I do so wish that I remembered what I intended to write when I started this a few months ago.  It’s such a great title.

** Time passes until Doc makes the right synaptic connections. **

I know that recent memory declines well before long term, but this was from a long time ago so I just waited it out.  It starts with a little prayer my folks taught me to say along with “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep,” when I was very young.  I recall never being terribly fond of the line, “If I should die before I wake” in the more common prayer.  It had a tendency to make a little person somewhat concerned about taking any chances by going to sleep at all.  I am not certain where the little prayer/rhyme that I remembered came from, but it went as follows:

“I see the moon

The moon sees me

God bless the moon

God bless me”

In truth, I believe it sounded more like “I hee da moon, da moon hees me … ” due to some undeveloped teeth giving me a spot of bother with Ss and Ts.  Despite how it was stated, however, the combined ideas of dying while I was asleep and also being watched by the moon were quite unsettling, to say the least. 

One of the top five worst dreams I have had in my life occurred in my younger days, possibly about age 12 or 13.  It was a dream within a dream where, in the “inner” dream, I felt myself dying.  It seemed very real and I “woke up” very frightened into the next layer of the dream.  This layer of the dream was definitely in color and had more sensory components included.  To my horror, I discovered that it was true!  I had difficulty breathing, felt a thick liquid welling up into my throat and mouth, tasted the coppery flavor of blood, envisioned myself (as if from outside myself) with blood running down my face,  … altogether an unpleasant experience from which I then really awakened screaming.  It was likely more of an “Arrglagle” sort of noise, but for all intents and purposes, definitely a scream.  This may have been my first panic dream, though I would not have known that or “night terror” were terms for what had just happened to me.  I was satisfied just to be completely awake and alive, albeit with air hunger, tachycardia, intense fear, and a feeling that it might not be over.

I cannot with certainty state that this dream was a direct result of the earlier learning of the prayers, but in going through my associations to the dream they are high on the list.  From this point, I could easily launch off into a number of different tirades.  I will leave it with a “simple” request, however.  Parents; teach your children using small steps, positive in direction with positive reinforcement, using reinforcers that are defined as desirable by them, in age-appropriate terms, and most importantly – never teach them something which they will later have “un-learn.”

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

Compare and contrast, no essay required:

“Why should we strive, with cynic frown, to knock their fairy castles down?” - Eliza Cook

“For those who immerse themselves in what the fairy tale has to communicate, it becomes a deep, quiet pool which at first seems to reflect only our own image; but behind it we soon discover the inner turmoils of our soul - its depth, and ways to gain peace within ourselves and with the world, which is the reward of our struggles.” - Bruno Bettelheim

“I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale.” - Marie Curie

"Religions are the great fairy tales of conscience." - George Santayana

“Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.” - Maya Angelou

This Stinks

Fie! Here is death’s stink.

Nay. ‘Tis the odor of piss.

Change its damn diaper.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

Some of my readers may recall that the cat in these snapshots, Stinky, was single-handedly (or would that be four-fangedly?) responsible for the destruction of the USB cords to at least five optical scroll mice and seven telephone cords.  Appropriately enough, a Cat5e cable has been nibbled but is still functional.  I have also noted a suspicious lack of insulation on a cable leading to my Maxtor external hard drive.  I have switched to cordless laser mice over the past year, to which he responds with active disinterest.

All things considered, he has settled down as we have discovered other things that are more fun, like my singing the “Roly-Poly Song” to the tune of Roll Me Over In The Clover, while he writhes and stretches such that every part of his furry little large body can be scritcheled, and his tummy given the attention it deserves in the form of several good rubs and pats.  This may occur only in the bathtub and only when it’s dry.

Interestingly, however, he shows a definite interest in TV since I got a flat panel LCD HDTV.  I am mildly concerned about his choice of programming, but it is me that presses the buttons on the remote and I chose Platoon.  I suppose, therefore, that I must take some responsibility for contributing to the delinquency of a minor feline.

What does his elder brother, Bittle, think of all this?  It seems to be acceptable to him as long as his naps are not disturbed, he gets his treats on the left arm of the recliner (the right arm is Stinky’s territory,) occasionally gets away with clawing another few threads from what was a new couch only a year ago, and is allowed to sleep either under my right arm or directly beside the pillow on the right side of my head.  Even that is an improvement, however.  When he was a kitten he insisted on sleeping on my head and in my hair.

What can one say?  We are all a bit odd around here, but we are a family, albeit a somewhat unusual one.  The Boys provide at least as much entertainment for me as I do for them, and the only arguments we seem to have are over claw trimming, combing tangles out of their fur, or the Fancy Feast not being presented tastefully and at precisely the correct time.  I have found, in my time on this planet, that virtually nothing turns out exactly as you had planned, and that you are really quite lucky if it even comes close.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” – Mark Twain

“Momma loves morals and Papa loves cats.” - Susy Clemens (daughter of author Mark Twain.)

No.  I did not buy it in Elburn, IL.  I bought it in Geneva, IL, instead.  I was fairly certain that I would not acquire another traffic ticket between St. Charles and Geneva, a distance of only 1.6 miles.  Really, I am not even writing about the topic I have been researching all week and could not get to come together, at least not in a way that would not be prone to misunderstanding and seriously offending some readers.  It will probably appear (in modified form) in the future.  I was not only trying to compare apples to oranges, but also to bananas, and possibly also to pomegranates.  I was simply being far too overinclusive in trying to compare and contrast two different years of the Olympic Summer Games, demonstration sports versus sports as a demonstration, victimization, indoctrination, and propaganda, a demonstration sport that was a ruse but has led to an honorable undertaking, and possibly a mountain peak.  And pictures.  Yes, definitely too broad a topic.  I also fear that I am now babbling incoherently. 

I had to replace my cell phone last week.  I researched plans and carriers and phones online, but found that my current provider, plan, and general type of phone was still what best fit my needs.  I discovered that the defunct unit had to be replaced after a week of receiving no calls, followed by the realization that I could not place an outgoing call, text message, or retrieve voice mail.  I believe that this catastrophic failure may possibly have been related to my dropping it in the toilet about six months ago.  At the time I cleaned and dried it thoroughly and even “baked” it over an electric light bulb for 16 hours to evaporate the water from the LCD screens.  It had worked perfectly since then.  Who knew?  I’m thinking of giving it a burial at sea, or at least throwing it into the Fox River.  (No, I wouldn’t really do that.  I know how toxic some of the chemicals in it are.)

The Kyocera was replaced by a newer model Kyocera which did not have really silly games programmed into it, but which did have a large number of Oriental ringtones (Koi Frenzy, Tokyo Subway, or Jellyfish, for example) and two types of beep.  I chose the first beep.  I somewhat miss Fur Elise and the flashlight function of the earlier phone, but I suppose one must make some concessions.  I have had an affinity for cell phones made by Qualcomm (however they are re-branded) for many years, now.  At least in this area, there have been no dead spots in the river valley where other brands would drop the signal, and they have tended to be simpler and more reliable.  I do not like to have to learn a new method of poking at the keys in order to accomplish what I intend, and the new phone’s keypad and operation was almost exactly like the one it replaced.  We all know that I am somewhat frugal, so it should come as no surprise that I was ecstatic when the final price was only $29.95 (USD.)  When I walked into the store I expected to have to pay about $200.00 more than that.  It is ever so slightly longer when opened, which places the microphone closer to my mouth.  Now when I talk I am more likely to be heard as something other than a mumble.  That could be either good or bad; the vote is still out on whether it is always best to be heard and understood. 

When the tech person transferred the numbers and settings from the old phone to the new, one preference was changed.  The new phone was answering when opened, rather than when I pressed the appropriate key, so I immediately hung up on two people before figuring that out and changing it.  It also has a feature that I’m not completely comfortable with – A GPS function which may either be there to tell rescuers where to find me, or (in my more suspicious moments) to enable “them” to know where the phone is at any given moment.  I think I may turn that feature off until such time as I might deem it necessary for someone to know where I am.  My thinking on this is that if I can’t re-enable it, I’m probably already dead and therefore not in need of urgent help.  The little-bitty camera seems to work better than the precious model.  The only evidence for that observation is that I have intentionally taken one picture of a cat, and have no pictures of either my feet or of something outside the driver’s side window.  All things considered, I ended up with a brand new phone for less than the cost of a new battery for the old one.

Well, now that I seem to be done blathering about a topic I hadn’t intended to write about, I guess I’ll sign off.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“The less there is of a phone, the more I like it.” - Niels Diffrient

I’ve learned a few more settings on the camera and how to use them, but frequently still, the accidents are more interesting than the intended results.  I haven’t forgotten the album I promised some time ago about “What was I thinkin’ when I moved this?”  I still haven’t found all the useless stuff.  I do have a large enough collection of it to start an album, though.  That will be coming in the near future.

Meanwhile, here is a photo I got last week, partly by intent and partly by experimentation.  That is the supreme feature of digital cameras, for me.  I don’t have to pay to get all my mistakes developed and I can erase the evidence of the failures.

Well, I like it, whether it was completely intentional or not!  Let’s have some guesses about what it is.  I’ll add the answer as a comment in a day or two.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’, but ‘That’s funny …’” - Isaac Asimov

Every computer on the Internet is assigned its own, unique identification number.  These numbers are referred to as your Internet Protocol (IP) address.  They are important because they allow computers to locate and recognize each other.  IP addresses are made up of four number sets, between zero and 255, and are separated by periods.

Six dot one dot one

One dot zero zero five,

Hi, y’all FBI!

The inspiration for this haiku was a similar poem written for a contest sponsored by Think Geek.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“The Linux philosophy is 'Laugh in the face of danger'. Oops. Wrong One. 'Do it yourself'. Yes, that's it.” – Linus Torvalds

I have been at a loss for some time to post anything original, and I don’t particularly like to post referrals to work others have done unless it is an integral part of something I am blathering about.  A post about ID theft has been in the works for some time, but when I research such a huge area, unless I limit my scribbling to a very specific part of the topic, it becomes overwhelming and I do not do the subject justice.

Last night I was playing at my genealogical fumblings after discovering a “Jack” in the tree that I had not only missed, but had never even suspected existed.  In a roundabout way, this does tie back into the ID theft topic, as I ran across an FBI article about a man who has been indicted in an ongoing ID theft scheme.  He was apparently using the pretense of genealogical research to find information to use in his illegal efforts.  The dark humor in this article is that he is in Federal Prison for ID theft related convictions while committing the alleged further ID theft crimes.  Somehow this does not surprise me.

Of course this called out to me for a haiku.  It just seemed like the right thing to do.

Recliner under

Ceiling and roofbeams above

Cynic in between

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

I don’t believe that I’ve had an original thought in the past several days.  Therefore I have decided to expand on ideas borrow some thoughts steal content from elsewhere.  I have no idea from where I copied the 25 Things You Should Have Learned by Middle Age, so if I have used anyone’s original material, please let me know and I will credit you as the source.  The Aging ABCs came from the EONS newsletter and were submitted there by “Steve.”

25 Things You Should Have Learned by Middle Age

1. If you're too open-minded, your brains will fall out.

2. Don't worry about what people think; they don't do it very often.

3. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

4. It ain't the jeans that make your butt look fat.

5. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

6. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.

7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

8. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

11. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of pay checks.

12. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.

13. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

14. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

15. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

16. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

17. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

18. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.

19. Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.

20. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

21. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

22. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

23. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

24. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.

25. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

The Aging ABC’s

A is for Apple, and B is for Boat,

That used to be right, but now it won't float!

Age before Beauty is what we once said,

But let's be a bit more realistic instead.

Now - -

A is for arthritis;

B is the bad back,

C is the chest pains, perhaps car-d-iac?

D is for dental decay and decline,

E is for eyesight, can't read that top line!

F is for fissures and fluid retention,

G is for gas which I'd rather not mention.

H is high blood pressure -- I'd rather it low;

I for incisions with scars you can show,

J is for joints, out of socket, won't mend,

K is for knees that crack when they bend.

L for libido, what happened to sex?

M is for memory, I forget what comes next!

N is neuralgia, in nerves way down low;

O is for osteo, the bones that don't grow!

P for prescriptions, I have quite a few, just give me a pill and

I'll be good as new!

Q is for queasy, is it fatal or flu?

R is for reflux, one meal turns to two.

S is for sleepless nights, counting my fears,

T is for Tinnitus; there's bells in my ears!

U is for urinary; big troubles with flow;

V is for vertigo, that's "dizzy," you know.

W is for worry, NOW what's going 'round?

X is for X-ray, and what might be found.

Y is another year I'm left here behind,

Z is for zest I still have -- in my mind.

I've survived all the symptoms, my body's deployed,

And I'm keeping six doctors fully employed

Respect thy elders, even when they drool on you.

From Steve in the EONS Squeaking By Retirement Group

Peace, Doc

“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth …” – Ecclesiastes 11:9

A night or two ago my little area of the world was under a tornado warning.  Some very unpleasant weather did affect us, but there was no touchdown as far as I know.  High gusts of wind damaged some trees and a severe thunderstorm ensued.  When the electric service was disrupted, I had to type by the light of the LCD screen of the laptop.  When the battery ran low, I shut down the computer and just watched the lightning in an eerily dark sky for that time in the late afternoon.  Words of comfort were spoken to the cats as they edged closer to me.  The Boys seem unafraid of lightning, but they certainly do not like thunder. 

My downstairs neighbors are quite considerate and came knocking at the door during the power outage to offer me candles and make sure that all was well.  I apparently nearly blinded them with my handy-dandy little gooseneck LED flashlight and laser combination, causing some disorientation on their part.  After more offers of candles, the wife asked me if I knew what color toenail polish she had used.  Pointing the laser at her right great toe, I guessed, “Red?”  That was apparently not the correct answer, but I couldn’t really tell because even the LED flashlight has such a blue-white beam that nothing appears as its true daylight color.  After continuing this disjointed conversation for a little while they were finally willing to believe that my only unmet requirement was power for the laptop.  In turn, I repeated my usual offer to be cab driver or chauffeur if they needed anything, as the husband has just had spinal surgery and the wife has vision problems driving at night.  While the conversation may seem strange to the reader, it is not at all so to us.  It is a very pleasant and reassuring feeling to be friends with close neighbors one can rely on to exchange favors or to be present in case of an emergency.  Though they were the ones to come upstairs, the brief conversation had the flavor of older time, smaller town, “We’re here for each other” support.  The only “modern” part was the use of the laser, and that was primarily to get a laugh among anxious people. 

The power returned shortly and only one negative event had occurred.  A haiku was written.

A Modern Tornado

Tornado warning

Wind, rain, lightning, darkness, fear

Light the LEDs

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“If there was a terrible storm outside, but somehow this dog lived through the storm, and he showed up at your door when the storm was finally over, I think a good name for him would be Carl.” – Jack Handy

Health Data: Not For Sale

Right now, as Congress considers health IT legislation that would convert our health records from paper to electronic data, patient information is at risk of becoming a commodity that businesses can sell or trade.

While having a nationally connected electronic network for storing and sharing Americans medical information promises to reduce medical error and improve patient care both in emergencies and chronic situations, medical privacy should not become a casualty of the race to set up databases of electronic health records. 

We need real patient control of data and damages for misuse or theft.  Patients must be able to review files, correct bad data, and block access without consent to personal information.  The legislation before the subcommittee does not have these protections.

If Congress fails to require strong privacy and security standards now, during the early stages of development of these online patient records systems, Americans’ medical secrets will be extremely vulnerable to snooping - or being lost or stolen.

Tell Congress: Patients deserve control of their personal health records!

The brief article above is directly from the ACLU’s website.  While individuals’ opinions of the organization itself differ widely, it is quite aptly named.  While it has been involved in some very unpopular causes, it does indeed work toward the preservation and adherence to civil liberties laws as written, and if there is an inequity in the law, they work toward the fair application of that law to all persons subject to it.

I couldn’t begin to do justice to this topic in a short blog post, but I can tell you that it should scare the bejesus out of you.  Think for a moment in terms of the transponders or chips that have been used first to set off alarms if one tried to leave a store without paying for the merchandise, next came barcodes and chips that held information about that product that enabled tracking, dates and places of sale, could correlate that with the credit card that purchased it and know that it was you who bought it.   Does your pet have an implanted chip to identify it in case it is stolen or lost?  Well, don’t worry, you may have one soon also, only it will have a programmable memory and you will carry your Personal Health Record, implanted under your skin, with you at all times.  That could be useful if you ended up in the ER after a car crash and the staff needed information rapidly.  Then your treatment, medications, procedures, diagnoses, and any other information would be added to your own little database.  This request for information, especially the proposed subject population and agency requesting to carrying it out, should be of concern to all who read between the lines.  Physicians’ groups are having qualms about the security of electronic records.  This single article is only representative of general concerns.

The issues about the security of the EHR have not come about since last Thursday.  It has been a topic of concern for a number of years within the health provider community.  It has become a topic of more urgent concern recently since two information giants, Google and Microsoft, have entered the arena, proposing to become the nation’s health information repositories.  Have a look at a few other searches here, and here, and especially here.

I will be the first to admit being very suspicious of the EHR.  Possibly I border on being paranoid about it, but I don’t think so.  Whenever I become confused or uncertain about what is happening in an undertaking of this size and importance, I have to remember to, “Follow the money.”  Who stands to profit?  Not really the patient or even the doctor who are just as well off with paper records.  Who, then?  Hospitals, HMO’s, insurance companies (health or disability,) the information transmitters (telecoms which have given the government information illegally and were granted retroactive immunity for their crimes,) the companies of whatever size that are paid to store or backup this health information?  Did you notice that little or no profit goes to the individuals involved most directly, and the most to corporations who care little about what happens to a single patient or doc?  Who might want this information illegally?  Prospective employers not wanting to hire someone with a family history of a particular disease?  Life insurance companies that might want a little edge over their actuarial tables?  Government or police agencies that might just want a couple hundred thousand DNA codes?

It’s obvious where my feelings lie at this juncture.  Given the burgeoning of identity theft over the last few years, is it so unreasonable to believe that the same might well happen with health records?  Given the government’s nearly unfettered access to citizen’s private information without their knowledge or consent, can we say that won’t happen in our future?  I’m afraid not.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“He who allows oppression shares the crime.” -  Desiderius Erasmus quotes (Dutch Priest, Humanist and Editor of the New Testament, 1469-1536)

Addendum:  Sadly, but not too surprisingly to me as I have been following this topic for quite some time, a large privacy breach occurred almost as if to validate this post. "Poor system testing caused a medical records privacy breach affecting over 200,000 members of Georgia Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The case has implications for both consumer privacy and IT’s impact on business operations."  Michael Krigsman's article about this data breach gives much clearer details and cites several sources of the information.

The question is actually twofold.  Has Doc figured out any more of the functions on his new camera, and do cats like “fruit-on-the-bottom” yogurt?  The answer to both questions is “yes.”  In the interest of full journalistic disclosure, I must admit that the aforementioned cat (Stinky) likes the yogurt on the top, but not the fruit on the bottom.  This works out nicely, because I like the fruit on the bottom part better.

Yes.  Stinky has me trained very well.  He is even getting picky about what brand of yogurt it is.  No generics are acceptable,

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“Cats always seem so very wise, when staring with their half-closed eyes. Can they be thinking, "I'll be nice, and maybe she will feed me twice?" - Bette Midler