Veteran’s Day – 2009

I have the impression that my newspaper, The Los Angeles Times, printed more articles on veterans’ issues today than they printed articles about Labor on Labor Day. Veterans’ issues are ok to write about; we can show that at least our hearts are in the right place. Labor issues have become more inconvenient. But veterans’ […]

Our Declining State of Health

Last May, Science Magazine featured a review of a recent study of human health going back some 10,000 years. Surprisingly, perhaps, our state of health has been declining generally over the last 3,000 years, coinciding essentially with the broad adoption of agriculture. The trends are not subtle, apparently. Statures have shrunk, and there was an […]

The Medical Treatment of Epilepsy

An informal survey taken on a public website dealing with epilepsy has found a notable trend in the prescribing of anti-convulsant medication. Most people being treated for epilepsy have been tried on a significant number of different medications. The survey results are shown in Figure 1. Shown is the percentage of respondents who have taken […]

Michael Vick

Two events coalesced recently in my mind—the rehabilitation of Michael Vick and the riot at Chino prison in California. The second of these is tied to a third, namely the directive under which the State of California finds itself to reduce its prison population by 43,000 inmates in short order. Michael Vick hails from my […]