More from the "Can't Make It Up" Files

Old Fashioned is New Fashioned:

Blood clots can be especially dangerous, often requiring urgent, harshly invasive open-heart surgery to remove the clot before it can be fatal, but a team from UCLA Medical School reported breathlessly in September that a "minimally invasive," cutting-edge machine worked just as well: a vacuum cleaner. When a 62-year-old man arrived at an emergency room with deep vein thrombosis, AngioVac lines were inserted in the leg and neck and sucked out the 24-inch-long clot. The patient was back home and full of energy a week later. 

Animals can enjoy a drink too....

"Pig Drinks 18 Pints and Has Fight With Cow" read a headline from Port Hedland, West Australia, after rampaging wild pigs stole and drank 18 beers from a campsite. International Business Times, summarizing recent research, noted that moose, especially, are attracted by fermenting apples; that prairie voles are prominent social drinkers (consuming much more available alcohol when other voles are around); and that African elephants often turn violent to secure the fermenting fruit of the marula tree (although the elephant would require 1,400 pieces of fruit to generate the seven gallons of alcohol that -- if consumed all at once -- would match humans' legal limit for driving). 

Some regulations are good...

Americans frequently cite the rigorous, above-board testing of prescription drugs as one of government's most important functions, and health insurance companies use such seals of approval in policy-coverage decisions. However, some consumers seem to prefer unorthodox, untested, unregulated products and, backed by lobbyists for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), are challenging insurers for "discriminating" against these "drugs," especially in the game-changing rules of the new Affordable Care Act. A Forbes.com columnist explained what would happen if CAM prevails: "You could start offering dried bird poop for arthritis, call it 'avian nature therapy,' and if an insurer won't pay for it, you can sue." 

O.K., enough already…. There’s more but I’ll torture you with it later…

Today’s Ref;ection:

My Friend was complaining that I never listen to her. At least I think thats what she was complaining about...

 

Live Long and Prosper….