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The Iowa State University African and African American Studies Research Guide
In keeping with Iowa History Month 2024, you can have a look at the Iowa State University website “African and African American Studies Research Guide.” Iowa State University happens to be my alma mater, or in a way, one of them. I took my Bachelor’s degree there and later graduated from The University of Iowa…
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The Good and the Not So Good About Mental Health Treatment
Sometimes I write “depressing” blog posts. On the other hand, I have both good and bad news today. I found out that, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center, Iowa’s state psychiatric hospital bed availability is dismal according to 2023 figures. That’s actually not new. Although we rate last in the nation for this, we still…
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Thoughts on a Study of Sitting with Your Patients
I saw this interesting article on a study about the effect of chair placement on physicians’ behavior when in a patient’s room, specifically whether it altered the length of time a doctor spends with a patient or the level of satisfaction patients had with the interaction. In this study, it didn’t lengthen the time, but…
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African American Women in Iowa History
In light of March being Women in History Month (as well as Iowa History Month), I’d like to share some history stories about an African American librarian from Mason City, Iowa named Esther J. Walls. In 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an essay about her, “Esther J. Walls: The Role of a Black…
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CDC ACIP Meeting on the RSV Vaccine and Some Dad Jokes
We watched the section of the CDC ACIP meeting about RSV vaccines on February 29, 2024. There was a lot of discussion on the safety of the vaccine. It looks like it will still have a requirement that you have a shared clinical decision-making meeting with your physician. I think that still implies you’d need…
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Flight of Ideas on Junior Bald Eagles
A couple of days ago the temperature was in the mid-seventies, which is pretty balmy for February. We took the opportunity to get out for a walk on the Terry Trueblood Trail. It’s coincidental, but we did the same thing on the exact same date last February. It’s under the same condition for the most…
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Hot Mic in the NASA Control Room
By now, everybody probably knows about the Intuitive Machine lunar landing of the Odysseus space craft recently, broadcast from NASA. I happened to have a direct audio hookup to the control room during the hot mic episode which somehow didn’t get broadcast last week. Sam: OK, how’s Odysseus doing? Doug: Uh, we slightly overshot the…
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High as a Kite!
We heard about the marketing of a new cannabis product in Iowa. A company called Climbing Kites makes a beverage that contains low concentration THC and it’s legal to buy it as long as the percentage of Delta 9 THC is not above 0.3%. Their website says funny things like “Fly High: All Buzz, No…
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Update on the Mason City, Iowa YWCA Renovation and How That Connects to Pizza
This is an update on a couple of Mason City, Iowa YWCA and YMCA renovation posts I wrote in May of 2022 (May 12 and May 25). I’m also going to compare the information about those with recent news about the building which is home to Pagliai’s Pizza. Recall that the YMCA in Mason City…
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Thoughts on the Mason City 1884 Civil War Statue
Sena and I got to talking about Central Park in Mason City, Iowa. I remember my brother, mother and I taking a walk there occasionally. One time we saw a man who lost his legs and who got around using a small platform on wheels. Later in life, I wondered if he was a disabled…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 