No Second Chances With Fentanyl

I was in Colorado in May, and my daughter in law Deborah, had just had a serious talk with my oldest grandchild, Lennon, about fentanyl.  I'm not sure what precipitated the conversation, but at 12 years of age, it's probably the right time to have the conversation.  The bottom line of the conversation was to never, never, never, take any pill from anyone!  They may say it's an aspirin and it's not.  They may not even know what it really is.  It could be fentanyl, the deadly drug that killed more than 80,000 people in 2021 and is on course to kill more this year.  It's not marijuana.  Fentanyl is deadly.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, approved for treating severe pain, typically advanced cancer pain.  It is 50-100 times more potent than morphine.  It is prescribed in the form of transdermal patches or lozenges, and can be diverted for misuse and abuse in the United States.

Most overdoses of fentanyl  in the U.S. are linked to illegally made fentanyl.  It is sold through illegal drug market for its heroin-like effect.  It is often mixed with heroin and/or cocaine, with or without the user's knowledge.

What can be done?  Talk to your children, as Deborah has done, at an early age, and talk to them often.  Make them realize that there are no second chances as there might be with other drugs.  Expand the distribution and use of naloxone and overdose prevention education.  Intervene early with individuals at highest risk for overdose. 

Bottom line, talk to young children.  Know who your kids are hanging out with.  Communication and education can hopefully keep our youth out of harm's way.

Remembering An Old Friend

 Fran Raboff died a few weeks ago.  She would have turned 100 in December.  She was my mom's first friend in Los Angeles, over 75 years ago, and as a result of their friendship, she was someone I knew and admired my whole life.

When my parents first moved to Los Angeles in 1946, they met Fran and Albert Raboff.  The two women hit it off, so when it came time to purchase a house and my parents didn't know much about Los Angeles neighborhoods, they decided to buy Fran and Albert's neighborhood.  What a great move.  They will lifelong friends, and our families did everything together.

I was reminiscing with Ellen (the oldest daughter, just a few months younger than myself) about her mom.  Fran was a woman who did it all. She was a  painter, a sculptor, a ceramist, a gourmet cook, a teacher, a writer. a friend.  I have so many memories of our times together, but here are just a few.

Every Thanksgiving, we would go to the Raboff's.  They had a large family, and since we were almost family, we were included.  We had a feast like you wouldn't believe!  To this day I remember one dish Fran made every year that I absolutely loved.  It was a stewed fruit compote with chestnuts.  I loved it so, but in all these years, I have never tried to make it.

When my son David was a little boy, we lived about six blocks from Fran and Albert.  David learned to love Fran as I did.  She called her "The cookie lady."  Several times a week we would walk to her house for  short visit, and of course, for cookies!  We all loved the time together.

In the 1980's, Fran and her cooking friend Eleanor, began teaching cooking classes at night at a local high school.  I enlisted a few of my friends to join the class, and we went every week for years.  It was one of the most enjoyable classes ever.  I learned so much, in fact, Fran may have been the influence that got me cooking! 

Fran was a beloved woman.  She will be missed.  She had a long, productive, mostly happy and healthy life.  I guess that's all anyone could want.

Do You Know About Only Fans?

 I didn't know anything about Only Fans, until one morning I listened to a podcast from The Daily, a New York Times podcast, that I listen to frequently while walking Pepper.  Of course I had never heard of it.  I'm not their audience as either subscriber or creator of content.

Only Fans is an online platform where people pay for content.  The content might be pictures, videos, live streaming, or communication.  Only Fans was created in 2016 by Tim Stokley, in London, and is now worth over $1 billion.  It's use exploded during the pandemic, when people were out of work and looking for new sources of income and when people, their customers, were bored and lonely.

A good looking model type woman, could be from anywhere in the world, wants to promote herself.  She signs up with Only Fans, and boom, she's in business.  There are people who will write her content and manage her website.  She is responsible for the photos and videos she shows her customers.  Each customer pays a monthly fee to communicate with her, and she may receive tips from the customers if they especially like a photo she sends.

The texting with customers is done by people other than the woman promoting herself on  Only Fans.  A young person will handle texts for the young models, and older person will handle the more mature women.  I didn't know this, but there is apparently a big difference in the way young people text (their punctuation, use of emojis, etc.) and older people, but I'll explore that at a later date.  Everyone gets a piece of the models money.  However, there are many working for Only Fans making huge amounts of money.  There are numerous celebrities on Only Fans.  Bella Thorne (No, I don't know who she is, but people in their 20's probably do) made over $1 million in 24 hours.  

Only Fans is selling more than just erotic pictures.  (porn is strictly taboo).  They are selling relationships to lonely consumers that feel these men or women are actually interested in them.  120 million people use Only Fans.  They're paying to have a look at a pretty girl, and feel like they know her.  I've never been to the site, never will, but I'm glad I know what it is now.  The site was mentioned in a song by Beyonce and Jimmy Fallon mentioned it in a joke one night.  Now at least I know what they're talking about.

Mosaics Add Beauty To Encinitas

 High school students, college students, and independent artists are responsible for helping to beautify Encinitas.  The project began several years ago, and now 53- 3foot by 5foot tiles are permanently install in the underpass at Santa Fe Road.  (the underpass is under the 5 freeway).  A group of us visited the site a few weeks ago, and I was impressed.

Some mosaics are done by a single individual, others by a family or a group of friends.  They're so different, but all are interesting.  A common theme is the beach, the environment and all the things we love about Encinitas.  

The mosaic installations are on both the north and south walls of the underpass.  If you want to see all of them and enjoy a very short walk, it should take about 45 minutes to see them all.  There is a website online that tells a little about each mosaic.

When you get off the freeway at Santa Fe Rd, go directly across the street to the Vons and Rite Aid shopping center.  Park your car there.  I hope some of you get a chance to go see the mosaics.  There's no rush, as the installations are permanent.  Outdoor art, mosaics, sculpture and murals, add some much to a city.  It's the latest craze.  Public installations are everywhere, in every city.  It's a good way to give unknown artists a chance to show what they can do.  

Save Our Monarchs

You may have noticed the many organizations working to save the monarch butterfly.  They are in serious danger.  Since 1992, their numbers are down 90%.  During this time, the milkweed plant, their sole source of food, is also down 90%.  The reason for this is that the habitat where the milkweed formerly grew has been removed through development, or the use of insecticides has killed the plants and the butterflies too!

In Ocean Hills (Oceanside, California), a secure habitat for butterflies has been established.  There is plenty of milkweed for the monarchs to feast on, and plenty of area for the butterflies to breed.  I was recently talking to one organizer of the program who told me has she has become a "mother" to the butterflies.  

Recently one of her butterflies emerged from its chrysalis, a process called eclosion.  At this point the butterflies open their wings, and just hang out for a few hours, while their wings dry, before flying off.  Well, my friend noticed after several hours that this particular butterfly was not moving.  He was flapping his wings, to no avail.  On further inspection, and after checking U-Tube to see how the butterfly emerges and what happens next, she noticed a thin string of silk like thread.  She simply clipped the piece of silk, and the butterfly was able to flap his wings.  She knew it was a male monarch, by the black dots on each hind leg.  In about two hours (poor thing was exhausted from struggling to break away from the silk thread), he flew off, and my friend felt like a proud mom.

Another act she performed to save a chrysalis who was hanging out at the base of a plant, a very unsafe place to be.  Again, with the information she obtained from a U-tube video, she clipped off the thread holding the chrysalis in place, used dental floss to attach a holder for the chrysalis, and moved him to a safer location.  Another life saved.  Hopefully the efforts of the many groups working to restore the number of monarchs will be successful.  Plant milkweed in your yard to attract and feed these beauties!

 

History of Medicine

 I read the book Empire of the Scapel recently.  As far back as 2600 B.C. the Egyptian Imhotep described the diagnosis and treatment of 200 diseases.  For the next several thousand years, medicine progressed, but slowly.  The first known anatomy book was written by Diocles in 300 B.C.  Hippocrates was born in 460 B.C.  So began the scientific study of medicine.  Hundreds of years elapsed between major scientific achievements.

In 910 Persian physician Rhazes identifies smallpox.  The first smallpox inoculations weren't until 1701!  One of the great achievements in science was the discovery of the anesthetic properties  of nitrous oxide.  This was in 1846, and it changed medicine, in a good way.  Surgeries could finally be done without terrible pain and suffering to the patient.  Soon after, Louis Pasteur identifies germs as the cause of disease.  In 1879 the first vaccine for cholera was developed.  Many other vaccines were discovered in the late 19th century, including vaccines for anthrax, rabies (both developed by Louis Pasteur), tetanus and diptheria, and typhoid fever.  

It wasn't until 1928 that penicillin was developed by Alexander Fleming.  This was a landmark development, as now patients could both go through surgery without any extreme discomfort, and not worry about infection, as they had in the past.  But it is the second half of the 20th century and the 21st century where progress in medicine moved at lightning speed.

Vaccines were developed for all the childhood diseases during the 1970's.  The first heart transplant was in 1970, and CAT scans were invented in 1975. Hip replacements and knee replacements are relatively new surgeries.  I was surprised by how much progress has been made in the past 125 years compared to thousands of prior years.  What is even more mind boggling is what is on the horizon for medicine.  Things are changing so fast it will be hard to keep up.  Robotics, AI, Novel drug for Type 2 diabetes,  implanted electrodes for paralysis.  Many of the new therapies are less invasive than regular surgery.  

In other words, medicine has made great advancements over the past few thousand years, but the best is yet to come.  It will be coming soon to a hospital near you.

We Are Creatures of Habit

 I was having dinner with friends Fran (my Saturday walking partner) and Jim (her husband) a few weeks ago.  He had barbequed some burnt ends and corn on the cob.  If you don't know what burnt ends are, you should.  They are the ends of a brisket, cut into small pieces, barbequed and served with barbeque sauce.  
Anyway, it was a delicious meal.

About half way through the meal, Jim turns to me and says, "Do you always eat your corn like that?"  I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but he was referring to the fact that I ate it in a circular motion.  Ate one part, then turned the corn and ate all around the cob before moving to the next section.  He said he ate his like a typewriter!  I never noticed that before, but yes, he went all the way across the cob before rotating and starting on the next row.

This observation got me thinking.  We are such creatures of habit.  There are so many things that we do exactly the same, all the time.  Here are a few "creatures of habit" actions that I thought of.  I always put the same pant leg  (or underwear) on first (right), always put my shoes on, right foot first.  When I eat a plate of food, I always take a little of everything , like a bite of chicken, then veggies and then potatoes.  I know others that eat in a specific order, first the potatoes, then the meat, then the veggies.  When I visit friends that I know well, I usually sit in the same chair every time I visit.  I remember the lunch room at school when I was teaching.  Everyone sat in the same place everyday for years!  

I could go on, but you get the idea.  Examine your routines and you will find you too are a creature of habit.  I've heard it's good for the brain to mix it up, so I try to that.  Things like brushing your hair with your non dominant hand, or eating with your non dominant hand are hard.  It's easy to get into a habit, but hard to break one, not that any of these habits are of any consequence, but it's fun to discover that we have so many, and they are hard to change.

Next time I eat corn on the cob I will try to eat it "typewriter style."