WhiteCoat Underground

I did a silly thing.  I accepted an invitation to write over at ScienceBlogs.  It isn’t because of my leviathan ego, or the free massages they offer, but because it seems like a great opportunity for someone who loves science, medicine, and writing.

I doubt I can maintain two blogs at once (although over there I won’t be burdened by solo work…I have a great pair to work with), so please adjust your feeds to point to the new site.

I plan to continue posting basically the same mix of topics, but as an added bonus, you the Anti-Denialist Brothers, who probably know more about how people and groups aim to deceive you than anyone around.

See you over there!

It’s up at Tangled up in Blue Guy.  His blog is new to me, and I likey.  He talks about my former home (San Francisco), and my favorite song.  How could it be bad?

It’s up over at Happy Jihad’s House of Pancakes, but you have to bring your own maple syrup.

My blog traffic has been picking up quite a bit, and while wordpress allows me to get an idea of where traffic is coming from, I’m curious to see where folks may have heard of this blog.  If you feel like it, please let me know how you came to read my rants.

(According to wordpress, much of my traffic comes from ScienceBlogs, especially Respectful Insolence, from Science-Based Medicine, and from wordpress itself.)

I appear to be having spam filter issues.  Sorry, folks, I’m trying to keep up with them.

I guess I’m going to start reading a new carnival.  I’ve been included in the latest Tangled Bank, up at Archaeoporn.  Don’t be fooled by the name—there’s no actual porn.  It’s a good read all the same.

I forgot to give you the most recent flu numbers. The numbers are still rising, although at my own institution, it’s starting to drop a little.

It’s up at the Conspiracy Factory.  Don’t miss it!

By way of A Blog Around the Clock, a CNN producer/blogger was fired for, well, blogging.   This is a remarkable read, not the least because it shows how short-sighted broadcast media can be.  The web is where many people get most of their information.  Even cursory glance at ABC or CNN’s websites shows how they are little more than a mirror of the TV network.  Anyway, it’s not medical, it’s not snarky, but it’s worth a read.

OK, so this isn’t medical, skeptical, or snarky, but a hat tip to The Factician for this chortle.

The latest Skeptics’ Circle is up Bug Girl’s Blog.  Don’t miss the Valentine’s Edition!

As you can see, the flu season continues to pick up.

All 50 states are affected, many with widespread outbreaks. It’s not too late to be vaccinated.

Once again, the UK’s bizarre laws are making life difficult for a fellow skeptic. The offender is, of course, le canard noir. The last time this happened I though perhaps that idiots would be discouraged from trying to suppress free speech. If, however, you buy your never-heard-of degree by sending in cereal box-tops, you probably aren’t thinking right. So, once again, to show that free speech cannot be denied in the information age, I reprint for you the text of the offensive post in its entirety… (more…)

Over the next few days I will be testing out a new server.  Please have patience with me and the site as I attempt to make a smooth transition.

Midnight: very cold out. Climb in bed with wife and talk about movie we saw.

0220: Answer page about patient with chest pain on cardiology unit. Ask nurse to page cardiologist.

0330: Answer page from nurse about stroke patient with blood pressure problems.

0800: Get up and make coffee and bagel. Read paper and enjoy relative calm of quiet house.

0900: Shower, shave, dress, and wake up spouse and child. Start car to warm up.

0945: Kiss family goodbye, pry child off my leg…return for one more hug and kiss.

1030 : Meet with medical residents to discuss inpatients

1100: Round on 9 patients from my practice

1300: Open up walk-in clinic at hosptial.

1301:  Post-operative wound infection—send to ER

1315:  Elderly woman on blood thinners, fell and hit head—to ER.

1330: Young man with fever, headache, stiff neck—to ER.

1335:  Young woman with sinus infection—tylenol, decongestants, home.

1345:  Young man with chest pain and EKG changes—to ER, check for pulmonary embolism.

1400:  Middle-aged man with hand pain—looks like gout—anti-inflammatories, home.

1410:  Young man with ear pain—external ear infection—drops for 7 days, ENT appointment tomorrow.

1420:  Young woman with back pain—anti-inflammatory medication, home.

1430: Middle-aged woman with frequent urination; blood sugar too high to measure—ER for new-onset diabetes.

1445:  Young woman with bronchitis:  antibiotics, cough suppressants

145o:  Middle-aged woman with right hip pain—probably arthritis; anti-inflammatories, follow up with regular doctor

1455: Young man with sinusitis:  nasal saline, decongestants, home.

1500:  Best friend calls—fell and broke wrist; is in ER.

1501:  Young woman with asthma—breathing treatment, home.

1508: Another young woman with asthma, worse—breathing treatment, steroids, home.

1515: Call ER to make sure buddy is being seen.

1520:  Middle-aged woman with vertigo; probably inner ear infection.  Anti-vertigo medication, home.

1525: Young woman with cold—grandmotherly advice, home.

1545: Middle-aged woman with wax in ears—removed, home.

1550:  Young doctor with influenza—chided for forgetting to get vaccination, sent home.

1555: Young woman with ear infection—ear drops, home.

1600: Sit with friend in ER while orthopedic surgeon yanks his wrist back in place.  Make him take pain medicine; call his wife to pick him up.
1730: Young, pregnant woman with urinary tract infection—antibiotics, follow up with OB.

1735: Young woman with chest pain; ribs tender—tylenol, home.

1800: Pick up wife, go to dinner with family.  Answer page from patient who is out of town and sick.

2200: Tuck in child late.

2330: Sleep.

0000: Start over again.

Chelate your way to bliss over at the Skeptical Surfer for SC #78. Let’s hope his magic magnets keep a shark from mistaking him for a harbor seal.

In his current visit to the Mideast, President Bush made a stop at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Israel. He was visibly moved by the visit, and I have no doubt his emotions were genuine. But he clearly knows nothing about the Holocaust.

“I was most impressed that people in the face of horror and evil would not forsake their God. In the face of unspeakable crimes against humanity, brave souls, young and old, stood strong for what they believe,” Bush said.

The Holocaust was not the Inquisition. Jews were not offered conversion. Secular Jews, religious Jews, even gentiles with Jewish ancestors were murdered by the millions. I’m sure many would have and did “forsake their God” to save their families; it wouldn’t have made a difference. The Nazis didn’t care about religion, they cared about blood ethnicity. The Holocaust wasn’t a religious persecution, it was an ethnic genocide.

The fact that my president doesn’t understand this simple and important fact saddens me. It also helps illuminate much of his thinking vis-a-vis Iraq and the so-called (godless) axis of evil. He really looks at the world in terms of religion, in terms of us against them.

I’m sad for him, and I’m sad for my country.

And I can’t wait to vote in November.

I’m veering from my usual habits.  In a single post title I curse and mention politics.  Sorry about that, but people don’t seem to realize how scary Rob Paul really is.  He delivers a pretty-sounding populist message, but it’s the same kind of populism that appeals to fascists.  Others have more thorough treatments of this wacko, but I want to touch on a couple of additional points.

First, the photos with white supremecists.  Sure, when you’re a public figure, lots of people get a picture with you—you don’t always know who they are.  But does Hillary have any white power pics?  Obama?  McCain?  Excuses don’t fly.  If someone like Paul wants to rid himself of his baggage, he first has to embrace it.  He needs to say, “My ideologies have attracted truly horrible people.  This is because (insert bizarre but truthful answer here).  I renounce these supporters the the beliefs that attract them.  Here is what I currently believe.”

Until he makes such a statement, no one should go near this guy, and anyone who supports him should raise red flags.

In the continued effort by the religious right to set up a theocracy in the U.S., the the cowardly assent of rational minds in Washington, a new resolution is pending in the House to officially change history.  Yes, the tactics of Nazis and Stalinists are being touted by good God-fearing Christians.   After all, what are a few lies and a constitutional crisis compared to saving souls.  Read the lies and their refutations, then write your representative–stat.

Why does some Midwestern doc care?  Because if fits a pattern.  Bush’s war on science, war on secularism, lies, lies, and more lies designed to de-secularize our country.  It’s shameful, but, despite being “good Christians”, they have no shame.

I’m messing with my themes again, this time trying to simplify.  Things were just looking too busy.  Thanks for your patience.

It’s now up at Med Journal Watch…a Thanksgiving treat.

I’ve been tagged. As part of an ongoing experiment in cyberspace memetic evolution, I have been “inseminated” with the meme that follows: (more…)

Visit the prison at Infophile.  Come armed with logic.