Louis Gray dropped more science yesterday on the FFundercats that keeps swimming in my brain... Even if the community disappeared, FriendFeed is still a kick-ass aggregator and a great way to keep up with all your FFeople's digitial happenings.
Subtext: If you think of leaving, don't delete your account. We'll still find it valuable.
- Louis Gray
Sub-subtext: We'll still find your feed valuable, but we will talk about you behind your back regarding your lack of participation. LOL
- Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF
Sub-sub-subtext: We'll find you and beat you until you come back.
- Josh Haley
Sub-x4-text: ...turn yourself around, and that's what it's all a-bout *clap clap* And repeat.
- Micah Wittman
Sorry if that's your business - I'm cool with the model. I've just heard that several times in the last week. :-)
- Jesse Stay
http://www.nytimes.com/2009... "ONE new company trying to add transparency to the business is Likes.com of San Francisco, which plans to introduce its ad network in December. The company encourages bloggers and Twitter users to specify their tastes in restaurants, movies, books and other products, and then to publish those recommendations to their blogs and social network pages."
- Gary Burd
I'm cool with that - how many revolutions in online advertising can you have though? I just hate the word "revolution". The Kynetx guys were doing that last week too and it was driving me nuts. I still love their technology, but the word drives me nuts.
- Jesse Stay
Jesse - we were just being tongue-in-cheeck :)) Of course it's not a revolution.. we are a small start-up.
- Bindu Reddy
Note the :) at the end of the sentence :).
- Gary Burd
Bindu, how much did it cost to get that excellent domain name? You should also grab retweets.com because Twitter uses the term "retweet" for "like."
- Gary Burd
Maybe likes.com would buy @likes at twitter.
- Lizunlong
Bindu, I know, and I can't wait to see what you're doing. I've just heard that phrase too many times in the last week. That's why it makes me want to scream. :-)
- Jesse Stay
How big will likes.com have to get before they buy like.com also, just to avoid confusion?
- Cristo
The domain name ilike.com only cost Murdoch $20 million :). The name also came with an excellent engineering team and a service with lots of users.
- Gary Burd
The domain name is a whole story to itself... It cost a ton of money and it was complex deal which involves two payments/interesting contract terms etc :))
- Bindu Reddy
Cristo - LOL :) One day you can sell likezs.com for $20 M :))
- Bindu Reddy
I own stay.am - wondering what I could sell it for
- Jesse Stay
Bindu, I know. You'll buy it from me because you don't want your traffic going to my porn site. :)
- Cristo
Cristo, who know it may be the other way around.. esp if your porn site takes off :)
- Bindu Reddy
A lot more came with iLike than just the iLike domain name, service, user base, and popular facebook app. It also came with garageband.com which was owned by iLike.
- April Russo (app103)
Cristo: If you registered that domain name in 1992, it wouldn't have cost anything. You didn't pay for domains back then.
- Gabe
I am starting to feel a bit like one of the few "last men standing" on FF... Maybe if we all unite we can make Friendfeed a trending topic on Twitter and poach from there :)
Great. I just need to get to know the new people than? I still want to attempt to make it a trending topic. Maybe we pick a time and post about how cool it is :)
- Bindu Reddy
Ah Chris can definitely help with this? :)
- Bindu Reddy
The powers of FFundercats and Chris combined will definitely do it.
- EricaJoy
...don't know about other FFers, but I've been so busy at work wrapping lots of year-end stuff, and travelling a little, that I don't spend as much time on Friendfeed as I'd like. OTOH, the great thing about Twitter is, that with so many mobile apps for it, it's so much easier to "take with you." Yes, FFTogo is still around, but it's not the same...
- .LAG liked that
I still see new people joining FF. Now all we have to do is find some way to bring back at least some of those who left. Of course, the Facebook haters are lost forever...
- Dennis Jernberg
این فید باعث افتخار فرندفیده. چی کردی سارا جون :))))
- 1Fathi
یک فتحی کلن سارا باعث افتخار فرندفیده :)))))))))))))
- AɖoɱidƏ
چه تحویلی هم میگیره خودش رو. ندزدنت این اجنبی ها :)))
- 1Fathi
یک فتحی برو بچ فرندفید نمیذارن :))))))))))
- AɖoɱidƏ
بلی ناتان کاملن حواسم هست به این موضوع :))))))))))))))
- AɖoɱidƏ
سارا. من کامپیوترم خسته است. تحمل این فید سنگین رو نداره. آیدی فرندفیدت رو تو جیتاک اد کردم. بعدا درباره اعتماد نکردن به این فرندفیدی ها با هم بیشتر حرف میزنیم. فقط عشق است ناتان :)))
- 1Fathi
Gary, some basic php form handling code but I am getting all screwed up with the CSS. Louis - it's not bad enough that is is called Lika "holix" :)
- Bindu Reddy
Cristo, I have a deadline.. So have to finish.. but the chicory stout from Dogfish head totally rocks :)
- Bindu Reddy
Thinking about your problems in a different light is always a good thing.
- Hayes Haugen
One way of looking at it. I have made no progress on the code..I have just been fooling around on FF and twitter
- Bindu Reddy
I used to consume quite a bit (for me) of the Midas Touch Golden Elixir from Dogfish Head. I love the story.
- MiniMage TKDteacher of FF
Gabe, That reminds me of Asterix. Did you read any of those comics. Gregg, thanks for that I am going to try the midas touch next. Am beginning to love DogFish head more and more :)
- Bindu Reddy
It's funny, I joined friendfeed just to connect further with my brother...I got that for a time, but in a larger sense I connected with a community and discovered so many interesting people and so many noteworthy stories. Despite what I've written before, to Paul Bucheit and the rest of the friendfeed team, I will forever be grateful for the...
Amen, Alex. I have come to know more people through FF than I ever could have imagined. It may not be as geeky as it was when I first joined, but the community has grown & improved. Kudos to all of you (devs & users) for giving me that. :)
- JA Castillo
You are my favorite Scoble by far! (Sorry, Robert) ;)
- Jorge Escobar
Hmmm.. sounds like the speech that is said before the music is queued up and the lovely ladies come from stage right to escort you off. But Then again.. thanks are not said enough in life so say it often. ;)
- CW™
They already do. My DROID syncs with my Facebook and Google contacts, converging them both for the same contact on either network. Don't ask me how that's done though
- LANjackal
You mean your DRIOD can get to the email addresses of your facebook contacts?
- Bindu Reddy
Yep, as well as any numbers, addresses or work positions they have listed on FB
- LANjackal
from IM
There's a reason contact management on the DROID has been praised as the best implementation thereof in the smartphone arena, if not anywhere period
- LANjackal
from IM
""Open" is a great thing. Everyone likes it." Maybe everyone you know ;)
- Clare Dibble
a friend of mine has a bb storm and it integrates w/ facebook (when i call him, my facebook avatar shows up... etc etc) -- the Droid being able to combine contact lists and merge them when applicable sounds like the next step
- Chris Heath
It's still not open. That data is locked into the built in contacts app and you can't get it at an api level. Android 2.0 has a complete (well, half-baked) contact model that allows aggregating contact info. Not to mention that when I entered my contact info into facebook that I understood it was going to be shared that way. But from an end-user standpoint it's great!
- Hayes Haugen
@LANJackal that sounds great... I guess my information is dated than..
- Bindu Reddy
Very great post. One of the best. This share remember me with two other great peoples described by Katie Hafner is his book (Where the wizards stay up late): Vint Cerf (you known what i mean) and Dave Clark (by his famous quote : "we reject kings presidents and voting. we believe in rough consensus and running code.") With an "open" mind like yours, they make with days, months, years, a very great open life fluid. I'm very happy to follow you. As Louis Gray says : Please keep blogging. Thank you.
- Guy Vander Heyden
Have you ever had to stop following a particular user because of the sickly-sweet responses given to each and every post they publish? I have.
- Christopher Harley
Yes, and finally I not only had to stop following them I had to hide their posts. Which was sad, because I really liked the content they linked, but the comments were a little too SQUEEE for me to handle.
- Andrizzle Gizzle
I actually have no idea who it could be.
- Josh Haley
comments that could qualify as sickly-sweet are those which aren't genuine. it is rather rare yet humorous on occasion :D
- Mike Chelen
I have no idea, either. But I'm thinking it isn't me. Oh noes.....
- WorldofHiglet
I'm not really sure who you're talking about, but no, I haven't hidden anyone because of sickly sweet responses. Maybe we just have different reactions to them. The only people I try to avoid are the trolls and cranks...
- John (a.k.a. dendroica)
dendroica: me neither, but have found myself doing the same from time to time
- Mike Chelen
from IM
Others that left FF for twitter in the great Scoble Walk out are coming back because they learned that Twitter has too much noise as they complained many times here. So they come back and see similar great information and conversations continuing without the noise.
- CW™
no it was just Chrome OS i think that led to a large number of posts flowing in but now ff is not much
- testbeta
Learning curve: 1. Friendfeed is cool. 2. Twitter may be cooler than Friendfeed. 3. No, Friendfeed is much cooler than Twitter. 4. There is no alternative or competitor to Friendfeed out there.
- Sean McBride
I don't really know. It seems steamy to me.
- Sarah June
Anytime someone tries to make broad generalizations about the community in FF or any decentralized social networking site without published global metrics, I think it's important to remind them that your view of the social network is purposefully tinted by the friends and connections you make there. Your FriendFeed is very different than my FriendFeed and generally very different from anyone who doesn't share the same overlapping set of connections that you do.
- Bill Strathearn
So close! Soon this will be ours! The last steps are now in motion. I know this looks like a thousand other suburban houses. The difference is, this is *our* suburban house. Plus, it really is pretty neat on the inside. Pics soon, when we officially have the keys!
Never thought I'd be in Carmel... Used to be so annoyed with that place. Jealous really... So, if you can't beat them, join them, I guess. Especially in the Indianapolis area.
- Kamilah Gill
Thank you, everyone. Now we're waiting for conditions to clear underwriting and get sent to the title company... Anyone have anything to say about this bit of the process? I guess once these mysterious underwriters get done with us, we will finally officially and totally have the home loan.
- Kamilah Gill
Have my room ready. I got you on the cookies.
- Derrick
Awesome I can't wait to see some pictures of the inside!
- Andrizzle Gizzle
Andrea, those pics you liked earlier show a little bit of the interior. We'll probably get better pics once more stuff is moved in, and maybe during whatever housewarming activities we end up doing.
- Kamilah Gill
Sorry I should have said some MORE pics, couldn't see too much from the ones earlier but the kitchen looks cute! I love seeing houses when they are all empty and then when they are filled with someone's things.
- Andrizzle Gizzle
I think our walls are also the same/similar color as the ones in the house too. Hopefully I do not seem like a crazy person right now.
- Andrizzle Gizzle
Nope, no more crazy than usual, Andrea ;) (j/k)
- Kamilah Gill
I AM A CRAZY PERSON WHAT IS THE PANTONE COLOR OF YOUR WALLSSSSSSSS
- Andrizzle Gizzle
:( DO NOT WANT. ((I'm glad you survived the onslaught.))
- Jennifer Dittrich
I have that problem with spiders. It's just not cool!
- Joe Pierce
I don't really "like" this, but what else can you do when there is no "that is really downright gross" button.
- Martha
yesteday i was walking to my gym class and the other guys where telling me "Let it go, let it go!", but I was not paying attention and I didn't know that I had then stepped on a cockroach. I stepped on it without even knowing it was there :S
- Alfredo
So, I used to know this girl in college who told me she had a dream where she was choking, and in her dream she was wiping all around her mouth trying to clear whatever it was she was choking on. She got up in the morning, looked in the mirror, and there was DEAD ROACH SMEAR all over her face.
- cecily
In hindsight, I don't suppose this makes Rah feel any better, but I just had to share anyway.
- cecily
Okay. I was not skeeved by this thread until that comment, cecily. *shudders*
- Spidra Webster
Well, the roach started off on the ceiling above the bed (again, as it did the night before). I knocked it down with a sock and it crawled inside the leather rocking chair in my room. Feeling uneasy about it being alive in my room for the 2nd night in a row, I lay in bed fully clothed for a while.
- Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF
I sleep with a BiPap for sleep apnea, and I use a full face mask. One night, I strap on the rig and I'm trying to sleep, but for some reason, my face is getting itchy and have to keep scratching. The goes on for an hour, then suddenly........ See. Some time during the day a Wolf spider was looking for a new home, and he found the narrow hose of my breathing apparatus to be an nice place...
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- Matthew DeVries
Cecily - You KNOW I luh you like a play cousin right? Why you wanna play with my emotions like that?
- MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS
When I was 13, I woke up to wipe something off of my face and it was a giant palmetto bug. For those of you that don't know, they're hideous giant roach looking insects. So I feel your pain. There was no more sleep for me that night.
- Jen (SquirrelGirl)
Those suckers can fly, by the way. The bigger they are the further they can go.
- Chris Heath
Not only that, but they have kamikaze instincts.
- Heather Solos
I feel your pain. I once spent an entire night in a papusan chair with the light on because of a large flying cockroach that I couldn't find. Nasty buggers.
- Cassandra
I guess this won't be an OS for everyone. Talk about crippling your potential market
- Mo Kargas
No, they're saying they're only going to support SSDs. You'll still be able to store things locally.
- Victor Ganata
I should hope so. Forcing upgrade paths for OS's is teh suck
- Mo Kargas
SSD only so I can boot in 7 seconds only to wait another 30 seconds or so to load gmail over EVDO. :-)
- Stephan Planken
I think this may be a misquote -- the way I read it they will support only SSD for boot.
- Brian Sullivan
It actually seems like they're going the Apple route. They don't seem to be targeting this as a general purpose OS that you can run on anything you want. (Although, like OS X, with enough creative hacking, you'll probably still get it to run on unsupported hardware.)
- Victor Ganata
I understood it as the devices will have small amounts of flash onboard to support boot/OS only, and other storage will be handled via removable devices (SD cards, USB keys, etc)
- Chris Reichow
When Apple ditched the floppy disk and first went to USB, the response was a lot like this. Interesting, indeed.
- Louis Gray
Hell, if you can make SSD's the same capacity as my hard disks AND the same price, I'll drop all complaints :)
- Mo Kargas
this would work with my Asus EEE 901. It has a 4gb SSD. Not much can be done with that so this would be perfect for it.
- CW™
Heh, the Internet is a lot bigger and more interesting these days, though. Was there even such a thing as a web app back then? And most people didn't have fat pipes like they do now.
- Victor Ganata
But basically, that's what it is, right, except modernized for today?
- April Russo (app103)
Not cool, not until the price of SSDs drop. Way too expensive right now.
- Robert DeBord
This is very similar to what Microsoft had in mind. Only instead of a browser it would be similar to an OS that would only act as an RDP client to access your desktop that would be located on their servers. They would give away their "OS" for free, but to actually use it would cost you. You would subscribe to it with a monthly fee, and what software you could install and use would be...
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- April Russo (app103)
Good. The root is read only and everything is in the cloud. I can give this to my mum and never do tech support outside of hardware
- Johnny Worthington
I can't see them abandoning the development model that they use for Android though. Their app store is not going to be locked down like Apple's is. And you don't need special Google tools to build a web app with HTML 5 anyway.
- Victor Ganata
Update on medical stuff (see https://friendfeed.com/itblogg... for details): Saw the naturopathic doctor today to get my test results and they definitely seem to indicate that my adrenal system isn't working properly to output the chemicals that my brain needs in order to keep me fully alert
She sent me packing with three supplements that are supposed to help get my levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, etc. up so that I feel energetic instead of lethargic. At $96 for a one month supply, I sure hope they do the trick. Unfortunately, since I'm also taking the massive doses of Vitamin D that my regular doctor just prescribed, it will be hard to tell what did the trick.
- Alex Scoble
Supposed to take 2 weeks for the supplements to work and 4 weeks for the Vitamin D...So I guess depending on how quickly energy returns, I might have an indicator there.
- Alex Scoble
Again, time will tell...It's only expensive if it doesn't work.
- Alex Scoble
What supplements did she prescribe you, out of curiosity?
- Victor Ganata
Victor, one called Balance D from NeuroScience that has vitamins B6, C, Folate, Calcium, Selenium, N-acetylcysteine, L-DOPA, and N-acetyltyrosine ($35 for one month). Another called Cytozyme AD from Biotics Research that has Neonatal Adrenal Complex, Superoxide Dismutase and Catalase for $17 a month. Last is EndoPlus also from NeuroScience that has L-theanine and 5-hydroxytryptophan.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
The first two I take two pills each in the morning...the last one is a spray that I take two sprays orally before going to bed.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Alex, if you decide to continue with them, you could probably find them cheaper online.
- Rochelle
Thanks, Rochelle...know of any good sites to get such things?
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Not really. I would just Google the names of each one and see which sites have good prices. The first results for the first one you listed is at http://www.naturalhealthyconcepts.com and they have a bottle of 60 pills for $25.
- Rochelle
Hope one or other / both get you back to full speed soon Alex. I had very good results with a homeopathic doc back in London years ago, working on a very different sort of ailment admittedly.
- Patrick Jordan
Whoa, is neonatal adrenal complex really ground-up newborn adrenal glands? Did you ever watch "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"?
- Victor Ganata
Victor, Biotics Research says it's bovine, not human!
- Rochelle
Heh, Rochelle, I did assume it was from some animal, but ingesting adrenal glands still sounds pretty gnarly. Do you get any immediate effects, Alex?
- Victor Ganata
No, Victor...as with anything when dealing with the systems involved it takes at least 2 weeks to notice any effects.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Alex, well, yes and no. If the adrenal glands still have a lot of active hormone in them, you should actually have an effect much sooner than that. If the dosage isn't that high, then, yeah, it's going to take a while.
- Victor Ganata
Now I'm curious to see if there's anyway I can figure out how much of each adrenal hormone is present in Cytozyme AD.
- Victor Ganata
Dude, I'm sorry to hear about this... I hope it works out for you. Keeps us posted!
- Richard ¿digame? Walker
I hope all the mess workS out for the best. Sorry to hear you're dealing with med drama, better when it's on TV rather than the live show.
- Eric @ CS Techcast
from iPhone
Oh Alex, I'm sorry...you and Cassie are in my thoughts :(
- Mona Nomura
Alex, yes, Victor's on target. It depends on what's causing the adrenals insufficiency. There could be underlying problems and if this persists you should check those out. Check my feed as I have recently posted some information about adrenal insufficiency on it. Couple of things that can help you. 1) Watch for a pressure point on the inside of your left elbow. When that gets sore, your...
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- Melanie Reed
There are two natural sources that also support adrenal:Kombu tea (a seaweed with very high mineral content) and licorice (it has supportive adrenals properties) but ask your doctor about it because it has a tendency to raise blood pressure over time. I have used both and found them helpful. I also take adrenal supplements.
- Melanie Reed
Hook, line, & sinker there, Alex. Your only excuse is that you live in California and couldn't get a basic science education. At least read Consumer Guide's famous issue on alternative medical practices. Not only is what they are doing to you pure BS, it can also be dangerous. I am in the cosmetics biz (We only test on human babies.) and those pills have no testing at all.
- Douglas Hopkins
You want to be a jackass, go do it on someone else's threads...It's really not appreciated. You don't know me, nor do you know my circumstances, so your judgements are made without any basis whatsoever and quite frankly are way off base and unwarranted.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
ZOMG Alex, you live in California now? I bet that's news...to you. ROFL I'd say ignore Douglas Hopkins. He clearly has NO idea what he's talking about.
- Anika
"supposed to help get my levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, etc. up " Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
- Matthew DeVries
Cocaine also has some serious unwanted side effects. Similar to Dexedrine. :)
- Alex Scoble
from IM
I have a friends who tried the Western Medicine route for chronic issues for several years and got no-bloody-where. Naturopathic treatment may take some time to see results (my friends had to have their treatments adjusted), but I know they've felt better than they've ever felt in their lives. I wish you good health, Alex.
- vicster
This whole homeopathic vs real medicine debate always has me torn. If the placebo effect of the homeopathic stuff is actually helping someone and making a friend feel better, I don't really want to argue to debunk it, because there's a good chance that real medicine won't be able to fix them, and I went and broke them out of their self-healing mind state and didn't give them a solution...
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- Matthew DeVries
Yeah, Matthew, problem is that so far regular medicine hasn't worked and my fatigue has gotten worse of late, so what to do? Dr. Jones (still tickles me that that's her name and she specifically didn't change it after getting married because of the coolness factor) came highly recommended to me by our pre-marital counselor since I am having a lot of fatigue issues and that it definitely...
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- Alex Scoble
The main problem I have with "alternative" medicine (or any medicine for that matter) is when the prescriber of the medicine is also the dispenser/seller of the medicine. Just way too much room for snake oil in that scenario.
- Brian Sullivan
From a quick Google, it doesn't look like the medications Alex listed are homeopathic.
- Rochelle
No, actually a big chuck of them are part for parkinson's treatment, but he didn't list dosages. If they're being dosed according to the law of infinitesimals, that's homeopathy.
- Matthew DeVries
My only concern is that you get a full work up before settling on a diagnosis. Adrenal insufficiency is a very rare condition and if that's what you have, they need to make sure they've ruled out underlying causes. I do hope that something works for you.
- Victor Ganata
from iPod
If if you're comfortable that you've truely and honestly exhausted everything real medicine can do for you (or in many cases, willing to do), then you have to keep trying everything. With these fatigue diseases, just barely tiny small inroads have been made, so odds are you won't see a real medicine solution for a decade. (as an aside, you should try to get screened for the XMRV-virus,...
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- Matthew DeVries
But yeah, without dosages, the first drug Alex listed is a Parkinson's panel, the third is a food milled turkey leg. The middle one though, going on my XMRV theory, would be helpful, all hardcore anti-oxidents, which while not fighting the virus infection, would attenuate the body's response to the virus, which is actually what is making you tired.
- Matthew DeVries
Vitamin B6, folate, N-acetylcysteine, L-DOPA, and N-acetyltyrosine are either precursors or co-factors in the catecholamine synthesis pathways that produce dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine. (Precisely what you'd want if you were in fact recovering from a cocaine binge :) The only question is how much actually gets absorbed into the bloodstream, and how much gets destroyed in the GI tract or metabolized by the liver before reaching target organs.
- Victor Ganata
L-DOPA is an anti-Parkinson agent, but it's usually coupled with an enzyme inhibitor, because otherwise it gets metabolized before it reaches target tissues. It is also the direct chemical precursor to the catecholamine neurotransmitters.
- Victor Ganata
Yeah, Bio-availability of oral supplements is pretty useless across the board, which is why people with honest B-12 deficiencies need the shots, can't just take a pill.
- Matthew DeVries
Victor, are you screening for XMRV yet? Just out of curiosity for patients with fatigue? Would you consider off-label AZT for fatigue that isn't responding to any other therapies with a positive XMRV test?
- Matthew DeVries
Matthew, I wouldn't say that in general. Vitamin B6 has excellent bioavailability. The reason why people with pernicious anemia need B12 shots is that they have an autoimmune disease that targets the intrinsic factor in their intestines that allow them to orally absorb B12. The question is, how much of these agents actually get absorbed?
- Victor Ganata
And people seem to respond to Iron supplements as well, but your standard Centrum Platinum? You've seen the urine 2 hours later? May as well have just poured the pills straight in the toilet and avoided the middle man.
- Matthew DeVries
Matthew, to my knowledge, there isn't a screening test that's available for clinical use. Empirically treating with AZT or other anti-retrovirals is not something I would be comfortable with, given the huge number of serious side effects that might actually be worse than the fatigue itself.
- Victor Ganata
Matthew, the only reason why the vitamins all end up in your urine is because most people already have ample concentrations in their blood stream. If you actually did have scurvy or pellagra, you would absorb vitamin C and niacin quite well orally.
- Victor Ganata
For those who are against homeopathy,perhaps you haven't read all the history and how this was mainly a war with the drug companies who WANT your money and who often do more harm than good, Some of what prescribed drugs do does offer some help. But in chronic cases, our medical system is woefully inadequate because its based on catastrophic care and looks to trauma. Please read what Dr....
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- Melanie Reed
Matthew, Victor is right. If you have adequate levels the body will just excrete it or it will cause some problems dependent upon the scenario. You can get tested to find out what you need.
- Melanie Reed
I know that, and that reinforces my point.
- Matthew DeVries
For instance, if you have a mag deficiency they usually put you on a mag loading test.
- Melanie Reed
When we learned about CAM, we used the term homeopathy specifically for the belief that adding infinitesimal amounts of a chemical into solution would actually change the structure of the solution. This doesn't seem to be what Alex is getting.
- Victor Ganata
Right, and I made that a specific point, that I haven't seen the doses, thus don't know if it's homeopathic.
- Matthew DeVries
Some people absorb vitamins differently. And that is not the vitamins fault or the doctor 'prescribing them. It's an absorption problem. And I understand Matthew you are. But I would suggest to you that there is plenty of documentation that many Doctors and Pharmacologists are not currently taught across board about these things,
- Melanie Reed
Matthew, agreed. Without the dosages, there's no way to know what you're actually getting.
- Victor Ganata
I would try Cocaine as a diagnostic, just to see if it increases his energy levels, to give a basis to conclude it's a neurotrasmitter issue :) (no, I don't have IRB approval for this protocol)
- Matthew DeVries
Matthew and Victor, here is my problem with the current system: it hamstrings doctors who are good diagnosticians (RARE) from doing what doctors (the talented ones) used to do: full employment of the Hippocratic oath and spending time with their patient and doing what works. (Weil agrees with this as do many other reputable and well-known doctors)
- Melanie Reed
Good luck. I hope you get some good results.
- Martha
from BuddyFeed
Full employment of the Hippocratic oath would require Victor to be a virgin and remain celibate
- Matthew DeVries
I've been put on amphetamines, Matthew and they worked to some extent, but then started to have problems with increased resistance, which required me to take more to get the same effect.
- Alex Scoble
from IM
Matthew, I think you understood that I was referring to "first do no harm". Most of our modern day medicine has a tendency to do a lot of harm. I know you are well aware of the contraindication labels on most drugs with the exception of Nystatin
- Melanie Reed
But your point is well taken Melanie about dianostics and emperical investigation into each patient. Many doctors today suffer from the same thing in-home repairman have. They're not real repairmen, they're board swappers, they show up and just start changing circuit boards till your TV, Oven, Dishwasher work again, instead of figuring out which piece of that board is broken and why, and having an understanding of what is the reason it's broken.
- Matthew DeVries
Melanie, are you saying that Matthew knows about contraindication labels on drugs except Nystatin? Why wouldn't he know about Nystatin?
- Rochelle
Rochelle, I was assuming he did know about Nystatin in my comment. :)
- Melanie Reed
OH SHIT! Late for a meeting! I blame all of you!
- Matthew DeVries
"I know you are well aware of the contraindication labels on most drugs with the exception of Nystatin" <-- How does this say he DOES know about Nystatin?
- Rochelle
My apologies, Rochelle, I should have made it a parenthetical. Thanks for catching that!
- Melanie Reed
+++ Matthew. It's frustrating. I have been severely ill several times, still no clue why.
- Lo
It's the time-critical nature of human life. If medicine were a completely rigorous science, we'd always know the diagnosis before formulating a treatment. Of course, there's a chance you'd be dead by then, too.
- Victor Ganata
Also, the human body isn't like an appliance or computer, where you can just replace a part or wipe your hard drive and reinstall, and everything will be good as new. Anyone looking for a quick and easy fix for their long-standing chronic disease is always going to be sorely disappointed. I actually think that kind of attitude is a huge reason why our health care system is as jacked up as it is.
- Victor Ganata
Victor, I agree totally if its triage care that's needed. But a whole segment of our pop is not getting the care it needs, or in some cases being made worse (I've known too many over the years), suffering tangential problems because they can't get the proper medical care. In other cases, they are getting horribly misdiagnosed for years..and that's not just a few cases. We excel at triage and somewhat less at catastrophic care. But chronic, disability, and orphan cases are woefully inadequate.
- Melanie Reed
+++Victor, thank you for your last comment. It is much appreciated!
- Melanie Reed
Triage is always the guiding principle, though. It always will be because time is always finite. (This is why I think the objection to rationing is bogus.) Granted, allopathic medicine is terrible at treating things like chronic pain and chronic fatigue, but it's because we don't have a good idea of what exactly is going on--the causes are heterogenous and we haven't found a single...
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- Victor Ganata
VIctor, there was a wonderful segment regarding a book from the last 5 years covered by Rose. The Doctor (whose name escapes me at the moment) was talking about the problem you just explicated: it takes the ability to have a good random access thinking pattern to deal with these kinds of cases. The system, as you point out and as did he in his book, is inadequate for this. On the vital...
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- Melanie Reed
I love the geekiness of this thread. More on topic: I'm one of the biggest skeptics when it comes to CAM. Having said that, when my doctor suggested acupuncture for my chronic pain, I did it even though I didn't think it would help. It did help, though. So, the way I see it is that if it won't do any harm, people might as well try it.
- Katy S
+++Katy S That mindset change on Alt Med is what made all the difference for me.
- Melanie Reed
get well Alex ,, positive thoughs your way ,,, Im still coughing from my Pneumonia ( oct 9th ) jeez
- johnpiercy
Thank you, John! for pulling us back to the point of our concern. Yes, Alex, you, too are in my prayers for a complete recovery.(as well as all the practical advice that I shared that I gained from doctors and practitioners over the years that helped me)
- Melanie Reed
There are actually studies that show acupuncture does help, although probably not for the reasons suggested by traditional Chinese medicine. There are probably lots of things allopathic medicine can learn from CAM. There's also no good reason why CAM shouldn't be subjected to the same study testing that allopathic diagnosis and treatment are.
- Victor Ganata
For those that don't know, by the way, CAM stands for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... and thanks for the wishes guys.
- Alex Scoble
Victor - I think I was somewhat lucky in that I have a doctor who agrees with what you just wrote and the acupuncturist I saw was fairly pragmatic about the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches to medicine.
- Katy S
Another good point about eastern/archaic approaches, even if they don't work perfectly, they may work well enough to let you lower the dose of medications you may be on, which lowers the potential toxicity and side effects of drugs. It may allow you to undergo a less invasive surgical correction. Even if it's not a cure, anything that lessens the therapeutic needs is a win.
- Matthew DeVries
Hope that gets you to rising levels, may it be Vitamin D or the 3 supplements!
- ElijahBailey-Zu of FF <0,
Alex, I hope you're on the mend quickly!
- Alix Whitmire
+++ Matthew. For me, this was exactly what I needed and I learned a lot...about the body, how its made and why it was doing what it was doing. After the commercial pesticide exposure, I could not tolerate even minor doses of medications. I had no choice but to seek alternative. I reacted to everything else. The biggest thing for me was a combination of therapies, timed for when they...
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- Melanie Reed
maybe some nice things show off on that long way to/from work. (sometimes that really happens)
- esther ♥ ♫
Actually, it's a beautiful drive: the job is in Brevard so I'd have to go up and over the mountains to get there (which is why it would take so long, it's only 50 miles away). OTOH driving through the mountains in the winter can be tricky if things get icy. Hrm...
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
If it's a great job for you, would they allow you to telecommute or work from home? It sounds like a beautiful drive,but long commutes get old (and expensive) very quickly. One hour commutes are common around Dallas/Fort Worth. A job in North Dallas would be two hours from me - all freeway and city driving.
- Greg GuitarBuster
No, this would be a pretty hands on job so working from home on a regular basis wouldn't really be a option. Perhaps four 10s would be an option at some point... Having thought about it through the morning I remembered one of my dad's axioms when it came to jobs "I'll do stupid things for stupid money". With that in mind I think I'll at least apply for it: maybe they're offering stupid money. Plus, Dave and I have always wanted to live up there. I could afford it with stupid money =D
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Can you carpool with some other coworkers? Then you don't have to drive every day, and you can be green, make other connections at work, etc.
- anna sauce
Doubtful Anna: this job is in NC whereas I live in SC (though like said, it's actually only 50 miles away). Though I love where I live now I'd be open to moving closer if the job worked out. Hendersonville NC is still affordable and would make for a reasonable commute for both Dave and me (just in opposite directions). This is just me tilting at windmills right now, though; I haven't even tossed my resume in the ring yet...
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
I've done crazy commutes like that- it works for me for about 3 months before I start freaking out about it, ha.
- anna sauce
That's pretty helpful to know, actually: if the job panned out I'm pretty sure it'd take us about that long to find a rental in the area and get everything moved. And before anyone asks: yes, there's a roller derby team up there too. We just scrimmaged against them last night!
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Doing some more Sherlocking, checking out this company on LinkedIn. Apparently they have a fair amount of staff based in my city, which is good to know. Perhaps carpooling would be an option afterall...
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Nope, this is very much a hands on position. Dave just dropped by the house for a few minutes on his lunch break so I talked it over with him. He pointed out that if we moved to the northern end of our county we'd both have about a 40 minute commute to our respective jobs while still staying in SC and close to our families. I'm in the process of rewording my resume before I send it in
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Maybe I need to see it again because Up, to me, was just all right. Wall•E blew me away on every level and, aside from some really good moments, most of Up was just extremely decent.
- Akiva Moskovitz
What got to me with Up was that the themes were more mature than Wall•E: Wall•E felt like a child's naivete on love and saving the world. With Up, there is no saving-the-world plot, and the protagonist is affected by more realistic problems like longing for a dead wife, dementia, not letting go, and feeling regret for getting in the way of his loved one's dreams. Even the kid-targetted comic relief is affected by constantly trying to win the approval of a father who's never there.
- Mark Trapp
But I should say before Up, Wall•E was my favorite Pixar movie to date, so that's not to say I didn't like Wall•E or thought it was bad. I just thought Up was better. I didn't like the Incredibles or Toy Story, but loved Ratatouille, so what do I know?
- Mark Trapp
How do you not like the Incredibles? You make me angry sometimes with your strange and confusing ways.
- James Ferguson
I've tried to determine what about the Incredibles rubs me the wrong way, and the only thing I can come up with is that it's a movie that knows everyone is going to like it; that is, it's cocky in the same way Shrek, Madagascar, and Ice Age are. It's a well done movie, but I don't enjoy watching it in the way I do with Wall•E, Up, or Ratatouille.
- Mark Trapp
Wow, excellent insight, Mark. I feel the same way about it and the others but didn't know exactly why. Now I do. Although I don't think the original Shrek had that cockiness.
- Akiva Moskovitz
Yeah, you're right; my view of Shrek is forever tainted by the marketing machine that created Shrek 2, 3, 4, Shrek Forever, Shrek: The Heretic, Shrek and Screech Save Mr. Belding, and all the other stuff.
- Mark Trapp
Ladybug Heather and I just saw this on the weekend. We just loved it. Hmm....I may decide to watch it again soon.
- Scott of Two Countries
Cars isn't that great. Pixar does a great job of making kids that are also entertaining for adults. Up might be the saddest, most adult themed movie they've made but it's still great for kids. Cars on the other hand was an anomaly. It didn't have much for anyone over the age of 12 (as I remember)
- Benjamin Golub
Good to know. Ratatouille is my sleeper favorite.
- Hutch Carpenter
Mark, re. "I've tried to determine what about the Incredibles..." —yes! you packed a lot into one comment; put words to how those films sat with me. Although with Ice Age (the first one at least) it didn't feel high on itself, but expectations were lower as it's clearly a 'regular season game' offering.
- Micah Wittman
I liked Ratatouille. Wall-E is great. Up was good but wasn't fluid. There's really isn't a Pixar film I REALLY REALLY liked.
- Rodfather