You are so confused it is difficult to know where to begin.
Nice condescending 'tude - no need for ad hominems during a gentleman's debate...
That additional power on the electric grid must come from somewhere. Hydropower? The greenies routinely block dam projects in order to protect minute populations of slim-eating crustations. Nuclear? LOL! Solar power? Not enough surface area on the planet. Wind? Greenies block wind pro...
Look at my original post. I *did* mention nuclear as being clean, didn't I? When energy prices shoot up, I suspect that the greens will change their tune about nukes to something like "the least of many evils..."
I'm with you on all of these. The 20% savings you acheive do nothing but slow energy usage growth, but grow it does.
Wrong - fluorescents use 25% of the energy to produce the same amount of light. This means a 75% savings not 25%. More significant.
Lets go a step better. Let the state build all housing and provide central power and heating. Sound good, comrade?
Nah, economic factors will make people choose denser housing when (a) the standard of living of the US drops - and drop it will unfortunately, seeing what's going on with China and India, (b) commute times get out of hand. By denser, I don't mean huge concrete apartment blocks in some soulless project, I mean 1500-2000sf houses on 50' wide lots instead of 4000sf houses on 250' wide lots.
No, the obstinate and irrational refusal to drill ANWR is a form of liberal flagellation.
I'm not against drilling ANWR. I just think it's a way to put off some choices that we have to make by 20-30 years. But the choices will have to be made sooner or later, and it's better to prepare for a rainy day now.
Make a difference - vote Libertarian. If you campaign hard enough, you might even get some reasonable politicians in at the state house or city/town level. Not yet at the Federal level, probably, but change has got to start somewhere.
The best states for change at a local level are probably the old-line New England states, namely NH and VT. Low population densities, not much crime (so not much fear for politicos to play on), and a high ratio of statehouse reps to thier constituents. So a smaller number of people can choose to elect a non-mainstream rep.
VT has even elected an independent to the US House - Bernie Saunders. Saunders is one of the few senators who's unabashedly and completely against the PATRIOT Act.
Energy consumption *may* rise with economic growth. However, oil consumption does not have to. We could have hybrid cars that have a range of 50-60 miles in purely electric mode and which can recharge their batteries using an electric charger in addition to with the gasoline engine. That would cover many commutes by car. Ditto for electric heat replacing oil heat where oil heat is still used. Power can be generated using clean nuclear, hydro, and wind sources and possibly somewhat clean and available natural gas. (Nuclear power *is* clean provided that certain safety precautions are followed.)
In addition, we should spend more money on electric passenger and freight railroad systems. Maybe electrically-powered freight could even replace a lot of long-distance trucks in the next 20-30 years (using roll-on roll-off cars where the trailers are driven onto the railcars). Energy itself can also be saved by people adopting more reasonable lifestyles. The majority of incandescent bulbs' power input goes into generating heat. Replace those bulbs with compact fluorescents or LEDs and you're using 25% as much energy as before for lighting (and before someone starts complaining about Hg in CF bulbs, yes, CF bulbs are recyclable). In addition, who needs a 4,000 sq ft McMansion in the suburps for a 4- or 5- person family. Maybe development will become denser and smaller and heating/AC costs will go down that way.
Drilling the ANWR is a Bandaid for a gunshot wound. It might temporarily stop the bleeding, but the patient's still going to croak without major surgery.
nah. "Balance" would include 1 hour in a room with the cop who decided to arrest him, a katana, a Burdizzo clamp and a pair of handcuffs... At the very least, that officer won't be able to propagate his despicable genes after that hour.
-b.
Google's interfaces (for email and in general) have the advantage of being pretty simple and non-bandwith-intensive. For those people on slower connections, an interface with whiz-bang drag-and-drop bells and whistles will invariably be noticibly slower than a clean mostly HTML-based interface like Google's. I hate Hate HATE Flash websites for the same reasons.
-b.
When I was looking for places, I looked at a "very nice" rowhouse in an "emerging" neighborhood in DC. I applied the "drive there at night" test. It flunked.
Then again, if everyone had the same attitude as you (well, most people do), "bad" neighborhoods will never improve.
When I was looking for places, I looked at a "very nice" rowhouse in an "emerging" neighborhood in DC. I applied the "drive there at night" test. It flunked. Very few people want to be urban pioneers.
Rural public schools are some of the best statewide, hands down including all public and private schools.
Were you in a truly *rural* area? At least where I went to college, it seemed that all of the students from really rural areas didn't have the opportunity to take calculus or the more advanced science courses in high school. The lucky ones were either home schooled or took extension courses at a local community college. The students from urban/suburban areas usually had the opportunity to take those classes.
I never even heard of magnet schools until I was in medical school. (Most people don't say they went to magnet schools; they say they went to such and such private institution.) My understanding is that they are private schools and usually specialize in a particular area.
Some are private and the city pays, others (like Brooklyn Tech) are public. Depends.
I went to the U of Chicago. Then went to DC. Chicago was nice. DC wasn't (despite living in a supposedly reputable section).
I'm not a huge fan of DC either. Mainly because of the stuck-up people and extreme traffic congestion in the area (if anything, worse than NYC).
There are city sections that are downright horrific, while in the suburban and rural areas, it's sporadic and understated.
To put it more blutently, I see more drunks and addicts walking in a city than in a rural area. We have our drunks and addicts, but we usually only see the former.
If you want to see "bad", NYC had plenty of "bad" suburbs. Come hang out in North Plainfield at night:D Rural areas have drunks and addicts, you just see less of them per a given area since the population density is less. You won't see them walking around, either, since there isn't much to walk to.
btw, in a rural area, you don't usually walk. You ride a bike, rollerblade, get your parents to drive, or have less of an impetus or need to travel anyways.
I'd say *more* of an impetus to travel since places you might want to go are further away. Biking and "blading" can only go so far, and being dependent on your parents for longer-distance transport would sort of suck. Though some rural areas do have buses/trains, I suppose. Europe wins hands-down over the US in this respect.
This is night and day if we speak in generalities, lending me to believe you've never spent any decent amount of time in a rural or suburban area.
I grew up in the suburbs and still live nearby. Work will probably require me to move to NYC a few months from now (commuting 2-3hr/day irritates me). The suburb I grew up in was pretty nice because it was fairly compact, so you could bike and walk everywhere including to stores in the business area and the train station if you wanted to catch a train to NY. Also, there wasn't school bussing, so the majority of kids walked or biked to school.
As far as suburbs, the newer developments which have really wide streets, undifferentiated 3500 sq. ft. houses, often no sidewalks, and one entrance/exit from a major road are the ones that really bother me. Raising kids in that sort of suburb would really suck since the kids are basically trapped in that little development. Can't walk to school, can't walk to the store/movies when they're a bit older. Suckage.
Also, most gang violence in suburban or rural areas are developed from cultural or media ties or exported from cities. In the city nearest my area, the gangs moved in from Philadelphia due to a runaway when she came back to town.
Stuff like homemade meth seems to be home-grown and hasn't ever been an urban problem (and I hope never will be). So this isn't always the case. As far gangs in rural areas, poverty breeds desperation, and there's plenty of poverty out in the sticks.
Also, we don't put up with violence as much as in the city; in the city, some murder occurs, hardly anyone lifts an eyebrow. That occurs in a rural area, there's a crackdown. Hard.
There's always the option of buying in what's now considered the "ghetto" (Anacostia or whatever). I've seen houses in the 20s NE that were still going for under $300k at the beginning of this summer. There's still good real estate to be found *in* the District itself if you're willing to look. Especially in the fall/early winter when the housing market cools down a bit.
Or pay a bit more for a house and stick in an "unofficial" rental unit and make $12-24 k a year renting it out (actually, getting "official" units approved isn't horribly difficult).
There's always other friends, and besides, children would probably be better served growing up in a rural area vice a city, with all the problems that they come with.
Not necessarily:
* City magnet schools are some of the best, if your kid is smart and can get in
* Rural areas have their social problems, too, often more so than cities (witness the recent problems with crystal meth in the Midwest and West)
* Kids can actually *walk* in cities with less of a risk of being hit by a car (counterintuitive, but cities have sidewalks and traffic doesn't move that fast). Not to mention that there are interesting places to go to within walking distance. I see a lot more 10-12 y.o. kids out walking on their own in NYC than in any rural area
* Gangs are still a problem in "rural" areas. Look at some parts of New Mexico for an example of this.
* Don't think that rural areas aren't polluted. Pesticide runoff and industrial pollution (like from mining and coal burning powerplants) is more of a problem than one would like to think.
As recently as 5 years ago, some towns in NJ and PA didn't have 911 service. Payphones (and phones of people who got them) had little stickers:
FIRE: xxx-xxxx
POLICE: xxx-xxxx
AMBULANCE: xxx-xxxx
Also, the town where I went to college had 911 service, but it was just forwarded to the main desk at the police station - at night, it was forwarded to the police station in a nearby larger town since there was no desk sargeant on duty at night. No fancy county-wide control center or whatever, just a call-forwarding service. I have no idea how cell phones worked there since I didn't have one at the time. (Finally got one like 3 weeks ago because I needed phone #s in both NYC and NJ).
-b.
I'm not one to encourage lawsuits generally but given the severity of the lapse it might be worthwhile looking into suing for malpractice. If nothing else it could (hopefully) either 1. Cause the doctor to start being more careful or 2. Get him out of the business so he doesn't end up killing someone.
The dr. is a friend of the family, so suing him would involve further complications. To his credit, I *did* test negative when he gave me the CDC-recommended ELISA test. My other blood work was also normal.
There is, however, much debate about the efficacy of the ELISA test for Lyme. Some people don't produce detectable levels of antibodies for some reason, and the test looks for antibodies not the organism itself.
I ended up getting back an "equivocal" Western Blot test from the other doc, along with some other blood work that was suggestive of a chronic infection. I also had the classical symptoms of Lyme, a history of the rash, a history of tick bites. Moreover, I'm responding to antibiotics *quite* well.
So, the case is far from clear-cut. I could in theory have some *other* bacterial infection that happens to respond to the same antibiotics used to treat Lyme. However, Occam's Razor and all that...
Anyway, I'm not going to sue. Yes, I felt like warmed-over shit for three additional months due to that Dr. not listening. However, I'm more interested in developing my business and getting on with life than spending time in a courtroom. I have my body back (well, at least part of the time for now) - I'm not gonna waste time with a drawn-out lawsuit. I will, however, discourage family and friends from going to that doc - it's the least I can do.
Adding Tylenol to the hydrocodone tablets allows them to get the same effect with less hydrocodone.
Same thing could be achieved by giving the Tylenol and Hydrocod. seperately. The Schedule II/III thing shows pretty conclusively that the Tylonol is a denaturant not an integral part of the drug.
Would you also then recommend that software pirates practice their craft in governmentally instituted warehouses, rather than physically steal CDs and DVDs from neighbors to pirate?
Software piracy is different, because it deprives the authors of profits. Occasional use of drugs (provided that it is in fact occasional) deprives no one of anything. The "war on drugs" should stop. The money that's saved from enforcement should go towards treatment of those who are unlucky enough/biologically predisposed to becoming dangerously addicted to drugs.
* I was bitten by a tick a few weeks before the symptoms appeared;
* Had constant headaches and felt like I had the flu all the time
* Unexplained muscle pains
* Joint pains/swelling
* Twitching
* Prostate cramps/my penis went numb for a few days. Felt like I was about to piss my pants all the time. Fun!
* Many more symptoms
* My doctor insisted that I was 100% healthy
* The symptoms subsided during a 10-day course of antibiotics for a sinus infection. Came back slowly over a month.
* My doctor still insisted I was totally ok. He said that the antibiotics couldn't have possibly fixed my joint pains. Even if it weren't Lyme, hadn't he heard of "reactive arthritis."
Fortunately I was able to arrange for my own antibiotics until I was able to see a doctor who wasn't a fucking moron. That other doctor ran some more blood tests and agreed with me.
Sadly, she's not covered by my ins., but she's worth going to since she isn't clueless.
And what's so bad about the meth guys burning themselves out, anyway? It's nice and Darwinian.
Nothing, except when a meth lab blows up and takes a few neighboring houses with it. Or when a meth lab leaks toxic chemicals and cancer cases in the neighborhood skyrocket.
Much better to produce this stuff in a well controlled environment.
And, it's kind of odd to make drugs less-safe to combat the abuses of those drugs. It could end up harming people who (medically) need to be given higher doses.
So would aceteminophen. For higher doses, they have pure hydrocodone, but that's DEA Schedule III instead of Sched II for the hydrocodone/w toxic stuff added, so it isn't given unless it's really necessary.
Antibiotics aren't addictive, but they are abused.
I didn't use antibiotics *at all* for like 7 years before this nasty little health episode. But, trust me, when the choice is between having neuro symptoms, joint pains, etc for either the rest of your life or half a decade of so (depending on which Dr. you ask) and taking antibiotics, I'll take the antibiotics hands-down.
Antibiotics aren't addictive, but they are abused.
Some of these people self-medicate and push their vicodin/lortab dose until they get acetaminophen toxic...
So why the *hell* do the pharma companies use acetaminophen to "denature" their hydrocodone tablets? Wouldn't it be better not to add the acet. and just treat drug addicts who are a danger to themselves/others?
Either that, or add something that has fairly immediate and unpleasant effects when overdosed upon, rather than acet. which has no immediate unpleasant effects, is seen by the public as "safe" (after all, it's in nonprescription Tylenol, and the nanny-state won't allow any truly *scary* drugs to be sold OTC, right?), but which often causes fatal liver/kidney damage a few days after overdosage.
Tylenol is nasty shit - I prefer taking aspirin for my headaches. Apart from the small risk of stomach problems, it's actually a lot less toxic than Tylenol.
The fact that I was able to get an antibiotic w/o a script and take it for another few weeks until I saw a doctor that actually had a clue about Lyme disease may have saved my life or at least my sanity.
Yeah, I know. Antibiotics aren't addictive. But, honestly, wouldn't it be better if people could get *pure* drugs to get high on rather than resorting to using toxic-ass shite like homemade crystal meth? I imagine that a lot more people are poisoned and left permanently damaged by the impurities in crystal meth (nice stuff like benzene and hydriotic acid) than are hurt by the overuse of prescription amphetemines.
Yeah, the spamming part sucked, but most of the charges against these guys aren't related to the spamming. And, if anything, the gov't has created a fertile ground for this guy's "crimes" with it's moronic, single-tracked, overregulatory approach to any substance that can make a person feel "high." (Except things like Xanax that make massive dough for the pharma industry.)
Did you try to set your contrast down or switch to green on black? If so, have you any thoughts on why it didn't help?
Yeah, and careful adjustments of contrast made my eyes ok for about an hour:/ The real solution was high-dose antibiotics, of course, to fix the underlying problem, but I wasn't immediately sure what that problem was, though I suspected Lyme from the outset.
-b.
I know the books weren't destroyed or anything - I have RTFA.
However, I'm addressing the computer screen vs. paper books debate. I had a bad case of Lyme Disease this winter - actually, I still have it just not as bad. Anyway, one of the neurological problems was that I had a problem with different contrast levels - i.e. reading bright letters on a dark background or vice versa really SUCKED. Sucked as in gave me a massive headache after 5 min or so. Books were much better in this respect.
Well, about a year ago, I was bitten in the head by a tick. Developed joint pain, characteristic rashes in several places on my body, headaches, frequent bouts of feeling like shite, wierd urinary issues, etc. In short, all the symptoms of Lyme Disease.
Went to my usual doc; he tested me for it using the (quite flawed) ELISA test. Came back negative and all other bloodwork was fine. Two months later, I has a bad case of sinusitis, and was given an antibiotic which just happened to be effective against Lyme.
After experiencing a worsening of symptoms (known as a Herxheimer reaction) on the third day of treatment, I started feeling much better. Joint and back pain was reduced almost to zero, headaches were gone for the first time in 10 months or so.
Of course, the doctor said: "you can't possibly have Lyme, you tested negative for it." I told him that I read that the test is not 100% accurate and the NJ state health depertment had even advised doctors not to use it as the sole diagnostic criterion. "Well,... stop reading so much and worrying about your health. The fact that antibiotics helped you is probably just the placebo effect." (stupid fucktard, as if it isn't known that joint pain is often caused by bacterial infections.)
So far, after 10 days of that antibiotic (Omnicef) and a week more of self-administered amoxicillin, my symptoms are 90% gone, but since 2 and a half weeks of antibiotics isn't enough to treat Lyme, they'll undoubtedly come back.
Fortunately, I was given the name of a good specialist, whom I'm seeing in two weeks, and there is still a faint mark from one of the rashes, so there is evidence that I was infected. I suppose that if I were desperate, I could always go to Mexico and get antibiotics or order them through a pharmacy site like Master's Marketing, which is reputable but isn't too particular about prescriptions for non-narcotic drugs.
What I don't hear about is apple and there slots not taking anything but "AIRPORT" cards?
I'm using a Belkin 802.11g card in my Powerbook without problems and using an out-of-the-box version of OS 10.2. No third-party drivers needed. Even if I did need an additional driver, there's a difference between merely not supporting third-party products and actively preventing their use via whitelist.
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Nice condescending 'tude - no need for ad hominems during a gentleman's debate...
That additional power on the electric grid must come from somewhere. Hydropower? The greenies routinely block dam projects in order to protect minute populations of slim-eating crustations. Nuclear? LOL! Solar power? Not enough surface area on the planet. Wind? Greenies block wind pro...
Look at my original post. I *did* mention nuclear as being clean, didn't I? When energy prices shoot up, I suspect that the greens will change their tune about nukes to something like "the least of many evils..."
I'm with you on all of these. The 20% savings you acheive do nothing but slow energy usage growth, but grow it does.
Wrong - fluorescents use 25% of the energy to produce the same amount of light. This means a 75% savings not 25%. More significant.
Lets go a step better. Let the state build all housing and provide central power and heating. Sound good, comrade?
Nah, economic factors will make people choose denser housing when (a) the standard of living of the US drops - and drop it will unfortunately, seeing what's going on with China and India, (b) commute times get out of hand. By denser, I don't mean huge concrete apartment blocks in some soulless project, I mean 1500-2000sf houses on 50' wide lots instead of 4000sf houses on 250' wide lots.
No, the obstinate and irrational refusal to drill ANWR is a form of liberal flagellation.
I'm not against drilling ANWR. I just think it's a way to put off some choices that we have to make by 20-30 years. But the choices will have to be made sooner or later, and it's better to prepare for a rainy day now.
-b.
The best states for change at a local level are probably the old-line New England states, namely NH and VT. Low population densities, not much crime (so not much fear for politicos to play on), and a high ratio of statehouse reps to thier constituents. So a smaller number of people can choose to elect a non-mainstream rep.
VT has even elected an independent to the US House - Bernie Saunders. Saunders is one of the few senators who's unabashedly and completely against the PATRIOT Act.
-b.
In addition, we should spend more money on electric passenger and freight railroad systems. Maybe electrically-powered freight could even replace a lot of long-distance trucks in the next 20-30 years (using roll-on roll-off cars where the trailers are driven onto the railcars). Energy itself can also be saved by people adopting more reasonable lifestyles. The majority of incandescent bulbs' power input goes into generating heat. Replace those bulbs with compact fluorescents or LEDs and you're using 25% as much energy as before for lighting (and before someone starts complaining about Hg in CF bulbs, yes, CF bulbs are recyclable). In addition, who needs a 4,000 sq ft McMansion in the suburps for a 4- or 5- person family. Maybe development will become denser and smaller and heating/AC costs will go down that way.
Drilling the ANWR is a Bandaid for a gunshot wound. It might temporarily stop the bleeding, but the patient's still going to croak without major surgery.
-b.
nah. "Balance" would include 1 hour in a room with the cop who decided to arrest him, a katana, a Burdizzo clamp and a pair of handcuffs... At the very least, that officer won't be able to propagate his despicable genes after that hour.
-b.
Google's interfaces (for email and in general) have the advantage of being pretty simple and non-bandwith-intensive. For those people on slower connections, an interface with whiz-bang drag-and-drop bells and whistles will invariably be noticibly slower than a clean mostly HTML-based interface like Google's. I hate Hate HATE Flash websites for the same reasons.
-b.
Then again, if everyone had the same attitude as you (well, most people do), "bad" neighborhoods will never improve.
-b.
When I was looking for places, I looked at a "very nice" rowhouse in an "emerging" neighborhood in DC. I applied the "drive there at night" test. It flunked. Very few people want to be urban pioneers.
Were you in a truly *rural* area? At least where I went to college, it seemed that all of the students from really rural areas didn't have the opportunity to take calculus or the more advanced science courses in high school. The lucky ones were either home schooled or took extension courses at a local community college. The students from urban/suburban areas usually had the opportunity to take those classes.
I never even heard of magnet schools until I was in medical school. (Most people don't say they went to magnet schools; they say they went to such and such private institution.) My understanding is that they are private schools and usually specialize in a particular area.
Some are private and the city pays, others (like Brooklyn Tech) are public. Depends.
I went to the U of Chicago. Then went to DC. Chicago was nice. DC wasn't (despite living in a supposedly reputable section).
I'm not a huge fan of DC either. Mainly because of the stuck-up people and extreme traffic congestion in the area (if anything, worse than NYC).
There are city sections that are downright horrific, while in the suburban and rural areas, it's sporadic and understated. To put it more blutently, I see more drunks and addicts walking in a city than in a rural area. We have our drunks and addicts, but we usually only see the former.
If you want to see "bad", NYC had plenty of "bad" suburbs. Come hang out in North Plainfield at night :D Rural areas have drunks and addicts, you just see less of them per a given area since the population density is less. You won't see them walking around, either, since there isn't much to walk to.
btw, in a rural area, you don't usually walk. You ride a bike, rollerblade, get your parents to drive, or have less of an impetus or need to travel anyways.
I'd say *more* of an impetus to travel since places you might want to go are further away. Biking and "blading" can only go so far, and being dependent on your parents for longer-distance transport would sort of suck. Though some rural areas do have buses/trains, I suppose. Europe wins hands-down over the US in this respect.
This is night and day if we speak in generalities, lending me to believe you've never spent any decent amount of time in a rural or suburban area.
I grew up in the suburbs and still live nearby. Work will probably require me to move to NYC a few months from now (commuting 2-3hr/day irritates me). The suburb I grew up in was pretty nice because it was fairly compact, so you could bike and walk everywhere including to stores in the business area and the train station if you wanted to catch a train to NY. Also, there wasn't school bussing, so the majority of kids walked or biked to school.
As far as suburbs, the newer developments which have really wide streets, undifferentiated 3500 sq. ft. houses, often no sidewalks, and one entrance/exit from a major road are the ones that really bother me. Raising kids in that sort of suburb would really suck since the kids are basically trapped in that little development. Can't walk to school, can't walk to the store/movies when they're a bit older. Suckage.
Also, most gang violence in suburban or rural areas are developed from cultural or media ties or exported from cities. In the city nearest my area, the gangs moved in from Philadelphia due to a runaway when she came back to town.
Stuff like homemade meth seems to be home-grown and hasn't ever been an urban problem (and I hope never will be). So this isn't always the case. As far gangs in rural areas, poverty breeds desperation, and there's plenty of poverty out in the sticks.
Also, we don't put up with violence as much as in the city; in the city, some murder occurs, hardly anyone lifts an eyebrow. That occurs in a rural area, there's a crackdown. Hard.
Or pay a bit more for a house and stick in an "unofficial" rental unit and make $12-24 k a year renting it out (actually, getting "official" units approved isn't horribly difficult).
-b.
Not necessarily:
* City magnet schools are some of the best, if your kid is smart and can get in
* Rural areas have their social problems, too, often more so than cities (witness the recent problems with crystal meth in the Midwest and West)
* Kids can actually *walk* in cities with less of a risk of being hit by a car (counterintuitive, but cities have sidewalks and traffic doesn't move that fast). Not to mention that there are interesting places to go to within walking distance. I see a lot more 10-12 y.o. kids out walking on their own in NYC than in any rural area
* Gangs are still a problem in "rural" areas. Look at some parts of New Mexico for an example of this.
* Don't think that rural areas aren't polluted. Pesticide runoff and industrial pollution (like from mining and coal burning powerplants) is more of a problem than one would like to think.
Cheers,
-b.
As recently as 5 years ago, some towns in NJ and PA didn't have 911 service. Payphones (and phones of people who got them) had little stickers:
FIRE: xxx-xxxx POLICE: xxx-xxxx AMBULANCE: xxx-xxxx
Also, the town where I went to college had 911 service, but it was just forwarded to the main desk at the police station - at night, it was forwarded to the police station in a nearby larger town since there was no desk sargeant on duty at night. No fancy county-wide control center or whatever, just a call-forwarding service. I have no idea how cell phones worked there since I didn't have one at the time. (Finally got one like 3 weeks ago because I needed phone #s in both NYC and NJ).
-b.
The dr. is a friend of the family, so suing him would involve further complications. To his credit, I *did* test negative when he gave me the CDC-recommended ELISA test. My other blood work was also normal.
There is, however, much debate about the efficacy of the ELISA test for Lyme. Some people don't produce detectable levels of antibodies for some reason, and the test looks for antibodies not the organism itself.
I ended up getting back an "equivocal" Western Blot test from the other doc, along with some other blood work that was suggestive of a chronic infection. I also had the classical symptoms of Lyme, a history of the rash, a history of tick bites. Moreover, I'm responding to antibiotics *quite* well.
So, the case is far from clear-cut. I could in theory have some *other* bacterial infection that happens to respond to the same antibiotics used to treat Lyme. However, Occam's Razor and all that...
Anyway, I'm not going to sue. Yes, I felt like warmed-over shit for three additional months due to that Dr. not listening. However, I'm more interested in developing my business and getting on with life than spending time in a courtroom. I have my body back (well, at least part of the time for now) - I'm not gonna waste time with a drawn-out lawsuit. I will, however, discourage family and friends from going to that doc - it's the least I can do.
-b.
Same thing could be achieved by giving the Tylenol and Hydrocod. seperately. The Schedule II/III thing shows pretty conclusively that the Tylonol is a denaturant not an integral part of the drug.
-b.
Software piracy is different, because it deprives the authors of profits. Occasional use of drugs (provided that it is in fact occasional) deprives no one of anything. The "war on drugs" should stop. The money that's saved from enforcement should go towards treatment of those who are unlucky enough/biologically predisposed to becoming dangerously addicted to drugs.
-b.
Sarcasm, I ass-u-me. If not, then:
* I was bitten by a tick a few weeks before the symptoms appeared;
* Had constant headaches and felt like I had the flu all the time
* Unexplained muscle pains
* Joint pains/swelling
* Twitching
* Prostate cramps/my penis went numb for a few days. Felt like I was about to piss my pants all the time. Fun!
* Many more symptoms
* My doctor insisted that I was 100% healthy
* The symptoms subsided during a 10-day course of antibiotics for a sinus infection. Came back slowly over a month.
* My doctor still insisted I was totally ok. He said that the antibiotics couldn't have possibly fixed my joint pains. Even if it weren't Lyme, hadn't he heard of "reactive arthritis." Fortunately I was able to arrange for my own antibiotics until I was able to see a doctor who wasn't a fucking moron. That other doctor ran some more blood tests and agreed with me.
Sadly, she's not covered by my ins., but she's worth going to since she isn't clueless.
-b.
Nothing, except when a meth lab blows up and takes a few neighboring houses with it. Or when a meth lab leaks toxic chemicals and cancer cases in the neighborhood skyrocket.
Much better to produce this stuff in a well controlled environment.
-b.
So would aceteminophen. For higher doses, they have pure hydrocodone, but that's DEA Schedule III instead of Sched II for the hydrocodone /w toxic stuff added, so it isn't given unless it's really necessary.
-b.
I didn't use antibiotics *at all* for like 7 years before this nasty little health episode. But, trust me, when the choice is between having neuro symptoms, joint pains, etc for either the rest of your life or half a decade of so (depending on which Dr. you ask) and taking antibiotics, I'll take the antibiotics hands-down.
Antibiotics aren't addictive, but they are abused.
Can't argue with that one.
Cheers, -b.
-b.
So why the *hell* do the pharma companies use acetaminophen to "denature" their hydrocodone tablets? Wouldn't it be better not to add the acet. and just treat drug addicts who are a danger to themselves/others?
Either that, or add something that has fairly immediate and unpleasant effects when overdosed upon, rather than acet. which has no immediate unpleasant effects, is seen by the public as "safe" (after all, it's in nonprescription Tylenol, and the nanny-state won't allow any truly *scary* drugs to be sold OTC, right?), but which often causes fatal liver/kidney damage a few days after overdosage.
Tylenol is nasty shit - I prefer taking aspirin for my headaches. Apart from the small risk of stomach problems, it's actually a lot less toxic than Tylenol.
-b.
The fact that I was able to get an antibiotic w/o a script and take it for another few weeks until I saw a doctor that actually had a clue about Lyme disease may have saved my life or at least my sanity.
Yeah, I know. Antibiotics aren't addictive. But, honestly, wouldn't it be better if people could get *pure* drugs to get high on rather than resorting to using toxic-ass shite like homemade crystal meth? I imagine that a lot more people are poisoned and left permanently damaged by the impurities in crystal meth (nice stuff like benzene and hydriotic acid) than are hurt by the overuse of prescription amphetemines.
Yeah, the spamming part sucked, but most of the charges against these guys aren't related to the spamming. And, if anything, the gov't has created a fertile ground for this guy's "crimes" with it's moronic, single-tracked, overregulatory approach to any substance that can make a person feel "high." (Except things like Xanax that make massive dough for the pharma industry.)
-b.
Yeah, and careful adjustments of contrast made my eyes ok for about an hour :/ The real solution was high-dose antibiotics, of course, to fix the underlying problem, but I wasn't immediately sure what that problem was, though I suspected Lyme from the outset.
-b.
I know the books weren't destroyed or anything - I have RTFA.
However, I'm addressing the computer screen vs. paper books debate. I had a bad case of Lyme Disease this winter - actually, I still have it just not as bad. Anyway, one of the neurological problems was that I had a problem with different contrast levels - i.e. reading bright letters on a dark background or vice versa really SUCKED. Sucked as in gave me a massive headache after 5 min or so. Books were much better in this respect.
-b.
Well, about a year ago, I was bitten in the head by a tick. Developed joint pain, characteristic rashes in several places on my body, headaches, frequent bouts of feeling like shite, wierd urinary issues, etc. In short, all the symptoms of Lyme Disease.
... stop reading so much and worrying about your health. The fact that antibiotics helped you is probably just the placebo effect." (stupid fucktard, as if it isn't known that joint pain is often caused by bacterial infections.)
Went to my usual doc; he tested me for it using the (quite flawed) ELISA test. Came back negative and all other bloodwork was fine. Two months later, I has a bad case of sinusitis, and was given an antibiotic which just happened to be effective against Lyme.
After experiencing a worsening of symptoms (known as a Herxheimer reaction) on the third day of treatment, I started feeling much better. Joint and back pain was reduced almost to zero, headaches were gone for the first time in 10 months or so.
Of course, the doctor said: "you can't possibly have Lyme, you tested negative for it." I told him that I read that the test is not 100% accurate and the NJ state health depertment had even advised doctors not to use it as the sole diagnostic criterion. "Well,
So far, after 10 days of that antibiotic (Omnicef) and a week more of self-administered amoxicillin, my symptoms are 90% gone, but since 2 and a half weeks of antibiotics isn't enough to treat Lyme, they'll undoubtedly come back.
Fortunately, I was given the name of a good specialist, whom I'm seeing in two weeks, and there is still a faint mark from one of the rashes, so there is evidence that I was infected. I suppose that if I were desperate, I could always go to Mexico and get antibiotics or order them through a pharmacy site like Master's Marketing, which is reputable but isn't too particular about prescriptions for non-narcotic drugs.
-b.
I'm using a Belkin 802.11g card in my Powerbook without problems and using an out-of-the-box version of OS 10.2. No third-party drivers needed. Even if I did need an additional driver, there's a difference between merely not supporting third-party products and actively preventing their use via whitelist.
-b.