In hospital cafeterias, I especially used to hate watching doctors drag ties and/or stethoscopes across their plates just before rushing off to see patients, without washing either hands or loose ends.
But there's another, more substantial reason why I prefer to eschew ties, and it's nice to see that science is finally taking a closer look at these human-style dog collars.
On the street we've all seen red-faced business executives all prettied up with colorful neckties intended to convey various images, shirts buttoned to the top and necks constricted to the max. In hospitals, I don't think there is any question that some of these folks arrive by ambulance as victims of a stroke, often seeming "too young" to have experienced the life-threatening rupture or occlusion of blood vessels in the brain.
We humans weren't built to wear restrictive devices around our necks. Depending upon where we were born on the planet, we were either intended to go pretty much naked in warm climates or to pile on with animal skins and vegetation to insulate us from the cold.
The necktie's arrival only served to hasten our medical problems, in my opinion, including restriction of blood to the brain, facilitation of clot formation and even causing an effect on the cervical vertebral column. Why not just put a noose on your neck and tighten it until your eyes pop? Ouch. Okay, call me a crank.
Except you'd also need to call the mayor Of Lancaster, CA a crank, because (per the Los Angeles Times, July 12) Mayor Parris wants to make ties optional for city employees, citing particularly health concerns.
And there is scientific precedent. Researchers at Germany's University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein scanned brains of thirty men, half of whom wore neckties, and results indicated that at least a ten-percent decrease in blood flow affected a third of the tie-wearing subjects.
"The study does not explain how the 7.5% average decrease in blood circulation might affect brain function," states the article. "But generally speaking, poor cerebral blood flow can lead to brain tissue death and result in stroke, hemorrhage and other conditions. . ."
Also of interest is mention of a 2003 study published in the Journal of Ophthalmology, suggesting that wearing ties tightly may increase the risk for blindness and glaucoma.
So, considering the crazy social climate in the country, maybe next time somebody gives you a tie as a gift you need to call the police and have them arrested for assault?
The Trump-Putin Meeting: Putin presented Trump a ball from the World Cup affair, but in the eyes of many Trump dropped the ball of effectively dealing with Russia's favorite and, um, colorful dictator. It's probably unfair for me to second-guess Trump, but I'd almost rather the President had met with Putin nemesis Pussy Riot instead of Mother Russia's main squeeze(r).
So what happened in Finland? Trump was being Trump, an America lover to the core, but sometimes words spoken publicly get him into trouble. Few apparently ponder this, but aside from poorly chosen -- and as of today, mistakenly worded -- comments, what was Trump to do? Insult Putin before the cameras, causing Russia's leader to drop his ear piece and storm out of the room, effectively closing the door on any vestiges of reasonable peace talks? Brennan, Schumer, Flake, McCain and all the usual Trump-hating suspects wasted no time going on the attack in "collusion" with mainstream media automatons thrilled to publicize their barbs. The press wanted a fight and asked provocative questions to force one -- and how about the "journalist" removed for carrying an anti-nuke message, which he claimed wasn't really a. . .oh, who knows?
No, the President didn't endear himself to our intelligence agencies while speaking in Helsinki, so call him out on it, accept today's apology and let's move on. But to threaten him with accusations of treason and scare the country by turning Donald Trump into a frightening monster via elite members of both government and media who carry their own curious baggage assures a pretty stupid scene.
Trump's reference to Pakistan and the missing DNC server, make that servers, frankly, should receive concerted attention, but since that turns everything back to the Democrats and their adoring media, who excel at burying their party's poop far away from the public eye, well, good luck.
Maybe nobody's noticed, but as the newest chapter in the "Cold War" marches forward (thanks Obama) Russia, not to mention China, has developed some really scary weapons. We've two choices: Want to engage Russia militarily and enjoy a lovely calamitous war, or should we maybe work around Trump's comments a bit and try for cooler heads?
Cody Wilson won his long, long war with the Feds, and 3-D printer instructions for manufacturing the kind of one-shot firearm he posted online are deemed not an illegal download. Further, the government was forced to admit that AR-type firearms fulfill the description of a sporting gun, not a military weapon. Funny, but not unusual, how the MSM can't bother to shout out this victory for both the First and Second Amendments.
The ACLU are little more than extortionists and thugs, as far as I'm concerned. Any group of activists weaponized with law degrees who insist on forcing hard-working, tax-paying Americans to accept, house, feed and pay for illegal alien families are a scourge of the country. The accompanying involvement of "relief" organizations raking in obscene amounts of our money adds to the blight. Before gangs with pitchforks and torches storm the White House to rid the nation of Donald Trump, they really need to think twice and then a third time, because actions initiated and expanded to clean up immigration corruption currently are a gift we may never see again.
