The debate on sex education and birth control has changed, and if you need proof, here it is on — of all places — Fox News, from the lips of Bristol Palin herself. See her interview on Fox News where she says abstinence only education “is not realistic.”

Well.

Bristol Palin with her baby, courtesy of Fox News

Cristina Page, who blogs on reproductive health policy for Birth Control Watch put it like this:

 In a stroke of media mastery, Bristol Palin harnessed the Palin family-doting Fox News last night to announce a powerful (and decidedly non-Fox News) message for policy makers: abstinence only is “not realistic.” The new teen mom also told Great Van Susteren that she would “love to be an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy.” Making this announcement on one of the most watched, and most conservative, news stations in the nation is already a pretty good display of her ability to reach a large swath of Americans (particularly the most difficult to reach on this issue.)
What the interview reveals is that Bristol is lovely, humble, honest, no doubt still a teenager and refreshingly free of any political agenda–except to use her experience to steer teens away from the same fate. In startling candidness, Bristol expresses the conflicting emotions that come packaged with teen parenthood; her love for her child and of motherhood and her belief that waiting ten years before becoming a parent would have been a better path.

With rates of teen pregnancy and STD’s rising, especially in Minnesota, her voice and her message could not come at a better time.

Someone pointed out his local health web site — My Health Minnesota - Go Local – which is a comprehensive list of doctors and services organized by disease or condition, everything from alcohol treatment to wrist injuries. It’s also organized by region. It’s a joint project of  the University of Minnesota Health Sciences Libraries, the Mayo Clinic Libraries and MINITEX Library Information Network jointly,  in cooperation with the US National Library of Medicine and the NIH.

Just in time for Valentine’s day comes this funny little ditty from grist.org, the environmental news web site, called “Breaking Up with my Blow-Up Doll.” 

Many plastic sex toys are made with phthalates, those chemicals in plastic that have been linked to cancer and other diseases. You know — that new car smell? Sex toys have it, too, and it’s the smell of phthalates.

Umbra, the green advice columnist on grist.com, suggests in this Grist TV video that you can buy environmentally healthy sex toys that don’t have chemicals. It’s worth a watch because it’s so silly.

 Seems like a good day to revive this post from a few weeks ago.

Here’s a timely test for all  Minnesotans: What are the signs of frostbite? What do you do to treat it?  How cold does your body have to get before hypothermia sets in and you literally start freezing to death?

Here are the answers to today’s pop quiz, courtesy of Dr. Doug Brunette an emergency room physician at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Frostbite: Your skin literally freezes.

What it looks like: Frozen skin. It becomes hard and pale, and red and painful as it thaws.  When you get cold, your body responds by not sending blood to the extremities in order to preserve your core temperature.   In a -30 degree wind chill skin freezes after only a few minutes. Skin dies in two ways: At the time of the exposure and because of the lack of oxygen.

What to do:  Immerse affected areas in warm water, about 102 degrees.   Get medical help if sores and blisters develop.

Hypothermia: You are literally freezing.

What it looks like:  Shivering, slurred speech, very slow breathing, pale cold skin, and fatigue.  Hypothermia becomes fatal when core temperatures get too low causing cardiac and respiratory failure.

What to do: Medical help should be called immediately.  Remove the person from the cold, remove wet clothing, insulate the person’s body from the cold ground, monitor breathing, share body heat, and provide a warm, nonalcoholic beverage if a person is able to swallow.

What not to do:  Do not apply direct heat, massage the person, or provide alcoholic beverages. That could cause cardiac arrest.

For those who haven’t lived here long enough to know, here are the ever sensible cold weather tips:

1. Always dress for the weather, being sure to cover ears, nose, face, and head at all times.
2. Wear mittens instead of gloves
3. Wear two pairs of socks and waterproof shoes to keep feet warm.
4. Clothes should fit loosely to avoid a decrease in the amount of blood supplied to legs and arms.
5. Do not smoke or drink because it can affect your body’s blood circulation.
6. Always travel with a friend incase help would be needed or something would happen.
7. Pay attention to the “real feel” temperature.  This temperature factors in the wind chill, which may be much lower than the reported air temperature.

This is the saddest divorce story I’ve ever heard. A husband, a surgeon no less, donated a kidney to his wife. Now they are divorcing, and he calls reporters into his lawyers office to publicly demand that she either return the kidney or pay him $1.5 million for it. You can read the whole story here on CNN.
Dr. Richard Batista, a surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center in New Jersy, married his wife, Dawnel Batista, in 1990. They had three kids, and he saved her life with his kidney in 2001.  She filed for divorce in July 2005, although he claims she began having an extramarital affair 18 months to two years after receiving the kidney transplant. According to the reporter,  Batista fought back tears after talking about their bitter divorce battle. “There’s no deeper pain or betrayal from somebody you loved and devoted your whole life to,” he said.

His wife’s attorney denied that she had an affair while they were married.

Batista, 49, said he has no regrets about donating the kidney, only about the failed marriage. He said he still recalls the day after the surgery took place.

“There is no greater feeling on this planet. As God is my witness, I felt as if I could put my arm around Jesus Christ. It was unbelievable; I was walking on a cloud. To this day I would still do it again,” he said.
It’s not possible for him to get his kidney back, obviously. Is it fair for him to make the demand? Should a judge take it into consideration in the divorce proceedings? And isn’t this one of saddest divorce stories you’ve heard?