Two items from the sports pages this morning: 1) Not really a sports story, but I saw it first on ESPN: two Duke lacrosse players have been indicted. It really doesn’t deserve a whole “CSI: Durham” post, because it’s a sealed indictment, so there’s basically no real information. But if you’re following the story, there’s… Continue reading News, Sports, and Information
Category: Personal
A Nice Day for Not Blogging
That’s what yesterday was, at least. It was a gorgeous spring day here, which we spent mostly outside, first doing some errand-running, and then some lounging in the sun reading and napping. I didn’t even try to keep track of what was posted on other blogs, and I didn’t miss it all that much– it… Continue reading A Nice Day for Not Blogging
Our Broken Health Care System, Aleph-Nought in a Series
One of the standard conservatarian responses to anyone suggesting government-funded universal health care is to start talking about how universal health care will inevitably lead to faceless, heartless bureaucrats denying or delaying treatment for stupid reasons. My response to these stories is “Who’s supplying your health insurance? And how do I get on that plan?”… Continue reading Our Broken Health Care System, Aleph-Nought in a Series
It’s a Mystery
“Mint Flavorings” is quite prominent on the list (provided by my gastroenterologist) of foods that heartburn sufferers should avoid (along with pretty much anything else you might want to eat…). If you go to the store to buy some over-the-counter heartburn remedy– Maalox, Mylanta, whatever– what’s the one flavor that’s most common? Mint. Somebody explain… Continue reading It’s a Mystery
Origin Story
Katherine Sharpe asked about the best science books ever, as a proxy for “what got you into science?” I wasn’t able to give a really good answer to that question, but I will share a science-related anecdote from when I was a kid. There’s a good chance that this will come off as either painfully… Continue reading Origin Story
Greatest Science Book?
Over at the new Seed blog, here on ScienceBlogs, Katherine Sharpe asks about the best science books ever (a topic that was also discussed at Cosmic Variance some time back. I’ve been sort of swamped this week, but that’s only part of the reason why I haven’t responded. The main reason is a shameful secret:… Continue reading Greatest Science Book?
The ScienceBlogs Diet
How big a dork am I? Well, you can see from the graph at left, roughly thirty pounds less of a dork than I was at the beginning of the year… Hey, man, it’s not science without graphs. So, as noted in passing in several other posts, I decided at the beginning of the year… Continue reading The ScienceBlogs Diet
Revenge of the Pre-Meds
As the number of students taking physics who go on to major in physics is vanishingly small– something like 3% of students in introductory physics take even one more class– physics departments end up serving a number of different constituencies. There are students majoring in other sciences, future engineers, and then there are the pre-meds.… Continue reading Revenge of the Pre-Meds
Wonder Drug Request
I want there to be a non-prescription anti-inflammatory drug that doesn’t seriously screw up my stomach. One of you med-chem types get on that, will you? Background: Last year about this time, I had severe muscle spasms in my neck and shoulder that led to a 2am trip to the emergency room. A combination of… Continue reading Wonder Drug Request