The Surgeon General - what I didn't know.

I thought that the Surgeon General was more or less a spokeperson. I still recall the big story when the Surgeon General announced that smoking tobacco will likely kill you.

What I didn't know was that the Surgeon General is in charge of a group of public health professionals who are available to assist during public health crises and a reserve group ready to be deployed in the event of a health emergency.

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/about/duties/index.html

In other words, if we had a Surgeon General, we wouldn't need an Ebola Czar.


I would also say this - my impression is that the CDC provides the science, and the Surgeon General implements it.

"
Opinion: The Truly Ridiculous Reason the U.S. Has No Surgeon General"

This last fact is important today because of the inexcusable circumstances that led to the United States having no surgeon general in place to calm the recent national hysteria about Ebola. In a move that may well be unprecedented, Senate Republicans and assorted Democratic lickspittles have blocked President Barack Obama’s selection for surgeon general—no, not a judgeship or a Cabinet position or an appointment that involves actual governmental power—because the nominee, Dr. Vivek Murthy, made a statement mildly critical of guns."

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/07/opinion-warning-tweeting-about-guns-can-keep-you-out-public-service-280804.html

Any zinnia growers here? I have an on-again, off-again relationship with zinnias.

This year I had a good crop, but I had to leave for a good part of the summer. I loved the first batch of flowers. The later flowers look pretty pitiful - the petals are shrunken and the center emerges as a cone so it looks like a very sad echinacia. Is this progression fixed n stone, or would my later blooms look better if Iwas more aggressive about cutting the earlier blooms?

How is talking about Ebola like arguing with a Republican?

Liberals are always at a disadvantage when arguing with Conservatives. The Conservative makes something up out of thin air, and rather than calling him on it, the Liberal feels obligated to go out and research the assertion in order to be certain it is not true. By then, the Conservative has made up five more "facts".

So - those afraid of an Ebola epidemic in the US pile on with all kinds of scenarios, and those who aren't afraid feel obligated to agree that maybe, just maybe, if all the events proceed in order, something like that could happen. Forget the fact that it is more likely that I will win the next Powerball,(and I don't even know if I can buy tickets in my state), those of us with confidence in our Federal government employees are at a disadvantage here.

Clearly, having traces of marijuana in your bloodstream is dangerous -

you're apt to attract bullets from police officers or stand-your-ground types.

Sooooo.... I was listening to a bit of Diane Rehm this morning,

and apparently some people are pushing the idea of toll roads, possibly/probably sold to private firms to run. This is because there is no way we'll ever raise the gas tax. ( ) The fact that the Highway trust fund was looted was passed over very quickly.

So, I'm thinking of what Elizabeth Warren said:

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory... Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

Instead of raising taxes on the general public, maybe it's time to raise the income tax on the people making all the money off good roads?

Here's some info on Ibupropen I'd like to hear some comments on:

My doctor wants me to limit my ibupropen because of fear of kidney damage. Sure enough, i can point you to dozens of posting from newspapers and reputable web sites that repeat that warning. But sometimes, ibupropen is the only thing that controls my pain.

So , digging down in Google, I finally found this:

"All NSAIDs can produce a variety of adverse effects on the kidney. While there is little threat of renal insult with NSAIDs in normal, healthy individuals, risks may be increased in the elderly, in those who are dehydrated, and in those with underlying renal disease. The risk of certain types of renal toxicity may increase with the dose and duration of NSAID use.

Almost three decades of postmarketing experience with prescription-strength ibuprofen in the United States and worldwide, during which over 100 billion doses have been administered, has shown the [reporting] frequency of renal side effects to be low. Post marketing experience with non-prescription ibuprofen confirms its safety in the general population. Safety data from controlled clinical trials add further assurance that non-prescription doses of ibuprofen are well tolerated by the kidneys.

The foregoing publicly-available information has been extracted from the original Citizen’s Petition to request monograph status for ibuprofen (July 1997), and two updates (through 2001). The published OTC experience of ibuprofen during the past 18 years is consistent with a very safe profile with respect to the renal system. Despite the National Kidney Foundation’s first consensus statement published in 1984, a more recent statement in 1996, and a public FDA feedback meeting on the subject, the dire renal consequences which were forecasted with the OTC availability and use of ibuprofen have not materialized. When used as directed, the potential of OTC ibuprofen to cause renal problems is extremely low. "

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/02/briefing/3882b2_04_wyeth-ibuprophen.htm


and while the Kidney people warn against it, the Cystic Fibrosis people recommend it:

There has been some concern that ibuprofen can cause kidney damage. This can occur, but it is unlikely. Scientists know that ibuprofen decreases blood flow to the kidneys and slows down the kidneys’ ability to clear out other drugs. Your CF doctor may need to adjust the doses of other drugs you or your child are taking. Other side effects are more unusual or less severe. Ask your CF doctor about these other side effects of ibuprofen.


http://www.cff.org/treatments/Therapies/Respiratory/Ibuprofen/

Good news/bad news about the dog I'm babysitting.

Good news: Biscuit is no longer afraid of the dog door.

Bad news: He chases the little cat when she comes into the house through the dog door.

(we have an outside pen with a chain link fence that keeps the dogs in, but allows the cats through the corner gaps to roam the yard.

Does anyone make a good looking women's shoe that actually fits and is comfortable?

(I just found this group, so please forgive me if this has already been asked and answered.)

According to the Brannock device, I wear a 7 1/2 C; I've been buying 8 1/2 D

Except - even if the toe box fits, the heel slips off my foot or I end up stepping right out of the shoes because of my high arches.

I'm 60 years old, isn't there naything other than Mary Janes or (ahem) "old lady shoes" that will fit my feet?

Top it off - some of my shoes are now too tight in the toe box and still slipping off my heels!

I was wrong -

Last August I posted a comment speculating that if enough humans were infected with Ebola, and one particular virus mutated the right way, then we would end up dealing with airborne Ebola.

I was wrong. I have since learned that given the structure of Ebola, chances of it mutating to an airborne form are about as likely as a puppy being born with wings.

"The question often asked is whether Ebola could evolve to spread through the air in dried particles, entering the body along a pathway into the lungs. Eric Lander, the head of the Broad Institute, thinks that this is the wrong question to ask. Lander is tall, with a square face and a mustache, and he speaks rapidly and with conviction. “That’s like asking the question ‘Can zebras become airborne,’ ” he said. In order to become fully airborne, Ebola virus particles would need to be able to survive in a dehydrated state on tiny dust motes that remain suspended in the air and then be able to penetrate cells in the lining of the lungs. Lander thinks that Ebola is very unlikely to develop these abilities. “That would be like saying that a virus that has evolved to have a certain life style, spreading through direct contact, can evolve all of a sudden to have a totally different life style, spreading in dried form through the air. A better question would be ‘Can zebras learn to run faster?’ ”

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/27/ebola-wars?intcid=mod-most-popular

A new article on Ebola by Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone: