Thursday Open Thread 8-10-2017
The opium epidemic has provided another opening for police to monitor US citizens.
Federal courts in Utah and Oregon recently ruled that the Drug Enforcement Administration, in its effort to investigate suspected drug abusers or pill mills, can access information in those states’ PDMPs without a warrant, even over the states’ objections. And last month in California, the state supreme court ruled that the state medical board could view hundreds of patients’ prescription drug records in the course of its investigation of a physician accused of misconduct. “Physicians and patients have no reasonable expectation of privacy in the highly regulated prescription drug industry,” District Judge David Nuffer wrote in the Utah case.
Medical billing practices explained. The focus is on hospitals, but the fake pricing discussed is spread throughout all aspects of the healthcare market.
[video:https://youtu.be/CeDOQpfaUc8]
The video is a couple of years old, the problems remain the same. A good overview of the physician incentives for prescription drugs.
https://youtu.be/YQZ2UeOTO3I?t=4
Farm Report
The feeling of late summer is here. The grass in the fields have gone to seed and the dry spots in the field are impossible to water in the heat. The green have patches of brown.
Hermistan melons are now at the market. The sweet smell of field ripened cantaloupe and watermelon.
Wild fire smoke fills the air. This is becoming a regular August event. It may be too smoky to see the Perseid meteor shower again this year.
The rhubarb patch might provide one more crisp today. Then none until next spring.
Growing rhubarb was once a patriotic duty. Our domestic production assisted in breaking the Russian monopoly of this valuable international herb.
A number of important trends contributed to the rising popularity of rhubarb in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the late sixteenth century only a small fraction (estimated 14%) of drugs were imported to England from outside of Europe. By the seventeenth century rhubarb consumption in England increased as the use of imported curatives became more generally common. By 1669, 70% of pharmaceutical drugs in Britain were imported primarily from India and the East Indies.[9] The publication of herbal and pharmaceutical guides, such as Jean de Renou’s Dispensatorium medicum (1615) and Johann Bobart’s Catalogus horti botanici Oxoniensis (1648) reflected and were manifestations of numerous developments in early modern European society: development of medicinal knowledge and scientific study of the natural world; popularization of printing presses which stimulated the dissemination of knowledge; and the increasing contact Europeans had with Eastern products.[10] Concretely, such publications helped to spread knowledge about rhubarb’s useful effects, and thereby increased demand for the distant root.
Increasing European demand drove the importance and increased attention to the rhubarb trade. Seventeenth-century Venetian merchants sought rhubarb in the markets of Aleppo.[11] Russian rhubarb also shipped to Amsterdam, Europe’s busiest market. That the Dutchman Nieuhoff and Swede De Rodes gave such attention to rhubarb indicates the root was valued in their countries as well. Visiting Russia in Anna Ioannovna’s reign in 1739, the Venetian merchant Francesco Algarotti wrote about the state’s active monopoly trade in rhubarb.[12] Meanwhile, the Dutch East India and British East India Companies competed with the Russian state’s overland trade for rhubarb market share. Many of the company men filled their return ship-carriage allotments from India with rhubarb; these private decisions reflect importantly the profitability of the rhubarb trade.[13] Despite efforts at domestication and discreet “buy local” campaigns, English demand for imported rhubarb continued to increase.[14] The second half of the eighteenth century was the heyday of rhubarb importation to Europe, with rhubarb imports to England peaking in 1768 at 67,764 pounds (funty)
Russia is not all bad. My pot of Siberian spinach had been feeding me for the past 12 months.
Not sure if the tropical fruit will actually ripen. (Oranges & pineapple)
Comments
Good morning, SOE ~~
I've never eaten rhubarb. I know about it, but it's never been offered to me in any form. I know many who eat and have eaten it. I find that interesting, now that you write about it.
We've been pretty brown all summer, but the monsoon rains of the southwest are greening us up. We were out watering yesterday evening and noticed how lovely it is outside right now.
My 19 yo granddaughter received a bunch of cucumbers from a cousin and is is making her own pickles. "I googled the recipe, Oma," she said to me. I'm proud of her.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Morning
Congrats on having an industrious granddaughter. Restarted canning dill pickles last year. It was nearly impossible to find a pickle or relish variety without polysorbate 80 in the market. Last week I found it in Darigold heavy cream and Baskin-Robbins ice cream.
Enjoy the cooler weather.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
When I moved to Germany, rhubarb suddenly popped up in pies
The stems are treated as if they were a fruit and made into preserves. Rhubarb-strawberry is a common fruit pastry combination.
Hey SOE.
Nice video. Should be seen by more. Everybody has hd a brush with a deceptive insurance company or hospital nightmare.
Healthcare for profit is such an insane proposition. What's more insane is that poor, duped Americans defend our current state, having gobbled down a steady diet of American Exceptionalism propaganda from childhood.
As for the so-called "war on drugs," even CNN couldn't front on this:
The larger public, blinded by the American Exceptionalism propaganda, knows very little of the FBI's real purpose. It was expressly articulated in a moment of candor by Erlichman, who was approaching death. The FBI exists, as far as I'm concerned, almost entirely to crush LW dissent.
Late summer feels great. Wish it would pick up and give us those soothing cooler airs breezing in. Thanks for your essay and the background on rhubarb as a medicinal.
Well, gotta run to take the Boy to the park, before he gets into turning more of the kitchen upside down and wakes everybody else up...
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Sick policy that unfortunately worked to
destroy the progressive movements gaining strength after the 60's. By expanding production to other countries our intelligence agencies created a self-funding mechanism and method to destabilizing governments.
If I lived in the city would want to be close to a park. Enjoy the outing.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Good morning all
What is a Hermistan melon? I have eaten a ton on water melon this summer. Most of it good. My pet peeve is "seedless" water melon full of tiny white seeds. What, if they're small and white they don't count? Lol, sounds like the Democratic Party.
The politicians from the legal pot states are not on board with Sessions and legal pot. Sessions is an insane and nasty little man.
Late summer is in the air here too. I am not ready for it to go.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Melons grown in Hermistan oregon are as sweet a gelato
It is closest warm growing climate from where I live. Waiting to buying melons until the Hermistan melons arrive in the markets is family tradition. Melons from the rest of the country are picked greener to accommodate the longer travel time for Oregon markets and have very little taste.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Mornin'! Just woke up. No dog on chest at 6.
After my barefoot stroll around the house to get to an open door yesterday, at least I saw some bits of my yard. I did not fall down, did take a rest on a stone step which was the largest thing I ever moved. Top one to lower deck. Still level and stable, happy to say.
I regret late summer, opposite of early spring. Losing over 2 min of daylight starts the SAD. That said, the goldenrod bloom begins, with all of the varieties. There is woodland goldenrod which is short and airy, very different from roadside goldenrods. I have neither mowed nor whacked my yard this year because difficulties, Not since year 1 of widowhood have I done that.
I have eaten rhubarb. No idea that it was once a market echoing that of tulips. My grandmother had her victory patch and made pies. I could tolerate strawberry/rhubarb. I should probably try again with adult taste buds. To me, its appeal was the giant leaves that made good hats.
Now that Synchrony Bank has received their $121 from me, I am not getting 5-7 phone calls a day. I forgot to block their calls.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Rubber from goldenrods - interesting
what we have growing around us.
wikipedia
Is your fire risk high by not mowing or wacking the landscape? Our area now has fire prevention zones where ground cover needs to be cleared. My house fortunately sits in the middle of green fields and the livestock can trim the grass and shrubs.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Hats
We did the rhubarb hat thing too. As a kid, I didn't like it in cooking so much, but we would take the salt shaker out to the rhubarb patch and eat it raw with lots of salt.
Last month we ate a delicious rhubarb dessert created by my dear 85 year old aunt still on the farm in South Dakota. It was creamy. Yum.
Glad you didn't fall.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Good morning, SOE. We have 2 rhubarb in their 2nd year.
They don't do well here, but we fooled them by dumping ice on them a few times per winter, which kept them happy.
What is Siberian spinach and what is it all about? Also, how big is that pot?
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Tricking plants thinking they are in a colder zone is
a good skill and one we need to expand. Most of the focus in literature is extending the season or growing plants that need a warmer zone.
I should not have written from memory - the spinach is actually a chard called Perpetual spinach bought at Bountiful Gardens. The pot is 12" filled with low humus soil from outside. This years fall pots will have a better soil mixture. When using in a recipe the leaves do not shrink as much as regular cooking so the small harvest of a few plants has been sufficient. Might be a good plant for warmer climates, less likely to bolt and will winter over in zone 7 and higher.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Ahh, thanks, I'll have to look into it.
We often get nearly a year's worth of harvests out of Swiss and rainbow chard, outdoors. I have heard of old world spinach (Jerusalem??) that will do so also, but don't know of anybody who has given them a shot.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Thanks!
I ordered some seeds. Always looking for alternatives! Swiss chard will over winter and produce for two years here. I also recommend Malabar Spinach. It is a vine in the spinach family that likes heat. It cooks up like spinach, but is not so much interchangeable in salads. I have it growing in my greenhouse here. A frost will kill it. It is completely happy in the greenhouse 130 temps. It drops seeds and replants, but the original vine is over two years old.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
So what are the beneficial properties of rhubarb? My sister
loves it, but I never liked it. I guess my mom was right when she said I didn't know what I was missing.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
My mother fed us Rhubarb stalks every year as spring tonic.
It was one of the first plants we could harvest. Would use it as a background flavor in berry jams and substitute the tart flavor of lemon.
The rhubarb root is the medicinal part of the plant. It has a long history of use in Chinese medicine as a purgatory. Nearly everyone of my Western herbal books and favorite websites list it as simply a laxative. Some have a little more information with a disclaimer the effects have not been scientifically verified.
In Chinese medicine purging is used to describe more bodily functions than bowels. I need to do more research. This link is easy to read and where I will start formulating my research questions.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Regarding Drug Prices
We have discussed here before so I'm bringing it up again. I take a prescription med that should have been available as a generic years ago, but still no generic. The price was just raised again, and I'm in the donut hole.
Solution for me is a pharmacy called planetdrugsdirect.com I am getting a 12 week supply of the med for the same amount as my co-pay now is for a 30 day supply, so 1/3 the cost of my co-pay.
I'm sharing this personal information here in case this helps others get needed medications. I learned of this site through a person in one of my doctor's offices. The doctors have other patients getting meds this way who are pleased with how it is working out for them. If interested, pm me and I'll let you know how it works out for me.
Quality of meds has been used as a reason to not allow
prescription drug imports. Canadian pharmacies interested in quality services have taken the extra step to become CIPA certified. Planetdrugsdirect is one portal to multiple pharmacies or one could go to the individual pharmacies to find a list of websites (see upper menu).
Thanks for providing a possible solution for some.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
I really enjoyed the info on rhubarb . . .
Planted some again this spring. Came up great and beautiful, but eventually died. It was in a location with full sun and no irrigation - so I might try again.
Lots going on here as it is fall garden planting time. Earlier this week I discovered the Texas A&M seed planting schedule for fall. Got me pretty excited.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
It does require plenty of water
I finally placed rotting logs around the 4 sides and it is finally producing. It would probably like a hugelkultur bed or one of the abandoned hay bales you have used for fruit trees. It makes one wonder if wood was placed under the hay bales how long the productive cycle of the bed style.
My next bed will have the organic matter a little deeper.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.