Perfect Halloween Costume or maybe Purim?

I have a 16 month baby and last night I was supposed to be watching him. He has been getting into everything lately and he went into my bathroom and was looking through some drawers. I was not paying as close attention as I should and he found a mascara bottle. I thought, it must be closed tight, he won’t be able to figure out how to open it, how much harm could he do. Well a few minutes later I realized it was open and after I pried it out of the fingers of this crying munchkin I realized that he did manage to try it out. He somehow drew a single black line below his nose, resulting in a prefect baby Hitler impression.

Maybe I should get my car detailed?

I don't know about you but I found this NRP story about the trombone player, Scott Bean, who was getting sick from mold in his instrument facinating. Doctors could not figure out what was wrong, but after 15 years of coughing and other problems he went on vacation without his trombone and felt well and one thing lead to another and they figured out it was mold in the brassworks.

A couple of take aways:

• a smart person with a smart doctor could wrongly diagnose a medical problem and miss the cause of the problem in a serious way, this same thing probably happens to 1000s of people every day. Doctor thinks they have X but they really have Y. There is so much our modern medical system does not understand
• Some people are very sensitive to materials in our environment. I sneeze everytime I come to work, why? This guy was having a reaction to fusarium and mycobacterium in his horn but are others being exposed to the same stuff in other places, in our air ducts, in their dishwasher, under our car seat, etc. What other molds, bacteria or chemicals are there lurking in corners of our world that could cause accute health reactions for people?

It is good that Mr. Bean got better but I fear there are so many other people suffering from health problems that they and their doctors just haven't figured out yet.

Time to Shake Your Irish Ass

That's What She Said

I have said it before but the Saw Doctors may be one of the best live bands out there. Watch how their fans know all the words and love them. Here is a great version of "That's What She Said Last Night"
Would.... you .....please......... one more time

WSJ Piece is Moving in the Right Direction To Save Lives on our Streets

Check out this well put article from the Wall Street Journal about how a great deal of attention is played in media and by policy makers to certain high profile traffic safety issues (Toyota acceleration problem, texting, etc.) and not enough effort and money is being put into real changes that could save many lives. "Do Some Traffic Hazards Get Too Much Attention" points out a recent "issues du jour" take away attention from things that can be done to make cars and roads safer.

I think it is a good article but it could get into more specifics of things that could be done and have been done in some places resulting in serious safety improvements. Also, I still think that beyond making cars and roads safer, there needs to be a new way of thinking about these issues. Anyone who cares about reducing the 100 deaths a day on our roads, needs to open their mind to how we can encourage us to live and travel in ways that reduce these risks. here are a few ideas to consider:

• Are there people who are such bad drivers they should not be allowed on the roads?
• Are there certain road conditions (fog, slick icy rain) that are so dangerous that people should not be allowed to drive or should only be allowed to drive very very slowly?
• Should companies get tax breaks if they locate their business in a spot that reduces risk that employees and customers will not die on there way to work?