Don’t Say Ain’t or Your Mother Will Faint

And your Father will fall in a bucket of paint! There is a nature vs. nurture thing going on over the issue of fainting. But even if you are a fainter or just faint of heart fear not because this blog post is, along with pretty tame, probably for many of us just stating the obvious.

First the not so obvious, researchers have located a region on chromosome 15 that is thought to be the prime suspect for vasovagal syncope, a drop in blood pressure followed by a loss of consciousness or for the less scientific type (me included) fainting. This and a study of 44 families with a history of fainting, has led some to conclude that fainting could be genetic. Then there is an evolutionary benefit that has researchers wondering if the origin of the fainting response might include falling over and lying still to increase survival when there is a drop in blood pressure or blood loss. Sort of the third option for flight or fight responses to fear or threat, if you can’t flee or fight go with a faint. At my age this is an option that might actually work for me.

Next the nurture side of the discussion, which sees fainting as a learned behavior. Watching mom or dad pass out at the sight of blood or a needle might be enough to teach the brain of a child observer to fear those same sorts of things and have the same response, fainting. That probably would be one way to keep the same response to specific fears all in the family.

So as to the nature or nurture of fainting, especially if you happen to be a fainter, this is one time when whichever side of the argument (genetic or learned) you’re on, you can probably get away with blaming your parents.

Mice Avatars!

Not little blue extras from the movie, but real mice are avatars and their use as avatars is becoming quite common.

Specifically the mice avatars I am referring to here are being used in the fight against cancer. The use of avatars helps doctors tailor treatment to the genetic makeup of each patient. Researchers grow human tumors in mice (from pieces of the human needing treatment’s tumor) and test different treatments on the mice rather than trying drug after drug on often very critically ill human patients. The great thing about this is that the humans with the cancerous tumors don’t have to be guinea pigs (I know, nothing like another rodent reference), but the downside is that mice trials are not covered by insurance so they must be paid out of pocket. The cost is high but going down as scientists refine the process from $25,000 to $10,000. The lab mentioned in the article I read is Champions Oncology, the cancer research center at John Hopkins and the good thing is that the insurance companies are interested and talking with the folks there. Maybe the mice avatar connection will be covered or at least more affordably available in the near future because insurance companies could ultimately save money by not having to cover drugs for patients that are ineffective. For now it’s enough to know that mice avatars have helped a child (also in the article I read) in his battle against Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare, aggressive, and often fatal, bone cancer that typically attacks children and young adults. The use of mice avatars is also being studied to aid in the fight against breast and prostate cancers, as well as in developing treatment for diabetes and other digestive problems.

So, here’s to the mice avatars (picture me raising my water bottle and the little herd of blue mice raising their swords), I wish you Godspeed, though many of you may not return from this battle, may you triumph over cancer's insidious evil as you do your part to help win the war!

Shark Bite Update from Andros

I tried to come up with a good title for this blog post, and here are a few I tossed to the side. First I tried I Can’t Believe I (almost) Ate the Whole Thing or I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! But those sounded too commercial. Then I considered The One That (almost) Got Away! But that was too Katie Perry. Or another take on a song lyric changing it from, Just One Look, That’s all It Took to Just One Bite, I thought I Might. I gave up on Take a Bite Out of Crime, well you can figure the problem here. I didn’t want to offer up a bite of the snorkelers, Captain Jim, or the boat, even though the shark obviously did get a bite of the last one. You know what they say about how a picture can be worth a bunch of words? Well this picture says plenty and here is what Captain Jim had to say too.

I tried to run off a shark that was following some snorkelers but pissed him off instead. He hit my boat on the right side and before I could motor away he hit the left side and took a bite. No I don't know what kind of shark but it was about 4'- 5' and gray, yes the guys were carrying fish they shot out on the reef. Yes I made it back to the harbor. No, I won't do that again, and I got a $600.00 plus shipping quote to repair the 5"X7" hole. This just goes to show ya (No good deed goes unpunished!!)

I’m hoping those snorkelers know just how lucky they were to have Captain Jim around, and as you may have guessed it, I hear Captain Jim is looking for a new boat.  

Bomb Chuckers

An FBI guy used this term to describe Tier One Terrorists in one of the many TV interviews covering the bombings at the Boston Marathon, interesting word choice. As upsetting as the bombing was though, and meaning no disrespect for the long term challenges faced by all that felt its impact, I am beginning to tire a bit of all the media coverage. Yet the term, bomb chuckers, has remained in my mind and in today’s blog I propose additional meanings and context for it.

First, for example, I think one might consider using it to describe the newscaster, who recently lost his job after the very first uttering his very first words (including an expletive) on air. He could be a bomb chucker!

Then there is Mr. Nobody, a bomb chucker that lives at my house and forgets to flush the toilet leaving a nasty surprise for the next person who visits the very same commode.

People at the dog park that decline to pick up their dog’s poo could also be considered bomb chuckers (a variation on bomb shirkers) and people who do bag up the doo doo and upon tossing it into the proper receptacle, miss. They could also be called bomb chuckers, even though they might not be very skilled bomb chuckers.

And last and quite possibly the least, I will leave you with the stink bomb chucker. No explanation necessary because we all know who I am talking about here, even when they won’t fess up. 

Changing Lights to Save Money

A school system in GA (Ware County) has a plan to save 11.2 million dollars over a 9 year period, with the LED light bulbs they are planning to spend about 3 million dollars on, by replacing their 24,000 existing lights with these LED fixtures. It’s an investment and the system administrators think they will break even on it in about 20 months. Since I am always interested in saving money and conserving energy this article caught my eye. Save 11.2 million dollars kept jumping out at me. I figured I was doing pretty well using CFL type light bulbs, compact fluorescent, and only one in each fixture that normally holds four at that. The only place I have a low light issue is doing Sudoku at the breakfast table. Even with my glasses on it is sometimes hard to see the small print. Anyway, reading about the use of LEDs in the Ware County Schools was enough to send me to Google to research if it would be in my best interests to change the CFLs here in my home to LEDs even though after 3 years of use, the CFLs usual lifespan, they are still going strong for the most part here. Fully anticipating the probability of having to change out every light bulb in this house I began to read and this is what I found. LEDs and CFLs are pretty close to equal in the amount of energy they require and the amount of light they give off. There are two big differences (besides the makeup and technological

 ramifications of each bulb) and the first is all about longevity. The CFL’s lifespan is about three years and the LED’s lifespan is 20! Sounds good so far, even to a person of my age, with LEDs I wouldn't have to change the light bulbs until I was into my 80s. Difference number two, the significant one for me because it’s all about the money, is the cost of LEDs vs. CFLs. In 2011 LED bulbs cost upwards of $45, but now they are closer to the $10 range. Still a far cry from the average 80 cents I’d spend on CFLs. I do think that in places where you need a bucket truck to change the light bulbs (the school gym or cafeteria) or in places where the lights are on 24/7 (like some stores that stay open all night) LEDs could bring big savings, but I figure I will be sticking with my CFLs. After all, my electric bill was only $40.63 this month, so I’ll stick with the old adage if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Sea Turtle Habitat in Puerto Rico

Nope, I am not wearing my peace, love, and turtle tee shirt this morning but I do have some hopeful good news to report about the Northeast Ecological Corridor in Puerto Rico, a major nesting site for the world’s largest sea turtle (2,000 pounders, actually), the endangered leatherback. The Northeast Ecological Corridor consists of almost 3,000 acres on Puerto Rico’s northeast coast and it is now after a 15 year battle between environmentalists and developers protected by law. The Northeast Ecological Corridor is one of the top 3 nesting sites for leatherbacks in the entire US and accessible by a couple of dirt roads. It’s a great place for bird watching. It also has miles of beautiful beaches with healthy coral ecosystems, wetlands, forests, dry forests, mangroves, and a seasonal bioluminescent lagoon. A bioluminescent lagoon is definitely something I would like to see in my lifetime.

Designating and protecting the Northeast Ecological Corridor, a victory for the environmental activists, is really a victory not only for the highly endangered turtles, but also for the rest of the more than 800 other types of flora and fauna that can be found there and for us and generations to come in the long run too. 

Flying Torpedoes (Through the Air, of All Places)

Here’s a topic that I couldn't resist writing a little about. The title evoked images in my mind of a cross between a battle scene from a Transformers movie and an image of some poor daredevil being shot from a cannon. I figure now you have an inkling of what a truly strange place my mind really is. This is what happens when my husband suggests blog topics.

Actually Boeing is beginning to make flying torpedoes able to attack enemy submarines at long ranges from altitudes 30,000 feet. Add on kits with wings, that fall away when the torpedo hits the water, and consequently begins to act like a conventional torpedo, are already being assembled. The torpedoes, Mark 54s, were already able to be launched by air but with the addition of the wings are being turned into glide weapon allowing 7 to 10 minutes before the torpedo hits the water. Less time and fuel will be wasted and time between target acquisition and attack is reduced. There’s a bunch of other technical stuff going on with this project and as with all defense expense it’s well, expensive. But using the kits Boeing is building makes use of the Mark 54 with little or no modification and the existing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, so that seems like a good thing to me but of course as all things defense related these modifications aren't free.

Who comes up with these ideas, I wonder? 

Or not, stranger things are probably out there lurking in many a mind.   

Tree Climbing

Tree climbing is a sport? Well there is such a thing as recreational tree climbing complete with climbing instructors and lessons. And here I thought tree climbing was mostly for kids. I remember when we carved the letter A high on the trunk of a red cedar in our yard and instructed our granddaughter, Analyss that it was for her so she knew not to climb higher than that A. I remember cutting the lowest branches in an effort to make it harder to get up in that tree but that really had no effect, because a monkey’s grandkid’s gotta do what a grandkid’s gotta do. I do know however, that all of my grandkids get it honest because I recall a camping trip in Alabama once when I heard their parents (still kids at that time) calling to me and I couldn't find them until I looked up. They had shimmied up so high into the pine trees that I had to turn my back and not watch as they came back down. Lack of low branches didn’t stop them then either. Then there’s a special banyan tree, our family favorite, at Crescent Lake in St. Pete that has seen generations of our family amid its branches. It has been fenced in recently, but we still stop to admire, reminisce, and check out the baby ducks and geese nesting near it every time we visit.

Anyway, back to the sport of recreational tree climbing. It isn't competitive. I recently read about a tree climbing school, called Tree Climbing Planet, (no, not of the Apes-wait, we are primates, aren't we?) in Oregon and Tim Kovar is the tree climbing guru. He teaches climbers how to use saddles attached to ropes to hoist themselves aloft. He has traveled (and climbed trees in) 15 countries working on a variety of ecotourism projects and scientific expeditions. He also teaches climbers how to tie safety knots before they ascend. Possibly he perfected the knot tying he began practicing in kindergarten-I know from experience that this is where that begins, often along with love of tree climbing. He also teaches climbers that trees are more than just glorified jungle gyms. Sense an Earth Day theme here? But the thing that stood out for me, personally, in this is that in 1992 Tim Kovar helped a pair of 75 year old women climb up 25 feet in an oak tree and recapture a piece of their childhood.

There is that-old women climb trees! So next time you hear me calling and can’t see where my voice is coming from, don’t forget to look up!

It’s Earth Day

Sea Glass-Beer Bottle Recycled

You know those potholes? I like to think of them as the Earth reclaiming its own. I've heard said if all the roads, buildings, and other manmade structures were left abandoned they would disintegrate much quicker than one would think and the Earth would return to its natural state. I picture a couple of scenarios from grass sprouting from between the cracks to lava ending the road adjacent to Mount Kilauea in Hawaii. We have other proof of the idea that Earth reclaims its own throughout history (no, not on Revolution, the TV show, nor in the futuristic fiction portrayed in The Hunger Games) in what we term natural disasters, flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, and the like. Somewhere on Earth people are experiencing or still living (or dying) with the consequences of these right now. If these events could be considered the Earth’s voice, then it seems to me the Earth is trying to tell us something with the CAPS LOCK on, by that I mean out LOUD.

But it seems some of us aren't listening. Instead we are spilling oil in the Earth’s oceans, threatening each other with nuclear warheads and missiles, voting for senators that vote down gun control, bombing and terrorizing marathoners in Boston, and obliterating small towns in Texas with unsafe levels of flammable gases and fertilizers in under-regulated plants, not just disrespecting the Earth but disrespecting all living things across the board.  

Then some of us are listening. Friends on Andros spent the day cleaning up the beach, an act of kindness rendered to the Earth. The One Spark crowdsourcing festival in Jacksonville for innovators and creators in arts and science showcased some very interesting ideas and groups in a first ever type event that I think will be a model for combining the best of technology used by current future generations and grassroots efforts shared by generations past to discover the next new big best thing, like one winner (one of my favorites), Rethreaded, a project that helps women recover from lives of addiction, violence, or prostitution, by rethreading used t-shirts to new purposes.

As I stand here typing this blog post barefoot in my tie dyed Peace, Love, and Turtles t-shirt and cutoff jeans, I could say make every day Earth Day but that does sound pretty cliché. Maybe that is what you would expect me to type but instead I will put in a plea for kindness toward each other and a greater regard and respect for all living things including this Earth, our home. We choose between peace or violence, caring or disrespect, conservation or not, the list goes on and on.

Either way, the Earth has a way of reclaiming its own. 

Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite

Don’t even let them get in the bed! According to an article I read in the newspaper you can keep them out of your bed by using kidney bean plant leaves. Apparently there are microscopic barbs on the leaves of the kidney bean plant that snag the bedbug when he walks across. Science and industry have not been able to successfully imitate this natural bedbug preventative phenomenon, though they have been trying. Their synthetic copies of the kidney bean plant leaf and even a hybrid of the actual leaf barbs and a synthetic leaf don’t work like the real thing.

If you have ever awakened scratching at itchy red bumps (bedbug bites) that somehow appeared beneath your PJs overnight you can appreciate the news that there is a way to confound the little buggers. Bedbugs are easily transported to your home in your luggage from places you might visit (hotels or homes of other relatives) or they can come home with your kids when they return from overnights with friends. Bedbugs have the seemingly miraculous ability to hide in the day time and then in the dark of night find their way to a blood source (you) for a feast. Bedbugs like head lice and ticks their fellow arachnid friends, are notoriously hard to kill and know no social boundaries. They are equal opportunity bugs that aren't true insects at all.

And since I have had good success with green beans in my garden, I am thinking I just might give planting some kidney beans a go this spring too.

My Walking Desk

So far so good, I like it. I have decided since I finally cleaned the top of my desk (a huge undertaking that has left me feeling a lot more organized) to attempt to turn my desk into a walking or at least standing work place. If you know me, you know I don’t do tools so improvisation was necessary. Basically I have kicked my chair away from my desk, readjusted my goose necked desk lamp, and filched the stool I use to climb in my bed each night to use to elevate my laptop to the perfect height for standing room keyboarding only. There is no treadmill under foot yet but that’s not going to keep me from walking in place as I work. I figure that as long as I’m wearing flip flops or slippers (my usual footwear) I’m safer without one. Along with an innate inability to use simple tools, general large motor coordination is also not a big part of my skill set. What I mean here is even if though walking on a treadmill alone might be more than I can manage, keyboarding and treadmilling at the same time is definitely out of the question, kind of like walking and chewing gum. Right, I don’t do that either.

Here’s another thing. I have found I can crochet standing and walking too. I already knew I could crochet while watching TV but who knew? I also like to do macramé but that has been a standing activity for me for quite a while already. Music is better than TV for background noise, and helps one keep moving, in my case in front of my laptop, it is better with the webcam off. I also find myself less reliant on the desk lamp since the keyboard is closer to my line of vision so there’s another power saving benefit. And, like I wrote earlier, so far so good, though I did take a quick sit down break (in the bathroom) I believe this walking desk stuff is pretty doable for me. I’ll keep you posted!

Bone-Eating Snot-Flower Worm

The scientific name for the bone-eating snot-flower worm is osedax mucofloris.  Despite knowing this, I still have no idea what this is and even the word flower in the name isn't enough to reassure me that it isn't something disgusting, but, thanks to my husband for suggesting this as a blog topic and Google for my go to research source, here goes…

The bone-eating snot-flower worm is an annelid worm that was discovered in 2005 by scientists and marine biologists in Sweden. A big hint to the worm’s habitat is its discovery by marine biologists. So, readers in St. Mary’s, you (and I today) are off the hook as far as running into a bone-eating snot-flower worm. Friends on Andros near the tongue of the ocean have a much better chance of coming near a bone-eating snot-flower worm and that’s because, to date, osedax mucofloris has only been found on 2 whale carcasses in the Swedish fjord Kosterfjord but could be widespread in the Atlantic. Since bone-eating snot-flower worms have so far only been found living on the bones of dead marine mammals, specifically the bones of whales, the likelihood of coming in contact with the worm is possible, though whale bones might be hard to locate due to the size of the Atlantic.

That leaves the one reassuring thing about this worm and it simply is that the part of it that sticks out of the bone (the rest of the worm is burrowing into the bone seeking sustenance) does look like a flower, much nicer than the image evoked by its name. 

Coyotes in St. Marys,Yikes!

I saw a coyote run across old St. Marys Road (closer to the interstate than Osprey Cove) a couple of cars ahead of ours on a Sunday in the late afternoon. I wasn't alone in my observation so this is one of the times I am telling the truth and can have the sighting corroborated. I have read that coyotes are making a comeback and can be found all over the US, urban areas included, but I will admit this sighting took me by surprise. I have seen fox, beavers, armadillo, hogs, deer, and all sorts of birds but this coyote sighting was a first for me.

It seems some coyotes were illegally imported and released in north Florida in the 1980s by gray fox hunters wanting a new target for their chases. Although you can chase a fox it is illegal to shoot them because they are a protected endangered species (and the coyote isn't). Sadly those same coyotes are now contributing to the decline of the fox because they compete for the same food. Though coyotes prey on rodents and small farm animals and sometimes fruits like watermelons, they aren't thought to be a threat to humans. Standing only two or three feet tall and weighing about 25 to 50 pounds, coyotes are faster and nimbler than they are ferocious. The coyote I encountered was tan and looked like a German Shepherd but with a long bushy tail that almost touched the ground as he effortlessly slipped across the road and headed for the wooded area on the other side. Coyotes are also considered wily and intelligent. Yes, I am conjuring up an image of Wile E Coyote, and wondering if wiles and intelligence have anything to do with this one making the move from Florida to Georgia. 

Unfinished Bees-ness

I have written and discussed bees on numerous occasions not only because of their honey –which is very healthful and delicious – but also because they are responsible for the pollination of crops that make up about a third of the human diet.

Bees are in trouble. There is an ongoing decline of pollinating insects particularly bumblebees, not only in the U.S. but world-wide. The culprit – us. We have developed a new strain of insecticides called neonicotinoids. They are nicotine-based, EPA-approved insecticides that are widely used because they provide total plant protection from seed to harvest. In other words, all parts of the plant can absorb it and ward off insects including honeybees. Virtually all of the corn in the Midwest is covered with this dust at planting as well as significant amounts of other crops like soybeans and cereal grains. We compound our efforts to ward off insects by dusting and the dust drift covers nearby fields lasting for several years; taken up by non-target plants which are then foraged by bees and other pollinating insects. When ingested by insects, this stuff disrupts key insect behaviors like navigation and poses an acute toxic risk that could result in their death. We know what nicotine can do to the lungs over long periods of time – just read the side of a cigarette pack and nicotine by itself is very toxic to humans. We, of course, are smarter than the average bear so we've reduced the impact on humans so it’s only moderately toxic to mammals on the short term (long term may result in reproductive and/or developmental effects) by producing neonicotinoids. By the way, it is also not supposed to impact birds – large amounts of the chemical were fed to different types of birds without adverse results – however, when ingested in seeds exposed to it, it does have a negative impact; particularly to songbirds.

There is potential hope though. A lawsuit has been filed against the EPA for not banning the neonicotinoids. The EPA is allegedly reviewing the approvals it’s granted for the use of these chemicals but obviously it will take several years to resolve the issue. I can only hope that it will be in time and our insect friends won’t be out of bees – ness. 

Endurance

This is what you need to run marathons.

I heard a talking head say that the bombing in Boston is the price we pay for living in a free society. I disagree strongly with that notion and I for one do not and would not choose to pay. There has to be a better way. Maybe I am thinking there is an implied freedom from violence paraphrased in the preamble to the Constitution, the framework for the freedoms our country is founded upon. We do live in a free society in the midst of a deeply troubled world and in our midst there are deeply troubled individuals, members of our free society included. The dead and injured in Boston didn’t expect to pay the price of freedom with their lives and futures, yet they did. Sandy Hook and countless other unexplainable and unfathomable other random acts are more proof of a troubling undercurrent of violence in our free society whether the threat comes from within or without. Yet within this pervasive (more than 10 years of it that according to newscasters we have a whole generation growing up more prepared to deal with impending terror attacks) culture of violence and yes, terror, seeds of peace and hope must endure and I know there are countless others that share my abhorrence of the events of terror that plagued the Boston Marathon and lots of other places and people near and far from our home. This morning when I went out to feed my chickens a misting gray fog hung heavily around, shrouding me like  feelings of despair and sadness resulting from the news of yesterday’s tragic events, but the chickens seemed unaffected as usual, seeming to know that the sun would come up again as long as they endured. I envy them a little, yet I know there is no true peace in just acting like a chicken when the sky is falling. I am once again making a stand for peace and continuing to make my own positive impact on the world through acts of kindness. I would hope that the spiral of terror and violence could be reversed in my lifetime but I am not so sure about that so I will work on my endurance.

Endurance, Boston has this, and the city and its patriots will continue and endure. In times of tragedy in this country we collectively stand together, support each other, pray, and endure as our precious freedom endures.

This is what you need to run marathons.

Tracking your Digital Footprint

Apparently now the IRS is getting in on this too. A couple of blogs back I wrote about the power companies installing smart meters to remotely measure our electricity usage but I left out some of the rantings I’d discovered about how that data could be used to mine info on the number of people residing in our homes and how often we use certain appliances etc. and now I've read about how the IRS is using social media and other online sources to track our digital footprint. I get it in lieu of the rash of recent identity theft related tax refund thefts, (I am having trouble figuring out how not to use theft and thefts in the same sentence, but oh well, I’m going with it), and I for one am concerned about how pervasive and secretly invasive tracking my digital footprint might be. I have been thinking how I would like to be a little more under the digital radar, so to speak, and I am pretty sure it isn't even remotely possible. And I am not just thinking about the fact that I write this blog on line and post it publicly on Face Book and Google, but I bank online and exclusively use direct deposit. I swipe cards, get gas for my car with a credit card, and use ATMs, and with all these things considered, I have a very small cash footprint. Then there are those traffic cams, parking lot cams, convenience and regular store cams, and bank and ATM cams that track us everywhere. I have also read about how consumers are tracked digitally through their purchases in stores and on line and that got me thinking about cookies, not in the jar, but on computers.

To top it off, I caught a segment on a local TV station where a tax lawyer was stating the case for a newer, gentler, more accessible IRS and that made me even more suspicious about what the IRS’s new PR spin might be a cover for. Perhaps the letters we use as an acronym (IRS) for the Internal Revenue Service should really stand for the Insidious Relentless Syberspies. 

Chicken Sit

No, this isn't a misspelling of the word sit in the title of this blog post (I didn’t leave out a letter). Nor am I writing about the game of chicken (in this case not about who can sit the longest-if  I was though, Ethan, in the bathroom with his IPad Mini might be the winner). I am actually writing about lucrative possible employment as a Chicken Sitter. Apparently there are a few already out there among the cat and house sitters and dog walkers, my very own sister and grandkids included. There are even chicken hotels where you can board your birds if you plan to be away for an extended stay. All this has come about as a result of the urban backyard chicken movement which is gaining ground all over the US and in other countries. I for one, feel like a pioneer in this movement toward keeping small, rooster-less, flocks for fresh eggs, insect control, and general outdoor entertainment, as I have mentioned my flock led by our very own indomitable Chickaboom, the peak of the pecking order in my backyard in this blog several times. The allure of the backyard chicken movement parallels the resurgence of backyard kitchen, organic, and container gardening and a healthy concern about issues that include food safety and the desire to know where our food is coming from.

I’m not sure what the job usually pays but I figure it probably pays whatever the market will bear and perhaps a bonus too, of maybe enough eggs to make a chicken sitter a delicious omelet or two.

Noise Fatigue

I recently read a newspaper article that was headlined Patient deaths linked to beeping alarms and I impulsively gave a fist pump thinking here was one more reason for celebrating the unplugging of my alarm clock! Then I read the rest of the story and found out the alarms they were referring to were not the ones that wake you in the morning, but rather the incessantly beeping machines in hospitals. It seems that a government database lists more than 500 deaths potentially linked to hospital alarms in recent years. And more importantly, the patients aren't the only ones suffering from noise fatigue in these instances. The doctors and nurses sometimes ignore the alarms when there is a real emergency and that can delay treatment and endanger the patient because the doctors and nurses are the ones suffering from noise fatigue! I must agree with the Joint Commission (a hospital accrediting group) calling for hospital leaders to address the problem and train hospital staff in safe alarm management.

This report is a bit scary but I get it because I have been as guilty as the next of sleeping through my alarm or hitting the snooze button multiple times on many a morning. Regardless, the alarm clock in this house is going to remain unplugged, as I continue to fight fatigue, alarm clock noise related fatigue, on a morning by morning basis.

Radiation from Electric Meters

A friend mentioned this as a blog topic- Radiation from Electric Meters- so I finally got around to doing a little research on the topic. And wow, the radiation he was talking about is real and measurable. It comes from wireless digital electric meters, called smart meters. These meters have been installed all over St. Marys and save the electric company (GA Power) the expense of paying an old fashioned meter reader for the job of going around town reading the old spinning dial type (analog) meters and if you have ever been on the receiving end of a misread old fashioned meter, you might be able to appreciate the better accuracy the smart meter is purported to provide.. Instead of getting the data on your electric usage from a reading on the spinning dial meter, information on electrical use is transmitted via antennas using wireless technology much the way cell phones do. The difference here is that the smart meter gives off 160 times as much non-ionizing radiation as a cell phone and this radiation transcends your home’s walls (obviously) and can affect you or anyone else in your home. Smart meters could transmit data through landline connections but most power companies don’t connect them in that way. The World Health Organization has listed RF as a possible carcinogen, and if that is not enough to cause one to wonder about the safety of these devices, there are lots of complaints by people with sensitivity to non-ionizing radiation that report multiple problems as a result of having these smart meters attached to their homes. Some of the symptoms include: heart palpitations, insomnia, high blood pressure, dizziness, memory loss, tinnitus, or lack of energy and concentration. I can relate to several of these symptoms. Did I mention that the reason I am so late posting this blog is because I couldn't get to sleep last night?

After looking through a lot of posted comments about this topic, I discovered that I couldn't find anyone that had been successful in preventing their power company from installing smart meters. Apparently the FCC says the technology is safe and the RF emitted is below the threshold considered dangerous to one’s health. One person in California posted that it cost an additional $75 a month for an analog meter and when it was re-installed the power company didn’t remove the smart meter either. For me (one who complains when my electric bill is over $75) this would not be an option I’d be willing to go for even if GA Power had it as an option. The other options include shielding, two types, reflecting and absorbing, which apparently work best in a combination, neither of which I have the skills to complete as a DIY project.

I do however have a nice tent, but as I recall, I didn’t have my best night’s sleep in there the last time I spent the night camping in it either!

Blimps

In light of budget cutting there is a “new,” money saving weapon in our arsenal being considered for use by the military and Coast Guard, the blimp. I put the word “new” in quotation marks because the blimp has a long storied history. It’s not really new but the use of it today by the defense department may seem novel to many like me that figures blimps are best used for sky cams and advertising above major sporting events. Blimps are free flying airships that have almost no rigid structure, framework, or keel like their relative the zeppelin. Blimps were used by the US Navy during and after World War I and for anti-submarine patrol during World War II. In the 1950s they were used as radar early warning platforms. But like landline telephones and cable TV, being replaced by cell phones and internet TV, newer technologies replaced them and pushed them out of the limelight at least for defense department use.

My most close encounter with a blimp goes like this. One summer day, I heard our dog, Maggie, howling mournfully in the yard. A quick peek out the back door showed her cowering with her tail between her legs too. When I realized there were no sirens screaming from the fire station a few blocks away from our house, the usual impetus for Mag’s famous howl, I decided to step out into the yard for further information. Hovering high above us (and obviously terrorizing our poor pooch) was the Goodyear Blimp!

If blimps could strike the same kind of terror in the hearts of Pirates of the Caribbean drug runners in the Caribbean then that would really be something! Blimps may become more than just platforms for advertising once again and I think that is a pretty nifty thrifty idea.

Functional Fitness

As the boomers age there is another new kind of fitness focus (move over Zumba) trending now called functional fitness. The name pretty much says it all. The exercises involved all work to strengthen core muscle groups needed to function in our daily lives and prevent injury that would keep us from doing just that. The focus is on transferring what you’re doing in the gym to the real world (where you need it!). Exercises include such for reaching and rotating (think turning in the driver seat to check your blind spot), squatting and lifting (think picking up groceries or grandkids), and placing things overhead (think the overhead compartment on your next plane ride). Then of course there are the movements involved in getting up or down from the sofa or chair, or in and out of the car.

Reading the news on line I also saw instructions for DIY stand up desk because standing is better, fitness-wise, than sitting at your computer all the time. There were specific measurements for the height of the monitor and keyboard included. This project could easily be completed with just a little modification (easily removable too) to my regular work space.

Maybe my computer is trying to tell me something!

Trees and Tolerance

Trees and tolerance, for me, evokes mental images of redwood giants, silent sentinels that have stood the test of time, weathered observers throughout all remembered history whose only commentary is whispered in its branches. But more recently some different sentinels for tolerance, eleven chestnut tree saplings from the seeds of the tree that grew outside the building in which Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis, are being planted in the US. The tree whose branches Anne could see from the attic and wrote about in her diary, a classic literary reminder of the cost of intolerance highlighted by one of the most horrific events in human history, the holocaust, has died of natural causes despite efforts to save it. But this one tree lives on through its seeds that were harvested and nurtured. Now the saplings are going out to places all over the world to be planted as reminders of the importance of nurturing tolerance in a world that sometimes focuses on stark displays of hatred. If hate is a learned behavior, then we must work harder to teach love and where better to begin and continue than by teaching, learning, and embracing, tolerance. On February 23, 1944 Anne Frank wrote, Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs, from my favorite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind. As long as this exists, I thought, and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts I cannot be unhappy.

Reading these words of hope, knowing the end of the story, what better choice than this chestnut tree for a present day reminder and symbol of tolerance?

Oyster Spat!

No, this isn't a joke about arguing oysters, nor do oysters spit (as far as I know). Oyster spat are baby shell-less oysters that need a place to attach too in order to grow shells. You know, the two that are needed before one can be shucked to produce an oyster on the half shell. In Southeast Georgia there are a couple of collection spots (in Brunswick, Savannah, and on Jekyll Island) where oyster shells (sans oysters) are collected for reuse in building oyster shell reefs, a new habitat for among the fish and other things, oyster spat. Recycling oyster shells is a great way to have your oysters and eat them too because the shell reefs created with the recycled oyster shells provide essential habitat for, not only fish, but also shrimp, crabs, birds, and other forms of estuarine dependent wildlife. Man made assisted oyster shell reefs also serve as natural breakwaters that reduce erosion. A single oyster can filter 50 gallons of water in a day, and that for even a simple bivalve seems pretty impressive to me but their populations are on the decline. Spring is the time of year when the Marine Extension Services are most involved in the reef building projects using oyster shells they've collected form restaurants and people having oyster roasts during the past year. So consider recycling or ask if the folks at your favorite oyster bar recycle the shells for the sake of oyster spat!

Roadrunners and Petaflops

After surpassing the petaflop barrier, by processing over a quadrillion mathematical calculations per second, the plug is finally being pulled and the Roadrunner retired. Roadrunner was a super computer and is being replaced by smaller faster models that are looking to surpass the next barrier, exascale, by performing a quintillion mathematical calculations per second. I saw a photo of Roadrunner and he was huge and definitely outdated looking, at least compared to the stuff people are using today. I do realize that my grandkids aren’t using their IPhones, IPad Minis, and Kindle FireHDs for mathematical calculations but these days they sure seem to be able to do a lot with them. I really had hoped petaflop was a word related to pole vaulting or some failed project or protest by the people for ethical treatment of animals, but no such luck with those ideas. I think I will attempt to create my own meaning for petaflop by taking some grandkids and pets to the dog park (Tommy Casey Memorial Dog Park in St. Marys). The kids and pets can run the obstacle course a bazillion times while I flop on one of the nicely shaded benches to watch. Sounds like a plan to me J.

Red Paw

The brainchild of founder Jen Leary, the Red Paw is for animals in times of disaster as the Red Cross is to the humans. The agency, based in Philadelphia, is 2 years old and uses a network of volunteers, animal welfare groups, and foster homes to help animal victims, often separated from their families, when they too are caught up in disasters. They operate 24/7, 365 days per year assisting displaced animals and their people. Red Paw is the Red Cross for animals and its mission is to protect animals in times of peril. Their website at, http://www.redpawemergencyreliefteam.org/ says it all and has information on how to volunteer, donate, or adopt. A pretty noble idea, in my opinion, that gives a voice to our loved ones that are often forgotten or considered low priority when natural and man-made disasters strike, our companions, also known as pets.

Ponce De Leon

La Florida is 500 years old and is celebrating its own discovery by Juan Ponce De Leon this month. They've even unveiled a statue of Ponce De Leon in St. Augustine. Governor Scott attended much of the festivities and held a cabinet meeting in St. Augustine also as they celebrated the first siting, landing, and naming of the state in what most people consider our nation’s oldest city. An actual descendant of the famous explorer dressed the part and reenacted the discovery on the beach with a fanfare of cannon blasts. I read a biography of Juan Ponce De Leon a while back (in fourth grade) and from that I can tell you that he really got around, especially in the Caribbean. He was once the governor of Puerto Rico among other jobs exploring and enjoyed a pretty good rapport with Spanish royalty (his financial backers) back in the day, a mere 500 years ago. The biography and the celebrations did a pretty good job of glossing over the uglier side of Florida’s history that includes the enslavement and genocide of the native peoples and the introduction of non-native animals (pigs, for one) and diseases that had a drastic impact (negative) on the people and the ecosystems. Non-native animal species, like the Burmese python, that have been more recently introduced are still causing havoc in the fragile ecosystem (the Everglades) today so one could argue that some of Florida’s less than positive history is still in the making today.

On the other side of the coin, Florida, and the rest of our nation wouldn't be what it is if it weren't for the early explorers and we wouldn't be here either. I know that is a big generalization but I guess I am for a more balanced and honest (less fictional) approach to the retelling of history and I wonder if a lot history doesn't better fit the category of fiction than fact. That said, I’d like to think the focus of these celebrations could be more about the importance of sensible and responsible stewardship of the resources and beauty of the great state of Florida as time and history marches on into the future and less about soothing our collective conscience with historical fiction.

April Showers Bring…Tornadoes

Tornadoes are the number one weather related killer in Georgia and historically April is the month when they are most likely to occur. As I write this on a beautiful spring day with the sun shining in the sky and just enough of a breeze to keep the gnats away, I remember reading one woman’s recent comment about her experience with a tornado. She said she had no warning and no time to think about getting to a safe place. She literally ran for a closet in her home. Her home was in the direct path of this tornado and it was lifted from its foundation (I can’t help but picture the scene from the Wizard of Oz here) and moved some distance away. She was fortunately a survivor rather than a statistic in the fatalities column. In the past 30 years I recall 3 incidences where tornadoes have come through and touched down here in St. Marys, especially the one in 1995 when some portable classrooms at Crooked River Elementary school were heavily damaged. This one hit close to home so it definitely made an impression on me.

Until recently there hasn't been any consistent way to get warnings out about these storms unless you happened to be watching the weather channel or have a weather radio on. I remember as a child in Illinois the sound of sirens used as a warning and on Andros in the Bahamas there’s a light (on a tower) that indicates the presence of lightning with different colors representing different distances, useful for the helicopters, boaters, and other aircraft in the area. Now there are weather apps for your smartphones that can alert you to all types of weather and in Camden County (via the Sheriff’s Office) there is a program called CodeRED for the rest of us. It’s an emergency notification network that that sends either a voice message to your land line phone or a text to your cell phone about any threats from a rash of burglaries to severe weather. The key thing is that you have to register for this free service. They guarantee that your registration information will remain private and only be used to notify you in situations you sign up for.

My point here is, with all the ways to stay safe during this approaching severe weather season, what are you waiting for if you haven’t already signed up? During a tornado minutes count and none of us want to be a statistic.

Crowdsourcing and the National Suggestion Box

Crowdsourcing is the term given to the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas (hence the National Suggestion Box), or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.

The National Suggestion Box is an on line “box” created in 2009 to give government workers a place to contribute budget cutting ideas (using crowdsourcing as a strategy, I like it!). Four ideas each year are selected for implementation and awarded the SAVE Award. In all the 28 suggestions implemented so far have brought savings of 243 million dollars per year, other suggestions have been less impressive and still others have had no fiscal impact at all.

85,933 of the 86,000 ideas suggested have yet to be acted upon for a variety of reasons I am sure, including the fact that it would be more work than just allowing sequestration to rear its ugly head. It’s interesting to consider how crowdsourcing works and funny how the government works at the same time. I kind of liked the ideas about having boy scouts wash government cars for (low pay and) merit badges and saving on landscaping fees by using government goats.

Ombliferous

I love new words with multiple meanings! Ok, I’ll use ombliferous in a sentence or three so you can figure out what it means and choose which sentence it’s used in correctly.

1.           In a song lyric: That’s not ombliferous, that’s 50 dollars for a t-shirt!

2.           Diffusing a road rage situation: Who gave that ombliferous jerk a driver’s license?

3.           For a tax attorney: There is no return too ombliferous for us to prepare.

If you choose sentence number 1- you are right! And the same goes for sentences number 2 and 3. In each choice the word is used incorrectly because ombliferous is a nonsense word (one of many) coined by the English poet, author, artist, and illustrator of the 1800s, Edward Lear.

Happy April Ombliferous Fools Day! Hope it’s a slobaciously scroobious one!