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Sequels, sequels, sequels. Lots of talk about those this week. While most other companies are busy making sure they get to release a big-name game wit…

I was working with a medical intern in clinic this past week who is potentially interested in ID. After seeing our 3rd consecutive stable HIV patient, he asked me what I thought the next big challenge would be in our field — especially since HIV treatment has been “solved.”

“Solved” might be stating it a bit strongly — after all, we still have no cure, the drugs aren’t perfect, not everyone can get them, there’s no vaccine,  etc — but he had a point.  Many of the research questions on HIV treatment are now about moving things forward incrementally, and it’s hard to imagine an advance anytime soon along the lines of combination therapy in the mid 1990s, or even the second wave of newer treatments that become available in 2006-8.

So what’s the answer to his question?  I compiled a brief list, shown below in no particular order:

• Highly drug-resistant bacteria — MRSA, carbapenemase-producing gram negatives, etc.
• Influenza, obviously, plus other SARS-like respiratory viruses
• Hepatitis C, though we’ll have to take this back from the hepatologists — I doubt they’ll mind — with nearly a hundred novel treatments in development
• Infections associated with therapeutic immunosuppression — TNF blockers, other biologics
• Food safety
• Device-related infections
• Novel diagnostics — PCR, other amplification techniques, direct antigen detection methods, etc
• Finding the next infectious cause of some idiopathic or autoimmune disease — some helicobacter-like discovery regarding Crohn’s, or multiple sclerosis, or sarcoid

(Not on my list are issues specifically related to ID in resource-limited settings, because that’s not what I do.)

I’m sure I’m missing something, but it’s a start.

President Barack Obama visited Capitol Hill and made a brief televised statement this afternoon to press the House to pass the Democratic health reform bill.

USA Today: “On this college football Saturday, President Obama gave a Knute Rockne-like pep talk to House Democrats as they prepare for a big vote in the health care debate. Later, at the White House, Obama told reporters that the nation is ‘closer than we have ever been’ to a ‘once-in-a-generation’ overhaul of the health care system. ‘Now is the time to finish the job,’ Obama said, citing endorsements of the bill from the AARP and medical groups and urging members of Congress to ‘rise to this moment.” (Jackson, 11/7).

The New York Times: “President Obama has met with House Democrats in the Cannon Office Building and given all the applause, it might be hard to remember that the president is on Capitol Hill to twist the arms of undecided lawmakers, and push some to cast a risky vote. Democrats said that Mr. Obama’s visit was part last-minute pitch for votes and part pep rally. … Mr. Obama said he recognized that lawmakers were weary. ‘It’s tempting to say, ‘I’m tired, it’s hard, I’m getting beat up back in the district, it’s just not worth it,’’ he said. But he told Democrats that they must act now. ‘On a policy basis, if we do not get it done this year, we will not get it done anytime soon,’ he said” (Herszenhorn, 11/7). 

Reuters: “Democrats said Obama emphasized the urgent and historic need for a healthcare bill that reins in costs, expands coverage to millions of uninsured and bars insurance practices such as denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. ‘We expect the energy he brought to the debate to be helpful to us on the floor,’ Representative James Clyburn said” (Whitesides and Smith, 11/7).

In its blog, 44, Politico reported on the president’s national remarks: “President Obama cast the House’s health care reform vote, expected to happen later today, in historic terms: ‘This is our moment to live up to the trust the American people have placed in us… this is our moment to deliver… I urge Congress to answer the call of the American people’” (11/7). 

Related: House Democrats Debating Historic Health Reform Legislation

Consider this a friendly reminder. Tonight at 9pm ET on CBS (in the U.S.; I’m sure there will be plenty of streams, though, which you can find on your own) two of the big stars from EA’s upcoming EA Sports MMA video game will hit each other very hard. Fedor Emelianenko, the big Russian guy who could well be the best MMA fighter of all time (or is that Sakuraba?), will fight Brett Rogers, of whom I know nothing.

There’s actual a reasonably interesting story vis-à–vis video games and mixed martial arts. A few years ago, UFC approached EA with the idea of making a video game. UFC declined, saying that it didn’t consider MMA to be a real sport, which, let’s just say, really upset UFC president Dana White.

UFC later signed a deal with THQ to make the video game, which has been both a critical and commercial success.

The success of THQ’s game is said to have sparked EA’s interest in making its own MMA game. EA then started signing fighters to a deal, before announcing that Strikeforce would be the game’s main promotion.

So yeah, I’ll be watching Fedor tear apart Rogers tonight. If only it were easier to place bets online from the U.S!

I am spending the day watching old Fedor fights, courtesy of alt.binaries.mma. Hopefully Mr. Emelianenko comes out to that Era song again, and not some generic rock nonsense.

The beauty of this post is that maybe six of you have any idea of what I’m talking about.

We all knew that the iPhone was going to start hitting more third-party retailers at some point, but we just didn’t think it would be this soon. RadioShack, or The Shack, has announced that it will be carrying the iPhone 3G and 3GS in select stores in Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City at the end of this month. The company expects to have the iPhone available nationwide in 2010. So, for now, you’ll have to settle with Apple Stores, AT&T retail locations, Wal-Mart or Best Buy if you want to nab one. Come to think of it, there really is no shortage of suppliers so if you’re finally going to be eligible to upgrade or you want to pick one up on a whim, you can add another to the list of iPhone retailers to choose from. But just remember where all this Shack nonsense started, ok?

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Own a Zune HD like Devin and I, the two hippest cats here at CrunchGear? Best to connect it to your PC right now so you can upgrade its firmware to version 4.3. Go, now!

Straight from the Zune message board:

Zune HD firmware update: Today we released the v4.3 firmware update for Zune HD players; this update adds support for upcoming 3d games and applications, as well as an auto-suggest feature for better text input, and other minor improvements. Enjoy!

Let it be known that I have installed zero applications on my Zune HD. I didn’t even know applications existed for the thing until a colleague over at Laptop Magazine pointed it out to me at a meeting several weeks ago. Simple apps, like Weather and whatnot.

I think a hands-on would be appropriate when Microsoft launches, I don’t know, a Twitter or Facebook app, if it ever does.

Flickr

The Prime Minister has paid tribute to fallen members of the Armed Forces on Remembrance Sunday.

Gordon Brown laid a wreath at the Cenotaph this morning, to pay his respects to British and Commonwealth servicemen and women who have lost their lives in conflicts around the world.

• PM’s podcast on Remembrance Day

Mr Brown joined the Queen, High Commissioners and other politicians for the Remembrance Day service.

Last night the Prime Minister and Sarah Brown attended the annual Festival of Remembrance, held in the Royal Albert Hall. The festival, organised by The Royal British Legion, commemorates and honours all those who have given their lives in the service of their country.

In a podcast released to mark Remembrance Sunday, Gordon Brown said this year’s events would be particularly poignant after the passing of the last Tommy, Harry Patch, earlier this year.

“With his death, an entire generation has fallen silent and we have lost our living link with the momentous events which did so much to shape our nation.

“And so this Armistice Day, we must make anew our promise to Harry and his comrades: that although they are gone, we will never, never forget.

Gordon Brown also thanked all the men and women of the Armed Forces, “serving with such distinction at home and overseas”, and their families and communities.

Speeches and transcripts: PM’s podcast for Remembrance Sunday

The dawn of the 21st century brought us a problem: we had lots of data, but no real way to bring that data into the real world. We could feasibly lug laptops and phones around, but did they ever do exactly what we needed them to do? Don’t answer that.

Manufacturers, in their wisdom, decided to do something about it and so devices like the Peek – for email – and the CueCat – for nothing – were born. Here’s a look at ten ‘avatar’ gadgets, gadgets that brought a web service into the real world, for better or worse.

Twitterpeek – We should be nicer to the Twitterpeek. This standalone device, designed specifically for Twittering, mirroring our own obsession with the microblogging service and, if anything, we willed it into existence with our collective desires for always-on Twitter. Does it work? Eh. Is it a good idea? Eh. Is it for us? Probably not, but what do I know?

Peek Pronto – Now this makes a little more sense. The Peek Pronto is an email-only device. It’s great for business owners who want to give on-the-go email access to their employees without spending hundreds on monthly cellphone charges. The company, in fact, is reaching profitability so all our bellyaching isn’t hurting the company’s bottom line. The Peek Pronto costs $299 for unlimited email, a pretty good deal.

Kindle – The one real success story in this list. Kindles bring Amazon’s electronic book store to a hand-held device. It’s so popular, in fact, that everyone and their dog is getting in on the act. It’s an avatar device simply because it enables offline access to Amazon content.

Nook – This is supposed to be the Kindle on steroids. This is odd because B&N isn’t quite the name synonymous with online book-selling so what they’ve done is a double-reverse Lutz avatarization of their product. They created a device to showcase their web offerings and are now tooling up web offerings for the device.

Zipit – I popped over to the Zipit website and discovered that they’re actually still making these things! Zipit is basically an IM/SMS-only device that costs $49 and lets you send IMs, listen to music, and look at pictures over Wi-Fi. It’s for kids, obviously, and after the initial purchase it costs $29 a year for unlimited text messages and IM messaging. Kind of a good idea if you want to keep your wee ones from dumping a few grand on SMS messages.

IMfree – Now this is a blast from the past: the IMFree. It’s basically like the Zipit, but primitive. It is probably one of the first avatar devices out there with an actual useful purpose.

Augmented Reality Toys – Augmented reality creates ‘holograms’ on your PC screen when your webcam sees a special bar code. This is sort of a reverse-avatar situation where the physical device unlocks on-screen content. Expect to see more of these but Avatar seems to be going whole-hog on these.

ASellerTool and other bar code scanners – Devices like this abomination promise to allow offline pricing of various items like wine, books, and media. Useful for flea markets and the obsessive.

Wikireader – Dream: Hey! Why don’t we stuff an ever-changing information source on a device! Let’s call it the Wikireader! We’ll be rich!
Reality: This thing is a waste of plastic.

Cuecat – The winner of the dumbest avatar device is the Cuecat, a silly bar code reader that was supposed to bring online content to magazines. You’d plug in your Cuecat and scan magazines as you read them. Sadly, even back in 1999, reading your magazines by your PC was a bit silly. The company went belly up and now the Cuecat is remembered as one of the most ridiculous examples of dot-com hubris ever.

News outlets covered the late-night deal on abortion language in the House health care overhaul bill.

Roll Call: “The deal hands a major win to abortion-rights opponents by green-lighting an up-or-down vote on a proposal by Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) to bar plans that offer abortions from new health insurance exchanges. The ban would extend to a public insurance option that House Democrats have included in their package. … The amendment will likely pass with support from Republicans, forcing the majority of Democrats, who support abortion rights, to swallow hard in voting for the package on final passage. Democrats on the House Rules Committee who favor abortion rights made their discomfort clear early Saturday morning as they debated allowing the amendment” (Newmyer, 11/7).

The Associated Press: “Federal law currently prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest of situations in which the life of the mother is in danger. That left unresolved whether individuals would be permitted to use their own funds to buy insurance coverage for the procedure in the federally backed insurance exchange envisioned under the legislation” (Werner, 11/7).

Politico: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops delivered a critical endorsement to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday by signing off on late-night agreement to grant a vote on an amendment barring insurance companies that participate in the exchange from covering abortions. ‘Passing this amendment allows the House to meet our criteria of preserving the existing protections against abortion funding in the new legislation,’ the Bishops wrote in a letter to individual members. ‘Most importantly, it will ensure that no government funds will be used for abortion or health plans which include abortion’” (O’Connor, 11/7).

CQ Politics: “As of late Friday, at least 20 House Democrats had indicated in interviews and public statements that they plan to vote against the legislation (HR 3962). Twenty ‘no’ votes would leave the Democrats with a pool of 238 potential votes for the measure, or just 20 more than the 218 needed to guarantee passage. No Republican support for the legislation is expected. Twenty other Democrats said Friday they remained undecided. Many of their votes were considered likely to hinge on how the bill addresses the issue of abortion and whether the government-run ‘public option’ plan would pay for abortions and in what circumstances. Abortion opponents want to make sure that the public plan does not in effect authorize federal funding of abortion” (Wayne, 11/7).  

The Hill: “Liberals on the committee threatened to vote against the final healthcare bill if it included (anti-abortion Rep. Bart) Stupak’s language, warning that it would be a return to the days of back-alley abortions. ‘I forsee a return to the dark ages,’ said Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.). ‘I’m 73, I’ve seen these dark things, they use these coat hangers and die’” (Hooper and Soraghan, 11/7).

Heads up, PS3 gamers. Now that you’re getting your exclusive Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta, here’s a look at the Arica Harbour multiplayer map that …

The podcast reviewed here is another in the University of California in Los Angelos grandround podcasts. This could more properly be called a videocast. This episode focuses on the genetics of late life depression and is presented by Associate Professor Warren Taylor. The audio and video quality are both of a high standard and I found it easy to focus on the content of the presentation. Taylor looks at a number of the risk factors for and associations with late life depression. He then focuses in particular on the genetic associations suggesting along the way that these might be indirect, mediated through vascular pathways for example. Taylor then discusses some of his own unpublished research going through some of the primary outcome data as well as the exploratory analysis. I thought this was a useful overview of an expanding area of research. I’ve been impressed by the UCLA grandround podcasts and like the Maudsley debates which are also available in podcast format this seems to offer a very useful model for psychiatry departments to communicate information about some of their activities. This opens up a number of other possibilities that range from seeing what people in the field are doing through to gaining overviews of a more specialised area of interest. It will be interesting to see if this podcasting approach expands into other departments. This episode is another interesting addition to the series.

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You can follow ‘The Amazing World of Psychiatry’ Twitter by clicking on this link

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You can listen to this post on Odiogo by clicking on this link (there may be a small delay between publishing of the blog article and the availability of the podcast).

Responses

If you have any comments, you can leave them below or alternatively e-mail [email protected]

Disclaimer

The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog.

Recently, TELUS issued a press release letting Canadians know that their handsets are now being offered through Black’s, the nation-wide digital camera chain. This news in itself didn’t interest us in the least, but for giggles we clicked on through to Black’s website just to see what handsets it was going to be offering considering the odd partnership. What did we see in the line up? None other than a TELUS branded BlackBerry Storm2. Unfortunately what you see above is all we have for now as this sucker has not yet been announced by TELUS, but we have a feeling that will change very, very soon.

Thanks, Tony!

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Thank the gaming gods for retail competition. You know the Xbox 360 Walmart is running today, right? Yeah, Amazon is going to match it.

At 9:00 am EST and 3:00 pm EST Amazon will give you a a $100 promotional code when you purchase an Xbox 360 Arcade for $199. You better be sitting in front of your computer all signed in and ready to go before the two times though. The deal is good only for a limited quantity. [via Cheap Ass Gamer and Gizmodo]

Update: All done! All gone!

Today is like Christmas for me.

For months (maybe even years?), I have been waiting anxiously…dreaming about it…imagining all of the deliciousness, the freshness, the GREEN-NESS!!

Yes, today marks the first pick up day of my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)!!!

I received this email during the week:

Welcome to the 2009-10 CSA season!

Warm greetings to our old friends and new friends of the farm.

2009-10 CSA HARVEST SCHEDULE:

Pick up days/times will remain on Wed 3-6 OR Sat 12-4

Our season will begin on Saturday Nov 7th for our full share members and those in the Group “A” . (Designated member name A-L)

Group “B” (designated member name M-Z) will begin the following week on Wednesday Nov 11 or Sat Nov 14.

Any questions, give us a call or stop by. The schedule should be updated on the website and reflect the continuing for 30 weeks until the end of May. For those of you who have been members you know we will continue to harvest into June as long as the weather allows. We are very informal and use the A/B system to keep the harvest stable over the life of the garden. We are not concerned about necessary changes you may need to make as long as we are made aware. Thanks for your support and cooperation.

What’s new at the farm 11/2/09… perhaps the fall season at the farm will be a “tasting” rather than a bountiful “harvest” due to flooding in the fields….

Hello everyone, I have been missing you and hoping you have had a wonderful summer. Many of you have been coming to the farm so you are aware of the work that has been done and how we are re-doing about six weeks of work in the field due to the wet planting season. Following two seasons of record drought and record freeze- we find ourselves in the midst of record-breaking rainfall during the planting season (10 days-12”) and record heat! As we enter our third CSA growing season – we learn the lesson of farming yet again – Rule # 1. It’s all about the weather. No amount of worry or fret is going to change the outcome. Farming will humble you and teach you patience! So what’s a farmer to do?

Of course, there’s – Rule #2. Don’t get too attached to your vegetables! For those of you who have stopped by the farm – it comes as no surprise that many of the seedlings you saw under water in the field did not survive…the poor broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards…all swallowed up by the sand and silt. Most of the seeds that were in sharp, clean rows ended up scattered in pools of swirling rainwater, while we couldn’t step foot in the field for fear of sinking in a foot! So what’s a farmer to do?

Most of you know our dear friend Berk Gumus, farm director at the Bern’s Steakhouse Farm in Tampa – you know how this is meant when he says – If it isn’t working – plow it under and begin again. That is oh so difficult to do when you have nurtured those little seedlings from a tiny seed to this point …you want them to succeed, you want them to grow – you want to EAT THEM!!! Our lesson – If something isn’t working in your life, you plow it under and begin anew. Seeds and plants are the same way…So what’s a farmer to do?

Well…first things first – we couldn’t bring ourselves to COMPLETELY till the gardens under; especially when I was so smug as to think I had begun this season on such a positive note when planting had began in JULY! But reality and Berk’s voice – forced us to be brutal…plow the field yet again, add a little compost and replant the seed we had left. Fortunately, when the rain didn’t stop for 10 days and the Farmer had recorded over 12” here at the farm – we saw the handwriting on the wall. When much of the garden looked like a rice patty…we began a list of all crops we needed to replace and began seeding everything AGAIN in the greenhouse.

That’s what a farmer has to do…and that quick action may have served us well if we can get a cold snap in the next few days and a few willing hands to help replant the fields. This week – hundreds of seedlings are ready to venture out of the greenhouse to the field. See list below of what’s to come…

Did you see our “dibbler” (measuring stick) when you visited? The dibbler marks the spacing of transplants in the field. No experience necessary to become a master dibbler! All kidding aside, many of you have asked about volunteering at the farm. Contact our volunteer coordinator Denise – and she will be able to give you specific information about volunteer training most every Sat 10-11 So e-mail Denise at [email protected]. Once you are comfortable with our system, join me from 9-12 any morning except Tuesday or Sunday to help with farm chores or harvest. If the weather cools to the 60’s in the evening – the mornings will be heaven on earth, perhaps almost “sweater” weather.

What’s ready to re-plant – some of which could be ready to harvest in 4-5 weeks…

Kale Red Russian

Kale – Lacinato

Kale – Green Curley

Kale – Redbor

Collards

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Kohlrabi

Choi

Lettuce

Eggplant

Fennel

What’s already in the ground – reseeded and growing daily!

Radishes

Diakon radish

Green beans

Arugula

Mizuna

Red mustard

Turnips

Choi

Carrots

Beets

Swiss Chard

Asian greens

Onions

Sweet cherry tomatoes

Peppers

Eggplant

Squash

Herbs

Now for the good/better news! The 37 year old Florida Herb Society will be using our 2nd greenhouse for their test garden. They should be around most weekends and you can visit their website for information about their meetings. www.floridaherbsociety.org

So much to tell you about www.SLOWFOODUSA.org

If you are interested in good, clean, fair food – check them out. A special membership promotion for a limited time – $60 fee is waived – join for any amount!! We are organizing an effort to build a chapter here in the Tampa Bay area. Right now Sarasota is the closest chapter. We had our first meeting at the farm last Sunday and will be having an event at 4:00 – Sunday Nov 22 – A potluck and a showing of “FRESH-The MOVIE.” Details will be posted. Also bring your own table service and a chair! A small fee will be charged by the SLOW FOOD Chapter.

With all that said, we look forward to seeing you at the farm. The harvest may be more of a tasting than a true bounty until the new planting matures…but rest assured it is a LONG season and the vegetables will grow and we will all share a good time and great food. We add Rule #3 – It’s all about the veggies…and herbs and flowers,…and friends. See you soon. If you are partnering with another family, please pass along this e-mail message. I am still trying to streamline this message distribution. Perhaps someone with lots of time to type and who knows Constant Contact software will appear at the farm….HA! So much farming to do,…so little time to type!!

Pamela

The Farmer’s Wife

——

I bought a half share, but will be picking up my harvest today since I work on the other days. They are quite flexible at Gateway, which is wonderful. Earlier in the year, my friend from nursing school let me pick up his share of a CSA in Tampa while he was out of town. I know it may sound weird, but when I got in my car with all of those vegetables, I almost wanted to cry. Just to think that these edible foods were in the soil just hours before, growing, taking in light and nourishment…and were now with me, ready to eat…really just blew my mind. I think more people need to see this and feel it. Food does not just come from the grocery store. It GROWS! I know that is obvious, but I often wonder if children (or even some adults) truly understand this notion. Whenever I bite into a fruit or vegetable, I am just amazed at the entire process. I think to myself, “This was on a tree, growing, and now I am eating it!!” Does anyone else think that is amazing?!! Maybe I am just quaked out of my mind?

Either way, I hope to take pictures while I pick up my harvest. I know they mentioned that the first “harvest” may be more of a “tasting” due to the weather conditions over the summer, but that is okay because it is a long season!!

“My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow…”

The Prime Minister has set out his vision for the future relationship between financial institutions, the public and the rest of the economy.

Gordon Brown was speaking to G20 Finance Ministers who met at St Andrews in Scotland this morning.

Mr Brown called on the G20 to investigate ways to provide a fairer balance of risks and rewards between taxpayers, citizens, shareholders and bank employees.

He said global financial markets must be brought into closer alignment with the “values held by the mainstream majority: hard work, responsibility, integrity and fairness”.

“It can not be acceptable that the benefits of success in this sector are reaped by the few but the costs of its failure are borne by all of us.

There must be a better economic and social contract between financial institutions and the public based on trust and a just distribution of risks and rewards.”

He said the G20 group have already agreed “far-reaching” reforms which provide proper accountability of global banks and financial institutions.

But the PM said more needed to be done to change the balance of risk. He proposed measures including insurance fees for systemic risk, resolutions funds, contingent capital arrangements and a global financial transactions levy.

Gordon Brown stressed that achieving “a better economic and social contract between financial institutions and the public” would depend on global support.

The blog reviewed here is ‘FABLE‘ an acronym for ‘Fictional Autobiography of Life Experience’. I first came across the blog via the author Cole Bitting’s Twitter profile after exchanging a few messages with him on Twitter. So here are the results of my look at the blog….

Appearance and Design

The title pane consists of the blog title with an effective shadow effect on a woody background. The main background is a slightly off-black colour (i’m not particularly good at naming some of these subtle shades of colouring!) with white text. Individual articles are demarcated by a white dotted line at the end of each post. The reader can navigate by selecting the page numbers at the very bottom of the page. On the left hand side there is a link to a descriptions of songs that Bitting refers to in the text. There is an About section in the title pane and on the left hand pane there are links to an RSS feed as well as links to Web 2.0 resources such as Twitter. There are also occasional images that complement the text.

Articles

The first article is dated 28th September 2009. In this first article, Bitting tells us about fables and our relationship with them. Within this first article Bitting also tells us of the high regard in which he holds Damasio’s work ‘The feeling of what happens. Body, emotion and the making of consciousness’. I, like many people have found Damasio’s writing accessible and extremely interesting and used this in the foundations for the building of a model of the role of the Insular Cortex in emotional regulation as Damasio’s work has influenced people such as Craig in his development of a model of the Insular cortex (see here). In the second article, which is philosophical in nature, Bitting produces one of the statements which will feature again in the blog – the distinction between what is useful and what is truthful. As I understand it, Bitting is arguing that when a narrative is formed does not necessarily represent an underlying truth but instead relates to utility. In this ‘Perspective: Objectify Yourself, Witness Life’ article, Bitting discusses some foundations for the neurobiology of first person perspective and what I found really interesting here was his use of triangle and inverted triangle symbols for concepts creating an effective symbolic shorthand. In ‘Open Up, Confront the Fury’, parts 1 and 2 (of a 3-part essay – with the final part not published at the time of writing) Bitting looks at how writing can be an effective means for confronting and managing disturbing emotions (in psychodynamic terms this is equivalent to sublimation). However this is quite thematic in Bitting’s writing.

Summary

If I were to summarise Bitting’s writing, I would characterise an underlying theme of exploring the neurobiology of narrative therapy using Damasio’s works as a foundation for this process. However, Bitting himself has an elegant style of writing with emotional depth and so the reader is able to enjoy his writing on another level while exploring what is a fascinating area of inquiry.

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You can follow ‘The Amazing World of Psychiatry’ Twitter by clicking on this link

Podcast

You can listen to this post on Odiogo by clicking on this link (there may be a small delay between publishing of the blog article and the availability of the podcast).

Responses

If you have any comments, you can leave them below or alternatively e-mail [email protected]

Disclaimer

The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog.

[Click on the small pictures in the main story to see larger images]

Okay, I admit it. I’m a fraud. While promoting the hunter gatherer lifestyle I was secretly herding and milking goats.

Now that I have come clean, let me tell you about our recent experiences as herders.

In July Mrs M and I stayed at a gîte in France, 3000 feet above sea level in the Pyrenees. The British couple who own the property live in an adjoining house and keep various animals, some as pets, others as a resource.

Mrs M and I would like, one day, to be self-sufficient. What better way to guarantee our food is not sullied by modern techniques? So in July we took a keen interest in the animals and what it took to look after them.

“You can’t really go on holiday” was one of the key things we were told.

After the July holiday, Mrs M and I were so taken by what we’d seen that we offered to look after the animals if the family ever wanted to take a holiday.

“Yes please – how about October?” was the response…

Training

We arrived a couple of days before the family were due to go away. We needed to be trained.

The Animal Inventory

Here is the list of animals:

Goats – 4
Sheep – 2
Chickens – 20
Cats – 2
Dog – 1

The Delinquent Dog

The wild card in the menagerie was the dog, Tango (pronounced Tongo, since he is French!) In July he gave the impression of being well-intentioned but partially unhinged. Even once he knew who you were, he could do any of three things when he encountered you – bark repeatedly, ignore you, or press himself distractedly against you with a sort of offhand affection.

He was kept indoors when the postman came. We would need to establish some trust and authority or he could be trouble.

The Routine

As with many humans, animals are at their most stable and happy when they have a good routine. During the two days of training, I took these notes:

The routine was as follows:

First light:

1. Turn off the electric fence around the chicken houses
2. Give food and water to the five chicken enclosures
3. Open each chicken house and release the free-range hens from their shed
4. Let the sheep out of their enclosure

After Breakfast:

1. Prepare milking pots and food for the goats
2. Drive down to the goat shed
3. Milk Cordelia, who is currently pregnant, meanwhile giving straw to the other 3 goats
4. After milking, rope up the goats and take them to their enclosure
5. Check the electric fence and turn it on.
6. Check the water in the enclosure and replenish if necessary.
7. Take the milk back, filter it, and freeze it

Mid afternoon:

1. Corn for the chickens – the free rangers congregate by the garage for this, the others have it thrown over into their enclosures
2. A little more food for the young cockerels because one of the hens from another enclosure flies over and eats from their food tray
3. A little corn to the sheep from the hand, to retain their domesticity

Evening:

1. Shut the chickens away and turn on their electric fence
2. Shut the sheep away
3. Shut the goats away

The Perks

Of course there are some perks to all this work. Even though it was winter, one of the free range ladies did oblige us with a couple of eggs during our tenure, which I duly consumed with some leftover lamb:

In addition, how could we resist having a coffee each morning with raw, minute-fresh goat’s milk?

Food and Meals

We had a number of fine evening meals. This was largely courtesy of Carfour supermarket’s organic section rather than the local butcher, who was closed for the week:

As well as keeping animals, they also have a fairly large vegetable patch, in which she grows pumpkins and courgettes, amongst other things. Our hallway looked like this when we arrived:

Needless to say, we were invited to help ourselves.

While I was mooching around the grounds barefoot, I trod on a few hard lumps in the grass. On inspection, I discovered a number of buried sweet chestnuts. There is a large chestnut tree there and although there were almost no chestnuts remaining on the ground, it appeared the many squirrels had kindly set some aside for us earlier in the month 😉 We roasted these with one of our dinners.

I also found a buried walnut, but sadly was unable to locate the tree from which it had come.

We also ate at a couple of restaurants – the photos below are of (we think) a duck gizzards starter. The main course was duck breast in a rosemary sauce.

The Disappearing Hen

The first two days in charge went like clockwork. We felt like Dr and Mrs Doolittle.

But this was too good to be true. The thing about animals is that like humans, they have their own agenda, and it does not always tally with that of their keepers.

On the second evening, only five of the free range chickens reported for bed. We had shut away all the other chicken houses, the electric fence was on, and it was almost completely dark. Had the fox eaten her? This seemed highly unlikely, given we had been around all day, and being eaten by a fox is not something one would expect a chicken to do quietly.

So we rang Suzanne, who told us that this particular chicken occasionally roosted in a tree when it was mild. So, reluctantly, we closed the free range hen house for the night.

The following morning, with relief, we discovered the missing hen had rejoined the gang. This is her:

The Traumatised Mouse

On the third day, I found a mouse behind Tango’s water bowl. It’s eyes were closed and it appeared unable to move much. I was not sure whether it was a baby mouse from a large species whose eyes were not yet open or an adult mouse from a small species, potentially traumatised by one of the cats. The fact that it was hairy suggested the latter. I put the mouse somewhere safe and quiet to recover or die, whichever nature decided.

Goat Pandemonium

Also on the third day, Mrs M and I were relaxing on the patio after lunch . The sheep were grazing nearby, the free-range hens were grubbing around by the garage and Tango the dog was snoozing at our feet.

The sound of animal bells is a common one in the Pyrenees – there are sheep, cows and horses all around in the fields and hills, all wearing bells so they can be easily located. Our goats also had bells. So when we heard the faint sound of bells getting closer, we didn’t think much of it.

But as the sound grew closer and more rythmic, Mrs M and I looked at each other. Was the farmer using our driveway to move his sheep? The sound got louder and louder and panic began to creep in. Whatever was wearing the bells was clearly about the make an appearance from behind the hedges.

When it did, pandemonium broke out. It was the goats, who had leapt over their electric fence and come trotting up the drive. A whirlwind of feathers erupted as they ploughed through the chickens. The sheep bolted. Tango did what any dog would do and barked loudly and incessantly. Meanwhile, two of the goats had mounted the patio table and were inspecting our lunch plates.

Mrs M managed to get Tango inside and I managed to get hold of the billy goat’s collar and that of Miranda, the light brown girl goat. They did not like this, but one has to be firm. I led them back down the drive. The herd instinct compelled the other two to join us and once we were round the corner they all began trotting back. Goats are clever. They knew exactly what they were doing. Mrs M and I felt rather like stand-in teachers being taken advantage of by a rowdy class of pupils.

Wildlife

The wildlife in the Pyrenees is spectacular at this time of year. We have recently bought a new digital camera and were able to capture some of the flora and fauna we found:

Exercise

I did some great Paleo/Primal workouts in between all this, an account of which, including some videos, can be seen on Train Now Live Later: Hikes, Rope Climbing and Log Throwing in the Pyrenees.

The Menagerie Grows

The day after Mrs M and I left, the family bought three ducks. Their home will be in an enclave of the sheep enclosure. We hope, time permitting, to get the opportunity to do this again. We certainly feel very lucky to have been able to do it once.