January 2011
62 posts
BREAKING: Judge rules entire health care reform... →
For a really good description of what’s legally going on here, read this New Republic piece. It’s long, but you’ll at least be educated on the legal implications and historical precendent of the constitutionality of the individual mandate.
The key issue here is the meaning of a single word: “activity.” In this reading, all of the past rulings on the Commerce Clause, even those...
The Female Student Psych Crisis →
markcoatney:
The latest Daily Beast dispatch, from my lovely&talented wife
This reminds me of the studies looking at happiness prior to women entering the corporate workforce in the 70’s and now. They suggest women were happier prior. They make the argument that with more responsibility, comes more stress. Unfortunately, on the whole, men haven’t really picked up the slack when...
Who profits and benefits from your health in...
Besides exercise facilities, sporting good companies, food companies that sell whole foods, and, most importantly, you…who else profits off you behaving healthfully over the course of your life?
How I use tumblr...and I wish I could pay them.
Tumblr powers my online existence. My blog is now over 3 years old with 1998 posts and 11,166 followers. I also have a static site with info about my education, my press, etc..
I connect my Facebook and Twitter to my tumblr. I have no time for them and very little interest in what Facebook has become. I log in to Facebook maybe once every 3 weeks. Twitter is too unvisual and text heavy for my...
Seth's Blog: Eight Lessons from the life and work... →
He bootstrapped himself. A scrawny little kid at 15, he decided to change who he was and how he was perceived, and then he did. The deciding was as important as the doing.
He went to the edges. He didn’t merely open a small gym, a more pleasant version of a boxing gym, for instance. Instead, he created the entire idea of a health club, including the juice bar. He did this 70 years ago.
...
Two Americas: Healthcare. →
A few people have asked me to comment on Atul Gawande’s most recent piece in The New Yorker, The Hot Spotters. Here’s a snapshot:
“He found that between January of 2002 and June of 2008 some nine hundred people in [just] two buildings in Camden, NJ accounted for more than four thousand hospital visits and about two hundred million dollars. One patient had three hundred and...
WSJ: Electronic Medical Records Don’t Improve... →
So let me get this straight…a doctor using a computer in a doctor’s office doesn’t significantly influence how their patients live their lives?? It’s absurd that someone would even think that somehow a doctor using a computer encourages people to change their lifestyle and take their health more seriously.
Hey Obama…did you just waste the $20B you’ve...
“For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide...”
– CQ (via kateoplis)
See also, How to save a friend from the brink.
“Ever get the feeling that medicine has a circular history?
2000 B.C. - Here,...”
– (via grantrharrison)
Grant is my business partner in our firm, The Future Well. I encouraged him to start a blog using tumblr. It’s awesome, mostly for all that British humour.
WatchJellyfish Jim (by Jay Parkinson)
For all of you medical students out there, major in something other than science. It’s your one chance to officially study something for the rest of your life that doesn’t have anything to do with science or medicine.
I have very few regrets in my life. But one of them is my undergraduate major. I went to Washington University in St. Louis and majored...
What the science of human nature can teach us →
Occasionally, you meet a young, rising member of this class at the gelato store, as he hovers indecisively over the cloudberry and ginger-pomegranate selections, and you notice that his superhuman equilibrium is marred by an anxiety. Many members of this class, like many Americans generally, have a vague sense that their lives have been distorted by a giant cultural bias. They live in a society...
“What drives me to be an artist, to make the work I do and I think that a large...”
– Phillip Toledano (via eliz)
George Clooney contracts malaria following Sudan... →
brooklynmutt:
In a statement, the “Ocean’s Eleven” star said, “This illustrates how with proper medication, the most lethal condition in Africa, can be reduced to bad ten days instead of a death sentence.”
True. And don’t forget you can visit UNICEF’s Store and gift these medications for children not as fortunate as George Clooney:
Anti Malarial Drugs For less than $1 per...
Average UK woman wears 515 chemicals a day →
The poll of 2,016 women by deodorant-maker Bionsen said most of the pollutants are self-inflicted by women who sprayed on deodorant, slapped on body moisturiser and applied lipstick each morning.
Vaccine-autism researcher should be prosecuted -... →
Scientific fraud is a very serious matter. From a fiscal standpoint, it is essentially stealing money. Whether the funding comes from taxpayers, charities or private sources, there is an expectation that the recipients of such largesse act in good faith and honesty. Any knowledge produced from this funding then enters the public domain via scientific journals. Thus, when a scientist fabricates...
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My official stance on vaccines.
I received the following email after my last post (published with her approval):
Hey Doc :) First off, I love your blog. I have been following for quite some time and respect you a great deal. I read your post from The Atlantic about vaccines and was wondering what your stance on them is? Do you believe that they are healthy and necessary to a child (let alone an adult)? I haven’t...
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“Why, despite all the evidence to the contrary, do so many people remain adamant...”
– What Drives Irrational Rhetoric? The Case of Childhood Vaccinations - The Atlantic
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Facebook is less like a nightclub and more like...
No code will ever be written by anyone that emotionally replicates the value we gain from having real relationships with our real friends and family.
Facebook jumped the shark a long time ago…
Imagine if, when the telephone was just catching on, the only way you could use it is if you let some voice interrupt your conversation with “Drink Coca-Cola, it’s good!!” And then,...
