Going Home: Part 1

I'm going to shortly (3 weeks) be back in Florida & in November is the election for state governor. I hadn't thought about this too much until I saw Bill McCollum's bid to win the Teabag vote by proposing a law on illegal immigration - that has the potential to use racial profiling in it's inforcement . (The proposal would require police to check a suspected illegal immigrant's status while enforcing other laws - BBC News)

So I've started researching the alternative candidates -Alex Sink, the Democratic front runner seems to be liked by several of my friends on Facebook. Friends, I might add, whose opinions I respect - but there is a third candidate, someone that needs a closer look - Michael Arth And his blog is here.

I suppose I should mention the other Republican candidate, Lex Luthor umm, Rick Scott Looking at his strong stance on issues, the word bigot comes to mind.

Face It

A few weeks ago I opened a Facebook account. Why? Because I'm about to move back to the States & want to re-connect with many of my friends that I came to know through-out my life. I'm amazed at & humbled by those whom I have found & who actually remembered me, then still wanted to add me to their list of friends.

Of course there is one fly in the ointment - the friend who is now a fundalmental creationist. His first remark on my Wall was:

"Hey Mike, glad you connected after all these years.....after reading your page I find we may have some spirited debates (or not) :) about spiritual things. I'm an ardent Christian creationist. Let the fun begin :))"

Now I'm sorry, I don't think it's fun to 'debate' an 'ardent' Christian - I'd rather bang my head against a brick wall. You can't reason with those that prefer blind faith over evidence. After a couple of tries on his part to suck me into a 'debate' I rather stridently told him:

"I'm not going to be drawn into a battle between faith & reason. I am using my FB profile to find old friends & catch up on their lives, to let them catch up on mine.

There are other pages for debating this. It's not going to happen here."


I truly get annoyed with the fundy Christians that want try to convert me. I grew up in a household with a father that was a Southern Baptist preacher. I can see both sides of the argument & I can't see any evidence for, or any reason to believe in a creator.

The Bowl of Contention

When my wife and I were still living together I had left the lid/seat up on the toilet 4 or 5 times in those 5 years. I would receive hours - sometimes days of verbal abuse over it. Now don't get me wrong, I don't believe in leaving them up and there is at least one good reason not to. Here are some reasons that come to my mind.

1. The next person using it might fall in.

2. According to feng shui
- you're flushing all your money away.

3. Millions of bacteria are spread by an aerosol effect.

Guess which one she chose to gone on about. Yep - #2 - I was causing us to lose money by some mystical bit of woo. Never mind the amount of money she wasted spent on magical crystals that were to bring us luck & wealth.

What is it I believe is the good reason? Well not #1 - anyone who sits down with out checking first can only blame themselves for the results. (Yes - I did that very thing just the other night)

Number 3 however is a very good reason - as putting the lid down limits the amount of contaminants spread by the aerosol effect. Think about it next time you put that toothbrush in your mouth. Please click on the title for a link to a NY Times article for more about this subject.

Now - if I could just get my flatmates to put the lid down........



Addendum: It appears my wife's view of feng shui toilet practice may be wrong, according to at least one site on this subject - the seat should be down, with the lid up.

To quote the feng shui hippo:

The Feng Shui of the Toilet Lid

The feng shui of toilets is very important, toilets are the gaping bowels of your lovely home.

Consider the Seat down, lid down toilet: the ancient art of Feng Shui teaches that a low seat means low energy, hence low qi. Not a happy feng shui toilet!

Seat down and lid up: the energy is rising! feng shui is rising...

Lid up and Seat up: happy feng shui - The wise should be wary of the lady of the house who counsels in favor of toilet seats in the down position! The Ancients have been leaving seats up for thousands of years!

Of course, woo is woo and neither one of these conflicting feng shui ideas are or can be scientifically proven, making them worthless. Just put the lid down and reduce the contamination - that has been researched and shows some validity. It isn't "lid up: the energy is rising! feng shui is rising..." but "lid up: the bacteria is rising! fecal matter is rising..."

Easter

In one way, celebrated by thousands of children, hunting for boiled & colored eggs. The eggs were co-opted by the Christian religion to symbolize the resurrection of Christ, but the egg has a more ancient meaning. One of re-birth.

This year I'm celebrating my re-birth/resurrection of my obsession with photography. Many years back I had 'developed' a love of photography, I was in the service and film/processing was relatively cheap, but after I had my cameras and photos stolen from storage I wasn't so enthusiastic. Finally in the late 90's I started buying cameras again and taking pics, however due to the high cost of getting the film processed, I didn't take near the amount of photos as before. The cost killed the passion.

Last year - in March I was laid off (made redundant, as they say over here) and I took my check - purchased a decent dSLR (went to work with a temp service so I wouldn’t starve) and over the year I have finally rekindled my love. With well over 2,ooo images on Flickr, I would say it's an obsession - maybe even an addiction. I do go through withdrawal if I forget to take a camera out and shoot an image.

No - my photos aren't works of art - but I do love trying.

Happy Easter everyone - no matter why (or how) you celebrate it.

On Religion & Politics

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Robert A. Heinlein

Bringing an End to Public Funding of Quack Medicine

If you think homeopathy is harmless (the potions are either
just plain water or sugar pills) then think of this
the NHS spends money on these so-called remedies. (The Government doesn't know exactly how much, but estimates are in the millions.)
This is money that could be used to pay for life saving drugs
that are being denied to cancer patients & others
because the NHS deem the treatments too expensive.
If that doesn't convince you - think about the
emergency rooms that are being closed across the
nation due to a lack of enough funds.
Please look at the report just released by the
Parliament Science & Technology Select Committee here:

http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/science_technology/s_t_homeopathy_inquiry.

If you are a resident or citizen of the UK - Please
sign the petition.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/nohomeopathy/>

The petition was created by Dave Cross and reads:

'We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Implement
the recommendations of the House Commons Science and Technology
committee evidence check on Homeopathy.'

Thanks to 10:23 for the email updates.
http://www.1023.org.uk/

UPDATE: NHS Scotland has withdrawn the funding. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11475061

There's Nothing in it:

Further to my last post - I decided to email Boots to find out what kind of 'interactions' there may be between paracetamol & homeopathic remedies.


Here are copies of the emails:

From me:

I read the info sheet in a package of paracetamol caplets and on the sheet it said: If you are unsure about interactions with any other medicines, talk to your pharmacist. This includes medicines prescribed by your doctor and medicine you have bought, including herbal and homeopathic remedies. What kind of interactions could there be with homeopathic remedies? Those 'remedies' are either sugar pills or water.
Many thanks
Michael Mills

From Boots:

Dear Michael

Thank you for taking the time to write to me regarding the interactions statement on the leaflet for Boots Paracetamol 500 mg Caplets (PL 17907/0001). Boots Paracetamol 500 mg Caplets are a licensed medicine and as such the labelling of the product is reviewed and approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (known as the MHRA), which is the UK medicines regulator. The statement referring to "medicines prescribed by your doctor and medicine you have bought for yourself, including herbal and homoeopathic remedies" is a statutory statement that must be included in the leaflet to alert users of the product to potential interactions with medicines obtained from a variety of sources. Therefore, the statutory statement is designed to alert the user to inform the Healthcare Professional, such as a Pharmacist or Doctor, of all concurrent medication as it is the responsibility of the Healthcare Professional to review the potential for interactions between medicines and advise the user accordingly. I hope that this information is of use to you.

Regards

Paul Williams MRPharmS

Medical Information (Pharmacist) Officer

Medical Services

Notice - no answer to my question on interactions.

Next (short & sweet) from me:

Dear Paul Williams MRPharmS So as a pharmicist - can you tell me what potential interactions there may be with homeopathic remedies?

Thanks
Mike Mills

Boots' (Paul's) reply:

Dear Michael

Thank you for you further e-mail regarding the leaflet for Boots Paracetamol 500 mg Caplets (PL 17907/0001) and interactions with homoeopathic remedies. I am afraid that although I am a Pharmacist when acting as a Medical Information Officer for a Marketing Authorisation (or license) holder I am obliged to only answer specific enquiries relating to Boots Brand licensed medicines from the clinical information that we hold on file. I can confirm that according to the clinical information we hold on file for Boots Paracetamol 500 mg Caplets (PL 17907/0001) no interactions with Homoeopathic remedies have been reported. However, the clinical information is based on information derived from reports made by Healthcare Professionals and from literature searches. Therefore, although no interactions have been reported this does not mean that the potential for an interaction to occur can be ruled out. Therefore, it is important that users of the product, if concerned about interactions, are directed to speak to a Healthcare Professional about all concurrent medication who can review all of the available data and make a judgment for an individual. If you wish to speak to a Pharmacist in general about interactions with Homoeopathic remedies then of course you can speak to a Boots Pharmacist in store who can give you personal medical advice.
Regards
Paul Williams MRPharmS

Medical Information (Pharmacist) Officer

Medical Services

Bit worried now that he said ' I am a Pharmacist when acting as a Medical Information Officer'. I wonder what he is when not acting as a Medical Information Officer.

My last (so far) email:

Hi again and thanks for being prompt in your replies.
Should I be concerned then that there may be interactions between paracetamol and milk (lactose), sugar or water? I only want a bit of clarification on this as homeopathic remedies are diluted so much that the only thing left in the water used in making these, is water. The pills themselves are either made of lactose or sugar.

Again many thanks
Mike Mills

Am waiting for the next reply.

Of course there can't be interactions with the unless it is an interaction with lactose or sugar, because in homeopathy - there's nothing in it!

Photo above is from the 10:23 mass overdosing at Red Lion Square, London - 30 Jan 10