Tax season is coming up and I just ran across this article on Yahoo that I thought was important enough to pass on to you.

The article has to do with identity theft schemes where the crooks claim to be with the Internal Revenue Service. I won’t belabor the point other than to point out that they are using four methods:

1) Rebate phone calls
2) Tax refund e-mails
3) Audit emails
4) Check verification phone calls

The main thing that you need to know is that the IRS only uses the U.S. Postal Service. They never contact taxpayers by e-mail or by telephone. If someone contacts you claiming to be with the IRS, just hang up.

You can read the complete article entitled, Don’t Fall for IRS-Related Scams.

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Finally stopped raining and the sun’s come out. There has been a lot of flooding here in this part of the country. Rivers and creeks are over their banks. Roads have turned into rivers. My neighbor out back has a lake in his backyard. The news has been full of reports of water rescues and several people have drowned.

Fortunately, I live on higher ground and don’t have to worry about flooding and don’t have to deal with low-water crossings.

If you are ever in a flood situation and there is moving water over a roadway, don’t try to drive through it. As heavy as you might think your car or truck is, it can be swept away by the water. Many of the water rescues have been for people in pickup trucks and SUVs.

The newscasters are constantly reminding us with the following slogan: “Turn around, don’t drown.”

I had to delete yet another troll from my forum this week. It wasn’t an easy decision. I didn’t enjoy doing it and I admit it was a borderline case. I can’t really say whether or not the comments were intentionally malicious or harmful. (And no, they weren’t specifically directed at this web site or me, as far as I could tell.)

It was one of those deals that in the past I might have allowed to remain for a while just to see where this person was going with all the bunk they were dishing out. The key phrase here is, “in the past.”

You see I decided a couple months ago that I wasn’t going to tolerate anyone dispensing false, stupid or misleading information anywhere within these pages. In short, I decided that I would simply delete anything I deemed to be potentially harmful to another human being.

Why Not Just Allow Everything?

Let me give you an example…

I was on a forum earlier this week created by fans of an all-girl singing group I discovered a few months ago. I found this fan-site while surfing the net looking for more background information on the group.

This band caught my attention because it’s not the usual garbage you hear permeating the airwaves these days. This is a group of what seem to be really nice girls, all very talented, all very cute, and for the most part doing some pretty decent music.

So anyway, I’m on this forum checking out what other people are saying about these girls because I’m curious to know how the public is reacting to this style of music. I want to know if other people like them as much as I do.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that the majority of the comments were positive, everything was not beer and skittles.

What Was Wrong?

What really bothered me was that this forum allowed any manner of negative and hateful thread to be posted about these girls. There was even a long discussion the gist of which was, “Which girl do you really hate and why?” The so-called “fans” then proceeded to tear these girls apart. They seemed to take great delight in criticizing everything about them from their hair, their personalities, their singing ability… you name it. Anything was fair game.

One poster even remarked something to the effect that he couldn’t stand the sight of one of the girls and he wanted to beat her face in.

To say that I was more than a little dismayed at some of the comments would be an understatement. Granted they were in the minority, but the fact that they were allowed at all, really bothered me.

After all, how were these girls — who are just as sweet as can be and haven’t done anything to anyone — supposed to feel if they happened to read some of the comments these people were making about them? Who’s looking out for them?

Needless to say, I have no intention of returning to that forum.

Am I Wrong to Set Boundaries?

I don’t think so.

If the above forum had been under my control, I would not have allowed discussions of that type to remain. I would have deleted them immediately and banned the individuals making the hateful comments. Instead, the owner of that forum actually banned one person for trying to defend her favorite. (There may have been additional reasons. I didn’t bother to stick around.)

Fortunately (not counting spam), I’ve had to delete very few comments from my forum and only a handful of people have ever been banned. There are a number of opinions posted throughout the threads that I disagree with and I just let them slide. Trusted members are allowed to discuss just about anything they want.

But I have to draw the line somewhere.

Long story short; I intend to delete anything I consider inappropriate or potentially harmful. No apologies. This may not please everyone, but I have to consider what is in the best interest of the majority.

Just trying to do the right thing,
Dean

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Speaking of finding new medical blogs to read Grand Rounds is another popular carnival that you should check out. This week’s edition is hosted by Dr. Val Jones, MD on her blog, Dr. Val & The Voice of Reason.

I haven’t even begun to go through all of it yet, so if you don’t hear from me for a few days, you’ll know where I am.

- Dean

Came across a very funny blog authored by an English school teacher by the name of Mr. Chalk.

Here’s just an example of his brand of humor from a post entitled: Sorry, We Cannot Take Your Call Right Now…

Bring-Bring, Bring-Bring…

“Congratulations for correctly dialling the number for St. Thickchilds School! Your call is important to us, so please select from the following options:

If you are unsure about the specific nature of your complaint, but would just like to moan, press One

If you are phoning to let us know that all the teachers are picking on your child, press Two

If you wish to make a false allegation against a teacher; press Three, or contact ‘Ambulance Chasers’ on 0870 565 8484. We will not be able to tell you which solicitor is best for suing us.

If you have a ludicrous excuse for why your child has been absent, press Four. Please note that we are unable to suggest one for you.

If you would like to know why your child is not allowed on the school trip to Scagton, press Five

If you would like to request a School Permission Slip to allow your child to spit on pedestrians whilst travelling on the school bus, press Six.

If you would like to verbally abuse a specific teacher; press Seven, or simply race up to school and demand to see them immediately.

If your child is socially inept and would like to change forms yet again, press Eight

If it is a crucial time in your child’s education and you would like to request two weeks off to go on holiday, press Nine

If you are a parent who appreciates the efforts we make to educate and discipline your child then hang up and do not try again later.”

If you’ve ever had any connection with the world of academia… or you have school-age children… or you were once a child yourself… you should take a moment and visit Chalk’s blog. Very funny stuff.

- Dean

If you’re interested in finding some new blogs to read (or you just like to take trips down memory lane) check out the latest “Change of Shift” hosted by one of my favorite bloggers, Mother Jones of Nurse Ratched’s Place.

She always has outstanding memorabilia threaded amongst her posts and this time is no exception. She even managed to tie some of the contributions (it’s called a “blog carnival”) into specific episodes of TV shows from 30 - 40 years ago. Truly amazing. How she can remember the details of all those old TV shows, I have no idea. I have trouble remembering what I did yesterday.

- Dean

One thing I like about reading blogs is that the good ones give you an insight — a brief glimpse — into someone else’s life. The best ones (in my opinion) give you a candid look at just what that person’s job or career is really like.

I find this to be particularly true of blogs centered around the medical profession.

As a journalist, it’s all well and good to write about research studies and medical procedures … to gather facts and information … and then attempt to present it in some useful fashion. But let’s face it, the real action takes place in the trenches and that’s the sort of thing we laymen rarely get a chance to experience for ourselves (unless something has gone terribly wrong).

The Forgotten Blue Line is the work of a fairly new blogger on the MedBlog scene and one that opens up a rarely noticed aspect of the healthcare field. (Hence the name.) It is about the day to day trials and tribulations of a healthcare security officer.

Yeah, you read that right. A security officer.

I just found this blog today while catching up on the latest installment over at Nurse Ratched’s Place. And, while there are a number of posts worthy of mention, I decided to only give you an excerpt from his most recent post just to get you started…

My partner and I were standing outside assisting with a medical evac… So as we finish and the bird flies off my partner and I step into the emergency room. As we enter we hear the emergency director yelling for someone to call security. We run down to the room and before I opened the curtain a smell hit me like a punch to the nose and I knew then this was going to be bad…

I’ll leave you to read the rest of, If you’re Crazy and you know it II… and be sure to check out his other posts as well.

Very good stuff. I hope that Flashlight 1 will continue to give us more of the same.

Dean

I ran across this post on Dr. Flea’s blog this morning that was too good not to share with you. For those of you unfamiliar with Flea he is a pediatrician and one of the more prevalent medical bloggers.

This quote is from his response to the question, Why Do You Blog?

Our culture is suffused with messages telling parents that their children are sick, or potentially sick: one sniffle away from certain doom. Flea’s message is that American children are the healthiest children that ever lived on planet Earth. We should celebrate our good fortune.

The culture tells us the children are defined by series of capital letters: ADD, ADHD, ASD, PDD-NOS, OCD. Flea wants children to be called by the names their parents gave them.

Pediatrics today consists of daily exercises in over-testing, over-diagnosing, over-treating, and over-admiting to hospital. Flea wants the folks to
know that often the best thing to do for a child is to keep him or her
the hell out of the pediatrician’s office!

Pediatricians who write for newspapers and magazines produce icky, squishy pap that bears only the faintest resemblance to expository writing, and that is astonishingly void of original points of view.

Flea is trying to keep it real.

(Editor: Flea has decided to close his blog for the time being. We can only hope this is only temporary.)

For the past several months I’ve been reading Colin Sullivan’s blog, Chronic Pain Lifestyle mainly for the really exceptional writing more so than because it’s about learning to live with chronic pain… something I, fortunately, don’t have to deal with.

I don’t recall how I found his blog… apparently followed a link from somewhere… but I think what initially caught my eye was the beautiful photography sprinkled throughout the site. Really adds a nice touch to the ambience. (Sorry, I just had to throw in a fancy word… I don’t really even know what “ambience” means…)

Grabs dictionary… looks up ambience.

Reads, “Atmosphere… as in sprucing up the dump.” (It doesn’t say that.) (Yes, it does.) (No, it doesn’t.) (I’m telling you…) (Shut up…)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah…

The site has two main authors, Colin and Anne and includes contributions from their friends, Wanda and Kathryn. Occasionally the posts are educational, sometimes they’re humorous, but more often than not the writing would best be described as inspirational or spiritually uplifting. (Something I can’t do on my best day.)

I can’t imagine living day in and day out with chronic pain, so my hat’s off to Colin and his friends for their positive outlook and message of hope for others who share a similar fate.

Another Good Reason to Avoid Surgery

According to Colin, he’s had 3 failed spinal surgeries and now lives with chronic pain in his feet, legs and back due to a disease known as Adhesive Arachnoiditis.

Now I have to confess, I’d never heard of this particular disease until I came across Sullivan’s blog and it turns out to be a result of the back surgery. Talk about adding insult to injury… and the worst part of it is… it appears to be incurable.

I can’t speak for Colin or the ladies, but I suspect that — if they had it to do over again — they would recommend that you exhaust every possible option before considering surgery or any similar invasive procedure.

If you do decide to check out their blog and you like their work, be sure to leave them some nice comments and let them know you stopped by. I’m sure they’d appreciate hearing from you.

- Dean

By the way, the incredible photography is the work of Dorothy Gantenbein.

(Maybe you could get her to take a look at this train wreck.)(What, you don’t like my ambience?)(What ambience?)(Hey, I got ambience…)(If you say so.)

Have you ever awakened in the middle of the night and had the solution to a problem just pop into your head?

Happened to me just last night.

I woke up about 3:00 am (rats!) and as I was lying there trying to go to back to sleep, the solution to a problem that I’ve been meaning to get to for the past 3 months suddenly came to me. I wasn’t even trying to consciously work on it, it just … like I said … popped into my head.

You see, ever since adding this blog software to the site, there have been a few technical problems that needed to be ironed out. Chief among those was the fact that the Googlebot (don’t ask) was having trouble finding pages that didn’t actually exist … (I know, it doesn’t make sense) … resulting in about 254 errors showing up in my Google stats. (argh!!!!)

Anyway, I got up this morning and went to work correcting the problem and it finally appears to be fixed. (Woohoo!!!!) So now I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead and go answer some email…

Hope your Saturday is going well,
Dean