Feeling Less Depressed

I might even ask approval to return to work part-time.  It does not seem anyone at Social Security has a clue where my application is going, and trying to work should be a positive.

Darkness & Cancer & Heart Disease

I was watching a very well-done documentary about light pollution The City Dark, that mentioned some off the recent work on the association between light pollution and breast cancer.  This study examines how blood from humans exposed to light at night is depleted of malatonin, and it helped breast cancers in rats to grow:

The increased breast cancer risk in female night shift workers has been postulated to result from the suppression of pineal melatonin production by exposure to light at night. Exposure of rats bearing rat hepatomas or human breast cancer xenografts to increasing intensities of white fluorescent light during each 12-hour dark phase (0-345 μW/cm²) resulted in a dose-dependent suppression of nocturnal melatonin blood levels and a stimulation of tumor growth and linoleic acid uptake/metabolism to the mitogenic molecule 13-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid. Venous blood samples were collected from healthy, premenopausal female volunteers during either the daytime, nighttime, or nighttime following 90 minutes of ocular bright, white fluorescent light exposure at 580 μW/cm² (i.e., 2,800 lx). Compared with tumors perfused with daytime-collected melatonin-deficient blood, human breast cancer xenografts and rat hepatomas perfused in situ, with nocturnal, physiologically melatonin-rich blood collected during the night, exhibited markedly suppressed proliferative activity and linoleic acid uptake/metabolism. Tumors perfused with melatonin-deficient blood collected following ocular exposure to light at night exhibited the daytime pattern of high tumor proliferative activity. These results are the first to show that the tumor growth response to exposure to light during darkness is intensity dependent and that the human nocturnal, circadian melatonin signal not only inhibits human breast cancer growth but that this effect is extinguished by short-term ocular exposure to bright, white light at night. These mechanistic studies are the first to provide a rational biological explanation for the increased breast cancer risk in female night shift workers.

There are numerous studies now that show these connections.  I am increasingly sympathetic to dark sky ordinances as a public health measure. Another study suggests a connection to heart disease:

Background The purpose of this study was to examine prospectively the relation of shift work to risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in a cohort of women.

Methods and Results An ongoing prospective cohort of US female nurses, in whom we assessed (in 1988) the total number of years during which they worked rotating night shifts (at least three nights per month in addition to day and evening shifts), included 79 109 women, 42 to 67 years old in 1988, who were free of diagnosed CHD and stroke. Incident CHD was defined as nonfatal myocardial infarction and fatal CHD. During 4 years of follow-up (1988 to 1992), 292 cases of incident CHD (248 nonfatal myocardial infarction and 44 fatal CHD) occurred. The age-adjusted relative risk of CHD was 1.38 (95% CI, 1.08 to 1.76) in women who reported ever doing shift work compared with those who had never done so. The excess risk persisted after adjustment for cigarette smoking and a variety of other cardiovascular risk factors. Compared with women who had never done shift work, the multivariate adjusted relative risks of CHD were 1.21 (95% CI, 0.92 to 1.59) among women reporting less than 6 years and 1.51 (95% CI, 1.12 to 2.03) among those reporting 6 or more years of rotating night shifts.

Conclusions These data are compatible with the possibility that 6 or more years of shift work may increase the risk of CHD in women.

Airsoft Guns

They are so cheap on Amazon.com that I am suspicious.  The spring ones have to be cocked by hand for each shot.  Are they more durable than the Co2 ones?

What a Shocker: Illegal Aliens Voting

From PJMedia:

An election integrity watchdog group is suing the state of Maryland, alleging that it has discovered massive and ongoing fraudulent voting by non-U.S. citizens in one county. But because of the way that the non-citizens are able to cast votes in elections, the fraud is likely happening in every single county and subdivision across the state. The group believes that the illegal voting has been happening for years.

The group, Virginia Voters Alliance, says that it compared how voters in Frederick County filled out jury duty statements compared with their voting records. The group’s investigation found that thousands of people in Frederick County who stated that they are not U.S. citizens on jury duty forms went on to cast votes in elections. Either they failed to tell the truth when they were summoned for jury duty, or they cast illegal votes. Both are crimes. The same group previously found that about 40,000 people are registered to vote in both Virginia and Maryland.

This is why voter ID matters, and why Democrats oppose it.

Things You Find While Hunting

The October 29, 2014 Idaho World reports some hunters found a case of 1930s era dynamite.  One of the hunters was a Vietnam era-soldier and said to the reporter, "I didn't want to be blown up again...  it hurts!"  Some things I guess once is enough.

Houston's Subpoena of Sermons

I mentioned a couple of weeks back that Houston had subpoenaed sermons of pastors who were opposing the city's new transgendered can use whatever bathroom they want ordinance.  This sounds like something King James I might have done.  The October 29, 2014 Houston Chronicle reports that the mayor has retreated from the sermon subpoenas and explains that what started this was that the people of Houston had requested a referendum on the ordinance, and the mayor decided that the referendum did not conform to the city charter.  I don't know what the city charter requires, but I suspect the mayor knows that the referendum would have failed.  Even Houston isn't that liberal.  A bit more about the dispute from the October 21, 2014 Christian Post:

The conservative Texas Values Action organization turned in an estimated 50,000 signatures to repeal HERO, well above the 17,269 required by law.

City attorney David Feldman concluded that many of the signatures were invalid and thus Texas Values did not obtain the necessary number of valid signatures for a referendum.

I can see how the validity of signatures matters.  I can't see how the content of sermons would be relevant to the validity of signatures.  This seems like an attempt to intimidate pastors into not preaching the Gospel.  The mayor of course, is a lesbian.

Inflicting Pain on Goats

Some neighnors have some goats which have been getting ,y wife's flower gardens.  She would like to inflict pain but not permanent injury to encourage them to her garden alone.  She has a slingshot, but wants something with more range and accuracy.  Note: goat curry is not the right answer.

Walked Two Miles Today With My Wife

Down a gravel road.  I am exhausted.

Fraud AT UNC

From October 23, 2014 Inside Higher Education:

A "woeful lack of oversight" and a culture that confused academic freedom with a lack of accountability helped more than 3,100 students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- many of them athletes -- enroll and pass classes they never attended and which were not taught by a single faculty member.

A report released Wednesday by Kenneth Wainstein, a former official with the U.S. Department of Justice, found that the academic fraud was systematic and far-reaching, lasting for nearly 20 years and consisting of 188 classes in the African and Afro-American studies department. About half of the 3,100 students were athletes, and investigators concluded that some university employees were aware of the fraud and actively steered athletes and other struggling students toward the classes. 

Unfortunately, departments that were created laregly to get control of university buildings back from protesters are often filled with charlatans.  There is nothing intrinsically wrong with  African and Afro-American studie, but programs originally created as Affirmative Action ghettos are unlikely to be centers of excellence.

Still Waiting On Social Security Disability

Apparently the person responsible for deciding if I am disabked has had my paperwork for eight days now.  I didn't think a stroke would take this long to decide.

Crusade in the Pacific (1951)

I have been watching this Time/Life documentary series from 1951 on Netflix.  It is 24 hour series which gives a very detailed account of World War II and a little bit of the Korean War.  I've read a few nooks about parts of the Pacific War, most recently Thousand-Mile War about the Aleutian war, but this does a good job of filling in gaps in my kmowledge, such as where was Tarawa, and why was it a codeword for Marine determination?  It is difficult to watch without realizing the enormous sacrifices that generation was willing to make.  To its credit, it is not an Anericanocentric view, with the enormous sacrifices of Australians and New Zealanders generously recognized.

Encouraging Signs For Other Patients From the Rehab Ward

At outpatient therapy yesterday, I ran into two patients who had been in the rehab ward at the same time as me.  On was an older lady who suffered some cognitive losses: she still had no idea what 5+7=.  It makes me appreciate how lucky I was.  She is still having some cooking catastrophes, like failing to remove the giblets and neck from a turkey before cooking it, and forgetting to boil the noodles when making tuna casserole. 

Another was a teenager who had been in a traffic accident, and suffered a traumatic brain injury.  When he was on the rehab ward, he was having trouble talking.   All he could was moan and groan to express disapproval.  Now he is walking and talking.  He isn't out of the woods yet, because he is back in school, but what an improvement over the last time I saw him!

An Encouraging Sign

I can now not only open and close my right hand most of the way, I can move my right hand up and down at the wrist.  Still not typing with the right hand.

A couple of people at church independently have told me of visions they have had of me completely recovering, which with 75 cents should buy a cup of coffee.  It's still encouraging!

My wife has been working vigorously on massage of my arm and doing our home physical therapy exercises.  What a wonderful wife I am blessed with!

The Visitors (1993)

I am a sucker for time travel stories, especially for they deal with inevitable paradoxes that get raised.  The Visitors (1993) is a French film that I watched last night.  Think of it as the inverse of Michael Crichton's Timeline.  A French count and his vassal are transported from the 12th century to 1992.  Unlike Timeline which involves quantum remote FAXing gone awry, the time travel forward involves a senile wizard who forgets to include quail eggs in his vile concoction.  There are the usual fish out of water gags, including a Moor driving the devil's chariot (a French post office van) and the vassal discovering the French Revolution, with predictable results.  It's a funny movie, unlike Timeline.  I was pleased to see that it won a number of French film awards.

Contingency Planning: ScopeRoller

I hate to be morbid, but there is a small possibility that I will need my aortic valve replaced in early spring.  There is a small possibility that I won't survive it, or that a stroke contingent on surgery will not end as well as this one.  I am thinking of trying to arrange a contingent   sale of ScopeRoller in that unfortunate event.  This would involve the Sherline lathe, vertical mill, the drill press, and the chop saw, along with materials, tooling, instructions, web site, existing customer lists.  The idea is to simplify disposal of this stuff if I am not here to identify what is required.  The business is a profitable sideline business.  I typically make $10,000 a year in sales, with each sale making about $50-$100 in gross profit, without about an hour of labor.

UPDATE: Yes, the valve was replaced last year, but there appear to be calcium deposits building up, which might require attention.

HJR 2 on November Idaho Ballot

One of my readers asked ,y opinion on this amendment to the Idaho Constitution.  I intend to vote for it.

For some years the Idaho legislature starts each session by reviewing the rules adopted by executive departments of the state government, and either approving or amending them as they see fit.  This seems like a very intelligent use of the legislature's primary legislative authority.  I am guessing that someone has raised questions as to whether the legislature has the authority to do this,  As long as the executive officers of Idaho remain Republican, I don't see a great need for this explicit reservation, but it is obvious that Idaho is turning into the North End of Boise, and I could easily see a day when flaming leftists control some of these offices.  Hence, giving this authority explicitly to the legislature seems a good idea.

Treadmill

I spent 1/8 a mile on treadmill today at 1 mph.  It felt good, and I am plenty tuckered out for sleep.

Weapons On The Connecticut Statehouse

I visited the Connecticut state capitol in November 2013m and I was a bit startled at the numbers of weapons and warlike scenes carved into its exterior:

It is also a very beautiful building:

When The Washington Post Says This, The Left Has Lost

From the October 22, 2014 Washington Post:

Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown fought for control of the officer’s gun, and Wilson fatally shot the unarmed teenager after he moved toward the officer as they faced off in the street, according to interviews, news accounts and the full report of the St. Louis County autopsy of Brown’s body.

Because Wilson is white and Brown was black, the case has ignited intense debate over how police interact with African American men. But more than a half-dozen unnamed black witnesses have provided testimony to a St. Louis County grand jury that largely supports Wilson’s account of events of Aug. 9, according to several people familiar with the investigation who spoke with The Washington Post.

Starting To Read Again

I am reading John Lundstrom's One Drop in a Sea of Blue: The Liberators of the Ninth Minnesota at the moment. Reading is still a struggle because I am still mentally drained, but it is going better than I expected.

I watch a lot of TV at the moment, much of it not terribly high-brow, like Arrow based on the DC Comics Green Arrow books.  Part of what I find attractive about stuff based on the DC Comics stuff, is that traditional notions of right and wrong have survived.  Shows I watched in the hospital like Man vs, Food do not hold my attention now.

Cold Rice

One of the home physical therapy tricks is to have a huge box of uncoooked rice in the fridge.  Unlike an icepack, the rice gets between the fingers, and chills everything enough for me to exercise my somewhat edemic fingers. 

Prozac Ten Days On

I was warned that Prozac unlike Ativan, is not a happy pill, and that is an accurate description.  By now, I should have the whole benefit, ad the depression isn't gone, just lightened a good bit.  I am writing my next Shotgun News article, and it is definitely a mental challenge, but it is coming along, one paragraph at a time.

I Can Sorta Make A Fist With My Right Hand Now

It's the little things.

Wii Game Suggestions

There is a significant body of evidence now that Wii virtual reality games improve stroke recovery.  Any recommendations?

Today's Physical Therapy

involved p[utting my right hand in a gadget with that looked like a prop from Edward Scissorhands.  Lots of springs, screws, and plastic parts that when you close your fingers in exercise, pulls back to return your fingers to the open position, because in my case, the fingers close fine now, but don't reopen very well.  It had the desired result.  I am now squueezing a dog chew toy with my right hand, building up strength.  Complicating matters slightly is that Blue Cross of Idaho only covers 20 outpatient physical therapy sessions a plan year, even for post-stroke recovery, so I may be paying for the last few sessiohns out of pocket, and so far that seems well worth it.

Exporting Installed Applications From Windows 7

I know that I am not asking this correctly.  Is there a way to tell Windows 7 that you want to move applications installed in Windows 7 to another Windows 7 installation.  In this case, I have a number of applications installed under Windows 7, and I would love to move them to a Windows 7 installation on another PC without having to uinstall and then reinstall them.

Amnesty For Illegals?

Breitbart points out that requests for contracts indicate that millions of illegal aliens are going to be amnestied by executive order:

Despite no official action from the president ahead of the election, the Obama administration has quietly begun preparing to issue millions of work authorization permits, suggesting the implementation of a large-scale executive amnesty may have already begun.

Unnoticed until now, a draft solicitation for bids issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Oct. 6 says potential vendors must be capable of handling a “surge” scenario of 9 million id cards in one year “to support possible future immigration reform initiative requirements.”

I Sure Hope Sen, Warren Is Telling The Truth

From the October 18, 2014 Washington Post:

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) brought her populist message Saturday to this small college town to rev up the final weeks of Sen. Al Franken's reelection campaign, but also to claim the mantle of the modern liberal movement's political godfather.
...
"The game is rigged, and the Republicans rigged it," Warren said to loud cheers.

I have seen no sign that national Republicans even understand that there is a "game" here, much less that they have rigged it.  I love too see progressives in a panic.Barbra Streisand is panicking as well.  I see that one of Obama's rare campaign events had people walking out early.  I would like to think Democrats are seeing throuigh the facade, but it might be progressive Demos upset that he isn't backing ISIS.

Fingers. Arm.

I just woke up with the startling discovery that my right arm is now capable of voluntary motion across most of its old range of motions.  While my fingers are some what restrained by an edema-reducing glove, it appears that all fingers are now capable of voluntary motion!  I can now raise my right arm to shoulder height.

Honey-Do Lists

I told one of my nurses in the hospital that at least I was free of honey-do lists for a while.  Not quite true.  My wife set off some bug bombs in the telescope garage while I was away, and all the dead wasps needed to be vacuumed up, so I helped with this.  Boy, was this exhausting even though I was nostly standing.  The good news is that the PV panel is still charging the battery.

Huhnting For The One-Armed Man

Those of us old enough to remember The Fugitive TV series will remember that Dr. Kimble blamed a one-armed man for the murder of his wife.  As an effective one-armed man at the moment, I can see why this was regarded as a lousy claim.  There are so many things you can't do with only one working hand: tying shoelaces (I now have elastic shoelaces), buttoning and zipping pants, getting the top shirt button identified and buttoned.  Even opening a tightly sealed bottle of Coke requires some assistance,  Put the bottle in a drawer and close it on the bottom, then unscrew the lid.

I-594 in Washington State

This is the mandatory background check initiative on the November ballot.  As I have shown here there is no evidence that mandatory firearms background check laws reduce murder rates.

$32,000 A Plate Fundraiser Event: Which Party?

From the October 8, 2014 Connecticut Post:

GREENWICH -- On the same polo field where Britain's Prince Harry played the Sport of Kings during a goodwill tour of the U.S., President Barack Obama helicoptered to Connecticut's Gold Coast on Tuesday on Marine One for a VIP fundraising dinner to help Senate Democrats try to protect their slim majority in the midterm elections.

Kicking up a cloud of dust on the manicured grounds of the Greenwich Polo Club, the fundraiser-in-chief visited the sprawling Conyers Farm estate of Richard and Ellen Schapps Richman for an intimate gathering of Democratic high-rollers.

Some forked over as much as $32,400 -- the maximum contribution allowed under federal law -- to be part of the president's exclusive supper club benefitting the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

If the Republican Party had any sense, they would be running as showing how the billionaires are protecting their own.  But the Republican Party prefers to let Democrats play the class envy game.

Proof That Ivy League Schools Do Not Have The Smartest Administrators

Legal Insurrection tells what happened when Cornell University tried to solve its deer overpopulation problem without hunting.  Think The Onion.

Fear of Ebola Is Racism

From October 16, 2014 Guardian:

The problem with the west's Ebola response is still fear of a black patient

Ebola is now a stand-in for any combination of ‘African-ness’, ‘blackness’, ‘foreign-ness’ and ‘infestation’ – poised to ruin the perceived purity of western borders and bodies

Ebola now functions in popular discourse as a not-so-subtle, almost completely rhetorical stand-in for any combination of “African-ness”, “blackness”, “foreign-ness” and “infestation” – a nebulous but powerful threat, poised to ruin the perceived purity of western borders and bodies. Dead African bodies are the nameless placeholders for (unwarranted, racist) “panic”, a conversation topic too heavy for the dinner table yet light enough for supermarket aisles.

tThe author of course is an American.

Ebola Fears May Be Unreasonable

But the fears may themselves become a real issue.  From the October 17, 2014 Daily Beast:

Jason Charles knows the exact moment he will lead his wife and five kids out of their Harlem home, pile into a car, and take off for the wilderness. It will be not long after Ebola reaches the population of New York City, hospitals overflow, and looting begins—when the first riots break out on the streets of Manhattan.
“Right now it isn’t bad, but if the first case happens in New York, you start hearing about hundreds or thousands of people getting sick and it shotguns through the city, then you want to start getting your plan together to leave,” says the 37-year-old fireman and dedicated prepper. When that happens, he says, “it’s a free fall, that’s the system breaking down.”

But the moment of evacuation is delicate. Skipping work, pulling the kids out of school—all of these decisions have lasting consequences. “If you leave too early, you look like an idiot; if you leave too late, you could be dead,” Charles says.

Nationally, the number of Americans concerned that Ebola will shoot through the population is skyrocketing. According to a Wednesday poll by the Harvard School of Public Health, 52 percent of Americans surveyed said they believe the country will experience a large outbreak in the coming year, while 38 percent said they believed they or a family member would be infected. To be sure, there have been just three cases diagnosed in the U.S.

Ebola Fears

Talked To My Cardiologist Today

It was a meeting full of good news.  I have been concerned that the state of my cardiac arteries might not portend a long future, but when my cardiologist did the angioplasty on the LAD artery, he inspected all the rest and indicated that while some arteries had atherosclerosis, none of it was terribly severe and I should expect a number more years provided I worked on diet and exercise.  He a;so told me that my post-stroke condition was actua;;y quite good, compared to that of many that he has seen.  Now, if I could just rise above the remaining depression.  It also turns that the nausea I was first experiencing from Brilanta is typical, and that Plavix, the alternative does not play well with Prozac, and does not work as well as Brilinta.

H1B Visas Again

But i n this case, importing teachers to teach Turkish.  How many native speakers of Turkish are there in America.

Why Homosexuality and Freedom Are Incompatible

From the October 14, 2014 Houston Chronicle:

Houston's embattled equal rights ordinance took another legal turn this week when it surfaced that city attorneys, in an unusual step, subpoenaed sermons given by local pastors who oppose the law and are tied to the conservative Christian activists that have sued the city.

Opponents of the equal rights ordinance are hoping to force a repeal referendum when they get their day in court in January, claiming City Attorney David Feldman wrongly determined they had not gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. City attorneys issued subpoenas last month during the case's discovery phase, seeking, among other communications, "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession."

So much for freedom of speech or of religion.

The Fireball of Christ

You may be aware that part of what caused the pagan emperor Constantine to pass the Edict of Milan (313) that legalized Christianity was seeing a sign in the sky after a dream of Jesus Christ saying, "In this sign, conquer."  He instructed his soldiers to put the letters for Jesus Christ on their shields before going into battle.  The Fireball of Christ is a National Geographic special about what some think is a fourth century meteor crater in central Italy that could explain the fire in the sky which in some stony meteor entries, does resemble a cross.  There are also local legends that fit the meteor re-entry explanation.

Good News

My network problem fixed itself from running the Windows 7 network troubleshhoter.  Also my physical therapist says that my arm muscles are all working.  I just need to get my brain aware of the arm by putting some weight on it regu;arly, and it is likely to just surprise me some morning.

Weird DNS Issues With Windows 7

My notebook no longer resolves domain names, preventing me from using the Internet.  (I am posting from my wife's computer.)  I tried ipconfig /flushdns, but that didn't fix it,  Suggestions?

Prozac is Wonderful

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good.  I am still depressed but I can see a way out now. 

The Brilinta Nausea Seems To Be Abating

At least it is far less than it was, and a Zofran prescription that I take with the Brilinta is helping.

Depression

I went to see my family physician Tuesday.  He started me on 20 mg Prozac.  The biggest concern with SSRI anti-depressants is that they can provoke mania in bipolars.  At thjis point a liitle mania (my normal state) would be an advantage. I don't ever recall being this depressed.  It is like trying to drive a car whose engine won't get off idle.  It typically takes about 7-10 days for Prozac to raise one's mood level.  I am hoping that it will also alleviate the late night panic atttacks as well.  These are very rough.

The first two outpatient physical therapy sessions went very well.  The therapist indicated that I had far more right arm muscle use than most stroke patients he sees, and has confidence about my recovery prospects.

Depression and Stroke

Depression after stroke is quite common, and not just because you are suddenly disabled, but because the brain dumps dopamine in response to the trauma.  I am definitely depressed.  I have a follow-up appointmrnt with my GP this morning, and akong with alternatives to brilinta, I will try and get a referral to a psychiatrist for anti-depressants.

Depression and Stroke

Depression after stroke is quite common, and not just because you are suddenly disabled, byt because the brain dumps dopamine i response to the trauma.  I am definitely depressed.  I have a follow-up appointmrnt with my GP this morning, and akong with alternatives to brilinta, I will try and get a referral to a psychiatrist for anti-depressants.

Today;s Surprise: I Woke Up

When I fell asleep last night, I was praying for a quick and painless death.  Brilinta an anti-clotting agent gives me nausea and diarrhea.There must be an alternative.

Brain-Fog & Neurontin

One of the drugs that I was on in the hospital and that I am still taking is Neurontin for nerve pain.  I have noticed that eve after a couple nights of very good sleep,  I still suffer brain-fog.  Many years ago, I briefly took lithium in the hopes it would alleviate some of the physical symptoms of bipolar disorder (various muscle ache problems).  At the time I noticedd that it produced a similar brain-fog, rather like losing 40 IQ points.  Within a day of starting it, I found that I could enjoy situation comedies, instead of finding them stupid and obvious.  The next day I found myself watching TV commercials and finding the pitches persuasive.  Had I stayed on it I might have started voting Democrat.

I dare not go off the Neurontin out of fear of the pain, but feeling stupid all the time is a bit much.  I fully understand why med compliance for bipolars is so difficult.  All the creativity and energy goes away.

There's No Place Like Home

I am home, and I slept so well last night that it largely cleared my brain fog.

Delayed Exit

I was supposed to go home today.  But I mentioned to the nurse that I had some discomfort in my left lung, and this led to a CT scan and blood draw at 2:00 PM which requirs a second blood draw eight hours later to checck enzye levels to see if my heart is okay.  The CT scan looks fine, but the second blood draw means no release today.  On thw plus side,in the elevator  I ran into the heart surgeon that did my aortic valve replacement last year, and he wanted to know what I was doing in here, so he's coming by in the morning to check the images and inspect his handiwork a year later.

Hiring Employees

Have any of my readers started a business that had employees here in Idaho?  Until such time as my right arm is working, I am seriously thinking of hiring someone for ScopeRoller.  Partly this is because labor is cheap in Horseshoe Bend, and while I could just subcontract out the labor, subcontracting is a fast way to get in trouble with various state agencies that understandably regard subcontracting as a ruse to avoid payroll taxes.

Why I Am Less Fearful About Ebola Than I Used To Be

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever.  It turns that mant Americans (at least those of European ancestry) are likely immune to it, because so many of us have the CCR5-delta 32 mutation, which protects from HIV and hemorhhagic fevers.  Even if it were to break into the general population, the net effect would be to disproportionately kill the poorest and most reliably Democratic voters.  Since many Americans have already been exposed to HIV (especially in the 1980s through blood transfusions) without developing AIDS, my guess is that the risks of getting Ebola are relatvely lower than for the unlucky people of West Africa.  Our ancestors in Europe paid the price during the Black Death, thank them for their sacrifice.

The Buck Stops Here

That was the sign on President Truman's Oval Office desk.  Gov. Christie (not one of m favorite politicians) is calling Obama out for saying "they" (the intelligence agencies) didn't give enough warning that ISIS was dangerous.  They  work for you, Obama.,  If they aren't doing their jobs well, fire them.

I was also surprised to see a former associate of Michael Moore talking about how Islam is dangerous, describing how hate-filled the Koran is.  While to emphasize that most Muslims are not a problem, he pointed out that many of the world's Muslims are illiterate, an their knowledge of Islam is pretty shallow.  The Muslim-in-Chief, in an interview a few days ago kept saying that Islam is the religion of peace.  Actually, as this Islam-sympathetic web site points out:

Islam is derived from the Arabic root "Salema": peace, purity, submission and obedience. In the religious sense, Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law
.

Submission to God will certainly bring peace, but submission to Islam is slavery.  I wish Obama wasn't so ignorant.

More Tragedies

At breakfast this morning, I saw a young woman, maybe 25-30, who one of the CNAs was teaching to feed herself.  Stroke is a horrible thing.

Volcanos and Global Warming

The September 29, 2014 Washington Post has this article about a recently published paper that indicates  changes in Earth's rotational period (length of day) may cause increases in volcanic eruptions.and suggests a connection to our ice ages.  No surprise, eruptions throw a lot of greenhouse gases into the air.  Of course, the article has to end with the obligatory global warming hysteria:

The link between climate change and volcanism is still poorly understood. Many volcanoes do not seem to have been affected by it. Nor is it a particularly pressing concern today, even though we face an ice-free future. It can take thousands of years after the glaciers melt for volcanic activity to rise.

Yet while it may not be an immediate hazard, this strange effect is a reminder that our planet can respond to change in unforeseen ways. Contrary to their brutish reputation, volcanoes are helping scientists understand just how sensitive our planet can be.

 The link "is still poorly understood.:"  So impoverish much of the world.