Expectations – Barack Obama and Harvey Two-Face

Recent polls are showing that Barack Obama became even more popular as the inauguration approached. The expectations for Obama run high, and the promises he has made may be even higher. This trust in one man to make-do on lofty promises may be familliar to someone who has seen The Dark Knight. Harvey Dent, the white knight district attorney of Gotham City: Two-Face, a twisted foe of justice. They are one and the same, although the people who trusted him, including Batman, could never have imagined this to be so. Dent’s Idealism, the expectations of the people, and the grim reality of the situation combined to create a murderous monster. Obama has the expectation, and possibly an even greater expectation than the fictional character of Dent; Obama speaks as though he may have the same level of idealism; and Obama faces the grim reality of hardships he listed in his speech (economy, health care, education, war, terrorism, etc). One can only trust Obama to stick to his promises unlike Harvey Dent who failed the people of Gotham. Had Batman not taken the fall for Dent’s shortcomings, all hope would have been lost. If Obama comes up short of the goal line, even by a foot, it could have drastic consequences on the morale of America. Thankfully, this is not a movie script, and the outcome has not been written yet.

Sonic Sez 4: Using Medications

This is overdue. I thought I posted a blog about this, but it seems I left it on draft. After I made an entry on WordPress about overdoses, I decided to make another sonic sez health video about using medications. I think my voice acting as improved a little bit, but I’m still hoping for more people to watch or comment on the videos. This one has a lot of meaning with the fairly recent release of The Dark Knight. A report came out shortly before I wrote the script about the increase in accidental overdoses and deaths caused by improper use of medications. The coincidence is eerie that research over 20 years in the making was released the same that Heath Ledger’s death brought the issue to the forefront. This video is dedicated to Heath Ledger, and to the promise of better knowledge about medications.

Accidental Overdoses

What happened to Heath Ledger was not a fluke. Research done over ten years showed that fatal medication errors have increased almost 4 fold since the early 1980s. The release of this information is merely coincidental, but if the death of a celebrity can’t get people to educate themselves about medications, then this research certainly won’t. Ledger did not die of some strange circumstance, and people need to be aware of the reactions they might have to their medications, changing their medications, or consuming street drugs or alcohol in addition to medicine. Just as importantly, doctors, nurses, other hospital staff, and pharmacists need to help inform patients about how to properly deal with using medication and the seriousness of the possible consequence from deviation (citation: medline plus).

Selfish Charity

Until it came up in a conversation with my sister I never thought about some charity events as selfish. The topic came up during a scene in Batman: Gotham Knight (A very good animation by the way). Charity events tend to be fun activities for the benefit of otehrs rather than hard work for the benefit of others. Thinking about it, which one would actually make a big difference? I’m not talking about community charities for the most part, but about celebrity and other “big-time” charities where all they do is golf. I guess even those events may not necessarily be selfish, but if the only reason someone contributes to charity is for a good time or improve their image then maybe they should look in the mirror and think.