Later On

I figured we needed a break, and a member of ShaveMyFace.com pointed out this:

Just back from CHOMP, where I delivered to The Wife a nightgown, her iPhone cable to recharge it, and Blue Blood, which she’s been reading.

The hospitalist came by to see her—a new term to me, it means a GP who works at the hospital and sees patients whose PCP is not affiliated with the hospital. Some findings: she’s low in potassium because of her high fluid intake, and she’ll need potassium supplements (and/or eating foods high in potassium). He also thought that she would not need surgery, but she may not get home until Sunday.

In the meantime they’re continuing to soak her hand and redress and giving her antibiotics IV. The hospitalist said that there was no real reason she had to stay at the hospital: she could just come in twice a day for the treatment, but insurance will not pay unless the patient is an in-patient, occupying a bed. The insurance companies have a high degree of control over medical practice and (as you see) that control can be costly.

I had a list of food to get at Whole Foods, but then Nob Hill does have organic vegetables available, and so far as I know the CEO of Nob Hill doesn’t despise my values. So I got everything there.

Megs has been scratching a lot, so when she was lying relaxed by the sliding door, I petted her and also stealthily squeezed a tube of Advantage onto the back of her neck. She hates that stuff and immediately went to top-shelf hiding place in the closet to sulk. I just heard her get down and complain. She gets over her mad about Advantage in a few hours, and the fleas will all be dead by tomorrow.

So now I have to stay home this afternoon because Amazon sent my Bluetooth mouse as "Signature required." It’s a $34 item, after all. Can’t take any chances.

Take a look at this post: ingenious, efficient, and free.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods (which at times seems to be a heads-up organization) has just published a poorly reasoned op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that reveals, among other things, that he has a very poor grasp of the healthcare problem, has some simplistic "solutions" that barely deserve print, and really despises the views of most of his customers. What can you do?

Well, one thing I can do is carefully evaluate whether my food dollars are well spent at Whole Foods and shop when possible at alternative stores—Nob Hill, Trader Joe’s, and so on. And I will be doing that. If the stock drops enough, perhaps the board will boot Mackey, who can go into politics full-time, and hire a CEO whose focus will be Whole Foods, not Right-wing politics.

Looks like anti-US militias are gaining strength in the US. I wonder if they know what they’re doing is treason (taking up arms against the US government). Here’s a story by Arthur Bright in the Christian Science Monitor:

Right-wing militia groups are on the rise in the United States after nearly a decade of obscurity, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors hate groups and extremist activity.

The report, released Wednesday, warns of “unmistakable signs of a revival of what in the 1990s was commonly called the militia movement.”

Militia rhetoric is being heard widely once more, often from a second generation of ideologues, and conspiracy theories are being energetically revived or invented anew. “Paper terrorism” — the use of property liens, bogus legal documents and “citizens’ grand juries” to attack enemies and, sometimes, reap illegal fortunes — is again proliferating, to the point where the government has set up special efforts to rein in so-called “tax defiers” and to track threats against judges….

Militia training events, huge numbers of which are now viewable on YouTube videos, are spreading. One federal agency estimates that 50 new militia training groups have sprung up in less than two years. Sales of guns and ammunition have skyrocketed amid fears of new gun control laws, much as they did in the 1990s.

The report also cites a range of events and reports as evidence for the purported upswing in militia activities, including the murders of six law enforcement officials over the last several months by those espousing anti-government, racist, or pro-militia beliefs. It also singles out the June shooting of a National Holocaust Museum guard by James Von Brunn, who had ties to white supremacist groups, as The Christian Science Monitor reported.

The SPLC report also claims that with the election of Barack Obama to the head of the US government, which militias typically perceive as their enemy, the messages of militias, not traditionally focused on racial hatred, have taken on racial undertones.

Read the rest of this entry »

I really am getting the feeling that Israel — the government, not all the Israelis by a long shot — has decided that the Palestinians must be eliminated by one means or another: pushed aside, starved into submission, killed, driven out of the land, whatever. A story by Josh Mitnick in the Christian Scientist Monitor:

In the final days before his infantry platoon entered Gaza last January against Hamas, "M." and his reservist buddies were approached by a representative of the military rabbinate. Would they be interested in a chat with a military clergyman during a break in training?

With no objections, they were introduced to a "Rabbi Chen," dressed in civilian clothes and red-bearded, who told the soldiers that "holiness of the people of Israel" would keep them safe.

The chat marked a more concerted effort by chief rabbi Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki and the military rabbinate – traditionally simply a provider of such services as kosher food – to reach the hearts and minds of soldiers. But what disturbed M., who requested anonymity for fear of a court martial, was what he saw as a violation of the army’s code of ethics and ideological agnosticism.

Beyond charges of misconduct and war crimes, Israel’s recent war in Gaza against Hamas fanned accusations that Mr. Rontzki is trying to remake the soldiers in his own hard-line religious nationalist image. At stake, critics warn, is the possible politicization of a military built as a people’s army above the political fray.

"All these activities of the chief rabbi totally contradict the norms and morals of our army. We were raised on a humanistic army," says Ran Cohen, a former parliamentarian from the secular left-wing party, Meretz. "The minute our soldier will be educated as an antihumanistic soldier, it will destroy his moral resolve. That is why it is dangerous, because it can change the character of the army."

Beyond love of country, the core values of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) stress human dignity, life, and purity of arms – concepts meant to restrain force against noncombatants as well as proportionality.

But Chen said that "we should remember that this war is not just a regular war. It’s the war of the children of light against the children of darkness…. My first interpretation was that we are fighting a messianic war," says M., a reserve combat medic who hails from an Orthodox Jewish community in a West Bank settlement. "For me, that completely contradicts the codes of war I learned as a young soldier. Those ideals were dear to me."

Soon after the war, the liberal Haaretz newspaper published excerpts from a pamphlet available in military synagogues that featured quotes from rabbinical scholars who argued that Palestinians were tantamount to foreigners and that soldiers should show no mercy to "the cruel." …

Continue reading.

A report by Christopher Flavelle of ProPublica:

Back in July, a software company named Smartronix [1] landed an $18 million contract to build a Web site where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money. It was just another part of the Obama administration’s ongoing effort to bring transparency to stimulus spending, we were told.

But it seems the drive for transparency doesn’t cover the contract itself.

After weeks of prodding by ProPublica and other organizations, the General Services Administration released copies of the contract and related documents that are so heavily blacked out they are virtually worthless.

Don’t believe us? Take a look. [2]

ProPublica sought the contract under the Freedom of Information Act to find out what kind of site Smartronix planned to build and to assess whether it justified the cost, which Republican critics of the stimulus plan called “unreal.” [3]

Ed Pound, the director of communications for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, defended the redactions as “legitimate.” The Web site Smartronix is to build will replace Recovery.gov [4], the existing stimulus Web portal run by the transparency board.

“I’m not concerned about whether journalists are concerned about this,” Pound said. “We have been very transparent.”

The GSA declined to comment, but said in its response to ProPublica’s FOIA request that such redactions were allowed if material “involves substantial risk of competitive injury” to a contractor.

But the blacked-out information includes material that seems harmless to the company, such as the names and backgrounds of key personnel [2] and the number of visitors expected [5] by the site during traffic spikes.

Some sections of the contract were redacted in their entirety. They include:

• the project’s management structure [17];
• something called the “Strategic Advisory Council [18]”;
• quality assurance [19] procedures;
• five pages on user experience [20];
• site navigation [21];
• four unidentified pages [22] on which everything, even section headings, have been redacted;
• every single piece of information in the document’s pricing table [23], including function, vendor, model, part ID, detail and quantity;
• the contract’s warranty agreement [24].

In all, 25 pages of a 59-page technical proposal — the main document in the package — were redacted completely. Of the remaining pages, 14 had half or more of their content blacked out.

The secrecy drew criticism from government transparency watchdogs…

Continue reading. Footnotes can be found at the link.

We’ve not had good luck with Obama’s promises. He tends to make them and then forgets about them, and in fact sometimes does the opposite of what he promised (e.g., voting for telecom immunity after promising that he would not—pretty flagrant). The Drug Policy Alliance brings up another example: after promising that the DEA will leave alone medical marijuana that’s legal under state law, they’re starting the raids again:

Why is this still happening?

Federal and local agents raided two Los Angeles-area medical marijuana dispensaries this week.  During the raids, agents arrested the owner of the dispensaries, seized property and money, and shot a dog.

Why is the Justice Department still using Bush-era tactics to go after medical marijuana providers when, as a presidential candidate, Obama declared medical marijuana raids a waste of federal resources?  Are you as outraged as I am?  Ask Congress to end this ongoing federal interference by legalizing medical marijuana.

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) has introduced legislation to legalize marijuana for medical use.  Tell Congress you support safe and legal access to medical marijuana.  Write to your representative today.

Here’s the nest I made yesterday afternoon while Megs was still in hiding:

Here’s Megs about 15 seconds after she discovered the nest:

And somewhat later, as I was going to bed:

As you can see, she slowly spins in place about a central axis.

As always, click photos to enlarge.

Got a call from The Wife around 6:30. (I’m an early riser, so I was awake.) They very much needed to see all the meds she was taking and exact dosages, so I got up, collected the meds, and headed out to CHOMP.

She said she didn’t get to her room (private, very nice, with a view of the woods out the windows) until around 3:00 this morning. She did get more antibiotic IV drips, along with some morphine, which she says is just amazing. They inject it somewhat slowly to avoid the head rush, and the main effect she noticed was how her muscles (somewhat knotted from tension, etc.) suddenly started relaxing—very weird feeling, she said.

The plastic surgeon came in very early to look at her hand in case surgery was needed. He didn’t think it would be: the infections are responding to the antibiotics and her hand and arm look much better today. The left hand is totally okay now, so far as feeling goes, and the right hand’s problem is mainly her index finger and through her palm and up her arm a bit.

The staff at CHOMP are incredibly pleasant, and the nurse even brought her a cup of Starbuck’s coffee (which the nursing staff makes for itself). She’s getting good care.

I informed our PCP that she was in the hospital and wouldn’t be seeing him today. The receptionist said that the hospital would probably want her to see him when she checks out, and I said that would be a good idea if it were possible to see him, but when we tried before he wouldn’t see her because she was a little late for the appointment and he left. It flew right on the receptionist’s head.

I’ll be going back to take her a gown, charging cord for the iPhone, book, and so on. She’ll be staying another night.

I postponed Megs’s vet appointment until Monday, but since she’s been scratching more than usual I did squirt a little tube of Advantage on the back of her neck, which she detests. But it was done before she realized.

Very nice shave this morning, courtesy of Eddie from Australia. He sent me the shaving cream in the photo, and the Omega 48 Pro did a fine job generating the lather: I squirted a bit of the shaving cream down the center of the wet brush, worked it a bit in my cupped palm, and then brought up the lather on my face. The Fat Boy did a very fine job, and Alt Innsbruck was a fine finish.

Last night the doctor at the hospital told us to see our Primary Care Physician today and have him change the dressing and check for signs of infection. When I called to make the appointment, the only time available was 3:30, which seemed doable since The Wife had a dental appointment in the adjacent office at 3:00. Of course, she’d be a little late, but since we regularly sit waiting in the doctor’s waiting room beyond our appointment time, we thought that would be okay.

But in the event, she was 20 minutes late (3:50) and the doctor wanted to leave so the receptionist would not allow us to see him. And tomorrow’s he’s booked, so she said we could come in Monday.

We were annoyed, and we thought we’d call him tomorrow and try to see him. But at midnight The Wife noticed a red patch growing up her arm, and one finger was swelled beyond the others. We went immediately to the ER again—new crew tonight—and she is being kept overnight so they can get two antibiotic IV drips into her, and in the meantime are doing blood cultures for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.

Megs in the meantime is adjusting to life in the apartment again. Late this evening, I was just sitting the chair more or less dozing, and Megs climbs up for another squish. When she was still missing, I had a little grieving spell that sort of surprised me—I was keeping emotions at arm’s length, but they sneaked up on me. So tonight, having admitted to myself just how much I had missed her and how happy I am now that she’s back, I was somehow more open to her, and just massaged her back and sides, and rubbed the flat top of her little head—especially one spot there that she especially liked—without any sense of distraction. I was enjoying it because she was so clearly responding more herself, purring more loudly and getting more and more relaxed, and pushing her head against my hand for more rubbing. Finally I stopped, and she lay quietly for a while, then got down and walked over to the little rug in front of the TV and flopped on her side just totally relaxed.

In the afternoon, while she was hiding in the closet, I had made a nest for her in the corner of the sofa, using the lap quilt. After she lay on the floor a while, she spotted the nest, and immediately got up into it and squeezed herself into a little circle—I had deliberately made the nest rather small, since she likes that. She spent the rest of the evening there. Photos here.

So everything’s going well except for The Wife’s infection.

Do NOT miss the eponymous documentary, Anita O’Day. It is absolutely fantastic, and when you’ve watched it, I guarantee that you will be buying some of her CDs. This one is a must-see for people who like music.

She stayed in her spot at the top of the closet all morning, but by afternoon she came out, had a snack, climbed up on my chest rather hesitantly, got back down and sat on the chair arm a while, sneaking glances at me, then climbed up on my chest again and sat down. I started gently squishing her and she totally relaxed and lay down. After just a couple of minutes, she got up, walked down to my lap, and stretched out and fell asleep immediately.

I had to leave on various errands—one was seeing the endocrinologist, who said my HbA1c was 6.0%, better than last time’s 6.1%. In fact, everything was good—cholesterol, lipids, kidney function, etc.—except my weight. He said my weight is bad, and he wants me to lose weight and do exercise. The Eldest had a good idea: get a personal trainer who’s still a student and can use the money, but charges relatively low rates. Then you have someone who will push you a bit and also an appointment to keep. She said, "You wouldn’t skip your meds, and exercise is one of your meds." Good point.

When I got back to the apartment around 5:00, Megs was back up in the closet. I unpacked groceries and by the time I was settled in my chair she was back in the living room, talking to me. I think if I’m not around she is, for the time being, playing it safe by hiding in the closet. If I’m here, she feels safe enough to come out.

Eventually, I imagine, she will regain her confidence.

Enjoyable mystery: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley. Quite wonderful.

Summer is the ideal time for Ceviche, and Simply Recipes has a good-looking recipe, which I’ll make this weekend. Here’s how it looks:

And here’s what’s in it:

• 2 lbs of firm, fresh red snapper fillets (or other firm-fleshed fish), cut into 1/2 inch pieces, completely deboned
• 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• 1 cup of chopped fresh seeded tomatoes
• 1 serrano chili, seeded and finely diced
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• Dash of ground oregano
• Dash of Tabasco or a light pinch of cayenne pepper

• Cilantro
• Avocado
• Tortillas or tortilla chips

It takes only 15 minutes to make, so let’s all make some. We should be eating more fish, anyway. Here’s the recipe.

Here’s one example by Dion Nissenbaum in McClatchy:

Israeli soldiers battling Hamas militants last winter in Gaza opened fire on at least seven groups of Palestinian civilians who were carrying white flags, killing 11 people, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday.

During the three-week conflict, the U.S.-based human rights group says, Israeli soldiers in separate parts of Gaza killed five women, four children and two men as they used white flags to try to escape the battle zone.

The report raises new questions about the actions of Israeli soldiers during the military offensive. A United Nations investigation into possible war crimes continues. McClatchy documented in January one of the instances that Thursday’s report outlines.

"The Israeli military needs to investigate," said Fred Abrahams, a Human Rights Watch investigator who conducted research in Gaza on some of the cases. "We want the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to get to the bottom of it."

The Israeli military did not address the specific cases, but stated that carrying a white flag does not always shield someone from attack.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sounds like an interesting book:

Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science

by Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano

A review by Katie Schneider

You may have heard the saga of the seafaring Nikes. On May 27, 1990, a cargo vessel en route to Los Angeles hit a sudden storm. Five containers of Nike shoes washed overboard. The next winter, shoes showed up on Vancouver Island beaches.

As winds shifted, so did the path of the Nikes, until thousands landed on the Oregon coast. The phenomena caught the attention of oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer. Using tracking numbers on the shoes combined with information provided by Nike, he began to chart the precise path the shoes had taken, thus beginning a midlife specialty in floating objects.

In Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession With Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science, Ebbesmeyer teams up with Seattle science writer Eric Scigliano to deliver a compelling story of the ocean and what it means to us. Ebbesmeyer shows how the continents have always been connected. Materials like coconuts and bamboo have floated from one place to another. Columbus knew it. So did the Vikings and the Greeks. It’s only lately that we’ve come to understand that floating objects travel through great whorls called gyres, where they can sometimes be stuck for decades or more.

Nowadays the gyres are collecting garbage, …

Continue reading.

I blogged earlier about the Rocket Stove, and now it looks as though they are commercially available.

I never understood this until Scott Feldstein explained.

Les Paul was a true "great," both for his music and his technological innovation. The NY Times obit is here, and here’s a clip of Les Paul and Mary Ford: