The View From the Outback

• Thoughts While Staring at the Ceiling Fan
• The Role of Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Questioned
• Finding a Compatible Mate Is Not Easy
• The Free USDA Nutrient Database for PDAs
• Achilles Heel Versus Achilles Tendon
• Suggested Reading From Past Columns

We increasingly are buying things made in China. Check your labels. In order to cut down on shipping costs, it might be a good idea to lay a large tube-tunnel on the ocean floor from Seattle to Beijing and install a conveyor belt. We could also then close about 120,000 Chinese restaurants on the West Coast and get the "real stuff" direct. The Earth is about 7,000 miles in diameter. The distance over the ocean from Beijing to Seattle is about 5,436 miles. Of course, the ocean floor tube-tunnel sections would be made in China and installed by Mexican laborers. It would be hard to pry enough of the American work force away from their computers to contribute to this engineering venture.

The commercialization of America is out of control. During football games, the game statistics are the "Coors" stats, or whatever. There are so many commercial messages, that we have tuned out, in case Madison Avenue is listening. The final insult came Sunday, when we saw a commercial for Acme bricks (bricks for home-building). The announcer intoned, "Acme Brick. The official brick of the Dallas Cowboys." Maybe the Cowboys should have a "Free Brick" day at one of their games. Any game will do, since most of their games are now bricks.

If you bought a computer several years ago, it can probably benefit from an upgrade in the amount of RAM memory. The selection, quality, and service at www.crucial.com is simply remarkable. I have a Winbook XL3 notebook computer, which is no longer in production. I found 128 MB memory chips for it at CRUCIAL.COM for $31. Now my aging PIII 450MHz notebook has new life with 256MB of RAM.

In an earlier Outback, I mentioned an American Indian I had served with in the Marines. I got two e-mails on the same day from women claiming to be his daughter. It turned out that they are his twin daughters. They sent me a photo of Victor sitting on a bunk at a base where we served together. What a wonderful surprise. And how amazing are the search engines that they can index an obscure sentence in an obscure Web site such as mine?

I have been researching traveling through Europe on a railpass. It is economical and a great way to sight-see. But, when I checked each country on the State Department travel-advisory page, there was one common thread. Beware of thefts and other mischief around train stations and on the train. Don't nod off, or your bag may be gone, etc. Super. I will take the matter under further advisement, and I have ordered the definitive book on the subject of rail travel in Europe.

There is only about one commercial that I do not mute. It is any of the Sprint commercials where the message gets garbled. "I heard 'get a Monkey with a cold,' " ought to win a Cleo or whatever that award is called. When the Monkey rolls his head with the thermometer in his mouth and then snatches the Kleenex, it cracks me up. Whoever wrote those commercials is a genius. Ask for a raise.

Sen. Tom Daschle is apparently blaming Rush Limbaugh, at least in part, for the threats the senator has been getting. I very seldom listen to Limbaugh, who takes the whole trip to the post office to express a single thought - 25 different ways. So, Sen. Daschle, my contempt for you comes from reading accounts of your actions, watching you on the Senate floor and in press conferences. Rush Limbaugh is not your worst enemy. You are! Don't even think about running for President. It would be an insult even to Democrats. Consider moving permanently to S. Dakota and raising Flaxseed. That would be a positive contribution. Now, it seems that when pressed about the exact nature of the "threats" Daschle can not come up with anything specific. Is he distantly related to Bill Clinton?

We now routinely touch up photos and edit movies on our computers. TV laugh tracks have also gotten very sophisticated. But, if you stop and think, there is really very little that happens in sitcoms that is so funny than a real person would laugh. Try watching "Friends," or "Frasier," or "Everybody Loves Raymond," with only the Closed Captioning turned on. If you even smile a few times, it would be surprising, let alone laugh out loud. Studio audiences are convinced that something funny must be going on, so they laugh at the slightest provocation - and are often prompted to do so. Record Jay Leno's monologue and use only the Closed Captioning. Then, play it back with the sound. That will be an eye-opener - and an ear-opener.

As a nation, we have become inured to violence - even addicted to it. Theories abound as to why this is so. Violent movies, violent TV shows, violent computer games, and violent works of fiction no doubt contribute greatly to our nonchalance about what in earlier generations would make people nearly throw up. On the HBO show "The Sopranos," Ralphie got killed by Tony in a fight. Then Ralphie's head was severed and placed in a bowling-ball bag (so I have read, as I could not watch this part). Curious about the fan reaction, I printed a complete set of comments on a forum on the Web page of The Dallas Morning News. Not one person, all of whom wrote anonymously, said that the chopping off of Ralphie's head with a meat cleaver bothered them. People called it a "great episode." One said it reminded them of when Janice killed Ritchie. Good, glad you could relate. (People have been pining for more gore, more brutality, in a show they had complained had gone soft.) One person wrote: "I did note however when Christopher was placing Ralphie's head in the case it didn't look like it had been beaten." I got a little nauseous at that comment. Sorry that the dripping head did not look beaten enough for you. Maybe on the next whack they can do better. It isn't guns folks, we have had millions of them for over a century. It is this sick, violent culture - where a TV viewer can complain in print that a severed head did not look beaten. Tony Soprano is not the only one who needs a shrink.

Of the millions of words written and spoken about the results of the last election, Sen. Zell Miller, Democrat from Georgia, summed it up in three sentences in an article in the WSJ for Nov. 14, 2002. "It's hard to run on your record when you don't have a record. And it's hard to run on your vision when you don't have a vision. The Democratic Party .... has become a party that stands for nothing and does nothing."

Which brings us to the rumblings among some Democrats, intensified by the selection of Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco liberal (that is a special radical brand of liberal, if you have not been paying attention) as the Minority Leader in the House. There are talks of defections to the Republican side. My candidate is Cong. Ralph Hall, D., Texas. Ralph is the only Democrat I have ever voted for in the Congress - because he is a closet Republican. Ralphie, it is time to come out of the closet and declare yourself.

If you keep a scorecard, here are the names of the Senators who voted against the Homeland Security bill: Byrd, W.Va; Feingold, Wisconsin; Hollings, S.C.; Levin, Mich.; Sarbanes, Maryland; Edward Kennedy, Mass; (all Democrats) and the so-called Independent, Jeffords, Vermont. The Senate confirmed 18 Bush nominees for federal judgeships. Disgraceful. The Democrats had them bottled up in committee for months (years) until the American people put a gun to their head with the results of the November elections.

The other day, I had a long conversation on the ham radio with an educated and thoughtful man in the Czech Republic. He was praising President Bush, and I suggested that he send an e-mail of support to the President at www.whitehouse.gov - which he did. Our discussions ranged over many subjects. I knew that we were pretty compatible, but I did not realize how much so. I later got an e-mail from him with an attached .JPG. The photo was entitled "Rudy's Last Act to Save New York." I don't think Hillary understands the level of hatred she has engendered, not only in the U.S., but in many parts of the world.

Rudy's Last Act to Save New York

The Role of Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Questioned

In the Outback for February 23, 2002, I wrote "Does High Cholesterol Really Cause Heart Disease." I pointed, among other things, to the work of Dr. Uffe Ravnskov in Sweden. He is a medical doctor and also holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry. Please refer to his Web page. It will cause you to question all of "The Cholesterol Myths, " which is the name of his book.

www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm

Two recent sets of reports have cast further doubt about the role of cholesterol and saturated fat in causing cardiovascular disease. The hot new test is a blood test for C-reactive Protein (CRP). CRP is said to be a better indicator of inflamation of the coronary arteries than testing for cholesterol.

In the CRP study of 28,000 women, 77 percent who had strokes or heart attacks - or a major cardiac procedure such as by-pass surgery, had "normal" cholesterol and 46 % were in the "ideal" range. The "normal" LDL was 160 or less, and the "ideal" LDL of 130 or less. For example, a total cholesterol of 245 would equate to an LDL (bad cholesterol) reading of about 160 (based on a blood test I took years ago). When I was a vegetarian for about a year, my cholesterol was 149, my LDL was 73. That latter may have been too low for good health.

If you subscribe to the theory that high cholesterol causes cardiovascular disease, don't get too excited about the 77 percent who had "normal" cholesterol and had problems. By popular medical wisdom, a high percentage of problems should be expected in that range. By virtually no standard is a total cholesterol reading of 242 or an LDL of 159 "normal." For the record, any cholesterol below 220 used to be considered normal, but now the number has crept closer to 200 or below. The problem with "normal" is that if we say the average is the same as normal, then average is too high for good health.

Here are latest guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Program: A total Cholesterol of less than 200 mg/dl is desireable, and 240 and up is High. The optimum level for LDL is less than 100! A normal Triglyceride level is less than 150; 200-499 is High. The HDL (good) Cholesterol is good if it is above 60 and not considered good if below 40. Of course, there are those in the medical profession who suggest that these ranges are not supported by the research. There may be an innate bias among researchers toward the pharmaceutical industry - who help fund the studies. The industry will gain billions in revenue if people start taking Statins to lower their Cholesterol to meet the new guidelines.

The Merck Manual, Seventeenth Edition, on page 202, gives the formula for determining the LDL (bad) Cholesterol reading:

LDL=Total Cholesterol minus HDL minus (Triglyceride divided by 5) if Triglycerides are below 400 mg/dl.

So, using one of my old reports, 175-53-(133/5)= LDL of 95.40 - and guess what? That is the LDL value (95) shown on my lab report. So, that seems like the right formula.

Remember that my Cardiologist, who is nationally renowned, says that cholesterol in eggs, for example, does not raise your cholesterol level, it is saturated fat that raises cholesterol. But, he says, the cholesterol level is not related to heart disease. He referred me to the work of Dr. Ravnskov whose Web site was noted earlier. I also read the book "The Cholesterol Myths."

Duke University conducted a test of two control groups. One dieted using the American Heart Association diet (AHA low-fat, balanced diet), the other followed the Atkins diet. Atkins suggests a very high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet. Cheese and steaks are a must with the Atkins diet - and very little refined carbohydrates. The Atkins dieters lost an average of 31 pounds in six months, and the AHA dieters 20 pounds. More importantly, the Atkins dieters had an 11 percent increase in HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) and a 49 percent drop in triglycerides (another apparent indicator of potential heart disease). This study really shocked a lot of health professionals who had been bad-mouthing the Atkins diet for decades.

The LDL cholesterol levels on both diets changed very little, but on the Atkins diet, the LDL changed to a form less likely to clog the arteries.

So, when we take into account the massive research done by Dr. Ravnskov and published in his book, "The Cholesterol Myths," and factor in the information in the CRP study that 77 percent of people who had strokes or heart attacks had normal levels of cholesterol. And add to that the information about the study on the Atkins diet that showed an improvement in blood lipid chemistry, rather than the dire predictions of heart attack and death that the opponents of Atkins have so often predicted - something is stirring. What is clear is that the assumptions that high cholesterol and saturated fat cause heart disease are finally being scientifically questioned.

I celebrated the confluence of these studies with a Quarter Pounder with cheese for lunch, and a rib-eye steak and a hunk of cheese for dinner, with two glasses of wine. The first thing that I noticed was that I did not go to the refrigerator or the cabinet again that evening. High fat diets do satiate you, there is no question about it. This is one reason you lose weight on them. Somebody has to be right. Somebody has to be wrong. At my age, I am beginning to think that I do not care who is right or wrong. They have jacked us around for decades. If I thought going back to being a vegetarian would add a couple of years to my life, I could make the decision in about 10 seconds. Pass the cheesecake. The one dipped in chocolate.

Finding a Compatible Mate is Not Easy

Watching the "Bachelor" show on ABC got me to thinking about how hard it is find someone basically compatible and then work out the minor differences. Here is a list of some things that came to mind, that one might explore with a potential mate - not all at one sitting, of course - or it would be your only date:

What time do you go to bed? What time do you arise? If you did not have to work, what time would you go to bed and what time would you get up? It is the Owls versus Larks dilemma.

Do you like a firm or a soft mattress?

Do you prefer to sleep in bedclothes or in the nude?

Do you prefer to have sex at night or in the morning, or both? And how often? Provided, of course, that the right stimulus and atmosphere were provided? If your answer is "once a month," it was nice meeting you.

Do you snore? If so, have you ever sought treatment? Would you consider seeking treatment?

What temperature do you like to keep it in the house? In your car? (A woman usually prefers it to be warmer than does a man. Put on a sweater, dear.)

When you are alone, what kind of music do you listen to? Which artists? In the car, do you have a favorite radio station you listen to? Or favorite CDs you play?

What TV shows do you watch? Do you like old movies on TV? If so, which kind?

What kind of food do you like? Meat, vegetables, fruit? Do you try to eat a low-fat diet, or do you eat pretty much what you want? Which ethnic cuisine(s) is (are) your favorite(s)?

Do you smoke? Did you ever smoke? If so, and you gave it up, how long have you been off the weed, or the pipe, or cigars?

How do you feel about maintaining a smoke-free house and cars, and letting our friends know that is how we want it?

Do you drink alcohol? If so, what kind, how often, and in what quantity? (No lying. I'll find the empty bottles.)

Have you ever taken or smoked any illegal drugs? More than once or twice, that is. Honestly.

Do you go hunting, fishing, camping, play golf, play poker, or bowl with the guys? If so, how often? (A certain amount of "space and personal time" is good for a relationship.)

Who did you vote for in the last two elections? For President, in the Congress, and for Governor - and why?

How do you feel about the way we manage our forests, treat animals, manage pollution and steward our streams and lakes?

Do you belong to any grass-roots political organization? Do you belong to any environmental or animal-rights groups?

What were the titles of the last five books you read? Comment on each in some detail.

What were the last five movies you saw in a theater, or on a fairly-recent DVD, or on pay-per- view? What did you like or dislike about them?

Are you computer literate? If so, are you happy with the level of your skills or would you like to improve them? Do you hate computers and never want to learn how to use one?

When you are by yourself, do you ever watch football, baseball, basketball, or hockey on TV?

How much sports could (or should) a man watch on TV before it becomes a problem in the relationship?

If both people have jobs, who should decide how the money is spent? Spell out your plan.

What do you think about two people having separate checking accounts for their income, from which each pays for their own clothing, personal grooming, vehicles, insurance, and "toys" - and have a third account for household and family expenses - into which each would contribute in proportion to their income? ( I did this once and never had a cross word about money.)

In general, how do you feel about credit-card debt? How much debt would be too much?

In-laws! How do you feel about a parent, a child, or a sibling coming to live with us? How do you feel about parents, siblings, or children showing up at the doorstep unannounced? If in-laws come to visit, how many days is a reasonable period of time to have them share our home with us? How should we handle it if one of us does not like, or cannot stand, a parent, child, or sibling of the other person?

What is your general philosophy of raising children? Do you believe in strict discipline and rigid boundaries, or do you tend toward a more permissive view of child rearing? How do you feel about spanking children?

How should we handle arguments and anger? Should we separate ourselves until the passion cools down? Should we immediately try to reach a compromise? Should we ever go to bed angry, and if not, is it okay for one of us to then sleep in another room? is there a point where we might seek professional counseling?

Do you have a sexually transmitted disease? If you do not know the answer to that, would you consent to having your doctor run some tests? I have no problem with that.

Have you ever been sued? If so, for what? Have you ever been arrested. If so, for what?

Do you think there is a reason to groom your hair and apply some makeup while around the house on weekends - or is this your time to just let it all hang out? For men, do you shave on the weekends? Do you wear a paint-spattered T shirt and torn jeans all weekend?

Where do you, or would you, like to go on vacation and what would you like to do? Would you prefer to fly or drive?

Have you ever traveled outside of the United States? If so, to which countries? Were these good or bad experiences for you? Are there places that you will feel cheated in life if you never get to visit?

How do you feel about guns - for hunting, for target practice, and/or for self defense?

How do you feel about candlelight and wine dinners and then cuddling on the couch while listening to your favorite music? (That is for men to throw the women completely off the track of focusing on Monday Night Football.)

Do you prefer to spend most time alone with your mate - and go places with your mate - or do you like to be around other people several nights a week?

Do you think any real man likes museums, the opera, and the ballet? (This is a trick question. Some straight men do. This old Marine has enjoyed some of each.)

How many nights a week would you like to eat a home-cooked (or home-prepared) meal, and how many nights would you rather go out to eat or have food delivered?

Are you generally happy or not happy with your weight and fitness level? If not, would you consider a partnership program to work on the situation?

Do you have a dog or a cat? If a dog, is it a house dog or an outside dog? Does your pet regularly sleep in bed with you? If you don't have either, would you like to have one or the other? An indoor or outdoor pet?

If you are not watching TV, do you leave the sound on as you move about the room or the house? Or do you press the Mute anytime you are not watching a program? Or turn it off?

How do you feel about muting most commercials on TV? Maybe after we have seen them once? Or watch ones we both agree are funny, like "I thought you said 'get a Monkey with a cold ' "?

Does it annoy you to watch a TV channel if they are running a "crawl" at the bottom of the screen? If so, would you consider changing channels?

What do you think of the idea of when the phone is answered, the person who takes the call moves to another room to conduct any extended conversation? (This comes from when my ex- wife used to take calls from male associates or her mother and chat it up in the living room for 30 minutes or more.)

What charities do you contribute to, or would like to contribute to over the coming months and years?

What do you think of an affectionate welcome when the other person comes home and then a few minutes of quiet time - and maybe a drink - before the issues of the day are discussed?

Do you think it is a good or bad idea for either one of us to have e-mail or chat-room friends of the opposite sex, unless they are related or friends of both of us?

Do you think it is a good idea or a bad idea to have TVs in different rooms with the capability to watch different shows when there is a conflict in our viewing preferences? Watching three football games on Sunday would not be a fair use of that privilege. Nor is three hours of Home Shopping Network within the guidelines.

And the classic: Do you drape the toilet paper over the front of the roll or let it hang down next to the wall?

Pretty grim, isn't it? To paraphrase Diane Rehm (co-author with husband John of "Toward Commitment" - which I have not yet read): Rarely is there a marriage made in Heaven that does not have to be lived out on Earth.

Recently, I scanned about a hundred ads from women within about 10 years of my age on a reputable online dating service. In what fairyland do these people live? They say they want someone kind, loving, affectionate, funny, athletic, financially secure, who will go with them dancing, to the opera, to concerts, to museums, to play golf/tennis or ski, to fine restaurants, travel the U.S. and foreign lands by air, sea, and land. The person must be within a narrowly defined age group, of a certain height and weight, religious leanings, and on and on.

Get real ladies. The reason you are single is that no such man exists. I know for a fact that if I met most of those ladies in person, I could be 15 years older than they are, weigh 20 pounds more than their profile, be shorter, and so on, and we would get along famously. I've been doing it with women from ages 30 to 75 for decades. It is how people interact in person that counts, not some fantasy profile that probably does not exist.

The Free USDA Nutrient Database For PDAs

One of the few things I have ever seen the government get right is the USDA Nutrient Database for the Palm OS - for PDAs. I downloaded the free program and installed it on my now-ancient Palm IIIxe. It has over 8,000 food records, and lists as many things as most any book in my extensive food-related library. You can check fat, saturated fat, calories per serving, sodium content, and on and on and on. It is simply an incredible resource. It even has a Fast Food section.

So, if you are serious about your nutrition, you no longer have an excuse for eating a bagel with cream cheese for lunch and saying that you did not know how many calories or how much fat you were eating. If you feel guilty (or ignorant) about what you cram down your throat in a given day, this program will help you.

The database takes up about 2MB of RAM in your Palm, but even in my old IIIxe, there is still plenty of room in the 8MB of RAM. Another shock. When you double-click on the downloaded file, it automatically sets up to be loaded at the next Sync operation, without you having to move files to the Install area on your desktop. Will wonders never cease? One caution. Since it is such a large program, it takes a long time to load during a Sync operation. I aborted it three times because I thought the government had done it again, given me something useless. But, with patience, if finally loaded.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/

Achilles Heel versus Achilles Tendon

It has always bothered me when someone referred to a person's particular vulnerability as their "Achilles heel." I thought they were misusing the words "Achilles Tendon," which attaches to the heel and extends up the calf. Since I am a former runner (I now walk), who has jogged a greater cumulative distance than the diameter of the Earth, I am painfully aware of the Achilles Tendon. But, obviously, I know squat about Greek mythology. So, for anyone who is interested (doubtful, so that is why this is at the end), here is the story of two different Achilles.

In Greek mythology, Achilles was the greatest of the Greek warriors in the Trojan War. When he was a child, his mother dipped him into the River Styx to make him immortal. The water made him invulnerable except for the heel by which his mother held him.

Achilles fought many battles during the 10-year siege of Troy. He fought his last battle with Memnon, king of the Ethiopians, whom he killed. After killing the king, Achilles led the Greeks to the walls of Troy. There he was mortally wounded in the (unprotected) heel by Paris. ( Refer to Homer's Iliad. I can't seem to find my copy. Yeah, sure.)

The Achilles Tendon connects the heelbone to the calf. Keeping the Achilles supple is one reason that runners and other athletes do a leg stretch where they put one leg to the rear and bend at the knee. This stretches the calf, and if the angle is increased to bend somewhat at the ankle, the Achilles Tendon is stretched.

If your Achilles Tendon becomes inflamed, your doctor may suggest a Cortisone shot. The injection must be made carefully into the swollen and inflamed area - and not directly into the Achilles Tendon. A direct injection of Cortisone into the tendon can cause serious damage to the Achilles Tendon. Don't be real anxious to get a Cortisone shot in the Achilles Tendon area unless you have discussed the risk-benefit ratio with your doctor. And you are convinced that he or she has a steady hand. I've been there, done that. But, will probably never consent to another shot in that area. I researched the procedure only after I had already gotten the shot, or I might have refused the treatment in the first instance.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes

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