Admittedly I am no Einstein when it comes to understanding investments and the economy. The extent of my knowledge of banks failing is what I learned from watching It's a Wonderful Life.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately. During the last Great Depression we had much less media and access to information than we do now. With the Internet and hundreds of channels on television solely devoted to US financial issues even a Walmart employee can easily access information if they so desire.
Will this help prevent total panic? Will people chill and not cash out their 401K's? Listening to an economist rather than Ted the butcher may have a positive effect and help quell panic that never helps stabilize anything.
I may be wrong but to me it makes sense that the economy has to suffer major downturns once in a while, it is cyclical like anything else. I am not going to start stuffing cash under my mattress. I know my 401K is now a 201K but I am going to ride it out and hope for the best.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Making me laugh for 3 days in a row now
If you can watch this all the way through without laughing hysterically you have issues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vASd3QGn8eo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vASd3QGn8eo
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Pathos and Pedestals, how the mighty have fallen
I am truly terrible at noticing if people change the furniture in their home, get a new car, lose weight etc. It gets me in trouble with my family all the time.
Here is what I never miss: I will notice if you did not get enough sleep, if you twirl your hair when tired, fidget when you lie, or if you got laid right before work. I know if someone is preggo before they start to show by the changes in their skin. Once I know your cadence and expressions good luck getting something by me. If you are a badly damaged person I can sense it after 5 minutes or less of conversation. Likewise I know if you have had good therapy after talking to you for maybe a half an hour. I know if your parents were alcoholics. I know when you are lying or about to lie.
I have a girlfriend I work with and when I noticed she had a tremor I was very worried about her health. I asked our other friends and none of them had noticed it. I approached her about it telling her I wanted her to see a neurologist. She laughed and told me I was the only person in a year to notice that she had a mild tic due to tourette's..
With this extreme pathos I find myself with an ability to see heroic flickers in an otherwise unremarkable person. So far this pans out with them falling off the pedestal in rapid fashion. A flicker alone is not usually strong enough to survive and be a dominant quality.
I find myself wondering, is it a gift or a curse that I have? Is it possible for me to hone these skills to include sensing the deficits as easily as I sense the strengths? I know that I developed these skills as a young child trying to read adults that often kept things from me and talked in whispers. Later when working with non verbal adults all I had to go on were gestures, facial movements, sometimes just the flick of a wrist.
If you wonder, yes I am also painfully aware of both my weaknesses and strengths, I try to push through the weaknesses with sheer will, with mixed success.
I was recently told by someone that they hated people.. I never feel that way. I love people with all their flawed humanity and feet of clay.
Here is what I never miss: I will notice if you did not get enough sleep, if you twirl your hair when tired, fidget when you lie, or if you got laid right before work. I know if someone is preggo before they start to show by the changes in their skin. Once I know your cadence and expressions good luck getting something by me. If you are a badly damaged person I can sense it after 5 minutes or less of conversation. Likewise I know if you have had good therapy after talking to you for maybe a half an hour. I know if your parents were alcoholics. I know when you are lying or about to lie.
I have a girlfriend I work with and when I noticed she had a tremor I was very worried about her health. I asked our other friends and none of them had noticed it. I approached her about it telling her I wanted her to see a neurologist. She laughed and told me I was the only person in a year to notice that she had a mild tic due to tourette's..
With this extreme pathos I find myself with an ability to see heroic flickers in an otherwise unremarkable person. So far this pans out with them falling off the pedestal in rapid fashion. A flicker alone is not usually strong enough to survive and be a dominant quality.
I find myself wondering, is it a gift or a curse that I have? Is it possible for me to hone these skills to include sensing the deficits as easily as I sense the strengths? I know that I developed these skills as a young child trying to read adults that often kept things from me and talked in whispers. Later when working with non verbal adults all I had to go on were gestures, facial movements, sometimes just the flick of a wrist.
If you wonder, yes I am also painfully aware of both my weaknesses and strengths, I try to push through the weaknesses with sheer will, with mixed success.
I was recently told by someone that they hated people.. I never feel that way. I love people with all their flawed humanity and feet of clay.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
This Litter Sponsored by The Gap
When are we going to stop rewarding people with free homes, cars and wardrobes for pimping their families?
We all know about the lady in Cali who just had octuplets. She is a single Mom living with her mother and already had 6 kids at home.She left the country to find an unscrupulous Doctor willing to inseminate her with multiple embryos.
She is actively pursuing the media and sponsors to help her take care of her new litter of children.I saw her tonight on inside edition smirking and pouting for the camera. Nauseating.
How far are we going to take reality TV before we realize what it is doing to our society?
Children raised in front of a camera crew on a reality show are going to have some pretty strange perceptions about the world and what is important. I would like to see the studies done on these kids 20 years later.
The Truman Show really does not seem so far fetched anymore.I wonder how many years before the glut of reality shows makes us so jaded that anything goes. Remember when a bare ass or a curse shocked us?
I would not be surprised if reality TV airs deaths in the years to come. Maybe we can have sponsors for the coffins and gravestones.
We all know about the lady in Cali who just had octuplets. She is a single Mom living with her mother and already had 6 kids at home.She left the country to find an unscrupulous Doctor willing to inseminate her with multiple embryos.
She is actively pursuing the media and sponsors to help her take care of her new litter of children.I saw her tonight on inside edition smirking and pouting for the camera. Nauseating.
How far are we going to take reality TV before we realize what it is doing to our society?
Children raised in front of a camera crew on a reality show are going to have some pretty strange perceptions about the world and what is important. I would like to see the studies done on these kids 20 years later.
The Truman Show really does not seem so far fetched anymore.I wonder how many years before the glut of reality shows makes us so jaded that anything goes. Remember when a bare ass or a curse shocked us?
I would not be surprised if reality TV airs deaths in the years to come. Maybe we can have sponsors for the coffins and gravestones.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Supplements and the quick fix scam
I wrote this in June of last year.
Trace Minerals.com an analysis of the products vs. scientific evidence
The first claim that grabs me off the bat is the one that states through soil erosion trace minerals are being taken from the soil and being swept into the sea. This now compels you to buy supplements derived from the ocean to replace these essential minerals. Here is the scare pitch:
The complexity of the mineral imbalance problem is apparent. It is apparent that our understanding of the mechanisms of mineral imbalances is fragmentary. New inter-relationships are constantly being discovered. We are presently recognizing and correcting only a small fraction of the mineral imbalance problems plaguing animals and man. 5*5.Hoekstra, W.G. Federation Proceedings. National Academy of Sciences: Washington D.C. (Sept./ Oct., 1964).
The complexity of the mineral balance problem is apparent? Mineral imbalances are plaguing animals and man? No studies to back this scary statement up. As a matter of fact no normal American that follows the Dietary guidelines for Americans has any risk of having a vitamin deficiency. The main groups of Americans that are malnourished are the obese population.
This plays into the new marketing technique of why Americans are so unhealthy. It is not because we sit all day, eat fast food and do not exercise, it is because of over aggressive farming, soils erosion and mineral imbalances. The solution is not to eat healthy foods, since trace minerals.com alleges that over use of fertilizer is robbing our foods of essential nutrients. We can blame someone else and get the quick fix solution to what ails us.
The other claim made is that if the minerals we intake do not have the proper ionic charge they cannot be properly absorbed? I spoke with Dr. John Snider M.D a medical internist and teacher at Tufts Medical School and after he stopped laughing he told me this is false and that the small intestine will absorb minerals without you worrying about how ionically charged they are. I have been unable to find any reliable medical sources indicating that this is backed up with any science.
The trace minerals once abundant in our soils are gone because of "overaggressive farming" whatever that means. The site claims synthetic fertilizers are only good for plants and are missing elements humans need. Fertilizer is fertilizer; it enriches the soil causing plants to grow. There are no scientific studies I can find linking synthetic fertilizer with less nutritious crops. Here is a quote from quack watch:
Plants convert natural fertilizers into the same chemicals that synthetic fertilizers supply. The vitamin content of a food is determined by its genetic makeup Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Victor Herbert, M.D., J.D.
The Traceminerals.com has a clever pitch, peppered with scare tactics with enough medical word thrown in to sound pseudo- intellectual, but with no real data other than the articles written by the founder Dr. Meltis who is not an MD but a Naturopath.
The phenomenon of quick fix, take a pill, blame someone else that is pervasive in our culture is a gold mine for the supplement charlatans. We are willing to spend untold mounts of money to ensure our longevity. The fact that the ads also lay the blame elsewhere is a particularly appealing marketing technique.
Added 2/05/2009
I am seeing more of this junky science trickling into real life and it scares me. Parents of Autistic children who have no medical back round at all are allowing Chelation treatments for their children. Chelation treatment has no scientific support as a treatment for Autism. It is supposed to remove lead and arsenic from poisoned people.
Can we please stop pretending we are all doctors? Can we stop thinking anecdotal evidence is good enough to do something as drastic as chelation?
Can we stop trying to quick fix and use science to our advantage?
Bah!
Trace Minerals.com an analysis of the products vs. scientific evidence
The first claim that grabs me off the bat is the one that states through soil erosion trace minerals are being taken from the soil and being swept into the sea. This now compels you to buy supplements derived from the ocean to replace these essential minerals. Here is the scare pitch:
The complexity of the mineral imbalance problem is apparent. It is apparent that our understanding of the mechanisms of mineral imbalances is fragmentary. New inter-relationships are constantly being discovered. We are presently recognizing and correcting only a small fraction of the mineral imbalance problems plaguing animals and man. 5*5.Hoekstra, W.G. Federation Proceedings. National Academy of Sciences: Washington D.C. (Sept./ Oct., 1964).
The complexity of the mineral balance problem is apparent? Mineral imbalances are plaguing animals and man? No studies to back this scary statement up. As a matter of fact no normal American that follows the Dietary guidelines for Americans has any risk of having a vitamin deficiency. The main groups of Americans that are malnourished are the obese population.
This plays into the new marketing technique of why Americans are so unhealthy. It is not because we sit all day, eat fast food and do not exercise, it is because of over aggressive farming, soils erosion and mineral imbalances. The solution is not to eat healthy foods, since trace minerals.com alleges that over use of fertilizer is robbing our foods of essential nutrients. We can blame someone else and get the quick fix solution to what ails us.
The other claim made is that if the minerals we intake do not have the proper ionic charge they cannot be properly absorbed? I spoke with Dr. John Snider M.D a medical internist and teacher at Tufts Medical School and after he stopped laughing he told me this is false and that the small intestine will absorb minerals without you worrying about how ionically charged they are. I have been unable to find any reliable medical sources indicating that this is backed up with any science.
The trace minerals once abundant in our soils are gone because of "overaggressive farming" whatever that means. The site claims synthetic fertilizers are only good for plants and are missing elements humans need. Fertilizer is fertilizer; it enriches the soil causing plants to grow. There are no scientific studies I can find linking synthetic fertilizer with less nutritious crops. Here is a quote from quack watch:
Plants convert natural fertilizers into the same chemicals that synthetic fertilizers supply. The vitamin content of a food is determined by its genetic makeup Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Victor Herbert, M.D., J.D.
The Traceminerals.com has a clever pitch, peppered with scare tactics with enough medical word thrown in to sound pseudo- intellectual, but with no real data other than the articles written by the founder Dr. Meltis who is not an MD but a Naturopath.
The phenomenon of quick fix, take a pill, blame someone else that is pervasive in our culture is a gold mine for the supplement charlatans. We are willing to spend untold mounts of money to ensure our longevity. The fact that the ads also lay the blame elsewhere is a particularly appealing marketing technique.
Added 2/05/2009
I am seeing more of this junky science trickling into real life and it scares me. Parents of Autistic children who have no medical back round at all are allowing Chelation treatments for their children. Chelation treatment has no scientific support as a treatment for Autism. It is supposed to remove lead and arsenic from poisoned people.
Can we please stop pretending we are all doctors? Can we stop thinking anecdotal evidence is good enough to do something as drastic as chelation?
Can we stop trying to quick fix and use science to our advantage?
Bah!
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