ShowMeBlog

March 7, 2012

  Well we have a solar flare on the way to earth!  Anyone watch that TV show “Doomsday Preppers?” The show is on NGEO.  There are people getting ready for things like this … They are sort of nuts but it is a good idea to be ready when things go bad.

Back to that solar flare …. I wonder what protection the ISS crew is having to do?

  I saw a place for sale that I would love to have.  It would be just right for a doomsday person.  It cost $3 million dollars and had 160 acres of land around it.  It was in CA.  It was built for communications during the cold war and was built to stand a nuclear blast.   I would like to have it.  I am just a little short of $3 million.   

  I guess a lot of people saw the video by the 700 pound 23 year old guy.  He was asking for help.  It was very sad. 
 

“…Robert Gibbs, a Livermore, Calif., man who weighs nearly 700 pounds, uploaded a plea to YouTube on March 1, begging for help losing weight; by Tuesday, March 6, the video had over a million views, 20,000 "likes" and an offer from "transformation specialist" Chris Powell to help lose the weight for good.

Gibbs, who posted the video the day before his 23rd birthday, said he'd tried everything in order to shed pounds, but he could never keep the weight off. A producer for Powell reportedly approached Gibbs about working on a weight-loss plan. Powell is currently travelling the U.S. as part of "Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition." The Daily Mail reports as well that producers from representing self-help practitioner Dr. Phil had been in contact with Gibbs…”   International Business Times

 

  I hope he can get some help.  But I do not think that TV people can help him.  I am sure “Dr.” Phil can not help him.
  Unless he gets the right kind of help and right now he is not going to see his next birthday.  I have seen people like him.  
  I worked at a hospital and there was a girl about his age that was about the same weight.  She was a patient in the hospital and her doctors and the hospital was doing everything they could to help her.  If I remember right they had her on a 3000 calorie diet (I could be wrong this was back in the 70s).  Well she died in the hospital.  After the body was removed from the room the hospital found her room filled with snack foods of all sort.  The food was hidden in the room.  She had begged her family to bring in the food for her and they did.
  Mr. Gibbs sort of sounds like he does not have family or friends… That might be a good thing for him.
  But I do not think he is getting the help he needs.   He needs help right away.   He needs professional help and not people wanting to use him to get viewers on TV.

Compression socks review for Amazon

  I have not done a written review on Amazon in a long time.  I should be doing written/video reviews on Amazon instead of YouTube.  More people would see them on Amazon.
  I use the reviews on Amazon when I think of buying something.  That is how I picked all of my cameras.

5.0 out of 5 stars They worked, February 8, 2012

By

James Howard "NØUWY" (Miami FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pintoli Style 1066 Unisex Classic Moderate Compression Socks, 15-20mmHg, Knee High, Black, Large Size (Health and Beauty)

I am 70 years old and for the the last couple of years my feet and legs have been swollen. The left foot and leg are the worst. Last year I saw my doctor and he was not happy with the swelling. He added a water pill to the pills I took. He also recommended compression socks.
I water pill did not help. I did not get compression socks. I did not see him again until last month. I already made up my mind to try the compression socks. A friend said they worked for him.
I saw the doctor and he increased my water pill dose from 40 mg to 40 mg. I told him I was going to get compression socks. He said great that he felt they would help.
I ordered Pintoli 1066 Unisex compression socks 15-20mmHg.
First off I did not mention the leg pains I been having for the last year or so. The leg pains went away and I do not have them when I have on the Pintoli compression socks.
What I could not believe is that the compression socks worked right away on the swelling. For the first time in over a year the swelling is way down and my left foot looks almost normal.
I wish I had listened to my doctor sooner. I am surprised that the compression socks worked so well and so fast.
So I recommend the compression socks.
Pintoli Style 1066 Unisex Classic Moderate Compression Socks, 15-20mmHg, Knee High, Black, Large Size

FrackNation vs GasLand

  Fracking is big in Texas.  I saw the documentary GasLand and that is about the first time that I learned about fracking.  I had seen some stories about problems here in Texas with fracking and with the corporations refusing to tell about the stuff they were pumping into the ground.  There was also reports of it being done next to schools and parks.  So little pipes were sticking up from the ground and no one knew there were even there.
  But I learned a lot from the GasLand documentary.  Now I am not a Republican so I don’t take anything I see as fact until I hear other points of view and do some research on my own.

  I guess the right and the fracking people are going to put out their own documentary called FrackNation soon.

The Medtronic CareLink Monitor

  I had a Medtronic pacemaker put in about a year and a half ago.  I been using the CareLink Monitor to send data to their network about each three months.  The device looks like a telephone answering machine.  When it connects it sounds like a 1200 baud modem.
  I do not have a landline (standard) phone service.  I use Skype for my phone service.
  So when I send the data I go over to the apartment office and they let me use their phone line.

  I think I am going to let Charter Cable hook me up with their phone service.  They been trying to get me to add the service. They want to own me.    I take the cable Internet service and their cable television service so they want me to add phone service.
  I wonder if my CareLink Monitor will see the phone service as a normal phone service or will it still see it as a Skype like digital service?
  Anyone know?  I can call the Medtronic Patient Services 1-800 number and ask them.

  Sure would be nice if they had a device that worked with the computer.  Have a CareLink Monitor device that you plug into the USB port of your computer and you send the data that way.
 

  I should have a phone service that I can use at anytime for the CareLink Monitor.
  I use the device to send the data from the pacemaker each three months and I do not have to go to the doctor’s office. 
  But if I ever started having problems I could hook up and send the data to them but I would need a real phone line.  So it would be a good idea to have access to a real phone service.

   I just did a search and a Charter site says that Charter Phone works though regular telephone jacks and phones.  I bet the CareLink Monitor will work just great with Charter phone service.

Penis sizes worldwide: there’s a map for it!

  God, I love the Internet.  A reader sent me a link to Globalpost.  It has an article “Penis sizes worldwide: Yeah, there’s a map for that.” 

  The following from Globalpost:

“Well, finally. Thank you targetmap.com, a website with customized data maps, for a long overdue look at penis sizes around the world.

(Hat tip to the Shanghaiist blog for first pointing it out to us).

But before you get all excited, let me just tell you that Asia does not fare exceedingly well.

According to this interactive map, all of the world's least well-endowed countries are located there, with South Korea bringing up the rear at 3.8 inches.

India and Thailand and Cambodia go head to head (to head), each coming in at a solid 4 inches.

China's little soldiers, ranking 4.3 inches on average, are a good match for the average Japanese Capt. Winkie (also 4.3).

But the real weenies seem to be in the Congo (7.1 inches), with Ecuador not far behind (6.9 inches).

And in case you're still unsure of which country you'd like to visit next, get a load of this:

Another map that attempts to correlate penis size with IQ — two things that, in the case of China and Africa, appear to be inversely correlated. Titillating…”

 

  Here is the link to The Penis Size Worldwide Map

  Here is the link to National IQ Scores vs Average Penis Size

 

  I have not had time to even look at the maps yet but I think it is going to be interesting.  What do you think?

Be a good friend to your prostate

  When you are an old man with a bladder and a prostate you can look forward to waking up every few hours to take a leak.  I am not sure if there is anything a young man can do to take care of their prostate. 
  I guess we need to come up with some benefit to waking up every few hours during the night. What I have to watch out for is eating and drinking something when I wake up.

  So I wake up and I check my email.  I get fewer emails at night. 
   I check CNN and check some blogs. 
  
   I live near a CVS and a Walgreens I wish they were open 24 hours. 
   At night there is not much open.  There a couple of convenience stores open 24 hours.  Both of them are about six blocks from here.  I never go to them. 

   Most of my life I worked the midnight shift.  On my days off I would stay up and keep the same hours and clean house.  For about a year I went to a casino and would gamble every night.  That was fun to have an entire casino to myself.  No waiting for a machine.  No lines.  That entire year I kept track of how much I won and how much I lost.   I had a lot of winning nights but at the end of the year when I did that math, of course, the house won and I lost.

   What is something you can do at night that you can not do during the day?
   I guess I could take up astronomy.  If I lived around a wild life area I could take up photography of nocturnal creatures. 

   Keep in mind that I do not own a car.  So I am limited in what I can do and were I can go.
 
   I should study and upgrade my ham license.  I should get a general class license.  Then I could get on the shortwave ham bands and talk around the world.  
   There are some very good and cheap shortwave receivers now days.  Radio Shack even sells a couple.  I could buy one of those and listen to some shortwave radio stations late at night.  That reminds me about cable TV.  I pay a lot of money for cable TV channels.  I am happy with all the channels but why in the world do so many of the channels run infomercials all night long?  A lot of people are up all night.  There are a lot of people that work the third shift (midnight or graveyard shift) and it sort of seems like a slap in the face to them.  (Sometimes when you work the midnight shift you need a slap in the face to stay awake.)

   If you are a young man take care of your prostate and then you can sleep all night like a normal human.  Not sure how you take care of a prostate however.

SodaStream

  It looks like I will have my SodaStream Jet Starter Kit about Monday.  I will have the ability to make water/seltzer.  I will be carbonating water. 
  So I will have everything I need to turn tap water into “sparkling” water. 

 

“…In addition to making fizzy water, SodaStream also offers more than 25 regular, diet, energy and caffeine-free flavors of syrup (sold separately). Each 500ml soda mix bottle makes the equivalent of 12 liters of soda (about 33 cans). And with over 25 flavors, the possibilities for creative beverages are limited only by your imagination. How about a Creamsicle (Orange and Cream Soda), or a Japanese Beetle (Ginger Ale and Lemon-Lime)? The regular soda mixes contain no high fructose corn syrup, while the diet soda mixes contain no aspartame.

The benefits of the SodaStream drinks maker, compared to ready made bottled drinks:

• Provides an endless supply of sparkling water, freshly made from tap water in just a few seconds.
• No more need to buy, carry or store large quantities of heavy and bulky bottles.
• A wide variety of flavors are produced by SodaStream.
• The ability to make sparkling water as strong or as weak as one likes, makes the machine an ideal solution for the family's entire sparkling beverage needs…”

  I do not drink water.  I know I need to drink water and it is a wonder I am alive.  I plan to start making my own drinks.  I hope I can stop buying bottles and cans of Coke. 
  I am 70 years old and I have never drank seltzer.  I have no idea what seltzer alone even taste like.

 

  I will let you know how this works out for me.  I am not sure it is going to be cheaper.  I will find out.  I do think it will give me some control and that it might be more healthy for me. 

I am never going outside again

  CNN has a story:   The 8 germiest places in the mall

 

“(Health.com) -- During the craziness of the holidays, the last thing you want is to get sidelined with a cold, flu, stomach bug -- or worse. But while you're checking items off your shopping list, you may be exposing yourself to germs -- like flu viruses, E. coli, and staph -- that can make you sick.

"Anywhere people gather is filled with bacteria and viruses, and a crowded shopping mall is a perfect example," says Philip Tierno, Ph.D., director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University Langone Medical Center.

With that in mind, we asked a panel of experts to rank the worst germ hot spots at your local shopping center. Check out the ewww-inducing results -- and tips for keeping yourself in the clear..”

Health.com: How to sick-proof your winter

 

  I hate stories like that and the news media love those stories.  Also local TV news media love to go out and do reports like this.
  I have decided that I am just not going to leave the house.  Or I will get me a biohazard suit and go out with it on. 

  I spent 11 years working at Research Belton Hospital.  I spent most of the time in the ER area.  I worked at night and all the doors were locked and everyone had to enter through the ER door. 
  Since I was in the ER and often they were busy I would often help the ER staff.  I made carts for them and even bagged a few patients and took blood pressures and vitas for them!  I took lab samples to the lab for them often.
  I used infection control practices, of course, all the time.  We had a lot of sick people come in with everything you can think of and some you can not think of.  Had some Grateful Dead fans come in one night.  I wish I had a biohazard suit that night.  I used a lot of alcohol wipes after that patient left.
  I worked at the hospital 11 years and I was almost never sick.  I think I had the flu one time. 
  We had an outbreak of Hepatitis C in Belton and it was so bad that everyone was getting shots and the health department sent a team to Belton to see what in the hell was going on.  A couple of people died from it and that is rare to die just from getting Hepatitis C. 
  
  So hand washing HAND WASHING and hand washing. 
  I used gloves, of course, when I made carts or took samples to the lab and still washed my hands. 
  If you go to the mall or an ATM you can not be using gloves and washing your hands all the time.
  I still think I will stay home.   

Hearing loss affects 1 in 5 Americans

“If you think hearing loss is just an inevitable part of aging, think again.

More than 48 million Americans over age 12 have trouble hearing in one or both ears, according to a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. And the way we listen to music is partly to blame.

“Aging and genetics do sometimes play a role, but what we know now is that environmental exposures - like listening to music too loudly - can contribute to long term hearing damage over time,” says Dr. Frank R. Lin, lead study author and assistant professor of otolaryngology-head  and neck surgery and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “It’s a growing concern.”

Here’s how hearing loss happens with headphones: You have your headphones on and are jamming to your favorite tune on maximum volume. The sound waves enter the ear, travel thru the ear canal all the way to the hair cells located in your inner ear. Hair cells help convert sound energy into electrical signals sent to the brain. This,  in return, allows you to hear the music clearly. But when the volume is too loud, those hair cells get damaged and never grow back…”   CNN Health

 

  I am one of the Americans with hearing loss.  I have a great deal of hearing loss in both ears.  I have never seen a doctor for it.
  I have had the hearing loss since I was in grade school.
  It has effected my life.  My father and mother got notices from Holy Name School that I had hearing lost but never did anything about it.  Then later in life when I was an adult I never checked into it.
  I am not sure what the medical advice is for people with little kids.  Do you have that checked at a certain age?  I do know if you think or find out that your child  has hearing loss have it checked.

  I do not not know what we can do about kids that listen to music that is too loud. Kids like to turn up the volume and I do not think they listen to you when you tell them to turn it down.
  My hearing loss was not from listening to loud music or sounds.  But later in life when I was an adult I did work, as a welder, and the level of sounds at work was very high.

Hemorrhoids

  I have had hemorrhoids for years.  I do not think I have ever said anything about it here in ShowMeBlog.  Not the sort of subject you want to tell people or even think about.
  I forget that I even have them most of the time. 
  The other day I ate some food that gave me bad diarrhea and I had it all day long.  I started having some bright red bleeding after that.  I am still having some today.  
 

“Prevention

The best way to prevent hemorrhoids is to keep stools soft so they pass easily, thus decreasing pressure and straining, and to empty bowels as soon as possible after the urge occurs. Exercise, including walking, and increased fiber in the diet help reduce constipation and straining by producing stools that are softer and easier to pass.^[9] Spending less time attempting to defecate and avoiding reading while on the toilet have been recommended.^[3]”

 

  The Republicans been fucking us all for years so I think should blame them.