MARIO Day 2012

Today is MARIO Day again.  (Yes.. that's Mar. 10th for those folks who aren't aware of that famous holiday).. Today, we are all supposed to eat spaghetti or lasagna.. with plenty, plenty, plenty of garlic.. that magic herb.  Some years ago, when my grandchildren would stay overnight, we would celebrate MARIO Day (even if the month wasn't March) by cooking up "Garlic Eggs".. (with or without spaghetti).. some of my grandkids still think of "Garlic Eggs" as Prepop's delicious "soul food."

 Who you callin' fat?

Boston University biochemist Barbara Corkey says that she doesn't believe that overeating causes obesity or diabetes!

According to Bostonia Magazine, Barbara Corkey has five decades of metabolism research experience. She is Boston University's School of Medicine's Zoltan Kohn Professor in Medicine and is a much respected diabetes researcher.. one of her many recent awards was the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement, the American Diabetes Association's highest honors.  

So.. Barbara knows whereof she speaks, and her utterances on the subject of obesity and diabetes deserve investigation.  She suspects that food additives (like emulsifiers and saccharin) as well as environmental factors (perhaps pesticides, arsenic poisoning, smoke) are involved in the development of obesity and Type Two diabetes. 

http://www.baderc.org/members/BarbaraCorkey.html


Incidentally, Barbara loves gourmet food and fine wine.. if you follow her on Twitter, you could get some tips on how to fill your life with "good taste."

Now this guy is just plain "fat".. at least above his shoulders.. in my humble opinion.

On the surface, Rush doesn't seem too worried about the reaction to his outbursts about Ms.  Fluke. However, under the surface he must be worried.. because he continues to lose sponsors.. I believe he has already lost Allstate Insurance, J.C. Penney, Sears, Bonobos Mens Clothes, AOL and Tax Resolution Services. I have a few questions to ask:

Why did Allstate and Sears and other national companies endorse Rush in the first place?

Why haven't American women recognised before now that they can have an enormous effect on American businesses?   Perhaps they have, but have not used their influence very often until now.

What will American women do, now that they are "on a roll" to get groups consisting of all men from deciding on things that affect women's lives? (Remember Lysistrata by Aristophanes!)

I saw a cartoon somewhere that showed someone looking like Rick Santorum being asked by a reporter: "How will women react to your views in the upcoming election?"  Rick's answer: "What!  When did women get the "vote?"   This is, of course, a silly joke.. but sometimes I think that we would do better if more women would get together and use their voting power to elect persons who have the best interests of all American people foremost, rather than keeping the "rich old boys club" status quo.

Loss of a genius!

I was saddened to read that Steve Bridges was found dead at his Los Angeles home last week.  He was only 48 years old.  Most people remember him for his wonderful impressions of George W. Bush.  A New York Times article mentions that it took make-up artist, Mari Enyart three hours to get Steve looking like "W."    He also did TV spots made up as Presidents Obama and Clinton.  Steve was also good at voice impersonations.. including  the aforementioned Rush Limbaugh.  His humor will be greatly missed. 

Isn't this for the birds?

I just got through filling our sunflow seed feeder and am watching little birds happily peck away.  I estimate that there are about 1,000 sunflower seeds left for them to peck.

Meanwhile, I read where the Tate Modern Turbine Hall in London has purchased 8,000,000 of the 100,000,000 porcelain sunflower "seeds" on display in 2010. This was an "artwork" created by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.  Each of the 100,000,000 "seeds" was individually hand-painted by 1,600 Chinese citizens!  These "seeds" were then spread out all over the floor of the Tate.. and visitors were encouraged to "walk and roll" through the "seeds" to experience the art work on a personal basis.  This didn't last too long, because the "porcelain dust" proved too much for asthmatics and there may also have been lead in the paint that was used. 

The 92,000,000 remaining "seeds" were returned to Mr. Ai.  Tate officials are not revealing what they paid for the 8,000,000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_Weiwei

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Seed you later.
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Medical Bits for kibitzing on a 70 Degree Day in February 2012

Doctor Vaughan wishes to give you some quick medical information and insights:

1. Diabetes.

Paula Deen, who shows us how to cook up such great southern-style tummy teasers has now joined the ranks of diabetes sufferers.  I guess she has been consuming too much of her delicious carb-filled creations.

2.  Cosmetic Surgery.

A recent Harper's Index indicates that 2,000 "designer vagina" operations were paid for by the British National Health Service last year.

3.  Sickness at Work.

Aaron Karo remarks in his "Ruminations" .."When faking sick to leave work early, I find it necessary to make a sick face until I'm at least a few miles from the office, just in case someone is following me and watching me."

4.  Vitamin Deficiency.

This is from a recent issue of the BBC Music Magazine : "Austrian experts... suggest that Mozart may have died of a lack of vitamin D.  The infections the composer was reported to have suffered from all hint at that deficiency, which would have been exacerbated by the lack of sunlight in the long Viennese winter.  Spookily, Mozart's Requiem is written in the key of, yes, D minor. Maybe he knew?"

5.  Throat Cancer.

Another composer, written about in the BBC Music Magazine by Adrian Mourby was Jean Sibelius. "Sibelius... belonged to a hard-drinking, hard-living set in Helsinki.  After an operation for throat cancer, he made sure there was a box of cigars waiting for him when he came round from the anaesthetic..."


6.  High Blood Pressure.

The world famous Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, was home-base for physiologist Joseph Erlanger's research on the nervous tissue of frogs.  While doing this research, Joe invented the sphygmomanometer which measures blood pressure and has probably helped save the lives of thousands of old dudes like me.  Erlanger was born in 1874 and died in 1965.

7.  Obesity.

Aaron Karo offers an observation on this malady: "I would be far thinner if I didn't have tastebuds."

(This could also be related to item #1 above.)

8.  Brain Malfunction.

Our old friend, Aaron Karo, also points to a malady affecting most of us: "Will I ever reach a point in my life when I won't need to recite the whole alphabet in my head while alphabetizing?"

9.  Pencilectomy.

Chuck Shepherd, was quoted in the recent issue of Funny Times: "The British Medical Journal reported that a 76-year-old woman had been unbothered until recently by the felt-tip pen she accidentally swallowed 25 years earlier.  It was removed without complication, and, though the plastic was flaky, the pen still had an ink supply and was 'usable'."

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Incidentally, if you would like to read more interesting medical information, try these wonderful sources:

Funny Times newspaper.
News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd
Harper's Magazine
Ruminations.com by Aaron Karo

All can be readily found online.

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