Ron's Log

Buying Medical Marijuana

Columnist Sandy Banks of the L.A. Times gets examined by a doctor, is issued a cannabis card and prescription for medical marijuana, and fills that prescription - all in one easy day. Cost for the exam was $150; for the cannabis itself: $55 for an eighth of an ounce of Yumbolt. She says she ultimately flushed that down the toilet as witnessed by her editor.

Monkey Butt?

Via Frank Martin I've come across this product called Anti Monkey Butt Powder. Turns out that motorcyclists call the butt rash you can get from sitting on your bike for too many hours "monkey butt" cause you have to walk like a monkey. They say this product will help bicyclists too, but their website gives no hint as to the contents of the product. I'm sure they don't want to give away all of their competitive advantage, but howzabout a vague idea. Talcum? Arsenic? Cornstarch? Orange blossoms? Ganges mud?

California Anti-Meth Ad Campaign

Here's a Bay Area Reporter article about a California anti-meth ad campaign that is supposedly aimed at men who have sex with men. I happened to catch the TV ad last night and while effective, it didn't seem to be targeted to men who have sex with men (I think clinical people abbreviate that as MSM, or something like that). One of the four men does say he is gay. Another seems to say he lost his "man" - and that's what caught my ear. "Did he say 'man?'" I was asking myself. He's speaking quickly and I am not used to people saying "I lost my man" unless they are Loretta Lynn or Barbra Streisand or someone like that. But maybe the media experts have determined that men in whatever ethnic group he is supposed to represent say things like that. I wouldn't know, I'm just a white guy in DHS.

I had noticed the billboard on I-10 near Date Palm that uses this image (cropped differently):

I get peevish when people use illegible text on a sign along a 70 MPH freeway. After a few trips (it's on the way home from Costco) I had it translated, and then I began to try to determine the gender of the model. I finally decided the designers had intentionally settled on a person of indeterminate gender. But in the photo from their website you can clearly see he is male (or she needs a shave). Maybe some emphasis on that adam's apple would have helped.

Syphilis Rate Continues To Rise

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the national rate of syphilis infection rose 12% from 2006 to 2007. There were 11,181 syphilis cases in 2007. The rate is six times higher among men than women. And, just looking at men, it's six times higher among black men than white men.

But, the good news is that the number of syphilis cases in San Francisco actually dropped in 2007. There were 202 cases there in 2007, compared to 243 in 2006.

If anyone wants an example of hyperbole, check out the WebMD report on this subject. While everyone else reports a "rise" in syphilis cases, WebMD says it "skyrockets." On top of that, it's a "raging epidemic." One would like to think of WebMD as the on-line equivalent of good ol' gray-haired family doctors who give you reliable information in a level voice. But in this article WebMD sounds like a raging Republican from a southern state. "The raging epidemic is skyrocketing! Drink peroxide! Bath yourself in a solution of chlorine bleach and ascorbic acid! Blame it on Islam!"

Holy Moly!

Nobody told me about this! "This" is the new building for Fenway Community Health which was my health care provider in Boston (and one of the recipients of Pallota's Boston-New York AIDS Rides). This giant new building is going up at 1330 Boylston in Boston, Massachusetts, which was, I believe, a strip of parking lots, bars and small storefronts between the Burger King and McDonald's. I would think this must be the biggest building on the block, but the live camera is on something called the "Trilogy building" which doesn't ring a bell for me, so maybe other bigger things have been built since I left.

More info about the building here.

I came across this while browsing Fenway's website after getting an email announcing that Senator Ted Kennedy will receive this year's Congressman Gerry E. Studds Visibility Award at the Men's Event. Unfortunately, they don't have that info up on their website yet.

Google street view shows us how it looks from the points of view of Burger King and McDonald's, respectively:

Yet More Liberty, Republican Style

Here we have W. T. Mayhall, Jr., a Republican in the Mississippi House of Representatives who has proposed a bill to bar the obese from eating in restaurants. Anyone with a Body-Mass Index of 30 would be considered obese. A 5'8" person weight 197 pounds (as an example) has a BMI of 30.

Restaurants would be required to keep records of who has a BMI of 30 or more.

How about a bill banning Republicans from eating in restaurants? I think that would be much nicer.

My Mind Has Been Boggled

Medical marijuana vending machines in Los Angeles. For real. At least three dispensaries in Los Angeles have installed them.

The computerized machine requires fingerprint identification and a prepaid card with a magnetic stripe. Once the card and fingerprint are verified, a bright green envelope with the pot drops down a slot.

[Inventor and owner Vincent] Mehdizadeh says any user approved for medical marijuana and registered in a computer database at his dispensaries can pre-purchase the drug and then use the machine to pick up.

Marijuana dispensed from the machine is less expensive than that distributed by human hand. The machine sells one-eighth of an ounce for $40.

The DEA feigns a neutral interest:

"Somebody owns (it), it's on a property and somebody fills it" said DEA Special Agent Jose Martinez. "Once we find out where it's at, we'll look into it and see if they're violating laws."

OTOH:

A man who said he has been authorized to use medical marijuana as part of his anger management therapy said the vending machine's security measures would at least protect against illicit use of the drug.

"You have kids that want to get high and that's not what marijuana is for," Robert Miko said. "It's to medicate."

Do the obviously level tones of his statement demonstrate a benefit from that medical marijuana?

Anyway, I'm in the midst of watching the second season of Weeds and I spotted this news article and wondered if I had gotten a contact high, or what.

I Look Forward To Some Clarification Of This Story

A construction worker went into New York-Presbyterian Hospital to be treated for a bump on the head. The hospital records indicate that the patient was alert and fully oriented. When the doctor said a rectal exam was necessary, the man refused. Whereupon, the doctor sedated the patient and then performed the rectal exam. This is going to court, and I would certainly like to know what sort of head injury diagnosis can be done via a rectal exam (after all, the patient was NOT George W. Bush), and what could justify the use of sedation to perform a medical exam against a patient's consent.

Martini In One Hand, the extended version

With the holidays close by here are some Holiday Eating Tips.

Have yourself a traditionally angst-filled strange little Norman Rockwell disaster..

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it.. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by: "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, 'WOO HOO, what a ride!'"

Guinness IS Good For You

Research at the University of Wisconsin (which, I suspect, was intended to reveal health benefits in American beers) shows that 24 ounces of Guinness a day is as good as an aspirin for preventing heart attacks.

In England, post-operative patients used to be given Guinness, as were blood donors, because of its high iron content.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers were at one stage advised to drink Guinness - the present advice is against this.

Haemangioma Gone Wild

You may recall our link to the story of "tree root man" in Indonesia.

Next in our series of strange medical conditions gone unchecked is the story of Jose Mestre of Portugal who, at age 51, has a 12-pound tumor covering most of his face, blinding one eye, making eating "an ordeal." I'd like more detail on how he eats. Following the link will bring you to nauseating photos, BTW.

The reason his condition was allowed to run rampant since he was 14 years old is that he is a Jehovah's Witness and believede that the surgery would require a blood transfusion. He also sounds really depressed. But now a London surgeon is promising a cure by using a (an?) "harmonic scalpel" (it is rumored that the movie Fantasia originally was to have a scene with a harmonic scalpel but they decided to go with the dancing ostriches instead).

Discovery Channel will be hosting a program (programme?) about this on Thursday night, but that seems to be the UK version of the Discovery Channel, so you may not find it on your American cable.

Brazilian Enlightenment

An AIDS Red Ribbon on the famous Christ The Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil will begin putting condom-dispensing machines in public schools. "The health and education ministries and the United Nations sponsored a nationwide contest for students to design the dispenser." The machines will be installed in 100 schools in 2008, which sounds like a very small start for a country the size of Brazil - but maybe it's a test run.

"Brazil provides free AIDS drugs to anyone who needs them and has aggressively pushed drug manufacturers to lower prices."

Great Civil Liberties Breakthrough In China

Chinese police will stop arresting women for carrying condoms. They were considered evidence of prostitution. The article does not say if all the women serving in labor camps due to such past arrests will be freed.

The Other Spa City

Excelsior Springs is not too far northwest of Kansas City, Missouri, where I grew up. I visited there only once in the mid-1960s when my grandfather was there taking the waters for his arthritis. He was probably staying at The Elms. Where, the Chamber of Commerce tells us, Al Capone used to hang out! How's that for a connection?! And it's where Truman spent the "night of his victory over Thomas Dewey." That is, the night before the famous photo.

My mother, just to get rid of us kids, told my brothers and me to "go find the Hall of Waters." Her only clarifying directions were that it's a small town and the building "looked like a municipal building." That made sense to us, coming from Kansas City, where all the municipal buildings were some version of Art Deco.

The Hall of Waters; photo by pnoeric. More of his photos of the Hall of Waters here.

Interior photo by FotoEdge. More of his photos of the Hall of Waters here.

Here TravelLady tells us that the special claim to fame in Excelsior Springs is that it "has more types of naturally occurring mineral water than anywhere else in the world". In Desert Hot Springs we have just two: hot and cold, but both are simply the best. It's quality versus quantity. The Hall of Waters was built directly over the only iron-manganese spring in the United States.

A Wikipedia article about the history of Excelsior Springs.

The present city hall, The Hall of Waters, was constructed between 1936 and 1938 by architects Keene & Simpson above the Siloam and Sulpho-Saline Springs.

Present at the dedication was movie star Brenda Joyce who played Jane in several Tarzan movies, including Tarzan's Magic Fountain. "Oh, Tarzan! That was magic! Make your fountain spray again!"

Damage was caused by flooding in 1955. Bottling operations were shut down in 1967.

Weird U.S. paid a visit "recently" and got shown some of the closed-down parts of the hall. Including, probably, this abandoned pool:

You can see in this set of photos by Hypno+Raygun that some of the interior is in excellent condition.

One of the exterior lights photographed by iluvlilsugar.

The Hall of Waters in the 1940s.

Here's a 1957 photo of folks relaxing outside the Hall of Waters from this set of photos by leefk.

And finally, the first movie to feature Michael Douglas in a starring role was Adam at Six A.M. filmed on location in Excelsior Springs.

Bogus Caffeine Survey

Here is an annoyingly misformatted article about caffeine consumption in the U.S. Why do people center-align huge chunks of text? My suggestion is to simply copy that whole page and paste it into your favorite text editor (Word is not a text editor) and it will be rendered readable.

The numbers were generated from a telephone survey of residents of various American cities in August and September this year. I would guess that Salt Lake City was not one of the cities they called. It would have been interesting to see if it came out low on the list, but it shows up no where.

A few highlights:

- The city with the highest rate of caffeine consumption (that's caffeine from all sources, not just coffee) is Chicago. The lowest is the San Francisco Bay Area?! Wha?! That seems highly unlikely. I'm guessing the sophisticated, busy San Franciscans who consume vast quantities of caffeine just didn't have time to talk to some phone survey person and hung up.

- The city with the highest rate of coffee consumption (now we're talking only about coffee) is, of course, Seattle. But I think as a matter of civic pride they're required to say that. The lowest rate of coffee consumption is Dallas/Fort Worth?! Again, that seems unlikely.

- Chicago tops the list in cola drink consumption which the survey describes as "Regular Coke, regular Pespi [sic], Mountain Dew." Does that mean they excluded diet colas from the survey?

- Highest rate of tea consumption is in Miami, followed by Tampa. So I guess that's iced tea. But Boston is fifth from the bottom on tea consumption? I find that extremely unlikely. Maybe the Boston tea drinkers have all put their phone numbers on the do-not-call list.

- Here's the really interesting discovery: highest rate of energy drink consumption is in Riverside/San Bernardino! Explain that one.

The survey and article are sponsored by Healthsaver which is some sort of business with which Peggy Fleming is associated.

The article includes this juicy information:

The health benefits of caffeine are plentiful and well-documented in numerous studies in recent years. Coffee and tea, in particular, have emerged as good health food sources that can lower the risk of diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson's disease, colon cancer, and cirrhosis of the liver, as well as lift your mood, treat headaches and even lower risk of cavities. Caffeine also enhances athleticism, endurance and performance, according to health care experts.

That may all be true, but if it is so very true, I think it would have been easy to include a link or the name of one of these health care experts. Otherwise, anybody might come along and assert that a daily breakfast of three eggs fried in old bacon fat and served up on Wonder bread with mayonnaise is the key to vibrant and dynamic health (it's certainly been the key to my vibrant and dynamic health), according to health care experts.

Cowards At Cal State Fullerton

The student health center at Cal State Fullerton agreed with the Daily Titan, the student newspaper, on a plan for free condom distribution. The newspaper would promote the giveaway and include a condom in its November 14 issue. The health center was to supply the condoms. But then the health center backed out. They said this extraordinarily dull (very SFW) depiction of heterosexual missionary position sex used to promote the distribution was "pornographic." OTOH, the Dean of Students seems to object to condoms...or maybe litter, it's not clear.

Titan editorial on the subject here.

Ya know, if this happened at Joe's Foot-Stomping Bible College in Oklahoma, it wouldn't even be a story, but to find such fear at a California state school is shocking.

Origins of HIV

A scientific study released yesterday says that HIV first entered the human population in the 1930s in Africa. It got to Haiti about 1966 and then moved on to the U.S. about 1969.

Cantaloupe Advice

A little bit of info I spotted in Cook's Illustrated.

Cleaner Cantaloupe

While researching various fresh fruits for our Summer Fruit Salad, we came across a surprising fact: Certain strains of salmonella can get into the nooks and crannies of cantaloupe's porous skin while they are growing in the field. Once there, they produce bacterial polymer biofilms—cardobydrate-based sheaths that protect the bacteria from even the most aggressive cleaning attempts. Our tests showed that even a scrub-down in antibacterial soap was completely ineffective in removing these dangerous bacteria, which reside only on the surface of the melons. To minimize the risk of salmonella infection, food safety experts suggest the following:

• Choose clean, unbruised, unblemished melons and stay away from precut melons.
• Use a sharp knife to cut melons—a dull knife can push the rind into the flesh, causing contamination.
• Trim away the rind before eating or storing, and store any remaining flesh in the refrigerator within two hours of cutting.
• Wash your cutting board with hot, soapy water after cutting melons.
• Make sure you keep cut melon well refrigerated if you plan on bringing it on a picnic.

It takes quite a bit to surprise the staff at Cook's Illustrated I think, so this info may be a surprise to you. I think the detail about the indestructible biofilm was the new info for CI.

Generally, I prefer ripe, slightly bruised cantaloupes. And then, after a plain water rinse, I juice the whole thing (rind included) in my Champion juicer. No ill effects yet.

Archbishop Explains AIDS In Africa

Roman Catholic Archbishop Francisco Chimoio in Mozambique explains "Condoms are not sure because I know that there are two countries in Europe, they are making condoms with the virus on purpose." He did not identify the two countries.

The Story of a Rattlesnake Bite

Justin Schwartz tells his own story of being bitten by a Northern Pacific rattlesnake in Yosemite National Park, and includes some very graphic photos from the multiple surgeries he had to restore functionality to his arm. Not to be viewed during lunch.

Group Testicular Exam

A YouTube video about checking for testicular cancer. You've got to be a registered YouTube user to view it, and OF COURSE it's NSFW!

Recycled Water Screw Up

In Cary, North Carolina, they are way ahead of most other cities and have run recycled water lines in their residential areas, allowing homeowners to water their lawns with recycled water. And they do it the standard way: the recycled water is in a purple pipe. But at the Jain household some mysterious foul-up happened and the recycled water was connected to the house's plumbing, while fresh drinking water was going to the lawn sprinklers. The Jain family drank the recycled water for 5 months before the mistake was uncovered. Naturally, town officials are saying the risk to the family was very, very low. But I suppose we haven't heard the last of this.

How To Use A Bidet

A helpful guide (sadly lacking video) for Americans traveling to clean-ass countries. It concludes with this advice: "Drinking from a bidet is not recommended. The stream can ricochet off a soiled area and become contaminated."

And do not miss this: How To Flush A British Toilet. You are not required to doff your hat or sing a patriotic tune to make it work.

Do You Have A Landline Phone?

If not, and you do have a cellphone, then you are more likely to be "younger, binge drinkers, smokers and without health insurance." According to this article [BugMeNot to avoid registration] says 11.8% of [presumably American] adults live in households that use only cellphones. Health researchers, who conduct surveys by phone, say that by excluding these users from surveys is distorting their results. Federal law prohibits including cellphones in automated dialing lists, so they have to be dialed manually.

The article does not address whether excluding those people who wisely refuse to answer phone surveys (landline or cell) also distorts their findings.

Syphillis

Riverside County has the second highest rate of syphillis infections in the state. That's actually 144 cases; 114 of those were men who have sex with men. The only county with a higher rate of infection is San Francisco.

Dr. Kevorkian To Be Released June 1

After serving 8 years of his 10-year term, Jack Kevorkian will be released from prison on Friday. He says he will continue his fight to legalize voluntary euthanasia, but will not assist in any deaths.

Milwaukee Brewers Must Be REALLY Popular

USAToday reported that any fan (USAToday's report is perfectly gender free) who came to Miller Park yesterday and submitted to a prostate exam would get two free tickets for a future Brewers game. The official MLB info says it was a "Prostate Cancer Screening." This press release says they offered both digital rectal exams and PSA blood tests. If you were one of the men who got a screening, please let us know, and tell us how much you love the Brewers (versus how much you love prostate cancer screenings).

I wonder if they offer other analogous enticements to bring women and young men to the games.

Circumcision

Penn & Teller program on circumcision with explicit images of both babies and men.

Nosefrida

What is going on here? Maybe my readers who have been parents of infants are already familiar with this device, but it's news to me...really gross news. The Nosefrida is a device that allows you to suck snot out of an infant's nose. Be reassured that there is a filter and a catch tube between the snot-nosed infant and the helpful mother.

McCain's Been Living Under A Rock - And Maybe Should Just Stay There

McCain got a few questions on government funding of contraceptives to prevent the spread of HIV. The answers are astounding.

A: I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.

Q: 'So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?'

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) 'You’ve stumped me.'

Q: 'But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: "No, we’re not going to distribute them," knowing that?'

Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) 'Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.'

WTFF? (What The Flying Fuck?) HIV's been around for more than 25 years and McCain has NEVER thought about whether condoms can prevent the spread of HIV?!

Researchers Identify Front Line Barrier to HIV Infection

It's the protein Langerin, which is produced by Langerhans cells in skin and mucosa.

Looking closely at the interaction of HIV and Langerhans cells, they found that the cells "do not become infected by HIV-1, because the cells have the protein Langerin on their cell surface," Geijtenbeek said. "Langerin captures HIV-1 very efficiently, and this Langerin-bound HIV-1 is taken up (a bit like eating) by the Langerhans cells and destroyed."

Great Logical Connection

east village idiot has wisely pointed out that those who are opposed to public urination should also be opposed to public smoking. He's right. And I want to repeat that I'm UNopposed to public smoking [of whatever you got] and I look pretty favorably on public urination, too. I fondly recall when the Grateful Dead used to appear for their 4-day orgies at the Boston Garden, next door to the building where I worked. There was a certain dead-end alley that was in constant use as a public urinal. By the time the smell was gone, a year had gone by and it was time for more Grateful Dead.

AIDS Cure

From Iran, an herbal medicine that's completely effective and free of all side effects. He neglected to mention it costs 2¢ per dose, can easily be made from ingredients we all have in our kitchens, tastes great, and is immediately effective after only one treatment. Those Persians, why didn't we think of this?

Oh, BTW, from the same article: "February 11 is the day when the Iranian nation's inalienable right to access and use nuclear technology will be established." Uh-huh. Sounds to me like they're asking for an Israeli strike on February 10.

Marijuana Dispensary in DHS

The Desert Sun reports that, after some weeks of considerable brouhaha surrounding some other marijuana dispensaries in Coachella Valley, one has recently opened in Desert Hot Springs. This one, called Organic Solutions, is at 11924 Palm Drive, and here's their website. Ganja Grocer!

UPDATE: Here we learn that Mayor Bias' main concern with a marijuana dispensary is its effect on the image of Desert Hot Springs!

"I'm not personally opposed to (medical marijuana). I think there has to be a proper venue for it, and I'm not sure Desert Hot Springs would be the most appropriate one," said Mayor Alex Bias. "Our community is already viewed as being a drug area anyways with methamphetamine. It's something I'm going to have to do some soul searching on."

I'm sure that if you go to residents of other cities in the Coachella Valley and ask any of them the question: "When you hear the words 'Desert Hot Springs' do you think (A) 'Oh, that awful marijuana dispensary!' or (B) 'Oh, that awful city council!'" the answer will always be B.

"Surviving the diagnosis, surviving Kaiser"

I've recently added a new weblog to my list over there in the sidebar: Surviving the diagnosis, surviving Kaiser. This is the weblog of a friend of mine, and if you read the first entry you'll see he says he's awaiting his diagnosis. He has since gotten that diagnosis, and I don't know if he doesn't want to state it outright, or if his morphine is just clouding his writing. He's been diagnosed with small cell carcinoma of the lung. It has metastasized. He's been a long-time heavy smoker. If you have support to offer him, his weblog is open to comments.

Viewpoint Of A Marijuana Card Holder

LAist has a good interview with someone who has a medical marijuana card. His story plays right into the hands of those who oppose medical marijuana, but it's a good read.

Are most of the people shopping at the Medical Marijuana Clinics legitimately sick?
No. But, is anyone legitimately sick?

Expensive Urine

I couldn't agree more with this opinion by Mike Adams. Those doctors who criticize vitamins as doing nothing more than creating expensive urine would seem to be completely unaware of how much it costs to visit an MD.

10,000 Condoms

The New York City Department of Health started distributing free condoms via its NYCCondom.org eighteen months ago. There's a limit of 10,000 condoms per request. Free condom distribution in NYC has grown from 250,000 per month to 1.5 million per month since the creation of the website. Naturally, there is some controversy. Fussbudgets and bean-counters worry that the condoms are being re-sold, but at least they don't seem to be complaining that some of those condoms might find their way to New Jersey or Connecticut. Perhaps they could get the condom manufacturer to print something on the condom itself like "Dept Of Health Prophylactic" in some government-ish font.

The city has negotiated a deal whereby they can purchase LifeStyles "Ultra Lubricated" condoms for only 4¢ each! The total spent on condoms is only $720,000, but there is no info on how much the whole program costs. But it's probably less than the cost of one armored vehicle.

Body Oil

A spa in Naftalan, Azerbaijan, where the customers bathe in lukewarm crude oil - petroleum - and smoking IS allowed! Real, not a variant on a Borat joke.

World's Biggest Joint

Brett Stone is going to roll a joint with 112 grams of marijuana, breaking the old record of 100 grams. The whole deal will remain legal by keeping it within a medical marijuana collective.

Health In China

Urine-drinking hot in Chinese village

SHANGHAI, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Drinking one's own urine for health benefits is catching on in a Chinese village where one proponent has one-quarter of the 1,600 residents following suit.

In 1993, Du Ximin, 50, was one of five people who formed a healthcare research center promoting drinking urine to stay healthy and a China Central Television report says it's grown from five to 400 people.

Du said there are simple principles, such as followers must drink small amounts only of their own urine and drink only the upper portion after a cup has been allowed to settle and cool, the Shanghai Daily reported.

The CCTV report said as many as 10 million people in China sip urine for health benefits, mainly in Shaanxi, Liaoning and Guangdong provinces.

Du said there are exceptions to the practice -- boys younger than 12 years old and girls under 16 should avoid it, as he claimed it can make the youths reach sexual maturity too early, the report said.

10 First Aid Myths

At the top of the list, of course, is the myth that you should suck the venom out of a snake bite. Everybody should know by now not to do this, but the sales of snakebite kits continue to rise. Who knows why.

Next on the list is an assertion that urinating on jellyfish stings will not help at all. A so-called expert says vinegar is the thing to use. However, in my informal surveys on beaches, NO ONE had any vinegar with them, while urine seemed to be available in abundance. The expert acknowledges anecdotal evidence in favor of urine.

New Alternative Health Therapy

Just in time for our new Republican war on terror or fellow Americans or whatever it is, scientists from Novosibirsk have announced tremendous benefits from whippings. Whether it's alcoholism, drug addiction, depression, suicidal thoughts or psychosomatic disorders, the prescribed treatment is the same: 30 sessions of 60 whips on the buttocks. One presumes bare buttocks, as Siberians are not known for unnecessary modesty. The linked article also cites impressive results from another therapy used at mental hospitals during the enlightened Soviet period:

They made injections of brimstone and peach oil mixture to inspire mentally unbalanced patience with a will to live. A patient would suffer from horrible pain in the body after such an injection, but he or she would change their attitude to life for the better afterwards.

I'm sure many people regard peaches as one of the many good reasons to live.

Condoms In Abstinence Education

On October 18, the GAO released a letter to the Secretary of HHS informing him that HHS was wrong in its opinion that federally funded abstinence education was not required to include accurate information on condom effectiveness. GAO asserts that the law requires accurate condom information to be included in abstinence education.

Can you believe it's 2006 and people are still arguing about condom usage? You'd think it was still 1986.

Missouri: Still Backwards

When I attended the University of Missouri, they were the only major university that was still fighting not to sponsor a gay students organization. And now, even today, the Chancellor is continuing in the backwards tradition by halting a plan to distribute condoms in the dorms. I haven't been in any student dorms in decades, but I would have assumed that condoms would be easily available in all of them (except those of Roman Catholic schools) for years now.

More Anti-Marijuana Action

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration raided a Palm Springs marijuana dispensary. Their nominal excuse was that a Joshua Aleck who is associated with the dispensary left a marijuana food items as a tip for an employee at the Spa Resort. The Desert Sun did its due diligence and tells us that Aleck might be an employee at the dispensary, and he might be the brother of the owner of the dispensary. He might also be Christ reborn, but we can only wonder.

The raid seized marijuana, cash and accessories, but no arrests were made.

Meanwhile, in Sacramento, Schwarzenegger has vetoed an industrial hemp bill.

Marijuana in Riverside County

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors rejected a bill to allow marijuana collectives and dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county. They also directed staff to write a new ordinance that would ban collectives and dispensaries.

In addition, they voted to join a lawsuit mounted by San Diego, Merced and San Bernardino counties against the state of California's requirements that counties issue marijuana identification cards to patients.

Marijuana In Sky Valley

Garry Silva of Sky Valley (the unincorporated area east of Desert Hot Springs) had a small marijuana nursery going in a room next to his garage for his own use and that of the marijuana dispensary in Palm Desert. Silva, age 53, used the marijuana to help with the pain from a degenerative disk disorder. This past March his home was raided by a mixture of federal and local law enforcement officials, despite the fact that his nursery and marijuana use were legal under California law.

Sgt. Earl Quinata, a Riverside County sheriff's spokesman, said in a statement that Sheriff Bob Doyle believes that cooperatives and dispensaries are illegal. At the same time, the sheriff "recognizes the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 created some limited legal protection in the way of an affirmative defense," he wrote.

Does that mean that Sheriff Doyle thinks he can arrest and charge anyone he wants, and that then they can just go to court and show that the arrest was wrong? I guess that's some kind of legal theory, but who does Sheriff Doyle think is paying for his rogue notion?

It's Kansas Again

Maybe it's just a coincidence that it was in Kansas. Could've happened anywhere...anywhere they hire severely ignorant science teachers. In Salina High School South the situation was this: 50 students, 1 lancet, a study of blood. The teacher has been suspended, but I think those students should have known better than to share a bloody lancet. Surely, some of them did, but the article doesn't say any of them spoke up. But word of what happened got out somehow, so maybe it was an alert student.

14 pound, 13 ounce newborn

With a photo. 22 ¾ inches long. Set a record for the hospital, The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut.

The Guinness record for a newborn is 22 pounds, 8 ounces in 1955.

Aztecs & Mormons

To answer a conversation that came up at lunch today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints does NOT require circumcision, although it may be traditionally widespread among Mormons.

And Aztecs did NOT require universal circumcision, but restricted it to priests and sons of kings.

Similar to the Egyptians, it was a ceremony only for the priests and for the sons of kings. But for the warriors they used to make a lot of little incisions in the foreskin all around the glans (more like a piercing thing than a real circumcision) and sometimes they put stones in these little holes or even kind of a medals. So, if your were really brave in combat the only thing you needed to show it was your penis. And for the kings or priests foreskins, in the first case they use to give the skin to the mother and she needed to eat it. For the priests they used to put it in some kind of firework and send it up to the sky. It's really strange to see how similar were the traditions in early America, early western civilizations and even some Asiatic cultures. (Why the foreskin, why the cutting, why a celebration, what was the secret meaning of all that in that times, why a lot of different cultures have the same thing in common?.. these are the things that obsessed me (us)).

Why Use Condoms

For straight people.

Time-Warner Gets Paranoid

Time-Warner cable runs a half-hour program on cable access channel 18* produced by Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project entitled Marijuana: Compassion and Common Sense. That same group recently produced three short ads to run on HGTV, Comedy Central, MSNBC and the Travel Channel, but Time-Warner has rejected those ads without explanation.

Fortunately, The Desert Sun is serving up those rejected ads.

Here's one where R.N. Anna T. Boyce speaks out for medeicinal marijuana. And here's an article with a little info about Mrs. Boyce.

This one features M.D. Philip A. Denney sharing his views on medicinal marijuana. In this article you'll find some info about the office he opened up in Orange County.

Those two ads seem pretty straightforward and inoffensive to me, although I found the camerawork a tad amateurish. You could probably run them any time of the day and the only complaint you would get is that after one viewing they are boring. Compare them to those ubiquitous ads for "natural male enhancement" pills (fortunately, I've forgotten the brand name).

The third rejected ad promotes their half hour program that's already on Time-Warner three times a week (twice a week in DHS). It's a little flashier with music, photos of old Reefer Madness posters, a cut of Montel Williams (I can't stand him) shouting something, a Riverside County Supervisor saying something positive (but not indictable), and then it closes with an unidentified person saying "It makes jazz sound much better." Uh-oh, maybe it was that last sound bite that brought down the ax. While the other two ads talk about dealing with pain, this one mentions jazz! If that's not an appeal to Negroes and Children to start sucking at that debbo weed, I don't know what it is. Couldn't they have gotten someone to say "I was able to sit and enjoy all of Bach's cantatas non-stop (with the help of a few ham sandwiches)!"...thereby appealing to all Lutherans to suck the debbo weed.

* The Desert Sun article says that in Desert Hot Springs we can watch Marijuana: Compassion and Common Sense on channel 10 at 11 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The schedule for other cities can be found here.

Oral Surgery

Am just back from oral surgery and now have my second titanium post implant. This is a tooth (#3) we started working on back in Iowa in the late '70s. My dentist root canaled it, and didn't succeed in getting all the root out, so he referred me to an endodontist, who repeated the process with much more vigor.

Things were fine until almost two years ago, at the CMEN gathering in September, when I had a painful swelling on the gum and roof of my mouth near that tooth. It wasn't too bad during the day, but it really bothered my sleeping. When I got back home, I had to located a dentist - I hadn't even bothered to find one here before then. I found a good ol' Tufts graduate who was able to see me quickly. He saw that more endodonture was required and referred me to an endodontist in Rancho Mirage.

That endo thought that perhaps the tiniest bit of nerve had been left behind by the previous endo, almost 25 years ago, and that had led to this current infection. He re-did only the one affected canal, and things seemed to improve considerably. There was, however, a small pimple remaining on the roof of my mouth where the infection had been draining. The endo said it had all healed, and I had no pain or swelling, so I was happy.

My six-month hygiene appointment came with my dentist and nothing remarkable occurred. But six months after that when I came back for hygiene again I asked if that pimple was going to be permanent, or would it eventually go away. That seemed to catch their attention, and they said it still seemed to be draining an infection, so back to the endo I went.

This time the endo re-did another root in that tooth, and NEVER charged me for it. His prices are very reasonable. After that he had me back several times and was very disappointed to see that the infection was not getting any smaller. He had his partner repack all three roots in that tooth (again, no charge), but it didn't help. So, finally, hands were thrown in the air and I was given the choice of having the tooth removed or submitting to a heinous surgery going through the roof of my mouth which would allow them to clean out the infection. The endo's recommendation (and my decision) was to have the tooth pulled.

So that meant a visit to the oral surgeon, who wanted to put me under general anesthesia for the extraction, but I declined, insisting on simply local anesthesia. I had had a molar extracted before using nothing but local anesthesia, and it had gone fine. But maybe the fact that this current extraction was from the upper jaw made a difference. It was quite a gory struggle, during which I sometimes arched up out of the chair, but even so, when it was over the staff said I did well. I suspected they told that to everybody.

At the same time I was in the chair for that extraction, the oral surgeon put in a bone graft under the gums. This is because there just isn't as much bone up there as there is on the lower jaw, where my other implant is. The bone graft is simply bone powder made from human bones, whose source I read about after that graft, but I've forggotten now just how they get the bones. Shortly after that there was a news story that some bone powder used for grafts had not been adequately screened for HIV and other relevant diseases. I decided I was not in the vulnerable group.

Now today, I have finally returned to get the titanium post implant. The bone graft under the gum did not give them sufficient bone to guarantee that the post would be anchored as solidly as Gibralter, so they were going to have to add an additional bone graft above the gum in the sinus. This would mean slicing through the gums to get inside the sinus. I decided that was sufficient to agree to general anesthesia this time. Who wants to be awake while someone is cutting into your sinus?

The last time I had gone under general anesthesia was in the mid-1970s when I had my wisdom teeth out. That was sodium pentothal and it was simply a matter of counting backward from 100 to 97, and then waking up on a cot in another room. Then it was a day and a half of feeling miserable, trying to overcome the anesthesia hangover. I hated that, and my greatest fear today was simply that anesthesia.

But they kept the anesthesia (and it wasn't sodium penthothal) very light, and I was awake during most of it. I could feel them poking around, but the only pain I felt was when they were stitching me up and someone jabbed the roof of my mouth with a needle. After that, it was all over, and they just let me sit there for a few minutes while the anesthesia continued to wear off. It was not at all like it had been 30 years ago. This wasn't even as bad as being drunk. I could get up and walk okay, despite feeling a bit lead-footed.

The staff was eager to show me the x-ray of my new post. It looked a tad fatter than my other, but I'll double check that next time when I'm more clear headed. I'll spend the rest of the day waiting for the painkiller to wear off, and we'll see if I'm as grateful then.

The future course on this thing is the same as my earlier implant. Let it heal, while the bone grows into the implant. Then after about 6 months the oral surgeon puts a "shoulder" on it, which is the part above the gum line that my dentist will plant a crown onto next year.

Fine Tuning Your Exercise

From the December 11, 2004, issue of Science News (yeah, I'm a bit behind in my science reading, but the nice thing is that science moves a bit slowly).

Up and down make different workouts

Hiking on a mountainside gives the heart a health-promoting challenge, but the nature of the benefit depends on whether one is climbing or descending. A study conducted on an Alpine mountainside suggests that going up improves the body's processing certain fats, while going down enhances metabolism of a key sugar.

For 2 months of the study, 45 healthy but generally inactive volunteers spent 3 to 5 hours per week scaling the 30-degree slope of a mountain near Feldkirch, Austria, and rode a cable car back down. During a separate 2-month period, they rode up but descended on foot.

Before and after each phase of the study, Heinz Drexel and his colleagues at the Vorarlberg Institute for Vascular Investigation and Treatment in Feldkirch fed the volunteers fatty compounds and the sugar glucose and then measured the hikers' blood concentrations of those substances.

Both up and down hiking softened the spike of blood cholesterol that typically follows fat consumption, the team found. But only uphill exercise improved metabolism of fats called triglycerides, and only downhill exercise significantly increased glucose processing, Drexel says.

Poor glucose metabolism is a feature of diabetes, so the latter finding suggests that downhill exercise—which could include skiing or leaving buildings by the stairs rather than by elevators—could be helpful in preventing or managing that disease, Drexel says.

A wise decision not to perform this test on Mt. San Jacinto. They would have had to start with 450 hikers, and then factor out the 90% who collapsed and died simply climbing up to 8500 feet and down.

Who Lost Their Mind In Minnesota?

The City Paper has had to defend its naming crystal meth as "Best Cheap Thrill." They say its satiric intent is obvious. Here's the article itself. I must be all addlepated today, because the satiric intent escapes me. In fact, it does seem to go on a bit long extolling the virtues of crystal meth.

Now, an example of true satire would have been to have that article written by an actual meth user, and then published it with no corrections. Would've read just like e-mail.

Shit

A lighthearted look at colon hydrotherapy. The Desert Sun interviews Elizabeth D'Leon, who is a colon hydrotherapist at the We Care Spa near (not in) Desert Hot Springs. The We Care Spa is certainly our most exclusive spa, even harder to get into than Two Bunch Palms.

More Health Education

The Rectal Examination Trainer. Totally legit stuff. Probably SFW. What other secrets has our health education complex been keeping hidden?

Here's one that's maybe NOT SFW: the Male Pelvic Trainer. Probably does everything except turn its head to the side and cough.

Thanks to Susan for pointing me this way.

STRokes

There's this rambling, unfocused e-mail with horrendous punctuation being sent around. I'm shortening it to the essentials here:

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Remember the 3 steps: STR.

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. A neurologist says that he can completely reverse the symptoms of a stroke, if he can get the patient within 3 hours of the stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S - Ask the individual to SMILE.

T - Ask the person to TALK, to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (coherently)

R - Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

NOTE: Another sign of a stroke is this: Ask the person to stick out his tongue. If the tongue is crooked, going to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

The above information is partially verified and illuminated at Snopes.com. One important note they make there is to screw 911. If you think someone has had a stroke, just get them to the emergency room as fast as possible.

Getting Smarter

Advice on ways to exercise your brain from the Beeb. Here's their list with my own enhancements. If you don't want my enhancements, just go read the linked article.

Saturday
Brush your teeth or masturbate with your 'wrong' hand and take a shower with your eyes closed. Do these sequentially, not simultaneously.

Sunday
Do the crossword or Sudoku puzzle in your Sunday paper and take a brisk walk. Avoid church service.

Monday
Have oily fish for dinner, and either cycle, walk or take the bus into work. Or, if you usually cycle, walk or take the bus, rent a car and try driving it!

Tuesday
Select unfamiliar words from the dictionary and work them into conversations. Or, teach them to children and encourage them to work them into conversations after you slink away.

Wednesday
Go to yoga, Pilates or a meditation class, and talk to someone you don't know. My advice is NOT to talk to anyone in meditation class. Go to a Starbucks you've never been to and talk to a stranger who is older than you.

Thursday
Take a different route to work; watch Countdown or Brainteaser. If you don't work, take a different route to the library.

Friday
Avoid caffeine or alcohol; memorise your shopping list. That's too easy. Avoid alcohol AND caffeine. Exchange shopping lists with a friend or neighbor, memorize it and go!

Forensic Vagina Inspectors

Not a joke at all, I'm afraid. The NY Times has published this long and informative article about the effects of El Salvador's total ban on abortions since 1998. Yes, it's the glorious dream of the anti-abortionists in full, living color:

As they do in any investigation, the police collect evidence by interviewing everyone who knows the accused and by seizing her medical records. But they must also visit the scene of the crime, which, following the logic of the law, often means the woman's vagina.

"Yes, we sometimes call doctors from the Forensic Institute to do a pelvic exam," Tópez said, referring to the nation's main forensic lab, "and we ask them to document lacerations or any evidence such as cuts or a perforated uterus." In other words, if the suspicions of the patient's doctor are not conclusive enough, then in that initial 72-hour period, a forensic doctor can legally conduct a separate search of the crime scene. Tópez said, however, that vaginal searches can take place only with "a judge's permission." Tópez frequently turned the pages of a thick law book she kept at hand. "The prosecutor can order a medical exam on a woman, because that's within the prosecutor's authority," she said.

In the event that the woman's illegal abortion went badly and the doctors have to perform a hysterectomy, then the uterus is sent to the Forensic Institute, where the government's doctors analyze it and retain custody of her uterus as evidence against her.

Another benefit from a total ban on abortions is that when an ectopic pregnancy is detected, the woman is held in the hospital and monitored until her fallopian tube ruptures or the fetus dies. Only then can they operate. I'm sure Jesus would be pleased.

Ecstatic

The story of the man who may be the world's heaviest user of ecstasy. At his peak, he was consuming 25 tablets every day for 4 years. He's alive, but not well.

Happy Penis Moves On

The famous happy penis is retiring from his syphilis fighting job in San Francisco and taking his show on the road to San Jose. "People came to love the penis. It grew on them."

Asthma Cause Discovered

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered that "a little-known group of natural killer cells" are the actual cause of asthma.

"These cells actually make up a small population of cells in our blood," [Dale Umetsu, a professor of pediatrics] points out. "But in the lungs of people with asthma, they apparently proliferate and overexpand. Novel drugs and other treatments would be aimed at reducing their numbers in the lungs, or preventing them from becoming activated."

That could be tricky. "We are working on ways to get at the natural killer T cells without knocking out helper T cells, which are involved in many different kinds of protective responses."

Blood Donation Rule May Change

Enlightened non-gay readers may be surprised to learn that in the United States all men who have sex with men are barred from making blood donations FOREVER. Prostitutes and IV drug users, however, are allowed to donate blood after they have refrained from prostitution and IV drug use for 12 months. In 2000 the FDA proposed bringing the rule for men who have sex with men (I've forgotten the PC acronym for that) in line with the rule for prostitutes and IV drug users. Everyone agreed this would be a good thing, EXCEPT the American Red Cross; and that was enough to kill the deal.

Now, the American Red Cross has reversed their position, and the American Association of Blood Banks calls the lifetime ban "medically and scientifically unwarranted." They've recommended to the FDA that the rules be changed. So, as long as the FDA is not packed with a lot of White House cronies, things should get better.

Our Gummint Savin' Us

A federal raid on a marijuana nursery just down the road in Sky Valley.

Dental Implant

Here's an interesting and SFW photo of a kiss. What I find most interesting is the HUGE implant in the upper jaw for a front tooth. My gawd, that's like twice the size of the one in my lower jaw, and there's less bone in the upper jaw. What do they have to do, anchor it in the brain itself? Maybe when he winks just right, he can give you a flash of titanium. That would be cool.

There are other photos available, most less than SFW, so I'll let you search those out.

It's Friday

This important word comes from Dan, my source in the life insurance industry:

There is a dangerous virus being passed electronically, orally and by hand.

This virus is called Worm-Overload-Recreational-Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss or anyone else via any means - DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely.

If you should come into contact with WORK, put on your jacket and take two good friends to the nearest pub. Purchase the antidote known as Work-Isolator-Neutralizer-Extractor (WINE).

The quickest acting WINE type is called Swift-Hitting-Infiltrator-Remover-All-Zones(SHIRAZ) but this is only available for those who can afford it. The next best equivalent is Cheapest-Available-System-Killer (CASK). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

Update

After extensive testing it has been concluded that Best-Equivalent-Extractor-Remedy (BEER) may be substituted for WINE but may require a more generous application.

How Do You Sleep?

(Via Friday Fishwrap:) An interesting article on sleeping positions. They don't say much about how the study was conducted. Did researchers observe the sleepers, or just ask them? And are they talking about the first position you fall asleep in, or do they keep track of various positions through the night?

Anyway, I sleep in the foetus, yearner, soldier, freefaller and starfish positions. My favorite is starfish, which is the least popular. The personality descriptions linked to each of those are contradictory. Here is what it says for starfish: "These sleepers make good friends because they are always ready to listen to others, and offer help when needed. They generally don't like to be the centre of attention." All of the descriptions read like the Chinese astrological descriptions on those paper place mats you see in restaurants.

The position that surprises me is the "log." They say it's the second most popular position, but I don't think I've ever seen it. If I did see it, I would think the sleeper was in poor health.

Bigotry And Ignorance In West Virginia

Yes, West Virginia! I know we all think of West Virginia as that enlightened island of progress that keeps Ohio and Pennsylvania from bumping against each other so hard, but it does seem that there is a police chief there in the municipality of Welch who has a few shortcomings.

A Mr. Claude Green, Jr. suffered a heart attack while driving in Welch last June. His passenger began to immediately provide CPR. When the police chief arrived on the scene he forced the passenger to cease the CPR because the chief thought Mr. Green was HIV positive. Paramedics didn't arrive for 10 minutes, and Mr. Green was dead about half an hour later.

Now, of course, EVERYbody else in the country (honestly, we are sure the police chief was the last one to get the memo) knows you can't transmit HIV via CPR, unless you are doing some totally strange kind of CPR. The greater irony is that Mr. Green was not, in fact, HIV positive. So we have not only the chief's ignorance to deal with, but his erroneous perception that fed his ignorance.

Fortunately, the ACLU has taken the case on the behalf of the deceased's mother. They are suing both the chief and the city on every issue imaginable.

(Via JT's Blog.)

We're Plumbers, And We're Here For Your Health

No, really, they are - only concerned for our health. What else could concern them, them plumbers. I can think of nothing. Everyone knows the formula: Plumbers=Health=Plumbers. No two ways about it.

And that's why the plumber's union is very actively opposed to waterless urinals.

Germophobia

12-year old Jasmine Roberts says she will "think twice" about getting ice at fast food restaurants after conducting her science project. She went and scooped water out of toilets in fast food restaurants and compared the bacteria found there to the bacteria found in ice samples from the same restaurants' soda fountains and from the drive-thru windows. There is, as you may have suspected, more bacteria in the ice.

This little news article doesn't mention (and her scientific paper hasn't been published yet) whether young Jasmine considered that the toilets are cleaned with harsh chemicals which are intentionally NOT washed away. If she thinks she would better enjoy her ice if the ice bin were first washed down with Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner, I suggest she ought to do another science project on that subject.

Undertreating STD

A 200 mg dose of Vantin is the FDA-approved amount for rectal and genital gonorrhea, but the FDA recommendations do not address pharyngeal (oral) infections. The State of California and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend double that, 400 mg, for pharyngeal infections. Nonetheless, San Francisco city clinics have been prescribing the lower, 200 mg, dose for oral gonorrhea. In San Francisco there were 2,174 gonorrhea cases in 2004 and 2,420 in 2005. 31% of gonorrhea infections in men in San Francisco in 2003 were oral.

AIDS Cure?

How often have we heard of possible AIDS cures and then, reading further into the details, we see something like "Although so far limited to early test tube studies...?" Well, same with this story, but it does sound substantially more promising. "CSA-54, one of a family of compounds called Ceragenins (or CSAs), mimics the disease-fighting characteristics of anti-microbial and anti-viral agents produced naturally by a healthy human immune system."

They have been studying CSAs for eight years, observing their effectiveness against microbial and bacterial infections. Only a year ago did they discover that they also kill viruses, including all varieties of HIV.

If everything goes well, it would be three to seven years before the drug is available generally. Sooner, if the FDA approves fast tracking it.

Tribute?

Miss [Mariana] Edkins [age 18] was killed and Miss DiDonato was seriously wounded after John Sambuco, 21, of Rossville, crashed into Miss DiDonato's car on Woodrow Road in the early hours of Jan. 10 [,2006].

Sambuco, who allegedly was high on beer and the prescription anti-anxiety medicine Xanax at the time of the crash, was indicted on murder charges Monday.

Mariana Edkins friends decided to organize a fundraiser to benefit Miss Edkins' family. Their plan was to collect $10 or $15 from everyone who came to the fundraiser, and then donate 30% of that to the family. How thoughtful?

The fly in the ointment is that the attraction at the fundraiser was drink specials! "$2 Soco Lime Shots till 12" and "$3 rum & cokes and $3 vodka drinks." To top that, the organizers printed up fliers advertising the fundraiser featuring the smiling face of Miss Edkins with the drink specials overlaid!

The family has said they will refuse to accept any money from the event.

Oh, The Humanity!

Video of an old field test of LSD on British soldiers. They gave it to men with WEAPONS (or maybe fake weapons). The results look absolutely, fucking, believable.

If we could replace the current madness for meth with LSD, we could cut our police forces in half (or give them longer donut breaks).

Albert Hofmann, Centennarian

Albert Hoffman discovered LSD in April 1943. Wednesday the 11th will be his 100th birthday. Yes, he's still alive after dropping acid "dozens of times."

Penile Damage (Chinese Education Issue)

Pervscan (SFW!) points to a news item about a young man in Chongqing (I think) who damaged his penis when he attempted his first sex with a woman. Half an hour of surgery at Xinqiao Hospital put him on the road back to genital health. Pervscan's questions are exactly those that came to my mind as well.

Orgasmotron

Alan Bellows discusses issues around the technology that allows direct stimulation of the brain's pleasure center(s).

in 1972, Dr. Heath wired up a homosexual man's pleasure centers in order to help him "cure" his homosexuality. During the initial three-hour session, subject "B-19" stimulated himself some 1,500 times. Dr. Heath wrote of the experiment, "During these sessions, B-19 stimulated himself to a point that he was experiencing an almost overwhelming euphoria and elation, and had to be disconnected, despite his vigorous protests."

Health For The Retired Weblogger

Men's Journal has some health suggestions that I can use: effective napping.

Not Worth Worrying About

Some people with too much free time on their hands are worrying about teenagers hanging out in coffee shops and drinking too much caffeine. Good golly! When the day comes that Starbucks-Kidz are all we have to worry about, we'll know we've reached nirvana. I think the task of keeping teenagers from using meth or drinking and driving should provide enough work to keep everyone busy.

Extreme Cold and Flu Treatment

If you have tried all the usual treatments for colds and flu (fluids, rest, vitamin C, echinacea, chicken soup, zinc, etc.) and haven't found them to be as successful as you would like, consider this list of treatments that William Faloon, co-founder of the Life Extension Foundation takes "as soon as the first symptom of common cold or flue manifests:"

• Cimetidine (Tagamet®) in the dose of 800 mg (and higher) each day. This drug is sold over-the-counter in pharmacies to combat heartburn, but its beneficial side effect is to boost immune function by reducing T-suppressor cells, thereby keeping the immune system in a hyperactive state. While sold over-the-counter, it would still be wise to read the package insert in case this drug is contraindicated for you. For most people, cimetidine provides a powerful immune system stimulation that is particularly effective against certain viruses.
• Pure Gar™ brand garlic in the dose of 9000 mg once or twice a day. This potent form of garlic will cause painful stomach-esophageal burning if you don't eat food right afterward. The intake of 9000 mg of this kind of garlic will cause you to reek of a strong sulfur odor, but saturating the body with this pungent garlic is the objective. Garlic has shown direct viral-killing effects in a number of published studies.
• sDHEA in the dose of 200-400 mg early in the day. This is much higher than normal, but DHEA has shown some unique benefits in boosting one's ability to mount a stronger immune response and also protecting against dangerous inflammatory cytokine responses that sometimes occur in response to viral infections.
• Lactoferrin in the dose of 1200 mg a day. This natural constituent of mothers' milk boosts natural killer cell activity and can kill certain viruses.
• Zinc lozenges in the dose of two 24 mg lozenges every two waking hours. Please be aware that this is a very high dose of zinc and is considered toxic if taken over the long term. You should only do this for a few days. Zinc has shown a direct effect of inhibiting the ability of cold viruses from latching on to your cells. Importantly, if you are taking any other zinc-containing supplements (such as a multivitamin), modify this as necessary to avoid zinc toxicity.
• Melatonin at bedtime in the high dose of 10-50 mg. Melatonin induces a powerful immune response and this high dose can facilitate the deep sleep one often needs to fend off an infection. This dose of melatonin will make you extremely sleepy, so please only take this before bedtime and do not operate any machinery or vehicles after ingestion.
• Aged garlic extract (Kyolic® brand) in the dose of 3600 mg a day. There are unique immune-boosting compounds in Kyolic® garlic that work differently than those found in the Pure Gar™ brand.

You should understand that I certainly don't take any responsibility for how this treatment might affect anyone who tries it, and I imagine Life Extension Foundation doesn't take any responsibility, either. But if you try it, I'd like to hear about the results.

Get Your Foreskins, $90 for 5

Finally, something new. Viafin-Atlas is selling the SenSlip which they call an "undergarment." The first page linked, BTW, is SFW, but after that you will see penii. The SenSlip is NOT another foreskin restoration device. It's a sleeve thing, which includes some latex, and currently comes only in "caucasian pink" that covers the shaft AND HEAD of the penis, so that some the benefits of a foreskin can begin to return. Of course, you can't get back all the benefits. The site includes a video (cartoon animation only, narrated by a female voice) that lays out quite clearly all that is lost with the foreskin (which the narrator annoyingly refers to as the "penile foreskin" as though you might be thinking of some other kind of foreskin). The adult foreskin can be 20 square inches and include 240 FEET of nerves and up to 20,000 "specialised sexual nerve endings." From the site:

The SenSlip can provide for you:

• A flexible, protective and comfortable retractable cover for the glans
• An affordable artificial foreskin which is washable and semi-disposable
• Immediate and instant protection of the glans from underwear and the elements
• A program for reversing lack of sensitivity in the glans
• A deeper and more enjoyable orgasm
• Natural dekeratinization of the glans (thinning of the existing calloused skin)
• A softer and smoother glans which is more sensitive to touch and feel
• An artificial foreskin which gives the appearance of an uncircumcised penis
• A feeling of warmth, security and self-esteem.

It comes in ten sizes, based on flaccid circumference. There's a sizing chart you can download. They really do charge $90 for five, but 2% of that ($1.80) goes to their anti-circumcision charity. They say one SenSlip can last up to ten days and IS washable, but that they are not suitable for use during sex. However, they do mention that it can be quite nice for masturbation and foreplay.

The site also includes some information on prostate health. There they suggest frequent sex and masturbation can help protect one from prostate cancer. Man, these people really ARE enlightened! They say the health benefits become measurable with at least 12 ejaculations per month, but that men who are able to arrange at least 21 ejaculations per month may be reducing their risk of prostate cancer by a third. It's my super-duper ESP-feeling that if you smoke a cigarette after ejaculating all benefit is lost, so keep some chewing gum at your bedside.

Meth Will Fuck You Up

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Man sentenced in meth-from-urine mishap
- Kathleen Sullivan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, December 3, 2005

There was a scientific method to Daniel Zeiszler's madness when he tried to extract methamphetamine from his own urine, after smoking the illegal street drug last September in his South San Francisco hotel room.

But Zeiszler's experiment went dangerously awry when he spilled some solvent on himself, then lit a cigarette while he contemplated his next move, starting a fire that burned his right hand and arm.

The hotel was evacuated. Firefighters were summoned. So were hazardous materials experts.

Zeiszler, a 22-year-old employee of a San Francisco recycling depot, landed in jail.

Zeiszler, who pleaded no contest to a charge of manufacturing methamphetamine in November, was sentenced Friday to five months in prison -- with credit for time served -- and three years' probation by San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Robert Foiles.

"Did you know you can get methamphetamine from urine?" asked an incredulous Steve Wagstaffe, San Mateo County chief deputy district attorney, in an interview after the sentencing. "The methodology this guy used would work, but it would take bottles and bottles of urine -- not one void of a bladder."

Make that gallons of urine, said William Johnston, Zeiszler's attorney, who described his client's attempt to reclaim excreted methamphetamine from his urine as a "really, really silly" move.

Methamphetamine, a powerful stimulant that produces an intense rush, can also cause convulsions, strokes, stomach cramps, shaking, cardiac arrhythmia and a dangerous rise in body temperature.

"I suspect that, more than anything, Steve was doing this as an intellectual proposition," said Johnston, adding that Zeiszler had no record of prior arrests. "He is a bright, articulate young man who was wasting his life playing around with this stuff. Anybody who would -- for fun -- read a chemistry text should be in school instead of sitting in San Mateo County Jail."

Which is exactly where he intends to be after he is released, Zeiszler told the judge at his sentencing.

Feared Avian Flu Mutation?

A news article reporting possible (POSSIBLE) human-to-human transmission of what appears to be avian flu.

Marijuana Risk

Okay, okay. I will admit that combining marijuana and motor vehicles is NOT good for your health.

San Jose Man With Tough Penis

Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng pulled a truck using his penis. I mean he used his penis to pull a truck, not that the truck was using his penis.

Jin-Sheng, the grandmaster of Iron Crotch, a branch of Qigong also known as 99 Qigong, is said to have 60,000 followers worldwide. Its practitioners are known to lift hundreds of pounds with their genitals to increase energy and sexual performance. One of Jin-Shengs most famous students, a 70-year-old man in Taiwan, is said to have lifted more than 660 pounds with his penis. The grandmaster teaches Iron Crotch and Qigong in Fremont and Cupertino.

Marijuana Fights Leukemia

A study in London has revealed that marijuana works to kill leukemia cells. Surely, one more reason to ban this insidious, gateway drug and send its users to prison for year and year.

AIDS Gut Research

Scientists are working on a genetically engineered E. coli bacteria that will secrete proteins that block HIV from infecting its target cells in humans. The article doesn't get right down and say it, but drafting E. coli into the battle against HIV is certainly taking it right to the front lines!

And speaking of E. coli, here's that news story about Dole Food being sued for E. coli contaminations in three varieties of its bagged salads. I'm always a bit wary about those bagged salads. Lots of edges and crevices, plenty of opportunities to pick up bacteria, can't be pasteurized. You can and should wash fresh veggies, but I've seen lots of people just pour the salad right out of the bag and serve it.

An Army Marches On Its Stomach (Which In Turn Depends On Healthy Teeth And Gums)

The U.S. military is working on a chewing gum that contains a protein fragment called KSL which "kills oral bacteria by targeting and attacking their cell membranes." The link is worth going to just to see the cute soldier photo they picked out from the Getty photo archives.

Local Marijuana For Health

Earlier this month, with little or no public input, the Palm Desert city council passed a ban on marijuana dispensaries. Now the owner of just such a dispensary in Palm Desert has come forward to convince them to put a hold on their ban.

The Desert Sun included very useful information in their article (unlike their usual editorial policy). They printed the address of the dispensary: Hempie's at 73-350 El Paseo, Palm Desert. Elsewhere I've found their phone number is (760) 449-3373.

Marijuana Smoke NOT A Lung Cancer Risk

A report from Dr. Robert Melamede of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs says that the THC in marijuana offsets any cancer-causing action of the smoke itself. Is there ANY evidence that marijuana is unhealthy?

Polishing The Hole

[Now With Working Link!]

No kidding, the people who whiten their teeth and bleach their hair can now lighten the color of their anus. SEFW (Safe Enough For Work - which is slightly racier than SFW, but lots safer than NSFW).

Arkansas Man Finds Way To Quit Smoking

From the Texarkana Gazette:

Lost cigarette leads to bizarre accident

By JIM WILLIAMSON
Texarkana Gazette

FOREMAN, ARK.--A 38-year-old Winthrop, Ark. man was hospitalized after jumping out the passenger window of a vehicle traveling an estimated 55 to 60 mph to retrieve his cigarette late Saturday, an official said.

Jeff Foran was riding in his friend's 2000 Dodge Stratus about 10 p.m. Saturday near the Arkansas-Oklahoma border when the cigarette he was smoking blew out the vehicle's front passenger window, said Arkansas State Police Trooper First Class Jamie Gravier.

Foran jumped out of the vehicle to retrieve the cigarette and hit the pavement, causing facial trauma.

He landed on the eastbound lane of Arkansas Highway 234 about three miles west of the Cross Roads community about 10 miles northwest of Foreman.

The driver of the car, Jerry Glenn Nelson, 44, of Haworth, Okla., was asked by Foran earlier in the evening to be Foran's designated driver, Gravier said.

Foran was to drive Nelson to his residence in Winthrop.

"Foran did the right thing and asked his buddy to drive him home. Foran showed up at Nelson's home about 45 minutes earlier saying he (Foran) was too intoxicated to drive home, Gravier said.

"Nelson said Foran was smoking a cigarette when it blew out the window and Foran jumped out the window to retrieve the cigarette. Nelson said he was driving between 55 and 60 mph when Foran jumped out," said Gravier.

Foran was lying on the pavement bleeding profusely from the nose, eyes and chin.

"He also had a substantial case of road rash (abrasions from sliding on the pavement)," said Gravier. "It was obvious he was extremely intoxicated and this man was hurt."

Winthrop First Responders arrived to treat Foran until the LifeNet ambulance could arrive to transport Foran to CHRISTUS St. Michael Health Care Center in Texarkana, Texas.

No charges were filed and Gravier had no information Sunday afternoon on Foran's condition.

"If anything could make him stop smoking, this should be it. The man is lucky to be alive," said Gravier.