Friday, March 17, 2023

☘️ HAPPY St. Paddy's Day! ☘️


Hannah Bolmer, age 1, of Waldwick, NJ in 2016.      photo by Danielle Parhizkaran

 

30 comments:

  1. The Atlantic:

    So Where Were the Regulators? [Click] “If the oversight agencies, from the Fed down, were doing their job, SVB and Signature Bank would still be in business, instead of being bailed out.”

    The Four Quadrants of American Politics [Click] The House seems likely to be nearly deadlocked for some time yet…

    —Alan

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  2. Law Enforcement Prepares for Trump Indictment. [Click] Gonna haul his sorry ass into court, evidently some time next week.
    ——Alan

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    1. Another note, via Talking Points Memo:

      “Federal officials cannot find two gifts received by President Donald Trump and his family from foreign nations, including a life-size painting of Trump from the president of El Salvador and golf clubs from the Japanese prime minister,“ the Washington Post reports.

      “The gifts are among more than 100 foreign gifts — with a total value of nearly $300,000 — that Trump and his family failed to report to the State Department in violation of federal law.”

      ---Alan

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  3. False alarm--- yesterday we received a notice from Amazon.com that the Sunbeam electric blanket we recently purchased had been recalled. Making assurance double sure before destroying it, I checked the model number and verified that ours is not among those being recalled.
    ---Alan

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  4. Doc checkup/one week (bit more) went well. Left eye cornea 20 (which is normal), right eye cornea 21 (also normal). Next visit about two weeks out.

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    1. Excellent!
      ----Alan

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    2. Sharing your experience is very reassuring, should I or mine ever need cataract surgery. Thanks.
      ---Alan

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    3. This is SOOO good to hear, puddle! I love thinking of you seeing so much better!!!
      Also, same here as what Alan said...hearing of good experiences make me more relaxed about my future too.
      What I think I fear most is having my eye open and being awake while they do the deed! How did you deal with that? Do they just give you a med such that you don't mind?

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    4. Now that you remind me, when I had my cataract surgery they did give me something to relax me in addition to the local anesthetic. Penny came with me to the surgery.

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  5. ‘Ending San Quentin’: plan would turn prison into ‘Norwegian style’ rehab center [Click] I agree that the guards’ union is likely to be a huge problem—they have been allowed to take over managerial powers for a long time.
    —Alan

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  6. Had my PET scan today. Will share the results when available. But note that the presence or absence of metastases is not as big a deal as might be thought. I'm already started on hormone therapy -- androgen deprivation therapy -- which would be the standard therapy is metastases are present.
    After the scan I went out to dinner at Cooper's Hawk. Corned beef and cabbage St. Patrick's Day special, followed by Bailey's Irish Cream. Picked up stamps at the Post Office on my may.

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    1. At the least the PET scan will give something close to a baseline. Take care, Bill.
      ---Alan

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    2. puddle

      Will keep fingers crossed for you. You keep us updated, eh?

      Love Baily's BTW


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    3. So far, so good, Bill.
      And what a great way to treat yourself afterward! 👍

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  7. From The Atlantic:

    The January 6 Deniers Are Going to Lose [Click] “Just look at what happened with the Ku Klux Klan.”

    How Far-Right Movements Die [Click] “The decline of the John Birch Society offers possible strategies for containing the MAGA movement.”

    —Alan

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  8. There is literally nowhere but here that I can release a little tension about this...so thank you all...
    Wil has been a little more tired lately and tonight his blood pressure was lower than usual, while his heart rate was a tad higher than usual. His BP is often around 130/85 with heart rate around 40-50, and tonight it was 100/60 with heart rate of 58. Now, I know that these are within the realm of "normal" readings, but they're also unusual readings for him. And with his recent tendency toward feeling a bit tired...and maybe walking a little less, and maybe snacking just a little more, and especially given his heart disease history, I am feeling uneasy.
    I'm advocating that he get a checkup with his cardiologist...though he did just have a checkup last month and was apparently fine. We are going to monitor his BP over the weekend and if it stays low-ish, I would like him to see his doc. He is extremely reluctant to see the doc, because he doesn't want to go through all the tests again. Of course that beats the possible alternative, eh?! Thanks for listening.

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    1. 1) There might not be a lot of tests involved.
      2) Pulse and blood pressure normally/naturally go in opposite directions to maintain cardiac output (how much blood the heart is pumping). If BP goes down, pulse increases, and vice versa. A single BP reading may be unreliable; two or three in succession will give you a better idea.
      HTH
      ---Alan

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    2. Look at the difference between systolic and diastolic blood pressures; that is the "pulse pressure." A difference of 40 is dandy--it shows that the heart and aorta remain flexible. "Hardening of the arteries" (to use the archaic term) shows up as the two pressures getting closer together.
      ---Alan

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    3. Very helpful. Thanks, Alan!

      And puddle! ♥

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    4. I might add that being easily tired and walking shorter distances could be simply symptoms of aging. Although I am speaking from the perspective of mid-80s, when these effects are very obvious.

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    5. In my case I was simply neglecting my exercises (notably walking), and developed hypoxia because of my reduced lung capacity caused by pneumonia (X2) when young. The adverse effects became pronounced; exercise including a pulmonary exerciser (link available upon request) are helping more and more.
      ----Alan

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    6. I've been meaning to mention that I'm finding walking less tiring with my new shoes, which have bouncy foam in the soles. I've gone back to considering the 3/4 mile to downtown Oak Park a reasonably walkable distance.

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