Category: Health and Fitness
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Introverts and ‘Social Distancing’
We introverts need our solitude, and in a world lousy teeming with extroverts, we can easily see the bright side of the 'social distancing' that prudence demands in the face of the Wuhan Flu. It offers us a good excuse to avoid idle talk and social dissipation. "I really would love to attend the block…
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“But it’s exponential!”
Peggy Noonan advertises her ignorance in this opening sentence: This coronavirus is new to our species—it is “novel.” It spreads more easily than the flu—“exponentially,” as we now say—and is estimated to be at least 10 times as lethal. Why is it "novel"? It is a form of flu, and it is not unique in…
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Panicked over the Wuhan Flu (Wu-Flu)?
For perspective, consider that in recent years 30,000 to 40,000 Americans each year have been killed in car crashes, and that thousands and thousands die each year of various strains of influenza the names of which are not bandied-about by the 24/7/366 media. The Maverick advises: resist group-think and mass hysteria. While taking reasonable precautions,…
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Medicare for All?
Some of the Democrat candidates for president are calling for Medicare for all, in those terms. The call makes no sense. Medicare is a U. S. government program for American citizens 65 years of age and older. (There are minor exceptions that don't affect my main point.) Now even Democrats know that not every citizen…
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Obesity is Not a Disease
Contemporary liberals spout nonsense about an 'epidemic' of obesity or obesity as a public health problem. True, we Americans are a gluttonous people as witness competitive eating contests, the numerous food shows, and the complete lack of any sense among most that there is anything morally wrong with gluttony. The moralists of old understood something…
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On the Water Front
When it comes to hydration there are two schools of thought. I have spoken with medical doctors who claim that it suffices to drink when one is thirsty. The massage therapists, on the other hand, to a woman recommend the drinking of prodigious quantities of water. Now water is the philosopher's drink (Henry David Thoreau)…
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The Fantasy of Addiction
As long as this blog has been online, 14 years now, I have railed against the misuse of the the word 'addiction.' Thanks to Dave Lull, I am pleased to see that Peter Hitchens takes a similar line in a First Things article. Excerpt: The chief difficulty with the word “addiction” is the idea that…
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Addiction is not a Disease
The liberal wussification initiative needs ever more victims, ever more government dependents, and ever more sick people. Hence the trend in this therapeutic society to broaden the definition of 'disease' to cover what are obviously not diseases. Need more patients? Define 'em into existence! Theodore Dalrymple talks sense: There are cheap lies and expensive lies, and…
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Barbara Ehrenreich Gives Up on Preventative Care
Very interesting, and not irrational given her age: In the last few years I have given up on the many medical measures—cancer screenings, annual exams, Pap smears, for example—expected of a responsible person with health insurance. This was not based on any suicidal impulse. Younger than Ehrenreich, I will continue to exercise what is called…
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Cigarettes, Rationality, and Hitchens
Let's talk about cigarettes. Suppose you smoke one pack per day. Is that irrational? I hope all will agree that no one who is concerned to be optimally healthy as long as possible should smoke 20 cigarettes a day, let alone 80 like Rod Serling who died at age 50 on the operating table. But…
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Why Physical Culture?
In part it is about control. I can't control your body, but I can control mine. Control is good. Power is good. Physical culture is the gaining and maintaining of power over that part of the physical world that is one's physical self. Self-mastery, as the highest mastery, must include mastery of the vehicle of…
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HillaryCare
That's what it was called before it was called ObamaCare. If you don't like the latter, then you'd better vote for Trump. It might be in your best interest to inform yourself on this matter. My Defective ObamaCare Health Insurance Product Just Blew Up Related articles Keith Burgess-Jackson on the SCOTUS ObamaCare Decision Why Progressives…
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Health and Money
Although their presence is insufficient for happiness, their absence is sufficient for misery.
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The Left’s Undermining of Professional Autonomy
Members of the professoriat have much to complain about, but physicians have it worse. Why Doctors Quit