I had a good Memorial Day Weekend.  I hope everyone took a moment to remember what the day is for.

 

So the Utah County (Provo area) Sheriff’s department got the bright idea to put fitness requirements in place.  Evidently, they didn’t have any types of requirements before other than being able to walk from the car to the donut shop.  They have to run 1 and ½ mile in 16 minutes and do 30 sit-ups and 17 push-ups in 1 minute.  Wow – pretty high standards they are setting down in that county.  I think they had to implement these standards because the cops were having problems catching the teenagers skateboarding in forbidden places.

 

And just a moment to touch on the Miss Universe contest.  Riyo Mori, the tallest Japanese women alive, won the crown for 2007.  Once again the Latin American countries got robbed.  South America and some of the islands put forward consistently better looking women than most of the other countries, yet they don’t get the love.  In my opinion, either Ms. Brazil or Ms. Puerto Rico should have won.  But why did the Mexico City crowd boo Ms. USA?  Probably because most of the crowd was mad they hadn’t gotten across the border before amnesty was granted. 

 

 

Oh, and while this has absolutely nothing to do with Utah, it still fascinates me.  A wild hog that weighed in at over 1,000 pounds was killed by an 11 year old in Alabama earlier this month.  The kid was out hunting with his father and killed the thing with a hand gun.  Now, a pig this big isn’t worth much more than the SPAM you can get out of it.  But think about it, this is the second monster hog bagged in the south over the last few years.  What the heck is going on down there?  This thing is the size of a rhino!  Out here in the West one worries about bears when out hiking or camping.  In Alabama and Georgia, one needs to worry about giant pigs stealing your baby.

 

 

So Utah’s very first IKEA store opened up today.  This place is huge, and I think the closest one outside of Salt Lake is in Southern California.  Thousands of people streamed in as the doors opened so they could run in and snap up furniture and other things with funny sounding Swedish names.  People camped outside last night in order to be some of the first ones in.  The store gave out shirts to those folks that state “I slept with IKEA”.  So now there are folks walking around wearing t-shirts that pronounce them to be the store’s whores.  Classy. 

 

Actually, I like some of IKEA’s stuff.  I have a desk I ordered from them because it was perfect for a corner and I needed a desk.  I just can’t see sleeping outside in 30 degree weather just to be one of the first ones to get into a store.  But I’m sure I would do it for a Purdue Rose Bowl game…

 

On a different topic – FDA sent out notice that Glaxo SmithKline’s diabetes drug Avandia could raise the rate of heart attacks.  Part of the problem is that most diabetics are already at a high risk of cardiovascular problems.  But these risks were compared to other products that have been on the market for a long time.  There are some flaws with the study that produced this data – in that it is a mish-mash of other studies.  More will come, I’m sure.  I found this blog about it today.  Sort of funny, but it really hits home.

 

Advice to GSK on Handling the Avandia Avalanche: Don't Do What Merck Did (PharmaMarketing Blog)

Writes Mack, “Avandia can still come out of this with a slap on the wrist. Here are a few suggestions for what you should do and, more importantly, what you should NOT do. I base a lot of this on the mistakes that Merck made handling the Vioxx situation.”

(1) Don’t start training Avandia sales reps to “dodge” questions from physicians;

(2) Take a page out of Pfizer’s book: Keep Avandia on the market and hire the best cardiologist there is … to start a massive study of the cardiovascular effects of Avandia;

(3) If there is something you know and are keeping it secret, don’t. The last thing you want is a “who knew what, when” investigation by Congress;

(4) Don’t mislead the FDA like Merck did;

(5) Don’t run TV ads telling us that “patients come first” like Merck did; and

(6) Whatever you do, don’t tell us how much it costs to develop drugs like Avandia and imply how lucky we are to have these drugs. Now’s not the time for that.

So the other Day Utah was graced with the presence of two big names – the Rev. Al Sharpton do a wonderful little PR trip and The Govinator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Sharpton was in town to learn more about Mormons after he got caught voicing his real opinion on his national radio program a few weeks ago.  You could hear him backing up all the way from New York.  Sharpton stated that “This visit was not about politics. It was not about controversy.  It was about our trying to learn about each other as believers in God and Christ, to find common ground . . .[and] work together for the good of humanity."  It was also about the good Reverend covering his but after he led the charge in getting Don Imus fired for his remarks.  How funny one man can’t invoke the 1^st Amendment, but another can.  I’m not defending the Mormons, because they are known for being fairly white-centric, but Sharpton put his whole foot in his mouth and now he is doing one hell of a PR job to save face.  How pathetic it is that men like this are the ones people choose to follow.

 

On a completely different matter, Gov. Schwarzenegger came to Utah for the signing of a Western Regional Climate Action Initiative by our very own Gov. Jon Huntsman.  A number of Western states, plus British Colombia are trying to reduce greenhouse gases above and beyond what D.C. mandates, which isn’t much.  I find it interesting that Schwarzenegger went out of his way to get Utah on board, seeing as this state supplies California with a lot of cheap power from coal fired plants.  We’ll build coal plants out in the West Desert and send the power to California because those wonderful people running that state haven’t allowed a major power plant to be built their in years.  Sure, a windmill here and some solar panels there, but Utah has been sending a lot of cheap electricity their way because we don’t have a problem putting plants out in the desert.  Get ready California, your electricity bill is about to go up. 

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for cutting back on greenhouse gases.  My reasoning for doing this is because living in Salt Lake we can actually see the air we breath certain times of the year because high pressure systems will trap all the gunk in the valley.  I don’t know about the hole in the ozone layer or that we are speeding up global warming.  All I know is that when you can’t see two blocks down the road because of a grey-brown fog of crap in the air, things need to change.  But whatever is done, it needs to be cost effective.  A gallon of gasoline is still cheaper than a gallon of Starbucks coffee, and we got enough coal to keep the fires lit for centuries.

 

I remember this episode of Cheers.  Classic.

 

From time to time I actually put up something that looks like a public service:

 

FDA Clears First Respirators for Use in Public Health Emergencies
FDA has cleared the 3M Respirator 8612F and 8670F, the first of their kind to help reduce exposure to airborne germs during a public health emergency such as a flu pandemic. The devices, which will be available to the public, are designed to filter out at least 95 percent of tiny airborne particles.
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01630.html

 

So now all the germ-phobes have a new toy to play with.  I recommend all grade school teachers wear these in the classroom.

 

Pet Food Recall:

FDA has a special page that lists the latest information on brands of pet foods being recalled.
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html

 

This is a complete list, so it is pretty nice to have.

 

Safety Alert:

FDA is advising consumers not to buy or use "True Man" or "Energy Max" products, touted for sexual enhancement and as treatments for erectile dysfunction. Both products are illegal drugs that contain potentially harmful ingredients not listed in the labeling. The drugs contain substances that are similar to active ingredients in approved prescription drugs. FDA is especially concerned because consumers may use these products unaware that the ingredients in them can interact with other medications and cause dangerously low blood pressure.
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01633.html

 

So beware of the email spam you get with ads for male enhancements and the like.  The number of these places the FDA cracks down on each year is growing because people are stupid and buy this stuff over the internet.  Oh, and a lot of this stuff is made in other countries.  In fact, the FDA and the Justice Department have tracked down a group China shipping fake prescription drugs through Canada.  Grandma may be able to get her prescriptions filled cheaper through an internet pharmacy in Canada, but if she isn’t careful, she could be getting a product that either has no drug in it or a different drug in it than advertised.  Thank your Congressman or Senator for that.  Better yet, tell your federal representative to fix the problem at home and not look for an easy answer from across the border.  The Canadians are too busy playing hockey to be our pharmacists. 

I did a long training ride on the bike today.  In order to get ready for 150 miles in two days, our team captain has us doing some serious riding.  We did over 50 miles today.  We started off by going up Emigration Canyon, over the little pass and down the other side going to Mountain Dell golf course and then back over the little pass and down Emigration Canyon.  I have found that going up means a down, so starting by going up is not necessarily a bad thing.  But today we didn’t stop with the canyon.  No, we kept going south along the mountains and then back north along a different route – making a roughly 25 mile loop.  No big ups or downs, but there is very little level ground around here so most of the day was either spent straining up a grade or coasting down a hill.  I feel okay – just really tired.  The legs feel like rubber, but my butt isn’t nearly as sore as it was a month ago on a ride that was probably 40 miles shorter.  The neck is stiff, but that usually goes away in 24 hours.  I think I’ll be ready for this thing.

 

This link shows what we did.

I was thinking of sending a Mother's Day card, but thought better of it.

 

 

The world would not be as much fun without baboons!

 

 

 

 

There is nothing major to note today.  Here is a little blurb about the FDA:

 

As part of its efforts to make crucial health information easily available to consumers, FDA has launched two new online features:

 

Web page -- Called "Consumer Health Information for You and Your Family," the page presents important public health developments in easy-to-read language. It also links to other government health information and online Spanish-language publications.

View the new page: http://www.fda.gov/consumer/

 

E-newsletter -- "FDA Consumer Health Information" replaces the agency's print publication, FDA Consumer. Published monthly free of charge, it includes the latest health news, safety warnings and product approvals.

Subscribe to the new e-newsletter: http://www.fda.gov/consumer/consumerenews.html

 

Yet more Utah stuff:

 

 

Interesting weekend.  My girlfriend graduated on Friday with a Math Education degree from the University of Utah.  The ceremony was in a theater on campus that was a little smaller than they needed.  The weather was nice when we went in, but raining when they pushed us out in preparation for the next group coming through. 

 

Part of the reason for processing people through so quickly is that the debate between Rocky Anderson (Salt Lake’s activist mayor) and Sean Hannity (syndicated conservative talking head) took place in the same theater.  I didn’t get to see it as I was out celebrating a graduation, but it seems to have been the kind of 2 ring circus you would expect from these two – less substance and more verbal braying.  This whole thing centers around Anderson wanting President “W” impeached because of the “war” in Iraq (I still think the war did not even last a year – this is an occupation similar to the U.S. occupation of the Philippines 100 years ago) and Hannity calling him a hypocrite for not wanting the Democrats who voted to support the war out of office as well.  As far as I can tell, they were both going over the deep end.  It didn’t help matters much that the crowd was divided and very vocal.  The moderator had to tell the crowd to quiet down a few times.

 

In a way, I wish our presidential debates were more like this.

 

Speaking of the mayor, we have now been hearing the beep-beep sounds of a political vehicle backing up.  Checketts has produced meeting notes and documentation to show that the club had been talking about revenue sharing all along with their “investment” in a youth soccer area the city was building.  Rocky has acknowledged that it was discussed early on, but that the city pushed for it to be an all-or-nothing gift.  That is not what he said earlier in the week.  Oops.  As usually, our mayor has charged ahead with his own ideas in his head, not making sure if people were behind him.  Now I’m mad at both Checketts and Anderson.  Well, Checketts is no different than many other team owners in the country, demanding a stadium or they will pack up the team and leave.  Just look at the new football stadium Indianapolis is building – a lot more expensive and more of it coming from the tax payers and not the team.  But that is the NFL, a proven commodity in a proven market.  The numbers there had more depth to them.  I don’t agree with what Indy did, but they know what they are dealing with there.  Salt Lake City is another story.  This town wants to look big and important so badly that they were willing to fall all over themselves for a major league team.  So they got Checketts, a little weasel of a man.  These politicians deserve what they have gotten from him.  Problem is, it is the public that flips the bills for their failures.  In the end I guess it is our fault, because we voted for them.

I’m not good at keeping this thing current.  Oh well.

 

Good news – I’ve more than doubled my goal for raising money for the MS 150 bike ride.  I hit $675 last week.  I’m sure I’ll get more than $700, just don’t know how much.  Go check it out.

 

MS150

 

On the stupid Utah news side, I’m thinking of changing the name of this site to Utah Futball Sucks.  No, that’s too rude.  How about The Checketts in the Mail.  Really, I just don’t like Dave Checketts, owner of the pro soccer team Real Salt Lake. (it is pronounced Re-al, not Reel, just like the team over in Europe.  How creative!)  I have reason to think this guy has pulled a fast one on the city.  First, he gets $50 million in taxpayer money ($35 million from the county hotel tax and a $15 million bond) and a plot of land.  Now he wants naming rights, a take from concessions, and parking money from a Salt Lake City youth soccer complex that the county/city owns.  Say what?  Here was the deal to get the state legislature to give him the $35 million in hotel taxes – he had to give a gift of $7.5 to the city/county for the soccer complex.  He pledged the gift, he got his hotel tax money.  Now, he is saying that it is an investment, and he is demanding money from the complex.  Let me correct that statement – the publicly owned complex.  Ballsie.  None of his accountants or lawyers bothered to tell him that federal law blocks the kinds of profiting on public facilities that Checketts wants.  I think this makes it clear he doesn’t have the money for this facility.  The numbers the team threw out for attendance, ticket sales, and concert revenues were completely overblown.  The county mayor, Peter Corroon, decided something smelled fishy and turned it down.  Then the state steps in and gives the team county money.  They have started work on the stadium, but I wonder if it will be completed.  That $35 million in tax money could vanish if he doesn’t cough up the $7.5 million he promised. 

 

Somebody tell this guy to take his team and leave before he is pitched into the lake.