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I’m a former daily newspaper journalist who worked in the Pacific Northwest and New England. Now a book reviewer, writer, editor, iMac user. I founded Rich Litho Media, which provides writing/editing and publishing services for authors and small businesses.
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Category Archives: Health
Death on our own terms: Don’t be squeamish, read this.
This is the best-written newspaper or magazine piece I’ve read in a very long time. The headline is “What Broke My Father’s Heart,” and writer Katy Butler rewinds her family story to describe what happens when technology–in this case a pacemaker–keeps someone alive beyond the capacity of the mind (and parts of the body) to [...]
Also posted in Ethics Leave a comment
True.
How BP would handle a coffee spill.
Also posted in Business, Ethics, Government, Science Leave a comment
Big Pharma: Dare to dream.
Enough already with the anxiety abating, hormone-replacing, artery-cleaning, pain-killing, erection-creating drugs. What the big pharmaceutical companies need to make and sell is an inhaler that can instantly wipe out a bad dream that lingers. (Just the dream, mind you. Not deleting the to-do list or the multiplication tables.) A starter dose would deal with basic [...]
Posted in Health Leave a comment
The award no restaurant wants: Xtreme Eating
If you were at Woodstock (or could have been if your parents weren’t such Fascists), you’re old enough to remember when high school yearbooks used to routinely award the “Most Likely to Succeed” title to the biggest pothead in the senior class. Wink wink. The Xtreme Eating Awards of 2010 are sort of like that. [...]
Also posted in Food Leave a comment
June: When fruit and vegetables rule. (Just ask Patty James.)
I’m in a panic here. It’s almost June. You know, National Fruit and Vegetable Month. That’s right, the month-long holiday is looming and I’m in danger of being caught with a fridge full of diet soda and a fruit bowl full of car keys and old rubber bands. Fortunately, wiser (and healthier) heads can prevail. [...]
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High-risk sleepwalking
When I read “Raiding the Refrigerator, but Still Asleep” by Randi Hutter Epstein in The New York Times, I immediately had two questions: 1. Whoa! Do people actually binge eat in their sleep? 2. Do people do this in poor countries, or just in places where there’s a lot of extra food sitting around? Epstein’s [...]
Also posted in Food, Politics, Research, Science Leave a comment
Holsters and health care.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has answered a question that’s been nagging at me: What’s really behind the strong opposition to the health care plan? I know that some people worry that changes in insurance regulations will erode the coverage they already have. I’m convinced that out-and-out racism plays a role and that some opponents are [...]
Also posted in Ethics, Government, Politics, Race & Class Leave a comment
Consider this: rental credits = coverage
The kneecapping may be over between enemies fighting over health care reform, but lesser shin-kicking will continue. We’ve got some miles to go before these changes to our health care system and insurance industry are really “historic” as is being said. For now, it’s a live battle. There’s plenty of good news, however. Reform that [...]
Also posted in Government, Politics 1 Comment
Gimme five so I can blog faster
Human touch is a powerful language, says a study written about by Ben Carey of The New York Times. The story says a range of emotions can be shown, or triggered, by the most casual interactions, such as a slap on the back or a high-five. Touch makes people feel better and even excel at [...]
Also posted in Human nature, Science 1 Comment
Meat on our bones
A new study proves–are you paying attention?–that women with partners gain more weight than women without partners. This finding comes out of a 10-year-long Australian study involving 6,000 women. I know scientists need statistical heft in order to confirm any finding, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t need to take so long or so many [...]
Also posted in Food, Gender Mysteries 3 Comments
77 Words: “Food Matters” by Mark Bittman
For more 77 Words tiny book reviews, click here. “Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating” by Mark Bittman (Simon & Schuster, 2009) – This NYTimes foodie’s niche is healthy eating without the heavy lifting, and his timing is impeccable. What better time to urge people away from McNuggets or faux organic junk-food and in [...]
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Onward science soldiers!
If you thought the so-called War on Drugs was pretty much lost, take heart. Here’s some news about a guy who might just get us pointed in the right direction. One of the more arresting quotes has to do with alcohol abuse and defining a problem drinker: “The measuring stick is known as ’3-14′ — [...]
Also posted in Alcohol & Drugs, Government, Heroes, Politics, Research Leave a comment
What we know still hurts us
The question of when a woman should begin annual mammograms is getting a lot of ink, air-time and, yes, close scrutiny in Congress, not a gang I reflexively list under the heading, “People I trust with my personal health-care decisions.” (I’m trying not to veer into paranoia here, so I won’t dwell on my impression [...]
Also posted in Alcohol & Drugs, Gender Mysteries, Human nature, Research Leave a comment
That noise? Oh, it’s my knee.
Even in this youth-obsessed culture of ours, there are a lot of things about aging that are kept very, very quiet. You’d think any such bad tidings would be waved at us like so many flags, just as a way to further nationalize us into the high-fiber, deep-breathing, sun-avoidant, heart-rate-monitored, liposuctioned, mood-enhanced, hair-colored landscape of [...]
Also posted in Human nature Leave a comment
Looking inside a sick system
Andrew Schneider, one of the best investigative reporters going, wrote this piece for Sphere, which is AOL’s new and promising news site. I don’t pretend to be objective — Schneider and I go way back — but I’m confident that I’m right about the quality of this piece. It’s no news flash that people with [...]
Also posted in Ethics, Government, Politics Leave a comment
Happy hour in the woods, that’s the ticket
Why is it that every new revelation about boosting brainpower requires pursuing some pastime I’ve taken great pains to avoid? The two examples that prompted this worry: A brief piece in The New York Times claims “moderate drinking” after age 60 reduces the odds of developing dementia. A fascinating essay that ran some months back [...]
Also posted in Science Leave a comment
Big hips sink ships
Finally, an intelligent movement toward containing the dangerous fat element in our society. Surgeon Delos M. Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, bravely stepped forward and said if he had his way, his health care facility, which already has a ban on hiring smokers, would quit hiring obese people. (See the Aug. 16 New York [...]
Posted in Health Leave a comment
Let us bow our heads
It’s true: Hospitals and casinos are remarkably similar. Years of family visits to Reno and Lake Tahoe have acquainted me with every casino restaurant for miles. That’s where you go to eat with a large group. Ditto for hotel accommodations. Even if you don’t gamble, there’s no avoiding gaming culture. Last week I hung out [...]
Also posted in Faith, Human nature Leave a comment
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