Monday, December 30, 2002

Why smokers' skin 'ages' faster [BBC Health] What they don't mention is how ugly people look while they are puffing away, no matter how young... 11:40:44 PM       Yoga Trumps Bingo as Centers for Aged Try New Approach. A concern for senior centers is how to make themselves relevant to the "younger" elderly while continuing to serve the "older" elderly. By N. R. Kleinfield. [New York Times: Health] 11:06:10 AM       We are in an insane situation in health care.  Doctors are being given an ever increasing mythic status (mostly due to artificial supply restrictions and guild rules for work).  At the same time, nurses that provide at least 50% of the care necessary for a patient's recovery due a hospital stay are being so shortchanged on pay.  There will be a shortage of 200k this year.  400k by 2010.  To those over forty: get ready to die if you are unlucky enought to wind up in a hospital (it's hard to find out which hospitals are understaffed). So, to all my friends that say that health care is too complex a system to make it easy to correct the nursing shortage: I say "Bull Shit."  The gap between nurses and doctors is getting huge.  It also doesn't recognize what people are willing to pay for great care (the market mechanism is broken).  The simple correction relies on what you are willing to make your priorities.  Complexity is a cannard. BTW.  If we had a similar doctor/nurse relationship in software (among other industries) it would be impossible to hire anyone in the software industry as a consulant or employee that didn't have a PhD from a named school.  Small companies would need a PhD software engineer even to hang  a shingle.  Imagine that.  An industry run by moderately above average students that hold a lock due to their degree status.  Personally, I feel that is wrong.  In terms of innovation it would be a disaster. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] 11:05:11 AM       How old are you? The book says Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Calculating for 40 Earth years (my current age) and my birthdate, I have learned that the equivalent age Venusian woman would be 65.40 years old, while her Martian counterpart, born on the same day, would be merely 21.42 years. I'd say that, from many different perspectives, that is just about accurate. [Re-date] 10:55:46 AM       I love to read those advice columns in the newspaper. I read one this morning. It said, "What's the worst thing a wife can get on her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary?" And you know what the answer was? "Morning Sickness." 10:21:56 AM

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