Month: August 2012

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Is Fifty Shades of Grey really harming teenagers?

Beyond the fact that it’s the most egregious, mind-rotting, garbage, that is.

BBC News Magazine is getting its knickers in a twist, over the fact that teenagers are allowed to buy Fifty Shades of Grey. Well, if they want to read it, it serves them right in my view! And it’s legal.

Pre-teens and teenagers have always had an interest in forbidden subjects, and an intense interest in sex and/or naked women, as far as boys are concerned, anyway, goes with the territory. That doesn’t change from generation to generation, though the present one seems more focused on doing it than reading about it, hence the plague of teen pregnancies.

When I was young, Health Continue reading →

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Shoot the organ-grinder, not the Atos monkey…

The BBC News website, in its article about the death of Cecilia Burns, who, seriously ill with breast cancer, has died after being adjudged fit for work, doesn’t allow comments, which is a pity when it makes witless statements like this, staright out of the IDS playbook:-

The government is seeking to reassess all 2.6 million people on incapacity benefit – and its successor employment support allowance (ESA) – by 2014 in an effort to encourage more people back to work and to cut the welfare bill.

Which, based on all the evidence available, is Continue reading →

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It’s wheelie time at last…

As I said on Twitter a couple of nights ago, it’s time I became a full-time wheelie. I know I said that about a year ago, but I’ve been putting it off, as it’s a step from which there might be no way back. All that’s got me, though, is a lot more pain, for longer than seems sensible, and I’ve had enough – time to bite the bullet.

Over the last few days, I’ve had a clear-out, so I’ve a lot more floor space than I had and, a couple of days ago, I checked it out with my manual chair, which was fine. A lot more comfortable that my computer chair, too, with its anatomical cushion. However, it’s a chair designed for occupation, not for Continue reading →

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Chocolate is good for us – for now, at least…

Chocolate is good for us. How many times have we heard that, and hey! – here it is again. Chocolate reduces stroke risk for men, research claims (the Guardian, today). But if men, why not women? Or did the study target only men, for commercial reasons? Is this, in fact, research as advertising?

Which prompts another question – by whom was this research funded? Continue reading →

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No, vegetarianism won’t save the world…

Food shortages could force world into vegetarianism, warn scientists, trumpets the Guardian, with an emphasis on the droughts and crop failures in the USA and Russia, which prompted one numpty to say, somewhat absurdly, in the comments:-

Rubbish! – There are Billions of cubic meters of fresh water in the ice-caps.

Indeed there are –  and the reason why that’s Continue reading →

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Cameron’s hatred of the sick and disabled is increasingly lethal…

A tweet on Twitter asks “1,100 disabled people died last year after they were found “fit for work”. Is the risk of 1% cheating worse than this?”

The answer of course, would be a resounding no, except for the fact that this has nothing to do with fraud, or the inability of this country to support (and, of late, to protect), its most vulnerable citizens.

It has nothing to do with fraud because it has everything to do with hatred. Continue reading →

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Important – Heart problems and Walker’s Crisps…

The following might well apply to other brands of crisps, and to other foods, as well, and probably does, even though the only things in my possession that are a problem, are Walker’s crisps.

If you have a heart problem and are taking an angiotensin II receptor antagonist drug, like Losartan (Cozaar in the US), you should have been told to not use salt substitutes, as they contain potassium, or take potassium supplements.

The reason for this is that Continue reading →

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iPad 3 and mobile Internet access…

As you may know, I backed off from a contract for a 3G iPad 3 with a mobile Internet account, because I had no idea where I’d use it, and just went for the plain-vanilla wi-fi version instead. I did, though. wonder if there was actually a way to connect it to the Web.

My smartphone (HTC Desire S), has a Continue reading →

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Heart failure and fluid retention – a word of advice…

Received wisdom says take your diuretics and limit your fluid intake to control oedema. Fair enough, that works, but I, like many other heart failure patients, simply felt very ill from dehydration. And dehydration also worsens drug-induced constipation, a remedy for which  you’ll find two posts ago.

In addition, as time passed (18 months), my diuretic, Furosemide (Lasix), became  increasingly ineffective, so if this is happening to you, read on. Continue reading →