Thanks to an article in the Courier the other day, I added a new name (to me) to my Famous Findlayian page. He is William Wallace Campbell.
Campbell wan an astronomer of note in the beginning of the 20th century and he helped confirm Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Genetically Modified Crops: Should We Be Worried? Sort Of
Genetically modified crops (GM crops) sounds scary like some sci-fi story. Think Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But do we need to fear GM crops? We should be concerned about our food supply and what goes into it but the fear over GM crops doesn’t match the facts. However one major worry I have is how much big corporations are involved and how that might hurt some people in the long term either economically or health wise.
Michael Shermer’s Skepticism Missing In Giving Praise Of David Brooks
Michael Shermer is founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine “Skeptic”. He is a BIG NAME in the freethought community and is well known for debunking pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. Shermer has been an advocate of Scientific skepticism – questioning the veracity of claims using the scientific method – except it seems for his own political views. Recently Shermer wrote a series of tweets praising an OpEd by David Brooks that complained about the Occupy movement. He (and Brooks) totally missed the point.
The first tweet shocked me because I really didn’t know that much about Shermer’s political views:
Advertising Unknown Outcomes
Recently I have seen commercials on TV from a particular cancer treatment center. I have no particular view point on advertising medical treatment because I see it all the time – from Doctors, Hospitals, drug companies, and other medical items. But the commercials from this treatment center just seem a bit off to me because it seems to imply they can do something that may not be possible – curing you of cancer.
The commercial starts with a woman telling her experience at a hospital and finding out they had cancer. In the two I’ve seen the women basically say “The Doctor comes in says you have cancer and leaves…” and they tell how bad they feel and how they want to do whatever it takes to beat the cancer. The implied message is the hospital or doctor they get the news from doesn’t want to help.
The first commercial I saw had the woman continue with her story by say she went to the treatment center and was given all kinds of tests and exams and she asked her new doctor how long did she have to live. She tells the camera that the doctor said she had no expiration date and he couldn’t tell just by looking at her.
Here is the text of the story that is on their website (I redacted the name of the patient, doctor, and hospital):
In July 2001, Peggy was told she had stage IV pancreatic cancer and to go home and get her affairs in order. In this video, Peggy talks about how she found hope and healing at treatment center
“After three days of testing, I looked at [the Doctor] and I said “How long do I have?” And he looked at me and said “Peggy, we did a lot of tests on you and I never saw one thing stamped on the bottom of your foot that said you were going to die in two months. You have no expiration date. That is in hands way above mine.”
It’s really unbelievable how one doctor can tell me I have two months to live, and then I got to [the center] and they offered hope.
This treatment center is making an implied promise to “cure” people of cancer.
I know that sometimes compassion is missing or in low supply in the medical field but I find it hard to take a medical facility telling a patient that if you use us you have a better chance to not dying from cancer.
I just don’t think more compassion or telling patients what they want to hear – rather than the truth – is good business especially for someone with cancer. I also don’t think any hospital or Doctor would not do everything to treat cancer if they can. If they didn’t then one could claim malpractice.
Cancer isn’t some monolith disease where one fix takes care of it – if it were then there might not be any cancer in the world. Sometimes treatment works, sometimes it works for awhile, and sometimes it doesn’t work at all. The outcome is based on the cancer, the person, and how soon it is discovered.
Octo-mom being selfish and careless
Modern medicine amazes me sometimes. Diseases once thought deadly have been tamed. Pills are available to treat all kinds of ailments that use to shorten how long we live. One also needs to be amazed at all the work done around genetics. But sometimes just because science can do something doesn’t mean it should. Just like the development of nuclear weapons, using science to have children you can’t support on your own is stupid. Nadya Suleman, who delivered only the second living set of octuplets ever born, made the wrong choice to have more children especially because she had no job and six children already at home. That’s what bothers me.
I think that if a woman wants to have a child and the only way to do it is by insemination then that is her choice to make, but she also has to consider, just like when conceiving children through intercourse, some serious questions.
Can I properly support children – do I have a job, one that pays enough and provides enough insurance for health care. Or am I in a relationship where that support can come from my partner or adds to my support.
Do I have enough home support – do I have enough time and stability to provide emotional support and love to my children. If I am married is my marriage supportive enough to maintain a stable household.
Is this right thing to do at this time.
When I heard that Nadya Suleman had no job and six other children at home, I lost all respect for her. She made the wrong choices. Children just don’t need a loving mother. They need good health care, food on the table, clothes on their backs, and a stable home. When the only parent has no solid foundation for any of that then the children can suffer.
I know there are women who want a child and aren’t able to have them for one reason or another. More power to them if they use medical science to conceive or if they adopt. Most people I know who have gone this route are proud parents and the children well taken care of.
And don’t think I have these concerns about women. I also think the questions apply to men. I once knew a guy who thought his manliness was confirmed based on the number of women he got pregnant. When I heard that I wished he could be castrated. But that is just me.
People like Nadya Suleman give parenthood a bad name.