supermommie

If You Only Knew ... Secrets Your Doctor Would Never Share

supermommie — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:38:05 -0700

If You Only Knew ...
Reader's Digest offered two dozen doctors a chance to tell it like it really is, and general practitioners, surgeons, shrinks, pediatricians, and other specialists took the challenge. Some wanted to be anonymous; some didn't care. But all of them revealed funny, frightening, and downright shocking things that can help you be a better, smarter patient.

We're Impatient

• I am utterly tired of being your mother. Every time I see you, I have to say the obligatory "You need to lose some weight." But you swear you "don't eat anything" or "the weight just doesn't come off," and the subject is dropped. Then you come in here complaining about your knees hurting, your back is killing you, your feet ache, and you can't breathe when you walk up half a flight of stairs. So I'm supposed to hold your hand and talk you into backing away from that box of Twinkies. Boy, do I get tired of repeating the stuff most patients just don't listen to.
--Cardiologist, Brooklyn, New York

• I was told in school to put a patient in a gown when he isn't listening or cooperating. It casts him in a position of subservience.
--Chiropractor, Atlanta

&bull Thank you for bringing in a sample of your (stool, urine, etc.) from home. I'll put it in my personal collection of things that really gross me out.
--Douglas Farrago, MD, editor, Placebo Journal

• One of the things that bug me is people who leave their cell phones on. I'm running on a very tight schedule, and I want to spend as much time with patients as I possibly can. Use that time to get the information and the process you need. Please don't answer the cell.
--James Dillard, MD, pain specialist, New York City

• I wish patients would take more responsibility for their own health and stop relying on me to bail them out of their own problems.
--ER physician, Colorado Springs, Colorado

• So let me get this straight: You want a referral to three specialists, an MRI, the medication you saw on TV, and an extra hour for this visit. Gotcha. Do you want fries with that?
--Douglas Farrago, MD

• I used to have my secretary page me after I had spent five minutes in the room with a difficult or overly chatty patient. Then I'd run out, saying, "Oh, I have an emergency."
--Oncologist, Santa Cruz, California

• Many patients assume that female physicians are nurses or therapists. I can't tell you how often I've introduced myself as Dr. M. and then been called a nurse, therapist, or aide and asked to fetch coffee or perform other similar tasks. I have great respect for our nurses and other ancillary personnel and the work they do, but this doesn't seem to happen to my male colleagues.
--Physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor, Royal Oak, Michigan

• The most unsettling thing for a physician is when the patient doesn't trust you or believe you.
--Obstetrician-gynecologist, New York City

• It really bugs me when people come to the ER for fairly trivial things that could be dealt with at home.
--ER physician, Colorado Springs, Colorado

• Your doctor generally knows more than a website. I have patients with whom I spend enormous amounts of time, explaining things and coming up with a treatment strategy. Then I get e-mails a few days later, saying they were looking at this website that says something completely different and wacky, and they want to do that. To which I want to say (but I don't), "So why don't you get the website to take over your care?"
--James Dillard, MD

• I know that Reader's Digest recommends bringing in a complete list of all your symptoms, but every time you do, it only reinforces my desire to quit this profession.
--Douglas Farrago, MD

Pills, Pills, Pills
• Sometimes it's easier for a doctor to write a prescription for a medicine than to explain why the patient doesn't need it.
--Cardiologist, Bangor, Maine

• Those so-called free medication samples of the newest and most expensive drugs may not be the best or safest.
--Internist, Philadelphia

• Taking psychiatric drugs affects your insurability. If you take Prozac, it may be harder and more expensive for you to get life insurance, health insurance, or long-term-care insurance.
--Daniel Amen, MD, psychiatrist, Newport Beach, California

• Ninety-four percent of doctors take gifts from drug companies, even though research has shown that these gifts bias our clinical decision making.
--Internist, Rochester, Minnesota

Bills, Bills, Bills

• Doctors respond to market forces. If the reimbursement system is fee-for-service, that results in more services. If you build a new CT scan, someone will use it, even though having a procedure you don't need is never a good thing.
--Family physician, Washington, D.C.

• I really do know why you're bringing your husband and three kids, all of whom are also sick, with you today. No, they are not getting free care.
--Douglas Farrago, MD

• Doctors get paid each time they visit their patients in the hospital, so if you're there for seven days rather than five, they can bill for seven visits. The hospital often gets paid only for the diagnosis code, whether you're in there for two days or ten.
--Evan S. Levine, MD

• Twenty years ago, when I started my practice, my ear, nose, and throat procedures financially supported my facial plastic surgery practice. Today, my cosmetic practice is the only thing that allows me to continue to do ear, nose, and throat procedures, which barely cover my overhead.
--Ear, nose, throat, and facial plastic surgeon, Dallas/Fort Worth

Free Advice

• Avoid Friday afternoon surgery. The day after surgery is when most problems happen. If the next day is Saturday, you're flying by yourself without a safety net, because the units are understaffed and ERs are overwhelmed because doctors' offices are closed.
--Heart surgeon, New York City

• In many hospitals, the length of the white coat is related to the length of training. Medical students wear the shortest coats.
--Pediatrician, Baltimore

• Often the biggest names, the department chairmen, are not the best clinicians, because they spend most of their time being administrators. They no longer primarily focus on taking care of patients.
--Heart surgeon, New York City

The Darker Side

• It saddens me that my lifelong enjoyment and enthusiasm for medicine has all but died. I have watched reimbursement shrink, while overhead has more than doubled. I've been forced to take on more patients. I work 12- to 14-hour days and come in on weekends. It's still the most amazing job in the world, but I am exhausted all the time.
--Vance Harris, MD, family physician, Redding, California

• In many ways, doctors are held to an unrealistic standard. We are never, ever allowed to make a mistake. I don't know anybody who can live that way.
--James Dillard, MD

• Not a day goes by when I don't think about the potential for being sued. It makes me give patients a lot of unnecessary tests that are potentially harmful, just so I don't miss an injury or problem that comes back to haunt me in the form of a lawsuit.
--ER physician, Colorado Springs, Colorado

• Doctors often make patients wait while they listen to sales pitches from drug reps.
--Cardiologist, Bangor, Maine

• It's pretty common for doctors to talk about their patients and make judgments, particularly about their appearance.
--Family physician, Washington, D.C.

• Everyone thinks all doctors know one another. But when we refer you to specialists, we often have no idea who those people are. Generally, we only know that they accept your insurance plan.
--Pediatrician, Hartsdale, New York

• In most branches of medicine, we deal more commonly with old people. So we become much more enthusiastic when a young person comes along. We have more in common with and are more attracted to him or her. Doctors have a limited amount of time, so the younger and more attractive you are, the more likely you are to get more of our time.
--Family physician, Washington, D.C.

• Plan for a time when the bulk of your medical care will come from less committed doctors willing to work for much lower wages. Plan for a very impersonal and rushed visit during which the true nature of your problems will probably never be addressed and issues just under the surface will never be uncovered.
--Vance Harris, MD

• At least a third of what doctors decide is fairly arbitrary.
--Heart surgeon, New York City

• Doctors are only interested in whether they are inconvenienced -- most don't care if you have to wait for them.
--Family physician, Washington, D.C.

The Sensitive Side

• When a parent asks me what the cause of her child's fever could be, I just say it's probably a virus. If I told the truth and ran through the long list of all the other possible causes, including cancer, you'd never stop crying. It's just too overwhelming.
--Pediatrician, Hartsdale, New York

• Most of us haven't been to see our own physicians in five years.
--Physical medicine specialist, Royal Oak, Michigan

• When a doctor tells you to lose 15 to 20 pounds, what he really means is you need to lose 50.
--Tamara Merritt, DO, family physician, Brewster, Washington

• If a sick patient comes to me with a really sad story and asks for a discount, I take care of him or her for no charge.
--Surgeon, Dallas/Fort Worth

• Though we don't cry in front of you, we sometimes do cry about your situation at home.
--Pediatrician, Chicago

Shocking Stats
60% of doctors don't follow hand-washing guidelines.
Source: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

96% of doctors agree they should report impaired or incompetent colleagues or those who make serious mistakes, but ...

46% of them admit to having turned a blind eye at least once.
Source: Annals of Internal Medicine

94% of doctors have accepted some kind of freebie from a drug company.
Source: New England Journal of Medicine

44% of doctors admit they're overweight.
Source: Nutrition & Food Science; Minnesota Medicine

58% would give adolescents contraceptives without parental consent.
Source: New England Journal of Medicine

Anatomy of a Doctor's Bill

Just how much of the $100 your doctor charges for taking 30 minutes to investigate your stomach pain goes into his pocket? After paying the bills, he gets less than half. The breakdown, according to Robert Lowes, senior editor at Medical Economics:

$3.50 for malpractice insurance

$3.50 for equipment, repairs, and maintenance

$6 for supplies, including gowns, tongue depressors, and copy paper

$7 for rent and utilities

$11 for office expenses, such as telephones, accounting fees, advertising, medical journals, licenses, and taxes

$28 for secretary, office manager, and medical assistant salaries and benefits

$41 Amount that goes into the doctor's paycheck

Over the course of a year, that adds up to $155,000, the annual salary of the average family physician. That number rose just 3.3% between 2002 and 2006, while expenses increased nearly 25% over the same period.

'Unicorn' deer is found in Italian preserve

supermommie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:21:30 -0700

'Unicorn' deer is found in Italian preserve
1-year-old Roe 'Unicorn' was born in captivity in research center's park

updated 12:18 p.m. ET, Wed., June. 11, 2008
ROME - A deer with a single horn in the center of its head - much like the fabled, mythical unicorn - has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday.

"This is fantasy becoming reality," Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, told The Associated Press. "The unicorn has always been a mythological animal."

The 1-year-old Roe Deer - nicknamed "Unicorn" - was born in captivity in the research center's park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Tozzi said.

He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns.

Calling it the first time he has seen such a case, Tozzi said such anomalies among deer may have inspired the myth of the unicorn.

The unicorn, a horse-like creature with magical healing powers, has appeared in legends and stories throughout history, from ancient and medieval texts to the adventures of Harry Potter.

"This shows that even in past times, there could have been animals with this anomaly," he said by telephone. "It's not like they dreamed it up."

Single-horned deer are rare but not unheard of - but even more unusual is the central positioning of the horn, experts said.

"Generally, the horn is on one side (of the head) rather than being at the center. This looks like a complex case," said Fulvio Fraticelli, scientific director of Rome's zoo. He said the position of the horn could also be the result of a trauma early in the animal's life.

Other mammals are believed to contribute to the myth of the unicorn, including the narwhal, a whale with a long, spiraling tusk.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25097986/from/ET/wid/18298287/&GT1=43001

Sweathog Brandon Davis is the pits!

supermommie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:39:22 -0700

The oily heir emerged from inside the appropriately titled NYC nighclub Butter -- looking like Whitney Houston after an all-nighter.

Will someone please pass this sad clown the Arrid Extra Dry?!

http://www.tmz.com/

Bug in Mouth Brings Out the Street in Reporter

supermommie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:35:00 -0700

http://www.break.com/index/bug-in-mouth-brings-out-the-street-in-reporte...

Mariah Carey First Pitch

supermommie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:33:16 -0700

http://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentID=510652

Are You Having an Emotional Affair?

supermommie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:28:00 -0700

By Heather Johnson Durocher

An e-mail here, a smile there. Maybe that 'innocent' friendship with your guy friend isn't so innocent after all....

I'll call him John. The first time we met, he actually struck me as a bit arrogant. He irritated me enough that I mentioned him to my husband in a "Can you believe this guy?" kind of way. But I interacted with John only occasionally, always through work and mostly over e-mail, so it wasn't a huge deal. He's just one of those people who gets under my skin, I told myself.

But a little over a year into our working relationship, something changed. One day, John let down his guard with me and I responded, I suppose in part because I couldn't help but be curious about his mostly hidden soft side. Our conversations turned to easy banter and later - I have a hard time admitting this even now - flirtation. Our e-mails, which could number several in one day, never included outright expressions of affection toward each other. Instead, our notes were mostly business peppered with friendly sparring. We shared a similar sense of humor. I felt that he got me.

I told myself I wasn't doing anything wrong. I had to talk with this guy for work, after all. And couldn't I have a friend who happened to be male? I also told my husband about him, even sharing when we'd meet for coffee or lunch (always scheduled with the intention of discussing business). My husband, busy with a demanding job, trusted me completely.

In the midst of working part-time and caring for a preschooler, a toddler, and, later, a new baby, e-mailing and talking with John felt like an innocent escape. I never would have said at the time that I was in a bad marriage - my husband and I got along well; we just didn't have a lot of quality alone time together - and I had no intention of crossing any physical line. But I increasingly found myself sharing more and more of my hopes and dreams with John instead of just with my husband. I anticipated my regular interactions with John in a way that was all too consuming. And it was John - not my husband - who was beginning to fill a key emotional need in my life. I was, in fact, unknowingly cheating on my husband; I was having an emotional affair.

More Than Just Friends
The signs of an emotional affair may be more subtle than those of a sexual affair, but they're just as unmistakable. "An emotional affair happens when you put the bulk of your emotions into the hands of somebody outside of your marriage," explains psychotherapist M. Gary Neuman, author of Emotional Infidelity. It's not so much that you're not talking with your husband-there's always stuff to discuss, thanks to kids and mortgages - but you're not sharing with him. Your innermost thoughts, funny jokes, and interesting personal experiences are saved up and spilled to the other guy instead of your spouse. And even if you never so much as touch him, this emotional attachment has just as much potential as a sexual fling to damage your marriage. "We only have so much emotional energy; the more of it we spend outside of our marriage, the less we have inside our marriage," says Neuman. "And after a while, we simply do not have enough emotions and love and caring and time for both."

While emotional affairs are not a totally new phenomenon - the late Shirley P. Glass, Ph.D., wrote about them in her groundbreaking 2003 book, NOT "Just Friends" - experts agree that they're on the rise. "Emotional affairs are happening more often because so many of us feel emotionally isolated," says relationship expert Steven Stosny, Ph.D., coauthor of How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It.Whether it's because of our demanding jobs and packed schedules or the hours we spend on the Internet instead of with our families, friends, and communities, we've become increasingly distanced both physically and emotionally from other people, including our spouses. And when we're not regularly sharing our lives and feelings with those close to us, we ultimately begin to feel that they've stopped caring. "This feeling of emotional detachment plants the seeds for an emotional affair," says Stosny, "because when you feel emotionally detached from your husband, you are faced with a choice - either to improve the bond you share with him or to look elsewhere to get your needs met." And working to improve your marriage is just that: work - work that's a lot less alluring than a little special attention from someone new.

That's where the affair partner comes in. Having another guy turn his focus onto you, even if only in friendship, can be dangerously seductive. I can attest to that firsthand: When I started my relationship with John, I wasn't even aware of the resentment I felt toward my husband over the long hours he spent away from me and our kids at his job. To complicate matters, I was grappling with my sense of self. I second-guessed my new roles as a wife and mother: Was I being the best parent I could be by only working part-time from home? Should I work more so I could help our family's finances? Or scrap the job thing altogether and more fully embrace this precious time with my children? What about my hobbies and interests? What was it again that I liked to do anyway?

Enter John: a guy who understood what I did for a living and made me laugh wholeheartedly. When I spoke with him, I felt smart and beautiful, sexy even, because he respected what I had to say and engaged me in intense and stimulating conversation. It wasn't that my husband wasn't able to do these things; he'd provided all that and more, especially during our early years together. But as time wore on, we were simply so mired in caring for our kids and making sure the bills were paid that our emotional connection waned. John didn't know me as a wife or mother, but simply as a woman. He was someone who reminded me of the person I used to be - and perhaps hoped to find again.

An emotional affair also offers the thrill of the forbidden without crossing any physical lines. "You know it's wrong, that it's taboo," says Stosny. "That's what makes it provocative and rousing." When Rebecca Smith*, a 39-year-old mother of two from Annapolis, MD, began regularly e-mailing with her friend Lyle, her youngest child had just started kindergarten and her husband was working longer hours. Exchanging e-mails with Lyle was a welcome diversion, not only because it filled her downtime but because their often silly, sometimes sexually charged notes were a far cry from her conversations with her husband. "My husband can be kind of negative, and Lyle has a more optimistic outlook on life. We often had these sparring conversations. It was intellectually stimulating for me," she says. "And the more we e-mailed, the more I found myself magnetized to him and fantasizing about what my life would be like if we were together."

Too Close for Comfort
Once you're drawn into an emotional affair, it can feel so good that you don't want to stop. In fact, not having sex may make the connection seem all the more powerful. It feels genuine, romantic even, and isn't easy to let go of because it's so "safe" - or so it appears. But inevitably, you start unfairly comparing your husband to this other man, says Neuman, which compounds the damage. "You don't have the stresses of everyday life together, so the new guy can be very humorous, very cute, and very giving," he says. "You go back to your spouse and you're comparing him to this guy in pieces: He'll never be as handsome as this guy or as funny as this guy or as giving as this guy." While emotional affairs rarely break up couples, they can leave a marriage torn and tattered. "The affair saps so much emotional energy and core values away from your relationship," says Stosny, "that you'll undoubtedly feel guilty and irritable and blame your husband for these bad feelings."

Another sure sign your "innocent" friendship has gotten out of control: You would be embarrassed for your husband to witness your interactions or to know what you are thinking about when you're with this other guy. And once you start keeping secrets, even "innocent" ones, your intimacy with your main man suffers even more. Toni Richards, 40, a mother of four from Wiley, TX, who had an emotional affair with a former coworker, says that as she grew closer to Bobby, she began to flat-out avoid her husband. "I wasn't even sleeping in the same bed as my husband. In a sense, I didn't want to be next to him because I worried he would know that something was going on, that I would say something in my sleep," she says. "I started pulling away from him and I didn't talk to him as much."

And of course, with every emotionally engaging or sexually charged conversation or e-mail, phone call, or meeting, taking your affair to the physical level becomes the obvious (though by no means inevitable) next step. "The longer you continue an emotional affair, the greater the chance it will become physical," says Stosny. The first time Bobby asked Toni to meet him for dinner, which meant she had to lie to her husband about where she was going after work, she agreed. "We didn't kiss, but we held hands and sat next to each other-closer than friends should be sitting," she says. In a matter of weeks, she knew that Bobby was ready to get physical. After wrestling internally with the idea of being with him - and realizing that she didn't want things to go down that path-she decided to break off the connection with Bobby entirely. "It was a hard choice, but I still loved my husband and didn't want to ruin my marriage any more than I already had," she says.
Getting Out
Even after you've recognized your emotional affair and the damage it's causing your marriage, slamming on the brakes is easier said than done. Says Stosny, "Many emotional affairs turn almost obsessive simply because you never had sex to consummate your fantasies." It took months for Rebecca to tear herself away from Lyle, even after her husband came across an e-mail from Lyle and called her out on their too friendly exchange. He demanded that she show him all of her e-mails with Lyle, which she did, and asked her to stop talking with him. She agreed, but secretly maintained contact. As time went on, though, she says, "I became riddled with guilt and grew increasingly aware of how my time and energy spent on Lyle was taking away from my family, from myself. But I couldn't help myself." In fact, she still hasn't completely cut ties with Lyle. "We still e-mail now and again," she says. "I'm just more guarded with him."

As tough as it is, quitting the relationship cold turkey is the best way to move past an emotional affair for real and for good. "Setting boundaries for continued contact will only raise the taboo level and, along with it, the excitement, the obsessions, and the motivation," says Stosny.

The aftermath of an emotional affair can have an upside: "Failing your own values can make you more committed to them in the future," says Stosny. So consider the experience a wake-up call to what is missing not only in your relationship but also within yourself. "I realized that if I can't talk to my husband the way I talk to Bobby, then there's a big problem that I need to fix first in my marriage," says Toni. And while Stosny and Neuman say it's not imperative that you admit your affair to your husband - in fact, you may even hurt him needlessly by doing so-some women don't feel like they can fully move on unless they come clean. After she cut things off with Bobby, Toni opted to tell her husband about the situation. "He was hurt that I'd been sharing personal thoughts with another man," she says, "but he was mostly relieved that nothing physical had happened." The couple is in the midst of trying to find a marital counselor, and Toni is hopeful she can rebuild her marriage.

Severing your connection to the other man - whether or not you ever tell your husband about him - is only step one. You also need to funnel all the energy you were putting into your affair back into your marriage. And while setting aside more time to spend with each other - away from kids and other couples - is important for patching things up and maintaining intimacy in your marriage, it's just as crucial to adopt a new attitude toward your guy. "Emotional connection is a mental state," says Stosny. "You choose to feel connected to your husband. You decide to be loving and compassionate toward him. You will feel emotionally bonded and sexually stimulated with your husband because you've committed yourself and all your positive energies to him - and he'll definitely pick up on the vibes you're giving off."

Nurturing your relationship is the emergency care it needs to heal. But for long-term marital health, you also need to nurture yourself. Trying out a new hobby, getting involved in your community, or tapping into your spiritual side can help you recover from - and prevent you from having - an emotional affair. "When you have more interests in your life, you have less of a desire to find something exciting and taboo to intrigue you," says Stosny. "Plus, you'll lead a richer, fuller life with less emotionally needy gaps." After cooling things down with Lyle, Rebecca decided to refocus those energies on her guy and the other people close to her. "I can't expect that my husband is going to meet every emotional need in my life, so I'm reaching out to my girlfriends and spending more time with my family." She also recently signed up for a handwriting-analysis class, something she's always been interested in learning about, "just for fun and to get my mind on something else," she says.

For me, my emotional involvement with John ebbed and flowed for nearly two years. It reached a tipping point when I could no longer ignore the fact that my husband and I were fighting more often, no doubt in part because of my refusal to focus on my marriage and on how my own actions were adding to our growing friction. Like Toni, I eventually decided to share my struggle with my husband, who handled it with incredible grace. The conversation wasn't only about me turning to someone else; we also spoke, perhaps for the first time, about what we really expected and needed from each other. It's a discussion that continues to evolve between us. I still think about John sometimes - and how my relationship with him could have destroyed everything I hold dear. Each day, I make a conscious decision to nurture my bond with my husband first and foremost. And as our relationship grows stronger, I realize I'm getting as good as I give.
82% of affairs happen with someone who was at first "just a friend," according to noted infidelity researcher Shirley P. Glass.

Are You in an Emotional Affair?

YOU'VE PROBABLY CROSSED THE LINE IF YOU...

Touch your male friend in "legal" ways, like picking lint off his blazer.
Pay extra attention to how you look before you see him.
Think crush-like thoughts like, He'd love this song!
Tell him more details about your day than you do your partner.
No longer feel comfortable telling your husband about this person and begin to cover up your relationship.
Experience increasing sexual tension; you admit your attraction to him but also insist to yourself that you would never act on it.

IT'S ABOUT TO GET PHYSICAL WHEN YOU...

Find yourself feeling vulnerable and turn to the other man for support rather than to your husband or a trusted relative or girlfriend.
Accelerate the level of intimacy through sexual or suggestive talk over e-mail or the phone.
Put yourself in a situation where the two of you could be alone.

TO FORTIFY YOUR MARRIAGE...

Stay honest with your husband. Share with him all your hopes, triumphs, and failures - as well as your attractions and temptations, which will help keep you from acting on them.
Make time for just the two of you on a regular basis - away from the kids, your friends, and family.
Surround yourself with happily married friends who don't believe in fooling around. Having positive, emotionally connected role models will help you stay on track.

"READERS REVEAL: "I knew I'd gone too far when..."
"The guy who I was flirting with regularly over e-mail attended the same event as me and my fiancé. When I introduced them, my face flushed as red as a tomato - I felt embarrassed and guilty about my fiancé meeting this guy, so I knew what I was doing was wrong." -Carolyn, 31, Westfield, NJ

"One drunken night, my best guy friend and I confessed we had always liked each other. He was a perfect gentleman and left my place before we crossed the physical line. The next day I was completely embarrassed and knew that I didn't want to jeopardize the relationship with my boyfriend so I ended the friendship. And now the boyfriend is my husband, so I'm glad I did." -Allie, 29, Yonkers, NY

"The cute tech guy who I'd been flirting with at my office said to me, 'You're not going to invite me in?' after I accepted a ride home from him. I liked the attention of him buying me vending machine snacks and complimenting me, but my husband would've had a holy heart attack if he knew." -Amy, 38, Chicago

"My best guy friend and I were snuggled on his couch underneath a blanket when I realized that neither his girlfriend nor my boyfriend would be happy if they saw us - and that our platonic relationship wasn't as platonic as we thought." -Kim, 35, New Orleans

Planet Green network won't be what you might expect

supermommie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:29:34 -0700

By David Bauder
Associated Press
Article Launched: 06/09/2008 12:10:53 AM PDT

Viewers who tune in the new Planet Green network expecting a sober documentary on the plight of the yellow-breasted whooping finch will be in for a surprise.

Instead, they'll see celebrities such as Tommy Lee, Ludacris, Tom Bergeron and Adrian Grenier - and absolutely no lectures, promises Eileen O'Neill, the network's president.

Planet Green debuted last week and runs counter to type. The environmentally conscious network will soft-sell its mission, making entertainment a bigger priority than education. O'Neill calls it "eco-tainment."

The network will immediately be available in 50 million homes, nearly half the nation's cable or satellite customers, because it replaces Discovery Home. Parent Discovery Communications is the latest corporation to realize that a "green" message sells, and guesses that a network devoted to the idea might do better than one lost in the glut of home renovation programming. The channel is available in the Bay Area. (Go to planetgreen.channelfinder.net to find your provider.)

The immediate assumption is that Planet Green's programming would be largely educational, or similar to the sister Discovery Network's highly regarded "Planet Earth" series. But Planet Green executives saw that as a dead end.

"The network is not only not finger-wagging, it's sexy, it's interesting, it's irreverent," O'Neill says.

Planet Green doesn't want to be a network that appeals only to tree huggers and will always resist a heavy-handed approach, she says. Instead of scolding people not to waste paper by using juice boxes, the network will profile a person who built a business upon recycling them.

Most fledgling networks are built largely upon reruns of old network shows because money is tight. Since there was little existing material that fit its idea, Planet Green is starting with an unusual amount of fresh, original programming.

Fortunately for Planet Green, no place is greener than Hollywood.

Lee and Ludacris will star, beginning in August, in "Battleground Earth," a series of competitions between the rocker and rapper to determine who's the greenest. HBO "Entourage" star Grenier is host of "Alter Eco," where he and a team of experts show celebrities and ordinary people "the way to a hip green lifestyle."

"Supper Club with Tom Bergeron" brings a chef who cooks a "green meal" - whatever that is - while special guests talk about what's new in the environmental movement.

Although he's not on camera, Leonardo DiCaprio is behind the series "Greensburg," which profiles the Kansas town devastated last year by a tornado. Greensburg is being rebuilt in an eco-friendly fashion.

In "Wa$ted!," Annabelle Gurwitch illustrates ways homeowners can simultaneously save money and be friendly to the environment. "Hollywood Green With Maria Menounos," made with "Access Hollywood" as partner, showcases celebrities helping the environment. Bill Nye shows what happens to everyday items before and after they're consumed, on "Stuff Happens." Traditionally souped-up vehicles are pitted against eco-friendly counterparts on "Mean Green Machines." Steve Thomas of "This Old House" is host of "Renovation Nation," about changes made by green homeowners.

"I totally understand somebody starting a television network wanting to keep it entertaining and not too serious because anything too serious doesn't attract a wide audience," says cable industry analyst Paul Kagan. "If you make a television network for intellectuals, it's not going to attract a wide audience and it's not going to pay for itself. That's why most television is the way it is."

One need only check newsstands or track investments to see the popularity of the subject Planet Green is tackling, Kagan said.

"Because they're in the right place at the right time with the subject matter, I think they have a good shot," he says.

O'Neill says she recognizes that the approach may initially seem jarring to committed environmentalists, or the "dark green" community. But she believes most will see this as the best way to get their message across to the most people.

http://www.mercurynews.com/tv/ci_9526945?nclick_check=1

Green Father's Day Ideas

supermommie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:19:23 -0700

Keep your green on Father's Day (June 15) with these earth-friendly gift ideas.

Shop vintage: Rather than buying a new fishing rod, find an antique that's just like the rod your father used as a child or the rod he used to teach you how to fish. The gift will have sentimental value, and gifting antiques leaves a lighter footprint by not using any additional resources for manufacturing.

Recycle: Give new life to your father's old things (it's best to ask your dad which items he considers in need of a refresh before you attempt any drastic revamping projects). Recover a tattered chair, or send an outdated tie to Replayground, then place an order for a recycled necktie cell phone holder.

Save energy: If your dad loves to have the latest gadget, shop for eco-friendly innovations like a solar powered motion sensing outdoor light, or a wind/solar powered cell phone charger.

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2008/06/green-fathers-d.html

Lighbulbs to Leadership

supermommie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:17:07 -0700

Found this "movie/commercial" on global warming. It's just my little eco part.

Usher - moving mountains 2008

supermommie — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:24:52 -0700

Usher - moving mountains