Bag of Randomness for Thursday, August 10, 2017

  • In speaking with both orthopedic and neurology staff, one common trait of people not realizing they have a back issue is the purchase of new furniture. Many think their mattresses, office chairs, and living room furniture is simply uncomfortable and don’t realize it’s really their back. So before seeing a doctor, a lot of back patients have bought a lot of new furniture. I’m guilty of that with the office chairs and living room furniture. It’s another case of treating the symptom and not the problem. Sometimes it’s hard to realize one isn’t the other.
  • Fox in ‘Preliminary Conversations’ to Revive ‘King of the Hill’
  • Stephen Colbert to interview Scaramucci on August 14
  • Nissan Leaf will be cheaper than Tesla Model 3 and Chevy Bolt, but have less range
  • Armchair political pundit thoughts:
    • There’s no telling what special counsel Robert Mueller might find or where he might go with his investigation. Remember, the Clintons were investigated because of real estate investments and it led to the discovery and publication of a very improper relationship with a White House intern and then an impeachment. I have more faith in the integrity of Mueller than Kenneth Starr, but there’s no telling where this could go.
    • I think the Russians were influential in getting Trump elected, but I don’t think they ever thought they could control him with blackmail or anything. I think their plan was simple, they wanted to create chaos and doubt in the mind of the American voter and how we view our system of government being invulnerable to certain extents.
    • In the book I’m reading, Nixon made a comment about how George. H. W. Bush ended Desert Storm too soon, how lengthening it would have assured him re-election, and it worked with him and Vietnam. If I’m to use history as a guide, I wouldn’t expect Trump to do anything with North Korea until close to re-election time.
  • When the Prescription Is a Recipe
    • After years of telling patients to skip junk food and prepare homemade meals, a growing number of doctors and medical groups are now going a step further and teaching them how to cook. Some are building teaching kitchens or creating food pantries right next to their practices. Others are prescribing culinary education programs in hopes of improving their patients’ nutrition and overall health. Some medical schools have even introduced culinary curriculums to train more doctors to talk to patients about food.
    • A perk of having a kitchen right next to her office, Dr. Fernando said, is that she can take patients right in and demonstrate something she wants them to try, such as how to grind flaxseed. That costs the patients nothing. But patients pay out-of-pocket for cooking classes, which vary in cost depending on the length. For example, a five-day “food adventure” camp for 7- to 12-year-olds costs $125. A popular class on how to make nutritious baby food costs $17.50.
  • Einstein’s Theory Passes a Massive Test
    • The most basic physical laws you’ve learned—those drafted up by Isaac Newton in the 17th century—don’t work for everything. Once you try to applying them to really fast things moving nearly at the speed of light or things heavier than stars, they start to fall apart. That’s where Albert Einstein’s expanded theory of motion and gravity, the theory of general relativity, comes in.
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