Saturday, October 25, 2008

U.S. Doctors Regularly Prescribe Real Drugs As Placebo Treatments, Study Claims 

"Many rheumatologists and general internal medicine physicians in the US say they regularly prescribe 'placebo treatments' including active drugs such as sedatives and antibiotics, but rarely admit they are doing so to their patients, according to a study on bmj.com.

The use of placebo treatments in clinical practice has been widely criticised because it is claimed that the practice by its very nature is deceptive and therefore violates patients' autonomy. But advocates of placebo treatments argue that they could offer effective treatment for many chronic conditions without necessarily deceiving patients. Despite the controversy, to date there has been little data on doctors' attitudes towards and the use of placebo treatments in the US." (Science Daily)

The only people bent out of shape by this are those unsophisticated physicians who can believe only in the concrete and materialistic explanations for how they 'heal'. Most of medicine mobilizes patients' healing resources through symbolism, ritual and enlistment into a belief system. That's why I have such a hard time with the (equally concrete) critics of Western allopathic medicine. It is not that they offend me by not believing in what I do, but rather that they undermine the power of belief which is the basis of how physicians heal. In short, most treatment is probably mediated by the placebo response. Patients inherently give up their autonomy by consulting a health professional, and treatment will not work without an element of faith on their part.

Related

• The Placebo Effect Examined And Studied (Articles Base)
• When Doctors Prescribe Sham Medicines (Articles Base)
• Medicine's Dirty Little Secret...: (Brothers Judd)
• Why Doesn't My Doctor Know This? (barbarany)
• Are a Popular Doping Drugs Effects All in the Mind? (Scientific American)

Labels: Health, medicine, Placebo

10/25/2008 09:15:00 AM   •  

The science of head shrinking 

Certainly one of my preoccupations, given that I am a 'head shrinker'. This article reviews both technique and reveals much about the complex of social custom and ritual around 'head shrinking'. But in this case, we are not talking about the practice of psychiatry, but the real thing, which occurs in the aftermath of tribal warfare and revenge among the South American Jivaro-Shuar. (Journal of Neurosurgery via Very Short List)

10/25/2008 09:08:00 AM   •  

Friday, October 24, 2008

Palin says she considers herself intellectual 

'...You betcha! "And you have to be up on not only current events, but you have to understand the foundation of the issues that you're working on," Palin said in an interview with People magazine. "You can't just go on what is presented you."

Although Palin didn't name a single newspaper or magazine when CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked where she got her information, the Alaska governor told People that she has always been a "voracious reader" and named reading _ anything from biographies to historical works _ as her favorite thing along with her children and sports.

Besides author Lawrence Wright's terrorism history, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, Palin said she's reading a lot of briefing papers.

"I appreciate a lot of information. I think that comes from growing up in a family of school teachers," she said.

Palin said if she and husband Todd had had a sixth child, they had already picked a name for a boy joining siblings Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig. "I always wanted a son named Zamboni," she said.' (Washington Post)

Labels: Sarah Palin

10/24/2008 10:13:00 PM   •  

Climate change and the Price of Beer? 

Fancy a swift twother? Britain's National Weights and Measures Laboratory proposes a new standard measure for a tipple in British pubs. The twother (a terrible name, IMHO) is two-thirds of a pint, a measure proposed as more appropriate to higher-strength brews and for those who feel that a half pint just isn't enough but a full pint is too much (like Goldilocks?). Opponents raise a variety of objections, including the fact that drinkers may find it harder to keep track of the number of pints they've had (especially once the nmber gets up there, right?). Climate change may accelerate pressure for such a change:

"In Australia the measure already exists and is known as a schooner. It was introduced there because drinkers complained that full pints of beer got too warm in the sunny climate. The weather is not yet a factor in Britain. "

(Times.UK via null device)

Labels: ale, beer, Britain, England, pub, UK

10/24/2008 04:56:00 PM   •  

McCain-Obama Debate in a Nutshell 

The day after the debate, Chuck Taggart posted this, observing, "Who knew that the Republican candidate's strategy was formulated 40 years ago?"

(Looka!)

10/24/2008 04:45:00 PM   •  

The Flag of Earth 

"The flag was designed by James Cadle. Prior to the US landing on the moon, there was hope a flag for humanity, rather than the American flag, would be erected on the moon. Some hoped the UN flag would fly, but that never happened.

Some time later, James Cadle, who lived on a farm in rural Illinois, was inspired by this debate to create the Flag of Earth. It is intended to be used for ANY purpose that is representative of Humankind as a whole, and not connected to any country, organization, or individual. James made it his life's work to promote and distribute this flag everywhere. He and his wife made the flags on their kitchen table, and sold them for what it cost to make and distribute them.

The Flag of Earth is often flown at locations doing SETI work in order to indicate that the search is the "work of humanity and not a specific country or organization." Cadle died in 2004, but he left the design in the public domain, bless him.

At the Flag of Earth website there are templates for printing them out or purchasing ready-to-fly sown ones." (via Kevin Kelly)

"The Flag of Earth has flown - and is flying - over many observatories. The Flag also hangs in the offices of academics, scientists, ham radio operators, and in homes around the world.

Here are some sites where the Flag has been flown."

10/24/2008 04:33:00 PM   •  

Thursday, October 23, 2008

TSA Responds to Schneier's Airport Security Antics 

Kip Hawley: "Bruce Schneier and others have raised a number of good issues about TSA’s role in aviation security but veer off course when our work is described as ‘security theater...’" (Evolution of Security)

...and Schneier responds back: "Unfortunately, there's not really anything to his response. It's obvious he doesn't want to admit that they've been checking ID's all this time to no purpose whatsoever, so he just emits vague generalities like a frightened squid filling the water with ink. Yes, some of the stunts in article are silly (who cares if people fly with Hezbollah T-shirts?) so that gives him an opportunity to minimize the real issues." (Schneier on Security)

The original article (The Atlantic) redux.

10/23/2008 02:09:00 PM   •  

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Rethinking the American Electorate after an Obama Victory 

"You have my word."

Lincoln Mitchell: "One of the great things about an Obama victory is that it will force a lot of people to rethink a lot of things. People outside the US who have bought into the appealingly reductive anti-Americanism rhetoric of recent years, will have to rethink some of their basic assumptions about our country. This will be particularly true among those on the European left who may want to stop and ask themselves what it tells them about the US, and their own countries, that somebody like Barack Obama will be our leader. Others in Europe and elsewhere who perhaps pay less attention to the US will have to rethink their view of the US as a conservative country which likes to elect cowboys and bubbas, as we have in recent years.

Right wingers in the US will have to revisit their assumptions about the inherent racism and conservatism of the American people as well as the power of wedge issues to divide people and lead them to vote on their fears. Emphasizing bizarre issues such as Obama's acquaintance with Bill Ayers, or calling Obama a socialist because of his notion that tax policy should not simply redistribute wealth upwards, failed to influence more than a few voter this time. This should suggest to the operatives of the right wing that they their cynical understanding of America can be trumped by a more affirming and progressive sentiment in the electorate.

It is, however, the American left which will have to do the most intriguing and challenging rethinking of basic assumptions when Obama wins. For years now a central piece of the progressive worldview is that progressives are enlightened Americans in a sea of their ignorant, bigoted and narrow-minded compatriots. If you don't believe my assertion, see how many times in the comments section of a progressive blog, Americans voters are referred to as ignorant or uninformed, or eavesdrop at any progressive coffee shop or other hangout. Opposition to progressive causes is often explained away by saying that Americans are bigots, or somehow stupid. This demonstrates an ugly contempt for voters, and in fact for democracy, that should have no place in progressive politics.

Nonetheless, this feeling of specialness is a central part of progressive identity for many. For example, the tone often used to express disbelief that Obama could win, particularly early in this campaign, was often a mixture of anger with racism and a sense of self-righteousness from the speaker for being above that racism.

November 4th will almost certainly show these beliefs to be the nonsense that they are." (HuffPo)

Labels: barackobama

10/22/2008 11:01:00 PM   •  

NOW Poll (PBS) 

Is Palin qualified? Links to this poll are being sent around because the rumor is that the right is flooding the site with 'yes' votes. The last thing we could use is PBS reporting that its listeners vettedPalin favorably.

10/22/2008 07:45:00 PM   •  

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Warning: In Case of Terrorist attack, do not discard brain. 

"With Barack Obama so far ahead in the polls some people are getting worried that this election cycle’s October surprise will be a terrorist attack. There was, after all, the 2004 Madrid train bombings and Osama Bin Laden did personally intervene in the last US presidential election.

So this week’s comic is a friendly reminder: keep your brain running at all times. When you switch it off bad things happen." (Miscellanea via boing boing)

10/21/2008 10:58:00 PM   •  

If McCain Wins, Should We All Move to Scandinavia? 

Louis Bayard reviews “Society Without God": "Imagine the unimaginable: Todd Palin picking out curtain patterns for the vice-presidential mansion. In such an eventuality, whither shall we flee?" (Salon)

10/21/2008 10:53:00 PM   •  

The Pope and the Mob 

"Did the Pope back down in the face of one of Italy's most entrenched and destructive evils?" (Time)

Labels: Catholicism, Cosa Nostra, Mafia, Mob, Pope

10/21/2008 09:31:00 PM   •  

The Undecided 

David Sedaris: "To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked." (The New Yorker)

Labels: David Sedaris, Election

10/21/2008 08:50:00 PM   •  

Wired Magazine Suggests Bloggers Give Up the Fight 

Amit Agarwal: "The current issue of Wired Magazine carries some provocative advice for bloggers – shut down your blogs and take refuge in places like Twitter, Flickr or YouTube.

The reasoning is that stand-alone bloggers can’t keep up with a team of pro writers, like Engadget or The Huffington Post, who crank out up to 30 posts a day." (Digital Inspiration)

Yes, but that's not why we weblog...

Related

• Kill your blog, says Valleywag blogger ... in print

Labels: Blog, Blogging

10/21/2008 06:44:00 PM   •  

Over to You, Joe 

Lieberman, Palin, and Democrats: "Lieberman's future is partly a question of math — as in, will Democrats win enough Senate seats to gain a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority, and if they do, will Lieberman represent that 60th vote? But it's also partly a question of clubby intangibles inside the Senate. The guy may have irritated a lot of liberals in 2008, and even a lot of Democrats in the Senate, but he's been on Capitol Hill for 20 years, and, although people may wish they could forget it now, he was on the party's national ticket in 2000. In the end, how far will longtime friends want to push him to hold him accountable for supporting McCain?" (Salon)

Related (Think Progress)

• Specter: Lieberman is 'practically' voting as a Republican already.


• Michael Moore responds to Lieberman.


• Lieberman sings a song in response to calls for his ouster.


• Reid boots Lieberman from party lunches. (Updated)


• Rove 'Waffles' On Whether He Asked Lieberman To Drop Out Of VP Consideration

Labels: Joe Lieberman

10/21/2008 07:36:00 AM   •  

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Big Necessity 

Manure, a field in Randers in Denmark

"The story of civilization has been the story of separating you from your waste. British investigative journalist Rose George's stunning—and nauseating—new book opens by explaining that a single gram of feces can contain 'ten million viruses, one million bacteria, one thousand parasite cysts, and one hundred worm eggs.' Accidentally ingesting this cocktail causes 80 percent of all the sickness on earth." (Slate)

10/20/2008 08:56:00 PM   •  

Happy Birthday, Robert Pinsky 

Robert PinskyPinsky: "The longer I live, the more I see there's something about reciting rhythmical words aloud — it's almost biological — that comforts and enlivens human beings." (via Garrison Keillor)

First Things to Hand
by Robert Pinsky

In the skull kept on the desk.
In the spider-pod in the dust.

Or nowhere. In milkmaids, in loaves,
Or nowhere. And if Socrates leaves

His house in the morning,
When he returns in the evening

He will find Socrates waiting
On the doorstep. Buddha the stick

You use to clear the path,
And Buddha the dog-doo you flick

Away with it, nowhere or in each
Several thing you touch:

The dollar bill, the button
That works the television.

Even in the joke, the three
Words American men say

After making love. Where’s
The remote? In the tears

In things, proximate, intimate.
In the wired stem with root

And leaf nowhere of this lamp:
Brass base, aura of illumination,

Enlightenment, shade of grief.
Odor of the lamp, brazen.

The mind waiting in the mind
As in the first thing to hand.

Labels: Poetry, Robert Pinsky

10/20/2008 09:18:00 AM   •  

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Colin Powell Endorses Obama 

"Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will be voting for Sen. Barack Obama. 'He has both style and substance. I think he is a transformational figure,' Powell said on NBC's Meet the Press." (HuffPo)

During the Republican convention, I recall, Powell's name had been leaked as a leading contender for McCain's vice presidential pick. The buzz is that, while most endorsements don't mean squat, this one may well be influential. Newt Gingrich, of all people, says that Powell's comments pretty much put the end to the "experience gap" issue that has been the dilemma of many undecided voters. And what is perhaps even more telling about Powell's statement on Meet the Press, often not reported in the soundbites, was his criticism of the bankruptcy of the Republican party.

Labels: Barack Obama, Colin Powell, John McCain

10/19/2008 11:45:00 AM   •  

Dissecting Cindy McCain's private world 

Glenn GreenwaldGlenn Greenwald writes in Salon about the New York Times gossip-rag-style profile:

"It's true that the Right -- which built a cottage industry of low-life dirt-peddlers that persists to this day out of sleazily digging into every facet of the Clintons' private lives, and then became voracious amplifiers of National Enquirer during the Edwards scandal -- has very little standing to complain here, since they helped spawn these invasions. And none of this has anything to do specifically with Cindy McCain, since the treatment to which she's subjected here is, by now, anything but unique (though remarkably little interest was displayed when it came to digging into what was, by all accounts, the rich and ample hedonism of George W. Bush's pre-"born-again" life).

But it seems rather obvious that there are now basically no journalistic standards left for determining when a political figure's private life (or even that of their spouse) is "relevant" -- apparently, it's all relevant now, down to the last tawdry detail. In partiuclar, adultery (without regard to whether the spouse consents) is, without any further consideration, a legitimate topic to report. That inevitably has to lead to an even further erosion (if that's possible) of our political class, a further narrowing of the people willing to enter politics. And the vast disparity between the media resources and attention devoted to sleazy gossip like this versus actual investigation of true government corruption and crime seems to be growing by the day, such that behavior like this will further decay our already quite decadent journalistic class as well."

Labels: Cindy McCain, Glenn Greenwald, John McCain

10/19/2008 09:31:00 AM   •