The Dunning-Kruger Song from the Incompetence Opera during the Ig Nobel Awards that all the cool kids are talking about. (Grokked from John Scalzi among others)
"One of the worst pandemics in human history, the Black Death, along with a string of plague outbreaks that occurred during the 14th to 19th centuries, was spread by human fleas and body lice, a new study suggests." I guess we can't blame it on the rats anymore.
"Michigan residents got a surprise Tuesday night when a suspected meteor punched through the clouds with an explosive flash and powerful enough to register on seismic instruments." Man, Confusion must have increased their promotional budget. "Follow the falling star to Detroit!" Okay, okay, I'll go. (Also, quietly wondering at the orbital trajectory of that "failed" SpaceX satellite launch, but I doubt if anything of that satellite would have made it to the ground.)
"A pair of amateur explorers in Canada have found a vast underground passage stretching hundreds of metres underneath the bustling streets of Montreal whose formation dates back more than 15,000 years ago to the Earth’s last ice age." (Grokked from Dan)
"Leaving surgical materials inside patients is surprisingly frequent." At my hospital, we count every damn thing. There are instances where we can't, and in those cases we do take x-rays to make sure nothing is left in the patient. I'm sure it still happens, but there are procedures to reduce the instances.
"Experts agree the U.S. is not ready for a bad epidemic, or even for some other disaster that would affect hospital supplies. And funding cuts mean even a little strain has a bigger impact than in years past." Remember when were in a panic about SARS and bird flu? Yeah, still not ready. And as long as hospitals and medical care is considered a private industry function and regulated to capitalism we won't be. Capitalism isn't capable of responding to disaster.
"That's an incorrect but common belief. Medicare does cover home care services for patients who qualify but, according to advocates for seniors and the homecare industry, incentives intended to combat fraud and reward high quality care are driving some home health agencies to avoid taking on long-term patients, such as Campbell, who have debilitating conditions that won't get better. Rule changes that took effect this month could make the problem worse." This is how "entitlements" should be changed, to make things easier on the recipient. Right not, it's damn hard to navigate the systems. How some seniors do it on their own, I have no idea how they do it. Instead we continue to make it harder for people to get services, for those services to keep good employees, and basically everyone suffers for it.
Does the SR-72 already exist? (Grokked from Dan)
"A former C.I.A. officer suspected by investigators of helping China dismantle United States spying operations and identify informants has been arrested, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. The collapse of the spy network was one of the American government’s worst intelligence failures in recent years."
"Three-quarters of the members of a federally chartered board advising the National Park Service abruptly quit Monday night out of frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year." The continuing dissolution of our (barely) functioning democracy. So much winning.
"Americans are split on whether they think the Justice Department's Russia investigation is fair and are unsure of special counsel Robert Mueller, but they overwhelmingly believe he should be allowed to finish his investigation, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll." The White House and Fox News messaging is working. Also, "(t)rust in the institutions that have been the pillars of U.S. politics and capitalism is crumbling."
No comments:
Post a Comment