http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog But hey, madmen need diaries too. Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:47:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I recently commented on a post by Dr. Stacy Beller Stryer at Dr. Val's new digs.  Today, Dr. Stryer responded.  Before I get started, I'd like to thank both of them for taking time out of their schedules to respond.  That said, I was somewhat dismayed by its failure to ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=381 Introduction I am a regular reader of Dr. Rob. And a big fan. Very cool site for both patients and medical professionals. He has a clear focus on advocacy and education (both us and patients). Recently he posted an entry about vaccines which I felt to compelled ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=360 Classical Values, a regular read of mine, posted an excellent piece about a salon owner who's been sued for failing to hire a burqa-wearing applicant. Values sums it up well: The owner here was placed in a classic damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't position. Had she hired this whining, covered woman, and had her ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=359 Americans spend more on healthcare than any other industrialized nation. With the election looming closer, it's almost impossible to pay attention to current events without hearing it every single minute of every single day. Unfortunately, we never hear the two corollaries. 1) The quality of our medical ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=358 ...Actually measuring it accurately. This goes for research as well as in clinical practice. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Possibly because I was trained in a much more rigorous science before I started on my way in the medical profession (third year medical student). Also ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=357 It's been a busy umm 15 months? Third year of medical school is winding down. I still haven't revived my primatology career. The endless and painful process of rehabilitating myself and staying as functional as possible, as long as possible, while living with RSD is--well--endless and painful. ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=356 One of the best friends I'll ever have died on October 31, 2006. Eric Shockley drowned in his own body fluids in a hospital bed, in his early 30's. A couple years ago his aorta started to balloon. They were able to patch it and replace the ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=355 I've been arguing with anti-gunnies for a few years now. And the one thing that strikes me about these people is they have no fear of being violently attacked. Whether or not this fear is rational is beside the point. The thing is that they are unable ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=354 With the growing popularity of concealed carry licenses has also come a ballooning number of establishments that prohibit firearms upon their premises. Employee and customer alike must obey these dictates. And--often angrily--they wonder why their 'right to bear arms' doesn't extend to these places of business. The answer of ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=352 My first contribution at the Liberty Papers in months The essence of the post has been seen on this blog a hundred times before. Intellectimpure will soon be complaining that I'm not saying anything new. Which is true. But liberty papers now gets more readers than I do. So ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=351 Amazingly enough within a couple of hours of writing yesterday's post and heading to school, I was assaulted by yet another piece on the horrors of debt. This one in the OU student newspaper. Apparently 'some students don't realize future implications of frequent credit card use.' Not going to ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=348 Headline News had a little spiel about how more people are cutting back on holiday spending and are worried about credit card debt than this time last year. They blame the usual culprit: cost of living. What they didn't ask was what level people are living at. What I'd ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=347 For just about any other kind of health problem, we talk about how lifestyle (diet, exercise, etc.) plays a huge role in the etiology of disease. Lifestyle changes can prevent disease, they can slow its progression, and in some cases even reverse it, depending on what we're talking about. Diabetes, ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=346 Rosie O'Donnell made a comment today about how we shouldn't fear the terrorists: Faith or fear, that's your choice. You can walk through life believing in the goodness of the world, or walk through life afraid of anyone who thinks different than you and trying to convert them to your way ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=345 We were talking about The 300 on the med school discussion board. Of course, a couple of the meatheads mentioned that we would've loved to be born in such a time. Which incited me to mention that the Velamas today are a far cry from our warrior past, ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=344 Yeah, limited blogging until at least the end of this week. Possibly forever. *shrug* Anyway, I heard an Orlando Magic fan had his season ticket revoked because he called Dikembe Mitumbo a monkey. Apparently that's racist. I've had a lot of racial slurs thrown at me over the ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=343 So. This is an ugly time in our Nation's history. Far uglier than the Civil War and Reconstruction. Much worse than the Depression--although the seeds of today were planted by FDR, his four freedoms, and even moreso his massive ego. Claire Wolfe puts it succinctly in the opening ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=342 Ben Folds Five - Philosophy Go ahead you can Laugh all you want I got my philosophy Keeps my feet on the ground And I trust it like the ground And thats why my philosophy It keeps me walking when Im falling down I see that there is evil And I know that there is good And the inbetweens I never ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=341 You know what pisses me off? Being called conservative. You know what pisses me off even more? When pseudosocialists call themselves 'liberal'. Do you know what pisses me off more than either of those? Being told to vote for Democrats since I'm fed up with Republicans. That one exposes just how statist and juvenile the modern ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=340 At the moment we're well within that 60 day period during which our First Amendment rights cease to exist courtesy of Sen. McCain's insane publicity-driven political posturing. Which makes me angry. But I saw an ad air on TV that cleverly sidesteps that bit of legislative retardation. ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=339 Guy on a Focaljet asked this question and posted his top ten. Mine were slightly different. The one commonality, healthcare reform, showed just how different our ideologies and thought processes were. I wanted to reform it into a true market system with posted prices and employer-insurance decoupling. ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=338 If you're a firearms enthusiast you've probably heard of Norinco. They're a chinese manufacturer of a lot of weapon-related tech. What makes buying Norinco different from buying other Chinese stuff is that they are a profit center for the People's Liberation Army. Who they're liberating and who they've kept ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=337 This is my personal take on buddhism, a combination of a strong spiritual upbringing and some scholarly dabbling in college. The Dalai Lama almost certainly has a different interpretation. I hope this clears up some of the misconceptions about Buddhism, and explains somethign of the differences between the ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=336 70 years ago, the Indian symbol for good fortune was appropriated by an ambitious German politician to denote his Third Reich. The symbol that had graced everything from doorways to jewelry for thousands of years was in a moment's space twisted into a representation of one of the most ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=335 ...maybe we'd finally get included in these massive diversity initiatives all over the place. Thanks to the apologists at CAIR who'd much rather guilt trip Americans than actually reform their own religion, the bleeding hearts who think that if we all just hold hands and sing Kumbaiah around a campfire world ... http://www.indiancowboy.net/blog/?p=334