Posted by Sean on June 30, 2009
11 Health Myths That May Surprise You – Well Blog – NYTimes.com.
A bood review from NY Times-Wellblog. This book talks about all those crazy medical myths your mother warned you about to keep you from doing idiotic things. For instance swallowing your gum has always been idiotic – but saying it will stay in your gut for 7 years??
Click on the link to read more.
Carpe Diem
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Posted by Sean on June 28, 2009
I swear the automation of a service can sometimes be frustrating. Twitter, while it is a great microblogging tool and social media sharing platform does not come without some serious annoying hiccups.
SPAM
Spam haunts my email inbox on a daily basis. I don’t think I need to give any gory details on how much you and I love SPAM.
Now with Twitter I’m getting SPAM-Slapped not once, but twice. I’m not only getting the infamous link baiters sending me tweets while I’m on Twitter but they also want me to follow them on Twitter. So I get messages like this in my inbox:
Now clearly this is a NO-DUH type of invite. Look closely at the picture. First of all these type of accounts always have some sort of sex-symbol-like female body-enticing avatar urging you to see more of them. Second, take a look at how many people they are following, and how many people are following them. Just a tad bit obvious with this account. They are following hundreds, but less than a handful are following them? Hmm getting more suspicious.
Finally take a look at their number of updates. Once again in this example it is horribly obvious. This has link-bait written all over it. How can you follow that many people and post less than a handful of updates? Hmm. The plot thickens.
So even after all that if you still choose to check out their official profile:
Are you surprised?
In the time it took me to get the notification email to the time it took me to click on their profile link they acquired an additional follower and followed 80 more people!
That’s super-human! How do they do that????
Maybe because ‘they’ aren’t actually human?
Oh by the way, did you see their ONE update? Amazing huh. Ooo there’s a link!? Maybe we should click it and find out more!?
I wouldn’t if I were you.
Ever heard of viruses? Spam? Malware?
Do yourself a favor, when you see invites from the likes of these Twits, just click the block button. Save yourself time, energy and headaches.
I’m just sayin’
Talk amongst yah-selves:
Posted in random | Tagged: spam, tweet, twitter | 16 Comments »
Posted by Sean on June 27, 2009
The fitness revolution continues.
Heh heh
Posted in humor | Tagged: cartoon, fitness, humor | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Sean on June 26, 2009
Image Source : DeviantART
*Blink*
It happens that fast.
The moment passes before you even realize it existed. Those moments of happiness, we all have them. For some reason we forget them. For some reason we take them for granted.
The cool breeze on a warm day.
The firm embrace of a hug from someone you love.
A warm blanket on a cold day.
The smell of freshly cut grass.
Happiness isn’t something that happens, it’s something you make. Make the most of the passing moments in your life. Be sure to enjoy every gift on your adventure. Because before you know it, the moment has passed.
Carpe Diem
Posted in words of wisdom | Tagged: words of wisdom | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Sean on June 26, 2009
Image Source: Bryan Christie Design
‘Do you have any allergies?’
This is something we nurses ask all our patients. It’s quite an important piece of your current and past medical history. It can determine the path of your plan of care in virtually everything that has to do with the maintenance of your health and wellness.
Here’s the problem:
‘No, I’m not allergic’ –
‘So you’re not allergic to anything? No allergies that you know of? (We ask this because it is clearly stated on the front and on every page of your chart’s order sheets that you in fact do have allergies)
‘No, I’m not allergic. I just can’t take Penicillin.’ –
‘Oh? You can’t take Penicillin? Why is that? What happens?’
‘Oh, I break out in some red rash thing. They tell me I also started havin’ trouble breathing’ –
‘They?’
‘Yeah, that doctor down at the other hospital’
Clearly you can see this can be and could have been a serious problem.
‘Do you have allergies?’ –
‘Oh yeah! Tons! Whew!”Don’t give me them pain meds. Pain meds make me nauseous. I get real sick to my stomach. I get dizzy and light-headed. My mouth gets real dry.’
‘If they give me that blood thinner stuff. I bruise real easy too.’
‘Oh, and once that doctor gave me Ibuprofen… or err.. That ant-eye-flamtry stuff. Boy did It make my stomach upset.’
(These are called side effects. These are not allergies.)
‘I see. We’ll be sure to let the doctor know about them.’ -
Posted in health | Tagged: medication | 12 Comments »
Posted by Sean on June 26, 2009
Image Source: seopher
I’m exhaustively happily doing research on my next school project. Research on a particular nursing subject, its applications to the current state of health care, medicine, the profession… blah.. blah.. blah.
I normally start by doing a simple internet search using my favorite : Google. I can’t say I use any other search engine in my travels. I do use Cooliris whenever I’m looking for images, but otherwise, I’m a habitual Googler’.
Any-hoo…
I was doing my initial search queries, gathering web pages, articles, blog post, new clippings, etc. I found a plethora of information (like I usually do). Well I always try to reference official professional citing and published works. I can usually find the ‘official’ stuff with Google, but I sometimes have to go the ‘official’ route. Official route being the formal search query databases. Everything from CINAHL, OVID, and all the other University-based databases.
I found even more information of course.
For any scholar student who has used a search query database, I don’t need to explain the complexities of getting it right and the difficulties of doing it wrong. Your word and preposition placement in your search queries can make or break your experience. Instead of honing in on that one piece of information you so greatly need… you could be running in circles perusing useless information and locating nothing.
The point of this story? (yes there is one)
In my official search using the database queries I found and selected the very same piece of material I searched for using Google. What took a great amount of skill, word placement, and multiple searches was accomplished with one search string using your run-of-the-mill internet search engine.
The internet is a wonderful thing indeed.
Go figure.
Posted in health | Tagged: google, health, school | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Sean on June 25, 2009
The latest installment of Change of Shift is up over at Rehab RN.
Be sure to visit this millennial edition BSN nurse and her ‘holiday’ edition of our beloved blog carnival.
I submitted a post.
As always a BIG THANK YOU to Kim over at Emergiblog for getting the CoS party started!
Carpe Diem
Posted in health | Tagged: change of shift | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Sean on June 25, 2009
Image Source: leadernotes
Problems are a part of life. We cross them in our everyday life whether we like it or not. Some of us have made a career out of dodging problems or encountering them. The bottom line is you have about as much control over when and where problems arise as you have over the weather.
Instead of complaining about the presence of the problem, or placing blame on whomever caused the problem, why not figure out how to solve the problem? Because the last time I checked, the problem doesn’t go away until its solved.
Screaming and yelling sure doesn’t make the problem any less severe.
Pointing fingers and avoiding its presence won’t eliminate it.
And pondering why the problem ever existed sure won’t make you or anyone else less stressed.
You’re either part of the problem, or part of the solution.
It’s your choice.
Carpe Diem
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Posted by Sean on June 24, 2009
Image Source: DeviantART
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for the rest of his life. I think we have all heard this quote before.
It’s not what you get at the end sometimes; it’s how you got it that matters more.
When I was growing up as a kid I would always ask my dad questions about my schoolwork. ‘Dad, what’s this mean?’. ‘Dad, how do you spell this?’. ‘What the heck is so-and-so?’
Now the easy solution and quickest way of getting me off his back would have been to simply just answer the question.
But that would only solved the temporary problem. Then tomorrow, when I had another question, he’d have another chore on his hands.
Instead, my father’s answer to EVERYTHING: ‘Look it up’ – as he pointed and motioned towards the large Encyclopedia collection. ( I can’t honestly say it was the infamous ‘Britannica’ collection, but it did the job)
So day in and day out, I’d ask the same type of questions. And day in and day out I’d get the same answer : ‘Look it up’.
After a while I started catching on. Dad wasn’t going to do the job for me. I wasn’t getting anywhere with him. It was easier just to ‘look it up’.
So by teaching me to ‘help myself’, my dad helped me for the rest of my life.
Don’t ask someone to chop your wood. Ask them to teach you how to chop it.
Carpe Diem
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