February 2009
50 posts
Experts - Beyond The Commons - Macleans.ca ... →
Re Harper’s assertion that those who say “tougher criminal penalties don’t work don’t want them to work”: if it were possible for me to have less respect for Harper’s intellectual, moral or political integrity, I would have lost some yesterday.
Doctor and Patient - Does Oversight Threaten the... →
The article says no, comparative effectiveness research does not interfere with patient-physician relationships. But by even bothering to answer the question, it lends credence to an argument that’s really just a phony cover for fears that CER will threaten the doctor - pharma rep bond.
“Contrary to popular belief, population growth and aging are not the major causes...”
– TheStar.com | News & Features | More trips to doctor drive up health-care spending. That burning smell is a thousand consultants’ Powerpoints spontaneously combusting.
The Health Care Blog: Getting "the CCHIT question"... →
“The other wisecrack I’ve heard is that the way to determine the list of functions an EMR needs to have to get CCHIT certified was to copy the feature set of Allscripts TouchWorks. (Of course you can insert the name of any of the other big EMR vendors here too).”
Chrétien in Chicago: The second draft of history -... →
Reminds us that we don’t just miss Chretien for the protester-throttling, pepper-shaking antics.
Research in Disease Management Meets the Real... →
It doesn’t actually sound like the world has gotten better yet?
New Search Technologies Mine the Web More Deeply -... →
This is one of the stupidest, most error-ridden stories I’ve ever read in the Times. One prime example: “This poses a particular quandary for Google, which has long resisted the temptation to make significant changes to its tried-and-true search results format” Um… they change the search results format all the time and release new versions on small groups of users; if the...
Canada and the Recession: Angles of Deflection -... →
“Canada has moved more slowly than the United States to deregulate its economy and shrink its social safety net. The resulting differences in the impact of global recession are small, but instructive.”
Timothy Garton Ash: Liberty in Britain is facing... →
“we have more CCTV, a larger DNA database and a more ambitious (and unworkable) National Identity Register scheme, as well as more police powers and more email snooping than any comparable liberal democracy. On top of which we have a bureaucracy so centralised and incompetent in managing this mass of data that it lost two computer discs containing the child benefit details of 25 million...
Manage like Obama | The Economist →
Sounds like fluff, but the article is funny — “Fingers crossed that we won’t soon be reading “Screw Up Your Business the Obama Way”.”
The gospel according to Darwin (Richard Dawkins) →
“Unfortunately, instead of working out that they have probably misunderstood evolution, creationists conclude, instead, that evolution must be false. This one misunderstanding, single-handed, accounts for much of the uncomprehending opposition to evolution”
For Uninsured Young Adults, Do-It-Yourself Health... →
“staying healthy is one part scavenger hunt and one part balancing act, with high stakes and no safety net”
FiveThirtyEight.com: Things I Think We Think We... →
“Most everyone thinks that Citibank is toast. Most everyone thinks that Wells-Fargo is solvent.” Eep.
“Dalton McGuinty had half a decade to think big but he spent that time fiddling,...”
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McGuinty legacy up in smoke
“Twenty-thousand layoff notices will go out on Tuesday morning”
– California Lawmakers Struggle to Strike Budget Deal - NYTimes.com
The Scoop Factory →
The story of Politico.
HILARIOUSLY UPDATED: Your Monday Af-Pak briefing:... →
“a year ago, Frank-Walter Steinmeier put in a telephone call to Canada’s foreign minister, who at the time — and here you need to check your calendar because these things change quickly — was David Emerson. So here’s Germany’s foreign minister on the line, waiting waiting waiting, and the receptionist comes back with, “Minister Emerson is a bit busy at the moment, sir.” Well, Steinmeier...
Mo’dernity, Mo’problems →
Very interesting blog about Africa.
You Can’t Sell News by the Slice - NYTimes.com →
“[C]ompetition, and not some kind of petulance or laziness or addled philosophy, is what keeps readers from shelling out for news.”
Joshuah Bearman: Ben And Jerry Versus Bush →
“Cluster Fudge”
Dick & Ronnie & God & Gorby | vanityfair.com →
‘A cry for help from an exasperated Gorbachev: “He’s blathering on again!”’
The No-Stats All-Star - NYTimes.com →
Health Blog: What the Court Said In the Autism... →
This is a substantial victory for good sense.
The wrong food fight (Post vs. HSFO) →
I won’t take sides, but the fact that “the study as presented on the Web highlights remarkable intercity price differentials on individual items; peanut butter was two-and-a-half times more expensive in St. Catharines, Ont., than in St. John’s, Nfld.” is an important data point for people like Mike.
Life as a Healthcare CIO: The Japanese Dr. Koop →
“I asked Doctor Hinohara to describe the secrets of his exemplary physical health and sharp mental acuity [at 97]. His response was simple - sleep little, eat modestly, and work hard.” Having had 5.5 hrs of sleep for the past few nights, I can confirm that this doesn’t work for me.
“She’s so kind, she can’t bear the sight of blood, but she eats the...”
– Prince Andrei in War and Peace (via The story of the cow from four-legged co-worker to shrink-wrapped cutlet - By Sara Dickerman)
The Conservatives’ crowded legislative agenda... →
“I believe it means fewer reviews in general, with the government able to act randomly by fiat when it thinks it’ll be politically advantageous (see MDS). So you get less regulation and less predictability. Whee!”
TheStar.com | McGuinty to reporters: 'I need some... →
“McGuinty’s decision appears to have more to do with wanting to control his image on television (and on the streamed Internet video that his personal cameras upload onto the web) than anything else.” But the optics of this, at this time, when Ontarians already justifiably feel that their leadership has been, um, a bit distant, are so bad. So bad. McGuinty I think always walked a...
Talking 'Bout My Generation (Tim Fernholz) →
“You won’t hear concerns about the next generation from Republicans when they oppose climate change legislation, which actually will protect future generations, or support irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy that bankrupt government with little benefit to the common good. No, this formula is only deployed when government action will actually help young people. Please, Senator...
Teachers okay $700M deal →
Sounds ok to me — unless you’re, well, not a teacher.
globeandmail.com: McGuinty would be wise to focus... →
‘In commenting on the Richard Florida/Roger Martin urging for more creativity in “routine-oriented jobs,” he said, “I don’t know exactly what that means.”’ Murray Campbell is being very nice about this.
Bank stocks dropped when Geithner announced his plan. But holy cripes — that doesn’t mean the plan is bad, it means the banks are bad — and helping them means wiping out the people who control them.
Dept. of Good Ideas (EK) →
“Participants at a recent Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center forum also advocated for a single, voluntary patient identifier to enable tracking of records from one provider to another. This would enable those concerned about privacy to opt out of any data-sharing system.” Interesting idea. I’m not going to pretend I haven’t thought of it myself. :)
What "insolvent" means (Mike Allen via EK) →
“The problem with the distressed assets is not that there are no buyers. There are plenty of buyers; I speak to them every day. The problem is there are no sellers; that is, the banks won’t sell. Because to sell is to book a loss on what you have sold and what remains. And to do that is to die. That’s what it means to be insolvent”
The return of shrill - Paul Krugman →
“the centrists would kill hundreds of thousands of jobs and cut vital health care and food programs, while offering a fat tax break to affluent homeowners. But shhh! You’re not supposed to say that!”
FiveThirtyEight.com: Politics Done Right: White... →
“The Washington Times reporter then argued that Republicans were correct in their argument that the stimulus discussions had happened behind closed doors.” But this is exactly how it should be. Doing these kinds of negotiations in public is a recipe for grandstanding (and we’ve seen enough of that over the past few days) and people losing face — or saving it by being...
Talking Points Memo | Surreal -- And Must-See →
“Nouriel Roubini and Nassim Taleb are still being treated as a circus sideshow by CNBC… They’re predicting the end of finance, and offering the only clear path out of this mess that I’ve seen offered (with the knowledge to back it up), and CNBC keeps asking them for stock tips.” Oh my god this is even worse than I thought. It literally makes me throw up a bit to see...
Department of WTF? →
“If they had not done that, their estimation is that by 2pm that afternoon, $5.5 trillion would have been drawn out of the money market system of the U.S., would have collapsed the entire economy of the U.S., and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed. It would have been the end of our economic system and our political system as we know it.” I’m not convinced this...
retired doc's thoughts: Can we believe guidelines... →
“The problem is that even before checking out this particular drug’s usefulness, I’m already starting from a position of mistrust. With such an undeniable “appearance of impropriety” how can I truly rely on these experts to give me the unvarnished truth?”
“So apparently a real economic stimulus package would dissolve all levels of...”
– Newly elected RNC chairman Michael Steele on government and job creation
Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains... →
“The bad news is that nobody knows whether or not their soda or snack food contains HFCS made from ingredients like caustic soda contaminated with mercury.” Mmm.
Chris Selley: Premier Dad to the rescue! Again! -... →
This meme never stops being funny.
More Cap, Less Trade →
Tom Laskawy: “it’s worth taking a look at Europe, which has the only functioning cap-and-trade system currently in existence, to see what we can expect from cap-and-trade. I’m afraid it’s not pretty.” And this is why we should stop, ever, taking the NDP seriously as a “progressive” party. They are an (intellectually bankrupt) party of labour interests.
