Tomorrow is dedicated to the one I love!

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Patients face bitter choice: Pay up or lose care

Premium-pay medical practices grow as doctors seek more control, cash

Excerpt:

“The Goodriches’ dilemma is becoming more common as a growing number of doctors enact their own brand of health reform. These physicians are opting out of the system, with some doctors dumping insurance companies altogether and others forcing patients to pay thousands of dollars in cash to keep the care they’re accustomed to.”

Go here to read the whole story.

(ABOVE) Dr. Susan Debin, 64, of Orange, Calif., turned to a hybrid concierge practice two years ago. About 125 patients pay $1,600 a year for extra services including an extended physical and her personal cell phone number. But what about the rest of her patients?

Photo by Carissa Ray / msnbc.com

Snow on the ground in 49 states

Hawaii is the holdout, but weather is still one for the record books

Excerpt:

“It was the United States of Snow, thanks to an unusual combination of weather patterns that dusted the U.S., including the skyscrapers of Dallas, the peach trees of Atlanta and the Florida Panhandle, where hurricanes are more common than snowflakes.” Go here to read the story.

Lovesick: Hooking up over a shared disease

Web sites aim to pair those with cancer, herpes, even Tourettes in common

“One online  entrepreneur  believes he has the answer to Valentine’s Day loneliness for people living with chronic diseases: match them up with someone with the same condition. But how much enduring love can a shared health condition  really provide?”

Go here for the whole story.

My blog has been banned because I wasn’t nice to Sarah Palin

After asking Rose why my blog has been banned from her blog (WatchPaul) she said it was because of my post on Sarah Palin (Gee, I guess it wasn’t real nice to her hero). When I asked her if I’m that offensive, she said “Yes.”

After more than a year of having a link on her blog roll it comes to this. I had (past tense) respect for her views (even though I didn’t agree with them). I thought that attitude went both ways.

Looks like she has finally shed her sheepskin of being moderate and entertaining all views. No more MS Nice Person. She’s come out of the Conservative/Republican closet and has no more interest in the other side of the story. That’s too bad.

On the other side of the coin, I will continue to carry a link to her blog, because I like my readers to have a choice. I don’t need to have a bunch of “Yes your right” posters who have narrow minds.

World’s strangest aphrodisiacs

Bird’s Nest Soup, poisonous snakes ... oh, the things we consume for love

Excerpt:

“In Korea, the hagfish, or slime eel, takes the shape of an enviably large member and emits a slimy substance when touched, likely accounting for its status as an elixir of love. And there is perhaps no more symbolic aphrodisiac than the balut—a duck egg hosting a partially gestated fetus—hawked in the Philippines as commonly as movie theater popcorn.”

Go here to read the rest.

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World’s strangest aphrodisiacs

Snow way I’d live back East!

I got an email from my buddy, and brother-in-law, Tom today. It was snowing and the winds were howling at 55 mph. He lives near Baltimore and sent me some photos.

All I know is I live on the “Right Coast” even though some call it the “Left Coast.”

National Park Service workers clear snow in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Photo by Alex Brandon / AP

View related photos

Washington, D.C., breaks record for total snowfall with 54.9 inches

Bored to death? It really could happen

Research suggests a link between chronic listlessness and heart problems

Excerpt:

“In a commentary to be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in April, experts say there's a possibility that the more bored you are, the more likely you are to die early.

Annie Britton and Martin Shipley of University College London caution that boredom alone isn't likely to kill you — but it could be a symptom of other risky behavior like drinking, smoking, taking drugs or having a psychological problem.”

Go here to read the rest.

Related article:

Time flies when you’re having fun, but time flew when you were bored.

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Beer may be good for your bones

Here’s some good news for beer drinkers:

Analysis shows a cold brew has high levels of dietary silicon

Excerpt:

“If you downed one too many while watching the Super Bowl, here's at least one reason to hold your head high: Drinking beer can be good for your health.

But seriously, a new analysis of 100 commercial beers shows the hoppy beverage is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for bone health.”

Go here for the rest of the story.

Palin Tells Fox News ‘it would be absurd’ not to consider what she can do for U.S.

I agree. It’s absurd not to consider what would happen to our country if Sarah Palin were elected President.

It’s also scary. Watching Palin consult her palm (crib notes anyone?) as she speaks with a GOP lackey chiding President Obama for using a teleprompter while speaking in public, is like a stepping into an alternate universe where sanity has no place.

This paragon of politics who claims she can see Russia from her backyard, and who couldn’t even finish her only term in office as governor of Alaska, is only interested in making money while she’s still a hot topic. Does anyone think that working as a commenter for Fox News will be something she can proudly put on her resume for president?

She even collected money from the Tea Bagger’s to speak at their gathering recently. I thought she was their champion. If that’s so, why do they have to pay her to talk with them? Make no mistake, her book “Going Rogue” was only the forerunner for future fortunes.Being a Conservative diva is probably the smartest thing she can do to fill her coffers with the coins of her slavish admirers.

Does that inspire you to vote for her in 2012? Here’s a pro and con link for your reading pleasure. 

Palin: Won't close door on White House run

‘Morning Joe’ on Palin: Still no substance

1 in 5 prefers pet to partner for Valentine’s Day

True love: According to a survey of 24,000 people in 23 countries, 21 percent of adults would rather smooch their pet than their spouse on Valentine’s Day.

Least likely to choose non-human companionship: the French, of course.

Getty Images stock

Read story here.

Males more likely than females to have noise-related hearing loss

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 02/07/2010 01:27:41 AM PST

“I wear hearing aids, but I consider myself lucky. There are a lot of people in America today who are deaf due to numerous environmental assaults on their hearing. Many of them don't have insurance to get what they need.

Recent research presented by the American Academy of Otolaryngology (Head and Neck Surgery) in San Diego concluded that males are three times more likely to have noise-related hearing loss than women.

According to Dr. Hamid Djalilian of the University of California Irvine Medical Center, occupational and recreational noise exposure, as well as service in the armed forces, probably explain why men are at greater risk.”

Go here to read the rest of this column.