I have been encouraged to write a blog by a number of people who have been subjected to my rants over the years, and because this is a free country where everyone is entitled to my opinion.
In fact, of course, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, on any subject at any time. But there is a odd distortion of this simple principle, peculiar to Americans, that everyone's opinion is of equal value.
This, of course, is quite preposterous. It is one of the things Europeans snicker at us for*. Of course, even Americans don't really believe this, or they would call physicians when their drains are clogged up and plumbers when they are sick. In fact, almost everybody puts more value on opinions from people who are opining on a subject they know something about, or at least are interested in.
That's why this blog will be silent on such subjects as sports, shopping and consumerism in general, entertainment, celebrities, cosmology, and welding. I don't have anything in particular against those topics, I just don't have any neurons devoted to them.
This will give you an idea of a few of the things I am interested in:
This one immediately above is soon to be replaced with one that goes from the floor to the ceiling, and from the corner to the window. That will, I hope, accommodate everything else I acquire an interest in, or add to my interest in, from now until I shuffle off this mortal coil.
One of the things I have an opinion about, or maybe it's an opinion - in fact it may well classify as an OPINION! is that every American, plus everyone in a country friendly to the US, should have access to everything in the National Library of Medicine, especially individuals who have weird diseases. As matters now stand, everyone can search the National Library of Medicine,
and get titles and abstracts, but only some of the full text articles are available for free. So the public service part of this blog, the mitzvah of it, is to get articles for people who need them but don't have access on their own.
The weird diseases I am most interested in are interstitial cystitis, autoimmune diseases (all of 'em, not just the ones I have) mast cell diseases in general, but particularly systemic mastocytosis and mast cell activation disorder (MCAD) also called MCAS, for mast cell activation syndrome. I am also keenly interested in the "multisystem illnesses": chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.
And I do drugs. That's because my PhD is in Pharmacology/Toxicology. So if there's a drug you're curious about, let me know - I'll love to tell you its history, its chemistry and how it works, its side effects, etc, something doctors usually don't do, mainly because they don't know. That's not a slur on doctors, it's just a fact that most of what they know about drugs they get from the salespeople of pharmaceutical companies.
Sometimes I will rant about politics, mostly the politics of health care, or the neglect and mistreatment of animals. If there is something you'd like to have ranted about, something that just curdles your gizzard, makes you say naughty words, let me know - I'll look up the facts and write you a nice rant, a terrific tirade, a delightful disquisition.
Lastly, I love ravens. Everyone is entitled to a few oddball, eccentric interests, ravens are mine.
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*This is my blog, so I'll end sentences with prepositions anytime I please. So there.
