I’d really like to meet the person responsible for some graffiti I spotted in the men’s room at the Cornerstone: “Don’t Raw Dog A Random.”

That has to be the most effective peer-to-peer safer-sex message I’ve ever read while taking a piss in Maryland. It did take me a second to work out exactly what it meant, as I’m old, so here’s a quick translation for other olds: “Don’t raw dog a random” means “For heaven’s sake, don’t engage in unprotected vaginal intercourse—don’t have sex without a condom—with a woman you’ve only just met, particularly if you met her in this drinking establishment. Bro.”

It’s not a failsafe strategy for avoiding sexually transmitted infections—people can get very specific STIs from completely nonrandom sex partners—but the number of STIs could be cut dramatically if all male college students everywhere refrained from raw-dogging those lovely lady randoms and vice versa. (I realize that “random” is not gendered… but if you saw this bar, you would know that an exclusively heterosexual clientele can be safely assumed. A straight boy wrote that message, and he was addressing other straight boys, and “random” refers to female pickups, not male pickups.)

I want to add that I was particularly impressed by the use of the word “random” in place of, say, “bitch,” “slut,” “whore,” or any of the other sexist/hostile/demeaning terms that college-town-bathroom-stall-graffitiing types typically use in place of “woman,” “female,” or “young lady coed.” Well done, DIY safe-sex educator!

— February 2, 2011 : Savage Love | The A.V. Club [via]

(via secretary)

Results of a survey in Jan/Feb 2010 of 711 houses and more than 4000 individuals in Fallujah show that in the five years following the 2004 attacks by USA-led forces there has been a 4-fold increase in all cancer. Interestingly, the spectrum of cancer is similar to that in the Hiroshima survivors who were exposed to ionizing radiation from the bomb and uranium in the fallout. By comparing the sample population rates to the cancer rates in Egypt and Jordan, researchers found there has been a 38-fold increase in leukemia (20 cases) almost a 10-fold increase in female breast cancer (12 cases) and significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumours in adults.

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Genetic damage and health in Fallujah Iraq worse than Hiroshima [via]

this seems like a really short timespan to provide explanation for this increase in brain tumors. generally, i think they have a much longer period of development (also I am curious what ‘significant’ means, since with such a small sample 1 or 2 might be greatly over the expected incidence).

regardless, interesting.

Lifestyle interventions” is another name for efforts to convince people to lose or maintain weight, eat a more healthful diet and get more physical activity. When people do make changes, good things can happen — research has found that even a 7% weight loss can produce much as a 58% improvement in the risk of progressing from prediabetes to diabetes.
It’s not like the diet and exercise message hasn’t been broadcast loud and clear, especially in the U.S. and other western countries, but public-health entreaties don’t always work. Most adults aren’t supposed to eat more than a teaspoon of salt per day, for example, but a CDC study released yesterday says only 10% of us do that. And other CDC statistics released recently show that in 2009, 29% of Americans were obese. (More of us were exercising, however.)

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Type 2 Diabetes Epidemic Called a ‘Public Health Humiliation’

I am so sick of discussions about type II diabetes that don’t bother to mention the importance of structural barriers to ‘lifestyle modification.’ This seems particularly glaring in Cleveland. While working at the hospital, its amazing how many people need diabetes related amputations (especially how many YOUNG people get these surgeries). And then, the ‘public health’ outreach is telling people that they need to eat a better diet and exercise more. In a city with some of the worst sidewalks/roads I have ever seen, public parks that are nice but concentrated in the suburbs (an hour or so by bus out of the city), a serious food desert problem (but, of course, tons of convenience stores selling processed/fried/cured foods), and very low car ownership/public transportation that has recently been cut and may be cut more significantly. And, you know, plenty of people go catch fish in the lake as a way to get fresh food. But, you know, its not exactly healthy to eat that much mercury.

And, yeah, we still think that the problem is that we aren’t communicating the lifestyle changes message strong enough?