From Bath to Cork with Baby Grace

Thomas Dreier on “The World is a Great Mirror”

omaniblog — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:04:30 +0000

The world is a great mirror. It reflects back to you what you are. If you
are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove
loving and friendly and helpful to you. The world is what you are.

Thomas Dreier

For more information on this quotation and the author:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/L002536/

Not only do I love this quote, but I went in search of the author and found many others. Including this one

"The life each of us lives is the life within the limits of our own thinking. To have life more abundant, we must think in limitless terms of abundance."

Thomas Dreier

Shocking Discovery about Doctors who Pretend

omaniblog — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:50:55 +0000

Today I came across a blog post that shook me so much I cut & paste it for you…

———————-

Drug industry writers behind some articles purportedly written by doctors [in USA]

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

A student who hands in a term paper under his own name, when in fact it had been written by someone else, has committed a serious breach of ethics.

The same is true for doctors who allow their bylines to appear above articles published in medical journals when in fact the articles were largely produced by ghostwriters pushing a product.

According to stories published Wednesday by The New York Times and the Associated Press (AP), many doctors have been persuaded by drug companies to cooperate on such articles.

A “sophisticated ghostwriting program” used by London-based drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to promote an antidepressant pill called Paxil was an example given by Associated Press. Although the company says it has discontinued the ghostwriting program, the news service obtained court documents showing that it had used this marketing tactic.

The danger here is that doctors are trusted. Readers who see a doctor’s name atop an article about a certain drug are apt to believe what is being stated. They would certainly be more skeptical if they knew the article was actually written by people working for the company that makes the drug.

Ghostwritten articles on Paxil, which highlighted doctors as their authors, appeared in five medical journals from 2000 to 2002. AP reported that today hundreds of people are pressing personal injury and wrongful death suits against GlaxoSmithKline, claiming the company downplayed the risks of Paxil.

The (New York) Times disclosed that there is

“a growing body of evidence suggesting that doctors at some of the nation’s top medical schools have been attaching their names and lending their reputations to scientific papers that were drafted by ghostwriters working for drug companies — articles that were carefully calibrated to help the manufacturers sell more products.”

There are no laws prohibiting ghostwriting. But there is no question that the widespread practice is unethical and that universities and medical associations should crack down. We agree with a bioethics expert at Duke University who told the Times, “To blow this off is not acceptable.” [blow off = to ignore]

———————————-

I was so shocked to read that doctors had been signing their names to articles written by Drug companies, I left a comment on the blog.

Is this happening in Ireland?

Trials & Tribulations of flying RyanAir through Bristol International AIrport

omaniblog — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:54:07 +0000

I slept it out and missed my plane this morning.

The alarm on my Nokia didn’t wake me. Maybe it didn’t go off. Maybe I didn’t set it right…

I stayed overnight in Bath with my dear friend Paul Cresswell. Was very tired going to bed and simply woke an hour after I was meant to.

Not RyanAir’s fault.

I has a hire car from Hertz. Amazingly I was able to extend the hire for another day for £2. The Hertz woman looked at my RyanAir voucher, said she thought it might be that low but checked. Imagine a car hire for a day for less than a decent cup of coffee…

I’ve re-scheduled the next two days. Arranged a meeting in Clarion Hotel Cork @ 1500 Friday. Apologised to Ken FitzGerald whom I’m meant to represent @BNI Phoenix Chapter tomorrow. (But I’m still looking for someone to cover for me, so that Ken isn’t left unrepresented at the business networking meeting.)

Discovered you pay £5 per hour for WiFi in Bristol Airport - but there are no signs to advertise this service. [I suggested to the customer service person from Bristol Airport they put some up. But she had no business card.]

I settled down to recover. Met a Newcastle Paul from Wharram Designs who’s got a client Sandford Care Village run by St Monica’s Trust. This sounds like a great place for ageing people to live and be supported throughout the rest of their life. He may be looking for a copywriter… You never know.

Now the Dell laptop battery is dying (running out). There is no powerpoint anywhere near.

I’ve phoned Kava Media, one of my employers. I’m off now to meet Richard Kennedy. This is an unexpected opportunity to talk to him about the link between Kava Media & MarketWriteNow.

Mental Health: Depression & AWARE public meeting Cork

omaniblog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:39:03 +0000

I got this (via Google Alert) link this morning: it’s an overview on depression.

On Thursday this week, AWARE are holding a public meeting in Cork [the first of many I hope].

Cork University Hospital Lecture Theatre

Thursday 19 November @ 8pm

Free Admission…. All Welcome..

Come early to be sure of getting a seat.

ps (David Carton has personal experience of Bipolar Disorder as a relative)

Discovery2009 - Science, Engineering, Technology & Maths

omaniblog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:38:50 +0000

The most popular stand was Blackrock Observatory. There was a queue to get into their ‘tent’.

Girl in awe

How similar are we to each other?

omanitot loved this

Slime-making was a huge attraction.

omanitot was introducted to this by @celav Marcela Whelan the organiser.

BarcampCork - photographic evidence

omaniblog — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:39:24 +0000

This was the master plan. Like Irish weather, it changed during the day.

Ciara Feely (findaconferencevenue.com) worked hard…

The notion of knitting while you un-conference amused & enthused me…

Sabrina Dent in full flight…

Notes for the session I ran on "Mental Health: Madness & the Spirit of the Entrepreneur".

Google Ranking of omaniblog

omaniblog — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:34:17 +0000

I’m not sure what this means yet… Perhaps someone could interpret it for me…?

Google PageRank: 4

Google Links: 254

Yahoo Links: 8,360

MSN Related: 59

Technorati Links: 1,540

Google indexed pages: 987

Subdomains: 1

Barcamp Cork Number 3 - mad isn’t it

omaniblog — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:33:43 +0000

The idea of BarCamp is crazy. A self proclaimed un-conference. A Cork gathering of people who’re really fed up with the conventional process that dominates conference practice.

This lot are going to have a day when anything goes. Minimal structure. Free flow of ideas and fun if you ask me.

It’s fitting it should be in the Cork International Airport Hotel (or is that the Cork Airport International Hotel?). That’s a hotel with zappy design - the hotel that hosted Irish Blog Awards 2009 - the Damian Mulley inspired (and he also did heaps of the graft behind it).

I have to prepare for it. I’m presenting a session. Offering a session. You might say selling a session.

I’ll be given a starting time. A space. It’ll be up to what happens next whether anyone will come or stay. People might come, look in & move off to something that interests them more. It may be a bit like Hyde Park Corner, soapbox stuff.

I blame @patphelan. He’s the one who hooked me on this, get me to take a look at BarcampIII. As soon as I looked at the website and some of the blog comments there, I got this mad idea to present something.

A more judicious person would have gone this year, sussed it out and maybe delivered a session in 2010. Only there may never be a 2010. For all we know no one may have a 2010. I didn’t want to assume that I could do it next year.

Do it now. It screamed at me. Thought cried out from the depths of experience, and I remembered all those horrendous bouts of severe depression which stopped me in the past.

I got mad enough to put up a session called

"Mental Health : madness and the entrepreneurial spirit".

It may be the only topic on which I’m qualified to speak.

Donal Casey & Gerry Murphy in Farmgate English Market - with John Minihan in background

omaniblog — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:16:50 +0000

A few hours ago I had the privilege of capturing these two heads together

Gerry Murphy & Donal Casey (who says he’s a man of no importance)

Focus on omaniblog

omaniblog — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:40:19 +0000

My new business partnership with Gwenda Hughes of Dragon Marketing has started.

It’s absorbed loads of energy & time. We [DragonMarketing&CopywritingServicesInternational] decided to go in for CorkMeet2009 - a business opportunity to meet new customers, partners and friends.

I never realised there was so much involved in setting up a new business properly - including dropping that mad name.

The implications for this omaniblog are clear: I must do all my work related writing on the blog of the new website. It needs content. And there’ll probably be a monthly business newsletter coming out of there too. (Got to earn more money… Minister Lenihan and sidekick Cowen are ready to make that even more necessary.)

So will "From Bath to Cork with Baby Grace" be for all my non-work stuff?

No. I don’t find the dichotomy between work and non-work helpful. I work hard at having fun, being a dad, a husband, a good friend, a worthwhile companion,a coffee drinker & being angry about the state of the Irish body politic.

It’s all work to me.

So there’ll always be a fuzzy boundary with cross-over.

I might as well accept that. I spent long enough, years ago, organising my life into silos… Trying to keep everything in separate compartments did me no good (but it has given me a fund of funny stories about how ridiculous the mind can be if you let it get the better of you.)

This blog will be mainly about mental health, being a father, the practice of focusing & continuing interest in food, writing poetry…

Of course, I’d love you to take a look at the new business website (MarketingWriteNow.com), but I won’t be using this place to flog it.

All I’ll be hoping is that you leave a comment there on the blog and say what your first impression is.

Two Poems from London: Harrods World & Abercrombie & Fitch

omaniblog — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:50:58 +0000

Harrods World

October winds unloose the trees
around the store we wheel bags
to the gentleman Jeeves who minds…

Escalate to the Fourth Floor,
settle in to croissants from Food Hall.
Tis Mohamad in Ramses court you know…

Flowing strands of auburn hair,
eyes agog at pussy cat’s dressing room
- how could she begrudge her pet?

Chocolates here in silver coats,
diamonds cast to whet the purse,
fingers deep in pocket now…

Pagliacci thrown into the aire,
a pizza here, mozzarella there
- I fancy the lady with the salt from Majorca.

That ice cream is much too heavy
for a man of my age
- let’s eat a photograph instead.

An elephant of glass,
a well-fired Ghandi
committed to memory.

We better leave, go get fresh air,
the smell of taste, the touch of waste.
The child in blue winked at you.

Friday 30 October 2009
dedicated as gift to Tim Nelligan

A Visit to London: Harrods World

omaniblog — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:50:29 +0000

It’s easy to write about London. Tough to write about Harrods.

Conspicuous wealth is easy to condemn. The craft, humour & manners I found in Harrods was remarkable - it’s worth it to have a go presenting it.

The first photograph I took in the pet accessories section

My first ever visit to any pet accessories department

I never imagined such a business

The book I got signed by the man who cooked the food

I don’t yet have a dog but, when I have one, I’ll remember this.

This is the latest in ferret beds. I know it’s advertised as a dog bed
but my friend the ferret lady & her friend the ferret man will see how useful it could be

War within Mental Health Circles in Ireland

omaniblog — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:01:31 +0000

There is a new comment on the post "More on Shane Clancy and Dr Michael Corry".
http://seroxatsecrets.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/more-on-shane-clancy-and-dr-michael-corry/

Author: anon
Comment:
http://wellbeingfoundation.com/news1.html

Psych boss gears up to persecute Michael Corry

A ’senior psychiatrist’, UCC Professor Timothy ‘Ted’ Dinan, has laid a complaint against Dr Michael Corry at the Medical Council.

In a letter to the Council’s Fitness to Practice Committee, Dinan said Dr Corry had made comments about a tragedy "without regard for the distress" caused to the families; had "made allegations regarding the competence" of a colleague [by suggesting a colleague treated a patient that rendered him homicidal and suicidal]; "made statements regarding a diagnosis without ever seeing the patient"; and made "statements regarding the pharmacology of antidepressants".
The professor has made previous attempts to chill debate on the mental health services and on the dangers, efficacy or otherwise of the treatments his profession holds dear, in particular the use of SSRIs and SNRIs to treat depression and other complaints.

The professor has close relations with several of the makers of the drugs he espouses and defends, and whose critics he is trying to silence. A statement of disclosure related to a course he has taught says: "Dr Dinan has received honoraria [cash payments] from and is a member of the speakers board and advisory board for Lilly, Pfizer, Lundbeck, and Organon." (Reference here)

The professor’s Cork Neuroscience Group is funded by, among others, the Wellcome Trust (which funds biomedical research) and GlaxoSmithKline, which itself resulted from two mergers. The first merger saw Burroughs Wellcome, founder of the Wellcome Trust, join with Glaxo plc, to form GlaxoWellcome. This later fused with SmithKline Beecham to create GSK, second largest drug company in the world and manufacturer of Seroxat/Paxil.
He speaks at meetings which advocate the view that depression is underdiagnosed in Ireland by as much as 75% and that SSRIs are an essential treatment. For an example, see here
Signing himself as Timothy Dinan, MD, PhD, FRCPsych, FRCPI, Professor of Psychiatry, University College Cork, the academic was one of six professors of psychiatry who penned a letter published in the Irish Times on 16 November 2006 demanding the resignation of the then Minister for Mental Health, Tim O’Malley, for two reasons.
One, O’Malley had dared to suggest that many everyday difficulties of life were being mis-labeled as ‘clinical depression’. Secondly, he had dared to suggest, with good reason, that the alleged benefits of medications used to treat mental illness cannot be proven scientifically in the way that other medications can. Both suggestions are cardinal sins for those who rule the world of psychiatry, and whose word is law among the students they teach.
Interestingly, the ’six professors letter’ drew a ferocious wave of disagreement, from former patients, from psychiatrists and GPs, from nurses, and from senior sociologists who have been studying the the use of psychiatric medications and such ‘therapies’ as electro-shock for many years.
Among the ’senior psychiatrists’ who disagreed with the six ruling professors was a former professor, perhaps the most distinguished professor of psychiatry this country has produced, Professor Emeritus Dr Ivor Browne.
Clearly, the response to that intervention has not blunted the desire of at least one of their number to chill debate and silence critics of institutional psychiatry and bad medicine.
In this latest attempt, the most chilling part of the complaint is that Corry made "statements regarding the pharmacology of antidepressants". If such a complaint was upheld as valid, neither Dr Corry nor any other doctor registered with the Irish Medical Council could ever again ‘make a statement’ on the action of a drug such as Seroxat or Lexapro â€” or, by extension, of any drug.
For the full report by the Sunday Tribune on the complaint against Michael Corry, see the right-hand column or go here
For the debate stirred up by Minister O’Malley’s remarks in 2006, see here

http://wellbeingfoundation.com/debate.html

See all comments on this post here:
http://seroxatsecrets.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/more-on-shane-clancy-and-dr-michael-corry/#comments

The Day I got my first Web Site

omaniblog — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:52:34 +0000

After writing for other people’s websites, I finally get my own.

It’s a partnership. "Dragon Marketing" & "omani & co" [lowercase does not mean junior partner) have clubbed together to save our clients money.

Why have two websites when one will do…

Next week all will be revealed. All I can say is that we’re not selling dragons from Oman.

There will be more about this on my business blog (writingforbusinessfromcork).