Category: Iowa

  • Solar Eclipse Around the Corner So We May Need to Protect the Cicadas!

    Solar Eclipse Around the Corner So We May Need to Protect the Cicadas!

    The solar eclipse is just around the corner! We’re hoping for decent weather. We’re also hoping that everyone views the event with safety in mind. University of Iowa Health Care ophthalmologist Dr. Ian Han has great tips on how to observe the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. He pointed out that eclipse glasses that…

  • Svengoolie Triggers Memory Lane Trip to the Drive Ins

    Svengoolie Triggers Memory Lane Trip to the Drive Ins

    Both Sena and I stayed up to see the cheesy 1972 horror flick The Gargoyles last Saturday night. No kidding, Sena stayed up for the whole thing! The show runs from 7-9:30 PM but the actual movie is only a little over an hour long. It’s about a clan of gargoyles that every 500 years…

  • The FDA Did Send a 252 Page Recommendation to Reschedule Marijuana

    The FDA Did Send a 252 Page Recommendation to Reschedule Marijuana

    Finally, I have found a copy of the FDA recommendation to the DEA to reschedule Marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. The whole document is in Dropbox and is 252 pages long. The actual recommendation starts on page 62. The basis for the recommendation is three-fold: Marijuana has less abuse potential other drugs in…

  • We Put on the Ritz for the Solar Eclipse!

    We Put on the Ritz for the Solar Eclipse!

    We’re putting on the Ritz for the solar eclipse next month! We got our crazy T-shirts and the eclipse glasses and solar filter. We didn’t know we’d be blind after donning the glasses. You don’t want to go for a walk wearing them because you’re likely to trip over something, mainly other eclipse observers. We’ve…

  • Will Iowans Get the Whole Enchilada with The Upcoming Total Solar Eclipse?

    Will Iowans Get the Whole Enchilada with The Upcoming Total Solar Eclipse?

    So, are Iowans going to get “the whole enchilada” when it comes to seeing the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024? No, but we’ll see a partial eclipse. The T-shirt Sena got for me says “Total Eclipse” on it—but it also has extraterrestrials on it, which I really like. The paths of these total…

  • Getting Ready for the Solar Eclipse!

    Getting Ready for the Solar Eclipse!

    Sena has placed the order for our eclipse glasses and eclipse T-shirts. They should get here in plenty of time for the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. And if the weather is really crappy that day—we have 30 days to return them. There is an interesting history of eclipses on the NASA website. It…

  • Solar Eclipse in April!

    Solar Eclipse in April!

    We just found out there’s going to be a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. We hope to get some solar eclipse glasses before then if they don’t run out of stock everywhere. They’re selling fast. We’ve seen a couple of lunar eclipses and those were fun. The most recent one was during cold…

  • The FDA Announcement on Kratom

    The FDA Announcement on Kratom

    Just in case you missed it, the FDA posted an announcement about Kratom in February this year. According to the FDA: “Kratom is a tropical tree (Mitragyna speciosa) that is native to Southeast Asia. Products prepared from kratom leaves are available in the U.S. through sales on the Internet and at brick-and-mortar stores. Kratom is…

  • Good Luck Dr. Chris Buresh

    Good Luck Dr. Chris Buresh

    Sena was looking up the meaning of a four-leaf clover the other day. You might call it a shamrock although that’s usually reserved for the 3-leaf variety. It’s fitting for St. Patrick’s Day to say the four-leaf clover is special because it’s rare to see one. The four leaves represent faith, luck, love, and hope.…

  • Remember The Calling

    Remember The Calling

    I recommend Dr. George Dawson’s recent posts on seeing the practice of medicine as a calling and his passing a big milestone with 2 million reads on his blog. I wrote a post entitled “Remembering Our Calling: MLK Day 2015.” It was republished in a local newspaper, the Iowa City Press-Citizen on January 19, 2015.…