This Sucks

I'm only posting this because I thought that my title was a funny, albeit obvious, one.

Breast-feeding rates are at their highest in the last 20 years. That's good news for babies. But not for daddies : ( ...kidding of course! I'm just full of them today.

"Experts attributed the rise to education campaigns that emphasize that breast milk is better than formula at protecting babies against disease and childhood obesity. A changing culture that accommodates nursing mothers may also be a factor."


Here's an Associated Press article about it.

NYT Health

There's a great article in today's New York Times on the wide range of health benefits you get from regular exercise -

You Name It, and Exercise Helps It

The article points out how great it makes you feel to exercise, and I suspect that people who do not, think that exercising is really unpleasant. I always say that the hardest part about going to the gym is the trip over there. The actual working out is enjoyable. Afterward, you feel like a million bucks.

Besides the misconception that working out is unenjoyable (yes, that's a word), many people say they don't have time. Well, if you watch 3 hours of television a night, then you're lying.

Health = Wealth

"It's the health-care version of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer."

Holding My Breath

Though HR 5719 will likely pass the Senate.

I like to consider myself an independent/libertarian, but I get so pissed off at Democrats that I am clearly a Republican. To add insult to injury, my congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R], has voted in favor of HR 5719, sponsored by the traitorous Charles "Charlie" Rangel [D]. See, he calls himself "Charlie" so he seems more folksy. It's like he's just one of your buddies, you know? He's not some b.s. artist who lives in a mansion in DC, or anything.

I hope she appreciates my voting for her in the last election. It won't happen again. If you'd like to see how your congressperson voted, check out GovTrack.

Stop HR 5719!

Check out this website. If you have any interest in keeping Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) around, you should call your congressperson and urge him or her to vote against HR 5719, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee last week and is going to a full House vote tomorrow. Basically, a company called Evolution Benefits lobbied to have a provision sneaked into the bill that would require substantiation of claims (proof that HSA dollars are spent on authorized products and services) at the risk of being fined by the tax man. It will cost HSA administrators tons of money and ruin HSAs.

The reason that Evolution Benefits did so is that they have a patented system that rejects unauthorized purchases for Flexible Spending Accounts (far inferior cousins of HSAs) and they have argued that HSA owners are making lots of unauthorized purchases with their cards which don't require substantiation. Account holders already must hold onto receipts in case they are audited and already must file with the IRS to show where their HSA dollars are being spent.

So, it comes as no surprise that some greedy businessmen are trying to get the government to shove more regulation down our throats so they can make a buck. Please call your congressperson and ask him or her to vote no on 5719! If you don't know who your congressperson is, shame on you, first of all, but you may find out at http://whoismyrepresentative.com/. Isn't the internet great? Also, feel free to call Evolution Benefits at 860-678-3400/5560 and tell them to go to hell.

I've also just learned that the White House might actually veto something if this passes the House. You may call the White House Comment Line at 202-456-1111 and ask that President Bush support the health of HSAs and does indeed veto it, should it pass.

What a great country.

Vroom Vroom, Beep Beep

This article was just posted on AOL, but the information is rather dated, it seems. Since engines and motor oil are better made than they were in the past, it turns out you don't need to change it every 3,000 miles, as was long the case. Now, every 7,500 miles will suffice. According to AOL Autos contributor, Tom Torbjornsen -

"Ford Motor Company has followed GM into the extended oil change interval march. Four months ago (March of this year) Ford announced that they are revising engine oil change intervals to every 7500 miles. The reason? Quoting the article from the Associated Press dated March 22nd, 2007:

'Not only are modern oils better, modern engines are also better. You don't have carburetors metering poorly on winter mornings, tolerances are a lot tighter, and operating temperatures are typically a little hotter, helping to cook off the junk that accumulates in the oil. Ford contends that its customers prefer a set amount of miles between changes. The automaker also cites the environmental benefits that come from less waste oil, monetary savings, as well as extensive tests as positive aspects of the new recommendation.'"

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

This comes from an article that my brother sent me over a year ago, and that I've just read. He sends me a lot of emails. I've mentioned this before.

Richard Carlson, who has a website called Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, makes an excellent point about happiness. He uses the following metaphor -

"Here's a good way to look at it. Suppose you live in Miami and you wanted to take a road trip to New York. So you get in the car and head West. The question is, where would you end up? The answer, of course, is that you could end up in many locations depending on how far you drove, but by no means would you end up in New York! You're going the wrong way!"

So, if you are surrounded by things (and thoughts) that make you unhappy, then you probably aren't going to be happy. I guess if you started out by driving west and then hit the Pacific, you could turn around and eventually make it to New York, but it would take a lot longer than first identifying the direction in which you should head and then going there.

This post is kind of cheesy. Sorry. To make up for it, I will say that the aforementioned website reminds me of those Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey that they used to have on SNL. What ever happened to those? Here are some of my favorites -

"You know one thing that will really make a woman mad? Just run up and kick her in the butt. (P.S. This also works with men.)"

"How come the dove gets to be the peace symbol? How about the pillow? It has more feathers than the dove, and it doesn't have that dangerous beak."

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it."

Almost forgot my all-time fave-

"Whether they ever find life there or not, I think Jupiter should be considered an enemy planet."

MQOTD

"The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."

-Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

Has anyone else ever heard his middle name? Weird. I'll have to look that up now.
He seems to have been pretty ahead of his time on this point. I don't know if he really did anything about it, but I suppose he wasn't a physician so it wasn't really up to him.

On a somewhat unrelated note, there's a statue of Edison in downtown Brockton, MA where it looks like he's giving you the finger. It's pretty hilarious.

The Most Important Meal of the Day (Revisited)

More news on the health benefits (and healthy correlation) of eating breakfast. The New York Times recently published an article about the fact that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight. I think this is due to the fact that those are often people who lead more disciplined lives, getting up earlier and making better food choices and finding time for daily exercise. I have pointed out before that sumo wrestlers eat only two meals a day, and many nutritionists recommend that you eat many, smaller meals throughout the day.

I'd also like to point a site that has some great, quick pointers. Men's Health has a video segment called MH Minute.