I don't like doctors either, but...

It's no secret that I don't trust doctors. All that schooling and they still don't know what the heck is going on. There is a new book out called Natural Cures"They" Don't Want You to Know About. Gene Weingarten has done a book reivew. It's interesting, the book author, Trudeau, says the doctors just want money. But he himself is a convict of credit card fraud, and, is somehow making money hand-over-fist. Seems doctors aren't the only greedy ones. But they are greedy.

The Hollywood Slump

Here is an insightful article about the slump in movie theater attendance. Basically, he says that Hollywood should produce some patriotic and/or feel-good movies. That would be nice. One has to wonder what they are thinking when the first person to do a movie about Sept. 11, 2001 is Oliver Stone! If they don't see something wrong with that, it shows just how out of touch they really are. I am not saying he shouldn't make a movie, I'm just saying no one will go see it.

I do wonder about Cinderella Man which was supposed to be a feel-good movie, but it didn't do too well I hear. I didn't see it, but I rarely go to the theater anyway.

More on Government Waste

Mark Steyn has a good idea, let's give each family affected by the hurricanes $400,000 cash instead of funneling it through sloppy channels. Sounds good to me. If they blow it all, so what? If they use it to better their station in life, so much the better. I'm afraid that the only ones that will be better-off after the government gives hundreds of millions of dollars away, will be people who were pretty well-off already. Casino owners, oil people, contractors with government connections, etc.

The Govenment's role

I just read an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education where a writer says that the government screwed up with Katrina, so we need more government. HAH! Government only gets you bureaucracy. Take a look at this column by John Stossel to see what the problems of the government response are. The problem is people expect the government to be the one to respond, and what the government does is get in the way. Government is for bureacrats, by politicians, and that is bad. I have seriously considered joining the Libertarian party.

Another problem with the government is it gives out money way too easily. We have a friend who works at a social services office and she told us that at our income with 4 kids we qualify for $800 a month in food stamps! We don't even spend $250. $300 would be nice, but there is no way we need $800 every month. And to answer your question: Yes, it would make our budget easier. No, I am not going to take it. I didn't take WIC when we really could have used that either.

I have a friend who was born with a bad eye. In college he got $300 or so a month from the government. Even though he needed the money, he decided he shouldn't be taking other people's tax money so he told them he didn't want it anymore. They couldn't figure out why. It was so outside the realm of belief that someone would turn down money because of a principle. Amazing how fast we have fallen.

Reviews

I will probably do some reviews of movies, books and CDs, but don't expect them to be current. I rarely see a movie in the theater, or read a book right as it comes out. I think the last CD I actually bought was 10 years old when I got it. I have to decide I really like them now that my finances are devoted to things other than me. I used to buy about one new album/CD per week, so I have quite a collection of music from the 1980s and 1990s with a good bit of 1950s, 1960s and 1970s thrown in.

Anyhow, I did see Batman Begins at the theater. Wow, what a movie. As I was sitting there, almost tearing and choking up, all I could think was "What is it that makes this thing so spectacular?" I don't know that I've seen anything that affected me that way before. As I look back I don't remember anything in particular that caused my strong reaction. Anyone have any ideas? Perhaps it is the fact that I don't see the Big Screen very often.

Migraines

Why do we get migraines? It seems odd to me that I should be attacked by my own body this way. It's not like cancer where cells are devouring one another, it's just a very intense pain for a short while. For no reason.

For those of you who don't suffer from migraines, let me explain: Somehow the brainstem gets over-stimulated, the nerves freak-out, and then one side of your brain decides to get out through the eye socket. The eye vigorously pushes back. The brain then tries to go out through the temple, all the while keeping the pressure on the eye. Then the brain gets mad and send signals telling the stomach to rebel also.

At this point it is hard to think, work, see, hear, or exist.

However, not all migraines are like this.

Sometimes it feels like an ice pick has been put through my forehead just above the eye, with another smaller one just below the eye. They are at angles so they almost meet just behind the temple. The ice pick analogy is about right. It feels like there is a line of pain, just as if something where shoved in there. Perhaps a laser beam.

Other times it feels as if someone has grabbed a nerve about the middle of my neck, just to one side of the spine, and is pulling. The nerve runs up over my head, just off the center, and then goes over and around the eye ball. All the pulling makes one side of the face go numb.

There are drugs one can take. Serotonin-uptake inhibitors. Serotonin is what makes you feel good. Apparently, too much feel good makes you feel bad. Unfortunatly, the drug also makes you feel bad, but not as bad as the migraine. So at $5.00 a pill, you can feel better, mostly. Lovely situation.

Not another blog!

Yes folks, another blog. I just want to say at the start that I don't like the word 'blog.' Something better should have been used. Oh, well, seeing as how I am late getting into this game I guess I don't have much to say about it, do I? How about webl? As in "He's a webl, yeah yeah yeah!" One thing I can guarantee you is that this won't be another blog annoucing what I ate for breakfast and how lazy I was at work. Snoozefest. If you read this blog long enough I will probably assult your ideals. We'll see how this goes.