Trump speech in Chicago cancelled
Yes, Trump stimulated rough behavior during his speeches, and yes, protests are fine.
But calling for boycott of a candidate's rally and publicly calling for a boycott and encouraging thousands of people to disrupt a candidates event is wrong. It is not demoractic, it is influence by mob - pretty much what these organizations supposedly are oh so opposed to. Politics by mob is plain and simply wrong, no matter how much you dislike the message of a candidate.
What would those protesters say if Trump or Cruz or Rubio supports showed up at Bernie Sanders rallies chanting and screaming and calling him a communist and whatever else you may come up with?
And, Bernie Sanders should at least tell his supporters to stop mobbing events of other candidates, and I am saying this because quite a few protesters cheered "feel the bern". That is wrong, very simply wrong. You do not try to muzzle another candidate by mobbing. Bernie correctly pointed out that Trump is in part responsible for the violent disruption, but I am really msising his clear call to his followers to stop this nonsense. Protest all you want, but peacefully and outside.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
the presidential race
One of the most important issues for me: national debt.
Presently around 18 trillion, yes 18 million Dollars times a million!
It has increased dramatically under republican president GW Bush and dramatically under present democratic president Obama.
Why? I suspect that politicians get elected and stay in power if they promise and give things to people. Nobody gets elected for telling voters to be more frugal, spend less, save more and pay more taxes.
Elected officials seem addicted to spending more money than they have, more money than the government takes in. It should be standard not to spend more than what they have and also to pay back what the federal government owes. Because you have to pay interest, and for the US that has risen to hudnreds of billions of dollars every year - yes, more money you can imagine, just for interest. Paying large amounts of interest means having less money to do what you want. Simple. Would you personally like to be settled with credit card debt that is 4-5 times your annual budget? How would you feel? Would you just keep borrowing with the attitude "well, we'll live it up today and my children can put up with what I cannot handle?" Is that responsible? Is that good economical behavior? Is that ethical?
And why does not a single candidate address this issue seriously? Have you seen clear promises for balanced budgets and plan for debt repayment?
In my personal opinion the best place to start to save would be the military. Over 1 trillion dollars a year. Is that truly all necessary? Do we need it to defend our shores? Is Isis about to send their Navy over? Hardly. I am no expert, but I am sure the military could do with less bang and more diplomacy. Starting with letting the wealthy gulf states handle their own mess, instead of relying on us - while charging us for the gas to do it. And we do not need to be the policeman for the whole world, especially not if the outcomes are usually not that great - the typical scenario being: The US moves in, a drawn out battle with some success follows, and consequently country destabilizes and things get a lot worse - so the US has to stay longer, see more Americans die, spend more money, in the range of billions every month - only to ultimately be blamed and hated even more by the locals. Really? Do we deserve that?
Do we truly need the most powerful military in the world? With a budget larger than then next 10 nations? Follow the money - who benefits? The military complex, exclusively. Everybody else loses.
But our national debt is so enormous that even if we dismanteled the military completely, it would take us over 10 years to pay back our debt. Hard to imagine, but true.
Presently around 18 trillion, yes 18 million Dollars times a million!
It has increased dramatically under republican president GW Bush and dramatically under present democratic president Obama.
Why? I suspect that politicians get elected and stay in power if they promise and give things to people. Nobody gets elected for telling voters to be more frugal, spend less, save more and pay more taxes.
Elected officials seem addicted to spending more money than they have, more money than the government takes in. It should be standard not to spend more than what they have and also to pay back what the federal government owes. Because you have to pay interest, and for the US that has risen to hudnreds of billions of dollars every year - yes, more money you can imagine, just for interest. Paying large amounts of interest means having less money to do what you want. Simple. Would you personally like to be settled with credit card debt that is 4-5 times your annual budget? How would you feel? Would you just keep borrowing with the attitude "well, we'll live it up today and my children can put up with what I cannot handle?" Is that responsible? Is that good economical behavior? Is that ethical?
And why does not a single candidate address this issue seriously? Have you seen clear promises for balanced budgets and plan for debt repayment?
In my personal opinion the best place to start to save would be the military. Over 1 trillion dollars a year. Is that truly all necessary? Do we need it to defend our shores? Is Isis about to send their Navy over? Hardly. I am no expert, but I am sure the military could do with less bang and more diplomacy. Starting with letting the wealthy gulf states handle their own mess, instead of relying on us - while charging us for the gas to do it. And we do not need to be the policeman for the whole world, especially not if the outcomes are usually not that great - the typical scenario being: The US moves in, a drawn out battle with some success follows, and consequently country destabilizes and things get a lot worse - so the US has to stay longer, see more Americans die, spend more money, in the range of billions every month - only to ultimately be blamed and hated even more by the locals. Really? Do we deserve that?
Do we truly need the most powerful military in the world? With a budget larger than then next 10 nations? Follow the money - who benefits? The military complex, exclusively. Everybody else loses.
But our national debt is so enormous that even if we dismanteled the military completely, it would take us over 10 years to pay back our debt. Hard to imagine, but true.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Why I don't trust Hillary
I appreciate independent and now democratic candidate Bernie Sanders for telling the truth - the truth about how the economy, our economical and financial system is rigged against the lower and middle class. Most of us have the experience that our economical situation is not getting better over time, but worse - or that it stagnates. My income certainly has not improved over the last 10 years, and in the meantime housing costs have gone up 20-40%, healthcare costs about the same, food has gone up etc. Sanders describes on his website how massive the wealth transfer from the middle class to the upper 1% has been over the last few decades. It is shocking.
And why do we not drive electrial cars already, why is solar energy not common place, why do we engage in wars, while being silent or inactive on climate change - when it is about as certain as it can be that climate change is the most dramatic challenge to our way of life.
Why do we still engage in wars far away from the American mainland - at billions every year? Why is everything we buy now "made in China" and not in the US anymore? and on and on.
Because ........all this benefits the few billionaires at the top of the food chain. Because the Walton family makes much more money if they manufacture in China, that's why - just one example.
And more and more people are feeling the pain, the economical pain. And economy is the most important factor. With a great economy we can forgive a few other things, but we definitely want a great economy.
...and now to the point: Hillary has received about $ 700,000 for three talks to Wall Street companies. But of course, this is not going to influence Hillary, right? Oh no, she says, Obama has received a lot of donations from Wall Street firms, and then enacted some of the strongest restrictions...Really? How come the size of the 4 or 5 largest banks has gone up, their income has gone up? Business has not changed...
Isn't it funny, that physicians are not supposed to accept anything, anything at all, from pharmaceutical representatives! Nothing, nothing...because, studies have shown, that despite physician claims to the contrary - gifts from the pharmaceutical companies DOES influence!
SHould we not treat politicians just the same? Should lobbyists not finally be banned from Congress?
And, back to Hillary - obviously we all would love to find out what Hillary told the Wall Street managers in those talks - it would be very enlightening to find out what kind of information is worth 200K for 2-3 hours....Bernie had a very good comment: "at 200,000 a talk these talks must have been so great, so good - why do you not share them with the American people?
Yes, why not, Hillary?
She has been asked repeatedly by Bernie Sanders to make the content of these talks public - to no avail. Recently, during a townhall meeting, she was asked by the moderator if she would publish the content of those talks.
And here is her fascinating answer: "Well, if everybody else makes their talks at Wall Street public, then I will do it too, but I do not see why a different standard should apply to me"
This is rhethorical jiu-jitsu! Nobody has been trying to set a standard, nobody has asked everybody else to make their talks public, maybe similar to their tax returns. The clever and sneaky introduction of "standard" is the trick here.
This question is only and EXCLUSIVELY directed at Hillary, and maybe at Sanders, who of course does not give talks on Wall Street (well, except maybe with a bullhorn down on the street in front of some financial headquarter building, and he is certainly not getting paid for that...).
The question is directed at Hillary alone and the true question is: What relationship do you REALLY have to Wall Street, what do you tell them behind closed doors, and why do they pay you so much for it? It is not about standards, but about the credibility of a presidential candidate who proclaims toughness, but most likely will turn out to be in the pocket of Wall Street just like every other politician.
Ever wonder why nothing changes?
So, next time you see Hillary and get a chance to ask her a question, ask her to release the content of those talks - and no excuses please
Hillary is the establishment candidate, Hillary will make sure business as usual continues, and with that corruption as usual continues. The rich will continue to get richer and everybody else with continue to get poorer.
Yet, Bernie Sanders might not have succeeded this time, but another Bernie will in 4 years, or of not, then in 8 years!
And why do we not drive electrial cars already, why is solar energy not common place, why do we engage in wars, while being silent or inactive on climate change - when it is about as certain as it can be that climate change is the most dramatic challenge to our way of life.
Why do we still engage in wars far away from the American mainland - at billions every year? Why is everything we buy now "made in China" and not in the US anymore? and on and on.
Because ........all this benefits the few billionaires at the top of the food chain. Because the Walton family makes much more money if they manufacture in China, that's why - just one example.
And more and more people are feeling the pain, the economical pain. And economy is the most important factor. With a great economy we can forgive a few other things, but we definitely want a great economy.
...and now to the point: Hillary has received about $ 700,000 for three talks to Wall Street companies. But of course, this is not going to influence Hillary, right? Oh no, she says, Obama has received a lot of donations from Wall Street firms, and then enacted some of the strongest restrictions...Really? How come the size of the 4 or 5 largest banks has gone up, their income has gone up? Business has not changed...
Isn't it funny, that physicians are not supposed to accept anything, anything at all, from pharmaceutical representatives! Nothing, nothing...because, studies have shown, that despite physician claims to the contrary - gifts from the pharmaceutical companies DOES influence!
SHould we not treat politicians just the same? Should lobbyists not finally be banned from Congress?
And, back to Hillary - obviously we all would love to find out what Hillary told the Wall Street managers in those talks - it would be very enlightening to find out what kind of information is worth 200K for 2-3 hours....Bernie had a very good comment: "at 200,000 a talk these talks must have been so great, so good - why do you not share them with the American people?
Yes, why not, Hillary?
She has been asked repeatedly by Bernie Sanders to make the content of these talks public - to no avail. Recently, during a townhall meeting, she was asked by the moderator if she would publish the content of those talks.
And here is her fascinating answer: "Well, if everybody else makes their talks at Wall Street public, then I will do it too, but I do not see why a different standard should apply to me"
This is rhethorical jiu-jitsu! Nobody has been trying to set a standard, nobody has asked everybody else to make their talks public, maybe similar to their tax returns. The clever and sneaky introduction of "standard" is the trick here.
This question is only and EXCLUSIVELY directed at Hillary, and maybe at Sanders, who of course does not give talks on Wall Street (well, except maybe with a bullhorn down on the street in front of some financial headquarter building, and he is certainly not getting paid for that...).
The question is directed at Hillary alone and the true question is: What relationship do you REALLY have to Wall Street, what do you tell them behind closed doors, and why do they pay you so much for it? It is not about standards, but about the credibility of a presidential candidate who proclaims toughness, but most likely will turn out to be in the pocket of Wall Street just like every other politician.
Ever wonder why nothing changes?
So, next time you see Hillary and get a chance to ask her a question, ask her to release the content of those talks - and no excuses please
Hillary is the establishment candidate, Hillary will make sure business as usual continues, and with that corruption as usual continues. The rich will continue to get richer and everybody else with continue to get poorer.
Yet, Bernie Sanders might not have succeeded this time, but another Bernie will in 4 years, or of not, then in 8 years!
Monday, December 17, 2012
My daughter is 16, what car should I get her?
Here are my recommendations for your daughter:
if you want her to be invisible - Toyota Corolla
if she has Asian looks or a lot of Asian friends - 3 series BMW, only 3 series BMW, only and
exclusively BMW 3 series
if she hangs out with the hispanic crowd - Honda Civic
if she has come out as a lesbian and vacations in Provincetown, MA - Subaru Outback
if she is scared of driving, will likely never drive faster than 25 mph and her serum testosterone is below detectable levels - Honda CRV
if you live on the periphery of town and she helps out around the house - Ford F150
if you want her to look sophisticated and sportive - Audi A4
if you want her to look as bland and boring as possible - Toyota Camry
if she hangs out with those stuck-up, spoiled kids from the leafy suburb - Lexus IS 250
if she is an aspiring supermodel - Mini Cooper
if she plans to go to design school - VW Beetle with flower on dashboard
if she is crunchy, concerned about the environment, wears Birkenstocks - Prius
if you truly love her, want her to be safe, and also want her to have great driving experience - Mercedes C class
if you want her to be invisible - Toyota Corolla
if she has Asian looks or a lot of Asian friends - 3 series BMW, only 3 series BMW, only and
exclusively BMW 3 series
if she hangs out with the hispanic crowd - Honda Civic
if she has come out as a lesbian and vacations in Provincetown, MA - Subaru Outback
if she is scared of driving, will likely never drive faster than 25 mph and her serum testosterone is below detectable levels - Honda CRV
if you live on the periphery of town and she helps out around the house - Ford F150
if you want her to look sophisticated and sportive - Audi A4
if you want her to look as bland and boring as possible - Toyota Camry
if she hangs out with those stuck-up, spoiled kids from the leafy suburb - Lexus IS 250
if she is an aspiring supermodel - Mini Cooper
if she plans to go to design school - VW Beetle with flower on dashboard
if she is crunchy, concerned about the environment, wears Birkenstocks - Prius
if you truly love her, want her to be safe, and also want her to have great driving experience - Mercedes C class
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Japanese honor?
Remember those old movies about the Japanese? Honor..... one of their highest values, an essential, basic, profound value. Without honor, they seemed to be unable to go on, without honor, they apparently could not live anymore. Honor lost, meant life lost, sometimes literally. Ahhh, the movies. How sweet..... and how wrong.
Modern day Japanese honor is different. Copying, interpreting, plagiarism - which to me is incredibly close to stealing - is compatible with honor. Reminds me of the honor of the mafiosi. Honor is strictly limited to whatever benefits the family, when it comes to others, to anybody outside the family blackmailing, killing and pretty much everything else is just fine.
Copying, interpreting (or however you want to call it) is OK in Japan, it is now an art form....plagiarism of car designs is good, plagiarism of brand image is good, imitating car types is fine....Every Lexus rolling on our streets is proof that all this is part of the new Japanese honor. A Lexus has to look like a Mercedes or BMW in dim light, or it is not a Lexus....The pick up truck, an original American concept, never needed nor seen in Japan before, now proudly a Japanese product, oh, the Tundra. When are we finally going to see an ad where the Tundra sits on the copier and out comes the copy, the F150?
Strangely enough, other car companies survive and thrive without plagiarism. Ford never steals designs, their cars may not look particularly well (except for pickup trucks and SUVs), but at least their designs are original. They can walk proud. That one Ford 500, later renamed into Taurus, that looked like slightly enlarged VW Passat, yes, we can forgive that and call it a "hommage" to the now classic Passat. Audi never copies, Audi IS COPIED. Audi has emerged in the last decade as one of the most innovative car companies when it comes to design, starting with the TT. The front of many cars, even American cars, owe their design to Audi. And Audi now sets the standard in light design. Volkswagen does not copy, VW made design history with the Passat. Chevy deos not copy, Chrysler does not copy, Subaru, Infiniti, Mazda do not copy (Yes, they are Japanese, I know), BMW does not copy, BMW blazes the way in design.
Turns out that Germany is quite the design power in automobiles. We used to think that Germans were just great engineers, but no, they are great designers as well. Leading the world, actually.
On the other side, Honda copied the 3 series BMW when they created their successful Accord many years ago. When BMW came out with the X6 -what a coincidence - Honda came out with the Crosstour. Acura routinely copied Audi until recently, Nissan's successful Altima and Maxima are based on the design of the VW Passat.
But Lexus, Lexus is in a whole different category. Lexus "copied" automobile design, "brand feeling" and automobile technology purposely, it was a basic, founding principle of the company. They went far beyond what anybody else thought moral.
I recently traveled to Rome, Italy and Freiburg, Germany. Hardly a Lexus on those roads there. I might have seen a single Lexus in the metropolis of Rome, but every politician and wealthy person and powerful appearing Italian had either a) a black Mercedes or b) a black Audi or c) a black Maserati Quattroporte. Those where the cars parked in front of government buildings and the cars that pushed their way through rushhour traffic with Polic escorts. Italians are the foremost experts in taste and beauty. They are very well aware of quality, and they know to distinguish between true class and beauty and imitations. So, no Lexus on their roads...
Germans on the other hand, grew up with the original, with the perfection that Lexus publicly claims to be pusrsuing, with.... Mercedes. And they reject copies and imitations.
When I asked a Japanese aquaintance about the morale behind Lexus and their shameless imitation of Mercedes he said with a smirk "Imitation is the highest form of flattery"
Oh, God. I hope someone "flatters" Toyota and Lexus one day and gives them a dose of teir own medicine. So far, they have nothing much worth copying....
Every Lexus on the road is a symbol of lack of honor, of lack of the ability and decision to build your own car, of going your own path. Every Lexus on the road is a symbol of shameless imitation and of the attempt to hook onto the excellent reputation built by Mercedes over decades of research, engineering and racing expience. As a parasitic design, Lexus lives off the feeling and memories you get when you see a mesterfully built car, a Mercedes-Benz. Lexus tries to steal those feelings, by looking as close as possible to a Mercedes. It tries to steal those feelings and to attach them to their own cars. Not quite honorable.
When is Lexus going to grow up? Other companies al over the world are quite able to manufacture their own cars in their own right and be proud of it. Not just BMW, not only Audi, yes, also Cadillac. Cadillac is a prime example. Cadillacs have very distinctive lines, a clear design that says "I am a Cadillac and I am proud of it". Cadillac does not advertise that it "pursues Medcedes", Cadillac simply announces in their ads that they are a thrilling, powerful and elegant car.
Why is Lexus so terrified to stand on it's own feet? Is the company not aware that it loses all respect by being the copy-cat company, by being the parasites on Mercedes' back, the "moochers"?
Yes, Lexus may have to get rid of that calcified stubborn top management that clings to the notion that only Mercedes and BMW are great cars. The upper management of Lexus is so conservative in their attempt to mimick Mercedes and BMW that they did not copy the Audi lights - the row of small circular lights in the main front headlights. No, they had to wait until Merecedes adopted them too - and "Bang", suddenly Lexus had them too, the lines of little circular bulbs in their headlights. Now even their lights at night are hard to distinguish from a Mercedes.
Guys, stop already. Hire a few original designers, and yes, there are plenty of them around, and go for it. Create your own look. Italians are particular good at design, Californians are good, hey, great designers are everywhere. Although I suspect it is really the upper management at Lexus that has to change before this happens.
Stop being the moochers! Nobody has respect for copiers and imitators. As long as Lexus keep imitating, imitating, persuing, persuing, running after Mercedes, as long as Lexus does that, the company is an embarrassment for it's country. Stand by yourself, grow up! Everybody else does it...
Modern day Japanese honor is different. Copying, interpreting, plagiarism - which to me is incredibly close to stealing - is compatible with honor. Reminds me of the honor of the mafiosi. Honor is strictly limited to whatever benefits the family, when it comes to others, to anybody outside the family blackmailing, killing and pretty much everything else is just fine.
Copying, interpreting (or however you want to call it) is OK in Japan, it is now an art form....plagiarism of car designs is good, plagiarism of brand image is good, imitating car types is fine....Every Lexus rolling on our streets is proof that all this is part of the new Japanese honor. A Lexus has to look like a Mercedes or BMW in dim light, or it is not a Lexus....The pick up truck, an original American concept, never needed nor seen in Japan before, now proudly a Japanese product, oh, the Tundra. When are we finally going to see an ad where the Tundra sits on the copier and out comes the copy, the F150?
Strangely enough, other car companies survive and thrive without plagiarism. Ford never steals designs, their cars may not look particularly well (except for pickup trucks and SUVs), but at least their designs are original. They can walk proud. That one Ford 500, later renamed into Taurus, that looked like slightly enlarged VW Passat, yes, we can forgive that and call it a "hommage" to the now classic Passat. Audi never copies, Audi IS COPIED. Audi has emerged in the last decade as one of the most innovative car companies when it comes to design, starting with the TT. The front of many cars, even American cars, owe their design to Audi. And Audi now sets the standard in light design. Volkswagen does not copy, VW made design history with the Passat. Chevy deos not copy, Chrysler does not copy, Subaru, Infiniti, Mazda do not copy (Yes, they are Japanese, I know), BMW does not copy, BMW blazes the way in design.
Turns out that Germany is quite the design power in automobiles. We used to think that Germans were just great engineers, but no, they are great designers as well. Leading the world, actually.
On the other side, Honda copied the 3 series BMW when they created their successful Accord many years ago. When BMW came out with the X6 -what a coincidence - Honda came out with the Crosstour. Acura routinely copied Audi until recently, Nissan's successful Altima and Maxima are based on the design of the VW Passat.
But Lexus, Lexus is in a whole different category. Lexus "copied" automobile design, "brand feeling" and automobile technology purposely, it was a basic, founding principle of the company. They went far beyond what anybody else thought moral.
I recently traveled to Rome, Italy and Freiburg, Germany. Hardly a Lexus on those roads there. I might have seen a single Lexus in the metropolis of Rome, but every politician and wealthy person and powerful appearing Italian had either a) a black Mercedes or b) a black Audi or c) a black Maserati Quattroporte. Those where the cars parked in front of government buildings and the cars that pushed their way through rushhour traffic with Polic escorts. Italians are the foremost experts in taste and beauty. They are very well aware of quality, and they know to distinguish between true class and beauty and imitations. So, no Lexus on their roads...
Germans on the other hand, grew up with the original, with the perfection that Lexus publicly claims to be pusrsuing, with.... Mercedes. And they reject copies and imitations.
When I asked a Japanese aquaintance about the morale behind Lexus and their shameless imitation of Mercedes he said with a smirk "Imitation is the highest form of flattery"
Oh, God. I hope someone "flatters" Toyota and Lexus one day and gives them a dose of teir own medicine. So far, they have nothing much worth copying....
Every Lexus on the road is a symbol of lack of honor, of lack of the ability and decision to build your own car, of going your own path. Every Lexus on the road is a symbol of shameless imitation and of the attempt to hook onto the excellent reputation built by Mercedes over decades of research, engineering and racing expience. As a parasitic design, Lexus lives off the feeling and memories you get when you see a mesterfully built car, a Mercedes-Benz. Lexus tries to steal those feelings, by looking as close as possible to a Mercedes. It tries to steal those feelings and to attach them to their own cars. Not quite honorable.
When is Lexus going to grow up? Other companies al over the world are quite able to manufacture their own cars in their own right and be proud of it. Not just BMW, not only Audi, yes, also Cadillac. Cadillac is a prime example. Cadillacs have very distinctive lines, a clear design that says "I am a Cadillac and I am proud of it". Cadillac does not advertise that it "pursues Medcedes", Cadillac simply announces in their ads that they are a thrilling, powerful and elegant car.
Why is Lexus so terrified to stand on it's own feet? Is the company not aware that it loses all respect by being the copy-cat company, by being the parasites on Mercedes' back, the "moochers"?
Yes, Lexus may have to get rid of that calcified stubborn top management that clings to the notion that only Mercedes and BMW are great cars. The upper management of Lexus is so conservative in their attempt to mimick Mercedes and BMW that they did not copy the Audi lights - the row of small circular lights in the main front headlights. No, they had to wait until Merecedes adopted them too - and "Bang", suddenly Lexus had them too, the lines of little circular bulbs in their headlights. Now even their lights at night are hard to distinguish from a Mercedes.
Guys, stop already. Hire a few original designers, and yes, there are plenty of them around, and go for it. Create your own look. Italians are particular good at design, Californians are good, hey, great designers are everywhere. Although I suspect it is really the upper management at Lexus that has to change before this happens.
Stop being the moochers! Nobody has respect for copiers and imitators. As long as Lexus keep imitating, imitating, persuing, persuing, running after Mercedes, as long as Lexus does that, the company is an embarrassment for it's country. Stand by yourself, grow up! Everybody else does it...
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Fascinating
I always find it fascinating when a patient tells me that she took acidophilus bacteria by mouth....to improve her vaginal flora.
Hmmmm....
I remember learning way back then in medical school that the stomach is a pretty hostile environment, that it is about a hundred times more acidic than Coca Cola and if you left a tooth overnight in Coca Cola it would completely dissolve and disappear. I learned that that stomach acid kills pretty much all bacteria except for tuberculosis bacteria and, I learned this a few years later, H. Pylori. And that this was one of the main barriers for the body to prevent bacteria from coming into the body.
So, those acidophilus apparently just pass the stomach acid unharmed. Not only that, they make it all the way though the bowel and then - miraculously - into the vagina! Ok, that is possible, E. Coli does it all the time. But still...
And why not insert the precious acidophilus directly into the vagina? Does the acidophilus get better after receiving a once-over in the bowel? Does it need to "christened" or "matured" or "pre-digested" or maybe "activated" by stomach acid?
Mysterious indeed, very mysterious!
Reminds me of the latest Geico ad: Road runner stops by, zooms off again, Wiley coyote gets ready to eat our gecko, but gets buried by safe. Gecko shaking head: "Meep-meep??? What a strange place!"
I love that ad!
Hmmmm....
I remember learning way back then in medical school that the stomach is a pretty hostile environment, that it is about a hundred times more acidic than Coca Cola and if you left a tooth overnight in Coca Cola it would completely dissolve and disappear. I learned that that stomach acid kills pretty much all bacteria except for tuberculosis bacteria and, I learned this a few years later, H. Pylori. And that this was one of the main barriers for the body to prevent bacteria from coming into the body.
So, those acidophilus apparently just pass the stomach acid unharmed. Not only that, they make it all the way though the bowel and then - miraculously - into the vagina! Ok, that is possible, E. Coli does it all the time. But still...
And why not insert the precious acidophilus directly into the vagina? Does the acidophilus get better after receiving a once-over in the bowel? Does it need to "christened" or "matured" or "pre-digested" or maybe "activated" by stomach acid?
Mysterious indeed, very mysterious!
Reminds me of the latest Geico ad: Road runner stops by, zooms off again, Wiley coyote gets ready to eat our gecko, but gets buried by safe. Gecko shaking head: "Meep-meep??? What a strange place!"
I love that ad!
Physician - How to find your dream job
A reader of this blog wrote:
"I recently graduated from residency and relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area and have been utilizing nothing but job search engines and recruiters without any successful job matches....everything you've said hits home--its scary."
It was scary for me when I started looking after residency. I had graduated from a residency at a Harvard teaching hospital and thought it would be a snap to get a position in Boston itself.
No such luck! Nobody was rolling out the red carpet, nobody at all. Without knowing what I know now I took a position 40 miles from Boston.
I learned quite a bit from these experiences.
1. Ask your residency program director and your chairman for help. Talk to them, tell them what you are looking for, don't be afraid, don't be embarrassed. Ask all your attendings for help. Activate the network they have. Ask your relatives, family, neighbors, friends. Talk, ask.... you never know who comes up with a good lead.
2. Listen to their feedback. I wanted to do gyn only and one attending told me "you have to deliver babies, at least at first". How true, as I know now. This way you get in at a hospital/practice/group etc you like. Then you can work on reducing your OB or quitting OB. Also, once you are in a location you like, it is much easier to get into the loop and hear about good new job openings - because now you have access to the "Hidden Job Market".
Remember, the hidden job market encompasses all the jobs that are never advertised, because they are so attractive that word of mouth spreads about those jobs and they fill almost by themselves.
HIDDEN JOB MARKET- GOOD
Recruiters never ever get even close to the hidden job market and they will acknowledge its existence only under duress, since it is not part of their world. All the "great opportunities nationwide", all the "thousands of job openings" did NOT pass the hidden market test. They were not that desirable, they had to advertised, and even worse, much worse, advertisements were not enough, they needed to go through a recruiter. A recruiter is an instrument of last resort for employers, expensive, involved, but sometimes necessary.
RECRUITER JOB MARKET - BAD
3. Do not start your job search by contacting recruiters, do not answer their calls, as seductive as it might sound - "oh, I am sure they will have a job" - Sure they do, but it is a "left-over-job". Starting your job search by contacting a recruiter is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot! Stay away from recruiter websites!
Screen the online jobs engines such as NTNJobs and HealtheCareers, especially the ones that advertise jobs with mention of location and income range. That should be a minimum requirement to send a reply.
Everybody seems to just loooove the pathetic expression "competitive salary" - meaningless filler sentence. Oh, really? Competitive? Competing with what? Minimum wage? Average wage? What? And how did the "competition" turn out, did you salary lose or win? More often than not, they lost....
4. Search though my blog. I have given very valuable tips (and vented) for a few years now and you will find most of the headaches of physician job search AND their solution in here
5. Mass mailing! Send your cover letter and CV to hundreds of physicians in the area you would like to practice. The absolute best way to find a job you like in exactly the area you want. I have described the technique in this blog in the past and you can also find it on WIKI HOW "How to find a physician job". You can do it yourself, quite easily, and feel the satisfaction that you - all by yourself - found your dream job!
6. Contact me by email. I'll help you with advice and ore tips
"I recently graduated from residency and relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area and have been utilizing nothing but job search engines and recruiters without any successful job matches....everything you've said hits home--its scary."
It was scary for me when I started looking after residency. I had graduated from a residency at a Harvard teaching hospital and thought it would be a snap to get a position in Boston itself.
No such luck! Nobody was rolling out the red carpet, nobody at all. Without knowing what I know now I took a position 40 miles from Boston.
I learned quite a bit from these experiences.
1. Ask your residency program director and your chairman for help. Talk to them, tell them what you are looking for, don't be afraid, don't be embarrassed. Ask all your attendings for help. Activate the network they have. Ask your relatives, family, neighbors, friends. Talk, ask.... you never know who comes up with a good lead.
2. Listen to their feedback. I wanted to do gyn only and one attending told me "you have to deliver babies, at least at first". How true, as I know now. This way you get in at a hospital/practice/group etc you like. Then you can work on reducing your OB or quitting OB. Also, once you are in a location you like, it is much easier to get into the loop and hear about good new job openings - because now you have access to the "Hidden Job Market".
Remember, the hidden job market encompasses all the jobs that are never advertised, because they are so attractive that word of mouth spreads about those jobs and they fill almost by themselves.
HIDDEN JOB MARKET- GOOD
Recruiters never ever get even close to the hidden job market and they will acknowledge its existence only under duress, since it is not part of their world. All the "great opportunities nationwide", all the "thousands of job openings" did NOT pass the hidden market test. They were not that desirable, they had to advertised, and even worse, much worse, advertisements were not enough, they needed to go through a recruiter. A recruiter is an instrument of last resort for employers, expensive, involved, but sometimes necessary.
RECRUITER JOB MARKET - BAD
3. Do not start your job search by contacting recruiters, do not answer their calls, as seductive as it might sound - "oh, I am sure they will have a job" - Sure they do, but it is a "left-over-job". Starting your job search by contacting a recruiter is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot! Stay away from recruiter websites!
Screen the online jobs engines such as NTNJobs and HealtheCareers, especially the ones that advertise jobs with mention of location and income range. That should be a minimum requirement to send a reply.
Everybody seems to just loooove the pathetic expression "competitive salary" - meaningless filler sentence. Oh, really? Competitive? Competing with what? Minimum wage? Average wage? What? And how did the "competition" turn out, did you salary lose or win? More often than not, they lost....
4. Search though my blog. I have given very valuable tips (and vented) for a few years now and you will find most of the headaches of physician job search AND their solution in here
5. Mass mailing! Send your cover letter and CV to hundreds of physicians in the area you would like to practice. The absolute best way to find a job you like in exactly the area you want. I have described the technique in this blog in the past and you can also find it on WIKI HOW "How to find a physician job". You can do it yourself, quite easily, and feel the satisfaction that you - all by yourself - found your dream job!
6. Contact me by email. I'll help you with advice and ore tips
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