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Back to the Roller Window Shades?
I just heard about the new regulation banning cords on window shades. I didn’t know that window cords were so dangerous. We recently moved into our new house and need window coverings. We’ve had corded window coverings (mostly blinds) for years wherever we moved. I guess we’ll have to consider other options. This reminds me…
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Can Artificial Intelligence Learn from My Book?
Recently the publisher of a book co-edited by me and my former psychiatry chair Dr. Robert G. Robinson asked me to sign off on a proposal to involve Artificial Intelligence (AI) in using the work. The book, “Psychosomatic Medicine: An Introduction to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry,” is 14 years old now, but is still a practical tool…
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Bathroom Fan Timers are Now Required by Code!
OK, so maybe you already knew that bathroom exhaust fan timers for reducing moisture are required by code. But we didn’t, which is why we were both a little spooked when the hallway bathroom fan came on all by itself on our first evening in our new house. It has done that a few times,…
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Casey’s Pizza Deja Vu
We had a deja vu thing with our final move out of the hotel and into our new house. Just before we first moved into the hotel two months ago, it was really late at night and we stopped at Casey’s to get a pizza. We were exhausted. Today, we finally moved out of the…
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The Cat is a Witness?
I have watched the Men in Black movies dozens of times, and I still get a little puzzled at the scene in which Agent J ask the deputy medical examiner (Laurel) where the cat Orion is. Orion is carrying a tiny galaxy on its collar. You’ll have to see the movie to get the context…
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Alcohol is Bad for Old Guys
I took a quick peek at the study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that a few news agencies are reporting on which says alcohol in moderation is bad for older persons. So much for moderation. Actually, the full abstract is: Ortolá R, Sotos-Prieto M, García-Esquinas E, Galán I, Rodríguez-Artalejo F. Alcohol Consumption Patterns…
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Bird Watching Stories Are Like Fishing Tales
We finally got a couple of videos of a goldfinch! It has been years since I’ve been able to catch a brilliant male goldenrod and it happened last week on the Clear Creek Trail. In fact, we saw a few birds with the usual idiosyncratic behavior. Goldfinch are rocket fast and hate getting caught on…
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Practicing the Reverse Cascade Juggling Pattern
I’ve been practicing the reverse cascade lately. It’s slow progress but faster than the shower pattern. You start with the regular cascade pattern and gradually work into making every throw over the top instead of under. I still do a lot of windmilling. I’ll get there-I think.
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Excelsior!
The health benefits of climbing stairs are well known and I’ve talked about them before. However, you haven’t really seen stair climbing in action until you’ve watched Sena ascend the stairs in our hotel. There are 4 flights of 10 steps each. Doing it just once can puff you out. The keyword for this is…
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Thoughts as Train Cars Visualization in Mindfulness Meditation
The Iowa Interstate Railroad train rumbles past our hotel a few times a day and it reminds me of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course I took 10 years ago. One of the exercises the instructor mentioned was the train visualization mindfulness exercise. I don’t know if I remember what our instructor actually said…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 