe has some links and thoughts here.

UPDATE: Moon Landing Anniversary from Jon Stewart.

Overdue things you may have missed

I meant to run through these things over the weekend, but that ended up being too busy and fun-filled, and before I knew it, it was Monday! Ack!

• Are there cancer vaccines on the horizon?

• If you're into gymnasts or stunts, you'll dig this guy.

• Why are so few Christians vegetarian?

• Oh, dear Dog, Tennessee has distinguished itself yet again. I've been living here for almost 20 years, and I'm still waiting for us to get a bit of national press for something that isn't humiliating...

• Here's a no-brainer: kids need to move around more. In other breaking news, crunchberries are not really fruit.

• Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year results!

• I don't know if I can go through life without experiencing a Kogi Taco.

• A lovely collection of iconic portraits.

• Bill O'Reilly: ignoramus or liar?

• Buy beer, not porn.

• Awww. A rat and his cat!

And finally, what looks like the Topic of the Week, health care. Here are a few links, and then come commentary from Bill Maher:

• Wow. In today's America, Sixty percent of bankruptcies are due to medical bills. That is a staggering number. Is there still anyone left out there who doesn't believe we need health care reform, and fast?

• Here's another sobering tidbit: People are now not filling prescriptions to save money.

(via One Good Move)

Saturday Stuff You Might Have Missed

Here's a real hodgepodge from the past week!

• And you thought Episode I was bad? Check out an early draft of the original Star Wars.

• These two girls totally outdo Robert Loggia and Tom Hanks, but then again, they're not supposedly improvising.

• Things disappear! Like the Aral Sea and the Amazon Rainforest -- and beyond that, farms sink!

• Food from around the world: in hospitals and in schools (and speaking of school lunches, there's this too)!

• How much do we love to defend marriage?? Oh, so much that the fun overflowed from one video into another! Also, we like to mock Pat Robertson with beautiful music videos.

• In medical and curing blindness news, this is really awesome.

• Do you like to have pictures with your data? Something to make it seem less dry and less science-y? Then you're going to like these sites.

• Did you have a video made of your wedding? If so, it's going to seem so incredibly lame after you watch this one.

• Watch out, all you greedy, overbearing religious cult-like groups! Scientology has Scientologists have been banned, and those awful Mormons have been taken down another notch. Ha.

• Attention Ferris Fans! Cameron's home is for sale!

• And finally, some quotes for the week (we'll start with the icky and work our way to the more reasonable):

Let’s hope that the key conferences aren’t when she’s menstruating or something, or just before she’s going to menstruate.

-- G. Gordon Liddy, troglodyte, doing an awfully good job of making the other neanderthals of his ilk look almost human by comparison. (Update: and there's always the problem of bears.)

Honestly folks. If we paid as much attention to the sexual activities of Catholic priests as we do to homosexuals wanting to marry, we probably could have saved a lot of children from years of guilt, shame, anger and pain.

-- Helen Philpot

Happy Darwin Day!

Don Addis

Today, both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin would have been 200 years old. February 12, 1809 was quite the auspicious day -- thinking humanists around the world have so much to celebrate because of these two men. I hope you have a wonderful day -- go check out a party if you can!

Are you tired of her yet?

I hope not! Here's your weekend Palin update!

Did you know she was selected by God (via Crooks & Liars)? I thought she was selected by McCain. Go figure.

Do you think she's living by Sarah rules? Or by the Palin Principle:

A theory of workplace economics which postulates that one can be vaulted several rungs above their level of incompetence when it suits the demands of the Religious Right.

The scariest thing about Sarah? Is it that she believes dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time, her general confusion, what her candidacy says about America, or the fact that with practice, she is actually getting worse? And if her performance in the Couric interview (which scared more than a few conservatives) means that she's circling the drain, where will she be by the debate? The McCain team is apparently afraid of the possibilities (btw, I'm not the only one who thinks they're stuck with her).

So a lot of people (hi, Ruthrocks!) noticed that Sarah was conspicuously absent after the debate on Friday. I don't care how much you sympathize with her, that's not a good sign.

It's pretty strange when a candidate can't trust his own running mate to be out there spinning on his behalf.

And it's funny that a lot of McCain supporters seem to think that's about media bias and not the fact that Palin is in lockdown somewhere.

Finally, if you can't get enough of Sarah Palin, here's a random quote generator (via WTF is it now?). And, of course, the latest from SNL:

The Latest...

Regarding Sarah Palin, the Young Earth Creationist herself... well, first check out comment #5 in this discussion. Arrrrgh! Don't you just hate it when people contaminate their minds with knowledge? Gah! Anyone who doesn't think the Palin/McCain administration would be a repeat of the Bush disaster need look no further than that for evidence to the contrary -- let me say this again, people: knowledge and intelligence are good things! You wouldn't hire a plumber who knows nothing about pipes, and you certainly want your surgeon to be well-educated in human anatomy -- why in the hell are you willing to accept willfully ignorant and blissfully oblivious people at the helm of our country? Please, if you follow no other links in this post, at least read this one.

So, anyway, back to Sarah (who had a really big idea this week!), poor Sarah... she can't decide if she's going to play the role of Dick Cheney or George Bush, but would be good at playing either one: she may very well have lied to a judge, and she keeps lying even after she's called on her BS.

And poor John McCain (check out his 83 lobbyists! -- who may be running Alaska right now!)... he is so confused and has no idea what to do about the economy. And doesn't know where Spain is. And he's confused by the branches of the military. And he's confused about presidential powers. And to make things worse, even his own staff is confused about who is at the top of the Republican ticket. And speaking of who is going to serve as president if this ticket wins, how is McCain's health, anyway (really -- this is a serious issue and it's gotten really, really scary)? He'll be preparing for the debate on Friday by taking a nap.

And then there's health care. John McCain's plan for America's health care is to do to the health care industry what he and his cronies have done for banking. (Oh, yeah -- and he wants to do it to Social Security as well!)

And speaking of banking, remember the Keating Five? It's ba-ack! Also, Conservatism is a failure and its former proponents making like rats off a sinking ship. Time for an October Surprise?

And let's not ignore the fact that this morning was given over to the hearings in Congress regarding the collapse of our economy (here's a guide to understanding how we got into this mess). There seem to be a couple of things everyone agrees on: the people who brought us to this moment in our history shouldn't be rewarded; and putting one guy with no oversight in charge of bailing out the people who created this crisis is a bit twisted. Main Street has been paying the price for Wall Street's excesses for a while now. It's time for Wall Street to chip in as well. And it would be nice if the people charged with getting us out of this mess weren't the same people who got us into it. The era of corporate welfare is over. Other people weigh in here.

(In related news, I've got a bunch of worthless old crap in my basement -- can I get the government to buy that, too?)

And finally, how's this for a nightmare scenario? Also, there's going to be a Grateful Dead/Allman Brothers/RatDog/Other Ones/Phil and Friends thing to raise money for the Obama campaign.