The Last Story each week tends to be what I call a “feelgood” type to leave readers on an up note after sometimes fairly heavy stories.
Medical
Find the Problem, Implement the Solution
“I’m So Tired!” — Lily Von Shtupp (Blazing Saddles, 1974)
“‘Exhaustion’ has been a recurring theme lately. It’s mostly due to a serious but correctable medical condition.” —Me in last week’s newsletters.
Let me explain.
Longevity: First Things First (5 Things to Do)
When people say they want to live longer, they often mean they just want a pill to make them younger. Wouldn’t it be cool? But that’s childish fantasy. If you want to live a longer life — or, more importantly, a healthy vibrant life starting now and live longer with good health, there really are things you can do. It starts with getting your house in order. I’ll include some examples of what I do.
091: Don’t Die in the Next Five Years
In This Episode: The title — Don’t Die in the Next Five Years — is an unofficial motto of an organization my wife and I joined, and we went to our first conference with them as members last week. They say this because of coming advances in medicine in the next several years, and we got a glimpse into some of those advances, including some things that aren’t even published yet in medical journals, that were mind-blowing. This episode is my first report on what I learned.
“Please Stop Pushing the Vaccine”
“Please stop pushing the vaccine,” wrote a 16-year Premium reader (and who knows how long on the free distribution before that). That was in response to last week’s issue. I just reviewed it: I’m not sure the link in “Other Good Reading” to an article titled Treating the Unvaccinated constitutes “pushing” the vaccine. But perhaps … Continue Reading
The Strange Case of Doctor Heiney
While looking for something else, I found an update for a story (and follow-up) from 2016 and 2017, and it’s fairly unbelievable …yet This is True!
Time for Fax Machines to Die
It’s time for us to move beyond fax machines, which are still in wide use in healthcare. If you’re an American who has been prescribed a drug in the past several years, it’s extremely likely your doctor sent that prescription to the pharmacy via fax “technology.”
089: The Deserved Death of “Doctor Knows Best”
In This Episode: “Doctor knows best,” the saying went. While delivered as reassurance, its real meaning was much more sinister, as I’ll explain. This is the story of the final nail in that idiom’s coffin because really, it was a lie all along. The crazy thing is, that didn’t happen all that long ago.
087: I Got the Moderna Vaccine
My ‘Reaction’ So Far
In This Episode: Two days before Christmas, I got a phone call: “Can you be here at 2:00?” asked Rebekah, our small county’s (only) Public Health nurse. Yes, I said, and by 2:30 Rebekah had injected my wife and me with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.
The Year of Covid
“Thought-Provoking Entertainment” isn’t just a This is True slogan, it’s an illustration of my mission in life: to promote more thinking in the world. If thinking was truly valued by society, the U.S. wouldn’t have had such a struggle with the pandemic.
086: Beating the Vaccine Scare-Mongers
In This Episode: Now that the coronavirus vaccine is rolling out, there are several important things to watch out for, which may take a little Uncommon Sense to fully get past the scare-mongers.
Covid: Think for Yourself (Dammit!)
Already Read the Editorial?
Click here to jump to the update.
After seeing this morning’s Randy’s Random post about Covid-19 (reproduced below), I got this comment by email from an old friend, Terry in Colorado:
081: Breathe Easy
In This Episode: There’s a technique that can keep you calm, or even alive in an emergency, that’s so easy to learn you’re already doing most of it right now. You’ll be amazed at what it can get you through when you learn the rest of it, and I’ll tell you how.
078: Tapping a Deeper Mind Power
In This Episode: What if there was a way to use your mind to reduce stress, increase emotional health, boost your attention span, help preserve your brain as you age, even help control pain? There is a way, and it’s actually easy to do.
073: The Missing Element
In This Episode: The medical profession is starting to realize that it’s been missing a very important element of patient care. It’s likely that you’ll be very surprised to hear what it is, but then when you think about it, it’ll make total sense — and you’ll be mad that you didn’t get it.
Fixing Georgia
A story in this week’s issue needs a lot more room for explanation, not to mention a full-sized copy of the graph involved. First, let’s start with the story, from True’s 17 May 2020 issue:
068: What Normal?
In This Episode: Everyone says they want to “go back” to “normal” rather than have the constant uncertainty of the pandemic. But what “normal” do we want to “go back” to? It’s time to think about a new normal — what do we want to go to as this craziness ramps down?
Stay Put …Still
The Scenario Discussed in my blog post Stay Put looks more and more likely: that pressure on government officials to let businesses “open back up” is growing, and it’s way too early for that.
066: Masking the Problem
In This Episode: Some of the stories told in Uncommon Sense are wonderful, but we can’t always relate to the person in the sense we can’t necessarily emulate them: we’re not all well-connected technology geeks, born at the right point in history, or whatever. But here’s a couple of stories about regular people who got past whatever fears they have of the coronavirus, and stepped up to make a difference that anyone can do — if they apply a little Uncommon Sense.
Stay Put
Business owners pressured government officials to let them open back up…. Theater owners even descended on Mayor Mills’ office to demand he ease up on restrictions that were costing them $50,000 per week.