Great Flick

Instead of doing the pictures from the weekend (sorry, I needed to veg) we watched a movie we've had at the house for over three weeks. Mao's Last Dancer, based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin, was fantastic. The actor who plays Cunxin is Chi Cao, principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, so of course he's doing all the dancing but his acting is also excellent. For those of you who know Joan Chen, she plays his mother. If you go to the Tube you can find some footage of the real Li Cunxin dancing back in the '80's.
Here's the trailer:

No Sciencey Friday

I planned to post something interesting (to me) every Friday related to science. Too sad this Friday.

Haiku

With Open Eyes I Suffer

My heart is too soft.

Other people seem OK

Maybe they don’t care

I've seen what happens

Other people look away

Open eyes suffer

Nothing I can do

Other people eat and laugh 

Heartache and hot tears

Wasser, Agua, Ob, L'eau, Water

I noticed that last Friday's post was sciencey and so is this one. Maybe I need to have my own "Sciencey Friday." (Move over  Ira Flatow.)

 Other than perhaps the heat and the U.S. debt limit, I hear more about the scarcity of water than just about anything else. In our efforts to be green Saeed and I already do some things to limit our water use - eat a vegetarian diet, don't water the grass (because we don't have any!), turn the water off between lathering and rinsing in the shower, wash clothes only with a full machine, run the dishwasher only when full, reuse the cat dish water to water the houseplants, wash the car only when necessary and at a facility that recycles the water, etc.

So now in addition to calculating one's carbon footprint we can calculate our water footprint. I found the formula next to impossible to use (it was too complicated) but it's nice to know someone's working on this issue. I would love to save the starving people in Africa and the US farmers whose crops and animals are dead because those sorts of things haunt me, but I'll keep my focus on restricting our own water use since that's all we can do.

Here is part of a paragraph from waterfootprint.org. This organization has produced the most scientific and up-to-date data so it impresses me when they write:
"The projected increase in the production and consumption of animal products is likely to put further pressure on the globe’s freshwater resources. Per ton of product, animal products generally have a larger water footprint than crop products. The same is true when we look at the water footprint per calorie. The average water footprint per calorie for beef is twenty times larger than for cereals [cereals = grains] and starchy roots. When we look at the water requirements for protein, it has been found that the water footprint per gram of protein for milk, eggs and chicken meat is about 1.5 times larger than for pulses [pulses = beans & legumes]. For beef, the water footprint per gram of protein is 6 times larger than for pulses. From a freshwater resource perspective, it is more efficient to obtain calories, protein and fat through crop products than animal products."

I think one day eating a plant-based diet won't be optional.

564.00

Sorry, but I always have to fight a smile when the diagnosis is stool in the colon. Let me back up a bit... (no pun intended.)

We have quite a few patients that are worked into the schedule for pelvic pain, on average about five a day. Most of these distressed ladies are worried they have ovarian cancer or something scary like that, which is totally understandable. A simple pelvic exam reveals that they are having pain simply because they don't "go" often enough. Their distress turns into embarrassment, and their anticipated order for an ultrasound or CAT scan turns into an order for more fiber and a daily trip to the reading room. Then they have to check out with the ICD-9 code for constipation on their check out sheet. Sheesh doc, please don't write on 564.00 on my checkout sheet!

I once told him I've never heard of a constipated vegetarian and it was his turn to smile... but he knows I'm right. :-)

Get Religion Out Of Our Government

I recently blogged about our experience at a York County Council meeting. I didn't mention but feel that I need to mention, with no disrespect to him, something that the oldest member, Curwood Chappell, 80 years old, said at the start of the meeting. He said that some people with "things wrapped around their heads" had recently recorded one of their sessions with a hidden device. (At least that's what I think he said; he has a very strong southern accent.) They must have sent in the recording with complaints about the prayer that begins the session in which Jesus Christ is named. He couldn't believe that he now was not allowed to say that prayer but that he was allowed only to provide a moment of silence for everyone to bow their heads, "and you'll know what I'm saying even if I'm not allowed to say it out loud." Dutifully everyone bowed their heads for a moment of silence... except the two of us.

I believe what he was forced to do was correct. I wanted to stand up and tell him so. Our country was founded of the principle of religious freedom and this ought to be exhibited in our government meetings. Our government should be modeling the ideas and rules put forth in our constitution and bill of rights. We may not always agree with the decisions our founding fathers made but these are the laws of the land and no one, not even the most senior member, can do what he wants just because he thinks his way is better. Since I was wearing a "Support the Animal Licensing Ordinance" button I sat quietly in my seat, but "you'll know what I was thinking even if I wasn't able to say it out loud."

Sick Of Painting

We are sick of painting. We finished the walls this afternoon but we still have to do the baseboards and the fireplace. Saeed had to reapply some of the popcorn repair stuff on the ceiling and now has to wait 24 hours before he can paint those areas. Because of the ceiling work we can't take down the brown paper protecting the entertainment center yet. There is still wall back in there that needs to be painted but we can do that another weekend if need be.

I think before I take any pictures I want to buy and mount some new curtains. We chose a different color and I can't decide if it's ugly or if I'm just used to the dusty rose color and can't wrap my mind around this new one. I'm hoping that with the right curtains it will all pull together. Then again, it may just be butt ugly.

Did I say I'm sick of painting?

What English Sounds Like

Neither of these two videos involve actual English words, but it sure sounds like English. How fascinating that there is an English 'sound', and by the same token there must be a German sound, a Spanish sound, etc.





Here is one person's version of the supposed subtitles. Sometimes it seems right but at other times I can clearly see that the subtitles do not match what he's saying. There are other videos that also attempt to provide subtitles but they're all different, so obviously the guy is singing gibberish. Clever.


All this reminds me of "May He Poop", "Girly Man", and "Benny Lava" of the Buffalax genre! (If you don't know what that is go to YouTube and find out.)

No Wonder I Love Potato Chips!

A researcher from UC-Irvine has been studying the effects of endocannabinoids and fatty foods. Cannabinoids are a class of chemicals found in plants (such as cannabis) and in the nervous and immune systems of animals (termed endocannabinoids.) Endocannabinoids are believed to be involved in the regulation of hunger, pain, anxiety and stress. They are closely related to the active ingredients of the cannabis plant.

The UC-Irvine research found that the fats in foods such as potato chips and french fries trigger the production of endocannabinoids. The production of endocannabinoids actually begins when the fatty food first touches the tongue. For some people this experience is not unlike getting high from smoking marijuana, although perhaps not as pronounced. Also, marijuana smoking is famous for producing the side effect of ‘the munchies’ which is exactly what the fatty foods study describes: eating them produces the desirable feeling that induces even more eating.

Not all endocannabinoids are bad though. They have been shown by other research studies to be associated with vigorous cardiovascular exercise. I have certainly experienced the sensation of a mini high after hard exercise and we've all heard of a 'runners high', not that I've ever experienced runners high. I can definitely vouch for the "potato chip high" though!!

Let me just say that after I read about this I had to go to the store. As I walked by those enticing bags of potato chips I literally had to lean, to angle my body away from the display and increase my walking speed. For the first time I understood my addiction in scientific terms.

York County Council Meeting

Saeed and I went to a York County Council meeting this week to support an animal licensing ordinance and anti-tethering law. The anti-tethering concept is self-explanatory, but I needed explanation of the animal licensing ordinance.

Inside the York County Council chambers. The blonde lady is Alicia Schwartz, the speaker for this issue. She did a great job covering the issues related to these two prospective laws.

The animal licensing ordinance asks a dog or cat owner to obtain an annual license for their pet: $7 if it is altered (spayed/neutered) and $75 if it's unaltered. This isn't a new idea; many other states and counties already have this ordinance in place. They found that most people would rather alter their pets than pay an annual fee of $75 for each. For the bean counters of York County this would mean fewer unwanted animals getting dumped at the animal shelter which results in less tax money going to the shelter for euthanasia costs. It also keeps down the number of animals that breeders will want to breed - remember, for every pet a breeder breeds an unadopted animal at the shelter dies. It also reduces the number of unsocialized and possibly dangerous fighting dogs that are allowed to freely breed in people's fenced in back yards.

Although I see a drawback to the ordinance (how do you enforce it?) the council members asked Alicia several questions and appeared to be truly interested in this idea, especially since it's already been tried out elsewhere and found to be very successful. It was fun to observe the process of citizen appeal to local government, and we made some new animal welfare acquaintances as well.

As a side note, it was fascinating to learn that the two women who started the Animal Adoption League in York Country are named Martha and Inge. We spoke with both of these nice ladies and Inge is actually Ingeborg from Germany, whose father was Austrian. :-)

FYI: Alicia Schwartz formed Dogs Deserve Better, a national organization. And as for enforcement? I believe she said it could be tied in with the rabies vaccine and using a company called PetData.