Sixteen thousand people volunteered for the study; unlike most, these weren’t people engaging in high risk behaviors like sex work or IV drug abuse. All received condoms, HIV prevention counseling, and an offer for HAART therapy if they became positive. Eight thousand received a placebo shot, the other half six doses of two distinct (and [...]
The United States power grid is currently (get it? get it!?) split into three distinct chunks: an Eastern interconnection, a Western interconnection (of which Seattle and Washington State are members) and Texas. Why is Texas separate from the rest? Why indeed.
Surplus power generated in one interconnection, at this time, cannot be transferred to another. Further, [...]
The US healthcare system, in its present state, is a failure. It fails those with and without coverage. We spend more, care for fewer and are sicker than the citizens of any other industrialized nation.
Why are prescription drugs so damn expensive? Or that test your doctor ordered–requiring you to be contorted into some ornate machine–that costs thousands of dollars?
The salaries of American doctors are huge, terrifying, for anyone trying to bring down health care costs in the United States. Why are American doctors so damn expensive? Medical school is a big part of the answer.
The only good insurance customer is the healthy and irresponsible consumer–the prototypical healthy 30 year old who refuses to get a flu shot or annual checkup. Everyone else gets turfed.
Ah, turfed. Allow me to introduce you to one of the cherished terms of medical care in the United States. You turf difficult, or undesirable, patients [...]
Air conditioners aren’t cold machines; they’re pumps.
Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, probably has a saltwater ocean under it’s surface, at least per an analysis of data from the Cassini probe. Take it away NASA and JPL:
For the first time, scientists working on NASA’s Cassini mission have detected sodium salts in ice grains of Saturn’s outermost ring. Detecting salty ice indicates that [...]
… isn’t about the uninsured. Paul Begala put it concisely on Real Time with Bill Maher last week:
(Most relevant part starts at 3:35.)
My transcript:
What we’ve really spent our money on, in this system, is trying to figure out to not cover people who have paid for their premiums.
There was a hearing last week, with no [...]
A recent column of mine responded to a question/rant about naturopathic medicine:
A dear friend of mine is about to enter a prestigious program of naturopathic medicine. There—in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars and five years of his life—he will study homeopathy, osteopathy, water therapy, etc. Apparently, after gaining his ND credential, he will [...]