Polystyrene foam has been around for a long time; I mean, it is part of my early educational life and memories. The most popular brand-name for this material is Styrofoam ™.
I cannot say for sure whether it was officially my first science fair, although it might have been. My parents, ever since they actually purchased retail a book entitled “1001 things you can get free,” got me free samples from some representative of the oil industry of, well, oil in various stages of refinement.
They usually tried to write or rewrite my school projects to make them “better,” and wrenching things away from them was virtually impossible, and they did “help” with my descriptions and diagrams of the “cracking” process. Of course, I had memorized articles from every encyclopedia I could get my hands on. This was my standard modus operandi for pretty much everything in those days. Read more on Save Us From Styrofoam Already…
Filed under Government, News by on Jan 23rd, 2014. Comment. 
Some rumors are bouncing around and I’ve already made announcements to my inner circle of newsletter subscribers, but now it’s time to make it public –
I’ve moved and changed. This is nothing new. Those who have known me for years and those who have read my CV (that’s a fancy academic word for resume’) know that I’m always seeking new things and especially trying to pin down the truth. Read more on Don’t Be Surprised…
Filed under News by on Jan 24th, 2014. Comment.
It gets pretty evident pretty fast, to any psychiatrist who deals with the general public, that depression is daily bread. I mean, with current estimates at 19 million patients per year coming down with a depression — even with less than one half of them seeking treatment — it is a pretty sure bet that depressed people are common.
This in no way diminishes the anguish I have seen in patients having that disease. The anguish is real and dramatic.
I remember one of my earlier newspaper columns written for the Wichita Eagle-Beacon — the largest daily newspaper in Kansas — asking this simple question:
Why — when someone broke their leg — a salt-of-the-earth next-door neighbor would never fail to bake a pie. But when someone had a depression, nobody would bake anything.
The depressed person was basically treated like someone with a contagious disease. Read more on Why Some Get Depressed And Some Do Not…
Filed under depression, Mental Illness, Psychiatrists by on Jan 24th, 2014. Comment.
Huffing
Whatever job I take, my husband says I basically function as a teacher. There probably is some truth in this, and I seem to be forever reminding people that the verb “doceo,” the Latin verb “to teach,” is the word that the English language word “doctor” comes from.
Most of us doctors have little time for the teaching function. This is not exactly what insurance pays for. The internet is an explosion of information that absolutely dwarfs the ancient library at Alexandria. Although I wish more people would be more aggressive about finding and using that information, I understand there is so much information that people don’t know who to believe.
That is the place where people should bombard their doctors with information they want clarified. Read more on Huffing…
Filed under Addictions, Doctors, News, Substance Abuse by on Jan 28th, 2014. Comment.
I talk to a great many people in a great many areas and fields. In California, a lot of the mental health treatment programs are having “Obamacare-it is.”
While consumers who tried to use the official website to get enrolled for insurance had their “challenges” – to put it politely – the facilities expected to treat patients are having to do some major adjustments.
If you aren’t aware (especially you, Rip Van Winkle), “Obamacare” is what people lovingly call The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
I use the term “Lovingly Call” in the same manner people called homeless camps during the Great Depression “Hoovervilles” – blaming President Herbert Hoover for ruining the US economy and leading to the stock market crash. Many feel Pres. Obama has done something similar to health care. Read more on Dual Diagnosis Should Not Be A Reason To Refuse Treatment…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Government, News, politics by on Jan 31st, 2014. 2 Comments.