social medicine can make you famous!!

okay.. maybe not famous.. but I at least made it on the first part of this channel 5 news segment! hooray!

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=685722

Uhhh...

From the reality t.v. show "Beauty and the Geek":

Casting Director: "If you were standing on the shore of the United States and looking at the Atlantic Ocean, what direction would you be facing?"

Beauty: "Left?"

Holiday Tidbit

So I was riding the train today with Jeremy T, Justin, Christina, and Joe. They all got off and I was just sitting there alone finishing my ride. A man suddenly got up and went over to another man who he apparently knew. They were both seated behind me. I couldn't help but overhear that one man was just getting by on some money he made by donating plasma. He talked about how hard life was and how he couldn't get things together. He didn't have family close and was fighting through some DUI issues.

There was such anxiety and uncertainty in his voice.

It is a terrible cliche to focus on others' needs only once a year. The unique irony is that this apparent selflessness is wrapped in the gaudy wrapping of holiday spending and commerce. It is laughable that our culture can have an attack of conscience during a few measely weeks in December but largely disregard others' needs the rest of the year. There are obvious exceptions to this.

I don't have much holiday spirit anymore. When I was a child the magic of the month of December was overwhelming. I loved the chocolate-filled countdown calendars, the Christmas-related school art projects, and the chilly, snowy weather. I used to ask Dad where he thought Santa's sleigh was. Santa always seemed to get closest when they were ready to leave the Christmas Eve party.

Anyway, that magic is largely gone for me. I hope that my little daughter's developing fascination with the shiny gifts and glistening trees will ignite the Christmas flame for me once again. However, the most holiday spirit I feel presently is found in the quiet, subtle interactions with our fellow human beings. We all have needs and problems. I suppose a slight adjustment of my focus towards those around me is the refreshment that I need during this time of year.

Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Sears can entice us with their merchandise. The hustle and bustle of the holiday season can proceed with all its vigor. The static traditions of this time of year can make their tiresome appearance once again. I suppose my small spark of holiday spirit is found somewhere else. A place that is quite the opposite of the gaudy, distorted, commercial version of Christmas that we endure each year.

Unusually Good Movie/Music Alerts

I figured I should start contributing some non-mass apology/sickness related whining posts, so I give you the following UGMAs (Unusually Good Movie/Music Alerts).

UGMA #1) Shiny Toys Guns are coming back to SLC with the Sounds

THE SOUNDS
w/ Shiny Toy Guns
Wednesday, November 29 @ 07:00PM
at Avalon Theater
$15.00 (plus $3.00 service fee) @ www.24tix.com

It looks like The Powers That Be are making up for their Shiny Toy Guns/Strokes/Jenny Lewis triple booking debacle from awhile ago that made me curse Salt Lake concert organizers for weeks.

For those who haven't heard Shiny Toy Guns, here's the link to their MySpace. Le Disko has to be one of my favorite singles of 2006. It's been stuck in my head since May.

UGMA #2) "Bobby" now in theaters

Emilio Estevez's giant ensemble drama about the assasination of Robert F. Kennedy opened in theaters on Thanksgiving. Although it was a tad uneven at times, the ending along is powerful enough to garner several Academy Award nominations come next year. Estevez does a great job balancing archival footage and the fictionalized stories of twenty-two bystanders. Standout performances include Martin Sheen, Freddie Rodriguez, and Lindsay Lohan. Now showing in SLC at Trolley Squares and Century 16.

After the assasinations of JFK and MLK, Jr., Robert Kennedy energized a war weary America to hope for progress. In the words of a fellow audience member after seeing the movie on Thanksgiving, what a loss...

"Our answer is the world's hope; it is to rely on youth. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by those who cling to a present which is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement of danger. It demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease." - RFK, Cape Town

Top 10 most terrible fatal diseases

I'd have to nominate fatal familial insomnia to the list. Fortunately it's very rare, but not too rare to be mentioned in our behavioral science text (p. 109). Basically, you can't sleep AT ALL, and end up dying after up to a year and a half of hell. Prion disease, autosomal dominant, age of onset around 50... more info at Wikipedia. I first heard about it on NPR a couple days ago.

Any other nominations? This could be interesting...

Douchbag defined....finally.

Seriously...I am so damn tired of popped collars that were in style TWO YEARS AGO...just sayin. Sorry my posts are entirely un-intellectual.

Embryology in the news...

Baby with heart outside body has surgery

By JENNIFER KAY, Associated Press Writer

MIAMI - Using a piece of Gore-Tex fabric to make their repairs, doctors performed corrective surgery on a baby born with his heart outside his chest, and said Wednesday that the youngster should be able to lead a close-to-normal life.

(Click here for the rest of the story.)

Borat-alicious

Loved the show. Shocking, disturbing, and even more shocking. But I enjoyed it! Not for the faint of heart.

My favorite parts:

1) The evangelical revival
2) Fine Dining with high society
3) Storming the hotel convention without raiment

Flu shot?

Anyone had a flu shot yet this year? If so, did you get it on campus somewhere? I've had one every year since 1997.

Krameritis

Well isn't this guy a class act? Racial epithets spewing forth like a river over a levy. Things aren't always what they seem!

Reading Suggestion

I have talked to a lot of our classmates and have been excited about how many of us are keeping up our "extracurricular" reading. I would love to know what people are reading and what they would recommend.

My current book is The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. It is rumored to be the definitive book on 9/11 to date.

I appreciate the insight into fundamentalist Islam and its rhetoric. I didn't understand what elements within Islam would compel indivduals to pursue martyrdom. I was also interested in the circumstances surrounding the formation of al-Qaeda. Anyhow, it is a wonderful book.

Potluck

Thanks to all involved with the potluck. We had a good turnout. And who cooked the incredible enchiladas? Por Dios...

Things That Must Go

A simple list of things that should not be:

1) Old, crusty men riding Trax or the bus who hit on younger girls who are also riding.

2) Socks with sandals.

3) "So what are you going to specialize in?"

4) Referring to the Latin culture as "Spanish." They may speak spanish....but I bet they're not from Spain.

5) Construction workers bringing their dogs to the worksite. No problem man. I love to clean up your dog's excrement left in my yard.

6) Construction workers starting their day's labors at 6:45 am...7 DAYS A WEEK!

7) Immature people who put slanderous modifications to scheduled events on UMED. Also, the pompous, pretentious person writing "Diary of a Gunner."

8) The automatic lights on the north and south atria on the upper floors of HSEB. Uhhhh...it's dark. Can we get some light?

9) Religious bumperstickers. RULDS2? Jesus Saves. CTR. The "Jesus Fish." Its great that you have faith. Do you want a medal?

10) McDonald's PlayPlace. Let's build playgrounds that kids will love so that they will patronize their parents to bring them in. Then we will feed them ridiculously unhealthy food that in no way contributes to their health. Broccoli? Whole Grains? Nah...fried potato and processed meat. That's all you need kids. And we need the profit...

Da Vinci Code

I finally saw the Da Vinci Code tonight. I didn't really like it that much. What did everyone else think? I didn't see it as anything more than a european version of National Treasure. Come to think of it....Tom Hanks' acting in Da Vinci Code wasn't much better than Nic Cage's. And that's not saying much! I really like Ian McKellan...even in that last (awful!) installment of X-Men. I think he is a wonderufl actor. The show just didn't do it for me....

Taking Tests Improves Memory!

A timely report from LiveScience....

Taking Tests Improves Memory
By Ker Than
14 November 2006

Students, don't cringe, but new research suggests that the very act of taking a test is enough to enhance long-term memory. Furthermore, testing helps students remember not only what they studied for the test, but also related, non-tested concepts.

The results "imply that as long as students retrieved a concept, other related concepts should also receive a boost," the researchers write in the November issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

In one experiment, a group of 84 undergraduates were given two sets of facts about the biology and lifestyle of tropical toucan birds. The researchers divided the students into three groups, with one group taking a test immediately after studying the first set of facts, before receiving the second set to study for a final test.

Another group received both sets of toucan facts at once, before being dismissed. A third set of students served as a control group, and only studied the first set of toucan facts before being dismissed.

All the students came back one day later to take a final test containing questions culled from both the first and second set of toucan facts. Students tested twice significantly outperformed both the students who did not take a previous test and the control group.

Based on the results, the researchers, led by Jason Chan of Washington State University in St. Louis, recommend that "educators might consider increasing the frequency of testing to enhance long-term retention for both the tested and the related, non-tested material."

Opinions Needed!

How does everyone feel about the "Diary of A Gunner" currently running on UMED, including the disclaimer? I have gotten complaints from members of our class who think it is offensive and portrays the UMED students poorly, since UMED is publicly accessible. I need some more opinions though - what do you think?

Good Luck

Good luck to everyone on the anatomy test!

Lawrence Welk-ish

So, the elderly population is connected with their cultural elements...Lawrence Welk...you know, old-timer stuff. What about us? Will our cohort be jamming to Jay-Z, Nine Inch Nails, and U2 when we are old? Will our kids look at our music choices like we look at our parent/grandparents' music? Will they roll their eyes when we roll down the windows, hit the gas pedal, and sing "Where the Streets Have No Name" at the top of our aging lungs?

Or did the Beatles change all that?

Sorry, just started reading chapter 4 in Behavioral Science in Medicine...talks about gerontology...

Heavy Chevy

Don't the latest Chevy Truck commercials seem like clips right out of a Republican campaign ad. I don't like John Mellencamp very much either. It just seems like they have their conservative right audience all picked out to buy their trucks.

Doesn't it seem like GSpott should be reading his psychiatry instead of incessently blogging?

OK OK...

20/20

I just saw the last half of a 20/20 story on women's paid family leave. The USA is one of four countries (Papua New Guinea and Lesotho are other examples) that do not offer government-funded paid leave for women. Iran and North Korea both have better benefits for their women.

The US argument seems to be that it would hurt our economy (argued by a woman, interestingly enough) and that it would be better if families took care of themselves and didn't have to ask the government for money. They should be saving for these times of need.

Another panel of women said that it would be seen as a defeat for women if they had to back down from competition from their male counterparts and ask for government help. They should just handle it.

Thoughts???

Altruism...msiurtlA

We're all committing ourselves to careers of altruism. I thought we should be informed of two theories of its origin.

TIME: Dr. Collins, you have described humanity's moral sense not only as a gift from God but as a signpost that he exists.

COLLINS: There is a whole field of inquiry that has come up in the last 30 or 40 years--some call it sociobiology or evolutionary psychology--relating to where we get our moral sense and why we value the idea of altruism, and locating both answers in behavioral adaptations for the preservation of our genes. But if you believe, and Richard has been articulate in this, that natural selection operates on the individual, not on a group, then why would the individual risk his own DNA doing something selfless to help somebody in a way that might diminish his chance of reproducing? Granted, we may try to help our own family members because they share our DNA. Or help someone else in expectation that they will help us later. But when you look at what we admire as the most generous manifestations of altruism, they are not based on kin selection or reciprocity. An extreme example might be Oskar Schindler risking his life to save more than a thousand Jews from the gas chambers. That's the opposite of saving his genes. We see less dramatic versions every day. Many of us think these qualities may come from God--especially since justice and morality are two of the attributes we most readily identify with God.

DAWKINS: Can I begin with an analogy? Most people understand that sexual lust has to do with propagating genes. Copulation in nature tends to lead to reproduction and so to more genetic copies. But in modern society, most copulations involve contraception, designed precisely to avoid reproduction. Altruism probably has origins like those of lust. In our prehistoric past, we would have lived in extended families, surrounded by kin whose interests we might have wanted to promote because they shared our genes. Now we live in big cities. We are not among kin nor people who will ever reciprocate our good deeds. It doesn't matter. Just as people engaged in sex with contraception are not aware of being motivated by a drive to have babies, it doesn't cross our mind that the reason for do-gooding is based in the fact that our primitive ancestors lived in small groups. But that seems to me to be a highly plausible account for where the desire for morality, the desire for goodness, comes from.

COLLINS: For you to argue that our noblest acts are a misfiring of Darwinian behavior does not do justice to the sense we all have about the absolutes that are involved here of good and evil. Evolution may explain some features of the moral law, but it can't explain why it should have any real significance. If it is solely an evolutionary convenience, there is really no such thing as good or evil. But for me, it is much more than that. The moral law is a reason to think of God as plausible--not just a God who sets the universe in motion but a God who cares about human beings, because we seem uniquely amongst creatures on the planet to have this far-developed sense of morality. What you've said implies that outside of the human mind, tuned by evolutionary processes, good and evil have no meaning. Do you agree with that?

DAWKINS: Even the question you're asking has no meaning to me. Good and evil--I don't believe that there is hanging out there, anywhere, something called good and something called evil. I think that there are good things that happen and bad things that happen.

COLLINS: I think that is a fundamental difference between us. I'm glad we identified it.

From Time.com (cover story of latest issue)

Jammin' in JAMA

As the author noted, spiritual issues arise frequently in the care of dying patients, yet health care professionals may not recognize them, may not believe they have a duty to address them, and may not understand how best to respond to their patients' spiritual needs. In distinguishing spirituality from religion, Sulmasy described the salient spiritual needs of patients at the end of life, delineated the role physicians ought to play in ascertaining and responding to those needs, and discussed the particular issue of hope for miracles, concluding that expectations of miraculous cure ought not preclude referral to hospice care nor force a plan of curative treatment (eg, chemotherapy) that a team believes to be futile. Better understanding of Mr W's beliefs and more explicit conversation regarding spiritual matters between the patient and his treating team might have provided opportunities for an improved plan of care, including enrollment in hospice.

Amy J. Markowitz, JD; Stephen J. McPhee, MD
JAMA. 2006;296:2254.

confessions of a diseased mind

A . . . sometimes . . . in the morning I, I call the snow report even before I pray (what does that mean?)

Need a good laugh?

Rock the U!

Death for a Dictator

From CNN:

"WACO, Texas (CNN) -- President Bush Sunday said the trial that led to the conviction and death sentence of Saddam Hussein is "a major achievement for Iraq's young democracy."

Hussein was ousted from power following the U.S.-led military invasion in 2003. A five-judge panel sentenced him to death by hanging Sunday after he was convicted for the brutal 1982 crackdown on the Shiite town of Dujail."

Read the rest here: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/05/saddam.world.reax/

Now, I've never really thought of myself as either pro or anti death penalty, but I'm having a hard time rejoicing in the death penalty verdict for Sadaam.

Granted, the guy was a ruthless dictator who slaughtered millions of people be it Shiite, Sunni, or Kurds. He was a tyrant who abused his power to the detriment of his people.

But I don't see how killing him is helping Iraq's democracy.

Is the fact that he's no longer breathing going to give Iraq a working infrastructure? Is it going to stop the rebel insurgencies? Is it going to give every woman and child access to education?

No.

So what does it do? Is his death symbolic of the end of tyranny in Iraq? Is it reason to hope? I really don't know.

I guess I'm having a hard time being happy that someone's dying.

Terry Davis, secretary general of the Council of Europe said something I agree with in the aforementioned article.

"What Iraqi people need is justice not retribution."

So which is it?

Question of the day . . .

which is more powerful: a hurricane or coach ditka? what if the hurricane's name is ditka?

something more fluffy . . .

woke up to this in the morning, but

feeling more like this since it's not deep enough to play in (Rothko, Blue)

TIME...to read

I would encourage everyone to read the cover story of the latest Time Magazine. Its about Dubya Bush and the election. (Its my first issue...I'm a subscriber now--thanks for the suggestion Todd!) I didnt realize what a political precipice we are teetering on. I am excited for some change. I think most Americans are. The most potent part of the article for me was the presidential approval rating since 9/11. I don't think its a coincidence that most Americans feel the country is going in the wrong direction.

Anyway, I figured none of us had anything else to read...so I thought I'd suggest it :)