Friday Already?
Friday, June 08, 2007
NOWCAST - One day of some sun and back to showers over the weekend. So what else is new? Wait until after the Rose Festival is over and it will be summer-like gain!
OUTCAST - I like this reflection by Dr. Jay S. Cohen, MD, associate professor (voluntary) of family and preventive medicine, University of California, San Diego. He is referring to the science of medicine but it could also parallel global warming and climate change as well. Today's facts may be toast tomorrow.
"When I was growing up, people drank milk to heal their ulcers, my mother fed me a healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs, and teachers asked me to memorize the nine planets, starting with Mercury and ending with Pluto. All this was based on what we knew as science -- and the facts were the facts. Or were they? As time went on, scientists learned that ulcers were often caused by helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria and that dairy could aggravate digestive disorders. Eggs lost favor because they were a source of cholesterol, and now Pluto is not considered an official planet after all. Today, coming full circle, eggs are back on the menu, considered healthy once again.
So-called "facts" change quickly, as science is replaced by newer science. Though we are encouraged to believe that medicine is an exact science, truth be told all medical knowledge -- for that matter, all scientific knowledge -- is only the experts' best "educated guess" based on what they know today and the scientific data they currently have. As we learn more, new questions arise -- and we discover unanticipated new answers, too."
Local Rainfall for May -
Vancouver Pearson field measured 1.26 inches and I recorded 1.44 inches here in north Salmon Creek;
-- posted by Pat Timm @ 12:18 AM,
