Grilled cheese and soup. Perfect!

One of my friends mentioned that she was going to make vegetable beef soup and then have that with a grilled cheese sandwich. Gee, I thought, that sounded like the perfect lunch time meal for an otherwise chilly and icky Friday. And, so it was...

California, you are getting disgusting!

In a move that is sure to be copied all over the state, officials in San Francisco approved the installation of open air urinals near Delores Park. This latest bit of insanity is just another example of why it may be prudent, at some point, to give this degenerate state to Mexico. I mean since it's looking more and more like a shit hole every day.

I'd ask Americans this. Are you really happy with what's happening? This country is the hope of a world. And, we are letting billions down....I pray, nightly, that someone will rise up and restore the principles that the Founding Fathers envisioned. That those principles are made good either by legal process or by the will of the people.... That blood might yet again be shed on the alter of freedom will not be the first time... and probably not the last!

The 2015-16 early flu season is somewhat strange!

 

In general, the flu season spikes in the first week of January as evidenced in the graph. Every year, that is, until this year. No, the 2015-15 season resembled more a flat tire than anything else. So what was happening? No one really knows. Perhaps everyone decided to get their flu shot this year. Perhaps people are staying home more and shopping on the internet. Perhaps no one has much money and so they are more limited in their travel activities. Perhaps none of the above is really the case. Still, it's rather creepy to see that one of the three circulating strains (H1N1, aka the swine flu) which is very contagious, has not been catching... that is until now....

The CDC has just recently issued a health visionary after seeing the H1N1 version of the flu show up here and there in the US. Here is part of that advisory: “Influenza activity is increasing across the country and CDC has received reports of severe influenza illness. Clinicians are reminded to treat suspected influenza in high-risk outpatients, those with progressive disease, and all hospitalized patients with antiviral medications as soon as possible, regardless of negative rapid influenza diagnostic test (RIDT) results and without waiting for RT-PCR testing results. Early antiviral treatment works best, but treatment may offer benefit when started up to 4-5 days after symptom onset in hospitalized patients. Early antiviral treatment can reduce influenza morbidity and mortality.”

Furthermore, a look at the most recent map of the states adds even more to puzzle over! The incidents of sickness appear to be all over the board! That's generally not the pattern that is seen, as in most seasons the disease spreads across the US in distinct waves.

Is the flu on the rise in Missouri?

Source: http://www.healthmap.org/en/

This 2015-16 flu season has been a real sleeper! Up until February, the charts showing Missouri citizens show up with flu-like symptoms had flat lined. And, while that should be good news, it left me with questions. In any typical winter season, in the US, the flu will kill about thirty six thousand individuals, nation-wide. This year, not so much. And so, I became suspicious.

Feb 10, 2016 - An elementary school in a small town near the border on the Missouri-Arkansas border apparently 'closed down due to a flu like illness' - Early reports were that the sickness rate, whatever the cause, was in excess of 30%!

Of additional concern was the above graphic! Note that the CDC does not support a hot line reporting channel. Why? I don't know. And, while all these flu dots may be an anomaly or Internet glitch, I still had cause to want to check things out. Stay tuned. I will update this after talking with the school officials on Thursday, Feb 11, 2016!

Feb 11, 2016 - I tried calling the Mark Twain Elementary school located in Kissee Mill, MO after getting information from a Face Book friend that the school had closed down due to a high incidence of something resembling the 'flu'. I did not reach anyone and was forced to leave a voicemail. As of later that morning, I had still not gotten a call back. So, the mystery continued...

Feb 12, 2016 - I did spot a short article posted online by KTTS radio. I submitted an inquiry to see if they would followup to say if it was actually the flu that hit 30% of the kids and if some would be tested to see if the strain was H1N1. They did call back and stated there would be no followup.

Random thoughts for early February 2016!

Mid winter blues helped by food!

Getting up to do much of anything on any given Sunday takes even more effort in the middle of winter. My main impetus this day was the thought of making a good bowl of red!

Yes, Sunday was going to be chili day! I got that most excellent thought in my head after looking outside on a forlorn landscape in early February. I wasn't inclined to go out, but opted instead to spend the morning hours in the kitchen trying to improve on my latest chili recipe. I got to thinking about making a batch after hearing that someone was bringing his special chili recipe to a local bar as part of the festivities that was to revolved around Super bowl Sunday. I was told that this guy named Gary used something like eight different beans and three meats to concoct a really enjoyable chili!

Harrumph, I thought to myself. OK, sure, my chili recipe is the very essence of simplicity. But, so what? As a simple man, I like simple things and that extends to the foods I eat and enjoy! The only thing I do to 'dress up' my chili, on rare occasions, would be to add some fresh pasta, shredded cheese and chopped onion for a Cincinnati 4-way styled meal! Seriously, it's hard to feel very depressed when you have a good meal to sit down to! I plan to have some while watching the Super Bowel.

Superbowl Sunday! Baloney!

Honey! Can we go back to the hotel now?

This year, two teams I could care less about, (the Panthers and the Broncos) were going head to head in a cost I could care less about. For one thing, the game was lopsided! The Panthers were heads and shoulders above the Broncos in abilities. My only reason to really watch would be to see if the Broncos could pull out a miracle! My other reason was also the commercials which tend to be exceptional. That said, you can keep the rest of it. I personally object to anyone who would pony up four or five thousand dollars just to watch one football game. That smacks of decadence and decay to me.

Another thing I don't like this year was the location. Phoenix Arizona... seriously? It was forecast to be in the seventies there! For chrissakes, football should be played in northern location where the temperatures rarely get above freezing. The game is made all the more fun when Mother Nature turns the field of play into chaos with snow, ice or even fog as was the case for the Chicago Bears in 1988! I'd love to see a dense fog develop this time in Phoenix! Hey! You idiots paid 5K for that! Not going to happen, but one can hope.

One more reason I would not have chosen the Phoenix location has to do with the state of terror in the world today. That city is close to the southern border, a known entry point for Islamic nut jobs. God forbid something would happen.

The Rest of the Congressional Mess!

The current Presidential race not withstanding, what will we ever do about the mess on Capitol Hill? No matter who gets elected, (and I pray it's a Republican) come January 2017, some poor slob or slobette will inherit the wreckage and remains of the Obama eight year tenure in office. Unless, the new President elect is standing there, taking the oath with Jesus at his or her side, we are basically fucked!

The standing joke that has been and is the Senate and the House will still be there, stuck in the political mud as usual. No way, no how, will any single person be able to bridge the gulf that exists there. If nothing else, Old HarryReid will make sure of it!

So, it's my though that 2017 will quickly turn into a debacle as one infrastructural system after another fails. Before you know it, a full scale revolution will be in place. Remember, you heard it here first!

Zika virus of growing concern!

A tiny virus dubbed Zika is garnering growing interest and concern by world health organizations, due in part to a possible link between it and possible fetal deformations in pregnant women.

According to the CDC, the Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon.

Yet, the outbreak of the Zika virus sweeping the Americas has all the fixings of a dystopia in the making. In adults, the virus can cause a mild rash and a slight fever—but evidence suggests that if a pregnant woman is infected, her child could be born with a devastating birth defect: a shrunken head and brain, called microcephaly. Between 2010 and 2014, the average in Brazil was 163 cases per year. As of the beginning of 2016, Brazil had reported 3500 plus cases, including 46 deaths, a startling increase that coincided perfectly with the first wave of Zika in the country—arrival in the summer of 2014, and a rapid spread during 2015. And, it is that rapid ability to spread that has officials in other countries, including the United States concerned.

This virus will surely be the topic of conversation during the coming months as the northern hemisphere gets ready for the summer of 2016!

Hitting the diet marks when you're getting older!

Three things impact the human form as we age; 1) we tend to slow down and don't exercise, 2) our metabolism also slows so that we don't burn as many calories, and, 3) and worst of all, when we do diet, our metabolic rate can slow down even more making the whole effort appear pointless. But, there is hope!

A dietitian once told me that my choice of foods has an even bigger impact on my overall weight than exercise! She said that by just cutting down on the 'snack category' would go a long way to help me stay at least on the correct weight ballpark. Alas, a quick mental review of my recent eating habits easily confirmed why my middle was bulging once again. Since I keep track of my grocery purchases in a data file, it was easy to see where some of my problems lay. I had at least a starting point in my renewed weight control and general exercise plan for 2016! Less junk food and more exercise would be the focus.

I subscribed to an online and free diet tracker called MyFitnessPal some time ago. This easy-to-use program helped me a lot as it tracked my food intake and efforts at exercise. I quickly learned that going to McDonald's for a Big Breakfast (and thus loading on 740 calories not counting a beverage), was problematic for my overall dietary effort. Nope, I quickly figured out a simple rule of dieting, (assuming I were to plan on eating three squares a day) and still be able to have snacks.

Rule #1 – Limit your caloric intake at any one setting. In my case that came to something below 500 calories. That equates to 1500 calories per day which also happens to be my goal if I want to shed some pounds. Now here's the important part. Any snacking calories have to be worked off via exercise on that very same day! [Now, just to be clear, each type of snack therefore has a penalty of sorts attached to it. And, it amazed me at how some of those snacks I love to eat added up]! So, when I would purchase something like Pringles, I merely attach a label to the box with a readout on how much exercise each chip I consumed added up to. As 16 chips equaled a 150 calories, then a single chip was about 10 calories. In order to burn 10 calories on my exercise bike, I'd have to got for about a minute and a half – remember, that's per chip! Sixteen chips, which go down pretty quickly equate to …drum roll... 24 minuets! Holy crap! Well, that little label does go a long way to killing my appetite for Pringles, I can tell you that! Bottom line; label all your favorite snacks!

The take away here, it to allow you to get a fairly good fix on just what foods are sinking your diet effort right from the get go! (You might also want to build up a list of foods that are pretty safe to snack on, and yes, carrot sticks are likely on there somewhere).

A good start, (for any weight loss effort) would be to estimate your individual daily caloric limit. A good place on the net to find out would be Fit Watch! Once you have that figure in hand, keep meticulous track of both your food intake and exercise efforts on a tracking program like MyFitnessPal. Sure it's a pain in the ass, but if you stick with it over a three month period, you just might find that your big old ass has shrunk!