The Beef Tax: We're all paying it, every day. By Seth Godin

In the US, taxpayers subsidize the cattle industry with billions of dollars of tax money each year. Most of that goes to pay for feed crops, but there is also a huge allocation of public land for the grazing of cows. About half the land in the entire country is just for cattle.

In addition, a significant portion of the climate problem is directly caused by the effects of bovine respiration as well as the clear-cutting of forests for grazing worldwide. It’s like someone is dumping manure on your living room carpet and asking you to pay for it.

The end result is that whether or not you eat meat, you’re paying for it.

Beef is more expensive than we realize. And it’s also significantly less convenient than we give it credit for. Climate refugees, storm-damaged assets, the loss of life and homes… these are directly caused by the one billion cows that humans raise each year.

What would happen if we simply charged a fair price for the beef and milk that people consume?

The industry has done a great job of persuading people that beef is cheap, convenient, easy, luxurious, wholesome and benign. It’s none of those things.

I wonder how long it will take us to realize just how much it costs us.

[ed note: Beef or animal meat is a highly inefficient and costly source of protein]

Berlin Firefighter Challenge - The Premier European Event

This year was the 16th of a Firefighter Combat Challenge in the city of Berlin. Mike Weikamm, a Berlin firefighter wearing three hats, does an outstanding job, and this year was no exception. The last two COVID years were limited events held at the training academy, so that's why we're at 16 and not 18. Thanks to Mike's wife Anja for the photos. Mike assidiously maintains a precise representation of the Official Course in minute detail. In fact, at our last running in 2018, a woman who was riding the Hop-On Hop Off tour bus that runs past Postdamer Platz got off when she saw the event and started asking spectators if "Dr. Davis is here?" Turns out, she was the wife of one of our early sponsors; when she saw the course, she immediately identified it as "The Real Deal."

A Great American: Chief James "Jimmy" Jarboe

The legacy of the Firefighter Combat Challenge would not be complete without this anecdote from our first event at the University of Maryland's Fire and Rescue Institute. 

It was Sunday, in May of 1991. We have five jurisdictions in attendance. There was one lane. No electronic timing, no music, no banners. 

A small crowd, an editor from Fire Chief magazine and the local CBS affiliate's news crew. We did have the imprimatur of the DC Council of Governments (COG) Fire Training Officer's Sub-Committee, who had endorsed the event. 

After a briefing, we started the competition. And people started cheering, something that you'd never hear at a drill. 

As the competition progressed, the firefighters were getting the hang of it; watching the preceding competitors helped with techniques and times were getting faster.

Helping as a Course Marshal that day was Lt. Jimmy Jarboe- my training officer back in 1966 when I became a volunteer at the City of Takoma Park's Station 2. 

Jimmy had correctly anticipated that one of the competitors was about to lap the one in front. The last evolution was the Rescue Randy, a 175-pound, 100-foot dummy drag. And we only had one dummy, 

I asked Jimmy, "What do you weigh?" As it turned out, "175 pounds."

"Good," I remarked. "Lay down at the start of the dummy drag,"

The following competitor snatched Jimmy and passed the competitor in front of him. 

For the next 30 years, Jimmy and I would recount how he had saved the day and the race as the "175-pound dummy."

While in Berlin for our 16th Annual Challenge, I got a text from my son Brent. It was the image below. As soon as I saw Jimmy's picture, I knew it was bad news. 

It would take more space than I have to tell you of all of his great accomplishments in fire safety and public education. An obituary follows below. Chief Tommy Musgrove remarked at his funeral this past Sunday, "If the world was populated with Jimmy's, it would be a perfect place."

Chief James E. Jarboe, Sr. - August 15, 1938 - September 10, 2022

James E. “Jimmy” Jarboe, former fire chief and 65-year life member of the Takoma Park Volunteer Fire Department, passed away after a brief illness on September 10, 2022, in Bethesda, Maryland, at the age of 84. Chief Jarboe, who retired as fire chief in 2008, joined the fire department in 1956. At the time of his passing, he was the only member in the history of the Takoma Park Fire Department to hold every rank - Private First Class, Sergeant, Lieutenant, -Captain, Assistant Chief, Deputy Chief and Fire Chief.

In 1959, Chief Jarboe was hired as a career firefighter with the City of Takoma Park, a career that spanned A-early 30 years. Following his retirement in 1988, he continued serving the department as a volunteer and as a recognized state and national leader in public safety education. Chief Jarboe was awarded the Firefighter of the Year honor in 1993 by the Maryland State Firemen’s Association.

Together, with his late father, AJ, and deceased brothers John, William, Robert and Theodore, they combined for nearly 150 years of service with the Takoma Park Volunteer Fire Department.

Throughout his career, Chief Jarboe received many awards and accolades for his innovative approach to teaching fire and injury safety to both the young and the old. In 2004, Jimmy was named to the Maryland State Firemen’s Association Hall of Fame and recipient of the Marberry F. Gates Service Cup Award in recognition of his devotion to public safety.

In his “spare” time, Chief Jarboe served on many state and county fire safety committees as well as the City of Takoma Park Independence Day committee. He loved to interact with children and adults, especially during his many years of volunteer service at the Montgomery County Fair.

Chief Jarboe was also a life member and officer with the Takoma Park Lions Club, where he coordinated the club’s participation in the annual Halloween parade, Thanksgiving Day meals for families, and the Toys of Tots program.

James Jarboe was born and raised in Takoma Park, Maryland and graduated from Montgomery Blair High School. He served in the US Army as an MP. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Barbara.

Seth Goden: Fake-aceuticals

Of course, we’ve always had snake oil salesmen. We’ve always had patent medicines, odd electric probes and copper bracelets. That’s partly because placebos work and partly because when someone isn’t feeling well, it’s tempting to seek relief and belief.

In the last fifty years, peer-reviewed and tested medicine have gotten dramatically more effective at the same time that these regulated medicines have spent a fortune on ads and marketing. As a result, the sham snake oil purveyors have worked hard to copy the scientific umbra and language of tested and regulated treatments. And thanks to aggressive lobbying, in many countries, folk remedies are nearly unregulated.

So we’ve got greedy public pharma companies with a tested product and an ad budget that often exceeds their R&D budget. They’re using every tool they can to sell something expensive that sometimes works. And then we have folk medicine companies that are responding to the high prices and ad influx by raising their own prices and sharpening their own ads, blurring the gap and grabbing some of the trust that people have in verified and tested results.

Belief is useful, and placebos work. But you can see the widening gap here. It’s hard to tell from the website or ad which are the actual focused, tested, double-blind and effective treatments and which are simply scams. A cheap benign placebo is a bargain. One that costs too much or hurts you is not.

If someone tells you that they’re offering a diagnostic test of your micro-biome and has you send in a sample for scientific analysis and testing, it’s almost certain that they’re doing nothing of the sort. If there’s a simple device you can buy online for $100 or so, it is likely that it doesn’t cure pain the way they say it does. If a practitioner insists that they have powers that transcend the laws of physics or reason, they’re actually only offering you the power of suggestion. And yes, if a famous doctor insists that an expensive over-the-counter magical bean is what you need, think twice.

Regulated medicine has gotten dramatically more effective in the last few decades. Folk medicine hasn’t changed at all, even if it costs ten times more than it used to, and even if the packaging and hype are significantly more sophisticated.

And so: targeting people in distress, charging ever more and honing the sales pitch to make it ever sharper.

It’s a shame that the folks who do this don’t have the self-respect and generosity it would take to be honest about what they’re offering. Instead, they hide behind a facade of jargon and process that conceals the fact that they’re simply making it up. That oil isn’t essential, except in how it makes a profit.

There are few areas of our lives where we tolerate this much fraud. Because we really want it to be true.

Basketball player saves referee's life after heart attack

Steve Hartman - Aug 19

Jamestown, New York — Not many people get to return to the scene of their death. But earlier this month, John Sculli, of Rochester, New York, stepped back into the gym where his time expired.

Sculli, a basketball referee, was officiating a semi-pro game between the Jamestown Jackals and Toledo Glass City in June when he had the deadliest kind of heart attack. Doctors told his fiancée, Donna, that almost no one survives it. Four of his arteries were almost 100% blocked, including his left anterior descending artery, which, when fully blocked, is described as a "widow maker" because of the fatality risk.

"I was in the right place at the right time," Sculli told CBS News. "I mean, that's why I'm here."



Within seconds of Sculli collapsing, a Toledo, Ohio, player named Myles Copeland rushed to the 61-year-old's side and started doing CPR. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/basketball-player-saves-referees-life-after-heart-attack/vi-AA10QNKN

"I've never witnessed someone just collapse, but I knew what had to be done," Copeland told CBS News.

Turns out, the Toledo forward is also a Toledo firefighter — a brand new one, just a year out of the academy.

"It's honestly one of the best feelings in the world," Copeland said of saving Sculli's life.

Few moments will ever come close, except when CBS News invited Copeland to stop by the gym where it happened. Sculli and his fiancée were also there — and got to thank Copeland.

After quadruple bypass surgery, Sculli says he's feeling better than ever and looks forward to getting back on the court. But if he's reffing another one of Copeland's games, don't expect him to look the other way if he commits a foul.

"I love him, but he's not getting a fraudulent call," Sculli said.

Fine by Copeland because he's already had the best game of his career.

You are a success? The jealous, the envious- they will try to find a way to take you down.

There are always, periodically, flurries of commentary in the media about a high-profile athlete found to have used performance-enhancing drugs. About five years ago, it was Lance Armstrong, the American cyclist who won seven Tour de France. Reexamination of decade-old, frozen body fluid samples yielded evidence of the drug EPO, used to raise the hemoglobin level and so enhance oxygen delivery. An inquiry, which would do justice to the Nuremberg Trials, was launched, and various members of Mr. Armstrong's teams have testified that they saw or themselves used performance-enhancing substances.

Lance Armstrong's resting HR of 35 and Vo2 and other measures were off the chart.

Mr. Armstrong's Tour de France titles were taken away. His sponsors are gone. He was barred from further competition. People say he should "disappear," hide and speak not another word.

So who became the winner of the Tour, those years, 1999-2005, now that Mr. Armstrong has been deleted? The answer is nobody. Why is this? All the riders finishing second, third, and fourth have been or since been identified as users of banned substances.

If you are a champion, if you come to the Final, if you are on the podium, if you set records, you are going to be tested. Many, many times. The blood police knock on your door at 0400. They try to surprise you at a training site in the Pyrenees. If the tests are negative, many still speculate that you must be using something. If you are eliminated in the first heats, finishing 125th in the General classification, bat .235 in AA, you will seldom, if ever, be tested. Nobody cares. Nobody is envious.

There is like a war between athletes seeking advantage, however small, and governing authorities trying to catch them. The pharmaceutical companies play both sides. They sell lots of drugs to suppliers, legal and illegal. They make better and better drugs. They develop masking drugs. Laboratories devise better and better tests. There is a massive "black market". Millions of Americans use these drugs. Rarely is there a clear medical necessity. Reasons are most often "anti-aging" and "quality of life."

I do a search for athletes suspended for using these drugs. I find a list. Hundreds and hundreds. Every country. Many different sports.

I find accounts of the investigation, inquiry into, and prosecution of many prominent athletes. In some instances, the story is going to be bizarre, surreal, and preposterous. Like the saga of the pursuit of one Barry Bonds. Grand Jury? Testimony from his ex-girlfriend! Jail time for his therapist? Twice?

Roger Clemens got off. Many others are not so lucky. Jose Conseco goes to jail. For others, it is the finish of a career. Nobody seems to remember Ben Johnson in a good light. 9.79! Four of those finishing behind him are later caught. Beautiful and talented Marion Jones was harassed, pressured, brought before Grand Juries, and finally put in jail. Her Olympic medals were taken away.

I read about the years of prohibition. Was this a big success? The "War on Drugs" declared by America, is going well? These ideas went/are going well for criminals and gangsters. How many innocents were killed? How many enforcement people were killed? How many millions[billions] are spent for no gain?

The use of performance-enhancing drugs will never be stopped. I say to the authorities: Give it up.

Give Ben Johnson back his medal. Have a celebration for him.

Excuse, Pardon, Sorry to everybody. Give back Marion's medals. Sorry to Jose.

Congratulations to Barry Bonds on a great career. Have a day for him. Put him in the Baseball Hall of Fame, where he clearly belongs. Stop bothering him, and is a trainer.

If Nike were to say, "We are proud to have Lance Armstrong endorse our products," I will buy their stuff forever.

Stop testing anyone. Athlete's choice. Personal choice. Let them decide what and how to use it. Level the playing field. Let every cyclist begin the tour with a hematocrit of 55. You can get this by living at a high altitude. Use the oxygen deprivation tent or room to simulate altitude. Or take the EPO. Let every cyclist who has a bad day try a boost of testosterone.

Instead of using science to improve or avoid detection, Let's use science to study what medication will actually provide an advantage, and if so, what margin? Let's get some data on dose and timing. Let's expand the scientific literature which examines the gains in performance of reproducible tasks resulting from the display of specific agents.

Most importantly, let's educate. Educate the young. What are the risks? What benefits, if any, can be expected? Do the math on the cost. Is there an acceptable reason for taking these drugs? At what age are they contraindicated? This teaching should be part of a high school curriculum.

Lance Armstrong was a gifted athlete. His musculature had an inherited capacity to consume oxygen which was higher than most. This was then pushed to new heights by a training program with an intensity of second to none. There was a dedication, a discipline brought to the table which was unmatched. He sustained this for many years. No detail was overlooked. Diet was a science. His equipment is state of the art. Many sacrifices were made.

Every year, 1999-2005, he came to this event, considered to be the most severe, grueling of physical tests in all sports. For seven years, he won. Did he make sure his hematocrit was optimized? Did he make sure his testosterone levels were on a par with others? I am sure he did. It did not appear to have been too difficult to avoid detection. Mostly a matter of timing. His fellow competitors likewise. Many of them were eventually caught.

Do you think anabolic steroids will make an "average" athlete a great one? Come again. Take a major league baseball player with a batting average of .250, 7 home runs last year, 20 stolen bases and only 14 errors, and muscle him up with testosterone and a weight training program.. The result? Batting average .215, 12 home runs, 2 stolen bases and 35 errors.

I watch some videos of Barry Bonds. At the plate, his stance seems to radiate power. The head is motionless, and the eye seems to slow the pitch and see the spin; he does not swing at pitches outside the strike zone. He takes a walk 232 times in 2002. Then comes the swing; The motion begins at the feet, the weight shifting, the step forward, shoulders turning, the arms follow, then the, finally, the wrists and hands bring the bat through, at a speed never before; a study in grace and fluid power. No drugs can make a Barry Bonds.

I like the idea of personal choice. I don't want to hurt anyone. If I were to try some Winstrol for my bodybuilding, that would be my choice. It is my body. This will not hurt anyone else.

I don't like rules and laws made by non-participants, trying to limit the choices of those who are on the field of play. Sport is a career choice for many. At the highest levels, the difference between success and failure is slim.

For those who succeed, the rewards can be considerable. Failure is a very bad outcome for many. The chips are down.

From your couch, from your office, boardroom, or court, you should make rules and laws and try to enforce them.

For the most part, using anabolics is not banned in bodybuilding. So I don't want to be in a sequence of an illegal, undercover process. I should not have to be. I would like to be able to go to a physician knowledgeable in this area and obtain a legal prescription. I would like to have proper monitoring. I would like to be assured that the product is of high quality. Nobody, including the doctor, should be penalized.

If you take HGH, anabolic steroids or EPO during your athletic career, gain some advantage, carefully control dosing, have regular blood work, and suffer no side effects, that was your choice.

August 2016: After I wrote this, I listened to an endless stream of preaching from the Holier about the cheaters and how they needed to be erased from the face of the earth. I still have no doubt about what I wrote and don't plan to change a word.

Then I found some company in high places: Lewis Kurlantzick, LLB, Zephaniah Swift, Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut School of Law, wrote in his Apr. 12, 2006 article titled "Is There a Steroids Problem? The Problematic Character of the Case for Regulation," published in the New England Law Review:

"Athletes are in a position to make a decision about what behavior is in their best interest, to weigh the risks and benefits according to their own values. And a paternalistic rule that attempts to prevent the athlete from harming himself runs counter to the important values of independence and personal choice. Moreover, it is likely that the feared harm is neither life-threatening nor irreversible. Presumably, under this health rationale, if performance is enhanced by substances that cause neither short-term nor long-term harm to the athlete, these substances should not be banned."

Norman Fost, MD, MPH, Professor and Director of the Medical Ethics Program at the University of Wisconsin, made the following statement in a Dec. 18, 2006 interview published by Scout.com (a Fox Sports News website) titled "Baseball Men - The Skeptic":

"We allow people to do far more dangerous things than play football or baseball using steroids. We allow people to bungee-jump, ski on advanced slopes, to cliff dive. To eat marbled meat or ice cream pie every day if they want. I don't think we want to go down a path in which we restrict and even criminalize behaviors just because they have health risks. And steroids are so low on the list of drugs or diets that cause serious harm I don't understand why we would start there."

Lincoln Allison, DLitt, Founding Director of Warwick University's Centre for the Study of Sport in Society, wrote the following in an Aug. 9, 2004 article titled "Faster, Stronger, Higher," published in the Guardian:

"A sportsman or woman who seeks advantage from drugs just moves up to the level appropriate to his or her underlying ability…

There are no drugs to enhance the human characteristics of judgment and leadership. If there were, would we not want the prime minister to take them? And if there were drugs for hand-eye coordination, would we not pay more to see a performer who had taken them than one who had not?...

In general, the risk to health from performance-enhancing drugs is considerably less than that from tobacco or alcohol, and we ought not to apply paternalistic moral assumptions to a sport that we are not prepared to apply to the rest of life."

Author unknown

Adding Fiber to Your Diet? Here’s Why It’s a Good Idea

Margaret Schwiesow, DO, is a board-certified gastroenterologist with the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group. She sees patients at the Kaiser Permanente Falls Church and Caton Hill medical centers.






Carbohydrates often get a bad reputation: They have been demonized and are seen as bad for your health. Many fad diets focus on ways to reduce or even eliminate carbohydrates from your plate. But fiber is a type of complex carbohydrate – and getting plenty of fiber in your diet is vitally important to your overall health.

Yet don't try to increase your dietary fiber intake too much, too quickly. Even though getting enough fiber is important, consuming too much fiber too fast can lead to bloating, gas, constipation and other gastrointestinal problems.

So how do you increase fiber in moderation? What's the right amount of fiber for men and women? Why is fiber important? Here are some questions and answers about fiber to help you reap the health benefits of a fiber-rich diet.
What is fiber, and why is it so important?

Dietary fiber is the part of plant foods that the human digestive enzymes can't break down; instead, gut microbes act on fiber and create short-chain fatty acids. Short-chain fatty acids are powerful anti-inflammatory molecules that help prevent many metabolic diseases (obesity-related), coronary artery disease, inflammatory bowel disease and many cancers, including cancers of the colon, esophagus, breast, prostate and ovaries.

In addition to these health benefits of a fiber-rich diet, fiber keeps things moving in our body, ensuring our bowel movements are regular and our stool passes easily. Having enough fiber helps prevent the frustrating symptoms of constipation.

Fiber also plays a key role in keeping our blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels within healthy ranges, lowering our risk for heart attacks and stroke. Fiber helps us feel fuller, and faster, which helps us eat less and keep our weight within healthy ranges.

Fiber also: Reduces the risk of hemorrhoids
Reduces the risk of developing diverticular disease. Diverticulosis develops when pouches form in the wall of the colon.
Decreases insulin resistance, which in turn lowers our risk of developing Type 2 diabetes

There are two types of fiber, soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and has been shown to lower cholesterol.

Insoluble fiber often referred to as roughage keeps stool soft and helps prevent constipation. Insoluble fiber adds bulk to the stool and cleans out the colon. Insoluble fiber may lower your risk of colon cancer and diverticulitis.
How much fiber do I need?

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines for Americans, "more than 90 percent of women and 97 percent of men do not meet recommended intakes for dietary fiber."

The average American eats approximately 10-15 grams of fiber a day. This is not enough!

Standard guidelines recommend women eat a minimum of 25 grams of fiber per day and men eat a minimum of 35 grams of fiber a day. In many cases, I encourage patients to get 40 grams of fiber a day to help ward off health problems. Eating at least five servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes is the best way to reach these numbers. (This handout lists the fiber content of many foods.)

You may want to keep a food diary for a week to get a sense of how much fiber you are consuming.
What are the symptoms of a low-fiber diet?

The main sign you are not getting enough fiber in your diet is constipation, often defined as having fewer than three bowel movements a week. Other symptoms of a low-fiber diet may include feeling hungry soon after eating, as well as health problems such as weight gain, diverticular disease, hemorrhoids, polyps, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.
What foods are good sources of fiber? How can I add fiber safely to my diet?

Depending on your symptoms, your doctor may suggest you add more fiber to your diet. Adding more fiber is something you should do slowly and gradually; don't try to go from eating 15 grams of fiber a day to 30 grams of fiber a day overnight. Doing so causes gas to accumulate in the body, which leads to bloating, belching, abdominal pain and cramps. Adding fiber slowly over the course of weeks and months gives your body time to adjust.

Fiber is only found in plant-based foods. Fiber is found in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Meat, fish, eggs or dairy products, such as milk and cheese, do not contain fiber.

If you are trying to add more fiber to your diet, consider: Eating more vegetables. Aim for a rainbow of colors. Lycopene-rich reds can include beets, red bell peppers, radishes and tomatoes. Beta carotene-packed oranges and yellows can include carrots, butternut squash, pumpkin, corn and parsnips. Folate- and iron-rich leafy greens include kale, spinach and broccoli. Flavonoid-rich purples include eggplant, red cabbage and purple potatoes. Eating diverse colors will ensure you are getting all your phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals.

Focusing on whole grains. Whole grains include wheat, corn, rice, oats, barley and quinoa. When choosing a cereal or bread, look for whole grains as the first ingredient on the label. I love recommending patients eat plenty of oats, but rather than instant oatmeal, I suggest whole oats, such as rolled oats and steel-cut oats.

Opting for brown rice over white rice.
Eating plenty of fruit. Peaches, bananas, kiwi, raspberries, apples, oranges and pears are good fiber sources. Eat the skin.

Eating more legumes, such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, soybeans or split peas.
Adding nuts and seeds to your food.

Reducing the amount of packaged, processed foods in your diet. These foods generally have little nutritional value and little-to-no fiber.

When adding fiber to your diet, drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. This is essential to ensuring that fiber gets properly absorbed in your body. If you add fiber without adding water, you may feel extremely uncomfortable.

Many patients ask whether they should try fiber supplements. The answer? It depends. Most healthy people should be able to add fiber to their diet without using supplements, but people with certain health conditions may benefit from fiber supplements. Talk to your physician about your unique circumstances.
Is there anyone who should eat a low-fiber diet?

A low-fiber diet may be suggested for a short period of time after certain bowel surgery or radiation, bowel obstruction due to a tumor or inflammatory bowel disease, acute diarrhea or when preparing for a colonoscopy procedure. This should be done under the supervision of a physician or a dietitian. A low-fiber diet is not recommended long term because it can cause additional health and gastrointestinal problems.

Overall, eating a diet rich in fiber has many long-term health benefits: lowering your risk of heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and several cancers. And fiber helps regulate your cholesterol, blood sugar and weight. Adding just a few grams of fiber a day can pay off in the long run. If you need help, talk to your physician.