Month: August 2023

A New Coffee Maker!

Sena got a new coffee maker. It’s a Mecity single serve which uses coffee pods like a Keurig but doesn’t cost an arm and leg. I don’t know why it’s called “Mecity.” It gets good reviews.

She also got a good deal on 100 coffee pods. One of them is a mystery. It’s got a question mark on it so we won’t know what flavor it is until we load and brew it.

It’s a lot more compact than our other coffee maker. It’s easy to use. Fill it with water, load a pod and press a button for 6, 8, or 10 oz cup. You’re good to go in seconds.

We made hot chocolate with it and we notice it makes a hotter drink than our other pot.

If it blows up, we’ll let you know.

Parody vs Satire on Old X-File Show

I see Dr. George Dawson blogged about an interesting movie he saw. And Dr. H. Steven Moffic watched an interesting play the other day.

I like science fiction. I watched an old X-File show the other night, “War of the Coprophages.” You can read a Wikipedia article for a nice summary of the plot and more. You can watch X-File episodes on the Comet TV network on cable and a few streaming services.

The reason I like this is because of the parody. Many reviewers say it doesn’t rise to the level of satire, and it’s tough to challenge that view. I usually tell the difference based on a pretty good distinction you can find at this web site. Early on in the show you can tell it’s going to be one of the Monster-of-the-Week (MOTW) episodes.

The show makes fun of itself with funny lines and sight gags, several of which could almost make you gag. One makes use of an effect that makes you think a cockroach is crawling across your TV screen. The Wikipedia article calls that a fourth wall effect.

I like the big sign on Dr. Jeff Eckerle’s building where he has a lot of manure which he’s using to research how to make methane from dung. The sign says, “ALT FUELS, Inc: Waste is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” It’s clearly a parody, although I found a legitimate recycling web site in Helsinki which actually uses the phrase “Waste is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Who knew? I can’t tell if they got the idea from the X-Files.

I also got a kick out the conversation between the scientist, Dr. Ivanov, and Mulder in which Ivanov pretty much sticks a pin in the balloon of Mulder’s conception of extraterrestrials being humanoid—of course they’d be robots according to Ivanov.

Later as the show is wrapping up with Mulder typing his report, he describes the distinction between simple and direct robotic problem solving and human higher brain function, with the latter suffering by comparison because of our tendency to get lost in default mode network ruminations which often go nowhere. He ends up seeing a giant cockroach which looks robotic crawling towards him—and flattens it with an X-File report.

The show is a string of crap jokes, which I loved. But that’s not because I love crap. I just like it when we’re deflated. It cuts us down to size—about the size of a cockroach. Sometimes that’s about the size of the difference between parody and satire.

Official CDC Update on New Covid-19 Variant BA.2.86

I’ve been looking for official CDC news about the new Covid-19 variant, BA.2.86 and it looks like it was just posted on their website yesterday.

Highlights:

“Last week, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 called BA.2.86 was detected in samples from people in Denmark and Israel. At least two cases have been identified in the United States. This variant is notable because it has multiple genetic differences from previous versions of SARS-CoV-2.”

“Based on what CDC knows now, existing tests used to detect and medications used to treat COVID-19 appear to be effective with this variant. BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received COVID-19 vaccines. Scientists are evaluating the effectiveness of the forthcoming, updated COVID-19 vaccine. CDC’s current assessment is that this updated vaccine will be effective at reducing severe disease and hospitalization. At this point, there is no evidence that this variant is causing more severe illness. That assessment may change as additional scientific data are developed. CDC will share more as we know more.”

Heat Joke Alert On the Loose!

The Excessive Heat Warning is still on, so you’re going to need another heat joke:

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Kenya.

Kenya who?

Kenya open the door so I can fix your air conditioner?

I’m hoping for your sake this will be the last heat joke alert.

Can You Fry an Egg on a Driveway on a Hot Day?

Sena tried to fry an egg on our driveway yesterday—and it did not go well. Let’s get the basic internet caveat out of the way. Somebody is always asking this question about whether or not you can fry an egg on a hot day.

The usual answer is something like, “It’s possible but not probable” because concrete is not conductive enough to fry an egg. It takes a temperature of 158 degrees Fahrenheit to fry an egg the regular way. But concrete gets to only about 145 degrees. When you think about it, that’s not much of a difference, though.

We’ve been in this heat wave this week, and the temperatures have been close to 100 degrees most days. You can’t count the heat index because that’s just measure of how hot humans feel when you correct for humidity combined with the air temperature. Just for the record, it did get up to around 107 degrees with the heat index.

So, she cracked an egg on our driveway and here’s what happened.

She started the test at around 11:15 a.m., checked it 5 minutes later (really no change), re-checked it at around noon, no change of course, then didn’t check it again until around 5 p.m. See the short slide show below.

The most interesting thing was the egg shell was gone. We’re not sure what took it, but many animals will eat them: birds, squirrels, chipmunks, dogs, cats, mice, and Bigfoot although he prefers beef jerky. Ants were feasting on the dried-up egg remains.

It’s pretty hot—but not hot enough to cook an egg on concrete. Even if you think you get the job done, don’t ever eat the results.

Heat Joke Alert for Crying Out Loud!

The heat wave continues and the heat joke today is:

Q: What do we say about politicians during a heat wave?

A: It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity.

The Heat Index could go as high as 114 degrees. The end might be in sight on Friday. Hang in there and stay cool.

Heat Joke Alert Again!

Here’s another heat joke.

Q: How hot is it?

A: It’s so hot, you don’t have to be a liar to set your pants on fire.

All you have to do is step outside. It’s no joke, frankly. Heat index values could be in the 110-115 degree range. The Excessive Heating Warning has been extended to August 23, 2023.

The Drain Grate Flipper is Back

Some of you may remember last year’s drain grate flipping saga in which something removed one of our back yard tile drain grates nearly every day for a while last fall. It’s happening again! This time it occurred during a pretty fierce heat wave which is still ongoing. It was so hot, the videos and photos we got were really hazy.

That adventure began in late September of 2022 and went on past the middle of October. I wrote a few posts about the saga. We set up a critter cam to see if we could get it on video. We caught deer running across the yard and that’s it, except for a UFO. Check our YouTube “Caught in the Critter Cam Lights” on October 17, 2022.

Yesterday, we noticed the drain grate was off again, after a nearly a year of no problems with it. Now, a couple of months ago, a couple of other drain grates popped off, but it looked like the explanation was heavy rainfall. The pipes were full of debris and the lid was very close to the edge of the pipes.

This time, the same lid that popped off last year popped off again and it was a replay of what looks like an ongoing mystery.

I’m not ready to set up the critter cam just yet. I’m a little unsure of whether it’ll work OK in triple digit heat.

Heat Joke Alert!

OK, I got sort of a Dad joke about the heat. It’s about 106 degrees now with the heat index in Iowa City.

Q: What do you call a flying saucer on a really hot day?

A: An Unidentified Frying Object

Believe it or not, I couldn’t find this joke anywhere on the internet. So I guess that makes it original.

Sena wants to try frying an egg, and melt ice cubes and/or an ice cream bar on our driveway tomorrow.

Leave comments trying to talk her out of it and/or leave a heat joke of your own.

Thank you for your time.

The Thing About Identity

I was searching on the web for something about my co-editor, Robert G. Robinson, MD, for our book Psychosomatic Medicine: An Introduction to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, published in 2010.

The reason I was searching for something about him was that I’ve had difficulties finding anything on the web lately about doctors I had worked with years ago and admired—and the search revealed they had died. It has been a little jarring and got me thinking about my own mortality.

My search didn’t turn up any obituary about Dr. Robinson, but I found a couple of interesting items. One of them is, of all things, a WordPress blog item, the About section. It’s dated April 2012. I’ve seen it before. It’s supposedly about a person named Dr. Robert G. Robinson, MD and the only thing on it is his name and affiliation with The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Every WordPress blog has an About section. I have one and I’ve been blogging since 2010.

There’s no entry in the About section for him on WordPress. However, there was another item on the web that looked like it was a blog (It’s another blogging site called About.me), and it was labeled as an About section.  It was a biographical summary of his academic and scientific career. Of course, it was impressive. At first, it looked like he was planning to write a blog, which could have been very educational because he’s an extremely accomplished psychiatrist with a very long bibliography of published articles about psychiatric research, a lot of it about post-stroke syndromes.

But when I looked at the social media links on the WordPress page, it led to a picture of someone who is definitely not the Robinson I know. This person was a “Certified Rolfer.” Remember Rolfing? It’s a form of deep tissue massage developed in the 1970s. The Dr. Robinson I know was never involved in Rolfing.

I’m not sure what happened with the WordPress and other blog items, but it looked the WordPress section was a case of mistaken identity. The most recent genuine item on the web about him is a 2017 University of Iowa article about his receiving the Distinguished Mentor Award.

I hope somebody doesn’t get confused by that WordPress mistake.

Then, I happened to come across an article that, at first, I didn’t recognize. The link on the search page listed Dr. Robinson’s name. It’s on the Arnold P. Gold Foundation website for humanism in medicine. The title is “Are doctors rude? An Insider’s View.” It didn’t have my byline under it. It took me a minute, but I soon recognized that I wrote it in 2013. At the bottom of the page, I was identified as the author.

At first, I thought it was a mistake; there was a place for an icon that at one time had probably contained a photo of me, but it was missing. It’s my reflection about a Johns Hopkins study finding that medical interns were not doing basic things like introducing themselves to patients and sitting down with them.

This was not a case of mistaken identity. But I got a little worried about my memory for a few seconds.

Anyway, I was reminded of my tendency to have trainees find a chair for me so I could sit down with patients in their hospital rooms. I later got a camp stool as a gift from one of my colleagues on the Palliative Care consult service. It was handy, but one of my legs always got numb if I sat too long on it. It broke once and I landed flat on my fundament one time in front of a patient, family, and my trainees. The patient was mute and we had been asked to evaluate for a neuropsychiatric syndrome called catatonia. The evidence against it was the clear grin on the patient’s face after my comical pratfall—and because of the laughter that we could see but not hear.

One of the points of this anecdote is that it’s prudent to be skeptical about what you see on the internet. The other point is that parts of your identity can hang around on the web for a really long time, so it’s prudent to be skeptical about how permanent your current identity is.