Aristus
Aristus's JournalToday, I had to speak the words no medical provider wants to have to say:
"This? No problem. You'll be fine."
With the popularity of medical TV shows that highlight strange, rare, arcane, and obscure diseases, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that most of the things that happen to the human body resolve on their own with no medical treatment.
For patients dreading, but preparing for, the worst-case scenario, I don't know if it is a relief to know that the problem one is being evaluated for is nothing to worry about, or if the worry is increased by the suspicion that one's medical provider isn't doing enough to evaluate the problem.
I'm a firm believer in treating the little problem before it becomes a big problem. But sometimes, a little problem is all that it is. I just provide reassurance and advice to follow-up if it gets worse instead of better.
Spring is definitely here. I have six STD checks on my schedule today.
It's a shame that Spring doesn't make a young man's fancy turn to using a condom... 
My medical organization just announced 100,000 patients vaccinated.
Sometimes lately, it feels as if they were all immunized at my clinic alone... 
Good news, though! 
Trump will be President again by this summer because a guy who sells pillows says so.
I thank the powers of the Universe that I've never been stupid enough to believe such blatant, clownish, mind-sucking horseshit.
One often wonders if the people who do are capable of feeling ashamed of themselves for being such trashy wastes of human protoplasm.
I'm guessing no...
Why our economy doesn't work.
I'm not an economist, but it seems to me that the most fervent advocates of the free market are actually supporting the concept and the reality of a Soviet-style planned political economy.
Productivity.
Productivity was the sole goal of a Communist Four (or Five, or whatever) Year Plan: so many pairs of boots, so many tractors, so many rifles and work coveralls. Regardless of the need for them, regardless of overall quality of manufacture; productivity, and meeting productivity goals was all that mattered.
That and an apathetic nod to the idea of full-employment; making sure everyone was working, even if it meant three people doing the job of just one. It led to stagnant economic growth and staggering waste of resources.
The free market was supposed to be about quality as well as quantity. About making incentive toward those goals a goal in itself; if the worker had the right incentives, good pay and benefits, bonuses for meeting quality standards, as well as productivity goals, the free market would register triumphant levels of growth, not to mention prosperity for all.
Well, it seems like the free market gurus went in the opposite direction: Productivity. Productivity over all. Nothing else matters. Not quality, not worker safety or morale, not good corporate citizenship, not even public optics. Productivity is the Holy Grail.
Full employment is not desirable, because it empties the holster of the corporate overlords of its biggest weapon: threatening the worker with replacement if he doesn't meet productivity goals. And while the free market solution is the opposite of the centralized economy solution, one worker doing three jobs instead of three workers doing one job, the result is the same: an apathetic employee who cares nothing for quality, nothing for the corporate image that, if properly incentivized, he would take pride in, nothing at all other than finishing his shift, and moving on the next of his multiple jobs.
When the only facet of the free economy left is share-holder value, and the worker never earns enough to become a shareholder, or even enough to meet basic needs, an economy is never going to show real growth, because all of the wealth generated goes right to the top, where it stays.
A few simple solutions could rectify this capitalistic myopia, things like a living wage, profit-sharing, mandatory paid vacation, sick leave, and family time, job security, and unfettered labor organizing. But the dolts at the top will never go for it, seeing these things as Communism, rather than smart capitalism. For that reason alone, we may never have smart capitalism in this country.
Our economy doesn't work, no matter how hard our workers do...
Friday Night Vodka Buzz. Ask me anything.
A toast to Mme. Defarge for keeping me honest.
Michele Scarabelli, playing Martha Kent in "Superman And Lois", is a dead-ringer for Susannah York,
who played Lara-El, Superman's real mother in "Superman The Movie".
I wonder if that was deliberate.
Just got a call from a doctor at a mainstream health organization.
He wants to set up a residency program for his young MD's coming up to get involved with and learn healthcare for the homeless.
My supervising physician told him about our operations here, and this doctor took a real interest in the challenges of homeless medicine. He runs a family health clinic, and I guess he thinks if his doctors can provide good clinical outcomes for people who are homeless, they can handle family health challenges.
It's exciting.
I'm glad our work here is earning some recognition.
Home-made French dip sandwiches for dinner last night.
Incredible...
Last week marks one year since Mrs. Aristus went into lockdown due to COVID-19. Her profession, dental hygienist, puts her at the strange confluence of being a vital worker, and having the highest risk of infection due to being exposed to people's mouths, noses, and oral mucosa all day.
So she was laid off on full unemployment. Hasn't left the house in a year.
She has taken up baking and cooking to fill her time, and usually prepares a hot dinner for me and our grandson every night. Yesterday, she tried French dip sandwiches for the first time.
Did you know that proper preparation of the beef takes pretty much half a day? It's simmered in its own juices in a Dutch oven with onions and savory spices. Then thinly sliced or shredded (Mrs. A opted for shredding), served on a roll and with au jus.
Delicious! 
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Gender: MaleHometown: Puyallup, Washington
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 66,349