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Category Archives: health
‘You Are Not Alone’
Check out our YMCA’s “You Are Not Alone” mural. Because I’m so outgoing, I chatted up the artist while she was outlining it. Turns out, there’s a movement of “You Are Not Alone” artists who want to use wall murals to instill hope and connection while fostering more discussion of mental health.
I suspect their murals are more likely to accomplish the later than the former. I’m just not clear on how the murals might spark social connection which social science increasingly suggests is as close as there is to a loneliness panacea.
Do not mistake my lack of clarity, or even skepticism, as criticism. These are kind and caring people with the best of intentions.
Booster Postscript
I knew there was real downside wading into the vax debate, but I didn’t expect a PressingPauser to spring into action with a reasoned rebuttal.
A decidedly non-knuckle head Pressing Pauser wrote to me, “This material cut and pasted below is from NPR on how long the protection lasts. You seem to have addressed only the mild symptom category, not the risk of severe responses. I see no suggestion that anyone should or would get this shot ‘every 2 months.’ As a renowned blogger with tremendous influence over many many readers (well, maybe a few), you should consider the fact that you and your ‘non-knucklehead recently retired doctor friend’ may have cherry picked a bit.
From NPR—How long will protection last?
“You’ll get a boost in immunity within about two weeks after getting the shot that could reduce your risk of coming down with COVID – and that protection will likely last for a few months. It should also make you more likely to get a more mild case if you do get sick.
The boost in protection against severe disease – the kind of scary symptoms that can send you to the hospital – should last a lot longer. Exactly how long depends on a variety of factors including your immune system, your health, your age and your prior exposures to both the vaccines and infections. But for many people, the hope is the COVID shots can be annual, like flu shots.
“It will markedly increase your protection against getting very sick for about a year or so,” says Dr. Robert Wachter, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.”
The point is so well taken, I will in all likelihood get the new jab. Thanks to the reader for taking the time to deepen the discussion. That said, comparing me to Kyrie Irving was totally uncalled for. Except for the ball handling skills.
What The Hell ESPN?
Our sensitivity to mental health challenges is a two step forward one step backward process.
ESPN’s interview of Aryna Sabalenka after she lost the women’s final match was a huge, high profile step backwards. She dominated the opening set and melted down in the second and third. Immediately afterwards, she was understandably distraught at the magnitude of her collapse. Never mind though, the ESPN analyst kept asking increasingly pointed questions while pressing the microphone to her lips. She laughed incredibly uncomfortably and struggled to put a coherent sentence together while intermittently turning away and putting her face in her hands in an attempt to hide. And yet, the analyst pressed forward with more questions. It was grossly inappropriate and entirely unnecessary. Just go to Coco for shitssake.
Today there’s footage of Sabalenka repeatedly smashing her racquet into the locker room floor minutes after the on-air interview. Unclear whether she was lashing out at her play or the analyst’s utter cluelessness.
Do better ESPN. A lot better.
How To Promote Vegetarianism
What influences people to go vegetarian?
The take-away. Don’t chalk the bike path with pro-vegan bromides, which is leaflet-like; instead, talk to them.
Your Neighborhood Cultural Anthropologist
When I woke up today my body spoke to me. It said, “Don’t run, walk.” And surprisingly, I listened.
I walked all the way to the end of Cushman, picking and eating blackberries as I went, then through SeaShore Villa, then down to the Salish shore and home on a hidden wooded path that even Google Earth won’t help you locate.
This happened to be recycling Monday, including, drumroll please. . . glass! I love Glass Day because I get to snoop around and play cultural anthropologist. Yes, Indy-Cush friends, I am taking very close note of your glass contents.
I concede this may be a violation of your privacy, but it’s for a higher purpose, making sense of people’s drinking habits. My research questions are how much alcohol are people drinking and what kind?
My findings. People are drinking a lot despite what seems like an increasing drumbeat of studies which suggest any amount of alcohol isn’t good for you. Wine bottles, like normal, were quite numerous this morn with some households clearly preferring beer.
Maybe people are smart not to pay too much heed to the constantly shifting scientific research. Just wait for the pendulum to swing back, right? And maybe an occasional glass of wine or bottle of beer is a nice break from trying to always do the right thing health-wise. I mean, we’re going to die either way, right? Unfortunately though, some households go beyond moderation.
Let’s take a closer look at a few examples.
This is a fairly representative sample of moderate drinking over a four week span. It looks like four wine bottles and maybe a dozen beer bottles. Bud Light is a sad choice given the plethora of excellent local craft brews from which to choose, but maybe they’re Lefties supporting the maligned beverage.
Here’s our month worth of glass.
Boring! Some pasta, pickles, peaches, salad dressing and only two wine bottles compliments of the college roommate reunion. Come on California Lutheran University Class of 1982, do better! Drink more. . . like in Thousand Oaks back in the day.
One limitation of my research is that I hosted a cycling party after a particularly long ride, but we drank beer out of cans, so the above snapshot doesn’t represent all of our intake. Oh no, I guess that means some of my neighbors may drink more than meets the eye too.
Dunking on RFK Jr.
Liz Wolfe puts RFK Jr. on a poster. Only problem, few conspiracy fans of Kennedy will spend ten minutes watching a detailed, smart rebuttal of his deranged theses.
The Biggest Bike Dork In Congress
Of course, a term of endearment. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon.
Not All Heroes Wear Capes
Many, like Parkinson’s researcher Tim Greenmayre, wear lab coats.
Greenmayre says there’s no good time to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but this is the best time in history to be diagnosed with it because things are on the horizon that may change the course of the disease and slow it down or even stop it.
This Science piece is Greenmayre’s story and an overview of his lab’s cutting edge research.
Bicycle Riding is Falling in Portland
From a comprehensive report. Long story short, in 2022, Portland bicycle traffic dropped more than a third compared to 2019, to levels not seen since approximately 2005-2006.
A precipitous decline despite several measures to increase bicycle riding. The “discussion” on page 11 suggests Portland officials really don’t know why bicycle riding is in decline.
Maybe schedule more of these?
Pressing Pause 