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Really... so sodium chloride plus 2% random crap out of the ocean is inherently better for you than sodium chloride + 2% safe non-clumping agent and iodine? Because that's pretty much what you're comparing. They're 98% the exact same chemical.

Don't take my word for it, ask the May clinic:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sea-salt/AN01142

But hell, enjoy your goiters.

It wasn't the Mayo Clinic and they have this to say: "Oil of oregano has received a great deal of attention, with proponents claiming it can treat a variety of illnesses, including sinus disorders. Like many spices, oregano does have some antibacterial and antifungal properties — making it at least plausible that it might help or prevent some sinus problems caused by bacteria and fungi. Unfortunately, there have been no published trials that have looked at oil of oregano specifically for this use. For this reason, it isn't known what role, if any, oil of oregano plays in treating or preventing sinusitis." Or at least that's James T. Li, M.D., Mayo clinic asthma and allergy specialist has to say on the Clinic's webpage. Current as of Aug 29, 2009.

As for the crack about big pharma, bullshit. Traditional treatments have attracted a lot of investigation for the last couple of decades. If (if!) you find out that the traditional treatment works, then you can isolated the active compound(s) and patent and sell that.

• Decreased risk of urinary tract infections. The risk of urinary tract infections in the first year is low, but these infections may be up to 10 times as common in uncircumcised baby boys. Severe infections early in life can lead to kidney problems later on.
• Prevention of penile problems. Occasionally, the foreskin on an uncircumcised penis may be difficult or impossible to retract (phimosis). This can also lead to inflammation of the head of the penis.
• Decreased risk of penile cancer. Although cancer of the penis is rare, it's less common in circumcised men.
• Decreased risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Safe sexual practices remain essential, but circumcised men may have a slightly lower risk of certain sexually transmitted diseases — including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Frankly, your mother is a hypercondriac.

Hypochondriac. Close, but different.

Read this: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-b12-and-depression/AN01543

The shit that is in the power supply and CPU fans

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/thirdhand-smoke/MY00591

According to the CDC, the seasonal flu kills 36,000 Americans per year.

But the flu virus can only live up to 48 hours outside the body, so it won't survive the trip to Apple inside your computer.

Actually, daily doses of aspirin can be harmful to many different sorts of individuals, though the parallel still stands, I suppose: just as many industry-prescribed security policies can have beneficial "side effects" for your business, they can also yield unintended consequences that generate more cost--and real risks (the feeling of security often leads to less of it!)--due to lack of careful planning or proper implementation.

I realised he was paranoid schizophrenic (and I know what I'm talking about on that one).

Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff

There are several types of schizophrenia, so signs and symptoms vary. In general, schizophrenia symptoms include:

Beliefs not based on reality (delusions), such as the belief that there's a conspiracy against you
Seeing or hearing things that don't exist (hallucinations), especially voices
Incoherent speech
Neglect of personal hygiene
Lack of emotions
Emotions inappropriate to the situation
Angry outbursts
Catatonic behavior
A persistent feeling of being watched
Trouble functioning at school and work
Social isolation
Clumsy, uncoordinated movements

The travesty is the fact that mainstream medicine is regulated and sued to death, to the point that care becomes unaffordable for many who could otherwise afford it, not that natural medicine is unregulated.

In any case, I don't think that you have 'big natural' in the same way that you have 'big pharma' since there's not the same barrier to entry with natural products that there is with pharmaceuticals. There are virtually no patents. No 100 mil to produce a drug (that you then want to see brough to market.) Those kinds of conditions strongly favor a few major players. And they favor regulatory capture.

While I'd agree that there are a lot of scams related to CAM (particularly homeopathy) and that people could afford to be more credulous I don't agree that there's no mechanism for how some of the stuff works (even some homeopathy), or evidence that it does. Naturopathy has well documented mechanisms. It's not unreasonable to think that acupuncture might relieve pain. Acupuncture demonstratably alters blood flow, among other physiological changes.

In addition, research shows acupuncture can help manage postoperative dental pain and alleviate chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. It also appears to offer relief for chronic menstrual cramps and tennis elbow.Mayo clinic

(Granted, pain related studies are very hard to objectively conduct. )

<begin parody>

It is now official. Slashdot confirms: "*BSD is Dying" trolls are dying

One more crippling post filter hit the already beleagured troll community when Slashdot confirmed that "*BSD is Dying" portion of troll posts has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all offtopic posts. Coming on the heels of a recent Slashdot poll which plainly states that "*BSD is Dying" trolls have lost everyone's interest years ago, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. Slashdot has accumulated a complete troll disarray, as fitting exemplified by fighting dead, pointless flames always in the recent Troll Script comprehensive comment maker.

You don't need to be the Amazing William to predict these trolls' futures. The hand writing is on the wall: all trolls face a bleak, non-social future. In fact there won't be any future at all for trolls because they will likely fail to reproduce. Things are looking very bad for trolls. As many of us are already aware, trolls continue to lose posts to Slashdot's filters. Pointless trolling scripts flow like a sewage.

The antisocialite is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core social skills. The sudden and unpleasant departures and long times of bottling up frustration only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longeer be any doubt: "*BSD is Dying" trolls are dying.

Let's make up statistics like politicians do.

GNAA trolls state that there are 7000 IPs for posting. How many of those IPs aren't blocked yet? Let's see. The number of GNAA versus random-one-liner ("faggot", typically) useless posts on slashdot is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 IPs for random-one-liner trolls. Shill-accusation posts are about half the volume of random-one-liners. Therefore there are about 700 IPs posting shill-accusations. A recent article article put Natalie-Portman-posts at about 80 percent of the nonsense. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 Natalie-Portman-comments. This is consistent with the number of trolls hanging around.

Due to the troubles of story archiving, abysmal moderation and so on, the Natalie-Portman trolls went out of their way to be taken over by trolls who were confused about troubled story ID numbers. Now the comment system is also dead, its corpse turned over to Slashdot 2.0.

All major surveys show that "*BSD is Dying" trolls have steadily declined in Slashdot posts. Those trolls are very sociopathic and their long term survival propects are very dim. If "*BSD is Dying" is to survive at all it will be among the Internet Wayback Machine and the Library of Congress. "*BSD is Dying" trolls continue to decay. Nothing short of a social miracle could save them at at this point in time. For all practical purposes, "BSD is Dying" troll posts are.... not amusing.

<end parody> I'm going to Hell for this... salutations to CmdrTaco, you do an awesome job. Yep, I fed a troll, maybe he was actually hungry in a useful way...

No its not a myth. Citing a small sample test performed by Food Detective who is hardly an authoritative or unbiased source, is quite laughable. I doubt you even realized that study was funded by an MSG trade association. I'll bet you watch Fox news or CNN and believe all their crap too, eh?

The studies sponsored by the FDA show that MSG is generally regarded as safe, but they do cite that many people have sensitivity to high portions of MSG. For the summary of FDA recommendation as put out in 1995, please see http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/msg.html. For the lazy people, here is a key passage - "Among the report's key findings: An unknown percentage of the population may react to MSG and develop MSG symptom complex, a condition characterized by one or more of the following symptoms:"

If you're not too lazy, this Mayo clinic article sums it pretty well.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/monosodium-glutamate/AN01251

I did. Mixed in with all the garbage about how atkins was right (he wasn't) at the end he admits its just a matter of expendature vs intake, thus negating the previous 10 pages. As I said, junk.

Still to lazy to do ANYTHING on your own? Fine: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MY00432. There's one. But of course I don't know what I'm talking about, its not like I spent money to learn more about it or anything.

Ok... read the link and the numerous other studies. Metabolism doesn't have a bearing on weight loss.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metabolism/WT00006

Long-term use of the nicotine patch isn't known to cause serious side effects. The most common short-term side effects from the nicotine patch include mild itching, tingling or burning on the skin at the patch site.

Source: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nicotine-patch/AN01257

As a personal anecdote, my mom has been chewing Nicorette gum for at least 5 years. The only side effect I've noticed has been that she spends a ton of money on $40 boxes of chewing gum.

Dryer. Maybe, if you are okay with wet clothes sitting around (mold).

MOLD? For waiting a couple of hours? You've read too many crazy articles out there "MOLD IS COMING TO KILL US ALL!". :-)

... or you are allergic to mold.

I started to question the whole "3 meals a day" that is brainwashed by well meaning friends and family

Right. Because for decades and centuries, people ate three meals a day because they too were brainwashed by well meaning friends and families, not to mention that evil medical industry who only wants to take your money.

Let me guess, you probably don't eat breakfast either despite the weight loss benefits.

If your every other day of eating works for you, congrats. But trying to tie it to the "typical slashdot geek" because it's a stab at societal convention and how, miraculously, today's lifestyle is so much different than the past, is crap. The only thing that has changed is people's beliefs that they need to be answerable 24/7 because without the narcissistic urge to relate to everyone and anyone how busy they are, they'd realize they're simply making excuses for not eating right.

Eating a balanced diet has ALWAYS been the correct way to maintain ones health. The fact that we ignore this simple mantra and have epiphanies when we 'discover' these miracle diets merely shows that in some cases, there's a reason for societal conventions.

The problem isn't that there aren't enough taxes on junk food, the problem is that there's too much crap in it.

While it would be nice to think that putting taxes on garbage disguised as food would promote the availability of real food, I'm inclined to doubt that things work that way.

Sorry if you took it as being an ass. Here's some pointers from the Mayo Clinic.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/baby-sleep/fl00118

Interesting rumour. I'm slightly interested to know what your basis for this assertion is

Half a dozen of my friends figured this out the hard way. Their doctors all traced it back to drug interactions between antibiotics in the -cycline family (minocycline, tetracycline, etc.) and their low-dose oral contraceptive pills. But since anecdotes aren't proof, I spent about five minutes Googling:

Reference 1
Reference 2
Reference 3 (about 3/4 down the page)
Reference 4
Reference 5

Many sources I found note that it is difficult to conduct formal research in this area because women don't want to take antibiotics as part of a study and risk getting pregnant. It is difficult to prove what happens, but my friends have traced it back and told me what their doctors said. I hope sexually active readers hear this and protect themselves.

A big factor in emotion is the amount of sunlight you receive daily -- Seasonal Affective Disorder affects people up north a lot more than it does down south, for sure. I used to live in Texas, a full ten degrees of latitude further south than my current residence in Michigan. There is a lot more sunlight in the winter down there than up here. (It doesn't help that it's alway cloudy here, too.)

I have to fight to make it through the long, dark winter.

I've never heard that and kind of dought that. I thought that acute radiation poisoning was due to damage to your blood cells, marrow, and epithelial linings of your gut.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/radiation-sickness/DS00432/DSECTION=symptoms

This page mentions that high doses of radiation will lead to symptoms within a half an hour, which seems too fast to be due to a digestion problem. It doesn't seem you die of malnutrition.

Anyway, bacteria populations are quite resillient, even if you were to kill all the bacteria in your mouth off (something that listerine won't do, and I don't know if bleach would either) in minutes or at most hours it would have a normal level of bacteria again. I can't imagine that radiation would kill ALL the helpful bacteria in your gut, so I'd guess that your gut would be back to normal levels rapidly enough to prevent you from starving.

Honestly I don't know that they do but considering that they seem to want to cast that net based on the evidence they give. It seems like the title is equally appropriate.

For example: Pap smears sounds like a no-brainer but there are a couple of things that could easily account for this. Incomplete history and incomplete clinical agreement.

Incomplete history, so someone walks into your clinic and wants a physical (Ok, I mean makes an appointment and then after a while attends said appointment). Someone has taken a history but left out the hysterectomy. Doc doesn't see that and decides that they might as well do the test or perhaps they ask: "So have you had a hysterectomy" and the person answers "Yes". Doc responds with "Full or partial?". Person isn't sure. Doc does the test anyway.

Incomplete clinical agreement. Possibly the Mayo clinic is part of the problem but according to them: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pap-smear/AN00013

Just having no cervix is not the only criterion.

The overarching point is that people like Sharon Begley and publications like Newsweek are obsolete. They are come from a place and time where the mildly informed feel like they can lecture the less informed.

Decades ago, employers liked having health care bundled with jobs, so they would have more control over their employees. It's one reason why Hillary's health care plans went nowhere. Now with the likes of GM facing bankruptcy in part over huge health care obligations, employers are having a change of heart.

There's a lot more churn in the employment scene than in years past. Cattle get better health care than unemployed people. It makes perfect sense to keep cattle healthy; they're worth more that way. It makes great economic sense to keep employable people healthy. But in this insane for-profit health care system, everyone is trying so hard to make someone else pay the costs that we often end up with no one paying anything, and no health care. We could have better health care, and save everyone money doing so.

We pay a lot for health care, directly and indirectly, and in ways that make it difficult for us to do much about it. "Choice" is a joke when you are kept in the dark. Of course there's the problem of being in no condition to rein in the positively indecent veiled exuberance at the opportunities to provide immense quantities of expensive care. If possible, never let a hospital provide basic supplies, equipment, or even medicine. They don't make it clear that these items have separate price tags, and they certainly aren't telling you prices up front, doubtless so you don't suffer unhealthy sticker shock. I've been burned that way once. Have a list made and have someone shop for it for you.

That acid reflux medicine has to be some name brand patented drug to be that expensive. More than $6 per pill is outrageous. I don't know how much trouble you've had, but that doctor may have done you a disservice. "Try it", huh? How typical that you weren't informed of the price until you'd left the doctor, and lost that opportunity to consult about less expensive alternatives. Have you tried other things first? A change of diet? Other drugs? Or find some cheaper source such as Canada? How about even... doing nothing because this is really quite common? Read this.

Just to stop anybody on slashdot from switching from (or staying with) butter because this comment has been moderated "interesting"... margarine IS better...as long as you pick a decent one that's not 59 cents per 1 kg tub.
From the Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/butter-vs-margarine/AN00835
The American Heart Association: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=532

And if you're looking for more info, here's how a search engine works:
http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=butter+margarine

Do calculations in your head. E.g. add up grocery prices at the store.

Use mnemonics. E.g., your friend introduces his two sons Sam and Bill. Bi l l is the o l der one.

Read books. Unlike the single-screen attention span required for web reading, books require a longer span. Think about the book and discuss it with friends afterwards.

Get off google. Looking things up that you "used to know" encourages mental laziness. Make yourself really think back and reconstruct (i.e., refresh old neural pathways) and you will be surprised at how much you can remember.

Meditation, prayer, yoga, hypnosis. These are activities that turn off the mental chatter and help improve concentration.

Challenge your mind. My mother-in-law, in her 70s, does a sudoku puzzle every day. There is evidence that such exercises contribute to improved acuity. Sudoku, crosswords, other puzzles all can be helpful.

Review. First thing in the morning, look at your schedule, look over the specs, study the code, whatever info you might find helpful to recall later that day, instead of reading the Times or the sports news.

Get off drugs. Reduce coffee and alcohol intake and detox your brain. Especially, alcohol and recreational drugs have a numbing effect on the mind and destroy memory capacity.

Herbal supplements. This is controversial at this time. Some claim positive effects from gingko and other herbal extracts, and others claim no effects have been found. It may help you.

Good luck! The brain does change over time, but it's possible to youthen your brain through conscious effort. Ultimately you can enjoy the advantages of the wisdom born of age and a strong intellect and clear memory.

I used to work at a donor clinic http://www.blood.ca/, and assisted with some of the staff in basic prep, (supplies, equipment, etc)so I was able to talk to the medical staff about it. I'm a blood donor, and would be more than willing to donate marrow, until I heard about the process. It takes real dedication to donate marrow, and I admire all that do. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bone-marrow/CA00047

When a woman is pregnant she is not only carrying a baby, but a very large uterus, enlarged breasts, and probably other stuff that I can't remember.

I'm counting that toward the baby weight as most of that stuff will be gone as soon as the baby is born.

Here's the Mayo Clinic page on weight gain during pregnancy.

Here's the breakdown:

        * Baby: 7 to 8 pounds
        * Larger breasts: 1 to 3 pounds
        * Larger uterus: 2 pounds
        * Placenta: 1 1/2 pounds
        * Amniotic fluid: 2 pounds
        * Increased blood volume: 3 to 4 pounds
        * Increased fluid volume: 2 to 3 pounds
        * Fat stores: 6 to 8 pounds

Here's the information on how much your caloric intake needs to increase:

If you start out at a healthy weight, you need to gain only a few pounds in the first few months of pregnancy. You can do this with an extra 150 to 200 calories a day, about the amount in 12 ounces of calcium-fortified orange juice or a serving of low-fat yogurt. A normal appetite will typically provide these calories.

Steady weight gain is more important in the second and third trimesters -- especially if you start out at a healthy weight or you're underweight. This often means 3 to 4 pounds a month until delivery. An extra 300 calories a day might be enough to help you meet this goal.

Emphasis is mine.

The expectation is that once the baby is born, the remaining weight will disappear on its own through a normal diet. Much of the extra fat put on supports breast feeding of the child. Once weened, many women actually find themselves slightly lighter than they were before, even if they were not overweight. (Which is also what happened to my wife. ;-)) I've heard some women refer to pregnancy as a good way to shed the pounds. I don't recommend it, but it does seem to work.

This idea that women gain ten pounds during pregnancy is a fallacy

I'd be interested to see some sources on that. As I understand it, the current medical recommendation in the US is that a 30-40 pound weight gain is healthy. I gained about 40 pounds during pregnancy, and my baby weighed 7.7 pounds. Even counting placenta and blood loss, that's a pretty decent weight gain, and it's average among my acquaintance. Most mothers I know gain at least that much. And trust me, it's not from trying. When the kid orders up a 16-ounce steak, that's what it gets.

Counter citation: "Body size and composition. To function properly, a bigger body mass requires more energy (more calories) than does a smaller body mass. Also, muscle burns more calories than fat does. So the more muscle you have in relation to fat, the higher your basal metabolic rate." From http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metabolism/WT00006

Seconded. linkie indicates 48 hours or so for the virus to die. Soap and water on a soft cloth. Just like any other electronic device if you're truly worried about it.

If you wear corrective lenses, make sure you get your eyes checked regularly for any changes. Also, I found it worth the price to get a pair of glasses suited for the distance I sit from the computer.

You should also be taking breaks at least once an hour. And keep in mind that people blink less than normal when on the computer so make sure you are blinking. I find that a good quality, moisturizing eye drop can help.

Also check the brightness and contrast settings on your monitor. You may need to dim things down if you work in an area that already has bright lighting.

The Mayo clinic also has a good list of tips.

try this:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gingivitis/DS00363

Correlation is a situation where two things happen with statistically significant coincidence. Simply said, if there are effect A and effect B, and if you have significantly more occurences of A and B happening together and of neither happening together, than occurences of A happening without B or B without A, then there is a correlation between A and B.

If A is "the person played violent videogames" and B is "the person murdered someone", then every case where someone played violent videogames and soon before or afterwards murdered someone is a statistical point in favor of the correlation between the two, but only if there also are cases where someone did not play violent videogames and did not murder someone soon before or after: unfortunately for Jack Thompson, the latter is becoming extremely rare, which reduces the significance of the former. Also, every case where someone plays violent videogames and does not murder someone is a statistical point against the correlation. Similarly, every case where someone did not play violent videogames yet did murder someone goes against the correlation. So far, evidence shows that any correlation between the two is extremely improbable.

Illusory correlation, like that inferred by Jack Thompson repeatedly between violent videogames and crime, is the situation where someone insists on considering two events to be related despite being not significantly correlated. Despite popular belief to the contrary, such illusory correlation behaviour is not correlated to schizophrenia (paranoid or non-paranoid, delusional disorder), nor with depression. So Jack Thompson is probably not technically insane on such grounds.

However, illusory causation, where the person infers causality between two supposedly correlated events, is a trait of paranoid disorders. Jack Thompson goes as far as making public claims (and suing according to those claims) that a causation exists between people playing violent videogames and murders despite the absence of even mild correlation between the two, and even interprets much of what happens to him in his professional life as having a causal link to this illusory causation in the first place (as evidenced by his claims of collusion between the Florida Bar or Supreme Court and the videogame industry). When his interpretations are rejected by the public (like when he unsuccessfully sued Janet Reno and RockStar), he rejects the result of the scrutiny instead of questioning those interpretations: that's a symptom of paranoid schizophrenia. At one point he even fantasized himself as being Batman, FFS ! It makes him a very dangerous man in my book, because the paranoids are often capable of nurturing delusory fantasies of persecution and injustice that can push them to commit serious crimes.

Given some of his more religious statements I certainly wouldn't be surprised to learn that he has auditory hallucinations which he attributes to God... The other symptoms (disorganized thinking, absent or inappropriate emotional behaviour, etc.) are easier to hide and less prominent in paranoid schizophrenia.

Even if the guy is disbarred for ten years, if he really has paranoid schizophrenia, I would only consider the general public to be safe when he is committed to a mental institution.

The one saving grace of asbestos is that if you leave it alone, it'll leave you alone. The real problems kick in when you start prying it loose and moving it around.

Hugely useful but only when used within strict guidelines. As it turns out, one of its potential uses turned out to be a pretty bad idea so we don't use it that way anymore.

I'll give you that one.

The FDA insists that it is. Sure, it's possible that they're a wholly owned subsidiary of Searle or whoever else makes the stuff these days, but I still trust the FDA at least as much as the groups opposing it.

My wife's a doctor. She has patients who beg her to find old expired samples or any other source of the stuff she might know of. Those patients know that it possibly cause them harm, but it's so effective that they're willing to take that risk. If you have rheumatoid arthritis, would you rather have 50 years of crippling agony before you or 25 years of painfree enjoyment? Regardless of your answer, a lot of people wish they could pick the latter but that's no longer available to them.

I begrudge them acting to make it impossible for me to use whatever it is they're afraid of this week.

Lets take the Michael J Fox story that you mentioned as an example. Mr. Limbaugh stated on-air that he thought Michael Fox had exaggerated his Parkinson's symptoms in a political ad, and that he had done so for theatric benefit.

At issue wasn't just Rush accusing Michael J. Fox of misrepresenting himself, it was also the bobbling around making light of a serious illness which will eventually kill Michael J. Fox. It was another asshole move. That's what caught Rush as much grief as anything. The larger problem in my opinion was Rush's typical practice of accusing Fox of essentially lying with zero evidence of any impropriety. Of course, Rush was also 100% wrong in his 'analysis' but I'll get to that in a second.

It was clearly in Fox's best interest to make his disease look as debilitating as possible, and his tremors in the ad were much more pronounced than we usually saw from him.

Well that seems clear cut. I always thought motive was irrefutable proof.

Limbaugh said that he would be the first apologize to Fox if that wasn't the case. But guess what? Rush was right.

Actually he was 100% wrong and he DID appologize.. briefly. More below

Fox later admitted that he purposely skips his medication before public events like this so people will see his worst case symptoms. Here is a video clip of him admitting this.

Nice cut clip. I like how the video ends mid sentence. I like the part where she says he does it on purpose then he says he doesn't do it on purpose. The disease makes you catatonic. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/parkinsons-disease/DS00295/DSECTION=2 It STARTS with tremors and ticks but Fox has had this for a long time. He's in the phase where he is normally rigid, even to the point where he has trouble swallowing.
Rush said Fox didn't take his medicine so that he would appear out of control. Of course Rush had no idea what he was talking about but that's never stopped him before. On October 26th, Rush 'apologized' for speculating that Fox didn't take his medicine and then immediately stated that he purposefully took too much. Hey, if you throw enough crap at the wall maybe some of it will stick. Fox responded that same night on the CBS Evening News, stating that it's difficult to gauge the correct dosage and that the dosage that day did kick too hard.

The Mayo Clinic article that I quickly found points out the dosage is a moving target.. Your medication needs may change over time, and the drug dosage and timing may require adjustment. For these reasons, you and your doctor will work together to design a program that best suits your needs, especially as the disease progresses. And of course, pulling slander out of his butt isn't enough. Rush not only knows what M.J. Fox is thinking (well, maybe the 2nd time around) but he also seems to know that the Democrats wrote the tremors into their script.
Here's the kicker. Only Rush can do something and then immediately lie about it, then do it again and still have an audience that doesn't get it. Straight from the pie hole of Rush..

Rush: - there is an irresponsible charge that I was making fun of Michael J. Fox, and that I said Michael J. Fox was faking it. Neither of those two charges have any foundation of truth whatsoever..

Now without looking up the original transcript (though I should) let's give Rush the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he didn't say the word "faking". He only said Fox intentionally took too much medicine or he was intentionally exaggerating. That's totally different than faking. Of course he then says Fox was totally not faking when he was faking by intentionally overdosing. Congratulations for being a ditto head. It'd be too much, I'm sure, to realize he's calling you sheep.

P.S. Probably my favorite Rus

Human trials!

Too bad I don't have breasts ...

I'm in a quandry. I see policemen beating lawyers on the streets in Pakistan. How should I be feeling?

That's a tough call. You should already be depressed, worried, upset, mad, and overall just frickin' pissed off at the terrible rape in the Congo (or even the U.S.), the starvation in Somalia (or North Korea, mothers dying around the world from a condition that can be treated simply and cheaply, incredible pollution in China and everywhere else, intense economic inequality in Latin America and how it's driving the obesity epidemic elsewhere in the world, the war in Iraq that will never end, and the spread of MRSA thanks to decades of using antibiotics too liberally.

This stuff in Pakistan is just more of the same. Please feel sad, perplexed, and angry.

The real question (which you missed) is this: what can you DO about it? Other than make snarky comments on Slashdot, of course.

Only a total complete idiotic fuckwit moron would have ANYTHING implanted in their brain without an overriding medical reason.

Being a survivor of a Traumatic Brain Injury, TBI, I would be willing to have an implant if it helped me. Not some sort of net connection, but something that would help me with my memory and improve my impulse control among other things.

Major premise: People say bad keyboards don't cause carpal tunnel syndrome.
Minor premise: When I switched to an ergo setup my tendinitis was cured.
Conclusion: People are full of shit.

That's some fine logic there buddy.

Gum is safe to swallow.

From: Mayo Clinic Article 05 Dec 2005

It has been known for quite some time that it's the mechanical action that does an important part of the work for disinfecting your hands. The water and soap just help the process by carrying dirt and bacteria away. This is part of the reason that you don't see hand sanitizers allowed as a replacement for proper hand washing at restaurants and other commercial food prep areas.

• The cost of distributing contamination by flushing with the lid up. Charles Gerba from the University of Arizona is well known for comments on this; here's a popular media link to an article about this phenomenon: http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s1143577. htm
• The resultant affect of contamination on public health, worker ailments, and absenteeism and reduced productivity.
• The risk of drowning by young children when the lid is up. http://www.drowning-prevention.org/pdf/CE348.pdf http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/child-safety/CC00 045
• The cost of household pets flushing the toilet repeatedly to watch the action. This can incur significant cost for the use of water. http://www.youtube.com/v/WofFb_eOxxA

What are the warnings on herbs and vitamins? None!

Looky here.

A few of my favorites:

• May cause bleeding.
• May interfere with immune functioning
• May cause abnormal heartbeat
• May induce coma

Only difference is - they don't have to tell you any of these things! The manufacturers of these supplements are raking in $dough hand over fist, yet can't be troubled to warn about little things like profuse hemorrhaging or coughing up a kidney or two.

Let's also not forget the science that showed exposure to sunlight caused skin cancer, and that we should all stop going out in the sun. Then they discovered that 'Whoops .... going out in the sun creates Vitamin D which PREVENTS other types of cancer. It's OK to go out, just don't get burned'.

What you claim is not true. Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to the formation of certain types of cancer, and, it's possible, but less likely, that increased levels of Vitamin D may have an impact on cancer, but neither of those have been proven. What has been proven is that UV exposure can cause skin cancer, so you should limit your exposure to it. See Sun exposure: Can it help fight cancer? from the Mayo clinic.

I don't blame you for getting it wrong, though, you certainly read this somewhere in the popular press. The kind of misinformation is why journalists shouldn't be allowed to write about science. It's also part of why so many people are confused about global climate change.

BTW, one point I want to make. You need to separate out your points a bit better. Many people that believe humans are contributing to global climate change agree that many people are overreacting with their doomsday predictions and they suggestions for change.

The target audience gets heartburn because they eat too much and are overweight.

I know this because I am friends with a general practitioner (been an MD for about 15 years now) and he tells me that people in shape, like the actors in the commercials - in general - don't get heartburn.

I also know this because I was one of those people that got heartburn regularly. Once I started eating properly and getting back in shape, my heartburn disappeared.

For years I suffered what some call "heartburn" but in my case it was my throat. My throat would burn so bad it felt like molten metal was being pored down it. Niether my diet or exercise had anthing to do with it though, when it first appeared I ate mostly health food. My exercise was I rode my bike 100+ miles a week, it was my main transportation, ran several miles a day at least tree days a week for warmups, then after warmup had a class in a martial arts for two hours. I was a busy beaver. Before I took any drug the only way I could get rid of the burning was to either chew and suck on ginger or licorice root. Unfortunately ginger only worked as long as I had a piece to chew on and while licorice worked longer it made me nauseaous. Years later my doc ordered a test wherein a camera is inserted into the throat down to the stomach to take photos. A flap that is supposed to close where the esophagous meets the stomach to prevent the contents of the stomach from going back up the esophagous wasn't properly closing, a condition known as Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.

are you sure you don't need a mammogram? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/male-breast-cance r/DS00661/DSECTION=6

It's called "exercise". I believe Chuck Norris has a patent on it.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ01676 (see point 5)

From what I remember, islet cell transplants do not require cells from aborted fetuses.

Being a Type 1, I know all too well how much everything costs. The insulin is not the most expensive part of my regime. It's those darn testing strips for my glucometer. At almost $1 for each strip (retail), using at least 4 a day, that adds up FAST. If they could just get the price of those down, I'd be happier.