Friday, February 29, 2008

msb-0268 This Must Be A Leap Year

msb-0268 This Must Be A Leap Year

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

Went out last night and we're going out again tonight having fun again so this is a show with absolutely nothing of any consequence to report.

But I've just realized that I in fact wrote a lot.

Enjoy.

---- "Leaps and Bounds" by: "Brian Lauri Project" http://brilaurimusic.com/

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Leap Of Faith" by: "Woodstock Taylor" http://www.myspace.com/woodstocktaylor

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Leap of Faith" by: "Pudge" http://pudge.net/tunes/

"Thesis:"

If this show has a theme its that, as you dangle over the precipice of the future, sometimes you just have to let go and take a leap of faith.

Okay, it has really another theme.

Its about not a leap "of" faith but a leap "from" faith.

You "can't" run heath-care for profit like the other sectors of the economy. ("Holy Jeez," is he on about that again? You bet your bippy.)

You end up with people, on both sides of an un-winnable argument, like "this" one between an insurer and an insured, at least until the insurer dropped her, "in the middle of her chemotherapy". [ http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jf3kOQZF8y9J9WqUVv0NCuUHA_OgD8V04O800 ]

We all know what would have happened if the woman had "not" won a huge judgment against the insurer; she would have been dead and some people would have felt bad but have collected a bonus to assuage their conscience. (She happened on a judge with more integrity than most of the judges out there. [Most claims, some as necessary as this one, get rejected. {And I can get the insurance industry's own statistics to back me up.}])

And what about people "not" getting certain tests [ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/health/24dna.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin ] because they fear they might be denied coverage.

Why not?

The answer from the insurers themselves is most telling: "In 7 of 92 underwriting decisions, insurance providers evaluating hypothetical applicants said they would deny coverage, charge more for premiums or exclude certain conditions from coverage based on genetic test results."

How many others have lost their insurance coverage and ended up fertilizing the insurance company's back lawn?

Those insurance companies, sometimes the same ones, in other parts of the world "don't" have to put up with the inexorable bottom line which requires that their employees sometimes not sleep so well because their decision about someone's coverage may very well have been terminal.

But in winning for herself, she lost for others of us. The insurance companies will be more careful and quick to deny because those decisions impact their bottom line. (As emperor Vespasian said: "Money has no odor" It is also devoid of honor and devoid of conscience. [Its an instrument wielded with only as much malice as is in the hear of its wielder. {Most people have much to be ashamed of as they go wraith-like through life..}])

----

You have to use some of that rarest of commodities: "common sense".

For as song as we have kept statistics, the statistics have shown that 15% of the population is disabled in some way or another.

The individuals in the 15% may change because some of them die and some of them get better while new people join in, but there is always that 15%.

Why not open your eyes and say: "Its society's problem, let society deal with it, the same way it deals with defense."

What is not any body's problem is everybody's problem.

That's what practically, (emphasis on practically,) "everybody else" on this planet has done.

Just deal with it.

There are so fewer possibilities for fraud, so fewer possibilities for ripping off the system when there's only "one" system.

---- "Leap Of Faith" by: "Stewart Coleman" http://www.audiothought.com/

"Synthesis:"

Yup. The statistics kept by the World Health Organization (the WHO,) show that 15%, that's more than one in eight of us, is disabled.

Okay. Its from every possible kind of sickness, with every kind of possible ailment from deafness to disembowelment, with every kind of condition and running to every duration.

You cant run health for profit because its doesn't make any sense to try to operate with a divided actuarial base.

Health is a "societal" cost.

Its not logical to attempt to divide an undifferentiated mass of humanity into different sectors to extract some profit when, while there might be risk factors associated with behavior, there are all sorts of disease which just "happen" and the definition of an accident is "shit just happened".

The current health "don't" care system is a legacy of the administration of "Richard Millhouse Nixon", [ http://www.pr.com/article/1068 ] who really "didn't" give a flying fuck about anything if it wasn't getting him some votes.

But the "Humana" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humana ] solution was getting him out of a political pickle, so he went for it.

He didn't give a flying fuck about the Chinese either; but going there was a strategic good move. He looked very statesman like.

Now look at who holds most of the paper for our idiotic debacles.

Now look at who is making most of the consumer goods we import, (and with the late Sam Walton's blessing too).

Well, lets see if one of the candidates thinks socialized medicine under the guise of "dog-eat-dog good ol' American capitalism, but only with just a single teat to suck on" can get him or her some votes.

Lets see if it rings a bell with "Barack Obama" (or "Hillary Clinton" [or even "John McCain", {who "could" come to his senses, (but I doubt it, Republicans since "Herbert Hoover" or have been known more for screwing things up than anything else. [Have any of them given a single "thought" to the ill or handicapped? {Nader's supposedly getting back in the harness and running, but he's got no cred as a candidate.}])}])

---- "Leap Of Faith" by: "John Taglieri" http://johntaglieri.com/

"Conclusion:"

Of course that doesn't mean that we can expect things to improve auto-magically.

There is nothing as stubborn in the face of evidence as human cussedness.

How long did we think the earth was flat despite the visible curvature of the sea when seen from atop a bluff?

How long did we think the size of an object determined how fast it would fall?

How many roads must a man, uh, no, that's Robert Zimmerman, (a.k.a. Bob Dylan.)

Human beings are strange creatures.

We'll just have to watch what's happening and try to derive what ever benefits can be wrung out of whatever situation we find ourselves in, every last one.

Nobody ever got squat from an insurance company except a dividend.

Listen to this: with life insurance, they insure you and if you die before they thought you would, you "win". "Woop-dee-the-friggin'-doo!"

That's a chump's game.

But, as long as we keep working towards it, the future "will" get better, for everybody.

---- "leap over" by: "Groove Factory Conobus" http://www.cdbaby.com/gfconobus

Outro

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

msb-0267 Diet of Worms

msb-0267 Diet of Worms

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

The music this episode is all smalltalk about being small.

(But we have reached our fifty thousandth download. MDMHvonPA, Homer, Herrad, Shauna, [all people who have helped me in the past, the present,] myself and whoever else I manage to get on this podcast in the future have to be doing somethings right. :-)

Why should I waste your time with idle chitchat.

"Adelante la música"

---- "SmallTalk" by: "Jeso" http://www.jeso.nl/

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

Check out one of the most innovative "sites" by one of the most innovative MSer personalities I have seen in a while. [ http://www.brainangles.zoomshare.com/ ]

---- "Red Smalltalk and the Lava Rose" by: "The Host" http://thehostband.com/

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Stay Small" by: "The Receiving End Of Sirens" http://www.merchdirect.net/TripleCrownRecords/CDs/The_Receiving_End_Of_Sirens_The_Earth_Sings_Mi_Fa_Mi_CD?productid=8273

"Thesis:"

Some days I can be mercifully quiet. (Now we have "Shauna MacKinnon" to listen to. :-)

---- "When Did You Get So Small?" by: "Todd Lerner" http://www.songforfree.com/

"Synthesis:"

I have mentioned in passing, findings researchers have made about parasites and MS. I even podcasted about it on Charles' MSBPodcast. So here (as "Paul Harvey" [ http://www.radiohof.org/news/paulharvey.html ] would say) is the "Rest of the Story".

There is something known as the hygiene hypothesis. Basically, immune system related illnesses such as allergies are more prevalent in families with fewer children than in large families. The fewer children in a family, the less opportunity a child has of becoming exposed to infectious agents, and that in turn results in a child's immune system remaining "weak" and the child more susceptible to illness or disease. So more siblings lessens your chances of developing allergies.

There has been a steady rise in incidence in the developed world of allergies since the industrial age. And there has also been a steady rise in the incidence of auto-immune diseases, like MS and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

The hygiene hypothesis has now been expanded to include bacteria and parasites. And the more siblings you have, the greater your chance of exposure to bacteria and parasites. (Can you see where I'm going with this?)

Apparently exposure to bacteria and/or parasites stimulates development of regulatory T cells.
"To use a rough analogy, an unbridled immune system (without regulatory T cells) has the dynamic of a rowdy, unchaperoned beer party. It is likely to overreact to slight or non-existent insults (analogous to allergic disease) and may even attack members of its own party (analogous to autoimmune disease). The role of the T regulatory cells of the immune system is similar to that of the bouncer, keeping the beer party in check." Great explanation from Wikipedia.

A couple of years ago I was reading reports of the link between parasites and MS. And I also read Carl Zimmer's Book, "Parasite Rex", [ http://www.amazon.com/Parasite-Rex-Bizarre-Dangerous-Creatures/dp/074320011X ] which talked of the rise of auto-immune disease since the Industrial Age. As we have gotten "cleaner" by improving sanitation and hygiene, we have gotten sicker. You've probably heard all the furor about the overuse of antibiotics and antibiotic soaps. As we kill off all bacteria, both good and bad, with these things, we leave ourselves open to attack by adapted bacteria, super-bugs as it were.

There are studies being conducted using parasites to determine how helpful, if at all, they are to folks with MS. The nifty thing about these little parasites is that it looks like only a handful is needed for a beneficial result. And they don't reproduce while they're in you (they seem to want more romantic locales to do that). So once you get over the gross-out factor, it's not such a bad thing.

---- "Small Bodies" by: "Magnetic Four" http://www.magneticfour.net/

"Conclusion:"

I hope you enjoyed that piece by "Shauna MacKinnon".

Personally, I'll pass on the parasites, but I would not be averse to a, uh, a "symbiote" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiote_(comics) ]. [Then again, seeing what happened to Spiderman's...] :-).

I'm looking forwards to Wednesdays' shows with "Shauna MacKinnon".

---- "Small" by: "Amy Abdou" http://www.amyabdou.com/

Outro

Monday, February 25, 2008

msb-0266 MS and Headsets

msb-0266 MS and Headsets

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

Shauna is going to be a weekly contributor. She's on on Wednesday's.

Despite her feeling a little worse for wear with appendix bother, you should listen for her charming, if fast-paced voice on the next episode. (I must admit I have been infected by the laconic pace of life here down south. [You don't have to be a geography geek to appreciate now little north- and east-wards Nova Scotia is from New Jesey. {Man ... we're practically neighbors. :-}])

And if you have any words for Shauna, (like well-wishes,) drop me a line as charles@msbpodcast.com and I'll make sure she gets every last one of them.

This week-end I spent some of my time going through my indie/podsafe music collection and I got stuck on [munk] like a needle in a groove. (Bet you that image confuses anybody born after the introduction of CDs. [From "A brief history of CDs" { http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/9802/9802article11.htm } "In 1982, the first Sony CD player called the CD-101 was released with Billy Joel's 52nd Street being the first musical production". {Man 1982. I was married and everything by 1982.}])

----

I got a jump in my download stats, "quite" a jump, that tells me that I got a couple of new subscribers through iTunes and they've downloaded all hundred past episodes there or I've got a lot of new listeners and they're cherry picking the episodes they want.

Welcome who and where ever you are.

----

You know how some people are "uber"-creative and spin-off entire industries, never mind companies or corporations, while the rest of us are stuck either following 'em, cleaning up after 'em, enjoying 'em and/or burying the dead in the debris?

That's why they seem to change style at the drop of a hat, and leave a trail for others to follow but it only leads a little way into the forest, before disappearing, like they did, into a will-o-the-wisp.

These people come into our lives of their own accord and leave likewise pulled by their own imperatives; pursuing their own muse; or should that be pursued by their own muse since they tend to be as driven as they are driving.

They are classified as geniuses, brilliant, fickle or "low-expectation mother fuckers" depending on how productive they manage to be while in our mutual spheres of attention.

But they're "never" classified as stable.

---- "I Am" by: "Munk" http://www.myspace.com/munk

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Grave" by: "Munk" http://www.myspace.com/munk

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Superheroes" by: "Munk" http://www.myspace.com/munk

"Thesis:"

I ran into something [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7254078.stm ] at the BBC news website that got me thinking.

You should click on the link to launch your web browser and stop/pause this recording (or go to MSBPodcast.com and click on it there on the website,) and come back after you've read it. Seriously... This podcast can wait.

I've been on about using neuroplasticity to recover our functionality (and since applying it to my "Tai Chi" exercises I have noticed improvements in my movement and in my control, [and others have noticed it too so its not just wishful thinking on my part,]) when it comes to getting our somatic senses back.

Now I'm thinking that there must be some way for these "gamer's hemets" to be used in some form of cognitive evaluation and therapy.

---- "Podpeople" by: "Munk" http://www.myspace.com/munk

"Synthesis:"

Might an "Epoc" style headset be useful in other ways?

If we could extend our mental maps to something entirely external, and thus not influenced by sclera, and we train ourselves to extend our mental maps by providing immediate feedback, might this technique be used for rehabilitation.

If we could control an avatar in some representation of 3D space and control its attitudinal positioning in that same 3D space, might that not provide some of the same feedback that we need to get our somatic sense back.

I'm thinking that this would be extremely telling from a diagnostic sense as well.

If we can decipher the patterns between the volitional signals and the muscular actions, we might be able to enhance the control over the volitional signals by augmenting and supplementing these and using our brains' own ability to extend its own inborn mapping abilities.

The human brain is amazingly flexible and adaptive.

---- "30 Days" by: "Munk" http://www.myspace.com/munk

"Conclusion:"

Perhaps we can help ourselves by using the tools and toys at our disposal in unknown or atleast in unimagined ways.

I'm looking at the "Epoc" helmet and thinking that it could not only map how our brains' are different but it could mediate between the differences between then by translating between the signal paths that are at the core of the differences.

On other fronts, I'm seeing what I can rig up so Shauna and I could do a show together.

We've got both got Skype so now to see if "Naturally Speaking" can handle the both of us so we don't have to kill ourselves trying to create transcripts "on the fly." (Some of my listeners have hearing difficulties and like to follow along in the script just in case they might miss something. [What could I possibly have to say that was important enough to warrant it, I'm sure I don't know, but its all on every episode of my writing blog {at http://multiplesclerosisblog.blogspot.com/ }, on my podcast site (at http://www.MSBPodcast.com/ }, in the iTunes lyrics tab notes and even on the iPod 'about' screen.])

---- "Bombshelter" by: "Munk" http://www.myspace.com/munk

Outro

Friday, February 22, 2008

msb-0265 The Beeb

msb-0265 The Beeb

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSBPodcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

Grrr and fuck the world.

I'm having one of "those" days. (Hey! Wadda ya want? Life's a bitch and then ya die; then they throw dirt at ya; if you're lucky they've at least waited 'till you were in the ground...)

I love having symptom free days. (And that's most of 'em. :-)

I hate having the other kind.

My symptoms are "noisy" skin, discombulated coordination, (I hate feeling drunk without first having had the benefits of a couple of "good stiff belts",) and kee-rist only knows what's coming up next.

I guess that I shouldn't bitch, but I hate them days.

What are your days like? (I mean, I don't want to pry but, what does a bad day feel like to you? [Since you know its going to be read out, I don't even have to use your names, {unless you want me to.}])

And I'm getting some smell-o-vision hallucinations. (Everything smells like old "tea!?!" [Am I whacked-out, or what? {Okay... The tea smell has stopped, so that was definitely what I classify as "transient". (Weird ... Just weird.)}])

On a positive note, I'm averaging one download every ten minutes, every day, all day long.

I'm going to be at 50,000 slightly before I'd figured.

---- "Six Hours" by: "Zioneye" http://www.zioneye.se/

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop us an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Radio **Single**" by: "Big Bang Radio" http://www.myspace.com/bbrmusic

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Six" by: "The Stepford Five" http://www.stepfordfive.com/

"Thesis:"

Actually, I'm getting pretty good at identifying which area of my brain is being affected (or afflicted because I can never be sure if this a symptom of degeneration or, uh, ¿generation, if I don't have other symptoms. [I seem to be in fine fettle otherwise.])

Which gets me into the topic of this podcast, albeit in a convoluted fashion, which is that the Beeb, the British Broadcasting Corporation, (or is that Company?) has released a whole bunch of shows to iTunes as "podcasts". [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory/ ] (Got love the Beeb!)


---- "Sound Scientist-album version" by: "bill" http://www.billmusic.net/

"Synthesis:"

How would you like your fancy, your hobby, your obsession legitimized in one swell foop, uh, one fell swoop?

I'm "chuffed to little mint balls" (and I apologize to anyone who isn't a follower of Coronation Street [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Street ] for using that expression,) that the Beeb, in its forward looking stance, has seen fit to peer into the future and scoped out that the internet was a liberating force, and not something to be stamped out.

(Don't cha jus' love English? Check out that last sentence: "looking, seen, peer, scoped out" and all of which mean "glommed on". :-)

They have legitimized podcasting and the internet as a source for information and media.

Now they're going to come up with a business model which has local, regional, national and international features. (Yeah, I know. Its glaringly obvious. Now I'm just waiting for some idiot lawyer in California to try to patent it. Forget it dude. Its already got prior art.)


---- "Song of Sixpence" by: "4 and 20 blackbirds" http://www.4and20blackbirds.com/


"Conclusion:"

Little by little and day by day, (who am I kidding, this was a huge leap into respectability,) podcasting is getting accepted as an ever more valuable player in the media landscape.

Now excuse me while I "bask in the glow"...


---- "Hey Hey Sister" by: "Laura Clap" http://www.lauraclapp.com/

Outro

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

msb-0264 Seven Hit Wonders

msb-0264 Seven Hit Wonders

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSB Podcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

While I was corresponding with "Rick Bone" of "Broken Feather", he asked me to tell him what was the best way to get my podcast.

This is what I replied:
The best and easiest way is to get people to listen is to send people to my website at

http://www.MSBPodcast.com

There they can:

1) listen from the web, and there's even a player right on the page, down the left hand side of the page, (WAY down because that's not really recommended unless you've got a really good connection)

OR

2) click on the pod symbol next to the episode they want to hear and playing it through their browser, (that's not really recommended unless you've got a really good connection,)

OR

3) right click on the pod symbol next to the episode they want to hear and save the episode on their machines and they can listen to it anytime they want,

OR

4) subscribe to it through iTunes, there's a graphic they can click on (I've automated the process as much as I can,) which admittedly only a fraction of my listeners get around to, but its the option that works best with band pictures and web-site links (and it will eventually do the same for advertisers,)

AND for users of options 3 or 4,

sync the downloaded episode to your portable device, like an iPod.
That's about it...

---- "Seven Beer Bitch" by: "Adrenaline Factor" http://perrisrecords.com/catalog/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=56957

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Quarter To Seven" by: "SUBB" http://www.myspace.com/subb

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "On the Seventh Day" by: "Marriott Jazz Quintet" http://www.marriottjazz.com/

"Thesis:"

Seven Hit Wonders is a strange title for an episode so I'd better explain myself.

I figure that I've got seven episodes left between my posting this and the launch of my French podcast.

There is not much new in the world of this MSer, for now.

---- "Seven Spiders" by: "Jeff and Bill" http://www.myspace.com/jeffandbillmusic

"Synthesis:"

While I say that, things don't "need" to change.

The pace of change is either glacial, as in moving like a glacier, or striking, as in "Slap!", or both.

The trick to coping with it all is to let it happen . (Its going to happen whether you want it to or not, so why fight it? [But be ready to jump back up. {I'm getting to be a "pain in the butt"but I feel its "essential" to fight and recover our functionality as quickly as inhumanly possible. (You do "not" want me to be your coach because I am "Ming the Merciless". ("Lift that barge! Tote that bale!!" ["Uh, shouldn't that be?" ... "No! Now get your backs into it, ya scurvy dogs!" :-])}])

Coping with change is tough.

Coping with change is always tough.

The kind of change doesn't even matter.

Good. bad. It doesn't matter.

Of course its a lot easier to get people to help you when you're coping with winning some money. (Hell, people will "gladly" volunteer. [In fact, if I win a million bucks, I'll even "let" one of you volunteer.])

If you're coping, may it always be with that kind of fun and sweet change, (but I suspect that, since you're listening to me, its the kind of change that needs "Ming the Merciless!")

---- "Seven Long Years" by: "The Heise Bros." http://www.theheisebros.com/

"Conclusion:"

Yes, change is inevitable.

It happens to everybody.

It happens all the time. (There's "got" to be a song lyric in there somewhere. :-)

As MSers, we've got to make sure we can let our neuroplasticity take all of the advantages it can get to help us "recover!"

Yes, its a friggin' bummer, but it doesn't have to be "permanent!"

We "can" get better because of "neuroplasticity".

Then its a question of saying in remission and there's drugs to help with that.

I just don't enjoy the delivery method. "Yikes!"

---- "Seventh Avenue Prophet" by: "Zox" http://www.zoxband.com/

Outro

Monday, February 18, 2008

msb-0263 Hand grenade! Quick! Catch!

msb-0263 Hand grenade! Quick! Catch!

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSB Podcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

I know that the title of this episode is certainly strange, as will be the subsequent ones in the countdown to my "French" language podcast.

Its going to be weekly at first because its a much tougher slog for me.

French "used to be" my mother tongue. "Used to be" is one heck of a distinction.

I am now what used to be referred to in Quebec politics as "un maudit vendu." (A damn sold out)

The only question I used to ask is "Préférez vous etre vendus, oû être donnés?" (Would you rather be sold, or given away?)

---- "Monster" by: "Broken Feather" http://www.myspace.com/brokenfeather1

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

----

This was an interesting week-end.

Rick Bone of the band "Broken Feather" [ http://www.myspace.com/brokenfeather1 and http://www.lorishideaway.com/brokenfeather/ ] got in touch with me.

Its was quite a revelation to hear them "singing" about "having MS".

Some of the songs are quite dark, as you can inagine, but some are not dark and sing about overcoming MS.

I will be in touch with them again.

I'm trying to line up an interview and to get some tunes from them.

---- "Cherokees Dream" by: "Dreamweaver" http://www.dreamweaver.at/

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Spirit Prayer" by: "Broken Feather" http://www.myspace.com/brokenfeather1

"Thesis:"

Who is coming to my sites from "Fontenay-sous-bois"? (Just west of Paris. [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fontenay-sous-boi&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl ]) Or "Hanoi"? [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanoi ] Or "Mali" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali ] (I must admit it gives me a hoot-and-a-half to think that someone may be coming to my sites from "Timbuktu".)

I wonder about my widespread audience.

Who the heck are you?

---- "Im in Love with a Navajo Boy" by: "lunar drive" http://www.lunardrive.com/

"Synthesis:"

That last song should clue you into the spread of languages on our planet.

It should clue you into how they divide us (What was hat man singing about? In Navajo for Pee's sake!) while music unites us all and invites us all.

Part of my befuddlement about this disease is its distribution. (Then again, we're all "human beings".)

I've had hits from 122 countries.

Of course these have been in countries where English is spoken, but still.

How many of these people, (of "you", this "is" about you after all,) are out there?

How are you doing?

What are you doing?

How are you doing at what you're doing?

How many of you are actually doctors seeing what MSers are listening to?

How many of you are actually care givers, wifes and husbands of patients, doctors, nurses, hospices and/or hospitals caring for MSers?

How many of you are just curious, or suspicious, about this disease?

Its not fatal by itself, (though I can come up with scenarios where i could be directly implicated.)

If you wan't to know, from someone who's been there, its really a pain in the ass, (despite its' being an auto immune disease, because it affects the central nervous system it can affect anything you can feel and anything you can do.)

Its a second order derivative disease.

---- "Drifting Away" by: "Broken Feather" http://www.myspace.com/brokenfeather1

"Conclusion:"

I've got question about the linguistic groupings, the nationalities and the demographic makeup of my audience.

You're from everywhere.

I "do" wish you'd drop me an email ( charles at MSBPodcast )

And in an unashamed reference to Shauna MacKinnon, here comes one last track "Brrrds and Bugs":

---- "Brrrds and Bugs" by: "lunar drive" http://www.lunardrive.com/

Outro

Saturday, February 16, 2008

msb-0262 Bugs In Us

msb-0262 Bugs In Us

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSB Podcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

Shauna MacKinnon of "Bugs, Bikes and Brains" fame [ http://bugsbikesbrains.blogspot.com/ ] is joining the podcast. (Yippee!! Yahoo! Hooray!)

---- "Night Worm" by: "Ardent Octopus" http://www.podshow.com/shows/?show_id=1669&mode=current

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop either of us an email at: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Wormhole Wipeout" by: "The Tsunami Experiment" http://www.myspace.com/thetsunamiexperiment

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send either of us an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Wormhole" by: "Specimen 37" http://www.specimen37.com/

"Thesis:"

I told you that Shauna and I had talked about creatures with more than four legs.

I try to keep them out of my environment personally.

Shauna seems to be a bit more lenient and kind towards them.

But on this her first post here, she discusses our relationship with creatures with no legs.

---- "The worm escaped last night" by: "Steffen Coonan" http://www.steffencoonan.com/

"Synthesis:"

A study was released recently detailing the number of creatures living in and on us as humans. (And I can't seem to find the link right now) It's more than we thought. Which is no surprise to me. I've been aware of the presence of these helpful organisms for a long time. I've been aware of the presence of the unhelpful ones almost as long. Basically, your bugs should stay your bugs. My folks and I joke that if we have an upset stomach or intestinal distress, it's because we ate someone else's E.Coli. Whether or not that's the case, a point is made: there are bugs in us and on us.

The bugs we have in our gut have important jobs to do. They help us digest our food. They help us stay healthy and fight off illness. They sometimes make things difficult for the not so helpful bugs and protect us from the "evil" ones.

But it's the bad ones that interest me. Tapeworms, hookworms, and the parasite that causes malaria, transmitted through the saliva of a mosquito. How these animals evolved into what they are now is what researchers are examining now. Any parasitic animal runs the risk of wiping itself out by being discovered. They are the cat burglars of the parasitic world, sneaking into an animal, taking what they want, and then dispersing to invade other animals.

I remember a nine year old girl telling me she had a tape worm. As I was also nine, I thought that was interesting. I asked her what it did and where she had it. After she told me it was in her insides, I admit, I didn't think it was so cool. She also told me she was taking medicine to get rid of it. And of course at that age, I had heard of worms you could get from walking barefoot in the grass or from dog poop.

But for some strange reason, I have always thought there must be some explanation of why these types of organisms live the way they do. There must be some benefit, not just to them, but to their hosts. Otherwise they couldn't have survived as long as they have. Some parasites quickly kill their host or disable them to the point that both parasite and host will suffer.

People with sickle cell anemia are not susceptible to malaria. The sickle cell structure isn't amenable to the parasite that causes malaria, so the bugs can't affect the host. Did this mutation in haemoglobin in red blood cells allow those with it to survive while others didn't and thereby allow the mutation to become an inheirited trait? Did the mutation arise because of the parasite? Or was it simply a chance event that had a slightly positive result? I say slightly because while those with sickle cell survive malaria, they often have shortened lives due to the mutation, though in malaria ridden areas they do have an advantage.

Since my diagnosis, I have often thought of MS in these terms: of what benefit is it to me to have MS? Has some virus or bacteria triggered the onset of MS? Perhaps the presence of one of those parasites keep others from settling in us. Perhaps MS evolved as a way to protect us from another, less desirable, disease. Perhaps the immune activity triggered by MS protected us from strains of plague or smallpox during the midle ages.

On a related note, recent studies in south America and in Europe/Africa show a protective action of some parasites in people with MS as compared to those with MS but no parasites. But I'm not going barefoot in the grass any time soon.

If you're really interested in parasites in general, read "Parasite Rex", [ http://www.amazon.com/Parasite-Rex-Bizarre-Dangerous-Creatures/dp/074320011X ] by Carl Zimmer. It's an absolutely fascinating look at some of the earth's most reviled creatures.

---- "Wormwood" by: "Mark Christopher" http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=79724708

"Conclusion:"

Her piece reminded me of a book I'd reviewed a while back: "Survival of the Sickest" by "Dr. Sharon Moalem" ISBN: 978-0060889654".

I hope you enjoyed Shauna MacKinnon's debut.

---- "Worm food" by: "Ruth Theodore" http://www.ruththeodore.com/

Outro

Friday, February 15, 2008

msb-0261 Got to tidy up. Company's coming. :-)

msb-0261 Got to tidy up. Company's coming. :-)

intro

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

MSB Podcast is "not" any kind of a medical podcast.

It is by and for MSers.

Its purpose is to keep us entertained, to explain our symptoms, to remark on our discoveries, and to raise the general consciousness about our disease.

The path to illness is shadowy, murky and rough strewn.

The path to wellness is lit by the lamp of knowledge.

----

Feedback comes first, so...

Shauna is simply wonderful.

As you may have noticed, She's redone the "set pieces" of the podcast, like the "Feedback" segment, where I tell you who'd been in touch with me, the "Feed Forward" segment, asking you for your input and the "Feed Me" segment offering to spread the word about a product good or service related to MS. (But "not" for free. If these people expect to extract some financial benefit, we should do so as well.).

This way I won't have to put up with my own shaky voice. (Its just my body's that's episodically sick and struggles with sequelae. My mind is quite sound. [Advertisers have to see that I'm definitely "in for the duration" and that I can attract good voice-over talent. {And Shauna is definitely that. :-}])

Furthermore, it she finds me ads to run, she gets most of the money from running those ads. (Yeah... Sure... "From our mouthes to Gods ear", as the saying goes. :-)

She's in another country, but that doesn't matter.

The internet operates trans-nationally. That's why have listeners in over a hundred and twenty countries. Not a lot of them in each, the "one in twelve-hundred" demographic still applies, but they're there.

I wouldn't be surprised is she "could" charm somebody out there into a putting up a "no risk" ad on the server and the podcast download model. (Its only a $30 CPM, with an extremely focused M, but geographically, its really spread thin. I really think the first ones who are going to see the utility of advertising on this podcast are the drug manufacturers, when the have something new to announce to the world. [And they'll see that anything is "new" if you've never heard of it. {Like the newly diagnosed and those who have just had a relapse after a long time. (Like your's truly.}])

And while that is going on, "Je vais démarrer un podcast en Français pour les Francophone au Québec, en France, en Algerie, au Maroc, au Vietnam et tout partout ou-est-ce que l'internet se rend."

This podcast as reached English listeners all over the globe.

"Allons voir ce que je peut faire en Français"

---- "Road 2 Happiness" by: "Reed" http://www.myspace.com/reed

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Happiness" by: "Bart Banana" http://myspace.com/bartbanana

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "I wish you happiness" by: "Leanne Bugat" http://www.leannebugat.com/

"Thesis:"

Its taking a long time for my flash of vision about the capabilities of niche podcasting over the internet, using the same internet for podcast discovery, to come to fruition.

But it "is" happening.

---- "Happiness and Love" by: "Jennifer and Bill" http://myspace.com/jenniferandbill

"Synthesis:"

The writers' strike which just ended was concerned with paying the writers for the use of their material, their intellectual property, using the internet, regardless of which economic model or models, the studios eventually settle on.

I don't pretend to know the politicking that went on behind the scenes.

Frankly I'm not interested in the historical narrative side. (I'm no "John C. Dvorak" doing what he calls "prognosticating" [what I call "reading the news that somebody else wrote to report on what somebody else is doing and injecting his curmudgeonly and usually horribly short-sighted contrarian opinion"] raining on everybody's parade, telling anybody who'll pay to hear ... some drivel or other. [Its a good thing nobody ever takes people like him seriously or we'd all be dying of septic shock. {Never mind high-tech, there wouldn't never have been any map makers, "'Cause you're not going anywhere anyway." (He represents the voice of the "anti-self", the person who's world view is blighted that his followers end up in a pile of corpses at "Heaven's Gate" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven's_Gate_(cult) ])}])

My interest is in the generative, forward projecting side of things.

What does or can this agreement mean?

In what direction does this agreement take the writers? (The creative forces behind all of these media projects.)

Well, it gives some options for profiting from the coming shift of media content creation for and distribution on the internet. (Like all seismic shifts, you're usually too busy trying to find some stability to see how totally the landscape around you is roiling around. [That usually takes people like me who take the time to look around {and usually end up losing our footing. (Hey, I've got MS. That makes me an expert at and on stumbling around but still getting somewhere want to go.)}])

Its not that the traditional media are going to suddenly disappear. They aren't.

But there are only 1,440 minutes in a day and the internet gives us so many more options in the sources for our "violon d'Ingres," our hobbies, our passions, our data, our information, our knowledge, our wisdom.

That means that we have to focus more and more on what we need.

Face it, we're all being bombarded by car and beer ads 24/7.

If I do the same, I deserve to be ignored as much as the others who are pushing this noise your way.

But by focusing on what we MSers need, want and are stuck paying for (because nobody buys this stuff if they don't have to,) I can provide a service that I could frankly have used before my last and debilitating MS episode. (Maybe it didn't even need to be debilitating.)

---- "Something Like Happiness" by: "The Complements" http://www.thecomplements.com/

"Conclusion:"

Its taking a long time for my flash of vision about the capabilities of niche podcasting over the internet, using the same internet for podcast discovery, to come to fruition.

But it "is" happening.

Its just a question of patience.

I'm like a cat sitting in front of a mouse hole ... staring and waiting.

Patient and secure in the knowledge that I'm not wasting my time.

---- "LOVE AND HAPPINESS" by: "WORKING GIRLS" http://www.myspace.com/workinggirls

Outro

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

msb-0260 What Is This? MacBreak Tech?

msb-0260 What Is This? "MacBreak Tech"? [ http://macbreaktech.com/ ]

intro

Feedback comes first, so...

Your safe. There isn't any ...

Except from a band, "Dead Leaf Echo"

They dropped me an email about their new album.

As soon as its on the PMN you'll get a few tracks because they're a really, well, I don't want to tar them with an inadequate epiteth.

They have really complex melodies intertwined with some solid rhythms and some fairly good vocals.

I'm reminded of the sixties ("Tangerine Dream", [ http://www.tangerinedream.org/ ] maybe, sort of, they're hard to slot,) when I listen to "Cry the sea."

"Tough Talk" is another good tunes and its even available on their My Space page [ http://www.myspace.com/deadleafecho ].

"Poison Lips" is still a very good indie recording and its still available on the page.

---- "Music Man" by: "Dave McCormick" http://www.myspace.com/davemccormickwv

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Everytime" by: "Dave McCormick" http://www.myspace.com/davemccormickwv

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Whipporwill" by: "Dave McCormick" http://www.myspace.com/davemccormickwv

"Thesis:"

In a change of pace for my listeners (all of whom must be heaving a sigh of relief [Nah. They'd just "not" be my listeners, {I'm no Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh, who people listen to even when they hate them,}]) and in a move reminiscent of Kenji Kato "we now join a conversation already in progress."

...

---- "Lightening Over Cheyenne" by: "Dave McCormick" http://www.myspace.com/davemccormickwv

"Synthesis:"

... I've just bought "Dragon Naturally Speaking" to transcribe the shows and, when it arrives and I'll let it loose after I've installed it on the PC (I basically own several Macs and a couple of Linux boxen.)

Until then... You're screwed.

Come back later and the text will follow this.

----

[not yet]

---- "Cant See The Forest For The Trees" by: "Dave McCormick" http://www.myspace.com/davemccormickwv

"Conclusion:"

Well, I hope you envoy Shauna MacKinnon.

I'm hoping that she joins my little train wreck of a podcast on a regular basis.

The podcast would definitely change. (For the better... I know my limitations. :-)

---- "Learning To Balance" by: "Dave McCormick" http://www.myspace.com/davemccormickwv

Outro

Monday, February 11, 2008

msb-0259 Things are about to change.

msb-259 Things are about to change.

intro

Feedback comes first, so...

Miracle of miracles.

The employment front has just got a lot more hopeful round the old homestead.

My wife has landed herself a job teaching "French" at a "Catholic" high school. (Who knew being "French" and "Catholic" would be useful one of these days? Specially these days. :-)

Its not full time and not a lot of money, but it helps and its something entirely novel for her... I haven't seen her so busy or having this much fun in years. (We'll get back to the importance of "novelty" in living a full and fun life.)

Now, she's back at school registering to get a degree in education.

----

My own employment situation has also improved.

While I'm pretty sure that nobody will hire me until the United States stops being foolish and adopts some form universal health care policy. (One that pits each supplier company against all of the others, ["dog-eat-dog" style, because that's the "Flag Waving American Capitalist" way, {and the most effective way, as long as the Flag Waving American Capitalists have some competition, (because if they don't, you have an abusively exploitative cluster-fuck,)}] but with a single payer, the US gumint, sitting on the cash machine that's doling out the 15% of the economy that our collective health already costs us all anyway.)

Meanwhile, I can take on contract work (which leaves me with "clients" instead of "bosses" [which is actually pretty sweet because, at those rates, I'm "not" tired.] Of course, there's absolutely "no" security; but, "What else is new?" [I gave up on security back in the late seventies. I was just ahead of the curve. {Show me someone who's secure and I'll show you a guy who's bought a "pre-need" cemetery plot.}])

----

In the meantime, right now, I am listening to the angelic voice of "Sheila Chandra".

I don't know if she's podsafe.

I've tried to find her email address, (I know she's somewhere in Britain,) to get her permission because the album "Roots and Wings" is a wonderfully soothing listen.

"The Struggle" reminds me of the "tablas" exercises that an Indian friend of mine used to do.

---- "Trees" by: "T. Nile" http://tamaranile.com/

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Something Better" by: "T. Nile" http://tamaranile.com/

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Willie" by: "T. Nile" http://tamaranile.com/

"Thesis:"

Is there a phrase as charged with emotion as much as: "Things are about to change."

We MSers usually interpret that as meaning "for the worse". (Face it when you've got the diagnosis of having a chronic disease, whether its relapsing-remitting or degenerative, you've already got the bad news.)

But that's "not" the only way things can change.

We need "novelty" to live a full and fun life. We need to face up to change and not be afraid of it because its not all bad. In fact sometimes, its friggin' "great!"

Novelty and repetition are forever engaged in a battle for our focus (not "attention" but "focus" was the mysterious "force" I disparaged in msb-0253 in my review of "The Mind & The Brain" by "Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley" ISBN: 978-0-06-098847-0 . [As it turned out the authors were using the "English Latinate" word "attention" when what they really meant was the "Greek" word "εστία" {pronounced "esteea"} or "focus". Then I was able to recognize it for what it really was.])

---- "Buddy" by: "T. Nile" http://tamaranile.com/

"Synthesis:"

One of my main beefs with the Insurance companies, (and I am "not" going into a rant right now,) is that they barely allot enough recovery time to staunch the bleeding, never mind the hours and hours needed to wipe (and a few treatments with oxytocin would greatly help with accelerating that) and refashion a mental map of your body and its capabilities.

Refashioning a mental map requires a great deal of repetition; a "great" deal.

The point is not the same as is usually done in physiotherapy. Its one thing to rebuild meat, uh, muscles. Its quite another to rebuild nerves and have them work properly. Neurotherapy might be accelerated after a fashion by some drugs but it must be done properly and that means "patiently".

Think of how many years it took you to learn how to walk properly.

You spent a year flat on your back, then rolling over, then crawling before you even made it up to your knees.

Then you spent another year toddling; teerering about, driving your chubby little legs like pistons at the ground in an effort to stop yourself from falling (much to the annoyance of any downstairs neighbors.)

"Then" you learned how to stride. (Some of my upstairs neighbors have never mastered striding. Man, that's "annoying"! [When they're home, I can't record anything because of the "boom, boom"noise of their feet pounding the floor.{But its all part of living in a close knit community; where people are in and out if each other houses all day, (sometimes with each other's property [and sometimes with each other's spouses (but that's another kind of noise).])}])

Well, "that" roll over, crawl, totter, stride rebuilding is exactly what you're trying to replicate, potentially all over your body and potentially with absolutely every part.

Its "not" like strength training or physio rehab. It takes "time".

The reps are not done to increase strength.

They're done the increase control.

And there's no rushing it.

That goes for the impatient patient as well.

You've got to ingest whatever substances cause you to increase your "brain-derived neurotrophic factors" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-derived_neurotrophic_factor ] so that you can remyelinate as quickly as possible.

(The old saw of "Eat your fish. Its brain food..." that left us all severely unimpressed as children turned out [http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060304/bob8.asp] to have been right.

Pink salmon is a tasty canvass on which we can apply a palette full of spices, herbs, marinades and other condiments, to boil, broil, roast, pan-fry or "sushi," [eat it raw, ] to chew our way to good neurological health. You know: Omega-3 oils and the like.)

---- "Get Together" by: "T. Nile" http://tamaranile.com/

"Conclusion:"

We all need to have some fun and some enjoyment in life.

We also need to take the time to recover.

That means being able to start extremely small and see just how far we can push the rehab envelope.

We need a novel approach, one that takes repetition as a virtue. (When I was learning to play guitar, I played some passages for hours and hours. [There was a pianist who went into an old age home. He used to play scales all day long. A nurse commented that it must sad for the old man to be reduced to playing scales. His room mate got very angry with her and said: "Are you deaf woman? He is playing scales ... perfectly." {Sometimes, music would just be a distraction from the skill building.}])

We need "novelty" to live a full and fun life.

We need to face up to change and not be afraid of it because its not all bad.

In fact sometimes, its friggin' "great!

----

Part of the novelty is the introduction of a new host of this little audio train wreck.

Shauna MacKinnon is a fellow MSer from Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. She brings her "bona fides" to the podcast.

She also brings year of experience in "radio", (yes the medium that I am trying to supplant for roughly half-an-hour, three times a week, in your listening schedules.)

She's a blogger as well and she blogs at: "bugs, bikes, and brains" [ http://bugsbikesbrains.blogspot.com/ ].

I'm hoping that you will be introduced to her in the next episode of the MSBPodcast.

---- "Silently" by: "T. Nile" http://tamaranile.com/

Outro

Friday, February 08, 2008

msb-0258 Well, here we are again...

msb-0258 Well, here we are again...

intro

Feedback comes first, so...

Dang, I wish I knew what kind of music "Miss Chris" [ http://azchick.blogspot.com/ ] liked because I wouldn't feel like I'm flying blind.

I hope she likes this and that it doesn't piss of her hubby. (It is definitely "not" insipid "girly chick music", but it feels like deep down, dirty, from the friggin' roots, use the block and kick off the "Tony Lamas" boots, kind of music that a "real man" would like. :-)

Yeah! I hope she plays you this and you're, uh, "inspired".

----

I'm pretty pissed off at LibSyn because their fu.. uh, darn post editor is goving me lots of trouble editing these posts when I post them the site. I'm supposed to be able to get my Amazon "co-conspirator" links to work, but lately, it just sucks.

---- "Im A New Man" by: "Jason Ricci" http://www.myspace.com/jasonricciandnewblood

Feed Forward comes next, so...

This is "your" segment.

Say "your" piece on this segment.

Share with other MSers whatever "you" want to share.

Drop me an email: "charles at MSBPodcast.com"

---- "The Rocker" by: "Jason Ricci" http://www.myspace.com/jasonricciandnewblood

Feed Me comes third, so...

Do you have a therapy, product, good or service that is of interest to MSers?

Consider advertising on this podcast.

Reminders on this segment only cost $0.03 per reminder per download of an episode. (A $30CPM targeted at MSers.)

It can/should lead to a full ad, in text, audio or video, which costs $3.00 per download.

That sounds expensive until you do the math and realize that if nobody downloads it it costs you nothing, unlike print, where you often can't even get an ad in to the specialized journals, or radio or TV where you'd just be wasting your money with the 0.0833% MSers rate of return. (That's about six times "below" the level of "statistical noise".)

But MSBPodcast is 100% in your market, and you only pay per download of your material.

No play, no pay.

Reach the MSers who would buy your therapy, product, good or service, with-out having to waste your advertising money on anyone who is "not" interested...

Send me an email at: "charles (at) MSBPodcast.com"

---- "Blackbird" by: "Stingray" http://music.podshow.com/sue_html/images/websiteIcon.jpg

"Thesis:"

You have noticed that the music is a lot more "Blues Rock" and a whole lot less "New Age-ish" in these episodes.

I'm feeling a whole lot more "Blues Rock" and a whole lot less "New Age-ish" these days.

I'm feeling "good" from the soles of my feet to the top of my skull.

It got something to do with how much better I'm feeling about life in general and about knowledge in particular.

---- "Meet Me In The Middle" by: "Stingray" http://music.podshow.com/sue_html/images/websiteIcon.jpg

"Synthesis:"

I'm beginning to realize how much of my life was (and to a large extent still is) lived by instinct.

Its done me plenty of good, instinct has, as I've careened from one job to the next, one career to the next, hell one wife to the next, (and pity me men because they actually like each other so you "know" I ain't getting away with nuttin'.)

I'm now discovering how good my instincts were when I was recovering from the second episode (my first diagnosed episode,) back in 1985.

I'm rediscovering the exercises I did back then.

I am even discovering "why" I was doing them and how good they were for my sense of balance, for my sense of coordination, for my sense of "soma". (The sense that things belong together in time as well as space.)

Damn, I feel like I've been living in a shadow all this time, an echo, seconds behind myself and in multiple images.

I may never get back to who and what I used to be, but its so nice, (nah, as George Carlin said, "nice" is such a "flabby word",) its so "real" to be in touch with it.

I feel like I'm emerging from a long tunnel, a long dark tunnel, without signposts or milestones to tell me how far I've traveled and no maps to guide my way.

MS is an individual disease.

Its is up to all individuals to make their own way as they gropes towards towards the tunnel entrance.

There are no shortcuts to health.

But armed with knowledge, we are able to wield the weapons that medical science put at our disposal, in our arsenal, with better aim and to better effect.

---- "Slaughterhouse Blues" by: "Maria Daines" http://www.maria-daines.com/

"Conclusion:"

So here we are again, with me not having more than a general feeling of where I'm heading, how fast I'm hurtling towards it or how badly I'm burning up, well, everything, as I get there.

But its all good...

Wherever I end up is where I am meant to be.

I'll just keep crawling towards the light.

---- "Your Time Will Come" by: "Maria Daines" http://www.maria-daines.com/

Outro