Topic Tuesday #150 2015/06/02 "Sick Day Stuff"

Topic Tuesday #150 2015/06/02 "Sick Day Stuff"

I'm sick today. I have the sore throat, fevers, aches and pains, dizziness, and general crud. My day job requires me to drive around a lot, and I was in no shape to be on the road. I'm in my later thirties and have pushed myself pretty hard over the years, even when sick. At this point I have achieved a more realistic plateau. Today, I'm not doing anything heavy, except typing, cooking enough for myself to not pass out, and keeping my fluids up.  A very good friend of mine insinuated that I take pretty good care of myself, and I do, but not everyone does. Should you have a sick friend or relative, they might benefit from your help. So, here is what I've been doing to take care of myself.

Hot Tea: Lemon & Ginger Herbal (As in no actual tea) with lots of honey. There is something about the combination that soothes the throat like nothing else. 

Over the Counter Pain Medicine, especially NSAID (Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs) Not only will Acetaminophen (Tylenol), Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), Naproxen Sodium (Aleve), and Aspirin (Ecotrin), help with aches, pains and fevers, but that anti-inflammatory can help with relieving moderate swelling. Abuse of these drugs can cause a variety of problems, like ulcers, liver and kidney failure - so don't do that... BUT, for a short time you can up your dose a little (speak to your primary care physician for what is safe for you). Also, having all these drugs in your kit will allow you to overlap the dosing schedule. Naproxen is a long lasting NSAID, one every 12 hours (see your package for dose). People metabolize drugs differently than others and some will find that it may work on a fever, but does nothing for an ache. Instead of having to wait a full 12 hours before you can make yourself less miserable, you can take something else after a few hours. (Again, talk to your doctor, I'm not a doctor and provide this as a conceptual view of taking care of the ill.)

It would be wise to make note of when you take what. Pain is a horrible thing and clouds perception of time and can be rather convincing in getting you to take too much of any one kind. Also be aware that many name brand drugs have the same active ingredient, so though you are taking two different things you are actually over dosing on the active drug.  Cough syrups, like Nyquil is mostly acetaminophen and depending on the variety you get it may also have a nasal decongestant, and then you want to avoid taking a similar decongestant as well. Read the labels and take your time. Don't make life worse by sending yourself to the hospital.

Food: For some reason, honey is so wonderful for the sick. It's sweet, it's a natural antimicrobial, it's sticky so it soothes your throat. My daughters love a spoonful of honey when they feel sick, and so do I. I also like honey on my toast, and usually add a little peanut butter too. This is nice, quick comfort food that's easy on my stomach and provides lasting energy when you need it. Soup is an old favorite and especially good since it is easy to digest and provides more fluids for flushing all the crud your immune system is taking care of. There is always the can of chicken soup in your pantry, but I find there is just too much salt in them. I like to make my own soup. This is not for everyone, and you can find lower sodium options in your store. If you want to try your hand at it while you are well to freeze for later, or you happen to be the friend tending to the ill, you can do a lot worse than recipes from America's Test Kitchen.  http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/browse/soups They do charge for membership, but their recipies are the best you can find, without digging through grandma's dusty reipie box.

One thing you should learn to make is a basic broth. I tend to make turkey soup so I save the carcass from the turkey at thanksgiving and christmas and use them in making the broth. In a large stock pot, 3 quarts of water, the carcass, a coarsely chopped onion, a couple coarsely chopped carrots, a few cloves of garlic, a pinch of thyme, a bay leaf, and a teaspoon of salt. Bring it all to a boil, then drop it down to simmer for about 2 hours. Then you will run it all trough a fine mesh to get rid of the solids and have the  broth. Play with it, and you will find out what you like; then the sky's the limit on what you do. Try this turkey soup recipe next time you roast a bird.  http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/moms_turkey_soup/

Spicy. I like to eat very spicy things when I am stuffed up. It clears out my sinuses and scratches the itch of my sore throat. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce has pretty much changed my life. 

Take care out there, and get plenty of rest.

Topic Tuesday #148 2015/05/19 "Home Automation - Part 2"

Topic Tuesday #148 2015/05/19 "Home Automation - Part 2"

   Today I was thrust back into home automation with two things.

   The first was a bulb I was testing with SmartThings, the GE Link A19, Soft White (2700K), 60 Watt Equivalent. GE has an automation product line (www.wink.com), similar to SmartThings (but limited to lighting only), which they say is a MUST for the A19. The Link A19 and the entire Philips Hue collection (which I have not delved into, yet), are compatible with the SmartThings system and any controller capable of using ZigBee protocol that we discussed some of in Part 1. .  The A19 does not change colors, but is quite bright and can dim to a very cozy level. At this time, the GE Link A19 will set you back about $15 from either Amazon http://amzn.to/1Hry9Or or Home Depot. They have a long life (22+ years 3 hours a day),  and at 12 watts max, they sip the juice. Even if they weren't capable of being controlled wirelessly, they make a great incandescent and CFL replacement.  And that brings me to the woe of why this bulb got my attention again today.

   There was a power outage and for the second time, the bulb lost connection to the hub and had to be removed and added back to the system. This is only a big deal because SmartThings will not allow you to delete a device if there is an "app" linked to it. I had this bulb programmed to slowly come on at dawn and then to come on at sunset. BTW, having a bright light near you when you are trying to wake up, does help. So that was a bit of a pain, and with the power situation I have here in Florida, brown outs happen quite a lot. I moved it to a UPS next to my bed so I have my alarm, my device chargers, and this on backup so I will never be late waking up (due to minor technical failures).  But this is impractical if I wanted to use it in a location that I can't slap a backup on... Still, it's a great bulb when it works and when it's not smart, it's still pretty good for the price. I will be looking at other bulbs soon. 

   The second thing that snapped me to attention was a tremendous sale on an item that I had my eye on. Amazon was running this beauty at 83% off. Aeon Labs AEDSB09104ZWUS Aeotec Z-Wave Smart Energy Monitor http://amzn.to/1BaP1nQ

Aeon Labs Aeotec Smart Energy Monitor

"What does that do?" you might ask yourself, and that's a great question. It is an energy flow meter. It has two current transformer clamps the go around the AC mains in the house's breaker panel/load center to detect energy usage for the entire house. You could use the clamps around the hot and neutral power for other heavy equipment if you can separate them, but I will leave that hacking to your imaginations. For my use, it will be installed in the load center for my home, and will monitor and report the power habits of my household. I will be able to chart average usage, and them modify my behavior for greater energy savings. I will also be using it to figure out the exact amounts for when I install my generator transfer switch and can make the best use out of those watts in an emergency. This monitor is easy to install and will not require an electrician. From what I have found, it will operate on battery for about a year, but will provide rapid feedback if plugged into an external source. More on that and more in a later post. 

Topic Tuesday #143 2015/04/14 "What's The Harm?"

Topic Tuesday #143 2015/04/14 "What's The Harm?"

Today my thought train derailed when an article crossed my path. It was one of those "ah ha" style moments. Some of those moments make you jubilant, and sometimes they drive you to drink; this was the latter.

Have you ever excused an action or series of events with the rhetorical question, "What's the harm?" I imagine you have. I have, in the past. I've reached a point in my life that "what's the harm" is a call to action instead of rhetoric. Dear readers, I challenge you to examine those things in your path that could be simple rhetorical questions and find out what the harm really is. 

Beware though; the truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.

I don't like to tease too much, so here is the story that jerked me around and made me really consider this topic. http://bit.ly/1FOpyar 

Briefly, here is the TL:DR version: Texas, a set of very religious parents starved their two year old boy because their faith leader believe he was possessed by demons.  After 25 days without food, the boy died and the couple fled to Mexico with the corpse to attempt to resurrect the boy. It didn't work, much to the grief of the bereaved parents.

So... What's the harm? What could possibly be harmful about religious practice?

They killed their son with the love of their faith. They didn't seek proper treatment for whatever was the root cause of the "demon possession" and rather took it on faith that... what were they hoping for?  As a parent, I can understand how terrible it can be to have a child in pain, or in a psychological condition that you do not know how to handle. I can sympathize that they were trying to save him. I can't fathom how difficult it could be to withhold food from their defenseless child who is completely reliant on their parents for their basic needs... The phrases "for your own good," and "this hurts me more than you" come to mind. That tough love... That ended up killing the recipient of their love. This brings another phrase to mind, "With friends like these, who needs enemies?" 

And of course, the echo in my mind, "What's the harm?" http://whatstheharm.net/children.html 

I think I figured it out, but you tell me. Cheers. 

I owe you all a drink after this downer. Sorry everyone, but the world is really screwed up and we need to fix it.

Topic Tuesday #136 2015/02/24 "Genetically Modified Organisms"

Topic Tuesday #136 2015/02/24 "Genetically Modified Organisms"

Recently a rash of anti-intellectualism has gripped the United States. People are abusing the term skeptic when really they are just denying the consensus of scientific findings.  We have seen this with climate change. We have felt the prick of the anti-vaccination crowd.  One that we haven't discussed is that of genetically modified organisms, aka, food.  

Let me be very clear here: there is no danger in eating the current crops. The danger is in the unknown. 

Let us take as an example, GMO corn. The number one consumer of GMO corn is cattle. It is an enormous part of their diet. The livestock that we rely on for many industries and other food, has suffered no ill effects from this diet. On a microscopic level, the GMO corn is identical to a non-GMO variety.  Combine this knowledge with the thousands of studies from all over the world and you have a mountain of evidence showing there is nothing to be concerned with in its consumption.

Bill Nye, recently, has come out against GMO. His take is different and I share it. He posits that we do not know the impact on the ecosystems around these products. The science is not mature enough for his liking on the effects to all the interconnected bio systems. His, is a reasonable position, even if he would prefer to stop using it all until that science is in. 

That's not going to happen, based on human nature. The horse has left the barn, as is said down on Old MacDonald's farm. The world is the lab in this case, and we will have to deal with it due to inertia. 

In parting, the foods are safe for us, but we don't know what the long term effects their presence in the biosphere will have. 

Remember the fictional PhD, Ian Malcolm. "Life finds a way" "That's chaos theory..."

For the references to the data in the attached meme, the source URL is here.http://www.axismundionline.com/blog/the-new-is-gm-food-safe-meme/

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Topic Tuesday #135 2015/02/17 "Home Automation - Part 1"

Topic Tuesday #135 2015/02/17 "Home Automation - Part 1"

This week I decided to use some of my tax return and jump into the mysterious world of home automation. I'm going to be going through all the bits and pieces on here and with reviews in Cowen's Corner. This is just a tease, as I'm still letting the dust settle.

I went with the SmartThings ecosystem.

There were three primary reasons for why this product and not one of the many others.

1) Cost - The SmartThings Hub was among the least expensive for the features offered. It's a pay once solution with no subscription fees.
2) Flexibility - The SmartThings ecosystem works with the major standards of "internet of things" and home automation. Primarily "Z-Wave" is represented along with the "ZigBee" protocol. These standards make up the backbone of the "internet of things" in your connected home. If you have a security system that has wireless sensors on doors and windows, you might already have some of these in your home.
3) Integration with other pioneers on the internet. So far, I would be lost without recipes from IFTTT (IF This Then That) For instance, IFTTT allows me to record when the front door is locked or unlocked to a spreadsheet on my Google Drive. It is location aware based on my phone., so if I leave the area it will lock the door and turn off my phone's WiFi. I've also set times of day for when that door should be locked by default. It makes that happen and sends me an alert and records it on the sheet. With other partners like Life360 (which I just came across) you can really get a handle on how your family can benefit from some automation and the piece of mind of know where anyone is at a given time.

I've just scratched the surface and it will be an adventure - not the cheapest adventure, but well worth exploring.

What would you automate?

Topic Tuesday #128 2014/12/30 - "Allow populace to come to a boil, then simmer"

Topic Tuesday #128 2014/12/30 - "The Enemy is Fear"

I am little more than an armchair quarterback, and at most I play at being a pundit. I sit here and pluck headlines and talk about them. Some of them are more obscure or more interesting than others, on purely personal notes of interest. This Tuesday, I want to offer something on the state of violence that has permeated our media, and thereby our minds.  

Once upon a time I was interested in serving the people. I wanted to make a difference and I was thinking that the way to go about that was to go into law enforcement. Yes, I do have a great respect for the law and follow the process with great interest, even if you may find my other commentary to the contrary. I did just a little cursory examination of life in law enforcement and I changed my mind. I discovered that I have a greater respect for life (particularly my own) than for the law. Call it a fear of lead... I had/have no desire to be shot at. I also did not join the armed services, much for the same reasons. I have become a conscientious objector over the years. I prefer diplomatic solutions to blunt force trauma. 

Sometimes force is what is needed. For that, there are men and women that are more daring than I. I have great respect for those that would put themselves on the line for justice. 

This year, more than others in memory, has been divisive to the armed and the unarmed. We have Open Carry of long arms and small, we have school shootings, riots, and crazy men taking it into their own hands to perform vigilante justice on the streets verses the ones that have stepped up to keep the peace. 

There have been many deaths at the hands of law enforcement over the years. This we know intrinsically. For some this sense of foreboding is ever present. Racial tensions and stereotyping are still very strong in 2014 and they will not be less in 2015. There are facts that are being manipulated by the powerful and the weak to make people dance to the right tune. 

This is nothing new. The results, on the otherhand, are. 

I implore everyone of my readers to be aware of what is going on, but to not act rashly. We are slow animals that are trying to react to too much too quickly. We are being run like a herd of cattle, by fear of predators. The trouble is, we don't know who the real threats are. 

Threat detection is a key to a species survival. Typically, animalistic tendencies take the greatest of our subconscious attentions to protect us. That weird feeling of unease you get right before being snuck up on, or attacked from the side. The number one problem that our species has today is, in my opinion, threat overload. Again, our brains are only able to hold so many things in them at any given time. We don't really multitask very well, though we can keep things rolling nicely. We have too many data points to keep track of. How many new credit cards did you get this year because of hacks? Half a dozen of these and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much trying to control our threat detection... We are afraid of our own shadows. 

Everyone is. The ones that put themselves on the firing lines of the world, are just the same - but they expect to be shot at too. No one really wants to be harmed. Self preservation kicks into high gear and we react. Some... shoot first. 

I am saddened by the tragedy that has been raking the nation, but I fear it is not as tragic as it could be. We have unprecedented access to information. Sometimes it is too much. Sometimes, it poses more questions that requires even more information.

With the troubles we have with the police, they are scared of the population they serve. They are taking measures that seem quite justified to those that feel threatened. Get bigger guns, get armor, build up defenses. It is no wonder they look like the military.  

The other side of the coin is the populace is more armed. Technology is not limited to the policing forces after all. The NRA has been pushing for a more armed populace. The GOP has been doing the same. Any attempts to make it harder to have a weapon in the hands of the civilian have been met with angry vigor and a lot of money. Now you have two sides that are built to go to war with each other. Everyone is afraid. Fear makes people do stupid things. Carelessness often follows these scenarios. People go too far. Rules are broken. People are killed. Parents shot by toddlers. Men choked by police. Babies killed by stun grenades thrown into the wrong house.

Some sense of sanity needs to be restored. We need to remember that we are little more than fearful children that just want a safe place to live. We need to remember our own humanity. 

My wish for 2015; Freedom - from fear. 
Happy New Year.

Topic Tuesday #93 2014/04/29 "Gun Safety - Hell No!?"

Topic Tuesday #93 2014/04/29 "Gun Safety - Hell No!?"

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The iP1 the first "smart gun" for sale in the United States.CreditMonica Almeida/The New York Times

Last night a story came across my news feed that made me sit up and take notice. It was a beautiful fire arm that I swore was a movie prop. (See Picture) http://nyti.ms/1fHGKgi

The iP1 is quite a stunning looking pistol. It's a .22 caliber and will only fire when a 5 digit pin is input into the watch and is within 10 inches of it. As a technologist, I personally foresee the technology could be embedded in any personal item, as the watch is not as attractive as the gun, that could be a good thing for the $1,800 firearm... That is if the gun, and its technology, are ever able to make it to market. Second Amendment activists flooded social media site like Calguns.net, and called for vigilante-style investigations of Ms. Padilla and Armatix.  One user commented that he had no issues with "...the idea of personally and professionally leveling the life of someone who has attempted to profit from disarming me and my fellow Americans."

The gun lobby in the U.S. is far less concerned (and I'm not being hyperbolic) with the safety of the public than they are with the ability to manufacture and sell guns without any additional safety mechanisms, or smart technology. The company, Armatix, and its chief representative here in the states, Belinda Padila have been ostracized and harassed as part of a campaign to shut down the sale of the iP1 smart gun. They are not alone either, as just last year a study found that 3 other companies came out with a smart safety system for firearms. We haven't heard much about them either...

From the times article:

"Second Amendment defenders argue that once guns with high-tech safety features go on sale, government mandates will follow. They cite a decade-old New Jersey law requiring that within three years of the recognition technology’s becoming available in the United States, all guns sold in the state would have to be “smart.”

“Are we concerned?” asked Lawrence G. Keane, general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for gun manufacturers. “Yes.”

The National Rifle Association, in an article published on the blog of its political arm, wrote that “smart guns,” a term it mocks as a misnomer, have the potential “to mesh with the anti-gunner’s agenda, opening the door to a ban on all guns that do not possess the government-required technology.”

Padila and Armatrix continue to look for retailers. Personally, If I was to have a gun in my house, you better believe it would be an owner recognition system. 

A friend pointed out that there may be a better marketing strategy that they missed out on. That if the caliber was the same as is used in the military and law enforcement side arms that they would have a larger target market and potential for more lateral support.  I hope Armatix is listening and coming out with a Desert Eagle equivalent. And if it looks as slick as this model, you might even see it in your next buddy cop film, unless the gun nuts get their way. Eventually, common sense should win out. There have been too many casualties and this allows people to retain their rights to bare arms and adds a layer of protection. Imagine no more accidental deaths from children shooting their siblings in the face. I would like to never see another story like that again.