They love the way I ride it...

Well, my husband finally fulfilled a dream I thought I had successfully pounded, mutilated, and ultimately killed..........he bought a motorcycle. This thing is LOUD, BIG, and scares the hell out of me.

Our conversation went something like this:
Him: OMG (he actually said the full words) you will never believe what I just bought!!
Me: OMG (I didn't say the full words) you bought me a LV Speedy 35?!? Now I'm gonna have to do that thing to you tonight.....
Him: Well, no, but it's BETTER! I got a bike!
Me: Holy Crap, that's awesome! (read: Holy Crap, I'm too young to be widowed...I wonder what happened to that Engineer who used to hit on me...)
Me again: Seriously, couldn't be happier! You've wanted a bike for so long! I can't believe you ACTUALLY bought one! That's so awesome.....(inner turmoil), just make sure you max out your life insurance policy and we'll be golden! Have fun!


So here's to our journey together......




Although I joke about it, I'm actually totally happy for him and I know he's going to get a ton of joy out of it. AND the public health professional in me has to defer to the CDC's recommendations for Motorcycle Safety and reinforce that if you ride a bike, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE wear a helmet!


Ride safe you crazy kids.

xox Faith




Song lyrics from Ciara "Ride"

"The Economics of Street Charity"

Courtesy of Stephen J. Dubner's "Freakonomics" blog, I pose a question to you:

You are walking down the street in New York City with $10 of disposable income in your pocket. You come to a corner with a hot dog vendor on one side and a beggar on the other. The beggar looks like he’s been drinking; the hot dog vendor looks like an upstanding citizen. How, if at all, do you distribute the $10 in your pocket, and why?

Read the blog for guest commentary, but this one was my favorite by Barbara Ehrenreich:

"....Although I’m atheist, I defer to Jesus on beggar-related matters. He said, if a man asks for your coat, give him your cloak too. (Actually, he said if a man “sue thee at the law” for the coat, but most beggars skip the legal process.) Jesus did not say: First, administer a breathalyzer test to the supplicant, or, first, sit him down for a pep talk on “focus” and “goal-setting.” He said: Give him the damn coat.

As a matter of religious observance, if a beggar importunes me directly, I must fork over some money. How do I know whether he’s been drinking or suffers from a neurological disorder anyway? Unless I’m his parole officer, what do I care? And before anyone virtuously offers him a hot dog, they should reflect on the possibility that the beggar is a vegetarian or only eats kosher or Hallal meat. It’s none of my business whether he plans to spend it on infant formula for his starving baby or a pint of Thunderbird."

HILARIOUS!

Comment on how you would distribute the money, if you would......and don't forget to follow me!

Bulimia, Anorexia, and..........picky eating??

Okay, so we all know about bulimia and anorexia, and they are crippling, horrid illnesses. But have you heard of Adult Selective Eating or ORTHOREXIA? JAMA is actually recognizing "extreme picky eaters" as an eating disorder, and categorizing those who increasingly restrict their diet to pure, natural foods.

Not sure how I feel about that. What are your thoughts? Do these individuals hide their "illness" from family and friends, do they need an intervention? Are we seriously comparing these behaviors to life-threatening illnesses?

I dunno, sounds a little like excessive labeling. Have you heard of this?

I'm off to eat my organic broccoli now......


Source:New Eating Disorders: Are They For Real?

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby.....

National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior

Researchers at Indiana U conducted the largest nationally representative study (National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior-NSSHB)of sexual health/behaviors...including a SEXUAL BEHAVIOR GRAPH with a DESCRIPTION OF MORE THAN 40 COMBINATIONS of SEXUAL ACTS that people perform.

C'mon you know you want to know......

Seriously though, this is the largest study since the Kinsey study more than a half century ago, and the unique part is it included adolescent men and women. Studies like this help public health professionals study trends and plan programs accordingly.

Interestingly, the study was funded by Church & Dwight Co. Inc., maker of Trojan® brand sexual health products :)

Two Pennsylvania High School Girls Receive $50,000 in Scholarships

Oh those high school days.....I thought my accomplishments were enough to brag about. Two Pennsylvania girls won $50,000 in scholarships from the Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) national competition, the nation's leading public health research competition for high school students.

Shoshanna Goldwin of Allentown, PA: “Energy Epidemic: Teen Perception and Consumption of Energy Drinks.”

Gazelle Zerafati of Villanova, PA: “Epidemiology of Migraine in Teenage Girls, A Student Population Based Study.”

Read more here: http://www.rwjf.org/publichealth/product.jsp?id=61908&cid=xem-emc-ca

The public health workforce is diminishing even as the population increases. By 2020, the United States will face a shortfall of more than 250,000 public health workers, according to the Association of Schools of Public Health. The YES Competition was established in 2003 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the College Board to inspire talented high school students to apply epidemiological methods to the investigation of health problems and, ultimately, encourage the brightest young minds to enter the field of public health.

formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/fvawter

"Dead Peasant" Insurance?

With the release of Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" came this idea of corporate entities purchasing life insurance on their employees without their knowledge (did you catch that? WITHOUT their knowledge) and then cashing out when that individual dies--whether or not they are still an employee of said company.

WOW. Huge fail.

Here's a list of companies said to have engaged in what's called "Dead Peasant" insurance......

Be well!