Itchiness is contagious, just like yawning - The Body Odd

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">For some people, hearing about a bug bite or a rash is enough to cause them to furiously dig at their own unaffected skin. Even some doctors who treat people with shingles report feeling itchy after witnessing their patients scratching. And we'd bet many of you readers are feeling itchy right this very second. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It seems humans commonly catch itches from one another, but scientists hadn't proven it—until now. Researchers found that itching is contagious much like yawning and laughing.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"With itching, there [was] only anecdotal evidence that watching [a person] itch induces itching," explains Henning Holle, a lecturer in the psychology department at the University of Hull in England. "We wanted to know whether contagious itch would effect everyone."</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Holle asked 51 adults to take a personality test that ranks the Big Five personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Then using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI (a technique that detects brain activity by monitoring blood flow in the brain), the subjects watched either a video where someone was scratching herself or tapping her arm or chest. The fMRI allowed the researchers to see the subjects' brain activity as they responded to the video images.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Two-thirds of the people who saw the scratching video scratched themselves. This finding mirrors what experts know about other socially contagious behaviors such as yawning and laughing: most of us "catch" yawns and laughter. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">"Most people tend to experience contagious itch—some are more prone to it than others," Holle explains. "I was really surprised by the amount of people who spontaneously scratched."</div><div class="j_content_poll j_widget" data-poll-id="44646" data-align="right" data-editor="null" id="j_content_poll_1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">Watching an itch sparks activity in the anterior insular, primary somatosensory area, and the prefrontal and premotor cortices. These regions, part of the itch matrix, also activate when a person actually feels an itch, meaning that watching someone scratch makes the brain think it is experiencing an itch.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">After establishing that itching spreads socially, Holle wondered what caused it. He suspected itch might spread because of empathy. There is some evidence that people feel pain empathetically: When someone sees a family member receive an electric shock, the observer also feels pain (as this is in a lab setting the people aren't actually receiving the shock). It turns out that people who exhibit more empathy do not scratch more than those who are less compassionate. But people who are more neurotic, those who experience the biggest mood swings and exhibit anxiety, depression, jealousy, and guilt, are more susceptible to contagious itch than others. The neural activity in the prefrontal cortex reinforces the self-reported data indicating that people with neurotic tendencies are more likely to catch an itch.  </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">"This introspective awareness might explain why people are more prone [to contagious itch]," he says.</div></div><a href="http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/12/15115633-itchiness-is-contagious-just-like-yawning?lite">http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/12/15115633-itchiness-is-contagious-just-like-yawning?lite</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Itchiness is contagious, just like yawning - The Body Odd

For some people, hearing about a bug bite or a rash is enough to cause them to furiously dig at their own unaffected skin. Even some doctors...

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to send or not to send

...that is the question.<br /><br />Hey everybody! First off I want to thank you all for your sweet comments and emails about the living room. I'm so happy to have accomplished everything on my list. You'll notice that I didn't say the room is 'finished' as there is always more I want to do, but we won't go there today.<br /><br />We had a great time with family in Chicago over the Thanksgiving holiday and I also got a chance to visit with some very good friends whom I don't get to see often enough.<br /><br />Such a good time was had in fact, that it made me think about Christmas cards. Well, the visit and the fact that every other car we passed on Sunday had a christmas tree on the roof.<br /><br />Last year I didn't send out Christmas/holiday cards (gasp) and I have to tell you, if felt pretty damn good. It was on my list, but I simply just ran out of time. But after the initial guilt wore off, it was rather nice to have one less thing to feel obligated to during this crazy time of year.<br /><br />Big but though, I LOVE getting Christmas cards. I'm an enigma I know. I love seeing how much everyone's kids have grown (even though I see all of that already thru Facebook) and I'm thrilled to get something in the mail that isn't a bill or a solicitation. And, they are just so damn cute!<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvpvXgHPPUpokxxQfpXE3epgaOO2afbgyFvTGrwAbjS99X7g-Jj_Wfw3u34sAAxDNzvWhWIiVJF54OeyafHHa0RlGhGrnYUR29U0WqgLUTCrm80mC1OVWyAPsJqPO9Q-AHJakBhCz1TK0/s1600/flat_holiday_photo_cards_chic_colors.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvpvXgHPPUpokxxQfpXE3epgaOO2afbgyFvTGrwAbjS99X7g-Jj_Wfw3u34sAAxDNzvWhWIiVJF54OeyafHHa0RlGhGrnYUR29U0WqgLUTCrm80mC1OVWyAPsJqPO9Q-AHJakBhCz1TK0/s320/flat_holiday_photo_cards_chic_colors.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tinyprints.com/" target="_blank">Tiny Prints: Chic Colors</a></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw7xOKl2NxQ8Rr-vitiW68f3C80Nhfx0L_C3Qi9PAZ4im5IpVa12-4Z4FKsDKcDiqNz30fh4lpwKjgN1fSzx1_Rl6zxQdzs4BauZW_mwjYM4spkX_pFrKBKNNE7p5a9WkV3lxe2p6SAblq/s1600/ornament_cards_gingham_grosgrain.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw7xOKl2NxQ8Rr-vitiW68f3C80Nhfx0L_C3Qi9PAZ4im5IpVa12-4Z4FKsDKcDiqNz30fh4lpwKjgN1fSzx1_Rl6zxQdzs4BauZW_mwjYM4spkX_pFrKBKNNE7p5a9WkV3lxe2p6SAblq/s320/ornament_cards_gingham_grosgrain.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tinyprints.com/" target="_blank">Tiny Prints: Gingham Grosgrain</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwm_AAmrjO2vDOqRvzypE-YMyYB42R0d2trncJPkd8WKAj0AXlkqh1QhVXvJv8JU3e2aFdf2CcV8h4vJZQWmRY6IX8V7RsKJCd15M05MAE0o3vOCsuWQQlC-popKceXk4k5i4L0JEWox1/s1600/STATIONERYCARD_5x5-31050-5770-MERCHLARGE_FRONT-v1344029349000123654.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwm_AAmrjO2vDOqRvzypE-YMyYB42R0d2trncJPkd8WKAj0AXlkqh1QhVXvJv8JU3e2aFdf2CcV8h4vJZQWmRY6IX8V7RsKJCd15M05MAE0o3vOCsuWQQlC-popKceXk4k5i4L0JEWox1/s320/STATIONERYCARD_5x5-31050-5770-MERCHLARGE_FRONT-v1344029349000123654.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/new-years-cards/new-years-cards" target="_blank">Shutterfly</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjonddYURU_5cxNVD266BuT6nc0ClXEcLTOxxiVF1gJlU3ruChMz4p9sTvsAH4Zu5z8E_29f5R-vNpMoySiF3W1f7cCW-jfVQEjzFENAALhNpmX5TgYFvp1yDF6RH9YlgA0c7ckvyuyvoeN/s1600/STATIONERYCARD_FOLDED_5x7-27107-6073-MERCHLARGE_FRONT-v134402796400090507.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjonddYURU_5cxNVD266BuT6nc0ClXEcLTOxxiVF1gJlU3ruChMz4p9sTvsAH4Zu5z8E_29f5R-vNpMoySiF3W1f7cCW-jfVQEjzFENAALhNpmX5TgYFvp1yDF6RH9YlgA0c7ckvyuyvoeN/s320/STATIONERYCARD_FOLDED_5x7-27107-6073-MERCHLARGE_FRONT-v134402796400090507.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards/joyful-and-bright-holiday-card" target="_blank">Shutterfly</a></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZrlaYdGAB_axD8blBzb8IC73yHe9rbmcB0fh8Xkr_knS_t7tLG8BrfUTypdYErn0ReMTUImwXeXsfbijCX8UUzXM0SGSDJb9Q1AZMQSwxzx85MDfRWqYxPIA59bjd00lzLrXaBmXusUo/s1600/be-bright-christmas-card.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZrlaYdGAB_axD8blBzb8IC73yHe9rbmcB0fh8Xkr_knS_t7tLG8BrfUTypdYErn0ReMTUImwXeXsfbijCX8UUzXM0SGSDJb9Q1AZMQSwxzx85MDfRWqYxPIA59bjd00lzLrXaBmXusUo/s320/be-bright-christmas-card.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards" target="_blank">Shutterfly</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />So, what do you think? Are you sending out holiday cards this year? Are they necessary in our social media world where we know all of everyone's everything? Do you have a method or place to get them from that removes the stress? Do I need to save you a seat next to me in 'I didn't send out Christmas cards' hell?

to send or not to send

...that is the question. Hey everybody! First off I want to thank you all for your sweet comments and emails about the living room. I'm ...

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The patient I couldn’t heal - Salon.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); list-style: none; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">I take pride in closing surgical incisions. After a cold blade opens the skin and the internal work is done, the only thing the patient sees, or knows, is their incision. Maintaining symmetry, I use the finest threads and the gentlest instruments in an attempt to restore what once was. Some surgical residents leave the wound dressing to the operating room nurses; I personally dress the wound to reassure the patient that his tissues were handled with the utmost respect. For me, it is the last step of any operation.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); list-style: none; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">But as I closed Mr. H's wound, others in the room looked at me as if I were crazy. After eight hours of surgery, why would I be so careful with something as trivial as the wound closure? The anesthesiologist became impatient, and the medical student stood by awkwardly. Undeterred, I carefully aligned the skin edges and neatly applied the dressing.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); list-style: none; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">A grapefruit-size tumor in Mr. H's kidney had invaded the spleen and part of his intestine. It was covered with ominous blood vessels, trying to engulf the neighboring organs. The tumor was removed, along with the kidney, spleen and a six-inch segment of intestine. He was going to the intensive care unit with drainage tubes in his chest and abdomen. He needed a breathing tube in his throat while blood was still being poured into his veins.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); list-style: none; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">The incision wrapped halfway around his body. The glistening yellow fat and the beefy red muscle came together layer by layer as we closed the gaping hole. The anesthesiologist peeked over the surgical drapes and insisted that I expedite the closure with staples instead of suture. I grudgingly agreed but still took great care to ensure Mr. H's skin closure would be perfect. I somehow believed that a nice scar would hide the ruin within.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); list-style: none; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">My attempt at perfection unraveled a few days later. It started with a little redness at the corner of the incision. I probed the wound with a Q-tip and ensured the underlying fascia – the dense fibrous tissue encasing the abdomen – was intact. Removing the Q-tip, I saw the characteristic creamy pus of a wound infection. I could smell it. I removed one staple to allow adequate drainage and packed the small defect with a tiny strip of gauze.</p><div class="toggle-group target hideOnInit" data-toggle-group="story-13068369" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); list-style-type: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; opacity: 1; position: static; z-index: auto; "><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; line-height: 20px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Mr. H's wife was distraught about her husband's complicated operation and poor prognosis.  And now his wound was infected. I explained to her that wounds can heal in different ways. When tissues are sewn together side-to-side, the fat joins to fat, muscle to muscle, and skin to skin. But when left open with gauze, the gap fills in with pink granulation tissue from the bottom up. Wounds have a remarkable ability to heal, I told her, but her skepticism was clear. We discussed that overall his recovery was coming along nicely. Only a few days after a big surgery, his remaining kidney was working, he was breathing on his own again, and it seemed that he was ready to come out of the ICU. We were all hoping for a speedy recovery.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; line-height: 20px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">But our optimism would quickly fade. The last three months of Mr. H's life were spent in intensive care; his hospitalization plagued by widespread infection and heart, lung and kidney failure.  Staple by staple, his incision unzipped in a matter of days. The wound looked as if I never closed it – three inches deep, four inches wide and nearly 2 feet long. The fascia was intact, a single layer of tissue keeping the outside from his ravaged insides. We reinserted the breathing tube, put drains into infected pockets of his belly, and administered strong antibiotics. Unable to eat, we gave him nutrition through his veins — this was what he had wanted.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; line-height: 20px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Every morning and every evening I would gently remove a 12-foot strip of gauze from the ruined closure, tenderly wash and inspect the bed of the wound, and repack the defect with a fresh, moistened gauze. Weeks went by, and he regained enough strength to turn on his side to allow me to change the dressing – always nodding approval at my attentiveness. I would ask about his pain, examine him for pressure sores and offer a compassionate smile to his wife. I knew his chances of survival were poor and felt crippled by my inability to do anything about it. He was physically deconditioned and clearly depressed.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; line-height: 20px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Day in and day out I tended to his wound with the same passion with which I closed it. And sure enough that massive incision began to close. My medical school textbook calls it "healing by secondary intention." Thousands upon thousands of cells at the base of the wound would lay down a matrix of tough collagen fibers and proteins. Microscopic blood vessels would creep in and deliver more healing cells that would break down the matrix and build it back up even stronger. Slowly but surely the rising scaffold would bridge the canyon and close the gap.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; line-height: 20px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">It took two and a half months for the final scar to form; there was nothing left to pack. By that time, Mr. H was breathing on his own but was so debilitated he could hardly speak – he didn't seem to have any desire. We arranged to get him home so he could die peacefully in his bed, surrounded by his family.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; line-height: 20px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">A couple weeks later, I received word from his home health nurse that he had died. She ensured me that his family was with him at the very end, and his pain was well controlled. His wound had healed completely.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; line-height: 20px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">As I read that email, I reflected back on the time I spent with Mr. H. I thought about my obsession with that wound, my painstaking focus on closing it perfectly. First with staples, and then with gauze. I wondered why, after a long and complicated surgery, I cared so much about bringing the skin edges together so evenly. I knew the prognosis was poor. I could have let his nurses pack the wound.</p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; list-style: none; line-height: 20px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">Mr. H brought me face to face with my own imperfections and limitations; every physician has a patient that does. As a surgeon, I realized there are some patients we just cannot save. As a resident, my role in making management decisions in Mr. H's care and taking out his tumor was limited. But whether removing a large tumor, changing wound dressings, or laying a hand on a dying man's shoulder, we do what we can do to the highest degree. Yes, wounds certainly do have a remarkable ability to heal.</p></div></div><a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/11/27/the_patient_i_couldnt_heal/">http://www.salon.com/2012/11/27/the_patient_i_couldnt_heal/</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

The patient I couldn’t heal - Salon.com

I take pride in closing surgical incisions. After a cold blade opens the skin and the internal work is done, the only thing the patient sees...

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Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/27/2012

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/506366/questions-surround-software-that-adapts-to-students/">Can Knewton’s Adaptive Learning Software Personalize Education? | MIT Technology Review</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Advertising adapts, shouldn't our learning? The theory behind is great, but perhaps it isn't well implemented yet. I wrote a piece for the New York Times a while back on Adaptive Testing. This piece in the MIT technology review is worth a read. "By carefully logging students’ every action online, a company called Knewton says, it can personalize questions and lessons to help people learn faster. Skeptics say that’s not proven."</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/testing">testing</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/adaptivelearning">adaptivelearning</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/adaptivetesting">adaptivetesting</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.edgalaxy.com/journal/2012/11/24/evernote-for-schools.html">Evernote for Schools</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">I love and use Evernote - with all of the apps that add into it, it is very useful. I do also know that many schools love Microsoft One Note -one of the best academic offerings of the company. Here's a website about Evernote for Schools with resources for you. Either way, schools moving to 1:1 initiatives need to upgrade their school's notebook to allow for group notetaking and simple sharing as afforded by both of these programs.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/productivity">productivity</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.thecurriculumcentre.org/blog/2012/11/20/review-each-lesson-plan-in-terms-of-what-the-student-is-likely-to-think-about/">‘Review each lesson plan in terms of what the student is likely to think about.’ | The Curriculum Centre Blog</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Fascinating read about current cognitive research and lesson plans and information on education reform in the UK, which is being driven largely by the mentioned book in this quote. If you want to look at the research being discussed in the UK, I'd start with this article. "In Why Don’t Students Like School, Willingham says that ‘the most general and useful idea that cognitive psychology can offer teachers’ is to ‘review each lesson plan in terms of what the student is likely to think about’. I could not agree more. Last year I applied this idea to every single lesson I taught, and I apply it now to all the resources I design. It may sound obvious but it was not something I did before I read Willingham, and it absolutely was not something that my teacher training taught me to think about. Students are more likely to remember something they’ve had to think about – or, in another of Willingham’s phrases, memory is the residue of thought. So we need to make sure that students are thinking about the right thing for the whole lesson. That way there is a better chance they will remember it. This approach also eliminates dull rote-learning. If pupils are always thinking about the right thing and thinking about its meaning, then they are more likely to remember it, and to remember it meaningfully."</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/teaching">teaching</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/research">research</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/cognition">cognition</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/11/20/heres-where-you-can-buy-kobo-ereaders-in-the-us/">Here’s Where You Can Buy the New Kobo eReaders in the US</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">The Kobo is a new ebook reader on the block by indie book sellers and other small chain stores (I read this weekend that Family Christian Bookstores are going to be selling the device.) The shift to ebooks is going to happen everywhere - my husband and I were wondering just yesterday how long Lifeway is going to publish paper Sunday School books -- it makes more sense to release as a PDF, but then, you're looking at a significant mark up and a whole new model which I think many companies who sell such subscriptions (i.e. weekly reader, local newspapers selling smaller versions for students) aren't ready for.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ebook">ebook</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://readwrite.com/2012/11/26/ted-curator-chris-anderson-on-the-conferences-past-present-future">TED Curator Chris Anderson On The Conference's Past, Present & Future</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">I found this interview of Chris Anderson an interesting read about the history of TED. It is hard to believe they started with just 6 videos in 2006. The flops, he acknowledges, are those who are full of ego - and I'd agree. I saw a TEDx where at least half were so full of the fact they were on stage, it made listening to the speeches a bit difficult. So, then, I guess humility would be part of a giving a good talk and I, as a rank and file teacher, find that refreshing.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ted">ted</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/speaking">speaking</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a></p> </li> </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/27/2012

Can Knewton’s Adaptive Learning Software Personalize Education? | MIT Technology Review Advertising ...

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sLAB Costa Rica, Part 2

Back in April I featured <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2012/04/half-dose-103-slab-costa-rica.html">sLAB Costa Rica</a>, a design-build project of NYIT that aims to build a communal recycling center in Nosara on the country's Pacific coast. Their initial Kickstarter campaign was successful, allowing students to travel over the summer to help in the project's construction. But, as professor Tobias Holler states on their <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/472474365/slab-costa-rica-building-the-nosara-recycling-cent">new Kickstarter page</a>, "the project is far from completed, and much work remains to be done before the building is ready to help with the local waste management problem." Holler and his students are hoping to return between semesters in January 2013 to continue volunteering on the construction site.<br /><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/472474365/slab-costa-rica-building-the-nosara-recycling-cent/widget/video.html" width="640"> </iframe><br /><br />Check out the above video for more on the project, and please visit the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/472474365/slab-costa-rica-building-the-nosara-recycling-cent">sLAB Costa Rica Part 2 Kickstarter page</a> for even more information and to donate before the December 13 deadline for this worthy project.

sLAB Costa Rica, Part 2

Back in April I featured sLAB Costa Rica , a design-build project of NYIT that aims to build a communal recycling center in Nosara on the co...

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If You're Happy, I'm Happy

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Hola y’all! One of the things I tell people all the time is “If you’re happy, I’m happy.” I’m always amazed at how often people think I’m being a smart-ass or joking with them when I say that. It’s a little hurtful even to be honest with you. Why would people think I’m not being sincere? Why do people always think I’m joking when I’m being serious and think I’m being serious when I’m just joking? <br /><br />ANSWERS! I WANT ANSWERS! <br /><br />Actually I know the answer. It’s because most people are the opposite. They love it when others are miserable or when bad things happen to them and are themselves miserable when good things happen to their “friends.” I’ve never quite understood this attitude, but I see it play out all the time on social media sites. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9Bm47FEFZk0XtKoEaeAoRTsnc2rfGHtwhy4yVjju6KMKVu_sM301CIxF4zt-3JxaFDxMpg76q2QRkTf1IOdphsyVsVyn2oaKqZlpMhXcQREC_-Cvi2eC-czdC_ZFqfWEiZaQC9Q26BU/s1600/arkansas-cheerleader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9Bm47FEFZk0XtKoEaeAoRTsnc2rfGHtwhy4yVjju6KMKVu_sM301CIxF4zt-3JxaFDxMpg76q2QRkTf1IOdphsyVsVyn2oaKqZlpMhXcQREC_-Cvi2eC-czdC_ZFqfWEiZaQC9Q26BU/s320/arkansas-cheerleader.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>Anyhoodle, as you probably know, I’m a pretty good sports fan. I have a few teams that I’m a die-hard fan of. I’m a fan of the Arkansas Razorbacks, San Antonio Spurs, St. Louis Cardinals, New Orleans Saints, New York Knicks and the Houston Texans. <br /><br />I really on have a few teams that I dislike and never root for: Alabama, Auburn, Duke, THE Ohio State University, Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Cubs. For the most part this is because of their fans more than anything else. <br /><br />Generally the rest of the teams don’t mean much to me, unless I’m friends with someone who is a fan of a certain team. In that case, I generally root for my friend’s team to win because I want my friend to be happy.<span style="color: red;">* </span><br /><br />Hell, this weekend Arkansas lost to LSU in football, but I wasn’t that upset about it. That’s because my BFF, the lovely and talented Ms. <a href="https://twitter.com/warrior_kat" target="_blank">Warrior_Kat </a>is a HUGE LSU fan and I knew she would be happy that they one. And I like it when she’s happy, so that mitigated the disappointment in MY TEAM losing. (It also helped that Arkansas is a piece of shit football team and I already knew they would lose, but I was still happy that Kat was happy.)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUohwHewS5sEqP5TMXv_D-lHGMo_jIdFhyMWic63-0v1PP4V-TPxwnOs2CNkJLdIq7QMgG5PcxuLbPxjMOfmVM6JPma6mPfHaEdDI18zXyKKYp8gtaVZ6Zdzl6X1hxJ_LLRhKeZ9YjXYM/s1600/Notre+Dame+Cheerleader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUohwHewS5sEqP5TMXv_D-lHGMo_jIdFhyMWic63-0v1PP4V-TPxwnOs2CNkJLdIq7QMgG5PcxuLbPxjMOfmVM6JPma6mPfHaEdDI18zXyKKYp8gtaVZ6Zdzl6X1hxJ_LLRhKeZ9YjXYM/s320/Notre+Dame+Cheerleader.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>I used to hate Notre Dame. I ranked them right up there with Ohio State and Duke when it came to rude, obnoxious, condescending and generally insufferable fan bases. And, I have <strike>an irrational</strike> a perfectly legit and reasonable dislike of Lou Holtz. But, over the years as Notre Dame has struggled, I’ve found their fans to be far less delusional than fans of other schools and pro teams when their teams begin to suck. <br /><br />And, my good friend and <s>lover</s> partner in crime Matt-Man is a big Notre Dame fan. So, I’ve actually found myself rooting the Irish this season, which feels a little weird. If Matt wasn’t a big Notre Dame fan, I would have still watched them this season because they’re a good team and I would certainly be ready to root for them in the BCS Championship against Alabama! But, because he is a fan, I have actually rooted for them all season. <br /><br />I know people have the exact opposite attitude. Or even worse, they feel the need to refer to everyone other than their team as the enemy and find a reason to HATE them and their fans. I have a former friend who is a former friend because she took this to real extremes over … BASEBALL! Yes, the most insignificant of all sports and for her everyone her team played was full of horrible human beings and the fans of her team’s opponents were all scumbags and whatever other names she came up with to call them. I just don’t understand that shit. <br /><br />This “If you’re happy, I’m happy” attitude extends beyond sports too. That was just the best example I could come up with. I know a lot of people live pretty miserable lives and I guess that’s why they get so much pleasure out of bad things happening to others. I don’t understand why though, it’s not like it makes your life any less miserable for other people to suffer too. I guess getting pleasure out of other people’s misfortune is just a character flaw.<br /><br />Jayman<br /><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jayman_iws" target="_blank">@Jayman_IWS </a><br /><br /><span style="color: red;">*</span>This attitude doesn’t extend to politics though. While I feel bad for you if your team loses a big game and you’re down or sad, I can’t feel that way because you were hoping Mitt Romney would win. Sorry. <br /><br />In other news we had a “<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2012/11/26/cyber-monday-extravaganza" target="_blank">Cyber Monday Extravaganza</a>” on a special Monday edition of IWS. There was a minor technical glitch early on, but after we got past that, we had a pretty good time. So, check it out! <br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="105" id="143577" name="143577" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4062873&autostart=false&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4062873&autostart=false&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=105&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="105" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="143577" id="143577" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br /><div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px;">Listen to <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/">internet radio</a> with <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid">Im With Stupid</a> on Blog Talk Radio</div><br /><br /></div>

If You're Happy, I'm Happy

Hola y’all! One of the things I tell people all the time is “If you’re happy, I’m happy.” I’m always amazed at how often people think I’m be...

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STRATEGIC FALLOUT FROM GAZA:

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1PyV6LQFzjxP4FpYMpOlMSoL6ExNtAFpLU3lwCrxexgQWFSxaxNAlcTGEQr81_cefRUS-td_HqZBhLBbfS2P9IhgHb-mEvGqIwzLiBfDlgb3J5AmZzJoePGsGojTFb_Z5OB1rxb6A2gQj/s1600/gaza-israel-conflict-settlements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1PyV6LQFzjxP4FpYMpOlMSoL6ExNtAFpLU3lwCrxexgQWFSxaxNAlcTGEQr81_cefRUS-td_HqZBhLBbfS2P9IhgHb-mEvGqIwzLiBfDlgb3J5AmZzJoePGsGojTFb_Z5OB1rxb6A2gQj/s400/gaza-israel-conflict-settlements.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">IS IT TIME FOR ACTIVE DETERRENCE? </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Anthony Rusonik via Geopoliticalmonitor </span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">For those interested enough to dive deeper- beyond the tweets, the public relations campaigns, and the moral indignation that muddies the waters of clear analysis- there  are some lessons to be learned from the most recent round in the ISRAEL-Gaza  conflict.<br /><br />The first lesson, of course, is that this is indeed just the most recent round. The ceasefire <span> </span>is sure to be inconclusive and no political impasse will be broken. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">On the diplomatic level, Hamas remains in power, continues to reject ISRAEL’S right to exist, and retains significant –albeit not unlimited—support within the ARAB world, TURKEY and IRAN.  Regional dynamics are unchanged. International dynamics are unchanged, with the US and other Western powers committed to unenthusiastic but consistent expressions of ISRAEL’S right to self-defense. ISRAEL itself remains unchanged in its approach to the Palestinian question. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">At the simplest level, Jerusalem is eager to restore the status quo ante: no Gaza rockets, no ISRAELI retaliation. Questions of a greater détente with Gaza that might lead to an easing of the blockade are seldom raised, as Hamas rejectionism seems to make such considerations impossible from Jerusalem’s point-of-view.<br /><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: See: <b><span style="color: red;">W</span></b></span><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ho is really besieging Gaza? </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/11/israel-and-gaza.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/11/israel-and-gaza.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WEST BANK PALESTINIANS, ALTHOUGH AGGRIEVED, DID NOT ENGAGE</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">If there are political notes to taken from this, then the first point of interest is that the West Bank Palestinians, although aggrieved, did not engage.  A second point is that Egypt is still the foundation for a stable Middle East. Despite his Muslim Brotherhood associations and the anti-Western and anti-ISRAEL sentiment of his people, President Morsi remains a clear-headed and pragmatic statesman for EGYPT. Both Hamas and ISRAEL turned to Morsi to broker a cease-fire, and EGYPT remains the sole party with influence on both combatants. TURKEY’S reckless rhetoric, on the other hand, put Prime Minister Erdogan on the outside, even though the TURKS and the ISRAELIS–despite Ravi Marmara– have natural shared interests in both a stable Gaza and, of course, containment of the conflict in SYRIA.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">GREATER DIVIDE BETWEEN HAMAS AND FATAH?</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /><br />So, again, there is little reason to expect significant political or diplomatic change from the current conflict.  In the interim, at most we may see a greater divide between Hamas and Fatah, where the latter is determined to pursue its UN bid for Palestinian statehood, while the former wants no part of the recognition this would bestow upon ISRAEL. In turn, ISRAEL may at most offer a state with provisional borders, a move it had pondered even before the current round of hostilities.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">VICTORY FOR ISRAEL ON A FRONT THAT MAY PROVE DECISIVE- AND DETERMINE FUTURE STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS- BY ISRAEL</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /><br />Despite all appearances of continued political deadlock, however, the present conflict is nonetheless a watershed. It represents a victory for ISRAEL on a front that may prove decisive- and determine future strategic directions- if the ISRAELIS opt to pursue it. This is of course the fact that the Iron Dome anti-missile system exceeded all expectations.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAEL’S AIR FORCE, THE KEY TO POLITICAL SUCCESS? </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBymm_eeJzXC83PdQ2jCzM3VngSkhf6qew1NbEiLYwnok7wrymecP0Ch3dlz2Xr9knD-i-6lkE-G9g-VzlHT-D_gnUtoNQx40IlF_ye9ZdUQbAQmJoYXmDrYIe3KNWAZWYxaNlmS9U__4x/s1600/729px-Israel_Air_Force_Flag.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBymm_eeJzXC83PdQ2jCzM3VngSkhf6qew1NbEiLYwnok7wrymecP0Ch3dlz2Xr9knD-i-6lkE-G9g-VzlHT-D_gnUtoNQx40IlF_ye9ZdUQbAQmJoYXmDrYIe3KNWAZWYxaNlmS9U__4x/s320/729px-Israel_Air_Force_Flag.svg.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The six batteries deployed by the Air Force wing of the IDF (it is of some note perhaps that ground forces do not operate the systems) have scored a 90% success rate.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">   This is impressive not just because of the short distance and limited interception window for the Raphael systems, but also because of the electronic brains of the unit that allow it to predict whether a missile is headed for a population centre or an empty field, in which case the system allows it to fall and saves the ammunition ($40,000 a shot) for the next attack.<br /><br />This tactical success has enormous strategic and thus diplomatic potential for ISRAEL in particular and for modern warfare in general. This saves ISRAEL battlefield casualties, reduces the prospect of innocent civilian deaths in Gaza as a result and, therefore, ensures that ISRAEL’S precarious diplomatic position is not further eroded.<br /><br /><span style="color: blue;"><b>IRON DOME SUCCESS: THE INITIATOR FOR IDF STRATEGIC AND DOCTRINAL SHIFT?</b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgke7ZMNF81U0NEz7uPoCGog25RbK2KYmPK2v2nRbIe0Er2CXEP9Ii0kZF1oHETZIOl6hVOuGpNHx-ykw_nxkWvjUxZ201DP0X6yIigWBNSKtTybE7ZB5VpqaDM6pSfHMqfNFKw6r0AjJZX/s1600/$(KGrHqYOKi!E4YU8)(G(BOPuWOmYVQ~~0_35.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgke7ZMNF81U0NEz7uPoCGog25RbK2KYmPK2v2nRbIe0Er2CXEP9Ii0kZF1oHETZIOl6hVOuGpNHx-ykw_nxkWvjUxZ201DP0X6yIigWBNSKtTybE7ZB5VpqaDM6pSfHMqfNFKw6r0AjJZX/s200/$(KGrHqYOKi!E4YU8)(G(BOPuWOmYVQ~~0_35.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This is just the immediate tactical benefit to ISRAEL. As argued in Haaretz (March 2011, February 2012) and Geopolitical Monitor (August 2012), Iron Dome is just the tactical piece in a comprehensive anti-ballistic missile blanket that offers ISRAEL the potential for a complete strategic and doctrinal shift from its traditional emphasis on pre-emption and air power to an “active deterrent” posture that befits a more established state and superior military vexed by diplomatic isolation.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />From the inception of the state in 1948 through the 1967 Six-Day-War and the 1973 Yom Kippur conflict, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCE doctrine has trumpeted preemption as the means to reduce the disadvantage of the country’s small geographical size and leverage its superior air force.  ISRAEL’S defense establishment again argued for preemption in 1973, but was overruled by a political echelon that chose passive deterrence to win diplomatic favor with the UNITED STATES.  The cost to absorb the first blows from EGYPT and SYRIA was high for ISRAEL. The scale of initial losses led the cabinet to hint at a nuclear response that triggered an AMERICAN airlift of material and diplomatic engagement.<br /><br />The failure of “The Concept” in 1973 renewed ISRAEL’S determination to take the battle to the enemy’s home front and still prevails in ISRAELI military doctrine, rooted in the national psyche.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzURT3QWhn9wSnvMojX2zF7BVaYZ27al5_D7Cj3DI1OgGmJbI6kFkIQgO7o-VJluvE5a0QRmZ9KhG2TyjeVxhR_N01KlEpvubD1XuzImT4BBvyVeDLXrfsU-1i-jzGayTFFOxtm3rQmvR1/s1600/280px-OsirakLocation.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzURT3QWhn9wSnvMojX2zF7BVaYZ27al5_D7Cj3DI1OgGmJbI6kFkIQgO7o-VJluvE5a0QRmZ9KhG2TyjeVxhR_N01KlEpvubD1XuzImT4BBvyVeDLXrfsU-1i-jzGayTFFOxtm3rQmvR1/s1600/280px-OsirakLocation.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Route taken by IAF during 1981 Iraqi Nuclear Reactor attack</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Hence, ISRAEL’S determination to hit IRAN before it acquires nuclear weapons. Hence, ISRAEL’S focus on F-35 fighter jets, bunker-buster bombs, aerial re-fueling capabilities, and frustrated attempts to gain tacit SAUDI or TURKISH approval for aerial attack routes.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: Worthwhile to mention is that SAUDI ARABIA and ISRAEL, though not officially, do foster economic as well as political ties which are utilized when deemed necessary for either strategic or economic reasons. One example is the use of SAUDI airspace during the raid on IRAQ’S Nuclear reactor in 1981. Furthermore, in the unlikely event of a preemptive strike on IRAN, TURKEY would most probably heed to US demand, granting ISRAELI jets to transition TURKISH airspace.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information</span></u></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: See also: </span><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">War Strategies</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/israel-azerbaijan-and-kazakhstan_6.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/israel-azerbaijan-and-kazakhstan_6.html</a>and</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">For better or worst</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/syria-israel-iran-and-usa.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/syria-israel-iran-and-usa.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">and </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/08/the_saudi_israeli_handshake">http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/08/the_saudi_israeli_handshake</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Even if ISRAEL succeeds at enormous financial cost with the prospect of heavy losses of its best pilots, the setback to IRAN’S program will be short-term at best. IRANIAN retaliation, perhaps supported by Hezbollah and even yet again Hamas, seems a realistic prospect. Diplomatic isolation is complete in this scenario.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">, on many occasions has stated that ISRAEL’S “determination” to strike IRAN is nothing more than tactics in order to obtain negotiation leverage over the USA on future weapons deals and geo strategic as well as geo political concessions. ISRAEL never has or will seriously consider conducting a preemptive strike on IRAN. All propaganda rhetoric’s by ISRAELI politicians, regarding such strike are cleverly designed to maintain the upper hand on <span style="font-size: large;">Geo</span> political strategies in the region. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information:</span></u></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> See: </span><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Airstrike unlikely</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/israel-iran-syria.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/06/israel-iran-syria.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">RESTRUCTURE ITS STRATEGIC DOCTRINE, ALLOWING THE COUNTRY’S LEADERS TO BETTER PROTECT THE HOME FRONT BY REDUCING THE IMPERATIVE FOR PREEMPTION…………..</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Yet, this grim path is not inevitable.  Iron Dome is just the tactical layer of a comprehensive anti-ballistic defense system that is in fact premised on the Arrow-II program.  Developed in earnest after US Patriot systems provided  some protection from Saddam Hussein’s SCUDs in 1991, the Arrow system is designed to counter long-range threats posed by the Shahab missiles IRAN has developed with NORTH KOREAN support to replace the older SCUD technology.  David’s Sling is ISRAEL’S middle-tier ABM, designed to intercept mid-range projectiles form Hezbollah.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Supported by ISRAEL’S own nuclear weapon arsenal, advanced Jericho delivery systems,  and assured second-strike capabilities provided by Dolphin  class submarines,  ISRAEL’S anti-ballistic systems add up to the potential for a powerful “active” deterrent.<br /><br />It is reasonable to consider that should ISRAEL restructure its strategic doctrine to leverage and prioritize its impressive ABM investments that the country’s leaders could better protect the home front, reduce the imperative for preemption, and thus provide ISRAEL with better regional and international diplomatic options as befits a more established state.<br /><br /><span style="color: blue;"><b>LEANER, BUT MORE ELITE IDF CORE</b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"><b> </b></span> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As with other WESTERN militaries, the country could then focus on a leaner yet more elite core of personnel and materiel, as opposed to the burden of reliance on reserves.  A few squadrons of F-35s configured for air defense, supported by ground forces and a navy re-positioned for equivalent roles might better prepare ISRAEL for the threats the states now faces  and in the diplomatic context in which it must maneuver.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: See <b><span style="color: red;">L</span></b></span><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ong-range, largely clandestine and multi-service missions</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/idf-israeli-defense-forces.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/05/idf-israeli-defense-forces.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">There is no doubt that, if little else is gained by either party in the present conflict between ISRAEL and Gaza, that the ISRAELIS have scored a dramatic victory on the battlefield with Iron Dome. <b>The full potential of such a victory is at hand if the country’s statesmen and defense establishment can evolve the old doctrine– once so successful and now of dubious benefit– and embrace a new approach. </b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

STRATEGIC FALLOUT FROM GAZA:

IS IT TIME FOR ACTIVE DETERRENCE? By Anthony Rusonik via Geopoliticalmonitor  For those interested enough to dive deeper- beyond the tweets...

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Pioneering the granny pod: Fairfax County family adapts to high-tech dwelling that could change elder care - The Washington Post

<div></div><p>Viola Baez wouldn't budge.</p><p>Her daughter's family had just invested about $125,000 in a new kind of home for her, <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/05/AR2010050503074.html">a high-tech cottage </a>that might revolutionize the way Americans care for their aging relatives. But Viola wouldn't even step inside.</p><p>She told her family she would rather continue living in the family's dining room than move into the shed-size dwelling that had been lowered by crane into the back yard of their Fairfax County home.</p><p>"You're throwing me out! You're sending me out to a doghouse! Why not put me in a manicomio?" Viola, 88 , told them, using the Spanish word for madhouse.</p><p>Then the air conditioner blew. As temperatures and tempers soared in the main house, Viola's family coaxed her into the cottage to cool off. Viola stayed the night, then another, and another, until summer had turned to fall.</p><p>As the first private inhabitant of a MedCottage, Viola is a reluctant pioneer in <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/comingofage/index.html?hpid=topnews">the search for alternatives to nursing homes for aging Americans</a>. Her relatives agonized over the best way to care for Viola only after her ability to care for herself became questionable. Their decision exposed intergenerational friction that worsened after the new dwelling arrived.</p><p>The <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2010/05/05/GR2010050505248.html">MedCottage</a>, designed by a Blacksburg company with help from Virginia Tech, is essentially a portable hospital room. Virginia state law, which recognized the dwellings a few years ago, classifies them as "temporary family health-care structures." But many simply know them as "<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2010/05/post_1.html">granny pod</a>s," and they have arrived on the market as the nation prepares for <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/15/AR2007091501654.html">a wave of graying baby boomers </a>to retire.</p><p>Over the past decade, the population of Americans who are 65 or older has grown faster than the total population, the Census Bureau says. In less than 20 years, the number of Americans who are 65 or older will top 72 million, or more than twice the population of older Americans in 2000, and many will need to <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/former-hud-secretary-henry-cisneros-talks-about-aging-in-place/2012/08/10/14536f9e-d5b8-11e1-a9e3-c5249ea531ca_story.html">find living arrangements</a> that balance their need for independence and special care.</p><p>Viola's family understood this. Her daughter, Socorrito Baez-Page, 56, who goes by Soc, and her son-in-law, David Page, 59 — both of whom are doctors — began planning her care well before Viola's husband died of cancer last February. They explored many options and had firsthand experience with several. Soc and David had taken care of or arranged various types of care, including assisted living and hospice, for other parents.</p><p>Their decision to buy the first MedCottage in private use, along with Viola's bumpy adjustment to life inside it, offers a look at an unusual solution to an increasingly common situation and the emotional trade-offs that arise from it.</p><p><strong>Daily routines</strong></p><p>The soft whoosh of an oxygen machine fills the MedCottage when Viola opens her eyes at the light streaming from the windows above her bed.</p><p>"Hello," Soc says.</p><p>Soc has been up for a while. She stands almost at the center of the MedCottage, a self-enclosed space that blends bedroom, kitchenette, foyer and bath the way that a fork and spoon combine to form a spork. Soc has already folded up the rollout bed where she has spent the night at her mother's side, and performed other chores before Viola wakes.</p><p>Viola asks for a bathrobe, and Soc helps her into it, careful not to tangle the oxygen tubes trailing from her mother's nose.</p><p>A week after Viola underwent surgery to remove a cataract, Viola's left eye also looks puffy, as if she's been crying again, as she has almost daily since her husband died.</p><p>"Open your eye," Soc says, speaking in Spanish, as she administers drops. Viola blinks, as if it's painful.</p><p>"Eyes closed, please," Soc says. "Cinco minuto."</p><p>After the eye medicine, Viola maneuvers her walker across the MedCottage to the bathroom. While Viola washes up, Soc brews a mug of instant coffee for her in the microwave oven and prepares a vaporizer that delivers Viola's asthma medicine.</p><p>Viola's walker squeaks softly as she returns and takes a seat at the kitchenette's counter. Her hands tremble as she takes the mug and sips the coffee through the straw, so as not to spill any hot liquid.</p><p>When the vaporizer is ready, Soc puts a mask on Viola. While mist pours from the vents in her mother's face mask, Soc rummages through a cabinet filled with medicine bottles and puts pills in a small cup at her mother's elbow. Then Soc prepares her mother's breakfast, which is crackers and string cheese.</p><p>Viola appears small, hunkered down in her chair. But her eyes can become huge when she talks about growing up in Puerto Rico or her life with her late husband. At times, she struggles for words, but when they come, they flow in a rush, sometimes in Spanish. She chuckles with pride when she recalls driving a motorcycle on her honeymoon in Florida, and then becomes somber in a swift change of mood. Tears well in her eyes one afternoon as she explains that she is in "luto," wearing only black or dark clothing as a sign of mourning.</p><p>"He treated me like I was a queen," she says of her husband. "Without him, nothing is special. Nothing."</p><p>Overhead, a small green light blinks, an indicator that one of the MedCottage's surveillance cameras is powered up and that perhaps an additional family member is watching Viola, too.</p><p><strong>Design elements</strong></p><p>Several firms have entered the market for <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/housing/info-10-2010/custom_prefab_adus_the_home_store.html">auxiliary dwelling units</a>, or ADUs, as they're known in the building industry. These include <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://fabcab.com/products/fabcab-homes/">FabCab</a>, a Seattle-based company that makes ADUs and full-size homes. <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.palsbuilt.com/">Practical Assisted Living Solutions</a>, or PALS, a firm based in Meriden, Conn., makes freestanding modules; and the <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.the-homestore.com/">Home Store</a>, which is headquartered in Whately, Mass., sells modular "in-law" additions called "Elderly Cottage Housing Opportunity" additions.</p><p>The MedCottage in Fairfax is about 12 by 24 feet, the size of a typical master bedroom. With its beige aluminum siding — and cosmetic touches such as green shutters — the cottage looks a little like an elaborate dollhouse. The interior, painted gray and white, seems so airy and comfortable that Soc jokes about reusing the dwelling someday as a mountain cabin.</p><p>The idea for the MedCottage came from the Rev. Kenneth J. Dupin, a minister in southwest Virginia who wondered why Americans didn't take better care of their elders. He created <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://medcottage.com/">N2Care</a>, a company that designed the MedCottage with help from the <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.vtcrc.com/">Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center</a>. They stuffed its steel shell with the latest in biometric and communications technology, and <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/20/AR2009022000041.html">crafted its features using universal design principles to accommodate people of all ages and people with disabilities</a>. The company's sales pitch includes dropping an egg onto its specially designed floor from a height of 7 feet to show that the egg won't break.</p><p>"People think it's a rubber egg until we hold it over a hard surface and drop it from 5 inches," said Chris M. Cummins, executive vice president of MedCare Systems, a Mechanicsville, Va.-based distributor.</p><p>In addition to surveillance cameras, the dwelling has an Internet portal by which family members, doctors or other caregivers can monitor an occupant's vital signs, receive medical alerts or change the dwelling's temperature and security settings. The MedCottage retails for about $85,000, but with delivery and installation, Viola's family has spent closer to $125,000.</p><p>"Most people look at that and get sticker shock," Cummins said.</p><p>But Cummins also said that the company offers financing and repurchase programs that make the MedCottage a bargain compared with assisted-living facilities that charge $40,000 or more a year.</p><p><strong>Family drama</strong></p><p>Viola's family is close-knit. Soc recalls taking her daughters, Erin and Shannon, to the Kennedy Center for a National Symphony Orchestra concert when the girls were so little that they listened while perched in car seats.</p><p>Although Erin, 30, is now a lawyer and Shannon, 28, teaches in Fairfax schools, the family still goes to the symphony en masse, and the daughters still live in the family's 1972 split-level on Vengo Court.</p><p>The family is strikingly candid about the stress that comes with Viola's daily care. Her physical problems include spinal stenosis, arthritis and asthma, and she takes about 16 medications. Relatives say Viola has traits that would challenge any caregiver, and some have become more conspicuous with age. She is moodier now, and needier. When Viola went into an assisted-living facility temporarily for physical therapy after a fall, she threw a fit that lasted hours. Soc calmed her by promising not to leave. Soc stayed for so long every day that eventually administrators told Soc the arrangement could not continue.</p><p>"She's very clingy, very persnickety about things," Soc said.</p><p>Viola's late husband, Luis Baez, also pampered her. He was a first lieutenant in the Army when they married. Later, as a civilian architect for the Navy and the Coast Guard, he helped design the Westwind class of icebreakers. In the 1950s, he and Viola bought an Arlington County duplex. But their home became difficult to maneuver as they aged. About the time Luis began thinking of alternatives, he became ill with rapidly progressing renal cancer.</p><p>Soc and David began discussing whether Viola would move in, whether to build an addition, or whether Viola should go into an assisted-living residence. Viola and Luis disliked nursing homes, and Soc's property was not well suited for an addition. Then Soc read about the MedCottage, which Luis endorsed before his death.</p><p>When Luis, 82, died Feb. 28, Viola's granddaughters took turns staying at her Arlington home while Soc and David arranged the MedCottage purchase. Then Viola moved into the house on Vengo Court.</p><p>But there were problems. Living in the family's dining room, Viola disliked being so close to the kitchen when people were cooking. She complained about getting around in the house, saying that there were too many steps, not enough handrails, and that the shower was hard to access. She fought over the thermostat setting because she was too cold, even when everyone else was sweating. And she hated being alone. She wouldn't shower unless someone was nearby.</p><p>By late June, the MedCottage arrived. Workers cut down trees to make room and a crane lowered the cottage onto six concrete piers in the yard.</p><p>Relatives brought photographs of Viola's grandchildren and knickknacks, including a colorful row of miniature houses. Over the bed they hung Roman Catholic icons, including a painting of "Nuestra Senora del Perpetuos Socorro," whose name, like Soc's, means "help" in Spanish.</p><p>But Viola wanted nothing to do with the place. As the standoff dragged on, Soc worried that their money had been wasted, that their MedCottage would end up being the biggest, most expensive storage shed on the planet. Then the air conditioner in the house went kaput, and Viola retreated to the MedCottage for relief.</p><p>Viola now seems used to her new home. On a cabinet in the kitchenette sits a row of faded black-and-white photographs of Viola, wearing a pretty dress and an alluring smile, that she sent to her new husband when he was away on duty.</p><p>Although the MedCottage has made it possible for Viola to live a few steps away from her family, Soc sometimes wishes that Viola were as self-assured and independent as the younger version in those old photos.</p><p>But these days, the family also counts it as a small victory when Viola comes to dinner in the main house and then returns without a fuss to "my place."</p><div><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/pioneering-the-granny-pod-fairfax-county-family-adapts-to-high-tech-dwelling-that-could-change-elder-care/2012/11/25/4d9ccb44-1e18-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_story.html?hpid=z2">http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/pioneering-the-granny-pod-fairfax-county-family-adapts-to-high-tech-dwelling-that-could-change-elder-care/2012/11/25/4d9ccb44-1e18-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_story.html?hpid=z2</a></div><div><br></div>

Pioneering the granny pod: Fairfax County family adapts to high-tech dwelling that could change elder care - The Washington Post

Viola Baez wouldn't budge. Her daughter's family had just invested about $125,000 in a new kind of home for her,  a high-tech cottag...

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Fruit That's It!

<div style="text-align: center;">I recently received these treats as part of the Healthy Surprise box. In the box it had a bunch of treats that are organic and healthy, which is good! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> These days lately I am all about healthy! Whether it's eating healthy, exercising or drinking water. So before I go to work everyday I pack a snack or a lunch. I packed one of the That's It Fruit Bars.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> As I started getting hungry in the middle of the day I grabbed it and thought this sounds pretty good because it's packed with fruit and healthy too. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> So I carefully opened the wrapper and took my first bite! It comes across as a granola bar, but taste like a healthy fruit by the foot! I am so in love with them!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> I was disappointed that in the box they only offered two flavors! So I looked on the That's It website and I saw that they had them on the locator at Whole Foods, I go there a lot! I went to Whole Foods and looked for them and couldn't find them. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Maybe they were sold out who knows, All I know is that I love them and can't wait to try the other flavors! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRISpkNwH0_fhOPc5HHDaEH2QO39qOrxFmxxt_0VQ6o2fg2lwC0BEOYjWoLiNqXfepoLM5DSXXfXggvE9WcX690yX9bF-pHpGDRiGpP3ObaT9UCXs335NNTblcn1DFHy4XXlCfYxXxek8/s1600/that%2527s+it.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRISpkNwH0_fhOPc5HHDaEH2QO39qOrxFmxxt_0VQ6o2fg2lwC0BEOYjWoLiNqXfepoLM5DSXXfXggvE9WcX690yX9bF-pHpGDRiGpP3ObaT9UCXs335NNTblcn1DFHy4XXlCfYxXxek8/s320/that%2527s+it.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><a href="http://www.thatsitfruit.com/shopbuy-our-products/"></a>

Fruit That's It!

I recently received these treats as part of the Healthy Surprise box. In the box it had a bunch of treats that are organic and healthy, wh...

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