Feelin’ the Gompertz Law
What’s the Gompertz Law?: What do you think are the odds that you will die during the next year? Try to put a number to it ”” 1 in 100? 1 in 10,000? Whatever it is, it will be twice … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Health
You learn something new every day
Sometimes several things, actually. For instance, I’ve learned quite a bit already today from this article. Let’s see if I can summarize: (1) The Hill has taken to calling unaccompanied children who have arrived in this country illegally “unaccompanied immigrant … Continue reading →
Further thoughts on the Germanwings co-pilot
The motivations behind the extraordinarily destructive act of Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz remain a mystery. We know a little more about him, though—the most salient fact so far being that investigators found a torn-up “doctor’s note that called for him … Continue reading →
Nightowls
I’ve always been a night owl. It’s gotten more extreme as I’ve gotten older, and I’m beginning to think I have DSPS (delayed sleep phase syndrome), a condition about which I’d never heard until I read this article. It was … Continue reading →
Measles and the demon-haunted world
It is ironic that the success of modern vaccination programs against ancient scourges such as measles has been part of the reason parents today are so ignorant about what these diseases can do. A recent outbreak in California has demonstrated … Continue reading →
It’s probably the very least of Obama’s flaws, but…
…really, the guy seems to be highly addicted to nicotine. I would guess he still smokes cigarettes in private, too, “occasionally” or even more frequently, because his need for Nicorette gum when he can’t go near a ciggy seems to … Continue reading →
Thalassemia minor: ain’t heredity grand?
Years ago when I was in college, I took a class where I learned about sickle cell anemia and sickle cell trait, as well as thalassemia major and minor. They seemed awesome examples of the way heredity works: inherited defects … Continue reading →
I actually feel a moment of sympathy for Harry Reid…
…because I know how it’s possible to fall flat on your face while exercising. I did it, and here’s the tale of how it happened. Two and a half years later you wouldn’t know it from looking at me, although … Continue reading →
Eat hearty
This just may be the most depressing non-political news I’ve had so far in 2015: just how easy it is to reach a grand total of 2000 calories at most restaurants. An example: Considering that I gain weight if I … Continue reading →
Happy New Year and away with trans fat sprinkles
Eat up on those sprinkles for the next two days, they’re going the way of other trans fats: …[T]he federal ubernannies have decreed that sprinkles should no longer adorn kids’ ice cream because they contain the trans fat that liberal … Continue reading →
Holiday weight gain: good news, bad news
The good news is that, despite reports that people gain as much as 5 to 10 pounds during the holidays, the average person “only” gains .81 pounds. The bad news is that they never, ever, lose it.
Continue reading →Sierra Leone: another top doctor dies of ebola
The ebola news has been quiet since the flare-up in the US has died down. But ebola’s destructive power goes on. Note that Dr. Willoughby died after treating a patient who was not known to have ebola, but who later … Continue reading →