Aaron Traffas http://www.aarontraffas.com Skepticism, agriculture, politics Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:58:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-07 http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-02-07/ http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-02-07/#comments Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:58:00 +0000 Aaron http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-02-07/

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  • likes Sarah Palin Is Qualified (To Go Out With Me) on Boxee http://bit.ly/4LN1KA #
  • likes Sarah Palin Is Qualified (To Go Out With Me) on Boxee http://ff.im/-eMsDO #
  • is watching NFL Football #
  • What isn't a catch? That last play. #
  • Bummer. #vikings #
  • Chopped & Screwed http://bit.ly/6dKBSs #
  • Latest update to Chrome Google Voice extension is a big old bucket of #fail. Google, leave my pages alone! #
  • @bideojoe Thanks for emailing the release! in reply to bideojoe #
  • "She was speaking in cursive, I was pretending to care" just sold me on buying the Two Cow Garage album. Amazon, here I come! #
  • Two Cow Garage – Bastards And Bridesmaids http://ff.im/-ePG58 #
  • RT @tweetmeme Click here, don’t break the back button http://is.gd/6PYOR #
  • WWII Crotch Rocket! http://bit.ly/6nvWQd #
  • Coffee makes you dance around like a goat! http://bit.ly/4zE4HJ #
  • That's too bad. // RT @dN0t: Looks like @techcrunch just got pwned. #
  • Listening to the studio version of Mr. Devil by the Great Divide for the first time. How delightful! I always listened to the live version. #
  • Houston Marchman – Tryin' For Home http://ff.im/-eSR8y #
  • likes GINGERS DO HAVE SOULS!! on Boxee http://bit.ly/5h6wJE #
  • Browser Speed Tests: Firefox 3.6, Chrome 4, Opera 10.5, and Extensions [Performance Tests] http://short.to/14wua #
  • iPad is so much better than iSlate. Too bad they didn't go with the more Star Trek -ish "iPadd" #
  • Why would I want an iPad? The iPod Touch is too thin, but at least I can wrap my hand completely around it. How does one grasp an iPad? #
  • So far the iPad looks like an awkwardly large iPod Touch. #
  • @dN0t @engadget coverage is crushing @crunchgear #
  • Wow! iPad at $499 is much less expensive than I was guessing. #
  • There's the bombshell – a keyboard dock for the iPad. It just became useful. #
  • I'm still waiting for a reason. Less portable, harder to type on, perhaps? RT @dN0t: So… How is the iPad superior to a netbook? #
  • So far we have no phone, no Flash, no USB ports, no camera, no multitasking from the iYawn. #ipad #
  • @bpiflier I'd take any netbook on the market over the iPad…they're more portable, they run apps simultaneously, and they're cheaper. in reply to bpiflier #
  • It's too bad, too, because I was looking forward to a reason to buy this thing. I want one, but it looks like an awkwardly large iPod Touch. #
  • @bpiflier Yeah, but that's why I have an iPod Touch. The keyboard dock could make it useful, but it didn't sound like there was a mouse. in reply to bpiflier #
  • Frantic Steve Jobs Stays Up All Night Designing Apple Tablet http://onion.com/bVZa8N via @TheOnion #
  • RT @MikeOMearaShow: So sad. i just dropped my iPad in a big puddle of "I don't care." http://bit.ly/4WZTXT #
  • Apple’s Solution For The iPad’s Missing SD Card Slot And USB port: Adapters http://bit.ly/azDNKQ #
  • RT @dN0t: I did not expect a timeline full of menstrual accessory references when I woke up this morning. #
  • RT @dN0t: Now that the iPad hubbub is over, be sure to tune in to the State of the Union live with my new @boxee app. #
  • RT @dpoe: RT @purplewave: 133 items are listed in tonight's Haiti auction! 100% goes to medical relief through Double Harvest. #
  • Wishing I could play the State of the Union Drinking Game with my friends, but duty calls. Less fun with DVR, I'm sure. #
  • The @purplewave Haiti auction is ready. Join us at 6 for our first live auction of the year! http://flic.kr/p/7yTsYh #
  • getting ready for the auction, testing Loopt http://loopt.us/oxbTYw.t #
  • @mayoauction Big fan of producing our own spots. Audacity and USB audio interface let you record yourself and email each auction's ad. in reply to mayoauction #
  • Muzizi performs at the @purplewave Haiti benefit auction http://flic.kr/p/7yQHu8 #
  • Muzizi performs at the @purplewave Haiti benefit auction [pic] http://ff.im/-eXUZg #
  • Congratulations, Peter!!! RT @pgauctioneer: Just won the Michigan State Auctioneer Championship. What an honor. http://bit.ly/a89VNx #
  • Benefit auction for Haiti at @purplewave raised over $35,000 for http://bit.ly/cs7nFs ! #
  • Had a great live auction last night. First time selling more than three lots in months! at Purple Wave http://loopt.us/Sn_xzA.t #
  • Watch out, bugs. I'm in the zone! #
  • Why shouldn't we use HTML/CSS in email? Guide to CSS support in email clients http://bit.ly/2NV0m1 #
  • iPad: A really cool gadget, but maybe not so important http://short.to/151wu #
  • @jdschultz What company is that? in reply to jdschultz #
  • No, we don't use their email services. HTML email is the devil. We use plain text through phpList – free and unlimited, as always. #
  • Peter Bruntnell – By the Time My Head Gets to Phoenix http://ff.im/-f0JU8 #
  • Ustream Helps Give Your Live Broadcasts A Professional Feel With New Desktop Client http://short.to/153ad #
  • Ustream Producer http://ff.im/-f1zvt #
  • gtkpod http://ff.im/-f1S9Y #
  • Try not to laugh at this picture. http://bit.ly/awoY4y #
  • Aaron Traffas Band – Ghost http://ff.im/-f3FJQ #
  • Doing some R and D with HTML 5. What a lazy markup language. in Manhattan, KS http://loopt.us/Kyky_w.t #
  • leaving for Hays at Purple Wave http://loopt.us/uJWDsQ.t #
  • I'm at The Middle Of Nowhere in Bunker Hill, KS http://gowal.la/s/c1u #
  • Antivaxxer movement leader found to have acted unethically http://short.to/1576z #
  • Broadcasting the setup from Professor's in Hays for tonight's show at aarontraffasband.com (@traffas live at http://ustre.am/6fd) #
  • iPad v. A Rock http://bit.ly/c7H3fO #
  • sound check is live at http://www.aarontraffasband.com – come out to the show in Hays tonight at Professor's – the five year reunion #
  • Making the setlist for tonight's show – Aaron Traffas and Pearl Grey live at Professor's. Can't come? Tune in to http://www.aarontraffasband.com #
  • Are you in Hays? Come down to Professor's to watch the KSU/KU game! #
  • getting ready to play as soon as the game is over. come out or tune in to aarontraffasband.com in Hays, KS http://loopt.us/8w49og.t #
  • Flash’s Decline on Lifehacker, from 2006 to 2010 http://short.to/15b2m #
  • eating with @dpoe at So Long Saloon http://loopt.us/m9mRdg.t #

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]]> http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-01-17/feed/ 0 Alzheimer’s http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/alzheimers/ http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/alzheimers/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:29:14 +0000 Aaron http://www.aarontraffas.com/?p=1525

I grew up in rural Kansas. There was one house within a quarter-mile of mine, and it happened to be across the road. The hundred-yard distance in south-central Kansas was the equivalent of a neighboring apartment for someone growing up in urban America.

The inhabitants of the house were amazing people. The patron was an unquestioningly kind soul, within whose grandchildren I found friends. The matron was someone within whom I could never imagine an unkind or an inhospitable thought.

Recently, I recall marveling at the sight of the holiday parking feats which caused their yard to impersonate a car dealership. It seemed one of every make and model of vehicle was parked in neat, orderly rows for each Thanksgiving and Christmas. Their family was fruitful, and love seemed to bring all of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren home regularly to vist.

I have a huge number of memories, all of which are pleasant and involve borrowing something from them or playing with their grandchildren on their farm equipment or stopping to visit on one of many all-too-hurried trips between my house and my grandmother’s during harvest.

My fiancee Diane and I are re-watching the West Wing. We usually average a couple of episodes each night. It’s a great TV series that deals with idealism, but one of the overriding themes is that of a president who has multiple sclerosis, a long-term and debilitating disease.

The West Wing had 156 episodes. There was one episode that dealt with a different, long-term, deblitating disease called Alzheimer’s. It’s in the middle of season four, and it’s a one-episode story arc that deals with the father of one of the regular cast memebers. It’s a truly heart-wrenching episode, and it’s what came next tonight in our one-by-one rewatching of the series.

I don’t believe in fate or providence, but it’s unnerving to watch that episode tonight knowing that I received word this morning that my neighbor passed away from Alzheimer’s. He was a beloved friend, and he and his family were never anything but unconditionally kind to me and mine. Rest in peace, Willard, you are and have been loved and will be missed.

]]> http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/alzheimers/feed/ 3 Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-10 http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-01-10/ http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-01-10/#comments Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:58:00 +0000 Aaron http://www.aarontraffas.com/2010/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-01-10/

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]]> http://www.aarontraffas.com/2009/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2009-12-27/feed/ 0 Today’s quackery: osteopathic manipulative medicine http://www.aarontraffas.com/2009/todays-quackery-osteopathic-manipulative-medicine/ http://www.aarontraffas.com/2009/todays-quackery-osteopathic-manipulative-medicine/#comments Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:05:42 +0000 Aaron http://aarontraffas.com/?p=1514
Andrew Taylor Still, noted as one of the found...

Image via Wikipedia

Andrew Taylor Still lived near Baldwin City, Kansas, during the time of the Civil War. There, he founded the practice of osteopathy in the 1870s after his father and three children died from spinal meningitis. He founded the American School of Osteopathy in Missouri in the 1890s. Still believed that the bone was the starting point to diagnosing pathological conditions and that he could “shake a child and stop scarlet fever, croup, diphtheria, and cure whooping cough in three days by a wring of its neck.” Right.

True osteopathic manipulative medicine, like it’s cousin chiropractic medicine, is bullshit. Claiming to cure or alleviate a pathological condition by manipulating an unrelated system is an affront to common sense. Curing a fever by manipulating the skeletal system is as ludicrous as thinking you can stop a car’s engine from overheating by rotating the tires.

This post isn’t an attack on American osteopathic physicians. As a baby, I was delivered by a DO, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t shake me. While I don’t technically have a regular doctor, I have in the past received very good care from a local doctor who is a DO.

Since it’s quack roots in the 1870s, American Osteopathy has transitioned to a practice that is essentially real, science-based medicine. Modern doctors of osteopathy in the United States are taught but no longer use osteopathic manipulative medicine – the component that is the modern derivative of Still’s baby-shaking pseudoscience. American osteopathic physicians have real degrees from real universities and have equivalent medical training to real doctors.

Chiropractic
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Unfortunately, osteopathy has a context outside of American osteopathic medicine. Osteopathy in the rest of the world has parked itself squarely in the purview of complementary and alternative medicine (CAMP). This D in the DO can stand for diploma, not doctor, and the practitioners are more skilled in bamboozling their clients than they are at practicing any kind of real medicine.

Here’s the thing. Real medicine is based on science. If something is “complimentary” or “alternative” to science, it’s not medicine – it’s crap. If something makes you feel better that shouldn’t, like chiropractic or acupuncture or homeopathy or osteopathic manipulative medicine, it’s called a placebo and it’s unethical to present it as a legitimate treatment for anything.

]]> http://www.aarontraffas.com/2009/todays-quackery-osteopathic-manipulative-medicine/feed/ 10 My typewriter is too loud http://www.aarontraffas.com/2009/my-typewriter-is-too-loud/ http://www.aarontraffas.com/2009/my-typewriter-is-too-loud/#comments Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:06:37 +0000 Aaron http://aarontraffas.com/?p=1508

This is what it was like when our parents went to college.


Student Brings Typewriter To Class – Watch more Funny Videos

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