WEDNESDAY #1859

I don't really do the whole Happy New Year thing. Changing numbers in the date just doesn't do that much for me....but that been said, I wish you Peach, Love and Health blah, blah, blah...Fuck that! I wish you lots of sex, alcohol and orgasms.

Our lawmakers had a discussion one time and came up with a fair amount of money to give people who became unemployed. They voted on it and it passed...

 Now some people want to pay people not to work far longer than was voted on the first time. For the sake of argument let's just all agree that every person living in America should make...oh...$50K and if they are underemployed or unemployed, then the government should pick up the slack. It is my guess that within a year there would be moves afoot to up the amount to $100K. And all of this money has to come from somewhere.

I bought this BMW emblem to put on the front of my cart just to fuck with people...

As a matter of fact, I'm thinking of hanging a Batman costume in my closet just to screw with myself when I get Alzheimer's.

Would one of you smart people out there tell me what PBUM stands for....please....

Shitty people do shitty things.

Guy makes and sells snow-gloves of unflattering aspect of living in NYC...

Cancer: still not cured.

This would drive me up the fucking wall...

Please note...A four dot brick was cut into a three and a one dot brick....WHICH IS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY!!

Lara, the ball is in your court....

I want details.

Russia (Soviet Union) has tried 16 Mars landings…2 have been successful. Now they are planning a manned mission.

Question: Who in their right mind would volunteer for such a thing?

Do you think this is a staged photo?

I remember reading that during the Civil War (America's) the photographers used to arrange the bodies of the dead to create a more dramatic image.
I think the same is true for the above.

Several just plain wonderful ideas...

These infant pajamas lets you know if your baby has a fever...

A chair with a place to hang a purse...like those hooks under bars....

This is a combination of fish reel action with a camera on the end...

This is a moving van whose entire side opens up...

Instrumentation improves. Our knowledge does not.

OOMVO...

I support anti-bullying…I even bought a bracelet. Well, I actually stole it from a fat kid, but it’s the thought that counts.

When I was in art school, there were several students who did things like this...

I like the whole energy tension thing. 

OOMVO...

People ask me what my wife got for Christmas. I tell them “Fat. She got fat.”

I've heard several news people carp about Putin being the ex-head of the KGB, I assume forgetting that  the first George Bush was head of the CIA...

They really shouldn’t put the names of food in the names of animals. Like, butterfly. When I was a kid I ate one, thinking it was made of butter. I did the same thing with a honeybee. My parents didn’t become concerned until I started eyeing the hamster.

I went on a double date once and the other guy ended up in a threesome.

My New Year’s resolution is to stop putting my foot in my mouth all the time and I’ll bet yours is losing weight, huh?

Not sure if I believe this, but I will post anything this man has to say...

...and wouldn't it be great if Banksy turned out to be a she.

I saw a film about two women lesbianing on the internet once.

This is me when I'm taking a shit and it splashes up on my ass...

Dubai skyline looks like they held an architecture contest and everybody won.

Women say the darnest things...

Three Freudians go into a bar and the bartender says, “Can I see some id.”

A week or so ago I posted a drone identification chart. Come to find out, it comes from this brochure....

...and it's very, very serious. Did you see the section above titled "21st Century Birdwatching"?

While two debate, the third makes all the money.

Many of the sites I visit are eat up with graphic designers demanding that we follow a common set of rules that I don't remember voting on. One of them is that Comic Sans can never, ever be used, under any circumstance...

I will confess that it tweaks my irritation meter in that none of the letters have serifs except the "I"...just like every child in the world starts off doing it.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS...

Here is an email I sent a professor of pharmacy...

I never had heartburn until I got older. Sometimes it was so bad I would take a Zantac chased with Pepto Bismol. Then my wife had a friend whose husband suffered badly and he got rid of it by taking one Prilosec OTC everyday for two weeks. So my wife asked her pharmacist about it and he said that it could work. Well, I did it work on me and I have not had heartburn since.

Question: If this is actually a cure, why don't they advertise it as such?

My fear is that they have no interest in "curing" heartburn since they are in the business of temporary relief, thus more sales.

Your thoughts would be appreciated before I put this tidbit in my blog.

This is his reply...(you don't have to read it all...just skip to red section)
Heartburn, in general, is transient and caused by irritating foods, stress or smoking.   Chronic heartburn may be caused by anatomical problems associated with the junction of the esophagus and the stomach (lower esophageal sphincter). There is no "cure" for heartburn...it is only treated for symptoms as they arise....if it requires chronic treatment it really isn't heartburn anymore...it is something more serious. Outside of liquid antacids such as Maalox, and antacid tablets such as Tums, two main drugs are used in treating mild to moderate heartburn: 1) H2 receptor blockers such as Zantac, and 2) Proton (acid) pump inhibitors (PPI's) such as Prilosec.  H2 blockers block histamine action in the stomach, thereby preventing the main stimulus for acid secretion.   PPIs block the actual cellular pump that puts acid into the stomach and for this reason are much more effective at reducing acid production in the stomach when compared to H2 blockers. Prilosec is a PPI. 

Heartburn can be caused by several factors, most often by food that directly irritates the stomach lining.  However, gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) can cause heartburn symptoms as well.  GERD can be exacerbated by (and is often the result of) a hypofunctional sphincter muscle in the lower esophagus that allows stomach contents to gain access to the esophagus resulting in irritation to the lower to middle esophagus....next to the heart....causing heartburn. 

While PPIs are a cornerstone of therapy for ulcers caused by acid-loving bacteria in the stomach that eat away at the stomach lining, PPIs are not really a cure for heartburn.   They cure ulcers because they are used in conjunction with two antibiotics to kill the helicobacter pylori bacteria in the stomach. However, in cases of heartburn, they will be used as monotherapy to reduce acid secretion for the duration of heartburn symptoms.  They will not prevent heartburn from reccurring. Thus, they are not curative.  

I suspect that they appear as cures because they are used for a period of time in which the initiating insult (food, stress, etc.) has been removed. You might also consider that smoking will also increase acid secretion in the stomach, thereby increasing the chances of heartburn symptoms as well as ulcer formation.

So....the short answer is this:   PPIs are not curative for simple heartburn....however they are part of a 3-drug regimen to cure ulcers caused by H. pylori.   The "curative" observation of PPIs for heartburn is likely due to the elimination of the offending substance or situation during the PPI treatment period. When the PPI treatment period ends, the insult is no longer present. 

And just for kicks, go back and read the last six words...pure fucking poetry.
When I commented on how much I like the phrase, he replied, "using words like that makes me sound more smarter."

You gotta love a guy like that.