kirabug’s idea files

This is mostly a link dump so I can come back and find these articles again if I need them.

• Frontline: 5 Capitalist Countries and how they do healthcare – a good roundup, with few details, but a nice starting point.
• Articles in New Yorker Magazine about healthcare – haven’t read these yet but they were recommended to me.
• Newsweek: A science fact check – describes a worldwide “charity” of volunteer scientists and physicians who review treatments and identify whether they’re effective.

And then there’s one of the most useful sites I’ve found on health care and politics so far, Politifact. These folks are taking those things you’re hearing on TV or reading in the paper and fact-checking them. Then, they post the results online with a grade ranging from “true” to “mostly true” to “half true” to “false” to “pants on fire”. They also occasionally check to see if a politician accused of flip-flopping on an issue did.

It’s a particularly good place to find information on who said what and whether it was true, because most of the news I learn about health care right now is third-hand (so-and-so on the radio/tv/whatever that congress said….) and that means that it’s getting blown out of proportion…. and when it’s a lie to begin with, well, it’s no wonder everyone is afraid and confused.

Probably more on this later, but for now I’m just trying to learn everything possible to find out what the hell’s really going on.

‘Daily Show’’s Hodgman: Obama ‘first nerd president’–The Live Feed.

*update*: the long version

Time to clean out the “investigate these” folder. Now then….

• If you’re a fan of Douglas Adams, and especially a certain “don’t panic” work of his, you’ll enjoy
  DNA/The Private Life of Genghis Khan.
• Writing a webpage? Want to center it with a different left-side background than right-side background? Achieving double background effects with CSS can help you out.
• Ways to get a sour odor out of bed sheets that you stored too long or left in the washer too long (or both).
• On Sex and Evolution and Politics was an interesting read.
• The MegaPenny project will help you visualize huge numbers in terms of pennies.
• How does a dog walk? describes quadruped locomotion, which might come in handy, if, say, your comic has a dog in it.
• Cephalapod surprise, or how to throw a squid at your commanding officer.
• The 213 things Skippy is no longer allowed to do in the US Army will make you giggle. If it doesn’t, you need to go learn about the military.

…OK, that’s all I had time to clean out tonight. Tomorrow, possibly another link dump

The Case for Paying the A.I.G. Bonuses brings up an important question — do you want to live in a country where the government has the power to step in and tear up contracts between you and your employer? Regardless of the reason? Does that sound like a good plan to you?

Rick Santelli sparks a revolution (of sorts) on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. I don’t know this guy from Adam, but I’d join this revolution. No problem!

What happens when the Governor of PA promises a first grader a ticket to the world series 4 years ago? They go to Saturday’s game.