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Todays news seems to be full of salmonella in tomato stories.Mcdonalds and other fast food restaurants have pulled the tomato off of the menu although most supermarkets do not seem to be doing the same.

The problem with tomato salmonella seems to have been occurring for about two months now and seems to be found in about half of the US state.

I have questioned in the past why we have all of these outbreaks over the last couple of years and apparently the cause is government cutbacks at the FDA. The FDA is supposed to be watching the food supply by checking and testing farms and produce but through cutbacks this testing has been reduced over the last 20 years by up to 80%. With cuts that deep to testing it is no wonder that we are seeing so many problems with our food sources.

Actually one of the ladies on the news was just saying that a meat farm where salmonella is thriving has cows that poop and this can move through the to the neighbors tomato farm and then these tomatoes could have salmonella. this can not be washed off as it can leach into the tomato itself, that description was worth watching as was the reaction from her co-host. Read the rest of this entry »

The long awaited Google Health Beta has been released. Google health is designed as a one stop shop to carry all of your health records so that whenever moving to new pharmacies or health practitioners you can have everything in the same spot.

This idea is not new as Microsoft has the same service with a site called Health Vault. There are a few companies that are trying to get into this market but it is very competitive and of course everyone is nervous about putting their info into this type of site. All of your health info in one place makes a security breach very very dangerous to peoples privacy. As a tech guy I understand the need for privacy and the real issues that a lack of privacy could lead to.

So for a bit of a tour of Google Health I have a few screenshots here. First you need a Google Account which is easy enough to get and then when you go to Google Health you sign in and can start adding your information. As you can see below you have a few things you can add including prescription and health issue info.

And then finally once you have all of your info added to Google Health you can start to add new services. Google has started with the few below but of course as we have all seen we will probably see a lot more over time.

Go to Google Health and check it out.

You have probably seen the news stories over the last couple of days about the FDA and Lasik eye surgery. As a lifelong contact lens and glasses wearer I thought that it would be important to look at why this is important and what you should think about when considering any corrective eye surgery.

Criticism of FDA policy

First of all the FDA does have a site dedicated to Lasik surgery and the benefits as well as the risks of the quick and easy surgery. One of the criticisms by consumer groups was that the FDA was not stressing hard enough the bad side effects that are possible with Lasik surgery.

Another issue that is often overlooked is regular aging of people and of eyesite. Any reputable ophthalmologist will agree that most men begin losing near sitedness in their 40s so the idea that Lasic or any other corrective surgery will get rid of glasses for life is not very realistic. Read the rest of this entry »

I just ran across an article on naked running racing on the MSN Messenger home page. If you use MSN Messenger you probably see the popup window with the top entertaining type stores of the day. The articles may be about Britney Spears or today Madonna but anyway there is an article about naked running. A guys writes about what it was like running in a naked race wearing nothing but running shoes.

Has to be uncomfortable and something that I would not be too interested in trying out but it would be a fun race to watch.

I almost missed it but today is the first day of the US Open Tennis Championships in New York. I have been a tennis player and tennis fan since I was 8 years old and the US Open is easily my favorite tournament of the year. There may be the European flavor of the French, the pomp of Wimbledon, The laid back kickoff of the year at the Australian Open but I believe that the US Open tops them all. Not only do the best players never miss the US Open but the night matches are full of drama and go late into the night with catcalls and lots of cheering from the crowds that are really close to the court surface at Flushing Meadows.

There have been some great moments over the years in watching the US Open. My favorite moments were Jimmy Connors and his run at 39 to the semis in 1991. Many John McEnroe arguments, Pete Sampras throwing up on center court during the fifth set of the semis and eventually winning the tournament and of course the last few years of Roger Federer domination.

The US Open Tennis Championships will be going on for two weeks. This week is a good warmup to watch some great tennis moving into the great matches next week and of course Super Saturday next weekend