Zapping Tonsil-Stones with Lasers

The consensus among those who endeavor to treat the problem of chronic halitosis is that bread breath can in different cases be attributed to different causes. One that is particularly intractable without medical intervention, however, is the phenomenon of tonsil tones – smelly nodules which form on the tonsils.

I have written about tonsil stones, or tonsilloliths here previously, and those posts remain in the “top ten most-hit” category (post1, post2) up to the present. Therefore, I thought this article timely and pertinent:

A New York doctor pioneers a remedy to zap bad breath with a laser

Sadeta Velovic’s breath stunk.

It was so bad, people moved away from her when she spoke. Her own mother complained about the rotten stench. Even Velovic, herself, could smell the foul odor upon waking in the morning.

“Nobody wanted to be near that smell,” recalls the 40-year-old Ridgewood, Queens, resident, who works in building maintenance. “I felt so bad, but I didn’t know what to do. I kept going to doctors, but they didn’t help…”

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$22.5 million/year for knocking a piece of cowhide around?

As Sporting News notes today, Manny Ramirez has just reached a deal with the Dodgers: $45 million for two years.

Now consider this: in Trenton, New Jersey, a different Manny – Manny Rivera, the firefighter – was fighting for his life a month ago after sustaining a critical injury while saving the life of a teenager:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2009/02/firefighter_battles_lifethreat.html

Now, consider that the median salary of a firefighter with 20 years or more experience, in the U.S., is $62,888:

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Fire_Fighter/Salary

So $22.5 million for knocking a piece of cowhide around; $62,888 for saving lives and risking one’s own life doing so, on a regular basis. The latter amount is not even 0.5% of the former.

That stinks.

Lighten up, Army dudes

NC military mom arrives at Fort Benning with kids

Excerpts–

DAVIDSON, N.C. (AP) —A North Carolina woman who was recalled to the Army four years after being honorably discharged drove nearly 400 miles and braved a Southeastern winter storm to report for duty Sunday, with her children by her side….

…Pagan is among thousands of former service members who have left active duty since the Sept. 11 attacks, only to be recalled to service. They’re not in training, they’re not getting a Defense Department salary, but as long as they have time left on their original enlistment contracts, they’re on “individual ready reserve” status — eligible to be recalled at any time.

Pagan filed several appeals, arguing that because her husband travels for business, no one else can take care of her kids. All were rejected, leaving Pagan to choose between deploying to Iraq and abandoning her family, or refusing her orders and potentially facing charges….

…”The Army tries to look at the whole picture and they definitely don’t want to do anything that jeopardizes the family or jeopardizes the children,” O’Donnell  [Army spokesman in St. Louis] said. “At the same time, these are individuals who made obligations and commitments to the country….”

Source

Chill out, you hard-assed groundpounders, says I. You’re making her go through all this shit without any deference to the venerable tradition of motherhood, and even if you should let her off the hook, the fact remains that you screwed with her and her kids, big time. What the fuck is wrong with you? Y’all must have shit for brains. In this case, you and your red tape stink.