1 shot in Connecticut during robbery attempt waiting for Playstation 3, several others shot with BBs at a Lexington, Kentucky Best Buy
I'm not sure which is crazier--camping out for a video game system or shooting people camping out. Agh. In the Lexington case, a reporter was one of four people injured as she was interviewing a camper. One has to wonder about people who do drive-by shootings with cameras rolling. Go figure. Fortunately it doesn't seem like anyone was injured too severely, although I didn't find any details on the Connecticut man's condition. The Playstation 3 went on sale today to the tune of $500 or so. Many people hope to score big either in terms of playing the latest games or selling the consoles on eBay for much more cash. Even though the system is considered the must-have toy of the season, as a friend pointed out, these aren't people waiting in line for kids. These are mostly college geeks or people who have taken off from regular jobs to camp out for essentially a bunch of plastic gadgetry which will be obsolete in a year or two, just to be 'first'. I just don't get it, myself, and its a very expensive magic bean otherwise. Of course, the only video games I have are an old Nintendo system (the original) and one of those joysticks that play 80 of the '80s games. I play the rest of any games I have on a computer, which can be used for other things. I'm just not the video game player in the family. That would be my mom. I wonder if she keeps up with the latest systems. :)
Born, like other comic book characters, out of an otherwise trivial but life-changing animal bite, the Rabid Librarian seeks out strange, useless facts, raves about real and perceived injustices, and seeks to meet her greatest challenge of all--her own life.
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Friday, November 17, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
I would think
that if you can use a computer well enough to watch a Flash presentation on a website, you can probably read a food label, but the FDA's Make Your Calories Count - Use the Nutrition Facts Label for Healthy Weight Management is pretty cool nonetheless. It's downloadable, too, so if you want to teach this topic to others, you can do so without having to be online. It requires Flash capability for the interactive modules, and a PDF reader for the print versions.
Something I had a hand in
This Month's FREE Core Title Specialty at Doody's is Orthopaedics (I'm afraid the above link will only work in November 2006 for going to the Orthopaedics section--it obviously changes per month, and the sections are generally available only to subscribers for $49.50 a year). I was a Selector this year and helped rate the books and got to suggest several that were included. It was pretty fun. :)
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Sad, but not surprising, is it?
Two who died in storm drain were legally drunk; so was incoming UK student who died after fall in Red River Gorge
I think we all saw it coming. The women who drowned were (appropriately so) coming home in a cab late at night, indicating that they had perhaps been drinking. The Gorge is well-known not only as a natural treasure but as a place to go and get plastered, which is unfortunate, since it also has many beautiful but deadly cliffs. In all the stories of falls in the Gorge I've read or heard of (and there have been many over the years), the vast majority have been alcohol-related.
Yet because this story appeared in the Kentucky Kernel, UK's campus newspaper, the parent of the young man who died in the Gorge has sharply criticised the paper. Moreover, most likely due to this story, 4500 newspapers were stolen, to a tune of about $300, a felony. In a related story, the mother of the young man said '"I could guess" that the papers were stolen by her late son's friends, but she said "I'm not going to name names."' Police don't have many leads, although someone reported a woman stuffing papers into a bag, and the reporter received e-mails that were described as '"borderline" between complaints and threats'.
It's sad that these young people's lives were cut short. I'm sure they were all wonderfully vibrant people with their lives ahead of them. But I don't think the Kernel's reporting their blood alcohol levels (and in the young man's case, drug levels) was irresponsible in any way. The values themselves are a matter of public record. But when put with other recent deaths related to UK students and alchohol, they paint a disturbing picture of something that should be addressed. The Kernel did not paint the victims as bad people, or even point out that in each case some bad decisions were made--mostly under the influence of alcohol. It simply reported the cases and helped put another layer onto the tragedies of their deaths.
That kind of story isn't going to be silenced regardless of protests, and in the end, it's also a true story. The facts are verifiable. The truth doesn't reduce the victims 'into flat, one-dimensional characters'. It just points out that anyone can make a mistake, and that mistake can be deadly. I think it was stupid for anyone to steal the papers in some sort of protest of the story, but I suppose emotions are running high and again, people don't always make the best decisions then, either.
I think we all saw it coming. The women who drowned were (appropriately so) coming home in a cab late at night, indicating that they had perhaps been drinking. The Gorge is well-known not only as a natural treasure but as a place to go and get plastered, which is unfortunate, since it also has many beautiful but deadly cliffs. In all the stories of falls in the Gorge I've read or heard of (and there have been many over the years), the vast majority have been alcohol-related.
Yet because this story appeared in the Kentucky Kernel, UK's campus newspaper, the parent of the young man who died in the Gorge has sharply criticised the paper. Moreover, most likely due to this story, 4500 newspapers were stolen, to a tune of about $300, a felony. In a related story, the mother of the young man said '"I could guess" that the papers were stolen by her late son's friends, but she said "I'm not going to name names."' Police don't have many leads, although someone reported a woman stuffing papers into a bag, and the reporter received e-mails that were described as '"borderline" between complaints and threats'.
It's sad that these young people's lives were cut short. I'm sure they were all wonderfully vibrant people with their lives ahead of them. But I don't think the Kernel's reporting their blood alcohol levels (and in the young man's case, drug levels) was irresponsible in any way. The values themselves are a matter of public record. But when put with other recent deaths related to UK students and alchohol, they paint a disturbing picture of something that should be addressed. The Kernel did not paint the victims as bad people, or even point out that in each case some bad decisions were made--mostly under the influence of alcohol. It simply reported the cases and helped put another layer onto the tragedies of their deaths.
That kind of story isn't going to be silenced regardless of protests, and in the end, it's also a true story. The facts are verifiable. The truth doesn't reduce the victims 'into flat, one-dimensional characters'. It just points out that anyone can make a mistake, and that mistake can be deadly. I think it was stupid for anyone to steal the papers in some sort of protest of the story, but I suppose emotions are running high and again, people don't always make the best decisions then, either.
Monday, November 13, 2006
A-Googling they will go
Doctors Googling medical answers
Googling for a diagnosis--use of Google as a diagnostic aid: internet based study
Google searches out diagnoses, stat
Comparison of MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Scirus (PDF)
Concerns about Google Scholar
In a fairly small study (26 published diagnoses blinded for searches to try to find using search terms), they found them on Google 58% of the time (15 out of the 26). How they can make claims that the internet can be particularly useful is beyond me, as the confidence interval stretched from 38% to 77%. But you know what it really tells us? Librarians need to make it clear that we (and the resources at our disposal) can give you much better odds than, as one colleague put it, a crap shoot. We have much better searching skills, because of training and experience, have access to more databases, and simply put, we do this for a living. Leave patching people up and making the actual diagnoses to the medical professionals, but librarians are very useful for finding the information necessary for medical personnel to do their jobs, and they can save valuable time doing it. Unfortunately, there is a perception that 'everything is out on the Internet' (wrong) and that as long as you find something, it's what you need (wrong). Librarians are trained to evaluate information as well as find it and are adept at determining the value of the website, its agenda, and how much weight the information should have.
So if there are any doctors reading this, feel free to Google, of course, but you might find a quick call to a librarian can save you time, give you better results, and could quite possibly help you save your patient.
Googling for a diagnosis--use of Google as a diagnostic aid: internet based study
Google searches out diagnoses, stat
Comparison of MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Scirus (PDF)
Concerns about Google Scholar
In a fairly small study (26 published diagnoses blinded for searches to try to find using search terms), they found them on Google 58% of the time (15 out of the 26). How they can make claims that the internet can be particularly useful is beyond me, as the confidence interval stretched from 38% to 77%. But you know what it really tells us? Librarians need to make it clear that we (and the resources at our disposal) can give you much better odds than, as one colleague put it, a crap shoot. We have much better searching skills, because of training and experience, have access to more databases, and simply put, we do this for a living. Leave patching people up and making the actual diagnoses to the medical professionals, but librarians are very useful for finding the information necessary for medical personnel to do their jobs, and they can save valuable time doing it. Unfortunately, there is a perception that 'everything is out on the Internet' (wrong) and that as long as you find something, it's what you need (wrong). Librarians are trained to evaluate information as well as find it and are adept at determining the value of the website, its agenda, and how much weight the information should have.
So if there are any doctors reading this, feel free to Google, of course, but you might find a quick call to a librarian can save you time, give you better results, and could quite possibly help you save your patient.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
A small thing, but...
Deer frees itself from Halloween bucket
The yearling buck had been running around for several days looking thinner and thinner with a Halloween pumpkin bucket caught on its ears or horn buds and covering its snout like a feed bag. Rescuers were trying to trank him without success. Many thought his hope for survival was low. Last night some children found the plastic pumpkin in their yard, and a thin deer was seen running free. Of course, it's deer season in Michigan, so he still has that to face, but hopefully a young deer who is on the thin side and without a rack will be considered beneath the notice of hunters.
The yearling buck had been running around for several days looking thinner and thinner with a Halloween pumpkin bucket caught on its ears or horn buds and covering its snout like a feed bag. Rescuers were trying to trank him without success. Many thought his hope for survival was low. Last night some children found the plastic pumpkin in their yard, and a thin deer was seen running free. Of course, it's deer season in Michigan, so he still has that to face, but hopefully a young deer who is on the thin side and without a rack will be considered beneath the notice of hunters.
After 25 years, it's
Curtains for Shakespeare here in Lexington. Our summer Shakespeare programme is closing up shop, citing declining business and increasing expenses. They wanted to end it while they were still in the black.
I haven't been to Shakespeare in the Park since they moved out of Woodhill to the Arbouretum and started charging. I suppose that makes me a poor supporter of the arts. I just preferred the old, simply staged shows and back before I had a car I really couldn't get to the Arbouretum, which isn't near a bus stop. Later it was a matter of fighting the crowds and problems with the weather that tended to discourage me. But it's still sad to think that our town is now bereft of this institution. It's closing came as a surprise for most. I wonder what my friend Brenda, who has costumed for several shows, thinks of it.
Sad.
I haven't been to Shakespeare in the Park since they moved out of Woodhill to the Arbouretum and started charging. I suppose that makes me a poor supporter of the arts. I just preferred the old, simply staged shows and back before I had a car I really couldn't get to the Arbouretum, which isn't near a bus stop. Later it was a matter of fighting the crowds and problems with the weather that tended to discourage me. But it's still sad to think that our town is now bereft of this institution. It's closing came as a surprise for most. I wonder what my friend Brenda, who has costumed for several shows, thinks of it.
Sad.
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