Monday, December 17, 2007

here come the earth intruders / we are the paratroopers

First it was the polar bears...
Chagrin and Bear It
Melting sea ice makes polar bears starve, drown

Travel agents hawking trips to the Arctic have been boasting lately of an increased likelihood that tourists will see polar bears -- because starving bears are encroaching on human settlements to scavenge for food. Polar bears have traditionally used ice floes to hunt seals, their favored prey -- but Arctic ice, in case you hadn't heard, is melting. According to new research in the journal Arctic, the spring hunting season for polar bears has been reduced by nearly three weeks in some places, causing female bears to gain up to 175 pounds less than normal. Far from enjoying their slender physiques, the skinny bears are more susceptible to disease and have diminished reproductive capabilities, and their cubs are less likely to survive. In 1980, the average weight of an adult female polar bear in western Hudson Bay was 650 pounds; in 2004, it was 507 pounds. The Arctic study warns that the risk posed to polar bears by global warming is potentially irreversible. How's that for a Monday downer?



Now it is the walruses...

I Was the Walrus
Walruses trampled as a result of climate change -- no, seriously

Here's a climate-change impact you don't think about every day: trampled walruses. When walruses get tired of swimming, they clamber onto sea ice to rest. With ice in increasingly short supply above the Arctic Circle, walruses are huddling on shore in extremely high numbers. The tusky animals are prone to stampede at the appearance of a polar bear, hunter, or low-flying airplane, and those stampedes are proving increasingly deadly as the walruses cluster in denser groups. More than 3,000 are estimated to have been trampled to death by their panicky peers this past year. Boo boo g'joob.

source: Associated Press


And some people are too lazy to even recycle....

Friday, December 14, 2007

Sidenote: I used to live alone. I never got lonely. Now Kellie is out of town and the apartment is scary! Only children: bred to live in solitude until their imaginations drive them mad!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

The leaders and the best

I'm taking a break from my intense studying to report on how incredible and noteworthy my University is. There are many famous people who hail from Michigan. Sure, the first folks to come to mind might be Gerald Ford, Michael Phelps, or the guy who did Darth Vader's voice... But, I'm here to mention two others who have graduated from this fine institution, the first whose birthday is the day following mine, and the second whose birthday precedes mine by a day.





Dr. Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski, M.S., Ph.D Mathematics
a.k.a. The Unabomber, Prisoner Number 04475-046.

He was the hobbit and mail bomber extraordinairre who was the victim of one of the FBI's most expensive goose chases ever. After killing 3 and wounding 23 victims while providing false clues for authorities, he was finally sentenced to life in prison when his own brother turned him in. Disagreeing with modern society, thus targeting predominantly scientists due to the progressive nature of research, he composed a manifesto entitled "The Industrial Society and Its Future" that challenged the notion of the construct of our society and predicted it would collapse on itself within time. He tried to hang himself after he was caught, but that didn't work out so instead he's locked in jail forever.



Dr. Kevorkian, M.D. Pathology
a.k.a. Dr. Death

Medical ethicist and doctor of assisted suicide in Michigan (which, I should point out, is legal in certain contexts in the State of Oregon, I believe). He was only charged on one count of second-degree murder because he had his patients carry out their own demise in order to avoid this. But, on video tape for the court, he challenged the notion of classroom medical ethics (citing archiac and unjust laws) by giving the lethal injection to just one patient, who was in his final stages of ALS.

Kevorkian was sentenced to lots of jail time, but was released due to his own failing health. Of course, his medical license was revoked. But, he's still alive and occasionally doing TV appearances.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

i tell 'em all i want for chistmas is two gold front teeth and ten carat diamonds on a fat gold wreath

When I graduate and get another real job, I'm going to learn how to sew in my spare time. Then... then I will make myself a cape, and some dresses. I really want a kimono dress with a funky pattern.

Maybe someday I can be a normal person and not always have to wear a thousand layers, so I can wear more stylish clothing. I'm really rooting for this B12 and Iron regimen to take effect. I learned that a B12 deficiency creates problems with memory. Maybe that explains a few things about me...

Completely unrelated, I've been listening to a Detroit hip hop station (95.5) for far too long today. I am fairly certain that they are more repetitive than KDWB. Don't get me wrong, I love Alicia Keys, but I have heard this song ("No One") at least 6 times so far in the last few hours.

Another brief topic, I can't wait until Stardust comes out on DVD because a) I love, love, love Neil Gaiman, and b) I managed to miss seeing it in the theater.

Um, lastly... Why is Ludacris doing Christmas music? I do not approve.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Mamma, mamma I'm coming home....

One down, three to go...

I finished pathophys yesterday; now I'm devoting the rest of today to my HMP paper so that'll be finished. Epid final on Friday and biostat next Wed, then I will be homeward bound.

I love epidemiology. It's such a neat field, with numerous components. Yes, there's the usual infectious disease stuff, and cancer rates, and blah blah, but we had a lecture on the future of epidemiology and how it needs to become more socially-based. There's this balance that needs to be met concerning how people view themselves and reminding them that they are within a population. It made me thinking about universal health care and our legal system and what rights people do and do not have. For instance, in the United State, people are guaranteed the right to smoke a million cigarettes a day, but aren't guaranteed health care. Now, maybe this is a good thing -- people who make the effort to destroy their health maybe shouldn't be treated with the care and concern in a health setting that those people who eat well, exercise, and choose not to smoke and overly-consume alcohol. But, maybe this says something about the direction in which our country needs to find itself.

We don't have the rights to smoke pot or do crack (legally), yet it's okay to fill our body with the 40-some carcinogens in a single cigarette. Maybe that's something legislators need to consider while simultaneously considering human physiology and the effects on cigarettes in every single organ system within our bodies... From glaucoma to cardiovascular disease, these substances are not okay. Yet, our politicians consistently let those tobacco lobbiests pay them off to keep people smoking...

Yes, politics is complicated. It takes patience and baby-stepping to work toward any positive laws for society (yet, the second our president wants to take away our privacy rights because of a few terroristic threats, the Big Boys are all about it...).

Anyway, I guess my big thought it onto universal health care, which I think is a very important goal for our country. I think we all have the right to life (as was stated in our Declaration of Independence), and part of that is having the means to protect our lives. I would like to see laws passed that go on to protect our safety through health and environmental steps. This needs to happen QUICKLY, as there is more and more of a divide between rich and poor, the privileged and hose without. Perhaps the end goal is far from sight, but there are so many changes that could be made in the way our population lives.

My first proposal is adequate health education. The main target here would be school-children. I remember being in elementary school and learning to recycle and little health issues and thinking it was so neat. If kids can get interested early, it's possible that they can take these ideas home and engage their parents. They need to learn about living safely -- everything from practicing safe sex, washing their hands, and eating whole grains and vegetables, to recycling and not wasting energy. Health has so many factors -- personal, social, and environmental -- that it's necessary to educate children about these early so they can start making wise decisions for how they live their lives early.

Also, within education, parents need to be educated too. This can come from community-wide meetings and health fairs that are easily accessible to all, and especially those who would have access issues like the poor. Parents need to know exactly why certain things are bad for them and their children. I took pathophysiology and learned more than just "smoking is bad, mmmkay." I learned WHY it's bad and HOW it affects your body. Parents need to understand this about major risk factors -- diet, smoking, alcohol. It's really scary to think that even just one night of crazy drinking pays a huge toll on your liver. Some of these children are raised by alcoholic parents, or parents who smoke around the house. NOT OKAY. Even kids who don't like their parents much still take a lot of habits from the way they were raised and apply them to their own lifestyles.

Obviously, not just parents and children, but the general population needs to be educated. People need to step out of ignorance on health and health issues and learn what's going on with their bodies and what sort of diseases and illnesses they need to worry about. They also need to learn not to worry -- because I see that a lot of people run rampant with information if it's misunderstood and create a pandemonium of fear and outrage. Not okay. This is why health education needs to be integrated in a constructive way throughout communities, with educators coming in and really understanding a community's beliefs. People within that community need to be trained to be educators, too, so that they are accessible and approachable. There needs to be huge lines of communication.

I see that only when an extensive educational process throughout our entire country occurs can changes really begin to start to take place. Maybe around the this time is when a system for universal health care should be implemented... Because people will have more knowledge to treat themselves better.

Of course there are huge economic issues that will have to be taken care of, and it needs to be understood that the first generation or two using this health care system will be very expensive. But if the education keeps occurring and the health system really changes to benefit the total population (because, we're taught to concern only ourselves within the American society, so people need to understand that they are a part of a larger picture and need to take care of themselves and their brothers and sisters of the world), the health care system will become less expensive.

Along with this whole system, a series of progressive laws needs to be passed. i.e. The NYC ban of trans fats needs to become a country-wide ban; smoking in public establishments also needs to become this way... Laws that protect all citizens of this country need to be established.

I know, I'm not a policy person. People think that this is impossible to implement in a nation so big and backwards as ours. I agree that it will be hard, but why would we not even try? It will have its issues, but why not start with something do-able, like free health care access for all minors. Heck, those are the ones who are less likely to have started smoking and drinking anyway so their risk factors are primarily genetic and environmental, neither of which they can control!

There are more issues involved, and more disciplines to be involved. But, how neat to have a topic that seems so focused, yet is very broad. I hope that legislators get their heads out of their behinds and focus on more important issues for our entire society, instead of those that either only consider a few, or seem to consider only societies far away (not like I don't think aiding other countries important, but bombing them probably won't help so much...).

Anyway, tangent of the day. I better get to my paper.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Friday, December 7, 2007

I'm a workin' man, with nowhere to go

I guess I think of the student unions as more of an undergraduate hangout and study place. I may have previously mentioned that I rather like the North Campus student union, Pierpont Commons, as well as the attached Duederstadt Center because a) open 24 hrs a day, b) cheap coffee, c) snacks are easy to purchase, d) lots of electrical outlets for plugging in my laptop, and e) comfortable seating areas. My SPH friends don't really hang out here because it's far enough away from the medical campus that it's inconvenient, but it's pretty close to my apartment.

Well, as a good little grad student would, I decided to come to Pierpont to have a crazy Friday night of studying. I walk in and immediately find my friend Ali sitting at a table, writing a paper. So, I open my laptop and get my study on with her. Not a half hour later does Joel walk in. So, now we have a table of three SPH folk, representing 3 of the 4 departments, sitting around studying and writing papers on a Friday night. It may not be a crazy drinking party, but it's certainly a crazy study party. Rock on with my pathophys!

Eat your heart out on a plastic tray

Frustrations!

As background, to register at Michigan, you can go in before your registration time and "Backpack" the classes you want to take, so then when your registration appointment occurs, you can more easily register by moving the courses from your Backpack into your actual registration.

That being noted, I have to take this course on viral and molecular lab techniques. When I placed it in my backpack, it was offered from 12-3 on Tues and Thrs. Fine. I found a neat Reproductive Epidemiology course to take immediately afterward to fulfill some credits. Upon my actual registration, though, the lab course was listed from 3-6 pm on Tues and Thrs. This upset me a bit, but I found an Infectious Disease Epid course to take during the afternoon on those days to fulfill a few extra credits, instead of the repro course. And everything was fine and dandy....

Until today. I was talking to my friend Greg today about our class schedule for next semester, since we're both in the same major. We were comparing schedules, so I logged on to look at my course listing. Guess what... the lab course is now offered from 12-3 on Tues and Thrs. Nifty. That's great, except the repro epid course that I was originally going to take is full.

Luckily, Greg mentioned that he's taking Cancer Epid in the same time slot. So, now I might be taking Cancer Epid instead of Infectious Disease or Repro Epid. However, I also found out that I can take Environmental Epid, because you don't have to have so many crazy prerequisites after all!

So... the cancer epid is going to give me permission to enter his course, and the environmental epid lady might too. So, now I have to make the decision: do I take a course that fulfills one of my core requirements (cancer epid), or do I take the class that I'm really interested in (environmental epid)...?

That is to be determined at a later date, I guess! Right now, I'm just happy to have worked out the kinks quickly enough to find another course to take.

Now back to the HW. My paper writing process is much slower than I expected.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Goodnight, Miss Mouse

My Mousey passed away today. She was laying in her favorite place, and my dad was right next to her. She went peacefully. And, really, though it's very, very sad because I've lost my "sister" cat, I am content that she went without pain, with loads of love, and in complete serenity. That's all any of us can ask when it's our time, or the time of our loved ones.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

We live and we die, we know not why / but I'll be with you when the deal goes down



The hardest part about being here is not being able to run home whenever something's going on. My kitty, Mouse, probably won't last through the day. She's been fighting and holding on all week, but has barely eaten a thing. It's suspected that her kidneys are failing...

I wish digital cameras were around when I first got her, so maybe I could have some pictures of our early years together. Mouse the Cat is a New Year's kitten, born January 1, 1990 (or maybe 1991). There aren't very many winter kittens, but I lucked out and found her after begging my dad to stop at the pet store in early March of that year. There she was, this gray skinny little thing, and I snatched her up and took her shivering body home underneath my jacket.

We moved to Mendota Heights in October, 1991, and she spent the first week cowering behind the toilet in the downstairs bathroom. Slowly, she began to explore, and now that house is home for her. She has "her" spots -- the wool blanket on the back of the living room couch, or the comforter placed on the desk in my dad's office -- that are covered in her gray cat fur now. Of course, if you're ever on the computer, she's got to be up on your lap and in your way! And, when I sat studying or reading or doing sudoku puzzles at the dining room table, I had to pull a chair up right next to me so she could hang out too. She was always happy enough even to have a chair pulled up next to you if she couldn't sit on your lap.

She's a good kitty. Occasionally she tests you by trying to get up on the kitchen counter when you're ignoring her and she wants some attention, but, for the most part, she's a pretty great cat. With every tear I ever shed, she'd be right there in my lap trying to comfort me. With every tantrum of frustration for homework or boys or whatever, she'd calmly wander into see what the fuss was about, then rub up against me to say, "Hey man, not worth it. Calm down!" She's always been my "sister."

I left for college and didn't see her every day anymore, yet every time I walked through that door, she was waiting to hang out. I used to stop by my parents' house and steal lunch often, and I'd almost always give her a few treats before I left just to ensure her affection was still mine. And it was.

Even as she's gotten older, she still has that playful kitten in her. Before I left for grad school in August, you could still get her to roll around in catnip and chase toy mice. She'd go through her crazy periods where she'd spazz out and run around the house, sliding on the wood floor and sometimes running into a wall.

I make fun of her meow, because she sounds like a little whiny lambkin -- so high pitched and piercing! This is how she woke my parents up every morning at 5 a.m., begging for food and attention.

But, all living things get old. Her coat has started to look worn over the past few years. She's been eating more, yet losing weight. It's thought that she doesn't hear so well anymore. She stopped going outside often, except maybe just to hang out in the yard. I can't remember the last time she brought a baby bunny or bird into the house to play with. Most of the time these days, she's content just sitting on your lap when you're watching TV, or sitting next to you on the couch.

But, she's a good spirit. She's serene and content. She always has been a good animal to have close by because she knows when you need her comfort, and she's always ready to give it. She's loyal and sweet; well-behaved and good-natured. She's a good, good cat. She's family.

And, I call to check up on her multiple times a day. She's a fighter. She knows how much she's loved, and she's just hanging around and enjoying her family as best she can. And she's not being left alone, even for a second. I wish I could be there to offer a few last pets. Just last Sunday, I left to catch my plane home from Thanksgiving break and she was fine and normal. But, overnight, something happened, and she started getting really sick. I'm really glad to have gotten to see her, but I hate that I had to leave. That cat has been there through a good 2/3 of my life.

All I want is for her to not feel any pain as she slips away. I know she knows how much she is loved. I'll miss her sweet spirit whenever I'm home. I think home will be lonely without her.