Rubes

It's definitely true that there are a lot of doctors out there who are not entirely up on their info. All doctors are not equal. It really is important to find a doctor that you're comfortable with, and who you can be confident in. As for why they always prescribe antibiotics for sore throats, there has been a lot of research on it. It has a lot to do with patient expectations, perceived patient expectations, perceived satisfaction, lack of an understanding of the main causes of sore throats, the desire to quickly and easily end the encounter by handing out a prescription instead of explaining why you don't need an antibiotic, etc. Lots of factors come into play.

Agreed.

True. Some headaches are caused by dehydration. Water is a lot cheaper than Gatorade, though, unless you like the expensive bottled kind. The problem with Gatorade is that it contains a lot of sugar and salts, probably not the greatest for those who don't need extra in their diet. Then again, a lot of headaches aren't due to dehydration.

This is precisely what my research is all about.

I believe if you want to try them, go right ahead. If they work for you, great. Unfortunately, there is no particular reason to think that these cure-alls would work any better than, say, standing on your head and sprinkling shredded parmesan cheese on your scrotum. If you really want to know if something works, probably the best you can do is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Of course, nobody is going to do that with these remedies, so we'll probably never really know. Which is not to say that they don't work. It's just that I have no reason to believe in them. They may sound better than the standing-on-your-head-parmesan-cheese thing, but that's really all. But when they start talking about vinegar killing the bacteria for sore throats, that just tells me they don't have a real good idea what's going on. Of course, there are plenty of things we do in medicine that aren't backed by rigorous RDBPCTs, but unfortunately that's just the way it is, and we do the best we can. Sometimes that means trying things that don't always make the most sense.

Mike-Mayer wasn't so bad. We had Jakowenko? Damn, poor guy must have been tortured as a kid...

Who the hell is Scgibek?

Too bad the vast majority of sore throats are caused by viruses.

Why bother going to detox?

Yes, the liberals did it.

'Cause Willis is just now rounding into form.

JP can suck for all I care, just as long as he wins a Super Bowl.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it wasn't a good movie. It was a very good movie. Very well written, acted, and directed. If you're really interested in "good" movies maybe you should try to discover some independent films? Or does a movie have to have a multi-million dollar advertising budget to get your attention? Go rent "Dirty Pretty Things" and maybe you'll start to understand where the quality flicks are.

They say the Tigger voice guy was a pretty prolific inventor, too. Apparently had a patent on an early artificial heart. WTF?

Actually, I thought it was going to be a creative four-some story, myself.

I'm rooting for him because I don't want to see us waste another three years on someone who isn't the answer at QB.

Oh man. So if you're telling us this went on like this for more than two years, forget it. No sympathy from us. I mean, at some point you gotta press the issue. You gotta. We're talking jackpot here. Criminy!

Actually, I think this is the more significant implication. I'm glad to hear it.

Hey, look at it this way, maybe the George Michael Sports Machine will get some more action.

Who could forget her? From here, if anyone cares.

That is pretty damn funny, I have to say.

No way. Very nice!

So did that Happy Days episode just suck, or was it a parody of itself?

Nothing like family-first Utah to help produce video games of mass carnage. Family values! Family values!

If JP doesn't lead the offense to a TD on his first possession of the preseason, I'm packing it in. Hey, at least we're talking football.