Monday, November 30, 2009
Fun Fact: Uptown Rainbow Edition
The Uptown Rainbow grocery store is built on the site of Minneapolis Arena, which served as the home of Golden Gopher Hockey before Williams Arena (old Mariucci) opened in 1950. [Vintage Minnesota Hockey]
Monday, November 23, 2009
Yoga is not an alternative to vaccination
The following was written in response to a column in the Minnesota Daily and published on November 24, 2009 with minor changes.
Yoga is a great way to achieve a healthy diet, daily physical activity, and good mental fitness, which can lead to better overall health. However, Hadley Gustin's suggestion that yoga is a "viable alternative to... vaccinations" is irresponsible at best, and dangerous at worst. There are no scientific studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of yoga in preventing illness beyond the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and the placebo effect; vaccines are unquestionably the best way to prevent communicable diseases.
Smallpox, which is estimated to have killed over 300 million people in the 20th century alone, was completely eradicated in 1977. This was not achieved through everyone "eradicating toxicity" through "a series of forceful exhalations," but through a miracle of modern "Western" medicine and science: vaccines. Many other diseases are becoming increasingly uncommon because of vaccination programs. Those who are not vaccinated are protected by herd immunity: since those around them are vaccinated, their risk of exposure is greatly reduced.
Few people will deny that our society needs to start living a healthier lifestyle, and doing so will take large steps towards reducing the the occurrence of preventable ailments such as Diabetes and obesity, but adhering to the delusion that this same regimen will prevent the spread of communicable diseases like H1N1 influenza is the kind of thinking that has led to recent outbreaks of Whooping Cough in Australia and Mumps in Great Britain.
So, you can pose and exhale all you like, but for the benefit of yourself and everyone around you, please get your vaccinations--there really is no other alternative.
Yoga is a great way to achieve a healthy diet, daily physical activity, and good mental fitness, which can lead to better overall health. However, Hadley Gustin's suggestion that yoga is a "viable alternative to... vaccinations" is irresponsible at best, and dangerous at worst. There are no scientific studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of yoga in preventing illness beyond the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and the placebo effect; vaccines are unquestionably the best way to prevent communicable diseases.
Smallpox, which is estimated to have killed over 300 million people in the 20th century alone, was completely eradicated in 1977. This was not achieved through everyone "eradicating toxicity" through "a series of forceful exhalations," but through a miracle of modern "Western" medicine and science: vaccines. Many other diseases are becoming increasingly uncommon because of vaccination programs. Those who are not vaccinated are protected by herd immunity: since those around them are vaccinated, their risk of exposure is greatly reduced.
Few people will deny that our society needs to start living a healthier lifestyle, and doing so will take large steps towards reducing the the occurrence of preventable ailments such as Diabetes and obesity, but adhering to the delusion that this same regimen will prevent the spread of communicable diseases like H1N1 influenza is the kind of thinking that has led to recent outbreaks of Whooping Cough in Australia and Mumps in Great Britain.
So, you can pose and exhale all you like, but for the benefit of yourself and everyone around you, please get your vaccinations--there really is no other alternative.
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