Healthy skepticism

Years ago I worked in a bacteriology laboratory identifying various pathogens and I remember my boss always reminding me two things: wash your hands for at least one minute and don’t wave the loop (the gizmo used to culture bacteria).
At that time I was concerned about E.coli, S.aureus and mostly anthrax. But somehow I rested assured that there was medication around and apart from some diarrhea and other unpleasant short lived symptoms, everything would be fine.
It seems not to hold true anymore. Today we are worried about the nasty hospital superbugs, resistant to even the strongest antibiotics.
These superbugs are having a very unnerving habit: to morph into something more and more dangerous.
Disease Control and Prevention. Health Canada reports that superbug infections cost $24-33 million annually to manage and that rates of infection and colonization have doubled annually for each of the past five years.

The scientists seemed to agree that the over-prescription of antibiotics and the increased presence of antibiotics in meat and fish contribute to bacteria developing resistance to the drugs.

It’s seems to be a circle of death: antibiotics over-prescribed and meat treated with antibiotics weaken our immune system- we are more susceptible to mutant strains resistant to common antibiotics- to combat them we need stronger antibiotics which will weaken our immune system even more- bacteria will adapt and morphed to fight the antibiotic.

Let’s review the most dangerous superbugs:
- MRSA- Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
- VISA/VRSA- Vencomycin-Intermediate/Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
- Clostridium difficile

C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) usually occurs during or after the use of antibiotics. Main symptoms include: diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain and nausea. Found in feces, it is usually spread through contaminated surfaces such as toilets, bedpans, handles and common chairs.
It is treated with….antibiotics.

MRSA is a potentially lethal bacterium that causes infections in humans and is difficult to combat because it has developed a resistance to certain antibiotics, among them being methicillin.
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus usually strikes in hospitals, where conditions suit it, but it can occur in otherwise healthy people who have not been recently hospitalized or had a medical procedure involving surgery, dialysis or catheters which tend to be a breeding ground for MRSA.
S. aureus is a bacteria normally found on the skin and mucus (nose). Most S. aureus will cause infections, like the ones normally occurring when we get a cut and it’s not properly disinfected. The bacteria move from the surface of the skin into the wound and as a normal response the white cells fight the intruders. To be on the safe side we are using over the counter antibiotic ointments like Polysporin. Again, antibiotic.

To fight MRSA the chosen antibiotic would be vancomycin, until recently when new strains of MRSA showed antibiotic resistance even to vancomycin.

Hence the new and ‘improved’ strain: VISA or vancomycin resistant S. aureus.
Treatment for this strain: the new antibiotic platensimycin.

So, to treat two highly antibiotic resistant bacteria strains we have to use stronger and stronger antibiotics.
Or, maybe start reconsidering the whole antibiotic strategy and switch to phage or maggots therapy.
Disgusting as it may sound, maggot therapy seems to be very effective.
It’s a type of biotherapy involving the introduction of live, disinfected maggots into the non-healing skin and soft tissue wound for selectively cleaning out the necrotic tissue within a wound and promote wound healing.

Phage (bacteriophage) therapy involves the use of viruses (bacteriophages) that invades only bacterial cells causing the bacterium to burst and die, thus releasing more phages.
The theoretical benefits of phage therapy:
- less side effects
- don’t stress liver
- a small dose is sometimes sufficient
- they are specifically designed to match the bacteria

What can we do to prevent the spread of these nasty superbugs?

Apparently become cleaner.
Wash our hands more often using warm water and lots of soap and disinfect with alcohol rather then using other chemicals that will only make the bacteria to morph into something new.

I am not going to touch the stringent subject of how the contracts are given to shady companies for cleaning the hospitals even if I believe it’s one of the reasons for the hospital mess. Maybe next time.

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About a month ago I talked to a colleague of mine about his moving from Georgia to Virginia. One of the main benefits he pointed out was a bigger house sitting on a very generous acreage including a forest. And he mentioned the presence of deer populations.
Knowing that he is a hunter as well, I asked him if he shoots any of the deers living in his forest.
He said “Oh no! They are mine, they are like my pets; they are not afraid of me anymore and come to our yard every day”. Then, he proudly showed me a picture with one of them.
Because his job involves lots of traveling he decided to try something new: a Deer Feeder to make sure that his dear new pets are well look after when he is away.

Apparently deer populations need a constant contribution of grain and protein, particularly in the cold months of winter and using automatic feeders is an inexpensive way of supplementing with quality feed their diet, and the diet of other wild forest animals.
Now that he is considering taking the responsibility, he started evaluating different models of deer feeders and not even that, he started reading literature regarding feeding wild animals.

Honestly speaking, I was impressed that he was able to see a deer as a pet, rather then a trophy.

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We know that entertainment industry is fuming over illegal downloading and it has long expressed frustration for Canadian unwillingness to modernize copyright laws.

Here comes Neil MacBride, a vice-president with the Business Software Alliance, a Washington D.C.-based company (dubbed industry association) that fights software piracy. The company he represents, sent out about 60,000 ‘notice and notice’ e-mails to Canadian users in 2006.
The notices contain language intended to scare the illegal downloaders.

Following is an example of the verbiage used by NBC Universal:
“This unauthorized copying and distribution constitutes copyright infringement under applicable national laws and international treaties. We urge you to take immediate action to stop this infringing activity and inform us of the results of your actions”

Canadian users are tracked by IP address when content is downloaded from the internet.The ISPs are the only ones who know what individuals are doing what and the three major Canadian internet service providers including Rogers, Bell and Telus have voluntarily agreed to distribute the notices to their customers on behalf of the industry associations. Telus forwards an average of 4,000 notices every month ( I have recently heard about a friend of a friend who got one). But allegedly they do not pass any personal information about the users to any of the groups initiating the notice e-mails.

Although tens of thousands of e-mails have been distributed over the last few years, no one has been prosecuted for copyright violation as a result of the notices.

“Notice and notice” differs from the “notice and take-down” program that’s in place in the United States. There, when an industry group notices an alleged copyright violation, an e-mail similar to the ones being sent to Canadian users is forwarded to the American ISP. In most cases, the ISPs are forced to immediately take down the content or face penalties.

In the UK there is a draft proposal to deal with the same issue; according to the draft, ISPs, including BT and Virgin Media will be required to take action against users who access illegal material. It’s called the “three-strikes” regime and the broadband companies who fail to enforce it would be prosecuted and the customer’s details could be made available to the courts.

Isn’t it funny how the big fat cats of the entertainment industry are complaining how they’re losing billions due to illegal downloading, yet at the same time report that they are making record profits?

And isn’t it strange how they can find ways to police the internet when big companies whine that their profits are being affected, but claim they are unable to do anything about the kids pornography?
Oh, yeah right! I forgot a small detail: it’s not copyright infringement, it’s just a kid’s life and who cares about all the freaking pedophiles, when the poor big studios can’t charge us $20 for a miserable recorded album or $30 for a movie that in four months from now would be sold for $9 or less?

If the cable and satellite providers won’t charge a leg and an arm for what they broadcast, people won’t steal the signal.
If a CD or DVD would cost a reasonable amount of money (see the movies sold for $4 at WalMart) people will buy, not download from the net.
That is the reality.

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Once in a while I dream about going on a well deserved vacation.
For a few hours I mobilize myself into finding info on a sunny spot. Sometimes it is Cancun, sometimes Malta or Tenerife, depending on the mood of the day.
Almost every time it boils down to how expensive it would be and suddenly my enthusiasm is gone.
At one point I put in balance an all-inclusive (flight included) offered by one travel agency vs. contact the hotel and book the plane ticket on your own.
Searching for a non stop flight to Cancun, I found an offer with AirTransat. Non stop flight from Vancouver to Cancun for about $970 round trip.
Nothing wrong with that, only that the listed price did not include all the other hidden costs, which when added to the original offer, brought the price up to about $1200.
As a rule, here in Canada and for that matter, in the U.S as well, advertised airfares won’t include taxes, fuel surcharges and other fees.
Other fees include: Canada Airport improvements, Canada Security charge, Canada Goods and Services Tax (GST); if you fly into the U.S. you pay U.S. Security charge, if you fly into U.K. you must add U.K.Passenger Service Charge.
Very often an advertised price of $699 ends up as being $1,100.

At this point you may think that the cheapest way around would be to choose a not very expensive airline. With that it comes other hidden dangers.
Like the following case, circulated via emails… hoax or not? it’s hard to say, but definitely it raises suspicions.
So here we are:

For anybody who is not familiar with a jet engine, a jet fan blade should be perfectly smooth.
A pilot for a Chinese carrier requested permission and landed at FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) for an unscheduled refuelling stop. The reason became soon apparent to the ground crew: The Number 3 engine had been shutdown previously because of excessive vibration, and because it didn’t look too good. It had apparently been no problem for the tough guys back in China: as they took some sturdy straps and wrapped them around two of the fan blades and the structures behind, thus stopping any unwanted wind-milling (engine spinning by itself due to airflow passing through the blades during flight) and associated uncomfortable vibration caused by the sub optimal fan.

Note that the straps are seat belts….how resourceful! After making the ‘repairs’, off they went into the wild blue yonder with another revenue-making flight on only three engines! With the increased fuel consumption, they got a bit low on fuel, and just set it down at the closest airport (FRA-Frankfurt) for a quick refill.
That’s when the problems started: The Germans, who are kind of picky about this stuff, inspected the malfunctioning engine and immediately grounded the aircraft. (Besides the seat belts, notice the appalling condition of the fan blades.) The airline operator had to send a chunk of money to get the first engine replaced (took about 10 days). The repair contractor decided to do some impromptu inspection work on the other engines, none of which looked all that great either. The result: a total of 3 engines were eventually changed on this plane before it was permitted to fly again.

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On Sunday February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared independence and only God and maybe the master puppeteers know what’s going to happen next.
One thing seems to be clear: a dangerous precedent has been established.
And where? In the Balkans, known for being ‘an accident waiting to happen’. The First War started because one guy, Gavrilo Princip shot the archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to Austrian throne

Maybe my opinions would not be considered strong enough to matter, therefore I will add to this post the article written by Patrick Buchanan with regards to the above subject.

February 19, 2008

Does Balkanization Beckon Anew?
by Patrick J. Buchanan
When the Great War comes, said old Bismarck, it will come out of “some damn fool thing in the Balkans.”

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot the archduke and heir to the Austrian throne Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, setting in motion the train of events that led to the First World War.

In the spring of 1999, the United States bombed Serbia for 78 days to force its army out of that nation’s cradle province of Kosovo. The Serbs were fighting Albanian separatists of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). And we had no more right to bomb Belgrade than the Royal Navy would have had to bombard New York in our Civil War.

We bombed Serbia, we were told, to stop the genocide in Kosovo. But there was no genocide. This was propaganda. The United Nations’ final casualty count of Serbs and Albanians in Slobodan Milosevic’s war did not add up to 1 percent of the dead in Mr. Lincoln’s war.

Albanians did flee in the tens of thousands during the war. But since that war’s end, the Serbs of Kosovo have seen their churches and monasteries smashed and vandalized and have been ethnically cleansed in the scores of thousands from their ancestral province. In the exodus they have lost everything. The remaining Serb population of 120,000 is largely confined to enclaves guarded by NATO troops.

“At a Serb monastery in Pec,” writes the Washington Post, “Italian troops protect the holy site, which is surrounded by a massive new wall to shield elderly nuns from stone-throwing and other abuse by passing ethnic Albanians.”

On Sunday, Kosovo declared independence and was recognized by the European Union and President Bush. But this is not the end of the story. It is only the preface to a new history of the Balkans, a region that has known too much history.

By intervening in a civil war to aid the secession of an ancient province, to create a new nation that has never before existed and to erect it along ethnic, religious, and tribal lines, we have established a dangerous precedent. Muslim and Albanian extremists are already talking of a Greater Albania, consisting of Albania, Kosovo, and the Albanian-Muslim sectors of Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia.

If these Albanian minorities should demand the right to secede and join their kinsmen in Kosovo, on what grounds would we oppose them? The inviolability of borders? What if the Serb majority in the Mitrovica region of northern Kosovo, who reject Albanian rule, secede and call on their kinsmen in Serbia to protect them?
Would we go to war against Serbia, once again, to maintain the territorial integrity of Kosovo, after we played the lead role in destroying the territorial integrity of Serbia?

Inside the U.S.-sponsored Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the autonomous Serb Republic of Srpska is already talking secession and unification with Serbia. On what grounds would we deny them?

The U.S. war on Serbia was unconstitutional, unjust, and unwise. Congress never authorized it. Serbia, an ally in two world wars, had never attacked us. We made an enemy of the Serbs, and alienated Russia, to create a second Muslim state in the Balkans.

By intervening in a civil war where no vital interest was at risk, the United States, which is being denounced as loudly in Belgrade today as we are being cheered in Pristina, has acquired another dependency. And our new allies, the KLA, have been credibly charged with human trafficking, drug dealing, atrocities, and terrorism.

And the clamor for ethnic self-rule has only begun to be heard.

Romania has refused to recognize the new Republic of Kosovo, for the best of reasons. Bucharest rules a large Hungarian minority in Transylvania, acquired at the same Paris Peace Conference of 1919 where Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina were detached from Vienna and united with Serbia.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two provinces that have broken away from Georgia, are invoking the Kosovo precedent to demand recognition as independent nations. As our NATO expansionists are anxious to bring Georgia into NATO, here is yet another occasion for a potential Washington-Moscow clash.

Spain, too, opposed the severing of Kosovo from Serbia, as Madrid faces similar demands from Basque and Catalan separatists.

The Muslim world will enthusiastically endorse the creation of a new Muslim state in Europe at the expense of Orthodox Christian Serbs. But Turkey is also likely to re-raise the issue as to why the EU and United States do not formally recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Like Kosovo, it, too, is an ethnically homogeneous community that declared independence 25 years ago.

Breakaway Transnistria is seeking independence from Moldova, the nation wedged between Romania and Ukraine, and President Putin of Russia has threatened to recognize it, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia in retaliation for the West’s recognition of Kosovo.

If Putin pauses, it will be because he recognizes that of all the nations of Europe, Russia is high among those most threatened by the serial Balkanization we may have just reignited in the Balkans.
Find this article at:
http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=12386

Thank you Pat Buchanan! And shame on the rest of the world for doing what they have just did.

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It’s been ten years since the accident that killed Princess Diana in Paris.
And ever since then, Mohamed Al-Fayed, The Harrods tycoon and the father of Dodi Al-Fayed, has been trying to prove somehow that the death was not an accident but a murder, the result of a vast conspiracy involving lots of personalities, among them the ex-Prime Minister of U.K, Tony Blair, the secret services of Britain and France, the CIA, Prince Charles and Prince Philip and even Diana’s sister.

He is due to spend at least two days giving evidence to the inquest into the deaths of Diana and Dodi.
He listed as involved in the cover-up: butler Paul Burrell, every member of the Royal Family (although he recanted eventually the participation of the Queen), two Scotland Yard Commissioners, leading medical experts in London and Paris including two eminent professors Dominique Lecomte and Gilbert Pepin, newspaper editors, judges and the list goes on.

The coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, said: “There seems to be an awful lot of people involved in this conspiracy.”
Mr. Fayed said the leader of the death plot was Prince Philip, who he called a “racist, Nazi, and Frankenstein” who should be sent back to Germany where he came from.
Mr. Fayed repeated his claims that Diana was pregnant and was about to tell her two sons and announce her engagement to Dodi.

According to Mr. Fayed, Diana was scared for her life, claiming that she knew that Prince Philip and Prince Charles were trying to get rid of her.
Also, she allegedly mentioned a mystery box, said to contain important information and left in butler’s hands in case something would happen to the Princess.

Reading from a statement, Mr. Fayed said: “My belief that my son and Princess Diana were murdered was confirmed when I learned that the two leading Commissioners, Lord Condon and Lord Stevens, did not show the coroner the note made by a leading lawyer, Lord Mishcon, detailing the Princess’s fears for her life.” He added: “I cannot believe that they sat upon such an important note and did not pass it on to the (examining French magistrate) Judge Stephan in Paris and (the then coroner) Michael Burgess.

His allegations have been rebutted by hard evidence already heard by the inquest jury.

On the claim that Diana and Dodi were murdered because she wanted to marry him, a Muslim, the evidence showed that Diana had already had a serious two-year relationship with Muslim surgeon Hasnat Khanwith and that did not kill her or him.

On the claim that she was pregnant, just days after the crash even Fayed’s loyal PR Michael Cole officially dismissed pregnancy claims as untrue and the chambermaid on the Fayed yacht Jonikal bore witness to Diana’s contraceptive pills.

On the claim that bodyguard Trevor Rees Jones worked for MI6, even Fayed’s lawyer Michael Mansfield QC admits there is no evidence that Mr. Rees, who was injured in the crash, has ever been connected to the intelligence services.

Now, the ex-butler Paul Burrell is in hiding, following allegations that he had lied in court.
Apparently there is a tape with the former royal butler allegedly confessing that he lied under oath.
Burrell is recording saying that he held back the facts and threw in “a couple of red herrings” as he did not want to “give away secrets”.

Mr. Fayed now has to fight all the people saying that: the Princess was not pregnant, that she was not engaged to Dodi, that she was not in love with Dodi, that she still loved surgeon Hasnat Khan.
He is desperate to prove that there was a motive to murder Princess Diana. Because without a motive, there is no murder.

Mr. Fayed will spend another few days in the witness stand trying to bring proof to his allegations. After that the jury will be send out for deliberations, which may take another five weeks.

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The WGA strike came at a very bad time for new shows. Not that a strike would have a right time. Actually it’s just a matter of perspective and the right and wrong it’s so relative in this case.
I have watched a few episode of the spin-off Private Practice and by the time I started figuring out if I’d like it or not, WGA went on strike.
Now I have read that the show may return sometimes in the fall. Too late maybe.
Remember what happened when Soprano’s crew could not sort out their issues? The show kept being postponed until it reached the point of not being interesting anymore. I am still surprised how many awards the shows kept receiving.
I loved this show back in time when it was interestingly done and professionally played.

Going back to the present and the near future, let’s see which of my favorite or it-remained-to-be-seen-if favorite shows will return and when:
Burn Notice
Production on Season 2 expected to get under way in late April. New episodes could start airing as early as July.
The Closer
Expected to kick off its fourth season this summer
Criminal Minds
Expected to shoot 7 new episodes to begin airing on April 2.
Grey’s Anatomy
Expected to shoot 5 new episodes to air in April/May
Heroes
No new episodes expected until fall.
House
Expected to shoot 4 to 6 new episodes to air in April/May.
Law & Order: CI
Expected to shoot an indeterminate number of episodes to air in spring.
Law & Order: SVU
Expected to shoot 5 new episodes to begin airing on April 15.
Medium
Six pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 7 additional episodes for this season.
Moonlight
Expected to shoot 4 new episodes to begin airing on April 11.
NCIS
Expected to shoot 7 new episodes to begin airing on April 8.
Numbers
Expected to shoot 6 new episodes to begin airing on April 4.
Prison Break
Two pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.
Private Practice
No new episodes expected until fall.
Pushing Daisies
No new episodes until fall.

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One day I will go there, I know it. It’s just a matter of time.
I crave for a spiritual journey that will include Tibet and Nepal, as a must, with other destinations as optional.

Swayambhunath is among the oldest religious sites in Nepal and one of the holiest Buddhist places. According to the legend, Swayambhunath was founded by the King Vrsadeva, at the beginning of the 5th century CE.
Although the site is considered Buddhist, the place is revered by both Buddhists and Hindus. Numerous Hindu kings are known to have paid their homage to the temple including the most powerful king of Kantipur- Pratap Malla.

Monkey Temple

Photo courtesy of April

On each of the four sides of the main stupa there are a pair of big eyes which represent Wisdom and Compassion. Above each pair of eyes is another eye, the third eye. Saying goes that when Buddha preaches, cosmic rays emanate from the third eye which acts as message to heavenly beings, so that those interested can come down to earth to listen to the Buddha. The hellish beings and beings below the human realm cannot come to earth to listen to the Buddha’s teaching, however, the cosmic ray relieves their suffering when Buddha preaches.
Source: wiki

How can you not be impressed with these eyes?

Photo courtesy of April

Prayer Wheel
According to Buddhism, spinning the wheel is as efficient as reciting the mantra embossed on the metal cylinder.
The most popular mantra is Om Mani Padme Hum considered a very powerful one because it contains the essence of Buddhism teachings.

Photo courtesy of April

Apparently there are lots of monkeys around, hence the name of the temple, pretty aggressive with tourists and probably very nasty considering their sacred status.
The tradition asks that in the morning, before dawn, to start climbing the 365 steps that led up the hill. Once there, pilgrims will start circling clockwise the stupa.

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It’s not that I have expected to be approved because I guessed I was persona non grata for Google.
I decided to give it another try just to have a closure to the whole unpleasant AdSense experience.

Months ago when I thought that there was an easy way to monetize your rumblings without putting too much effort other than writing and adding links and pictures, I came across information on how easy it is to make money with AdSense.

One of the tips offered by pros, was to have a blog on Blogspot. Allegedly that would be sufficient to put you on the fast track.
And indeed it worked.
I created a blog on Blogspot and left Wordpress just because of the pragmatic point of view.
After blogging for about two weeks, I filled out the request to get my blog evaluated for AdSense.
I got the answer pretty fast: in 2 days I got approved and I was given the precious code.
But from there it went down the hill and finally I got my account suspended.

From my short experience (almost three months) using AdSense I can tell you that you CAN’T make money with it.
Maybe you could in the past, not anymore.
Never mind the money making issue, having the account suspended made me try again because defeat was not in my books.
At that moment I became aware that it’s not an easy way to make money with AdSense, that more people fail than succeed, that you can get sucked into buying AdWords to make things work and end up losing money rather than making.
On the other hand, I wanted to prove myself that Google is not an insensitive machine run by algorithms and that there is not such a thing like blacklist.

The reality is that Google is run by algorithms and if somebody makes money it’s mostly Google and maybe a small group of gurus specialized in Internet Marketing.
And if you make a mistake and you have your account suspended, you are going to be blacklisted. No second chances. No warnings prior to suspension.

Why did I say that your home address is blacklisted?
Because I created a blog on my husband’s name, with topics that could have use advertising- please note that I mentioned topics, not categories, because Blogspot’s platform does not offer categories to organize your posts- using his name and our home address.
The common denominator was the home address.
If your guess is that it was rejected, you guessed right.

Second step: I used by self-hosted blog and applied for AdSense.
This time it took over a month to get rejected. That verifies the tip regarding having a blog with Blogspot.

Now I am at peace with myself. I have tried everything and you know what? I don’t have regrets.
It was an experience that cost me basically only the time spent writing interesting posts.
I can make more money right now working with different affiliates than I have ever made with Google.
From my perspective AdSense can be dead, vanished without a trace, burning in Hell, I could not care less anymore.

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Yesterday I mentioned my thoughts regarding how to deal with high blood pressure and my desire to get back to something dear to me: meditation.
Today I decided to move a step ahead and the pieces of the puzzle fell down in the right way.
I came across some YouTube videos that impressed me very much.

This is one of them:

The mantra of Compassion is sung by Dechen Shak-Dagsay

I visited her site and I read about her family leaving Tibet in 1959 due to Chinese ocupation. One of the many similar stories.
Still, it’s impressive the way Tibetans managed to spread their religion without fighting anybody, without killing in the name of their belief.
More and more Westerners seem to be interested in Buddhism and maybe someday, the compassion would rule the world.
Maybe people would have enough brain and spiritual understanding to embrace Buddhism rather than contributing with millions of dollars to freak shows/cults like Scientology.

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