Funny, I also recently ran into Google Maps Street View, although I didn’t even think about flashing the driver (maybe next time).
So, this is “Me Taking A Picture Of Google Taking Pictures.”
(Photo taken 4/2/2015.)
Day: 04/02/2015
VA pharmacist: Bosses said not to drug-test patients
http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=9945
A pharmacist at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Wisconsin said she was discouraged by higher-ups from performing drug tests on patients prescribed opiates, as is recommended by VA guidelines.
In a joint U.S. House and Senate committee hearing in Tomah on March 30, Noelle Johnson, a pharmacist who was fired from the facility and now is employed by VA as a pain management specialist in Des Moines, Iowa, said pharmacists were discouraged from testing patients for drug use for fear of what prescribing physicians might learn.
If the tests were negative, it might indicate that the patient was not taking the medication, raising questions as to whether they were “diverting” or selling their meds. If the tests were strongly positive, it could suggest overuse or abuse and VA could be held liable “when something unfortunate happened,” Johnson said she was told…
Marvin and Heather Simcakoski said Jason did not have the condition for which opiates are usually prescribed — chronic pain. But he was put on a powerful one — tramadol — just days before he died, they said during the hearing…
Since when did tramadol become a “powerful” opiate?
Kansas To Allow Concealed Carry Of Guns Without A Permit
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/kansas-concealed-carry_n_6996842.html
KANSAS CITY, Kan., April 2 (Reuters) – Kansas residents will be allowed to carry concealed weapons in the state without training or a permit starting in July under a bill signed into law on Thursday by Governor Sam Brownback…
SSRI Drugs: More Risks Than Benefits? (2009)
Anecdotal reports have suggested that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may cause suicidal or violent behavior in some patients. Because of the publicity surrounding certain
events, and the numerous lawsuits that have been filed, a review of benefits and risks is needed.
At most 30% of patients receive a benefit from SSRIs beyond the large placebo effect in certain mental conditions, especially depression, according to a recent meta-analysis of published trials. An equally recent meta-analysis of all SSRI trials submitted to the FDA showed a small benefit for the severely depressed patients only. Many early unpublished trials did not show any benefit. Adverse effects are common, occurring in up to 75% of subjects…
SSRIs reportedly interact with 40 other drugs to cause “serotonin syndrome.” This presents as twitching, tremors, rigidity, fever, confusion, or agitation. Serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake
inhibitors (SNRIs) also may cause serotonin syndrome by interactions…
Just a year after fluoxetine was introduced, Bill Forsyth of Maui, Hawaii, had taken it for only 12 days when he committed one of the first murder/suicides attributed to any SSRI. In the same year Joseph Wesbecker killed eight others and himself in a Louisville, Ky., printing plant where he worked, after 4 weeks on fluoxetine…
Antidepressants are extraordinarily difficult to assess for risks or benefits in trials. At most, 11%–30% of patients with depression or related conditions who take SSRIs actually benefited beyond the placebo effect on normal doses. Of the perceived benefit, 32%–67% can be attributed to the placebo effect…
Available data suggest that actual murders may be committed at about the rate of 250/100,000 (1 in 400) SSRI-treated patients beyond what is seen on placebo or many non-SSRI antidepressant drugs, and that many more murders will be attempted on normal doses as well. While correlation does not prove causation, and results of court trials are not medical science, the data for suicide are solid, and the association of murder with suicide is very suggestive. Now that there is a stronger Black Box warning, physicians who ignore it may be liable for damages; the warning primarily protects the manufacturers of SSRIs…
Ex-Con Creates Tech Company To Help Inmates Stay In Touch With Families
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/frederick-hutson-pigeonly_n_6956220.html
Frederick Hutson was just 24 and living in St. Petersburg, Florida, when he was convicted on a drug trafficking charge. The Air Force veteran spent four years behind bars, serving out his sentence in eight different correctional facilities.
Hutson found prison life was isolating, no surprise at a time when one 15-minute interstate phone call could cost an inmate as much as $17. Isolation is an ongoing hurdle for prisoners and their families, as research has repeatedly shown that keeping inmates connected with loved ones and support structures on the outside helps reduce recidivism rates…
Rapper Killer Mike Says The Criminalization Of Rap Music Is The New Jim Crow
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/killer-mike-rap-music-_n_6995852.html
When rapper’s rap, they do so because it’s a form of artistic expression — but police and prosecutors have proven to have a skewed interpretation of their songs and their motives. Instead, rap songs are being introduced in courtrooms where their lyrics are scrutinized, dissected and used to further incriminate the artists behind them. It is a tool that has been used almost exclusively against black men who, as we all know, are frequent producers of rap music...
A Beauty Queen Who Ended Up Homeless
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/01/miss-colorado-blair-griffith-homeless_n_6985232.html
Former pageant queen Blair Griffith grew up in a nice house in an affluent neighborhood, but it all changed when she lost her father to prostate cancer when she was 15. Her mother, now a single parent, was so stressed that she had a heart attack. Her insurance company decided it was the result of a pre-existing condition, leaving the family to pay more than $500 a week for her medication. Eventually the family couldn’t afford rent, and they were evicted…
Though she was ashamed of her story at first, now Griffith is joining forces with Start From Here, a campaign to end youth homelessness, in an effort to expose as many people as possible to the true stories of the homeless experience.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson: Christians Have No Right To Call Scientologists Crazy
http://guff.com/glt-neil-degrasse-tyson-christians-scientologists5/20?ts_pid=2
A 2011 tax filing values the three organizations comprising Scientology at $1.5 billion, according to The Wrap. The church sought a tax-exempt status from the IRS for several years before it finally got it in 1993…
Hubbard reportedly said, “You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion,” at a meeting of the Eastern Science Fiction Association in November 1948…
Virginia discovery raises new concerns about overuse of antibiotics in animals
Silas C. Lawhorn of Bedford, Virginia was recently issued a warning from the FDA for high levels of a dangerous antibiotic found in one of his beef cows. The antibiotic, Tilmicosin, is used on livestock to treat various respiratory diseases — but when given to humans, it can be dangerous…
Lawhorn’s cow exceeded this limit by a wide margin; his animal had 16 to 30 times the amount of Tilmicosin in its tissues. The FDA and other agencies have long been concerned about the overuse of antibiotics in animals raised for food.
Besides the danger of side effects, the overuse of antibiotics can contribute to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria…
Hectic night? Don’t blame the moon
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/hectic-night-dont-blame-the-moon-040215.html
But yet this belief hangs on and is cited frequently by those who would never knowingly utter a superstitious word, even though the absence of a lunar influence on human affairs has been demonstrated in the areas of automobile accidents, hospital admissions, surgery outcomes, cancer survival rates, menstruation, births, birth complications, depression, violent behavior, and even criminal activity, Margot writes. His study was published online by the journal Nursing Research…
Under comments:
Sally Thomas · Top Commenter · Healdsburg High School
Telll that to those of us who work/worked in law enforcement. The nutcases always increased on full moon nights, whatever the “reason”.
It’s so comforting to know that law enforcement thinks of the mentally ill as “nutcases” and believes in superstitions.
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