A Problem of Law Item: An Egyptian rights lawyer is sentenced to 5 years in jail and 300 lashes of the whip for bringing anti-anxiety drugs (xanax – alprazolam) into Saudi Arabia. The judge notes the perpetrator’s “good morals” in explaining his “lenient” verdict (anti-anxiety drugs are banned in Saudi Arabia.) Item: Florida regulators led […]
Novel Uses of Alcohol (1/16/13)
Many Uses I’ve seen people “treat” themselves with alcohol for many stated reasons. They include: 1. Getting blitzed to “forget everything” (causes have includes faltering love affairs, financial crashes, dying plants, poor calculus grades and “no reason except I want to.”) 2. Fight off radiation sickness (recommended by a Russian virologist – who was still […]
Better Living With Booze? (7/27/12)
Drinking and Living Can alcohol be good for you? Much evidence would argue yes. Compare “moderate” drinkers who have perhaps one glass of wine a day versus those who never drink. Who lives longer? Those who drink small amounts regularly. Yet alcohol causes lung cancer, stomach cancer, kidney cancer, brain cancer, oral cancer. It’s a […]
Can you cut your cancer risk by half? (12/12/11)
Health Versus Health Care America’s health care budget is 2.6 trillion dollars. On its own it would rank as the fifth largest economy in the world. We’re 49th in overall mortality. How much of this vast spending goes to health prevention? A pittance. Not enough people make money on preventing illness, though plenty make money […]
Booze and sleeping pills – the wrong combination (11/16/11)
Alcohol and Pills for Sleep “Beer and valium, that’s how I sleep. Works every time, a perfect night’s sleep.” So said an actor friend of mine, who often had trouble “coming down” after a play and used this cocktail three or four times a week. Yet often alcohol plus sleeping pills do not “work.” Thirty […]