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Cleveland school shooting


When is stuff like this going to end? Here is the latest from CNN:

A 14-year-old gunman shot students and teachers at a Cleveland high school, wounding four, and was then killed, the mayor told CNN affiliates WOIO and WKYC. It was not known if police shot the gunman or if he took his own life.

The shooting victims include two adult men, 57 and 42 years old; and two teenage males, 17 and 14 years old, according to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. A 14-year-old female hurt her knee in the chaos, he added.

Not that I'm comparing situations, but I remember back about what I was thinking during the Virginia Tech tragedy back in April (Can the cycle be broken, depression = murder?, privacy laws need scrutinized, mental health care delivery in the US).

School shootings are tragic and my thoughts and prayers go to the families affected by this. I'm just not looking forward to the 24/7 news coverage and people jumping on the bandwagon to advance their political agendas. Can we just figure out why this happened (if we can) and prevent it from happening in the future?

Show cancelled


Don't you hate when real life gets in the way of blogging life? Last night, something came up at work such that I'm probably not going to be at my computer at 10PM tomorrow night for the Doctor Anonymous show. It wasn't a definite, so my dilemma was this - Should I just cancel the show now, or wait possibly until the last minute to cancel, depending on what happens tomorrow night.

It really wouldn't have been fair to the guest or to all of you to wait until the last minute. The whole balance thing between real life and blog life is difficult sometimes - and this is an example of that. So, my apologies. There is an outside chance that I'll be back by my computer by 11pm. If I'm feeling nutty, I might just have a show anyway where I talk to myself for 30 minutes. hehe

The myth of healthy restaurants


Are you like me in that cooking is just not your thing? That being said, I probably eat out a little more than I should. And, when I do go out, I like looking for that healthy-type restaurant, so that, at least, I feel a little bit better ordering off the menu there.

Well, I just learned that this may be a bad move. According to this article from Fox News, most people ingest more calories when eating out at so-called healthy restaurants.

Researchers say healthy restaurants often prompt consumers to treat themselves to higher-calorie side dishes, drinks or desserts than they would normally eat at fast-food and other restaurants that do not claim to be healthy.

"We found that when people go to restaurants claiming to be healthy, such as Subway, they choose additional side items containing up to 131 percent more calories than when they go to restaurants like McDonald's that don't make this claim," said Brian Wansink, Cornell's John S. Dyson professor of marketing and applied economics and director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, in a news release.

Yeesh! I admit that I totally do this. Oh boy, now what am I going to do? The easy solution is to just forget all those "additional side items" that they are talking about above. But, of course, maybe I should just ditch the entire healthy restaurant thing, because isn't that what I'm doing anyway? Man, I'm such a hypocrite... hehe..

Filipino boycott working


Remember last week when the mob was protesting and encouraging a boycott of the Desperate Housewives show for the "Filipino Diploma" comment? Well, the Sunday night ratings have just been announced and I'm proud to say that the boycott is working (well, not really).

One week after “Desperate Housewives” returned for its fourth season on ABC, the network’s Sunday night lineup remained down but still solid in the ratings, finishing second only to NBC’s live football coverage.

While audiences for the ABC shows fell by millions of viewers compared with their week-ago debuts, Desperate Housewives remained No. 1 overall, with 17.4 million viewers at 9, Nielsen estimated. (New York Times)

Now, those in the mob will say, "Hey, we caused a million viewers to tune out the show because of our protests last week!" Wrong! America wanted to see if Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers could remain undefeated - and that's why a sporting event, and not a network TV show, won the ratings race Sunday night.

Grand Rounds


Grand Rounds 4.03 is now up and running over at Nurse Ratched's Place. Mother Jones RN calls this post "It's Military Week at Grand Rounds" - a tribute to health professionals who serve their country by serving others. Thanks for including my post:

In 1945, Surgeon General Norman T. Kirk was asked to name the first three outstanding innovations brought about by World War II, and without hesitation he said, “Surgery, the sulfa drugs, and penicillin.” Other outstanding achievements in military research included dried plasma, which was developed and first used during World War II. Medical research conducted by the military during wartime continues to save countless lives.

Research in the civilian world is also saving lives. Dr. Anonymous sent in this post about the American Cancer Society and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. One day researchers will find a cure for breast cancer, but until then Dr. Anonymous is urging readers to learn the facts about the disease.

If you don't know what Grand Rounds is, it is a weekly compilation of the best posts from the medical blogosphere that moves to different sites each week. And, who doesn't like reading about medicine and science?

Thanks again to MJ for being a guest on Doctor Anonymous Live last week. I really appreciate it. Speaking of the show, we have a great list of guests coming up this month. Next week, Grand Rounds moves to NY Emergency Medicine.

Dr. A Show: Upcoming Guests




As I announced on last week's show, I'm very excited (and grateful) to have so many guests already booked on the show for the month of October. Mark your calendars now, so that you can join the fun, and be our guest!

(All these are tentatively scheduled guests, dates, and times which are subject to change at any time. Check back regularly to the blog for the most current information.)

October 18th @ 10pm ET: Roy from the Shrink Rap blog

October 21st @ 9:30pm ET: Dashing MD from the Dashing MD podcast

October 25th @ 10pm ET: Mimi Lenox from Blogblast for Peace

Cell phone personal trainer


What's better than an iPhone? Well, nothing -- But, there may be a phone that I may place in that coveted second place spot on my list of the best cell phones out there. Here's an Associated Press article which explains.

Chiba, Japan - It can take your pulse, check your body fat, time your jogs and tell you if you have bad breath. It even assesses stress levels and inspires you with a pep talk. The prototype Wellness mobile phone from Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc. targets users with busy lives who want a hassle-free way of keeping track of their health, according to company spokesman Noriaki Tobita.

The phone, unveiled this week at the CEATEC electronics show outside Tokyo, has an inbuilt motion sensor that detects body movement and calculates how many calories you burn. The sensor can tell whether you're walking, running, climbing stairs, or resting, and counts the calories accordingly to tally daily totals, Tobita said.

According to the company, this also has the capability to be a body fat calculator, tell you if you have bad breath, and claims to give advice about stress. Wow! I didn't know a cell phone could do all that? The most important question I have is this: Will it blend?

Anatomy of a mob


Now, I know what you're thinking. I'm posting something else on this Desperate Housewives controversy - just to get some more hits. So, why not? It's just been interesting watching this thing unfold over the past week.

So, let's review. The show airs a week ago. Almost immediately, the blog posts begin. Within 48 hours, the blogosphere mob starts to talk of boycotts, petitions, protests, and demanding an apology. Within another 48 hours, the Philippine government gets involved (don't they have anything better to do?).

Now, when the apology is issued, you would think that would satisfy the mob. But, alas, no. They demand more:

The Nafcon leaders and Sentosa 27 ++ nurses demanded a more proper apology from ABC Studios that would include: a) at least one broadcast apology before the show’s next episode, b) an investigation of the show’s writers and producers to find who wrote the line and who should be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, c) the cutting of the offensive scene from the episode permanently, as well as in all productions of DVDs and boxed sets of the series. The group also threatened to call for a boycott of the series if an appropriate and timely apology was not issued by the network.
As what happens with most mobs, their intended goal will fail. They will over play their hand here and be so over the top that the producers, writers, and actors of the show will gain the sympathy of the American public. Even though the show's producers will edit that line out of the show, in two weeks, no one will remember this ever happened.

Do you think anyone in Hollywood will consider putting a Filipino/Filipina actor on a culturally diverse medical show like Grey's Anatomy or ER? Well, not now - and probably not for a number of years - because of fearing the mob.

Hollywood producers like creating controversy - but, not dealing with with controversy. Do you hear that? It's all the doors that are being closed on writers, actors, and producers of Filipino descent. Thanks to the angry mob...

Not Filipino Enough?


On my show earlier tonight, I tried to parody this Desperate Housewives situation. I described a situation similar to what happened in the DH show and then I tried to parody the "leave britney alone" video. I don't think this attempt of levity went over very well (if you have to explain the joke, then it's probably not that funny) However, I have to say (as I mentioned on my show tonight), that there are just a lot of angry people out there.

I have received more than a few e-mails who have told me that since I was born in the US and did my medical training in the US, that I really have no idea and that I really don't understand how offensive that remark was on the show. If I was "really in touch with my roots," I would understand better.

So, let me get this straight. Since I do not agree with your point of view, it's ok for you to make a personal attack on me for being "not Filipino enough" for you - That I have been "Americanized" too much and have lost touch with my true heritage.

Gimme a break! I have listened to the other side of this DH issue. I feel that I do understand it. But, I respectfully disagree with it. Attacking me is not going to make me change my mind. I remember reading a Time magazine article called Is Obama Black Enough?

That's what made me come up with the title for this post. Now, don't get me wrong. In no way am I comparing this situation to the senator from Illinois. I guess it comes down to this: You're not going to make everyone happy, so don't even try. So, instead of personal attacks, let's just agree to disagree, shall we?