Animal mummies from ancient Egypt are featured on banners flying from poles here in middle-to-upper class southern California and I realized something significant but not earth-shaking.
I didn’t care.
I was fascinated with Egyptology back in the 4th grade when I built a model pyramid out of cardboard and made little mummies out of clay. I knew back then that some people mummified pets, and that was fine, but I didn’t want to model little dogs or cats, just humans.
I have nothing against animals. I just think that sometimes they are valued, and their rights valued, and their alleged “feelings” valued more than those of human beings — and that is concerning. Read more on Pets Are Okay, But I Love Humans…
Filed under Family, News by on Aug 21st, 2014. Comment. 
I first found out about Dr. Cialdini and his work through a TED talk.
You know TED, don’t you? If not, you’ll stop and browse that wondrous site for a good long time while following up my included link.
Plowing through the internet I learned about his company’s seminars on “the science of persuasion” and it is not hard to find his six principles of “the science of persuasion.”
Reciprocity is far and away my favorite of the six. Read more on Reciprocity — It’s Not Just Arithmetic…
Filed under News by on Aug 8th, 2014. Comment.
I am not a particular fan of beer.
My family certainly did not have it in the house.
(Control freak that I am, I even had trouble with Passover wine. I never — and I mean never — managed to imagine how anybody made it through the allegedly requisite four glasses.)
I really don’t remember tasting beer until I was working Mme.Mareschal’s Cafe “Les Arcades” in Amiens, France, — a quaint village where I attended medical school — where beer was a staple. In fact, it was pretty much a staple everywhere in Northern France. Read more on Alarmism vs. Real Worries About Beer…
Filed under News by on Jul 19th, 2014. Comment.
I have had a lot of trouble with the idea of criminalization of drug addiction for a very long time.
I am only one of a lot of folks who say “addiction is a real disease.” People feel every bit as sick as people with other diseases, sometimes more.
The patients are certainly able to die every bit as dead. Read more on Babies Born Addicted…
Filed under Addictions, Family, politics, prescription drugs, Substance Abuse by on Jul 16th, 2014. Comment.
I love men.
I mean, I actually went and married one, and I am delighted.
I understand their senses of “maleness” are sometimes a bit more fragile with women challenging them on absolutely every front imaginable.
But they still do quite well. I absolutely love them. Read more on Cialis, OTC, and Men…
Filed under News, prescription drugs by on Jun 26th, 2014. Comment.
Most of the time I see a single piece of research related to psychiatry reported by multiple news services, I figure the institution that produced it has a prizewinning public relations person. I figure it is popular for some kind of unspoken agenda.
Maybe it is consistent with some level of political correctness.
Do you think that’s a cynical thought? Perhaps I should be a little more cautious. Read more on Cynicism and Alzheimer’s…
Filed under Alzheimer's Disease by on Jun 25th, 2014. Comment.
People are not wired the same.
Individual differences are the spice of life and medicine. I love people, their verbal discourses, because they are so delightfully individual.
To me, the biggest problem with medicine is something I actually never heard anybody else discuss. I call it “norming.”
Maybe there is no other way to get started on developing a new treatment that could help many people who have similar afflictions.
But people are so different that what is life-saving for one may be poison for another. Read more on Dangers of Energy Drinks…
Filed under End Of Life, News, Stimulants by on Jun 24th, 2014. 1 Comment.
I found this one in the general plumbing of news that is the delight of the internet.
If someone in the U.K. thinks that DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide) is safe, then somebody is clearly worried that it is not.
Mosquitoes are very dangerous, and DEET is one of the most powerful ways we have to get rid of mosquitoes. Read more on Deet As An Insecticide…
Filed under Brain, Disease, News by on Jun 23rd, 2014. Comment.
I remember a supervisor from the past whom I never thought had the right personality to be a psychiatrist. I mean, he was a little angry and domineering for my taste. But heck — I gave him a “bye” since he worked in a prison context.
I was never attacked by a prison patient through my tours-of-duty through four (all-male) California state penal institutions. I had a couple who ended up on their knees, crying, stroking my hands, or even asking permission to kiss me (denied, of course).
They said I was “nice” to them. I guess I treated them like human beings — something pitifully lacking in the prison system where everything seems oppressive and depersonalizing. Read more on Assaults On Psychiatrists…
Filed under abuse, Mental Illness, Personality Disorders, Psychiatrists, PTSD, Public Health System by on Jun 19th, 2014. Comment.
This story found me in the headlines: “Colts’ Jim Irsay discusses addiction.” I had never heard of and would not have been able to cite the name of the owner of the Baltimore Colts. I certainly am no fan of professional football. I have reviewed recent problems in other posts. It seems to me that football — seemingly more than other sports — breaks brains, heads, bones and lives and may foster drug addiction to boot. Read more on Baltimore Colts Owner Jim Irsay – Too Rich To Need Help?…
Filed under Diagnosis, Sports, Substance Abuse by on Jun 16th, 2014. Comment.