Thursday July 12, 2012
Critical Miami Podcast, episode 1!
Here it is, finally: the inaugural episode of the Critical Miami Podcast with me and Steve. We talk about How Rick Scott closed Florida’s last tuberculosis clinic just as the worst TB outbreak in 20 years was hitting the state, whether there should be a casino on the Miami Herald site, pit bull laws, and Don Rickles. If you’re, like, sexy-nerdy and you know what to do with a podcast feed, here it is. iTunes feed coming soon (like, tomorrow), all ready to rock but meantime you can listen here, or download the mp3.
Episode Links
- Tuberculosis transmission
- Florida’s worst TB outbreak in 20 years kept secret (Palm Beach Post)
- Rick Scott Shuts Down TB Hospital Amid ‘Worst Outbreak in 20 Years’ (Mother Jones
- Don Rickles
- Genting Group downsizes plans for Miami resort site (Miami Herald)
- 7 key moments in Casino debate (Miami Herald)
- Miamians Duped by Casino’s Siren Call
- What’s up with Pit Bulls?
- Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States (Vet Med Today)
- Obalesque
- Germans love David Hasslehoff
Monday August 13, 2007
Somewhat relevant to our discussion about beating the heat, the Herald profiles the Hash House Harriers. “Not runners with a drinking problem, but drinkers with a running problem.” Turns out that running and drinking is a global thing. The lesson is clear: you gain more hydration from drinking beer then you loose through the alcohol. (thanks Steve)
Tuesday August 7, 2007
Tips for dealing with the summer heat
The Herald has tips for dealing with the summer heat. Don’t bother — it’s the usual stuff. Here’s some real advice (the comments are for what I’ve missed):
- Cower in your air-conditioned house for the next month or you will get heatstroke and die.
- It’s nice out early in the morning. I went for a bike ride around dawn (6 am) today and it was almost cool out, and there was a layer of dew on everything.
- When photographing in the sun, stand with your back to it. If your subject is 5 feet or closer, turn on your flash — it will make the shadows less harsh.
- Scientists have recently discovered that contrary to popular belief beer is too (yes it is) a good way to stay hydrated. Sure the alcohol de-hydrates you a little, but the effect is more then offset by the actual beer. If you don’t have beer, try water.
- Take your car to your mechanic and have them top off your freon.
- Be one of those cool people walking around with an umbrella. When people chuckle, chuckle back. You’ll get the last laugh.
- Get a tan, but do it gradually, with short exposure building up over time. Once you’re tan you can stay in the sun longer.
- Try going to Bogotá (elevation: 8,661 ft, and right off the equator) for a few weeks and walk around. The Miami sun will start to seem like a weak, distant light bulb.
- If you’re out and you’re really hot and you suddenly stop sweating or get feverish, congratulations: you’ve got heatstroke. Call 911 (seriously) and get as cool as you can as fast as you can while you wait. A bath filled with ice would not be overkill. See here.
Monday February 12, 2007
What's up with a trans-fat ban?
I can’t possibly begin to explain how much this crap bugs me. For those not following along, there’s been a wave of anti-trans-fat legislation sweeping the nation. It started when New York City banned it in December, and now Miami-Dade is getting in on the act.
Trans fat (aka Trans fatty acids) is some nasty stuff. (The 2¢ version of the science is that hydrogen atoms are added to existing fats, changing their molecular structure. Hey look, now they’re partially hydrogenated.) Restaurants and especially fast-food joints love the stuff, because it lasts forever without going rancid like other oils, and because it makes stuff taste deeee-licious. The bad news is that it’s a completely artificial food-like substance, and it will hasten the death of you. Trans fats pretty much stick around in your arteries forever, causing coronary heart disease and probably contributing to cancer and diabetes. Plus, ingested regularly, it will make you fat beyond your wildest dreams.
So, let’s get rid of it, right? We’ll save millions on public health costs, and all the kids complaining about slightly-less-delicious fries will thank us later. We’ve banned smoking and heroin, and those were way more fun then stupid artificial fats.
Not so fast. Trans fats are different. I would personally love to ban them from my diet, but passing a law against them crosses a creepy line. There is a very reasonable argument that smoking hurts people standing around the smoker. Even when you’re outside and it sounds silly, at least there a theoretical possibility of second hand smoke. No such luck with trans fats — you can stuff your face with them in my immediate presence and my exposure risk is nil. So this is strictly about looking out for our fellow humans, and the aforementioned public health bill.
But the public health argument doesn’t lead to a slippery slope — it falls off the edge of a cliff. We’re well into the territory of telling you what you can and can’t eat if we go for this ban. This opens so many doors that our self-appointed protectors won’t know where to turn next. How about how much sugar is in certain foods? How about things that pretend to be vegetables and aren’t? How about that other artificially-created horrible-for-you food-like substance, high fructose corn syrup? But you know, it’s not any one food you eat in isolation, it’s really the sum total of you diet that is or isn’t healthy. So really we should be keeping up with everyone’s whole diet.
The other reason this ban is an idiotic idea is that there is an equally effective and much less intrusive alternative: mandatory labeling. It’s the American way! As of January, Food sold in stores must list trans fats content (reports have food makers reformulating foods like Oreos to replace the dreaded stuff). Let’s just require restaurants to indicated which foods contain trans fats. Say, with a skull and crossbones icon.
Consider that an outright ban is a ban on certain types of food. Have we come so far in this country since September 11 that we’re ready to try to protect ourselves by banning food? And don’t kid yourself, only in a post-9-11 world America this be thinkable. We’ve gotten so used to the government taking things away “for our safety” and without any logical justification that this actually doesn’t sound unreasonable. “Sorry comrade, but you can’t take that water bottle on the plane.” What?! New York City should be ashamed of itself, and nobody who cares about freedom should emulate their example.
Update: In the New Times, Tamara Lush surveys locals about trans fats. The overwhelming majority miss the point and say shit like “well if they’re bad, then ban ‘em!”
Tuesday December 12, 2006
What, people are still going on cruises? What are they, stupid? “The world’s largest cruise ship was held in port Monday for intensive cleaning after a second outbreak of gastrointestinal illness in two voyages sickened 106 people.“ Norovirus!
Wednesday September 27, 2006
Wednesday May 24, 2006
Nice: Channel 10 tested the ice at a number of local restaurants just to see if it had, say, fecal material on it. Well, whadya know, they came up positive in quite a number of cases. Click the link for a list of places you may want to avoid, and wonder about the places they didn’t test (or the guy who scooped some ice after sloppy wiping right after Channel 10 left). Personally, I don’t get too worried about stuff like this, but I’m heartened to see Jerry’s on the list of non-fecal bacteria list.
