No opinion

Last week, people kept asking me what should be done with -- or in some cases to -- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

I'm a minor-league community leader, which is to say that local newspapers and TV stations often ask me for statements about various topics in the news. It doesn't mean that I have any influence.

But these questions didn't come from the news media. They came from almost every person I met.

I didn't sense that the people who were asking had any real interest in my opinion. It appeared that what they wanted was assurance that I agreed with their opinions, which were all over the place.

I tried to avoid answering. There were some opinions with which I tended to agree, and others with which I disagreed. The issue for me, however, was that I had so little information. Everything I thought I knew seemed to be contradicted by the next news report.

In a more general way, I think it would be good for most of us to have fewer opinions, and to draw conclusions much more slowly and carefully. Nothing is accomplished by making proclamations about things we really know very little about. In fact, it's harmful if we find that we've committed ourselves to a position that proves to be wrong, because most of us aren't good at admitting mistakes or even saying that we've changed our minds. Instead, we adopt "confirmation bias": a filter that lets in any information that confirms our opinion and keeps out anything that doesn't.

Holding fewer opinions allows us to be less judgmental overall, and that's good for our mental health and for our relations with others. It's not good to be constantly irritated by things that aren't our responsibility.

Resistible

I was probably in the first cohort of men--outside of medical research--to start taking low-dose aspirin. My doctor advised it right after the publication of the results from the Boston Physicians Study, which showed that taking one 325-mg aspirin tablet every second day reduced the risk of heart attack. However, my doctor told me to take one 81-mg tablet every day. Back then we called it baby aspirin.

The reason aspirin works is that it impedes the agglomeration of platelets, which is the first step in the formation of a blood clot. The effect is milder than that of anticoagulant drugs so there's less risk of excessive bleeding.

Subsequent research revealed that it doesn't have that effect for some percentage of people. The number may be as low as 5 percent or as high as 40 percent.

That led to the development of tests for "aspirin resistance." Yes, there are tests that purport to detect whether or not aspirin will have the desired anti-platelet effect in your body.

The latest study, from the University of Pennsylvania, argues that there is no such thing as aspirin resistance. The researchers couldn't find a single instance of it in 400 healthy volunteers. So it appears that the tests are a waste of money and could prevent people from using an inexpensive treatment that would help them.

What they found was that enteric coatings on some aspirin tablets interfere with the absorption: inconsistent when the tablets have an enteric coating, consistent when they don't. Enteric coatings are intended to keep the pill from dissolving in the stomach, to prevent the gastric irritation that some people get from aspirin.

The Penn research was done with 325-mg tablets, like the original Boston Physicians study. In my experience, the 81-mg dose of low-dose tablets doesn't cause gastric trouble anyway.

Of course there's disagreement about the new research. The well-known cardiologist Eric Topol is skeptical because the research subjects were healthy. He says that various medical conditions could affect the way aspiring functions. I hope that someone will study that, but for those of us already taking aspirin, it's not the essential question right now. 

The makers of aspirin-resistance tests also disagree--no surprise there. Part of their response is that it's a more subtle question, the degree of resistance rather than just "yes" or "no." That also doesn't mean much if you're already taking aspirin.

The obvious point for me is that aspirin with an enteric coating may not work, so I'm being careful to buy only non-coated aspirin. In some stores most of the low-dose aspirin is coated, but the chewable forms never are.

Here's the abstract of the Penn research, and here's a New York Times article about it.

Tubular!

It's snowing as I write this, with a forecast of 10 to 14 inches of snow. The forecast for a neighboring county is 14 to 18 inches.

If  you're accustomed to going to a gym, this kind of weather can interrupt your routine. If you're leaving work during a snowstorm, there's a fair chance that you'll choose to skip the gym and go directly home. 

So it can be good to have an alternative ready at home. But you may not want to invest much money in home equipment if you already go to a gym, or you may not have space for it, and it's often resistance training that goes out the window.

That's where resistance tubes or bands come in. They're inexpensive and take up very little space. They're also light enough to consider for travel, if you won't be staying in a hotel with a fitness center, or if you suspect that the hotel's fitness center will be like my nearest gym, which is 100% cardio. 

Tubes or bands can be used for most exercises that you'd do with free weights, and they're especially good at mimicking machines. In general, you secure the band in a door frame, or stand on it and hold both ends. They come in different resistance levels, and when it's secured in a door frame, standing closer to or farther from the attachment point varies the resistance effectively. 

Xertube is probably the best-known brand, and the one with which I'm most familiar. They come in tube and braided styles and are easy to find, with different colors that correspond to different amounts of resistance. In addition to long bands, which you attach to a door frame or stand on, there are versions with shorter bands and with leg cuffs, although with a little ingenuity it's possible to use the long one, secured in a door frame, for almost any exercise.

One limitation of Xertubes is that the resistance may not be sufficient. Up to a point, moving away from the attachment point will be enough, but a moderately strong man may find that even the purple (heaviest) tube doesn't provide enough resistance at a convenient distance. For that reason, I'm now recommending a set of bands from Black Mountain Products that lets you attach up to three bands to a single set of handles, for heavier and more variable resistance.

 One drawback of tubes or bands is that they're not calibrated. I don't see how they could be--the resistance varies according to where you stand and, when you're standing on the band or tube, in proportion to your height and the length of your arms.

That can be a downer if you keep records of your workouts or like to brag about them. If you're using them only as a substitute for weights or gym machines, it won't matter. You'll be able to tell what is comparable to your intended routine.

Nixon's Darkest Secrets

What were the formative events of our generation? I'd list three: the Sixties counter-culture, the Vietnam War (and protests against it), and the Watergate scandal, leading to President Richard Nixon's resignation.

None of these did anything to engender trust or confidence in government, yet the overwhelming majority of us, no matter how much we disliked whatever government happened to be in power, continued to believe in the American government, at least in principle. I went to a notoriously radical college, but a high percentage of my graduating class entered government service. Nearly all of us vote in every election and some of us have run for office.

Don Fulsom's book Nixon's Darkest Secrets: The Inside Story of America's Most Troubled President comes as a heck of a shock even though I had ample reason to dislike Tricky Dick. My dislike was based on his actions in office, especially the handling of the Vietnam war, including the secret bombing of Cambodia, and the Watergate affair--I always believed he was at the heart of it.

Fulsom was the journalist who first broke the story of a connection between the Watergate burglars and the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). To protect his source, a CREEP staff member who may have been the only honest man there, Fulsom stayed in the background and gave the story to a colleague.

What was new to me was the evidence of Nixon's involvement with organized crime, extending over decades. Fulsom argues that Nixon did favors for, and received favors from the Mob throughout his political career, beginning with his first campaign for Congress. As Vice-President under Dwight Eisenhower, Nixon was part of the planning of the Bay of Pigs invasion, involving a weird conglomeration of anti-Castro exiles from Cuba, the CIA, and Mob assassins. The Mob had a grudge against Fidel Castro because he had kicked them out of Cuba.

Fulsom advances the theory that the same group of Cuban exiles, CIA agents, and Mob hitmen were behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. One reason for the Mob interest would have been Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's vigorous prosecution of organized crime leaders and of union officials who were allied with them. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence, but no proof. I'm not fond of JFK-assassination conspiracy theories, but I have to agree that more investigation is still warranted.

Much of the initial publicity about Fulsom's book focused on his suggestion of a homosexual relationship between Nixon and Bebe Rebozo. They spent a lot of time together alone, were seen holding hands in public--while the inhibited Nixon was almost never seen even to touch his wife, Pat, in public--and Rebozo was known in the gay community in Miami. Fulsom concludes that if there was such a relationship, it was probably never consummated. He adds, however, that Rebozo had ties to the Mob and may have been Nixon's chief connection to it.

For Fulsom, neither Watergate nor the long history of taking money from the Mob (and doing favors in return) was Nixon's most serious crime. That, according to Fulsom, was Nixon's interference in the Paris peace talks in 1968, which Fulsom considers treason. Basically, Nixon sent word to the president of South Vietnam not to cooperate in the peace talks prior to the election, promising betters terms if he won in November. That resonates in 2012, when another Republican presidential candidate seems to be interfering in foreign policy in a way that may be against the interests of the United States.

Nixon's Darkest Secrets, by Don Fulsom (St. Martin's Press, 2012)

Beyond fear and hurt

Middle age is when broadness of the mind
and narrowness of the waist change places. 

Ewan Munro

This was posted on a joke board, but if it's funny, that's because it's often true. Nevertheless, I'd say that no more half of us become more narrow-minded in midlife.

On the other hand, most of us become more cautious. Some of our growing caution is natural and desirable: it's been reported that a man's brain doesn't assess risk accurately until he reaches the mid- to late-20s. At that point we do better at learning from experience.

Unfortunately, we may also become inappropriately, excessively cautious. In early midlife, we have a lot to risk and we finally start to take our responsibilities seriously. Especially when we have responsibility for a family, we're likely to be most concerned about holding on to what we have--and since family responsibilities last a long time, that concern will persist pretty much throughout midlife.

Lately I've been working on a project with two people who have been, I think, too cautious, possibly out of fear. Specifically, the fear of criticism. The project requires some choices that won't be universally popular. The choices are difficult, and while there are good compromises that can be made, not all of the compromises will be acceptable to every constituent.

My role is that of consultant: basically, my organization is providing consulting services to another, although I myself am part of the other organization's constituency. Being only the consultant, I am less susceptible to criticism. The two other people are in roles that make them lightning rods for criticism.

On the other hand, even if they attract more criticism than I will, they're a bit less vulnerable, if only because they're closer to retirement than I am and, in their work roles, have more authority than I do.

My reading of the situation is that they've suffered too much criticism in the past, much of it thoughtless and uninformed, and they're just not up for more. I wish they could take a more courageous path, both for their own sakes and because the less courageous path, the one they're taking, is likely to result in more criticism in the long run.

I've written before that courage isn't automatic on my part. By nature I'm prudent and cautious. I make a conscious effort to choose the more courageous course, pretty much as a matter of principle and self-discipline. I'm going to say that it's a positive duty in midlife to do that, to overcome whatever fears restrain us, in order to bring mature judgment to the issues that we confront. Younger people just don't have the experience and maturity. They do have bravado, which isn't good for much. We've shed the young man's sense of invincibility, but if we can't replace it with deliberate courage, the world is worse off for it.

Exercise and nutrition, midlife and beyond

photo by mainerunningphotos

Ben Greenfield's podcast #204 includes his reply to a question about adjusting exercise and nutrition as one gets older. The caller asking the question notes needing an additional day of recovery time, which is often mentioned, but Ben offers some specific nutritional guidance.

One point that may attract some controversy is that he equates a vegan diet with increased sarcopenia. There are some prominent vegan athletes, but those I can think of are still fairly young. Ben advises against it as you get older, if you want to maintain strength and function.

He also lists supplements that could be advantageous, and recommends vitamin supplementation as digestion becomes less efficient (after age 70). 

I always enjoy Ben's podcasts even though some of the topics are of little interest to me -- his replies are entertaining nonetheless. If you don't want to listen to the whole podcast, this segment begins about 49 minutes into it.

The question after this one, about 55 minutes in, is also interesting. It's from a 48-year-old man whose problem is that he keeps getting stronger. (Poor fellow!) He's following a routine that's intended to build muscle mass. The question is about whether he should keep trying to gain strength or stay at a plateau, and whether there is a natural limit in play--in his case, he would be ready to progress to heavier weight, except that his wrists can't handle it. Ben advises against trying just to maintain a steady state (so does this blog), which he says is boring, and suggests seasonal variation in exercise types and goals.

Berkeley joins MIT and Harvard in edX

In May I wrote that MIT and Harvard University were beginning to offer some of their courses free and that it would be possible to earn a certificate, although no college credit or degree. These are full courses with midterm and final exams.

The University of California, Berkeley, has now announced that it will join the edX consortium.