Thursday, July 28, 2005

Echinacea's efficacy for colds debunked / 'No evidence that it actually does anything'

Echinacea's efficacy for colds debunked / 'No evidence that it actually does anything'

This is a subject I feel very strongly about, and I don't have a myrid of refrences or numbers to back me up, however that is the beauty of the interent, I can still say what I want.

I am not sure if I can describe my loathing for people who sell unproven things to the public as 'remedies' and make a huge living off of poeple who want so badly to believe that something, anything can work. It is akin to what my grandparents would refer to as 'snake oil salsemen' and I think it is a despiciable now as it was then.

Things don't have to be approved by the FDA to be useful. However things do have to have gone thorugh a process called the 'scientific method' (say it with me now boys and girls) before claims should be able to be made about their effectiveness and capabilities. Unless something has been studied, multiple times, in blind studies by unbiased professionals then it doesn't have the 'authority' to say it does buckas. People are paying untold numbers of dollars for herbal natural supplements that supposedly do all these things but there is no proof!

I am the first person to embrase 'alternative medicine', I truely believe in the healing power of accupuncture and massague. I think the natural world holds secrets that we can not even imagine at this time. However it also holds dangers and if these dangers are not recognised I think Mother Nature will bite us in the ass.

I don't trust these companies that aren't regulated to have sanitary conditions in their manufacturing process. Why would they, they don't have to answer to anyone! As long as not too many people die they can sell you pretty much anything as long as they put their disclaimer. Then it's up to the word of mouth and roumer for people to believe that something works, and once it's 'common knowledge' no amount of disclaimer lables will stop those people who want to believe.

I think it's worse when these things do nothing harmful, then you have the plecabo effect. I believe the body can do miraculs things if the mind truely believes that it can be done. There are documented cases everywhere of the plecabo effect working and being useful. However I also feel that charging people money for a placebo effect is morally wrong.

The FDA slows down drug approvals, it is a bunch of buracruacy, the medication companies own it, they still make mistakes yadda yadda we've all heard the critizims. Drugs get approved for one thing, are found useful in another but the long term effects haven't been studied in that kind of population.

Fen Phen is my favorite example of this kind of thing. Someone decided this combination of drugs was a miracle weight loss drug. I never took it but I knew people who did. Americans are obsessed with their weight, yet we love to eat, so a pill we can take that will take responsibility away from us for being lard asses! Wonderful! Sign me up!!

I remember people talking about going down to Mexico to buy this stuff as their doctors wouldn't let them stay on it for more than a few months at a time. Drugs avilable without a pescription is a whole other topic, but did any of these women stop to think that maybe there was a reason their doctors wouldn't let them stay on this drug for the long term?

Then we find out it causes heart problems. This combination of drugs was never intended as a weight loss regimine and no one had ever studied the long term effects in overweight people. I remember people offering to sign waivers so they could stay on the pills. It's called watching what you eat people, it's called excersize. I know some people have trouble loosing weight with 'normal' approaches but to fool yourself into thinking you can just take a pill and eat whatever is NOT HEALTHY. If you want to loose weight so badly, go low carb, go vegetairan (but be healthy about it) cut out fat, cut down calories, any of these things will help and along with walking three times a week I would hazard to guess that more than 95% of the population will loose weight.

The only rational I can personally come up with to explain why these snake oil salsepeople do so well is the lack of an average US adult to accept responsibility for their situations. We as a society seem to be always looking for the quick fix, the easy out, something that will make it so it's not our fault.

I won't take something OTC that hasn't been trhough rigerous testing, made by a company that has oversite in that what they say is in the pill really is in the pill, and the amounts are correct. I want purity and peace of mind that at least someone made sure this company put in their pills what they say they did and some independent researcher (or five) noticed at least a trend for this substance to do what it claims to do!

Becasue of this I will suffer through my viral colds, take my sufficently researched FDA approved decongestent and bring a box of tissues to work. It makes me sad that these people will prey on those who want to believe, who are willing to take anything from anyone if it will make them 'feel better'.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Finding random people late at night

Google is a wonderful thing when you can't sleep. Some nights I search for different things, but tonight it was people I haven't spoken to in quite a while.

I found one, and an email attached, so I sent off a friendly hello that will most likely be taken as a stalker moment, but it's really not! Just reconnecting to another lifetime ago.

Myspace and Friendster also gave me suprises today. Mostly from work but I found a relative and someone from home! Emails and invites were dutifully sent out so we shall see.

Have you ever googled your own name and actually gotten yourself? I blame that for myself on the industry I worked in, being very internet heavy, but it's still kind of creepy how much information someone can find without paying any money, just being intelligent with searches and different sites. It's also scarry how much personal information is out there waiting to be found.

I say this and I put the url to this blog as my sig on emails, so I have no room to talk =)

Sometimes I look back and think about how life was before the internet. I wrote letters, I made phone calls and talked for hours, went to the library to do research, now I can't be bothered to do any of those things. How much money I've saved on phone bills! The unfortunate part of this is that if someone isn't 'online' I have pretty much no contact with them. I only talk to people on my contact lists, and occational emails with old friends. I honestly don't know the last time I wrote a personal letter.

Am I sad about this? Only that I have family that I don't have as much contact with as others, but no I am happy with the instant gratification of instant messages and convience of emails. I like LiveJournal where I can keep up with some people, and this blog thing might keep me in touch with others. Or it just gives me a place to vent, who knows.

To end this on a good note let me show you a picture of the lights of my life.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Harry Potter, Comic Con and Sci Fi Friday

Read Harry Potter in one sitting, as usual. Good book, can't wait till the next one, yadda yadda selling 3.2 bazillion copies, we all can read the net and know about this book. I didn't however go to any release parties or wait in line, Amazon.com is my friend.

Went to Comic Con on Friday. Saw the Battlestar Galactica panel. First impression is that they have great makeup people cuz the actors are actually better looking in real life. I loved the commentary, hearing what they have to say and their take on things. Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) was late and made a grand entrance, very cute. Madam President Mary McDonnal (Laura Roslin) was much much prettier in person while Jamie Bamber's (Apollo) accent made him omg sexy (er than even in the show), James Callis (Baltar) was hysterical and I love the long floppy hair, Grace Park (Boomer) was just as hot as she is on the show, as was Tahmoth Penikett (Helo). I enjoyed hearing the exec producers comment, I have been listening to Ron Moore's podcasts so it was nice to hear him live and in person. I wish I could have met the cast and talked to them, but I am sure their scheduals were full and they have a show to promote!

So I went home and watched Scifi channel's 'Sci Fi Friday'. Stargate was ok, Atlantis was good but Battlestar, omg this show just keeps getting better. And after hearing these actors just hours earlier it kind of made it a bit more special I think, or I'm just biased and a fangirl, that could be it too. I am the kind of person I would avoid at an EQ Fan Faire, seriously.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

But we can't get enough celebrity news -- Rant about drugs

Movie & TV News @ IMDb.com - WENN: "Thomas Slams Reports He Seduced Cruise

Taken from IMDB

Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas has rubbished reports he had sex with Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise - and is even more mortified he's been labeled a fellow Scientologist. The singer is horrified by claims he was caught in bed with the War Of The Worlds star and has finally spoken out to end the rumors. But he's even more offended by reports he's joined Cruise and other followers of L. Ron Hubbard's Church Of Scientology, which has been labeled a 'cult' by some critics. He says, 'If I were gay, Tom wouldn't be on the top of my list...It would be Brad Pitt. I'm more offended by the rumors saying I'm Scientologist.' "


The best part is he's offended by the religious part, and he has the same taste in men that I do...

I used to be a fan of Tom Cruise and I still enjoy his movies but I disagree heartily about his stance on drugs. I do believe things are overpescribed in this country and too many children are given riddlen or whatever to mask real issues, but I know that I would be a total and complete usuless zombie because of a chemical imbalance in my head without these drugs. I don't relly on them, I can live and function without them, but I do much better with them so I take them, faithfully every single day. One pill, one dosage and I can hold down a job, live a normal (well you know, relatively normal) life and deal with the stresses of living without getting overwhelmed.

These illnesses are real, they're just difficult as there isn't a quanatitive blood test or something like that to say, look you have skitzophrena!! That is frustrating, so very very frustrating for someone who suffers from a psychological illness (mine is depression, I don't hear voices or anything entertaining like that) as it's so easy to doubt the validity. Vitamins don't cure these things buddy, sorry.

Someday I'd love for a doctor to take a sample of something and give me a detailed list of the chemicals that I don't have enough of (or too much of depending I guess) so I can see how much medicine to take to make things 'level'. Until then we treat the symptoms and do the best we can, and deal with people who aren't experts spouting off their oponions and are taking even remotely seriously because they can (well some of them can) act.

Marvel announces deal with Microsoft for MMO's -- more games!

Marvel announces Xbox 360-exclusive MMORPG - Xbox 360 News at GameSpot


The above link was taken from Google News, there are many more sites that talk about the announcement

Personally I"m not as much of a fan of consoles as I am PC games, though I have been told the new generation of consoles will alleviate a lot of my concerns (live updating being the biggest). I think it's a wonderful idea for the Comic Book companies to make games from their popular titles, it gives people another place to be exposed to these worlds outside of the movies, hell some of them might actually read the comic books occationally.

I've never been a huge fan of comic books, but I love the stories. I watch the 'Diniverse' animated series religiously, I go opening night to most comic book movies (missed Hulk and Electra) and I make my poor long suffering sibiling tell me the stories that have encompased years of comic book lore.

I just don't have the paitence for the serial once a month barely anything happends format. The art can be amazing and the stories can be spectuclar, but I just don't have the attention span. That may be a failing for a lot of the consumers in society, so I am glad these ideas and worlds can be shared with a wider audience.

I am a big continuity nut, so I do have a problem sometimes keeping all the different versions straight. I hate recons (even when they're better) as it invalidates things that a person may have followed in the past. I understand the reasoning, I"m not blaming anyone or calling them lazy, but the origin of some of our most beloved superheros keep changing I can't keep track anymore. Hello Green Lantern anyone? I gave up and just smile and nod when the whole subject is brought up.

I"m going to comic con tomorrow to drool over the cool toys, I'm going to see the Battlestar Galactica panel (if I can get in) and generally be a geek. I don't know who I"ll get to meet this year, though the con seems to be more popular than ever. I hope this trend of introducing these comic universies to different people continues.

My thoughts for all the internet to see

Since I"m not working at the moment I am free to share what I think about things in the gaming world, and outside of it (gasp I hear there is life outside of games) without reflecting on anyone else. I find this refreshing for in the past I have censored myself, voluntairly of course.

This is for my thoughts, feelings and musings about all sorts of things, political, social and of course things that happen in the gaming industry. I won't talk about anything that I 'know' from 'inside sources' or anything silly like that, but I will share what I think about things that are common knowledge. And once I work in 'the industry' again I'll have to be more careful.

Until then however, here I go. Feedback is always welcome, feel free to disagree with things that I think and be paitent and I may post thing that are a few days old, as I"m not 'in the loop' so to speak anymore.