For those interested, I also sharpened three Genesis at 15, 19, and 25 degree edges. You can see the results on my latest youtube video here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKRYyHxkx2E

If you don’t want to listen to the podcast portion to my response the cutting starts at 630 in the video.

On the above list of websites of the expert council members, which is Nick’s?

As always, enjoyed the show. Jack, per Dr. Bones advice on DEET or lemon grass oil as a mosquito repellant, Catnip oil is more effective than DEET… See: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm

It’s pretty easy stuff to grow in my experience. A crushed handful of leaves seems to repel biting bugs nicely AND gets us extra attention from our indoor cats.

Nice to hear Patrick’s voice on today’s show.

Getting gas from can to car and nuclear safety – Steven Harris

I was kinda bummed at the answer to this question. The question was about him marking his maps with nuclear facilities so that in the event something happens he knows what could happen so he can react.

Steven said that in a grid down “people are going to show up and handle it.”

Isn’t that what we plan for? So that when an event happens we are ready for the worst. I mean if something happens and they show up and handle it then I’m not worried because it isn’t a big deal. What if they don’t show up? Can’t show up? What if it comes down to you and your map and you have to bug out. that’s the question I thought that was posed.

He touched on it at the end that the affected area would be a “tear drop” but he didn’t go into any more about it. I got excited about him explaining that part but then he closed.

He is a great resource and I just thought he would have had more on the meat of what is actionable, not just someone will take care of it.

There is an interesting AMA on reddit about nuclear history and The Manhattan Project for further reading.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3e76ig/ama_the_manhattan_project/

You can also test how a nuclear weapon would effect your area on the NUKEMAP. You give it your location, size of weapon, and it will give you the range of the blast, fall out pattern. I would be interested to have Steven’s view on this part. This is what I thought the person that asked the question was looking to add to their map so they could choose a route based on effected area.

This is a 150 KT blast from ground level in NYC. You can see the blast radius and the fallout pattern. This is from a weapon and not from a systems failure or similar incident. I would love to hear Steven’s take.

http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?&kt=150&lat=40.72422&lng=-73.9961&airburst=0&hob_ft=0&fallout=1&ff=50&zm=9

Regarding statins for high cholesterol:

I fear Mr. Collins take on statins is excessively negative, and uninformed listeners may decide to stop their medication and suffer adverse consequences. I am an internal medicine physician, practicing since 1985. The very first statin, lovastatin (Mevacor) was approved in 1985. I treated patients for about 5 years prior to entering private practice during my residency training and the clinical years of medical school (1980-85), so I remember the frustrations of trying to treat coronary heart disease before statins were available. The statins, when used appropriately, are life-saving drugs.

At first, doctors were skeptical of the benefits of statins. The early studies on statin showed a lowering of the risk of heart attacks, but minimal if any overall mortality benefit due to more people in the placebo groups dying from suicide or accidents. However, in 1994 the 4S study (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Simvastatin_Survival_Study) was published, establishing that in patients with known coronary disease, simvastatin reduced the death rate (overall, not just cardiac) by 30%. Since then many other rigorous studies have confirmed similar benefits from other other statins. Atorvastatin (Lipitor) is probably the most studied.

An important distinction to keep in mind is the difference between primary and secondary prevention. I think Mr. Collins had primary prevention in mind during his discussion. Primary prevention applies only to seemingly healthy people with no signs or symptoms of cardiovascular disease. If you have had a heart attack, stroke, or been treated for angina pectoris, then we are talking about secondary prevention. Essentially all of the debate on statins concerns primary prevention. Any scientifically literate person who is familiar with the studies on statins would agree that taking a statin for secondary prevention is life-preserving.

I suspect most of the TSP listeners fall into the primary prevention category. The new cholesterol treatment guidelines for physicians take a new approach to deciding who should take a statin. I use an app for my phone that the guidelines recommend “CVRiskAssist”. I think anyone can download this free app. Once you enter data such as age, gender, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic BP, smoking status etc. the app will give you the 10 year risk of developing cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke, needing a stent or bypass etc.) It also compares this risk to that of a similar person with optimal modifiable risk factors. A 10 year risk of 15% or more is considered high, 7.5-14.9% is moderate, and below 7.5% is low. I find it is rare for this calculator to advise a statin for anyone under 45 years old.

I certainly agree statins sometimes have significant side effects. Usually someone who can’t take statin A can take statin B or C. Muscle aches seem to be the most common, muscle damage is quite rare.

I also agree with Mr. Collins that the total cholesterol value by itself is not very meaningful. The high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and triglyceride levels are often very important. The best number is the LDL particle number, but this is expensive to measure and not usually done in clinical practice. Also important is the presence or absence of other CV risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, and family history are important in assessing overall risk, and thus the potential benefit from statin therapy.

Diabetes is a special risk factor, as the powers-that-be have declared it to be a “coronary disease equivalent”, and moves one into the secondary prevention universe instead of the primary prevention one. As a primary care physician, I am given a quarterly “grade” by my local Blue Cross carrier and I get points counted off for every patient with a diagnosis of diabetes who is not also filling a prescription regularly for a statin. Big brother is watching.

Yes, statins are sometimes prescribed as a “reflex” by doctors who do not stop to do a careful risk evaluation. But they are also feared unnecessarily by many otherwise well informed people. Your doctor should be able to explain how much you will benefit (or often not benefit) from taking a statin.

Regarding Chef Keith Snow and quinoa, it is considered a seed from a Jewish religious viewpoint. It is not a true grass and not a true cereal, so it is NOT one of the grains prohibited during Passover. That expands the options open to cooks during Passover.

Thank you for the tip on making quinoa flour in the Vitamix. My wife’s eyes lit up when I mentioned it. (I gave you full credit.) She is currently on a quinoa kick.

Thanks Chef Keith

I use a shaker siphon hose to move gas from a container to my car. Works great and it’s fast. Check it out on Youtube.