Item 1.
On page 1.
"Young adults use more medicines"
... "This is good news, that more people in this age range are taking these medicines," said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association.
Still, he said many more people should be on the drugs that lower cholesterol or blood pressure and which have been shown to reduce risks for heart attack and stroke....
How in the world can this be "good news" - that more people are taking drugs? Maybe for him, the prescriber, it's good news, but these drugs are, in my opinion, relatively unproven. They haven't been around 100 years. Who knows what they actually do to people. Not to mention side effects.
No. This is NOT good news. Good news would be "more young adults are eating proper portions of healthy fruits and vegetables and eschewing candy, soda, and other processed foods."
What a nation. We think popping pills solves everything. Egads.
Item 2.
Virginia Section, Page 1.
Living in Limbo
Salem is one of the 10 sites NS picked for its intermodal facility. Two of the sites are in Botetourt County, but no one seems to think they're sites that would be chosen because they are miles from the interstate.
Salem residents are concerned because they don't know where the site is going. The Virginia Rail office was to have made a decision first in February, then in April, but nothing has been forthcoming.
The area of Salem chosen is near where my grandmother lived. I spent many days on East Riverside Drive, which is across the Roanoke river from the proposed site.
The Roanoke River has a tendency to flood in this area; my grandmother was wiped out three times before she moved to Front Street (which is also close to this train facility).
There are old people, and young people, who live near this facility, and it will not be a place that facilitates good health. Smoke and noise, etc., not to mention the stuff that they cart through there, will cause health problems.
Item 3.
Virginia Section, Page 3
Drought in Southeast is expected to cut nation's beef supply.
National Cattlemen's Beef Association spokesman Joe Schule says the sell-off of
breeding stock will ripple through the industry until breeding animals are
replaced.
"You piece all those small producers together, you've got, normally, a very vibrant cattle industry in the southeast region and really a big part of the cattle economy," Schule says. "It's definitely going to continue the stagnation of the cattle herd."
That will hurt consumers, Schule says, because supply is a big factor in the price of beef.
We are in this space, my husband and I. We haven't the feed to get through the winter, and the price of hay has doubled, which we cannot afford. We're trying to hang out as long as we can... though I am not quite sure why.
I don't expect the weather to suddenly become more predictable in future years; I think it will be less so. The small farmer is going to have a devil of a time trying to exist, much less make ends meet.
With the housing boom busted, I don't see so many farms being sold to subdivisions; instead, I see farms being foreclosed on and folks ending up living with their children (because most of the farmers are older people).
Item 4.
Virginia Section page 5
Man recorded life in 5-minute segments
This fellow, now dead, wrote 37.5 million words in a journal. Which is a somewhat like a blog except without hyperlinks.
My initial reaction was that he needed to get a life and look outside of himself. I'm not sure what that says in terms of my own blogging and journal writing. I believe strongly in journaling and writing about your feelings, etc., etc.
Just not to the point of actually not living.
That doctor must own stock in the drug companies. WTH! I am shocked by how many school aged kids are prescribed drugs now. We are not any healthier for it.
ReplyDeleteReading that last bit made me feel good, because I love to record life, but not to that point! The link on that one didn't work.
You should be writing a comment column for the RT.
I agree with the first three items. As to number 4, being the voyeur that I am, I'd be interested in reading some of what he wrote. I wonder how many journals 37.5 million words take up?
ReplyDeleteColleen - thanks for pointing out the broken link; I fixed it.
ReplyDeleteMs. E. - I think 37.5 million would be a *lot* of journals. That's a 150,000 page book (at 250 words a page). Which is equivalent to 500 300-page books, which is about the size of the normal novel.
So he wrote 500 books.