I Speak of Dreams

Another Man Who Loves His Job

EMS is not all fun and glory.

A Man Who Loves His Job

I don't often agree with Doc Russia's politics, but I would like to have him as my physician down the road.

ICE

ICE -- In Case of Emergency -- programming numbers into your cell phone under the heading ICE -- got a mention from GruntDoc  the same day I got such a mention from my daughter's Dean of Students.

Snopes credits

Bob Brotchie, a paramedic who works as a clinical team leader for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust has launched a campaign (sponsored by Vodafone's annual Life Savers Awards) to get people to store "In Case of Emergency" (ICE) information in items that have become ubiquitous in many parts of the world: cell phones.

Campaign For Real Beauty

Well, the Campaign for Real Beauty is a consumerist thing -- designed to sell more Dove products -- but it is also worthwhile.  Real women don't look like this (warning: NSFW, nudity)  very often.     ( Johnza liked the campaign & has an overview of the web response)

So go buy Dove products, I suppose.  I use 'em anyway, but I sure like seeing normal-sized women on the backs of Fitness Magazine.

Consumerism & Parenting

One of the things I've been thinking about is raising an intellectually and emotionally robust child in contemporary society, with its  consumerism and entitlement and "self esteem".

Doug Copp: Dateline Investigates

Update January 30, 2010. Current post is Doug Copp, Dubious & Self-Promoting "Rescue Expert" Shows Up In Haiti

Recommended Reading

• Snopes.com on "Triangle of Life" and Mr. Copp
• Marla Petal's refutation of Copp's claims, and sound earthquake safety advice. Clicking www.cert-la.com/RejoinderToDougCopp.pdf will download a (PDF) document
• Voices on the Ground in Haiti: Stanford Emergency Medicine Team -- Narrative with Links to Posts

Leslie Linthicum emailed me to say

Wanted to let you know that the Dateline piece on my investigation of rescue phony Doug Copp will finally air at 7 p.m. MST (8 p.m. EST) Friday, July 15 on NBC.

Index: *Doug Copp: Disaster Hero or Massive Fraud? (links to the Albuquerque Journal's four-part piece criticizing Mr. Copp's actions and rebuttals of Copp's claims from the Red Cross.)

*Doug Copp II. Includes in the comments a huge, long, repetitive, blustering missive from Mr. Copp himself. In the interests of fairness, I left it up.

* Doug Copp III, a rebuttal of Doug Copp's advice from expert sources.

*Doug Copp IV, more venom from Mr. Copp and more rebuttals from those more qualified. )

Withering Scorn

Everything you think is puerile.  I have the answers.  Contemporary life is mostly misguided, with islands of imbecility.

There.  Now I feel better.

Thinking of Medic119

Far From Perfect, who is also known as Medic 119, is two weeks from deployment.  He was a sea-going medic   who got off the boat, and then decided to re-enlist .

I'll be thinking of him and his family.

When are Barbara and Jenna Bush going to enter military service?

Don't miss the link to London EMS 

Sister Janet

Since I wrote about my sister Nance and my sister Suz, here's a word about my sister Janet Sarah Ditz Tarr.   It's Janet and Bill's 10th wedding anniversary. 

Never Too Old to Excel

My sister Nance was the first American woman to cross the finish line in the 1988 Olympic marathon (Nance started as a fitness runner)  Now Anna and Ennis have told me about the best living desi athlete: 94 year old runner Fauja Singh. 

He not only set a new 200m title, but halved it from 76.8 seconds to a mere 49.28 seconds. He has also set the UK record for the 400 meters, 800m, 1 mile, and 3000m.

I wonder if he also plays gatka.