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David Mitchell

But John,

Those last two names are a couple of great guys, along with Jeffrey Epstein. We gotta keep our priorities straight. 

(In case you haven't followed the story, the latest details of the FBI search of Eptein's NYC mansion are quite chilling! And the comments coming out of St.Thomas about his home on little St. James island are even more disturbing. Local islanders refer to it under therir breath as "pedophile island". This story isn't going to go away anytime soon.)

John Maxwell

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Ok Jack, happy to oblige you!! 

Michael McLeod

Hard to pick a fave out of the five.

But practically speaking I gotta go with the type 1 diabetes cure.

That is a horrible disease with a way of getting you one way or the other.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Michael McLeod

Yep. I was afraid you were going to say that, Jim. Because something that significant would have been picked up in other publications and I'd seen nothing about it. 

John Maxwell

Michael McLeod

Once a Buckeye always a Buckeye.

And I do mean always.

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/12/man-takes-part-in-o-h-i-o-from-his-casket/

David Mitchell

Mike,

Of all the werid, funny, odd Ohio State posts this has to go into it's own special category. But one of the best ones I have ever seen is from Bonnie Jonas - who holds the record for more craz yOhio State Buckeye posts on Facebook than anyone on earth. Seriously!

** She put one on FB just yesterday tha cracked me up. I don't want to steal it from her so I have begged her on Facebook to put it on our Forum.  I hope she will.

Bonnie, are you listening girl ?

In the meantime, here on nearby Hilton Head Island, we have more Buckeyes than any other breed of visitor and you see license plates and bumper stickers eveywhere. There is even an Ohio State pizza restaurant on the Island - Mangiamo's - and it is like an OSU athletic museum, with football jerseys of Heismann winners and autographed photos, and paraphenalia on the walls everywhere. It even has a tiny shop selling Buckeye bumper stickers, bobble-head dolls, and T-shirts. I Used to go there during Saturday games but it's gotten so crowded it's not that much fun anymore.

NOTE: do NOT go for the pizza, it's some of the worst I have ever had. What do you expect from a guy from Coshocton? But the Corona, and Bud Light, and local "Palmetto Pale Ale" flows in great quantities!

Very often you will see a special bumper sticker that is a combination of Hilton Head landnmark, and the Buckeye Nation. If you watch the "Heritage" golf tourament (always the week after the Masters up in nearby Augusta) you will see the 18th hole near the Harbor Town marina and lighthouse down on the Island - pictured below. That lighthouse is the local landmark for Hilton Head.

added (and I beleive it's compleely fake, having only been built for the real estate development and never really used as a lighhouse)

(scroll down for the bumper sticker)

(sorry I don't have a clearer shot)

Michael McLeod

Apart from that fellow that lived and died as a Buckeye, what touched me in that clip I posted above is the snow - the four figures who spelled out "Ohio." They caught me by surprise. They looked so beautiful to me in a way I will try to describe.

As someone who has spent most of his adult life in Florida, I cannot tell you what a time machine images of snow can be for me. To say it takes me back does not do justice to how I resonate, stem to stern, cerebrum to corpuscle, when I see snow, especially snow as a child sees it, or at least as we saw it back then -- not as a problem or something to be shoveled away but a world that had just been ordinary turned into a playground, a fairy tale starring us, a tactile electrical field charged with magical possibilities. Snowballs and sledding and recreational manna drifting down from heaven. That's how it felt to me as a kid and I'll never feel it that way again but, having been away from cold weather so long, when it sneaks up on me as it sometimes does -- as it did with that O H I O snow sculpture -- it just catches me by surprise and melts away the years, and I am there again, for an instant, with the clean slate of childhood and how you see things then as you will never see them again. I suspect that you guys who stayed up there aren't as vulnerable to that avenue of nostalgia as I am, down here where it's hot -- and getting hotter. But that's a story for another day. A grownup one, alas.

Bonnie Jonas (Jonas-Boggioni)

OK, Dave...I'm listening!  I hope this copy works!  BTW, has anyone elseheard a Barbershop Quartet version of a fan who has a heart attack at the game and goes to heaven...it's a hoot!

David Mitchell

Thanks Bonnie. I love this!

Hope you are having a great day.

Haven't heard that Barbershop song - post it.

Mark Schweickart

A quick little health question for you all, especially the males of the group. I recently have been working diligently through diet and exercise to lower my chloresterol (so that I could avoid being prescribed chloresterol medication). As you probably know, it should be under 200  (which mine has rarely been in the last 20 years, although not way over either). So when my last test came back the other day it had dropped to 163, my response was , "Woo hoo, the wonders of oatmeal and exercise!" But my doctor's response was, "I still want you to begin taking a statin because your results also show -- KPARE (ARisk): 10.9' -- which means you have an 11% chance of a stroke or heart attack within the next 10 years." When I asked why this was, since my levels were now down well within the normal range, she replied, "Because of your age and because you are male."  So my question to all you fellow male septuagenarians is -- have you too been given this advice? Seems rather odd to me that all males over 70 need to be on a cholesterol medication.

And if I start taking this statin, can I stop eating all of this oatmeal every morning?

Michael McLeod

I will defer to the eminent Dr. Hamilton, as I always do except when it comes to making deals with the devil, but there is really no "too low" when it comes to cholesterol in males.

David Mitchell

Mark,

There is a really nasty rumor spreading - -  that we are getting older. I don't beleive it but every time I show up at a reunion I see all these old people. Even some people who still haven't moved to Florida - where old folks go to look like everbody else.

Personally, I think I owe my longevity to any kind of salty crunchy snack food. One of my life-long addictions is popcorn. Then there's pretzels, potato chips, doritos with dip, peanuts, cheese crackers, and so on. But I have partially conquered my other addiction - Coca Cola. I don't bring it into the house anymore (much). 

Okay, okay, There is that little bottle of "Savistatin" in my kitchen counter. I guess that puts me in the club.

My terribly blunt and pragmatic M.D. dad used to say, "none of us are ever going to make it our of here alive". 

Now if we can get a twofer from Dr. Jim, I'd like to throw in a second question - who in the hell invented Sleep Apnea? It's really no fun - at all! 

James Hamilton, M. D.

James Hamilton, M. D.

O.K., now for a little cholesterol discussion:

We are all aware that cholesterol elevation is a major contributor to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease including heart attacks and strokes. LDL-C, the "bad" cholesterol, gets deposited into "plaques" which are underneath the internal lining ("intima") of arteries. That decreases the area of the artery through which blood flows (the "lumen"). If coronary arteries become too occluded the heart may not get enough oxygen (carried on red blood cells) to supply a part of the heart muscle when under stress (exercise, etc.) and angina pain can result. If the "cap" covering the plaque breaks (ruptures) then that lipid laden plaque is exposed to the circulation and the body will try to attack it with platelets and clotting factors which results in a thrombus that totally occludes that artery causing a heart attack (myocardial infarction, MI). Thrombolytic drugs ("clot busters", TPA) and/or stents can treat this.

How does LDL-C gain access to permeate the intima in the first palce? Ahhh... the million dollar question! It is believed that "pores" in the intima exist and, if opened, allow that access. What opens pores? Probably some genetic factors but also other risk factors such as inflammation (even distant from the coronaries), diabetes, smoking, hypertension, etc may contribute. Bottom line - we don't yet know all that goes on there.

Various medical groups - American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology, Framingham Group, Kaiser-Pemanente, and others - have developed "risk assessment tools" (KPARE is Kaiser's) which can help predict a patient's risk of having a cardiovascular "event" in the next 10 years. Based on that risk some doctors will discuss with patients how best to modify that risk with interventions such as lifestyle, diet, drugs, etc.

If drugs, usually statins, are prescribed the LDL-C value and the risk percentage come into play regarding the dosage ("intensity") of statin therapy: low, medium or high intensity. Many of us, including myself, are on statin therapy. Oatmeal can help lower LDL-C by about 5-8%, low intensity statins ~15-28%, medium ~30-50%, and high ~50-60%.

So, what are the goals of LDL-C levels? This is a question to which the answer changes almost yearly. It also depends on other co-morbidities of the patient (i.e. other risk factors).

In answer to you, Mark, your doctor knows your individual case and needs better than I or anyone else. It sounds like she has your best interest at heart (pun intended) and a "shared decision" between you and her should result in a good approach to risk reduction.

Mike, some people believe the lower the LDL-C the better and there is no lower level that exists. This may not be the case. Cholesterol plays a beneficial role in the body as it is part of the synthesis of certain hormones. Also, it is a component of cell walls. If our cells had no walls we would end up being blobs of protoplasm!

Dave, I assume the drug you mentioned was probably "simvastatin" which is the one I take. As for sleep apnea it has become a hot topic in the last decade or two and is now well established on the list of risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Hope this helps,

Jim

Michael McLeod

Thanks Jim. For that post in particular and for your generosity overall in sharing this sort of information with us.

Joseph D. McCarthy

Tim we haven't heard from you in awhile.  I hope you weren't riding your lawnmower when that masssive (by Ohio standards) quake struck near Seattle last week.  Hope you are safe and as sound as possible.  Remember that, according to "Fake News", Earthquakes are often a percursor to Volcanic eruptions and you live in an area of the continental U.S.of A. with the most active volcanoes.  

David Mitchell

Jim,

Yes, I stand corrrected - it is Simvastatin. Thanks for "spelling" that out for me.

Joseph D. McCarthy

And in case you missed it, an Only in Maryland Incident.  A professional league baseball player made history when he became the first person in baseball history, at least professional baseball, to STEAL FIRST BASE.

Yes it was only a minor league game, but it's still historic. 

And that's all the news that's fit to print; can't remember the exact quote or who said it.  A little help Fred.

David Barbour

Two views of mental health therapy, separated by fish.

https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2019/07/lake-erie-walleye-booms-cause-is-a-mystery-but-no-one-is-complaining.html

David Mitchell

Oh David,

A topic so dear to my heart! I spent every summer of my life at my parents cottage near Port Clinton.  Actually right next to "Gem Beach" for those of you who know the Catawba Island area*.  We did have a small boat (for three years - until the pain-in-the ass maintenance drove dad to get rid of it). But Walleye or "Pickerel" as we called it, was one of the favorite catches. I just saw where the water is so high that Port Clinton Has had streets under water 4 times this year, and a photo of our old dock shows portions under water. 

We fished for Walleye and Perch and Catfish, and White Bass (when they came in in swarms in shallow water) off the dock and sometimes in the boat. Sometimes we caught Blue Gill, Small Mouth Bass, and a few less desireable species. Dad taught me to clean fish (and I learned the hard way how razor-sharp that top fin of a catfish was). And my mother would pan-fry them. Mmmmmm delicious!  

Port Clinton used ot have a sign on the edge of town calling itself the "Walleye Capital of the World"

* In case any of you have ever been to Gem Beach, that old 300 + foot long dock next door was my project to rebuild when we moved back to Columbus in the late 80's. It was the property of that small private colony of very old cottages known as "Little Pittsburgh" - built from about 1903 to the 30s. The dock was built originally about 1905 and had collapsed from earlier storms and winter ice movement. My dad bought one of the plainer, later-built cottages in1953 for about $5,000.

The words "Catawba Island", "Port Clinton", and "Lake Erie" are still magic in my heart. 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Mr. Maxwell and I have had some recent exchanges concerning the best (easyiest and/or safest) route to take whn heading North ffrom Columbus to places like Detroit.  We totally agree that the normal directions would have taken you North of High Street (Rt. 23).  Then merging into Rt. 15 to head toward Findlay where you would merge into I-75 and head North.

I mentioned that throughout my teen years my family would take Rt 23 North, but instead of taking Rt 15 to Findlay to meet with I-75 (which didn't exist in the earlier years) we stayed on Rt 23 through it's turn North toward Fostoria and kept on going till we hit Rt 20.  Took Rt 20 towards Toledo and picked up the Dix-Toledo Highway which went to Detroit.

Then I mentioned to John that I have been using alternative ways for the past seven or more years as "High Street" (Rt 23) North of I-270 ecame a congested mess.  

I take I-270 toward Dublin.  Pickup Rt 33 / Rt161 as it heads West towards Marysville.  Staying with Rt 33, after   Rt 161 veers West, you come to an exit for Rt 42.  Take Rt 42 going East towards Delaware.  At the South end of Delaware you can pickup Rt 23.  Nice Liesurely drive through the countryside with light traffic and only about three traffic lights.  You also pass by the World headquarters for Select Sires and JEGG's Automotive.

The second alternative is to take I-270 to Sawmill Road and head North until you reach Rt 42.  The difference is a number of more traffic lights and at least three #^@%#&@ Round-a-bouts.  Did I mention that I don't like round-a-bouts.  I use this route when I pick up my younger brother, who lives on a street a couple miles up Sawmill, so that we can visit our Cousin, our Nieces and Nephew in the Detroit area.

If any of you have any other easyier directions please chime in, UBER drivers from South Carolina are excluded from providing directions.

David Mitchell

Anything happening last night in Dodger Stadium? No, not much.