Well, I haven't seen everything, but...

Headlines in today's Scotsman online were more interesting than usual. I have to say that this story is one of the most odd that I have heard in a while. Makes me long for the days when, as a wee intern I would wander around the hospital finding out more strange things than one might find in Ripley's Believe it or Not, only to be told that it was really somewhat common. This one- not so common. And freaky too!

Los Ojos

Just so you know- I wrote this myself last night. And I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I wanted to write it in Spanish anyway...


Sus ojos me miraban
Hacia el fondo de mi alma
Me ponían roja la cara
Mientras me estudiaban.

¡Qué lindos!
¡Qué hermosos!
¡Siempre están tan amorosos!
Estoy encantado,
Enamorado de los ojos preciosos

No hay nada que puedo hacer-
La mente da vueltas
Y el corazón tiembla
Y no hay nadie que me ayude
Si no fuera por ella de los ojos.

My name's Wales- like the Prince...

For years I have been saying that about my name, or the more common: "Wales- like the Outlaw Josey Wales." I say these things because although easy to spell and short, it is rather uncommon and most of the time people assume it it a different name. The assumptions go from names such as Wells (sounds like my name if you say Wells with a good Texas drawl- as in: "I'm a rich Teksus awl rancher and I got me two hunnert awl Wayells.") and Walls (more common after reading the name once and forgetting it). The most irksome is when someone isn't really paying attention and thinks that I said "Williams." Now, I realize that there are similarities: it starts with W, has L in the middle, and ends with an S, but clearly it is a different name. Much more common as well.

I try not to be bothered by it, but then, it is my name, and I like it.

Often I am asked if there is any relation to either of these characters. Well, since Josey is a fictional character, I guess not. But the Prince? Most people don't even think of the royal family as having a surname. And if they know already, they would know that it is Windsor or Mountbatten-Windsor (for those descended from HRM Queen Elizabeth II).

But I digress.

I used to think that the "officialy" surname was the same as mine, due to an erroneous article I read in the paper. As it turns out, the name was changed in 1917 so that the surname and the family name would be the same and also sound more British, as it was the height of the first World War and the name had been "Saxe-Coburg and Gotha"- a name that prompted writer H.G. Wells (not Wales) to complain about Britain's "alien and uninspiring court," prompting HRM King George V's famous remark, "I may be uninspiring, but I'll be damned if I'm alien."

But that is not the point to my ramblings today either, but rather that I read something today that referred to one of the princes as "Wales." And it was a pretty funny story too.

I-"rock" the vote

well the elections in Iraq have come and gone, and it seems the results are in.

One may not agree with the US presence, but without it, this would never have happened. This people would never be free. This country would never have access to that to which it has now. As one who wonders about the health care delivery in other places, this country finally has the opportunity to enter into the 21st century, stepping out of 1980 medicine and machines (that is when the dictator last allowed them to get new equipment- although I would bet that his palaces all had state-of-the-art acoutrements)...

What a Mug!

Well, Mr. Speaker (until recently) was processed in Harris County yesterday. One has to wonder why he is smiling, when almost every mugshot we have every seen of anyone is of someone who appears either smug, sad, angry, or really tired. This one is nothing like that. In fact he is well groomed, and even wearing his House of Representatives Security pin on his lapel.

Hardly the image that Democrats would have hoped for. It is hard to make him the Poster Boy of the "Bad Republican" when he looks so "normal."

I guess the attempted defrocking is going to be delayed.

WOOT! WE WON THE PENNANT! GO CRAZY!

I have been a sports fan for a long time. I have been an Astros fan for every bit of it. I was an Astros' Buddy as a little kid, and I remember going to the Dome and watching people like J.R. Richard, Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Enos Cabell, Cesar Cedeño, Jose Cruz, Bill Doran, Bob Watson, Terry Puhl, Art Howe, Roger Metzger, Alan Ashby, Joe Niekro, and many, many others from then until now, but never have we been able to do this.

This is the greatest thing I have seen in professional sports (IMHO).

Ode to the Ancient Life

Am I an ancient one, distinguished and refined,
Grey and “mature” in her mind (as I am in mine),
Though I do not know her mind; does she mind?
Can it be that it is all in my head?
This notion that I am almost dead from age
At any age can be a bitter pill to find, I’m reminded
Of my longing for the next world;
It seems I’ll be there soon enough,
And yet for now I have today and no more
Promised- Death will come in his time.
-Make the most of today while it is-,
-Breathe life in and Live-
She may yet give me a day.

Or more.

For now there is nothing to fear.
There is only to live and breathe
To inhale every breath as Adam’s first
And to awaken the heart with a passionate roar
The lion awakening to tame the jungle,
The heart alive and strong.

Tagged!

So my blog-buddy Erika tagged me with the job of listing a bunch of songs that I like. At first I thought maybe I was being given a Tag watch, but no such luck. I tracked it back and found that it was initially supposed to be a list of songs that one was currently listening to that meant something to the person, no matter the genre or whathaveyou. So I'll take some peotic license and make it just a nice little list (unlike the one from several weeks ago). Too bad there are no "Go Astros, Win it All" songs...

So here goes (with commentary):

Homer's Barbershop Quartet- from Songs in the Key of Springfield (just fun)

I'm Glad You're Mine- Al Green (well, there's hope anyway)

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)- The Arcade Fire (in fact the whole album)

Smoke- Ben Folds Five

Go Tell it on the Mountain (featuring Tom Waits)- The Blind Boys of Alabama (any combo with TW is good)

Shiver- Coldplay (sounds like? -- Jeff Buckley)

The Mariner's Revenge Song- The Decemberists (The Count of Monte Cristo in 8 minutes)

One of These Days- Doves (the title says it all)

That Was Another Country- The innocence Mission (mmmmmm, another country)

Teardrop- Massive Attack (also noted for being the theme to new Fox medical show- House, M.D.)

Paper Boats- Nada Surf (good and painful at the same time)

Nightingale- Norah jones (my favorite of hers)

Rhapsodie- Over the Rhine (I could listen to it for hours on headphones)

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own- U2 (well, that's what they say)

I Was Brought to my Senses- Sting (in my top 10)

All I want is You- U2 (why can't I write this stuff?)

I Still Haven't Found what I'm Looking For- U2 (the truth doesn't hurt that bad)

I'm a Ramblin' Man- Waylon Jennings (does anyone call me "The Man of Joy" in Alabama? That'd be cool)

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain- Willie Nelson (a Texas Hymn)

Vocalise, Opus 34, No. 14- Sergei Rachmaninoff (one of the best songs I know)

Adagio for Strings- Samuel Barber (mostly known from the Platoon soundtrack- it's like Prozac for the ears)

Better Days- Robbie Seay Band (just a really good sounding song of hope)


At this point I suppose I should "tag" someone- I'd tag Sploosh, but he has yet to get so involved (though he might respond with a nice list in the comments). So I suppose I'll tag Dovie and mth. The request is for 5 songs that are really meaningful to you right now, but I can't say I've heard all those songs in the last few weeks, so do whatever you like.

PETA+ Unethical workers = PUTA : a formula for success? Hardly.

I don't usually show my stripes, but I don't like PETA. I don't agree with their stance on research, and especially the way that they consider animals as equal to people and yet generally consider a fetus as less than that. I love animals, and treat them well myself (no that I am no longer 3 years old), but I think PETA is misguided.

So I found this article to be quite interesting to say the least.

Take a gander and see for yourself.

Blogging for fun and sport

Reading other blogs has become an interesting pastime for me. I recently read a few entries off a blog that I found through the recommendation of an acquaintance of mine. One thing that I noticed was that he writes in the manner in which I would like to write, if I were simply writing for myself: his writing is candid, like a photograph in time, unposed, and yet full of life.


Maybe I do write that way and it is simply that the subject matter is kept closer to the vest. The fellow whose blog I was reading lays out some details that I might conceal. Is that due to my consideration of my audience, those whom I know already a re reading what I write? Do I automatically censor myself because I don’t want some people to know all the details that I might reveal to others in a more private setting? Is that acceptable? And can I do that while at the same time keep my material fresh, interesting, and engaging?

Some of my blog-buddies are quite good at keeping their blogs interesting though somewhat impersonal. There are others who are almost so personal that I am almost embarrassed to read them, for fear of being too much into their private thoughts. The world of blogging is so interesting in that respect. I have made friends (or so it seems) with some people with whom I am personally unacquainted simply because they are friends with bloggers that I do know. I am even branching beyond those bloggers to acquaint myself with others via cyberspace with bloggers who are friends of my new blogger buddies. The world-wide web is exactly that, and it seems that we are all so very intertwined that one can hardly make a friend without later finding out that they are already related somehow in cyberspace. Crazy world in which we live.

A rant on 'Net etiquette

Well, it seems that I again have let the pride get the better of me. I was reading an excellent entry in a friend’s blog, when I came across some commentary that really did not set well with me (is it “sit well,” or “set well?” I never know). In fact it really got under my skin. I had commented early on and mostly agreed with what was being said, but the next few comments said things about the entry (and possibly my own) that were not very nice. “Moronic” was an adjective that he used referring to the entry and comments, and that irked me. Then he proceeded to say that “you must be one of those…” to have written them. Now, I hope that this guy is not up for a judicial position somewhere, because he certainly has not read much with an open mind to go off making judgments like that about one’s political bent. So accusatory. So harsh. So little information upon which to base such criticism. What would his mother think? Would he be so ill-mannered in person? Would he behave thusly in a classroom or council meeting? I should hope not. But then, I don’t know.

Unfortunately my response was not much better, except that I did not call him out, label him, nor reject his theories as “moronic” when I most certainly could have done all of those things. Instead I simply used some of his own phrases and showed that, given his exaggeration, of course things could be the way he sees them, if in fact one is truly blind to how things work. Or something like that. I was a little upset.

My friend, however, is much more skilled at handling objections such as those of this fellow. He proceeded in a subsequent comment to detail and delineate much of the facts as they are, instead of how they have been perceived by the other. And he did it with so much more grace than I could have. I think that if it had been my own blog that I would have simply deleted the comments altogether, unless they were written by someone who was a friend (or relative) of mine. Perhaps they know each other. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter so much really. Let’s just say that I am not cut out for the realm of political debate.

The real issue with which I have a problem is that unlike face to face confrontation, where there is often some since of civility, a modicum of diplomacy, or at least a hint of manners, when we are surfing the internet, many of us drive with the windows rolled up tightly on the cyber-freeway in buffer to buffer traffic, honking and cutting down whoever gets in our way or happens to have somehow disagreed with the directions that we think are correct in order to arrive at a place at which we really don’t want everyone to end up (the mixed-metaphorical pun of the day). In short we behave differently because we feel the firewall will protect us from shame.

The truth is that one need not look very hard to find blogs and chats that are full of people who vehemently disagree and write all sorts of reprehensible things in the name of winning the point (not considered to be the classiest debate tactic), where they would not speak the same way in a coffee-shop or fireside chat.

It’s just manners, people! It has nothing to do with politics, taxes, laws, religious faith, or whether one drinks coffee or tea or any other equally enchanting beverage. It is simply being civil. Can we not expect so little from a “civilized” people?

He made it!

So I checked my email this morning and got this:

"Hey dude,

I MADE THE SUMMIT. I summited Cho Oyu, the 6th highest
mountain on Earth, without oxygen, on September 29th
at 8:20 in the morning. It was beautiful. I saw
Everest from the summit."

That is AWESOME! I am so happy for him. He dreams of climbing Mt. Everest one day and this was a HUGE step in that direction. God is good. Thank you for your prayers.

I don't have "Hyponatremia," I just have low sodium

My brother, as some of you might have read in the comments, recently spent some time off from his normal lawyerin' stuff due to the Hurricane Rita causing the more skittish lawyers to cancel a lot of depositions in Beaumont. During this time he got back to nature in a way and worked out west of Houston for a lady we've known for a long time. Most of the work was outdoors, and though it is October, it still gets pretty hot in Texas this time of year, and true to form it was pretty hot. My brother writes in a comment that she told him to be sure to get some salt and not to drink just water because one can die if he drinks just water, a suggestion that caused him to burst out laughing, "not that it's not true. But what can't you die from anymore?"

This causes me to pause as a doctor and the brother of an attorney/former english teacher. First of all the question he is really asking is not about salt/sodium/water or any of that. He acknowledges (however erroneously) that one might die from such a thing as he was doing and is not questioning the validity of the statement; neither is his laughter in response to the meaning of her statement, but rather it is to the irony that it seems we are finding out that life is more dangerous than we were lead to believe when we were first introduced to it.

Let's deal with the errors as they develop, shall we?

Water intoxication is when one drinks more pure water than the body can handle. This causes electrolyte imbalances and shifts of the electrolytes and fluids between cells and surrounding fluids, a process that can cause injury to the cells. "But, Dr. Dennis, how much can I drink before that happens?" Thanks for asking. Each person is different, but the normal adult can handle about 15 liters (around 4 gallons) of water in a 24 hour period. Now if one were to drink a few gallons quickly and then continue to drink a little at a time, there would be problems, and the body would get depleted of sodium, but this is an extreme situation that is not easy to produce. If my brother had been working hard in the heat all day and sweating a lot, not eating anything (food is a good source of sodium- just check any label) and drinking a lot of water, then he would probably start to notice signs of a problem (hunger, muscle cramps, fatigue). In the absence of these things, though, it is not very likely to happen to anyone. Heat illnesses are much more common and more dangerous too.

Then there is posed the question: "But what can't you die from anymore?" The sense of this is interesting too in that as our propositional knowledge of the world has increased, we have discovered more and more wonderous and dangerous things about the world. Who would have thought that water, which is the most plentiful substance in the body could actually kill us if we drank too much of it? Yet, there it is, taunting us each time we go to the fountain to quench our thirst.

Then there is the actual phrase: "what can't you die from anymore?" The use of "anymore" changes the whole sense of this question from inquisitive to rhetorical. To rephrase it, I would say that it is really asking: "what can no longer cause one's death?" The answer is only a few things: the Dodo bird, saber-toothed tigers, and Mammoths (barring some ridiculously unfortunate museum-related incident).

We could die at the keyboards of our computer. I saw it in a movie (or was it Bones?) on the SciFi channel.

So what is there to do? Read Ecclesiastes.

"Come on, Man, just a little while longer"

Thus goes the cry of those who are addicted to online-gaming. Not that anyone I know ever would do this, but there have been people who died from marathon gaming (not the game "Marathon" but rather hours and hours without a break. But so far most have been 14 year-old asian girls. Or at least that's what they said during the online game chats...

Say a prayer for my friend

My good friend Ben is on an expedition (not driving in the Ford variety) in Nepal right now- I do not know how it is going, but he is climbing a mountain called Cho Oyo, which is 8201 meters (somewhere near 26,905 feet) at the summit. I know that he left at the end of August, and I have not yet heard from him, though it may take up to six weeks. I want him to have success in this, as it is the stuff of which his dreams are made.

Der Kapitol

I went to our nation's capitol on Saturday. I forgot how much I liked it and how beautiful it is. I have to go back soon. I saw the capitol building with a friend who works for Congressman Ted Poe and then went alone to the Smithsonian institute of Natural History. I decided to wait until another time to see the Air and Space Museum. It means I have to go back.

I love this country. It is not perfect, but it is the best thing going. And everyone knows it.