Caleb Burns says Hello! (Formerly I said, Howdy! But my far better half said to change it, so I did.)
For a graphic on
why we should wash our hands, please click here: handwash.html (Shouldn't a graphic like this be on
bathroom walls everywhere? Especially with the current SARS scare and the
upcoming flu and cold season? Why not tell people -- including children,
adults, others at risk -- exactly how soap and water work?)
Some of Caleb's
notions below are for physical safety (e.g., first aid
charts in all phonebooks), health (smoke detectors in all school
bathrooms where smoking occurs, methods to reduce household fires, Hibiclens on
toothpaste, posting drunken driving laws on dashboards, making car horns easier
to find, water furniture to cool people off), safety (cameras on cars to
increase safety, a telephone system to reduce crime, using an email
"scrubber system" to control viruses), and education (putting
together a free-ware list by grade of the best soft-ware by grade, a list of
good and bad TV shows for young children, video-tapes of parents reading with
their children). Caleb has never seen these ideas advocated anywhere else but
believes they would be useful in reducing misery, death, etc. Caleb is a licensed
psychologist in the Portland, Oregon area. He has a Ph.D. in Clinical
Psychology from the
Caleb will be the
first to tell you that he isn't the smartest person on the planet, but he does
have a variety of common sense ideas to reduce pain, misery, destruction and to
help others improve their lot in life.
BECAUSE it is true (as someone once said) that "It's not that life is short -- it's that death is long!", Caleb's general interests (aside from his far better half and his two very active children) include the following projects:
1--For
family safety, First aid charts should be in all public telephone books
throughout the world -- they are now in all the Portland US West Yellow
pages and several other localities -- including Seattle -- are presently
considering them. Since Pacific Bell Telephone Company place d them in all
Pacific Bell Telephone directories in the late 1970's, many, many lives in
California have probably been saved by them. Shouldn't YOUR telephone book have
such information? Wouldn't you like every phone directory in your community to
have it? In Portland this past year, with the telephone system overloaded and
with emergency radios limited by the windstorms, the phone books were probably
especially effective. If you are interested in this, please call US West in
Portland, Oregon, regarding this -- or contact Pacific Bell in San Francisco.
(You can request copies of this information by calling Pacific Bell Telephone
at 415-542-2334. In addition to information in English, they also have it in
Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean.) Or please contact Caleb and he will
get you whatever information you need to get your community thinking about this
project, because as the saying goes, "It's not that life is short,
it's..."
2--Good smoke detectors in all school bathrooms where smoking occurs now, this to reduce cigarette-smoking of youngsters (this will also reduce drug abuse, stop nicotine -- the gateway drug -- from corrupting others, etc.) Won't you ask your children if youngsters are smoking in the bathrooms at school? If smoking occurs there, why not ask your school to install good smoke detectors? There are two major kinds of smoke detectors -- heat detectors (which will not detect cigarette smoke) and smoke detectors (which can often be set to levels able to pick up cigarette smoke). In Portland, Oregon, Central Catholic High School (at (503) 235-3138) has caught students smoking in the bathroom, thereby reducing smoking. Each day 4000 children start a career in smoking, and of those 4000, 1000 will die of smoking-related causes. You may save a lot of lives! (Also, even if youngsters aren't smoking in the bathrooms now, they might be smoking there in the future. Therefore, niches and small recesses should be built into all future school bathrooms, this to hide smoke detectors.)
3--Good weight scales in all public libraries so patrons can weigh themselves and their children. Weight scales are less common now than they used to be, I believe. And I believe that this might be due to people interested in selling us food and other consumables. (Hence, not many scales in malls, etc.) I would like to see good weight scales in every public library in the United States, perhaps near a table with some basic health information. I do feel that if we asked library patrons whether they would want good scales available, they would certainly say, "Yes." And the cost of this important information would be very, very cheap. (To see how the scales are working in two libraries in Oregon, you are invited to contact the Wilsonville Public Library in Wilsonville, Oregon, or the Blue Mountain Community College Library in Pendleton, Oregon. I expect that more libraries will use such scales in the future to help their patrons, other citizens, etc. While the Blue Mountain Community College has its balance scale a bit out of sight, Wilsonville has its scale in the main library.)
4--Holding one's breath to stop hyperventilation. About 12 years ago, I started hyperventilating to the point that I had tunnel vision, chest pain, neck pain, etc. (I had it checked out by a cardiologist and he informed me that my problems were not cardiac related.) After some research on the topic, I decided to simply hold my breath for a while when the hyperventilation symptoms appeared. Since that time, I have not been bothered at all by hyperventilation (except for once when I had a high temperature from an infection). The reasoning is like this. In order to transport oxygen into our lungs, the blood cells need a certain amount of carbon dioxide (which the body produces). But if we breathe too fast, there is not enough carbon dioxide to transport oxygen efficiently and we might then breathe faster and faster, thinking that we are not getting enough oxygen. The problem is that we are getting TOO MUCH oxygen and not enough carbon dioxide. Hence, an easy treatment is simply to hold one's breath for 30 seconds. The latest "Merck Manual" said that one can take a shallow breath and hold it for 30 seconds or so and do it repeatedly, but I have never had to do it more than once. This technique may be employed anywhere without making the person self-conscious, having to look for a paper bag, etc. (I explain to some clients the basics of hyperventilation and suggest that they should check it out with their physicians, and also to consider putting "hold breath" on their watch band to remind them what to do if they start to hyperventilate.) Anyway, I think this should be on anyone's list about "how to treat hyperventilation." Of all the things I have had a part in, this is one of the simplest, most effective approaches to treating a difficult problem. (Question: How many drivers suffer hyperventilation attacks at times? Answer: A heck of a lot!)
5--Also
related to family and personal safety, why aren't the following devices
available in the market place now?
A cut-off timer for stove tops which would ring after a certain period of
time -- perhaps 5 minutes. At that point, if the stove is not reset, then
the burner automatically goes off, this very greatly reducing the likelihood of
fire. (With an aging population, and a greater tendency to live independently
on the parts of our elderly, why isn't such a system available everywhere? And
not only new stoves, but how about add-ons for older stoves?)
Why is there not a short extension cord available with a little timing
button on it which will automatically shut off after a half hour or so (perhaps
a variety to times might be possible) of being turned on? (Perhaps a light
will show the cord is actively conducting electricity.) In this way, people can
forget their irons are on and have much less chance of burning the house down,
etc.
6--Also related to personal health, I brush my teeth with a drop or two of Hibiclens(tm) on my toothpaste. Hibiclens is actually chlorhexidine gluconate and it has been used in Europe for decades as a food preservative. It is sold as the prescription mouth-wash, "Peridex"(tm), but the actual active ingredient in Peridex is Hibiclens (that is, chlorhexidine gluconate). According to the PDR (the well-known "drug book"), chlorhexidine gluconate is a "persistent antimicrobial" that continues to kill germs, etc., for long periods of time. Hence the reason I use it is to destroy microbes which lead to gum and teeth problems, including cavities, gingivitis, other dental infections, etc. This approach was first described in a health magazine in about 1983 and I have used it regularly since then. I certainly AM not a physician, dentist, etc., and do not recommend this approach for others, but it might cause people to ask their dentists, pharmacists, physicians, etc., about it. Recently studies have found that pregnant women with dental infections have an increased risk of childbirth problems, and perhaps Hibiclens may help. Also, some stomach ulcers and at least one form of stomach cancer apparently appear to be related to some of the microbes commonly found in our mouths. (I should note that at one point -- this after reading the initial article which suggested several drops in the bottom of a Dixie cup and adding water to it to make a rinse to swish around one's teeth -- I brushed my teeth in a solution of pure Hibiclens. However, this led to a surface coating (which is harmless and was easily removed by a dental technician) over some of my teeth. Since I started using one or two drops on my toothbrush and toothpaste every morning, the coating problem has not returned.) Again, please let me state I am not a physician, dentist, etc., and I am not advising anyone to do this on their own. But, with the harmful effects of gum and dental disease, perhaps this approach will reduce misery and it may even save the lives of the elderly, those with teeth problems, may well reduce birth defects, etc.
7--Posting
on dashboards of cars the consequences for driving while intoxicated will reduce drunken driving, including the
deaths that result therefrom. That is, if drivers read more frequently the
actual consequences of being arrested for drunken driving -- perhaps with some
statistics of how many people are killed a year in this fashion -- they would
probably be less likely to drive while intoxicated. As the drunken driving laws
change from state to state (and I guess sometimes from locale to locale) -- it
would make sense to have these posted rules pertain to people in a given
locale. I do think this will save lives, reduce injuries, etc.
8--A wider use of cameras to reduce crime. An excellent psychologist, Stanley Milgram, noted that in small towns, people were less likely to engage in crime because there was less anonymity. That is, if you lived in a small town and did something wrong -- perhaps vandalized something -- people are more likely to know your parents, your uncles and aunts, where you worked, etc. Milgram pointed out that in huge cities -- such as New York -- those engaging in many crimes are likely to remain anonymous and, hence, are less likely to be caught. Or if they are caught, they are less likely to be censured by family, friends, etc., this as the crime is somewhat out of view. I predict that as sure as Monday follows Sunday, there will come a time when your car will have a camera on it (probably on the roof) which can take pictures of everything around it. Not only would it be useful for recording the events surrounding accidents, but it also well be very useful for security. Why should someone shoot at you, tailgate you, etc., if you could easily snap a picture of them? Wouldn't you feel safer knowing your loved ones could drive a vehicle protected in this way? And perhaps the police will also be able to ask anyone with such a camera who had been driving down a certain street at a certain time if they took a picture of a certain event. (Indeed, over time, I think that such devices will be continuously recording, this to allow people to look at vandals in their neighborhoods, will lead to very pronounced crime reduction, etc., etc.) A related approach in the short run is for people to have cameras around their necks more regularly, this to take pictures of misbehavior by others. (Indeed, I recently was in scout camp with a camera around my neck and it was amazing how many pictures I took in four days, although none -- I must admit -- of criminal activity, etc.) I do believe that people in high crime areas with cameras around their necks may reduce criminal behavior, this as they strip the mask on anonymity away. And perhaps major camera and film companies -- such as Kodak (tm), etc., may try this general approach out on a given high crime area.
9--If we are concerned about early education, why not make available freeware disks containing the best of basic education freeware, these to be distributed for free by all libraries, schools, and by the Internet? In this way, parents and others would have easy access to programs teaching reading, writing, math, etc. Every school and library should have such disks, ready for copying and for free distribution. This will put in the hands of all parents proven, effective, content-related instructional methods. (The Government Printing House does not distribute anything like this now, but one person there I spoke to said she thought there would be a huge demand for this.)
10--Methods of controlling television violence. I heard Jack Valenti talking a while ago about parental control methods that were easy to use, but I don't believe that broadcasters really want to clean up TV, or that they would be for a simple menu system allowing parents to choose among a wide variety of menus for their homes. On the other hand, V-Chip technology will allow indexing of programs along different continua (allowing parents and others to choose from among a very wide array of menus) and will allow parents to block the noxious shows before they enter our homes. This technology will also allow automatic selection of good shows on the same channel that bad shows are later to be run on (with these negative shows blocked). Over time, such technology will probably also be used to block negative commercials. Who knows? But clearly, if the broadcasters don't clean up their own act, we parents and others should be given the power to let into our homes the programs we want and to keep out the programs we don't want. Our first duty is provide a healthy, nurturant environment for our children. (I don't care who makes up the menu choices -- but with several hundred or more menu choices, there will be menus that will appeal to almost everyone.) I know I would be willing to pay several hundred dollars a year for such a service, and I am sure other parents would too.
11--And why not a list of the best and worst shows on television that parents should be aware of? Aren't you concerned about what your children are watching in the afternoons? Wouldn't you like independent ratings of these shows, rather than have only ratings created by people interested in getting children and other people to watch the various programs these organizations are touting? Why isn't there a listing of shows for parents to make sure their children avoid in the afternoons, in the evenings, etc.? Similarly, why is there not a recommended list of the great (i.e., educational, informative, useful, non-violent, etc.) shows on television -- such a s "Inventions" on the Discovery Channel, "Biography" on the Arts and Entertainment Channel, "Connections 2" on The Learning Channel? Both of these lists -- the good and the bad -- should be in all major newspapers, etc. If you have such lists -- or know where they exist -- please let Caleb know -- he'd be happy to collaborate.
12--Videotapes of parents reading with their children, listening to their children reading, and then both of them reading silently together -- also doing math with their children, figuring out the real world (with science), etc. Why shouldn't such videotapes be disbursed with the first day of school for every student? Parents often have a busy, busy schedule, and many would really love to do better, if only they knew how. The "response cost" of being a good parent is often very, very high. (Response cost is the "hassle factor" of doing something -- if things are easy to do, we are more likely to do them than things that are harder to do. "Response Cost" controls much of our behavior, even when we try to be perfect.) Such tapes will also let the children know what is expected of them, and these tapes will serve to counteract a lot of the mindless, anti-learning, anti-studying fare that comes through television, etc. Does anyone know of good videotapes (available for copying and free distribution) that focus on these important areas? If so, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know!!! (The Government Printing Office should clearly make such tapes available for every school, library, daycare, etc.)
13--Related to highway safety, why aren't the horns in cars very easy to find? The problem now is that many horns are not easy to find and there appears to be no national standard for the effective placement for horns in a car, etc. Hence, in the car I drive, the horn location is indicated by a graphic of a horn in black on a black background. But this is nonsense! I want a horn I can easily find without looking hard -- something raised, in red, and perhaps with a pattern that is easy to feel. This will distinguish it from the background and probably would save a lot of lives. I also have a habit of driving with my hand on the horn and this has saved me from accidents, because I am quickly able to alert other cars to an impending accident (perhaps crossing into my lane).
14--Regarding energy conservation, how about water furniture to cool us in times of hot temperatures? Those who have ever slept on a water bed without a blanket or sheet under their skin can attest to the cooling influence of water. That is, water cushions will reduce several degrees of temperature and will, I think help cool people (including the elderly) in hot periods. One of the concerns I would have with this approach (if it is simplistically applied) is ensuring that people do not succumb to hypothermia. I'd be happy to chat for free with anyone exploring this "heat-sink" approach. This approach will indeed change -- I think -- how cooling methods will be extended to the real world (the rest of the planet). (Also, my dermatologist told me that people washing themselves should wash themselves briefly and use soap only under their arms, in the groin area, etc., and not wash with soap all over. Washing all over with soap will take off necessary oils and can lead to skin problems, etc. Washing for shorter periods of time will also save on both energy and water usage. There was a recent outbreak of winter rashes and they probably were due in part to "over-washing." On the other hand, I talked to a physician who said that he didn't want to advise people to wash less because that might spread infectious diseases.)
15--To reduce crime, a new service should be provided by telephone companies, this to allow people to be able to quick-dial a number and store 20 minutes or so of sound via a telephone, cell-phone, etc. at an off-site location. This would reduce the likelihood of crime, would help persecute when crime did occur, etc. At present there is nothing the average person can do before a criminal activity, (One can always call 911 after the fact, but there is little the average person can do when he/she starts to perceive a threat -- perhaps when the car is broken and someone approaches it, when a group of dangerous-looking people appear, etc., etc. Such a fee-for-service may be welcomed by domestic-violence groups, rape-support organizations, concerned parents, etc. This service seems inevitable, in part because the information is stored off-site (and hence not easily tampered with) and because, in a sense, the user of the services can extend an umbrella of protection to their home, their car (if cell-phone -- and camping as well), etc., etc. Also, if one posted a notice at the front door warning visitors that what they said may be recorded off-site, this probably would reduce the likelihood of violence.
16--An "email scrubber," or a
centralized service that cleans viruses from emails. In this system, one would
send emails to a centralized location and the email would be scrubbed clean
from viruses and then it would sent on its way. The recipient of the email
would be able to easily check whether the email had been scrubbed, perhaps by
sending a message to the central scrubber. This system would reduce the
likelihood that individual or other systems would be contaminated by the latest
virus. (Why trust all of us to update our virus-checkers on an ongoing basis
when it can be done centrally, perhaps for a small fee? <I'd pay willingly
for the service.> Also, a centralized agency would then be more likely to
track the latest in viruses, etc.) <Actually, I had a very nice email from
someone at http://www.emailscrubber.com/
who is doing this already. Sure makes sense to me!
Very nice lady I spoke to.>
17--If we want people to wash their hands on a
regular basis, we should tell them how soap works to kill germs. (Soap kills
germs by reducing water tension and causing the microbes (in essence) to break
apart, such as a water balloon will spill open when the surface is cut open.
Also, one end of the soap molecule attaches to organic matter and the other end
attaches to water, this allowing the germs to be washed away.) Graphics
describing how soap works (and also describing the dangers of nose-picking and
eye-touching in spreading diseases) should be available on bathroom mirrors
throughout the world. (Please see http://www.teleport.com/~calebb/handwash.html)
18--Why don't dictionaries have the "Top 2,000 SAT Words"? And wouldn't you be more likely to buy a dictionary that had such words? Even if you were not a student, wouldn't you like to review the top 2,000 words just to make sure you had not confused them over the years? I sure would pay for such a dictionary. I'm thinking of a poll of school principals and superintendents asking for their views on dictionaries offering such a list of words. Who would say no?
19--Bifocal glasses and auto-accidents -- perhaps a major undiscovered problem, especially for the elderly (and if we are lucky enough, we ALL will be elderly). Some background. My father said to me in about 1975, "Caleb -- if you ever need bifocal glasses, get the kinds with the lines, because then you'll know exactly where to look." And he was right (about this and almost all else). The kinds of optical glasses without lines (progressive glasses, such as Varilux <tm>) are more likely to result in trips and falls than the kinds of bifocal glasses with lines. (A client told me several years ago that the term "Executive glasses" are used to describe glasses with horizontal lines across the visual filed. Very useful for many different things, including being able to look at computer screens without having to turn your head from one side to another.) I have a funny story about this: About 1984 I stopped in at a large department store which also sold glasses. I asked the optician if he ever showed people the bifocal glasses with the lines in them and he said no. I asked him why, and he answered: "Because if I do, they never want anything else." Totally honest (but bogus) response. My mother about 8 years ago said she could no longer drive and I asked her about her glasses. Turned out that she had the progressive glasses, and when she switched her glasses, she was again able to drive. So, one question I have is this: How many deaths on the highway are due to these variable-field glasses? I don't know, and as far as I can figure out, no one has studied this topic for drivers. (But please see the following for pilots and progressive glasses: http://www.teleport.com/~calebb/glasses.html)
If you would like to drop me a note to
discuss these or any other topics, please click here. calebbtakeoutthespam@teleport.com
Also, for those with sleep
problems, some of the approaches he recommends (and uses) are these:
1. A fan constantly running at
night, this as background "white noise." This drowns out background
sounds, such as speech, dogs, etc. This sound is rather like a continuous
rainfall, or an ocean surf in its effect. (For
oscillating fans, it helps to pull the button to stop the fan from rotating. In
winter months, you may want to just aim the fan away from the bed.)
2. A sleep mask for the eyes, this an opaque mask that prevents light from reaching the eyes. (Hence, it is far easier to sleep through a night. Light doesn't bother one, etc.)
3. I suggest people silently count down from one hundred, breathing between each breath. (It's easy to count up to a hundred while one thinks of a variety of things. But counting down is slightly more demanding and it's much easier for me to fall asleep that way.)
4. Don't look at the clock at night
to see what time it is, because whatever time it tells you it is, the
information is not useful and may well keep you up. (For example, if the clock
says
5. For those with sleep AND back problems, sleeping on one's back with very large pillows (such as strapping two sofa cushions together) under one's knees might be helpful. (This also straightens out the curve in one's back and helps support the body at a variety of points -- hence, more efficiently. Also, a pillow under each shoulder helped me reduce the strain on the chest cartilage -- this as I had not slept on my back at all before back surgery. And finally, about 4 months ago, I discovered that putting a sheet down on the bed and allowing it to cover the large pillows very much reduced the number of times I woke up to rearrange the pillows with my legs. Now I rarely wake up at all to do that.)
Good luck with sleeping! For
Shakespeare had it right when he spoke about how difficult it is to encourage
it when you want it!
Of all the
organizations I have been associated with, the most helpful one (in teaching
valuable personal skills) is Toastmasters International. I first joined
Toastmasters about 23 years ago in
Caleb lost his race to be the
Democratic Governor of Oregon for the '02 election, having run on the basis of
our own failed education reforms.
But four quick questions for
those who might be satisfied with the current "
1. If these reforms (including the
novel, unproved statewide assessments, such as the CIM tests, the proposed
2. Why won't the Oregon Department
of Education anonymously survey teachers for their views of these
"reforms"?
3. Why have results of the
"statewide assessments" not been compared to widely available,
nationally-normed tests, such as the Stanford Achievement Tests, the
Metropolitan Achievement Test?
4. Finally, why wasn't this stuff
pilot-tested before it was forced on all our public school children? (The
educational highway is littered with fads that have done little else besides
leaving youngsters untaught and turned off to education -- fads such as "new
math," the "whole language" approach to reading -- in which
phonics is strongly criticized -- etc.)
Born in rural
Koolauloa, Kahuku,