Many people use the Bible as support for violent and hateful behavior, but few are as straightforward about it as this man. He killed a 70-year-old developmentally disabled man with a rock. He said he did this because of a Biblical injunction to stone homosexuals.
Read more about it Here.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Free Crochet Stitches e-book and patterns
This free e-book is from the folks at www.AllFreeCrochet.com. The book is supposed to contain 10 free patterns and teach you 13 crochet stitches. It is 56 pages long. If you like it, you can go to their website for more patterns and tutorials. Enjoy. You can download the book here.
Great vintage 70s platform shoes
We went out this morning to St. Vincent de Paul, and I found a fantastic pair of vintage 70s shoes. They are in great shape, gently worn and a terrific buy at only $5.00. You can bet I was excited. We found a few other treasures to upcycle and had lunch at Casa Munoz. After that it was off to Pet Smart to load up on provisions for the four-legged members of the family. So here are a few pictures of my new (to me) shoes. I know you are jealous. They fit me great, but I haven't decided whether to keep them or sell them on ebay. They are a vintage bohemian treasure.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Fabric Search Engine is pretty darn cool!
Ever had a problem finding a fabric to match something? There is a great service online now to help you locate sources of fabric. It is an actual search engine that finds retail sources for fabric prints and textures. You simply take a digital photo of the fabric you want to match and upload it to the search engine. You can find it at http://www.findmyfabric.com .
Most doctors not qualified to treat chronic pain
I have a chronic pain condition, but I am luckier than many with a pain problem. I have a multi-disciplinary Pain Management Team who I see on a regular basis. I have a doctor, psychotherapist, and a physical therapist. They meet regularly and discuss my problems on a holistic level. Does that mean my pain is controlled? Hell no it doesn't--not right now anyway. It does mean that most of the time over the past two years it has been, and it means I have hope that it will be again before too much longer. It's a heck of a lot better than just suffering without anyone on my side.
The following article is about the lack of training most physicians have on chronic pain conditions and helps me remember just how lucky I am:
NATIONAL PANEL SOUNDS ALARM ABOUT LACK OF PHYSICIAN TRAINING TO TREAT CHRONIC PAIN
“Epidemic” of under-treatment affects more than 70 million Americans suffering from persistent back pain, headaches, joint pain; disproportionately affects minorities and low income
WASHINGTON, DC (November 4, 2009)-- Warning that patients shouldn’t assume their doctor has enough knowledge to treat their pain, a national panel of experts today called on medical schools to train doctors and nurses on the basics of pain care, reform the nation’s reimbursement system, and address pain as a public health crisis. The group insists that without health reforms and better training to diagnose and treat pain properly, people with untreated pain may face a lifetime of pain as a chronic illness – which could lead to job loss, depression and in some cases, even suicide.
“Doctors, who don’t lack for compassion or medical skills, often offer only limited treatments to patients disabled by chronic pain,” said Lonnie Zeltzer, M.D., co-chair of the panel, and the director of the Pediatric Pain Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. “With little or no specific training in pain management, and working in systems that make it much easier to treat common conditions like high blood pressure than a complex problem like pain, doctors may intend to help but leave most patients under-assessed and under-treated. Minorities, children and women often faced the highest risk of under-treatment.”
The panel, convened by the New York City-based Mayday Fund, included anesthesiologists, neurologists, primary care doctors, pediatricians, emergency physicians, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists and patient advocates (the full Committee is included below). After a conference in Washington D.C. and deliberations that lasted over several months, the panel’s report, A Call to Revolutionize Chronic Pain Care in America: An Opportunity in Health Care Reform, says pain is a huge public health problem. They developed several recommendations for government agencies, Congress and the medical community to address.
The report and recommendations have been endorsed by more than 30 organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, The Joint Commission, American Nurses Association, American College of Emergency Physicians, and the American Academy of Neurology (the list of current signatories is below).
“As we get closer to the possibility of health care reform, the frontlines of medicine - adult and pediatric primary care - could face enormous strains from millions of new patients seeking care for pain,” says Russell K. Portenoy, M.D., panel co-chair and the chairman of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. “Primary care is the first stop for people in pain, and both the training received by clinicians and the system of care should facilitate best practices in pain care, but this is not the way it is.”
The Mayday Fund Special Committee on Pain and the Practice of Medicine writes that chronic pain should be reframed as a chronic illness since “the burden of chronic pain is greater than that of diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.” People in chronic pain have longer hospital stays, and many duplicative tests and unproven treatments—all of which drive up the nation’s health care spending, the panel said.
Chronic pain costs the nation more than $100 billion a year in lost productivity and direct medical costs, the report says. “This is a wasteful system,” Portenoy adds. “Major reforms in the health care system are needed if we want to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of care for chronic illnesses, and pain is as much a chronic illness as diabetes and heart disease.” Although the impact of pain on patients and on society is among the most serious of public health concerns, chronic pain has been largely left out of the current national debate on health reform, the panel writes.
According to the report, about “one-third of people in pain report that their pain is disabling and has a high impact on their ability to function in daily life. Research suggests that the high cost of under-treated pain includes lost productivity. Pain is the second-leading cause of medically-related work absenteeism, resulting in more than 50 million lost workdays.”
The authors pay particular attention to the numerous studies that suggest low-income populations, minorities, women and children are more likely to be under-treated for pain or not receive pain care at all. If doctors do not recognize chronic pain as a serious illness, or as serious as others, or they perceive that pain complaints cannot, or should not, be treated, persistent pain results. In some cases, such as pain in young children and adults with dementia, patients may not report their pain, and under-assessment drives under-treatment.
“The tragedy of this system is that it leaves many people suffering from unrelenting pain,” says Zeltzer. “Pain that goes untreated may permanently change the body’s nervous system and may lead to pain that can be managed but never goes away.”
Federal policymakers have recognized the impact pain has on individuals and the health care system and have included provisions of the National Pain Care Policy Act 2009 (NPCPA) in health reform proposals. That bill calls for an Institute of Medicine Conference on Pain; increased funding for the National Institutes of Health to collaborate across institutes to find more effective treatments for pain and to better understand the biology of pain; a grant program to improve health professionals’ understanding of and ability to assess and treat pain; and better public education so that consumers understand the danger of letting pain go untreated.
“Remarkably, less than one percent of the NIH budget was devoted to pain in 2008,” Zeltzer said. “This amount is not commensurate with a public health problem of this magnitude.”
In addition to medical school reforms and expanded funding for pain management training programs, the panel cited specific measures that would ease this public health crisis. Among them:
•Health care providers, insurers and government agencies should eliminate disparities in access to pain care related to race, gender, age and socioeconomic status. All Americans in pain, including low-income Americans, should be offered timely and effective treatment for their pain.
•Government, health care payors and providers should develop coordinated health information technology (IT) systems to track pain disorders and treatments. Computerized IT systems can boost physicians’ knowledge about the best treatment for pain by providing them with best practice information quickly.
•The Department of Health and Human Services should reform payment to eliminate the current incentives that drive pain care toward procedures or unproven treatments. Primary care doctors should be reimbursed for the time it takes to provide comprehensive pain care to patients who are disabled by chronic pain—a system that can cost a little more up front, but often reduces the cost of treating pain over the long haul.
•The Surgeon General should mount a public education campaign to inform the public about the risks associated with under-treated pain. Consumers should understand that if they wait too long to treat acute pain they run the risk of developing a chronic syndrome, one that’s costly to treat and potentially disabling.
“Reducing the burden of uncontrolled chronic pain is a societal necessity, a medical challenge and an economic requirement,” the panel says.
The Mayday Fund is a New York City-based private philanthropy dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree and consequences of human physical pain. The Mayday Fund does not lobby or retain individuals or organizations to lobby. The panel participants are listed below. To obtain a copy of the report please visit www.MaydayPainReport.org. This article is the pain of the mayday Fund.
http://www.maydaypainreport.org/release.php
The following article is about the lack of training most physicians have on chronic pain conditions and helps me remember just how lucky I am:
NATIONAL PANEL SOUNDS ALARM ABOUT LACK OF PHYSICIAN TRAINING TO TREAT CHRONIC PAIN
“Epidemic” of under-treatment affects more than 70 million Americans suffering from persistent back pain, headaches, joint pain; disproportionately affects minorities and low income
WASHINGTON, DC (November 4, 2009)-- Warning that patients shouldn’t assume their doctor has enough knowledge to treat their pain, a national panel of experts today called on medical schools to train doctors and nurses on the basics of pain care, reform the nation’s reimbursement system, and address pain as a public health crisis. The group insists that without health reforms and better training to diagnose and treat pain properly, people with untreated pain may face a lifetime of pain as a chronic illness – which could lead to job loss, depression and in some cases, even suicide.
“Doctors, who don’t lack for compassion or medical skills, often offer only limited treatments to patients disabled by chronic pain,” said Lonnie Zeltzer, M.D., co-chair of the panel, and the director of the Pediatric Pain Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. “With little or no specific training in pain management, and working in systems that make it much easier to treat common conditions like high blood pressure than a complex problem like pain, doctors may intend to help but leave most patients under-assessed and under-treated. Minorities, children and women often faced the highest risk of under-treatment.”
The panel, convened by the New York City-based Mayday Fund, included anesthesiologists, neurologists, primary care doctors, pediatricians, emergency physicians, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists and patient advocates (the full Committee is included below). After a conference in Washington D.C. and deliberations that lasted over several months, the panel’s report, A Call to Revolutionize Chronic Pain Care in America: An Opportunity in Health Care Reform, says pain is a huge public health problem. They developed several recommendations for government agencies, Congress and the medical community to address.
The report and recommendations have been endorsed by more than 30 organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, The Joint Commission, American Nurses Association, American College of Emergency Physicians, and the American Academy of Neurology (the list of current signatories is below).
“As we get closer to the possibility of health care reform, the frontlines of medicine - adult and pediatric primary care - could face enormous strains from millions of new patients seeking care for pain,” says Russell K. Portenoy, M.D., panel co-chair and the chairman of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. “Primary care is the first stop for people in pain, and both the training received by clinicians and the system of care should facilitate best practices in pain care, but this is not the way it is.”
The Mayday Fund Special Committee on Pain and the Practice of Medicine writes that chronic pain should be reframed as a chronic illness since “the burden of chronic pain is greater than that of diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.” People in chronic pain have longer hospital stays, and many duplicative tests and unproven treatments—all of which drive up the nation’s health care spending, the panel said.
Chronic pain costs the nation more than $100 billion a year in lost productivity and direct medical costs, the report says. “This is a wasteful system,” Portenoy adds. “Major reforms in the health care system are needed if we want to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of care for chronic illnesses, and pain is as much a chronic illness as diabetes and heart disease.” Although the impact of pain on patients and on society is among the most serious of public health concerns, chronic pain has been largely left out of the current national debate on health reform, the panel writes.
According to the report, about “one-third of people in pain report that their pain is disabling and has a high impact on their ability to function in daily life. Research suggests that the high cost of under-treated pain includes lost productivity. Pain is the second-leading cause of medically-related work absenteeism, resulting in more than 50 million lost workdays.”
The authors pay particular attention to the numerous studies that suggest low-income populations, minorities, women and children are more likely to be under-treated for pain or not receive pain care at all. If doctors do not recognize chronic pain as a serious illness, or as serious as others, or they perceive that pain complaints cannot, or should not, be treated, persistent pain results. In some cases, such as pain in young children and adults with dementia, patients may not report their pain, and under-assessment drives under-treatment.
“The tragedy of this system is that it leaves many people suffering from unrelenting pain,” says Zeltzer. “Pain that goes untreated may permanently change the body’s nervous system and may lead to pain that can be managed but never goes away.”
Federal policymakers have recognized the impact pain has on individuals and the health care system and have included provisions of the National Pain Care Policy Act 2009 (NPCPA) in health reform proposals. That bill calls for an Institute of Medicine Conference on Pain; increased funding for the National Institutes of Health to collaborate across institutes to find more effective treatments for pain and to better understand the biology of pain; a grant program to improve health professionals’ understanding of and ability to assess and treat pain; and better public education so that consumers understand the danger of letting pain go untreated.
“Remarkably, less than one percent of the NIH budget was devoted to pain in 2008,” Zeltzer said. “This amount is not commensurate with a public health problem of this magnitude.”
In addition to medical school reforms and expanded funding for pain management training programs, the panel cited specific measures that would ease this public health crisis. Among them:
•Health care providers, insurers and government agencies should eliminate disparities in access to pain care related to race, gender, age and socioeconomic status. All Americans in pain, including low-income Americans, should be offered timely and effective treatment for their pain.
•Government, health care payors and providers should develop coordinated health information technology (IT) systems to track pain disorders and treatments. Computerized IT systems can boost physicians’ knowledge about the best treatment for pain by providing them with best practice information quickly.
•The Department of Health and Human Services should reform payment to eliminate the current incentives that drive pain care toward procedures or unproven treatments. Primary care doctors should be reimbursed for the time it takes to provide comprehensive pain care to patients who are disabled by chronic pain—a system that can cost a little more up front, but often reduces the cost of treating pain over the long haul.
•The Surgeon General should mount a public education campaign to inform the public about the risks associated with under-treated pain. Consumers should understand that if they wait too long to treat acute pain they run the risk of developing a chronic syndrome, one that’s costly to treat and potentially disabling.
“Reducing the burden of uncontrolled chronic pain is a societal necessity, a medical challenge and an economic requirement,” the panel says.
The Mayday Fund is a New York City-based private philanthropy dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree and consequences of human physical pain. The Mayday Fund does not lobby or retain individuals or organizations to lobby. The panel participants are listed below. To obtain a copy of the report please visit www.MaydayPainReport.org. This article is the pain of the mayday Fund.
http://www.maydaypainreport.org/release.php
Quilter's Haven is having a sewing machine floor model sale
39 days to Easter
I just received an email with the subject line, "39 days to Easter." Now, I am subscribed to tons of religious blogs and websites, but this email didn't come from any of them. It came from a jewelry store. It was, in fact, spam. I found it to be an interesting statement on society.
My Cult Life
For anyone who has experienced negative, "cult-like", religious groups, here is a great site. It is called "My Cult Life" and has terrific information on Bible-based cults.
Friday morning thoughts
I'm just sitting here watching my sweetie get ready for work. An ambulance just passed. My sweetie said, "May all people be free of suffering." I concur. So what do I want to get out of this blog? It would be nice if it could benefit other people, but I started it to benefit myself in some way.
I need something productive to do on the days when my pain prevents me from other activity. I guess that posting about politics and social issues could benefit others. Posting about life in general might help, but what do I have to offer? I guess I could also post about ways people could benefit themselves financially--like clearance offers and giveaways--but I'm not a financial adviser by any means. So I could post coupons or something perhaps?
I think I have the blog set so that readers can't make comments, but maybe not--I haven't quite got it figured out yet. I guess if I get comments I'll know. I'm not really sure if I want comments. I'll be thinking about what I want, and posting about it as I get it worked out.
I know I will posting about issues of chronic pain, because I can't help thinking about them. I only have a few followers, so I'll try not to burn them out too much.
I need something productive to do on the days when my pain prevents me from other activity. I guess that posting about politics and social issues could benefit others. Posting about life in general might help, but what do I have to offer? I guess I could also post about ways people could benefit themselves financially--like clearance offers and giveaways--but I'm not a financial adviser by any means. So I could post coupons or something perhaps?
I think I have the blog set so that readers can't make comments, but maybe not--I haven't quite got it figured out yet. I guess if I get comments I'll know. I'm not really sure if I want comments. I'll be thinking about what I want, and posting about it as I get it worked out.
I know I will posting about issues of chronic pain, because I can't help thinking about them. I only have a few followers, so I'll try not to burn them out too much.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
From Change.org - Curing Gay People?
"Curing" gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people? Yep, there’s an app for that -- unless we can convince Apple to get rid of it.
A controversy is erupting around a new application for the iPhone that claims gay people can be "cured," and that gay kids should be put through therapy to "fix" their sexual orientation.
Believe it or not, Apple is providing Exodus International -- an organization that promotes "conversion therapy" to try to brainwash gay people into turning straight -- a platform on iTunes for their homophobic iPhone app. This, despite the fact that Exodus believes that LGBT people should be confronted with "spiritual warfare," and that "freedom from homosexuality" should be a societal goal.
Worse, Apple has given the Exodus app a 4+ rating on iTunes, labeling the app "non-offensive," even though the group tells gay kids that their sexual orientation is "immoral," "satanic," and in need of a cure -- factors that contribute to teen suicide.
The grassroots group Truth Wins Out has started a petition on Change.org, asking Apple to follow their own editorial standards -- and remove this dangerous "ex-gay" app from iTunes now. The more signatures they deliver, the more likely Apple executives -- like Steve Jobs -- will do the right thing. Click here to add your name.
Apple has been a strong ally to the LGBT community for years, even donating $100,000 to defeat California’s Proposition 8, the state’s ban on marriage equality. Just a few months ago, Apple actually removed another app from iTunes that labeled same-sex couples "immoral sexual partnerships."
Exodus International’s "ex-gay" app deserves to be pulled from iTunes as well. "Conversion therapy" has been universally condemned by every major medical and scientific organization around the world. The American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, and American Counseling Association have all rejected "ex-gay" therapy, saying that it results in catastrophic damage to the mental health of its victims.
Please click here to sign the petition to Apple executives, asking them to stand up for equality and remove this dangerous iPhone app from iTunes now:
Thanks for joining us -- and sharing this petition with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. With your support, we know Apple will do the right thing.
- Eden and the Change.org team
What the heck is going on with my shoulders?
This is what the inside of the shoulder area looks like (in a cartoonish sort of way). I have a feeling there are little demons of some sort living in all the empty spaces in my shoulders, gnawing and jabbing and tearing away. Hopefully, when I go see my pain specialist on Monday he'll have a better explanation. I've been told I had a torn rotator cuff, bursitis, fibromyalgia, and periarthritis. So far, I'm going with microdemons.
What's happening at Japan nuclear plant?
I have tried to find a good article on the Japanese nuclear crisis, but I have mostly found that American's are just worried about ourselves. The quote above is from this article at the Los Angeles Times."Those are pretty brave people," David Brenner, the director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Medical Center, said of the workers. "There are going to be some martyrs among them."
Satellite pictures of Japan, before and after the Tsunami
The New York Times: Satellite pictures of Japan, before and after. These pictures tell the story of how powerful the Earth really is.
We are reminded of our place in the ecosystem and how limited our grasp is over nature. I am going to try and find a good article on the issue of the nuclear plants in Japan and post it as soon as possible.
We are reminded of our place in the ecosystem and how limited our grasp is over nature. I am going to try and find a good article on the issue of the nuclear plants in Japan and post it as soon as possible.
House votes to defund NPR
This is one of the most ridiculous things that has come out of the new congress. NPR is an extremely important part of American culture. I urge you to support NPR. You can read the Washington Post story about it here.
Katie's Kitchen
My daughter Katheryn has a great cooking and nutrition related blog called Katie's Kitchen. Check it out for some great kitchen-tested recipes. After watching her blog blossom, I decided to give it a try myself. I'm not as organized as she is, but I'm willing to try my hand at it.
Why Blue Randomness?
I decided to name my blog Blue Randomness, because I have been pretty blue lately. I also have been overwhelmed by random thoughts. Most of this is connected with my constant pain of late. It is hard to stay focused on one thing when you are constantly interrupted by pain. I will be posting about a number of things. Art, sewing, politics, who knows, even the disaster in Japan maybe.
One thing is for sure--I am pretty erratic, so my posting is likely to be pretty erratic also.
One thing is for sure--I am pretty erratic, so my posting is likely to be pretty erratic also.
Just Trying to Make it Through the Day
Yes, I have started a new blog with nothing much to say.
I'm just trying to make it through the day.
Come back for more when I've built it up.
I'm just trying to make it through the day.
Come back for more when I've built it up.
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