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Last night I had a bit of runny nose. This is something that happens on occasion, resolving overnight, and I live with a cat, to which I should be allergic. Still, I decided to test today, with combined Flu/Covid tests. ( Read more... )
list of colds
2021-12-18 00:28In 2011 I started keeping track of my health more, so I was able to construct a possible incomplete list of cold-symptom periods. It's possible some of them were hay fever, like Apr/May, or Sep 2019 in Australia, but I think I can tell the difference -- I had very obvious hay fever a bit later in Australia.
( Long list )
2-3 episodes most years, sometimes one, and then... poof. Actually I've had a few one-day sniffles, but they never turned into "yep, that's a cold".
I wonder about the Feb 2020, which developed when I had flown to Seattle, but the symptoms didn't make me think it was anything more than a long (15+ day) cold.
( Long list )
2-3 episodes most years, sometimes one, and then... poof. Actually I've had a few one-day sniffles, but they never turned into "yep, that's a cold".
I wonder about the Feb 2020, which developed when I had flown to Seattle, but the symptoms didn't make me think it was anything more than a long (15+ day) cold.
vacc and stuff
2021-05-16 13:56Have received my second Moderna. I moved my arms through the 15 minute waiting period, and walked around the park for an hour or so before daring to take the trains home rather than another Lyft. Late that evening I started to feel aches and blah, and I slept so-so with all the blankets on. Next day, I don't think I ever had a really high fever, but definitely slept a lot.
Coupled days of idleness after that, I'd felt fine at home, but I went for a 40 minute walk and it figuratively killed me (and became a 45-50 minute walk, not counting breaks). Got some nice Filipino food out of it, though.
In unrelated news I have ended up in a cutthroat leaderboard on Duolingo. The top score isn't that high, only 1269, not in the 2000s, but no one seems willing to fall into the demotion zone, and I'm struggling to stay neutral.
Books read:
Pyramids (Pratchett)
Bloom into you: Regarding Saeki Sayaka (all 3 volumes)
The Truth
Going Postal
Soul Music
Coupled days of idleness after that, I'd felt fine at home, but I went for a 40 minute walk and it figuratively killed me (and became a 45-50 minute walk, not counting breaks). Got some nice Filipino food out of it, though.
In unrelated news I have ended up in a cutthroat leaderboard on Duolingo. The top score isn't that high, only 1269, not in the 2000s, but no one seems willing to fall into the demotion zone, and I'm struggling to stay neutral.
Books read:
Pyramids (Pratchett)
Bloom into you: Regarding Saeki Sayaka (all 3 volumes)
The Truth
Going Postal
Soul Music
Time for another dump.
Israel's massive desalination project.
Messing with prices works: 5 cent charge cuts UK plastic bag use by 85%.
Smoking gun found in North Carolina: voter ID laws are explicitly racist in their intent, aimed at disenfranchising black voters.
Long piece on Hillary's climate policy. The DNC pro-gay rights platform.
Houston Chronicle endorses Hillary, way early. They went for Romney last time.
Story on how Hillary helped a constituent with cancer.
Trump claims a tax exemption for people with income <$500,000. Bit odd for an alleged billionaire.
Apollo http://observer.com/2016/07/space-radiation-devastated-the-lives-of-apollo-astronauts/observer.com/2016/07/space-radiation-devastated-the-lives-of-apollo-astronauts/ dying off of heart disease.
GOP thinker thinks modern GOP is doomed, by its original sin of Goldwater and racism.
Trump blames GOP for RNC ratings. What a leader. Such responsibility. Wow.
Trump talks about a http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/trump-may-have-just-leaked-classified-info-on-his-first-day-getting-intelligence-briefings/www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/trump-may-have-just-leaked-classified-info-on-his-first-day-getting-intelligence-briefings/ or secret base in Saudi Arabia. Neither one reflects well on him.
Hillary's DNC speech, annotated. Trump's speech, annotated.
Another article arguing dieting doesn't work.
Hillary's paid speeches in context.
"Why should I *like* Hillary, rather than fearing Trump?" A list. A similar list -- haven't checked to see if they're kept in sync. Not included: what she did for trans people.
America's gridlock. "What if D's won every place w/ electorate less than 75% white, lost everywhere else? D's would win 292 EV's but just 36 Sen/191 House seats."
Green Party platform calls for something that was done in 2009. Such updating.
"what if Hillary accepted the nomination with 5 children by three different men, like Trump?"
Israel's massive desalination project.
Messing with prices works: 5 cent charge cuts UK plastic bag use by 85%.
Smoking gun found in North Carolina: voter ID laws are explicitly racist in their intent, aimed at disenfranchising black voters.
Long piece on Hillary's climate policy. The DNC pro-gay rights platform.
Houston Chronicle endorses Hillary, way early. They went for Romney last time.
Story on how Hillary helped a constituent with cancer.
Trump claims a tax exemption for people with income <$500,000. Bit odd for an alleged billionaire.
Apollo http://observer.com/2016/07/space-radiation-devastated-the-lives-of-apollo-astronauts/observer.com/2016/07/space-radiation-devastated-the-lives-of-apollo-astronauts/ dying off of heart disease.
GOP thinker thinks modern GOP is doomed, by its original sin of Goldwater and racism.
Trump blames GOP for RNC ratings. What a leader. Such responsibility. Wow.
Trump talks about a http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/trump-may-have-just-leaked-classified-info-on-his-first-day-getting-intelligence-briefings/www.ifyouonlynews.com/politics/trump-may-have-just-leaked-classified-info-on-his-first-day-getting-intelligence-briefings/ or secret base in Saudi Arabia. Neither one reflects well on him.
Hillary's DNC speech, annotated. Trump's speech, annotated.
Another article arguing dieting doesn't work.
Hillary's paid speeches in context.
"Why should I *like* Hillary, rather than fearing Trump?" A list. A similar list -- haven't checked to see if they're kept in sync. Not included: what she did for trans people.
America's gridlock. "What if D's won every place w/ electorate less than 75% white, lost everywhere else? D's would win 292 EV's but just 36 Sen/191 House seats."
Green Party platform calls for something that was done in 2009. Such updating.
"what if Hillary accepted the nomination with 5 children by three different men, like Trump?"
I ran across two "bad Catholics" links today. One on an alleged gay network within the Vatican (paging Dan Brown), the other on the founder of the ultra-conservative Legion of Christ, a priest who sexually abused his own children... children which he shouldn't have on account of being a priest. (By a mistress, not by a dead pre-priesthood wife.)
In unrelated, horror, a friend linked to this case of twisted suburbia, where two homes with back-to-back yards can reach each other via seven miles of roads. Comments note that such cul-de-sac design seems bad for evacuation or fire access: block one road and no one can get out.
Jumping yet again, we get carnivory in cows and deer and elephants and other supposedly dedicated herbivores (unlike the KFC-eating chickens I mentioned last year; chickens do eat insects after all.)
I am not a vegetarian. I'd like my meat to come from humanely treated animals but I'm not superdiligent about even that. I'm not unconflicted, I just kind of write it off with "meh, other issues, the natural world is arguably worse" and stuff like that. Nonetheless, when I see a post and comments totally mocking Pearce's Abolitionist Project, I get filled with rage.[1]
A study claims the evidence of sugar causing diabetes is pretty strong. There are truffles on my shelf I haven't eaten yet. I am conflicted.
Happy news! Former US prosecutors and DEA agents defending Colombian drug traffickers. At least it sounds happy, like "we had an attack of conscience", not "oooh, what big wallets you narcolords have".
Pretty funny though not reliable guide to the papal candidates.
Putting babies out to sleep in the freezing cold: child abuse or Nordic custom?
[1] Doubt it's possible is fine. Doubt that even if we thought we could, we'd be wise enough to do so well, is fine. A general suspicious of crazy-sounding extreme ideas is more than fine. "Ha ha he wants to abolish holocaust-loads of pain and suffering, what a doodyhead" or "But all the suffering makes things of beauty" are just terrible, IMO. Yeah, I know I risk hypocrisy here ("meat is tasty"). I'm fine with that for now, and while I poke at them I don't *laugh* mockingly at vegetarians.
In unrelated, horror, a friend linked to this case of twisted suburbia, where two homes with back-to-back yards can reach each other via seven miles of roads. Comments note that such cul-de-sac design seems bad for evacuation or fire access: block one road and no one can get out.
Jumping yet again, we get carnivory in cows and deer and elephants and other supposedly dedicated herbivores (unlike the KFC-eating chickens I mentioned last year; chickens do eat insects after all.)
I am not a vegetarian. I'd like my meat to come from humanely treated animals but I'm not superdiligent about even that. I'm not unconflicted, I just kind of write it off with "meh, other issues, the natural world is arguably worse" and stuff like that. Nonetheless, when I see a post and comments totally mocking Pearce's Abolitionist Project, I get filled with rage.[1]
A study claims the evidence of sugar causing diabetes is pretty strong. There are truffles on my shelf I haven't eaten yet. I am conflicted.
Happy news! Former US prosecutors and DEA agents defending Colombian drug traffickers. At least it sounds happy, like "we had an attack of conscience", not "oooh, what big wallets you narcolords have".
Pretty funny though not reliable guide to the papal candidates.
Putting babies out to sleep in the freezing cold: child abuse or Nordic custom?
[1] Doubt it's possible is fine. Doubt that even if we thought we could, we'd be wise enough to do so well, is fine. A general suspicious of crazy-sounding extreme ideas is more than fine. "Ha ha he wants to abolish holocaust-loads of pain and suffering, what a doodyhead" or "But all the suffering makes things of beauty" are just terrible, IMO. Yeah, I know I risk hypocrisy here ("meat is tasty"). I'm fine with that for now, and while I poke at them I don't *laugh* mockingly at vegetarians.
I've been very unadventurous since the 2nd and 3rd. On the 2nd new sandals chafed very badly, scraping off a lot of skin near my big toe; it's still scabbed over. (I've had related problems before; this is why I often commit the fashion sin of socks with sandals. Sandals air out my feet, socks protect them.) On the third I stubbed another toe unprecedentedly badly, with bruising halfway down, and ongoing mild pain or discomfort. I finally saw a doctor yesterday; she thinks a fracture is unlikely, and anyway all they do is tape your toes together. But she did recommend keeping my foot high ("to keep toxins from pooling") and avoiding hiking. It's like I got a prescription to avoid pedestrian tourism and stay in a place where groceries come to me.
***
S's parents are here, and K brought Starbucks instant coffeee. I just tried some, and it was very dark, burnt, and bitter, just like everyone says of SB coffee in general. I've been trying some local instant coffee with Colombian beans and a price twice the alternatives; it's much better by comparison.
***
Last night I noticed my laptop tingling while plugged in; I asked G about it, and got a remedial education in basic electric wiring, current and neutral and ground. My adapter is only two prong, and my laptop's ground wire had been unaccomodated; he lent me one of his 3-prongs, and the tingling went away. The eee didn't have this problem, but he remembered it as being 2-prong, and it's a hard plastic clamshell, vs. the high-metal casing of the Dell.
I might as well share, in case any readers are as ignorant. The two usual prongs are channels for the current, which is like an artificial river. Electrons come in and flow out, pushed by the voltage, and a device can draw power by sapping the potential like a watermill taps a river. (We ignore AC and oscillating current.) But electrons can leak from the innards to the case, or else fields can draw in electrons from dry air, and so a third wire connects the case to ground, draining off such nuisance electrons before they zap you like a doorknob. The eee, being solidly plastic, is naturally insulated from such problems.
This also sheds light on a cheap metal lamp I'd bought in Boston ($4, with CF bulb) that had also been tingly. I'd figured that was just cheapness -- I doubt it has ground -- but he suggested flipping the plug if it's not width-polarized like many these days.
He also reminded me that grounding in Chile is hard, what with all the fractured dry soil; years ago he'd said the observatory dug down tends of meters and still couldn't find good grounding. He's found that neutral and ground are 20 volts apart, whereas they're usually equal in the US. Neutral is the power company's ground, ground is you, the power company is likely lots of dry soil away.
Socks often crackle or sizzle too; some of that is on insertion, due to crappy oxidized sockets; some of it was ongoing, probably due to the ungrounded plugs. Oh, voltage is 240 here, too.
***
Books: Hans Brinker (abridged), Night's Master (Tanith Lee), Death's Master (ditto), Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of Universe/Modern World, Years of Rice and Salt.
***
I still don't have my laptop Linux in an ideal state, but I don't feel like complaining about it too much. Well, a bit. konsole's colors suck compared to gnome-terminal, and kde-plasma picked up an ugly orange color on highlighted items that I couldn't change. kde/openbox is better, though I had to edit a file to get my keyboard shortcuts. konsole doesn't open urls as conveniently, but gnome-termnal keeps resizing itself under non-gnome.
OTOH, I did get firefox to stop doing so, by turning off its Ubuntu and Unity addons, to no obvious loss of functionality.
***
Cooperative game we've played down here: Flash Point, nicknamed Fire Rescue. More intuitive actions than Pandemic. Apologies if I'm repeating myself.
***
The house is sitting on an ant colony or something, and they keep trying to invade. Two days ago I woke to them crawling over the power outlet and computer. We spray a lot, which works briefly.
***
S's parents are here, and K brought Starbucks instant coffeee. I just tried some, and it was very dark, burnt, and bitter, just like everyone says of SB coffee in general. I've been trying some local instant coffee with Colombian beans and a price twice the alternatives; it's much better by comparison.
***
Last night I noticed my laptop tingling while plugged in; I asked G about it, and got a remedial education in basic electric wiring, current and neutral and ground. My adapter is only two prong, and my laptop's ground wire had been unaccomodated; he lent me one of his 3-prongs, and the tingling went away. The eee didn't have this problem, but he remembered it as being 2-prong, and it's a hard plastic clamshell, vs. the high-metal casing of the Dell.
I might as well share, in case any readers are as ignorant. The two usual prongs are channels for the current, which is like an artificial river. Electrons come in and flow out, pushed by the voltage, and a device can draw power by sapping the potential like a watermill taps a river. (We ignore AC and oscillating current.) But electrons can leak from the innards to the case, or else fields can draw in electrons from dry air, and so a third wire connects the case to ground, draining off such nuisance electrons before they zap you like a doorknob. The eee, being solidly plastic, is naturally insulated from such problems.
This also sheds light on a cheap metal lamp I'd bought in Boston ($4, with CF bulb) that had also been tingly. I'd figured that was just cheapness -- I doubt it has ground -- but he suggested flipping the plug if it's not width-polarized like many these days.
He also reminded me that grounding in Chile is hard, what with all the fractured dry soil; years ago he'd said the observatory dug down tends of meters and still couldn't find good grounding. He's found that neutral and ground are 20 volts apart, whereas they're usually equal in the US. Neutral is the power company's ground, ground is you, the power company is likely lots of dry soil away.
Socks often crackle or sizzle too; some of that is on insertion, due to crappy oxidized sockets; some of it was ongoing, probably due to the ungrounded plugs. Oh, voltage is 240 here, too.
***
Books: Hans Brinker (abridged), Night's Master (Tanith Lee), Death's Master (ditto), Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of Universe/Modern World, Years of Rice and Salt.
***
I still don't have my laptop Linux in an ideal state, but I don't feel like complaining about it too much. Well, a bit. konsole's colors suck compared to gnome-terminal, and kde-plasma picked up an ugly orange color on highlighted items that I couldn't change. kde/openbox is better, though I had to edit a file to get my keyboard shortcuts. konsole doesn't open urls as conveniently, but gnome-termnal keeps resizing itself under non-gnome.
OTOH, I did get firefox to stop doing so, by turning off its Ubuntu and Unity addons, to no obvious loss of functionality.
***
Cooperative game we've played down here: Flash Point, nicknamed Fire Rescue. More intuitive actions than Pandemic. Apologies if I'm repeating myself.
***
The house is sitting on an ant colony or something, and they keep trying to invade. Two days ago I woke to them crawling over the power outlet and computer. We spray a lot, which works briefly.
So about a year ago my dentist figured I'd become a grinder, which might also explain the weird random headaches I started getting. Down in Chile I got a thermoplastic bite guard, and I've used it or others for the past 9 months. You're supposed to only for 6, but I never heard why.
I finally splurged for a 'real' fitted guard, and picked it up today.
"How's it feel?"
"Weird. It's hard. I'm used to the thermoplastic ones, being squishy cushions for my teeth."
"Oh no, that makes it worse, it's like giving your jaw muscles a workout all night. This just shuts the grinding down."
ffffuuuu. If I'd known that, I'd have acted earlier.
I finally splurged for a 'real' fitted guard, and picked it up today.
"How's it feel?"
"Weird. It's hard. I'm used to the thermoplastic ones, being squishy cushions for my teeth."
"Oh no, that makes it worse, it's like giving your jaw muscles a workout all night. This just shuts the grinding down."
ffffuuuu. If I'd known that, I'd have acted earlier.
Privilege as difficulty level: straight white male is playing life in easy mode
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
Argument that libertarians should be friendly to train, which were fine and profitable until crushed by government subsidies of roads and airports. It notes a 1935 law barring US electric utilities from owning streetcars, despite their natural connection.
http://keephoustonhouston.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/all-good-libertarians-are-pro-transit/
Tangentially, I've amused myself for a long time with the thought that US libertarians tend to be rural or suburbanites fantasizing about dispersed living, but actual 'Libertopia' would look like a handful of zoning-free megacities with few and expensive services in the rural hinterlands.
me on libertarian countries
http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/05/the-administrative-state-vs-the-soc
ial-insurance-state/#comment-529769358
On balance bikes. Also links to an old book on bicycle and tricycle designs, and bicycle physics. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2012/05/training_wheels_don_t_work_balance_bikes_teach_children_how_to_ride_.single.html
witch fighting fertility cult
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benandanti
George Lucas to build low income housing in revenge
http://www.movies.com/movie-news/george-lucas-grady-ranch/7883
lighting efficiency
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/05/spectral-extravaganza-the-ultimate-l
ight/
break up sitting
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/22/dc11-1931.abstract
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
Argument that libertarians should be friendly to train, which were fine and profitable until crushed by government subsidies of roads and airports. It notes a 1935 law barring US electric utilities from owning streetcars, despite their natural connection.
http://keephoustonhouston.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/all-good-libertarians-are-pro-transit/
Tangentially, I've amused myself for a long time with the thought that US libertarians tend to be rural or suburbanites fantasizing about dispersed living, but actual 'Libertopia' would look like a handful of zoning-free megacities with few and expensive services in the rural hinterlands.
me on libertarian countries
http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/05/the-administrative-state-vs-the-soc
ial-insurance-state/#comment-529769358
On balance bikes. Also links to an old book on bicycle and tricycle designs, and bicycle physics. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2012/05/training_wheels_don_t_work_balance_bikes_teach_children_how_to_ride_.single.html
witch fighting fertility cult
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benandanti
George Lucas to build low income housing in revenge
http://www.movies.com/movie-news/george-lucas-grady-ranch/7883
lighting efficiency
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/05/spectral-extravaganza-the-ultimate-l
ight/
break up sitting
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/22/dc11-1931.abstract
My cold from AB has rolled over almost perfectly into spring allergies. For a couple days I was feeling almost over things, then bam, wake up today to thick eye mucus and extra sandy eyes and being tired and all. I'm toying with getting to FilkOntario. I'm also wondering where I can travel that won't have air jizz at the moment. Besides the Southern Hemisphere. Not sure Florida would be enough. I guess dry country. Puerto Rico?
Finished Watership Down. Wheee. Requested other old children's books: Mrs. Frisby, Secret Garden, Heidi (so many choices of versions.) Remi is only available as a reference copy. ! I wonder what happened to my family's copy. Don't find an e-book of it either.
Went to SCA dance dinner, biked home, had reflective experience about biking on sidewalks. I was going up Prospect from Central Square, and didn't stay on the road long. It's one land each way, narrow, and busy. Choices seemed to be take up lane and slow everyone down, squeeze along curb and feel stressed about risk, or sidewalk. There were enough people on the sidewalk that I'd go slow for even me on a bike, but not so many as to not be going faster than I could walk. On average I think it works out okay: traffic passes me when it moves, including the braver bicyclists, but then waits at a light while I keep going, and I happened to not have to wait for cross lights much myself.
More evidence that my attitude toward biking modes is shaped by not going all that fast anyway, with me on my cheap heavy wide-tire mountain bike, and by my comparing myself to walking speed, not driving or ideal road bike speeds.
Finished Watership Down. Wheee. Requested other old children's books: Mrs. Frisby, Secret Garden, Heidi (so many choices of versions.) Remi is only available as a reference copy. ! I wonder what happened to my family's copy. Don't find an e-book of it either.
Went to SCA dance dinner, biked home, had reflective experience about biking on sidewalks. I was going up Prospect from Central Square, and didn't stay on the road long. It's one land each way, narrow, and busy. Choices seemed to be take up lane and slow everyone down, squeeze along curb and feel stressed about risk, or sidewalk. There were enough people on the sidewalk that I'd go slow for even me on a bike, but not so many as to not be going faster than I could walk. On average I think it works out okay: traffic passes me when it moves, including the braver bicyclists, but then waits at a light while I keep going, and I happened to not have to wait for cross lights much myself.
More evidence that my attitude toward biking modes is shaped by not going all that fast anyway, with me on my cheap heavy wide-tire mountain bike, and by my comparing myself to walking speed, not driving or ideal road bike speeds.
Every time I've stayed in apartment by myself on my travels this trip, I've gotten sick.
London shared studio: no problem
London S. Kensington apartment: cold
London shared apartment: no problem
Paris apartment: cold or something
Amsterdam and Madrid shared apartments: no problem
Chile shared house: some but not much problem, pretty good for 6 weeks with kids.
Boston apartment: cold. Well, sniffles today.
Various hotel rooms haven't been a problem.
Well, I had a non-Airbnb apartment in Edinburgh, don't remember getting sick there. Though I was lethargic.
London shared studio: no problem
London S. Kensington apartment: cold
London shared apartment: no problem
Paris apartment: cold or something
Amsterdam and Madrid shared apartments: no problem
Chile shared house: some but not much problem, pretty good for 6 weeks with kids.
Boston apartment: cold. Well, sniffles today.
Various hotel rooms haven't been a problem.
Well, I had a non-Airbnb apartment in Edinburgh, don't remember getting sick there. Though I was lethargic.
What the heck is with the multiple 50+ comment posts on James's LJ today? Gah.
Drawback of 4 cats: when food falls on the floor, it doesn't seem worth the bother of washing it off -- and sure wouldn't eat it without washing it off. Also, why are three of them attacking the plastic bags and boxes beneath the microwave?
Today was a bunch of errands. Medical, then accessories. Repaired sandals, new shoes, new supports, new eyeglasses case -- free for the asking! wow, guess they're trivial compared to the cost of eyeglasses -- micro SD card for the phone (8 GB is $22, 16 GB $60, 8 seems better value but then I figured I want it to live in my phone, so get as big as possible. Also, no 32G thumb drives yet? I'm surprised), screen protector, foreign plug converters, $10 for 4 4-packs of AA batteries at Radio Shack anyone need some?
Mall food court had amusing free samples competition going, Little Tokyo vs. the Chinese place next to it. LT's chicken and shrimp teriyaki wasn't bad, though I didn't realize the tea wasn't part of the combo, and I'm not big on sweet tea. Though maybe all that liquid helped the next paragraph.
Then biking straight from Target to Ch's for mahjong. 22 minutes via Covenanter. 22 miserable and sweaty minutes -- seems another way I can tell I'm gaining unwanted weight is sweating more, i.e. retaining heat more or generating more because there's more of me -- but interesting, not horribly miserable. I was glad to stop and splash cold water on me and guzzle ice water, but I wasn't staggering in on the verge of collapse, despite the 90+ heat and humidity levels. And my blood pressure earlier at the clinic was 115/73, despite having just biked up hill. 14 minutes back from Ch to A&L's, via Lincoln and First.
Some demographic posts of note:
European TFR is a tricky statistic, it assumes constant patterns but in fact age of first birth has been rising, but births are postponed, not wiped out. This is talking about birth and development i.e. something else, but has related graphs. Sadly, "adjusted fertility rate" is not a fruitful google within my patience. (Edit: just up, Randy's post on Iran's women and family size.)
Anne Rice has left "Christianity", i.e. conservative Christianity by what she describes, but not Christ.
Little tidbits of Tron.
Drawback of 4 cats: when food falls on the floor, it doesn't seem worth the bother of washing it off -- and sure wouldn't eat it without washing it off. Also, why are three of them attacking the plastic bags and boxes beneath the microwave?
Today was a bunch of errands. Medical, then accessories. Repaired sandals, new shoes, new supports, new eyeglasses case -- free for the asking! wow, guess they're trivial compared to the cost of eyeglasses -- micro SD card for the phone (8 GB is $22, 16 GB $60, 8 seems better value but then I figured I want it to live in my phone, so get as big as possible. Also, no 32G thumb drives yet? I'm surprised), screen protector, foreign plug converters, $10 for 4 4-packs of AA batteries at Radio Shack anyone need some?
Mall food court had amusing free samples competition going, Little Tokyo vs. the Chinese place next to it. LT's chicken and shrimp teriyaki wasn't bad, though I didn't realize the tea wasn't part of the combo, and I'm not big on sweet tea. Though maybe all that liquid helped the next paragraph.
Then biking straight from Target to Ch's for mahjong. 22 minutes via Covenanter. 22 miserable and sweaty minutes -- seems another way I can tell I'm gaining unwanted weight is sweating more, i.e. retaining heat more or generating more because there's more of me -- but interesting, not horribly miserable. I was glad to stop and splash cold water on me and guzzle ice water, but I wasn't staggering in on the verge of collapse, despite the 90+ heat and humidity levels. And my blood pressure earlier at the clinic was 115/73, despite having just biked up hill. 14 minutes back from Ch to A&L's, via Lincoln and First.
Some demographic posts of note:
European TFR is a tricky statistic, it assumes constant patterns but in fact age of first birth has been rising, but births are postponed, not wiped out. This is talking about birth and development i.e. something else, but has related graphs. Sadly, "adjusted fertility rate" is not a fruitful google within my patience. (Edit: just up, Randy's post on Iran's women and family size.)
Anne Rice has left "Christianity", i.e. conservative Christianity by what she describes, but not Christ.
Little tidbits of Tron.
I'm back. Have three weeks of collected links!
Cool or important stuff
* Krugman (and 9 page Kenneth Arrow PDF) on why markets fail at health care.
* Jimmy Carter breaks with Baptists over gender equality. He's for it.
* Yet another article on the plural 'they'. This one is new in describing whom to blame for the idea that it's bad.
* Racial whitewashing of covers.
* House of Representatives size over time
* Creepy vintage ads
* Some people say rich people are fleeing California due to high taxes. They're wrong. A lot of people have been gloating about people leaving California; none have acknowledged California's population perhaps unsustainably in dot-com and housing bubbles.
* Prenatal air pollution lowers IQ. Ah, poor people, getting shafted even before they're born. "Just work harder!"
* Replacement fertility isn't a constant 2.1. It's approximately the reciprocal of (chance of a girl being born)*(chance a girl will survive to average age of maternity). So given 50% ratio but 50% chance of survival, the average woman would have to have 1/(.5*.5)=4 children just to keep the population going. Current numbers go from 2.05 to over 3.
** Decadent liberal countries having more children
* Obama did get more young voters to turn out.
* Law and order in the West Bank. But some people think they should be expelled.
* Bus rapid transit. Speaking of Third World megacity sprawl, it seems to me that much of LA is well-adapted to rapid busways, e.g. there are spare lanes to hijack.
* If you listened to the media, you'd never think Nobel-winning economists worry the stimulus is too small.
* Poland weathering the recession
Krugman/Stiglitz dump
article on Stiglitz
http://www.newsweek.com/id/207390
Krugman on it
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/morning-joe/
Newsweek on Krugman
http://www.newsweek.com/id/191393?tid=relatedcl
column excerpts
http://www.newsweek.com/id/191398?tid=relatedcl
female Japanese 'Krugman'
http://www.newsweek.com/id/204874?tid=relatedcl
( GOP news )
( fitness links )
( random )
Cool or important stuff
* Krugman (and 9 page Kenneth Arrow PDF) on why markets fail at health care.
* Jimmy Carter breaks with Baptists over gender equality. He's for it.
* Yet another article on the plural 'they'. This one is new in describing whom to blame for the idea that it's bad.
* Racial whitewashing of covers.
* House of Representatives size over time
* Creepy vintage ads
* Some people say rich people are fleeing California due to high taxes. They're wrong. A lot of people have been gloating about people leaving California; none have acknowledged California's population perhaps unsustainably in dot-com and housing bubbles.
* Prenatal air pollution lowers IQ. Ah, poor people, getting shafted even before they're born. "Just work harder!"
* Replacement fertility isn't a constant 2.1. It's approximately the reciprocal of (chance of a girl being born)*(chance a girl will survive to average age of maternity). So given 50% ratio but 50% chance of survival, the average woman would have to have 1/(.5*.5)=4 children just to keep the population going. Current numbers go from 2.05 to over 3.
** Decadent liberal countries having more children
* Obama did get more young voters to turn out.
* Law and order in the West Bank. But some people think they should be expelled.
* Bus rapid transit. Speaking of Third World megacity sprawl, it seems to me that much of LA is well-adapted to rapid busways, e.g. there are spare lanes to hijack.
* If you listened to the media, you'd never think Nobel-winning economists worry the stimulus is too small.
* Poland weathering the recession
Krugman/Stiglitz dump
article on Stiglitz
http://www.newsweek.com/id/207390
Krugman on it
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/morning-joe/
Newsweek on Krugman
http://www.newsweek.com/id/191393?tid=relatedcl
column excerpts
http://www.newsweek.com/id/191398?tid=relatedcl
female Japanese 'Krugman'
http://www.newsweek.com/id/204874?tid=relatedcl
( GOP news )
( fitness links )
( random )
Study of Pueblo, CO over three years after a smoking ban finds a big drop in heart attacks; this is attributed to the effects of secondhand smoke, though a skeptical doctor is found to quote. The CDC apparently attributes 3000 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths per year to secondhand smoke (out of the 440,000 total deaths due to smoking.)
And we've got a new worry, third hand smoke, toxic combustion products accumulated on surfaces, where small children and play with and ingest them. Though the articles aren't about actual health studies, but about a survey of attitudes regarding third hand smoke, which seems weird since I'd never heard of it. But I guess it's been around for a while, at least 2006. Also < href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-08-06-thirdhand-smoke-usat_x.htm">this. Hmm, my parents were heavy smokers (the living room walls went from white to a dark yellow) and I was a bookish child who didn't get out much, and sickly.
Secondhand smoke dangers. And the Mayo Clinic. More.
Tangentially, blood sugar and memory declines.
And we've got a new worry, third hand smoke, toxic combustion products accumulated on surfaces, where small children and play with and ingest them. Though the articles aren't about actual health studies, but about a survey of attitudes regarding third hand smoke, which seems weird since I'd never heard of it. But I guess it's been around for a while, at least 2006. Also < href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-08-06-thirdhand-smoke-usat_x.htm">this. Hmm, my parents were heavy smokers (the living room walls went from white to a dark yellow) and I was a bookish child who didn't get out much, and sickly.
Secondhand smoke dangers. And the Mayo Clinic. More.
Tangentially, blood sugar and memory declines.
While our stock market is bobbing up and down, one to three million people will die this year of malaria, including 2700 children a day. Oh, but that's not a crisis, just business as usual.
"Yes, Damien, but why do you bring this up now? Just to make us feel guilty and 'in perspective'?"
Medicine Sans Frontiers today called for free malaria treatment in Africa, to deal with the pervasive crisis.
"That sounds nice, but how much will it cost?"
They say about $5 or 6 billion a year until 2020, about $65 billion (my summation). Not much larger than the stimulus plan we didn't get, and less than 1/10th of Paulson's bailout.
"...that's not much."
Made me wonder what the actual cost of treatment is, it did. CGD says $2.40 for a cutting edge course of treatment. Microbiologybytes says between 8 cents and $5.30 depending on local drug resistance. Note that seems to be for a full course, not just one dose. So ignoring distribution and refrigeration problems, one could buy a treatment, for all of the 3 billion people who have to potentially worry about malaria, for $6 billion. More personally, $100 donation to MSF could help 20+ people with a life-threatening disease.
On the prevention front, Wikipedia says Jeffrey Sachs says malaria could be controlled for $3 billion/year. Roll Back Malaria has more details and higher cost -- more like $4 billion prevention, and almost $7 billion for the whole program in 2010. $7 per First Worlder...
MSF US donation page; if you're in another country they'll probably redirect you.
"Yes, Damien, but why do you bring this up now? Just to make us feel guilty and 'in perspective'?"
Medicine Sans Frontiers today called for free malaria treatment in Africa, to deal with the pervasive crisis.
"That sounds nice, but how much will it cost?"
They say about $5 or 6 billion a year until 2020, about $65 billion (my summation). Not much larger than the stimulus plan we didn't get, and less than 1/10th of Paulson's bailout.
"...that's not much."
Made me wonder what the actual cost of treatment is, it did. CGD says $2.40 for a cutting edge course of treatment. Microbiologybytes says between 8 cents and $5.30 depending on local drug resistance. Note that seems to be for a full course, not just one dose. So ignoring distribution and refrigeration problems, one could buy a treatment, for all of the 3 billion people who have to potentially worry about malaria, for $6 billion. More personally, $100 donation to MSF could help 20+ people with a life-threatening disease.
On the prevention front, Wikipedia says Jeffrey Sachs says malaria could be controlled for $3 billion/year. Roll Back Malaria has more details and higher cost -- more like $4 billion prevention, and almost $7 billion for the whole program in 2010. $7 per First Worlder...
MSF US donation page; if you're in another country they'll probably redirect you.
Post Japan update
2008-08-31 17:05Wednesday: didn't get nearly enough sleep despite being so tired. Part noisy undergrads, party body stupidity.
Thursday night: was sniffling into Doctor Who.
Friday: yep, sick. Sniffle.
Saturday: sniffle, no sleep due to mouth breathing or something.
Sunday: sore throat. Into the "diluted orange juice" phase of self-treatment. Reflecting that I'm out of ramen or canned soup, and running low on OJ.
So yeah, still owe 2 or 3 Japan posts and lots of photo sorting, but.
Thursday night: was sniffling into Doctor Who.
Friday: yep, sick. Sniffle.
Saturday: sniffle, no sleep due to mouth breathing or something.
Sunday: sore throat. Into the "diluted orange juice" phase of self-treatment. Reflecting that I'm out of ramen or canned soup, and running low on OJ.
So yeah, still owe 2 or 3 Japan posts and lots of photo sorting, but.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080828/ts_nm/who_dc_1
Huge discrepancies also exist within countries, including Scotland where a boy born in the deprived Glasgow suburb of Calton can expect to live 28 years less than one born in affluent Lenzie, just 13 km (8 miles) across town, it said.
That is huge. Why?
Huge discrepancies also exist within countries, including Scotland where a boy born in the deprived Glasgow suburb of Calton can expect to live 28 years less than one born in affluent Lenzie, just 13 km (8 miles) across town, it said.
That is huge. Why?
American life-expectancy dropping.
Well, more like the poorest -- also Southern -- Americans. And female ones.
Well, more like the poorest -- also Southern -- Americans. And female ones.
A Nagasaki A Year
2007-09-09 23:58100,000 Americans die of hospital-acquired infections every year.
http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2007/09/the-silent-kill.html
The "Islamofascists" can't kill nearly as many people as our lax hospital procedures and abuse of antibiotics. How much scrubbing and autoclaving could the Iraq Fiasco buy?
Alternate post title: "Evolution in Action"
Related, the low hanging fruit of flu prevention
http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2007/09/influenza-and-l.html
Hey, it's only ten 9/11s a year.
"There are very few problems can be solved solely by throwing buckets of money at them (although buckets of money are either helpful or necessary). Annual influenza is one of those problems than can be solved simply by investing more resources."
http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2007/09/the-silent-kill.html
The "Islamofascists" can't kill nearly as many people as our lax hospital procedures and abuse of antibiotics. How much scrubbing and autoclaving could the Iraq Fiasco buy?
Alternate post title: "Evolution in Action"
Related, the low hanging fruit of flu prevention
http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2007/09/influenza-and-l.html
Hey, it's only ten 9/11s a year.
"There are very few problems can be solved solely by throwing buckets of money at them (although buckets of money are either helpful or necessary). Annual influenza is one of those problems than can be solved simply by investing more resources."
Don't worry, be happy! -- even if there was, you know, a real reason to be worried.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/09/antidepressants/index.html
Article doesn't mention what I just reminded a friend, that exercise (I have a vague idea walks work better than weight-lifting -- I've wondered if it's actually exercise or sensory input which helps) and exposure to greenery seem to help at clinical levels. (There's also some persistent doubt as to whether standard antidepressants work much better than placebos)
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/09/antidepressants/index.html
Article doesn't mention what I just reminded a friend, that exercise (I have a vague idea walks work better than weight-lifting -- I've wondered if it's actually exercise or sensory input which helps) and exposure to greenery seem to help at clinical levels. (There's also some persistent doubt as to whether standard antidepressants work much better than placebos)
