SHORTCUTS: The 3,000-Mile Oil Change Is Pretty Much History
Knowing how often to change your car oil takes more information than in the past. The good news is that it's probably less often.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
3D 'printing' to manufacture objects
This is the best description I;ve seen yet of the capability of desktop 'printing' (or manufacturing by depositing thin layers) of 3D objects in plastic. It's incredible what complex parts they can print in a single printing (see at 1:05 in the video.) TE
In the article:
NYTimes: F.C.C. Likely to Open New Airwaves to Wireless
Why is the availability of new airwaves such a big deal? Repurposing the old TV broadcast signals uses a wavelength that penetrates buildings and valleys better than current cell phone frequencies.
F.C.C. Likely to Open New Airwaves to Wireless
Allowing anyone to use "white spaces" in the spectrum would open the door to supercharged Wi-Fi networks.
Monday, September 13, 2010
NYTimes: For the Dishwasher’s Sake, Go Easy on the Detergent
Should you pre-rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher? -
"remove baked on food and large chunks, but for the most part, everyone I spoke to said prerinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher was not only unnecessary, it wasted thousands of gallons of water and could actually result in dirtier dishes"
"remove baked on food and large chunks, but for the most part, everyone I spoke to said prerinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher was not only unnecessary, it wasted thousands of gallons of water and could actually result in dirtier dishes"
SHORTCUTS: For the Dishwasher's Sake, Go Easy on the Detergent
Go easy on the detergent in dishwashers and washing machines, and never clean your oven the day before Thanksgiving.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Google image swirl
Fun to play around with... Google labs idea called 'image swirl' collects like images together, so you can more quickly find the image you want. Type in something that has two meanings, like 'pool' (i.e. swimming pool, pool below a waterfall, or a game of pool) and it collects the images into groups representing those meanings.
Read more here.
OP-ED COLUMNIST The Gospel of Wealth By DAVID BROOKS
"...The material world is too soul-destroying. “The American dream radically differs from the call of Jesus and the essence of the Gospel,” he argues... “God actually delights in exalting our inability.” The American dream emphasizes upward mobility, but “success in the kingdom of God involves moving down, not up.”
"Platt’s arguments are old, but they emerge at a postexcess moment, when attitudes toward material life are up for grabs...But the country is clearly redefining what sort of lifestyle is socially and morally acceptable and what is not."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/opinion/07brooks.html?src=me&ref=general
Interrupt my day...
"Lord, interrupt my day with divine appointments to connect with people who You know need it."
"Be careful how you react to interruptions.
That person who interrupts your busy schedule might be exactly the person God wants you to see." -
http://www.doorofhope.org.au/content.php?page_id=259
"Sometimes we are so busy that we don't allow for interruptions, much less see them as divine appointments. We might be "making such good time" that it is hard to stop. Or maybe we are really getting a lot done and checking things off of our to do list and we don't want to break the rhythm of what we're doing. We may be doing a lot of business and having a profitable day and don't want to blow a carefully developed opportunity to do our job well. If we aren't careful, we'll see these interruptions as irritations rather than divine appointments." - http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200407/20040701_interruptions.html
"God’s will comes to us in strange ways, often in the form of interruptions. Just when we think our duties are done for the day and we’ve settled in for a quiet evening at home, someone calls on the telephone or shows up on our doorstep asking for our time. “Are you busy?” they ask.
The best thing to do is to stop looking at these intrusions as interruptions. Instead, we should take them as opportunities that God is sending us to serve those in need—to listen well, to show love, to help them on their journey toward intimacy with God." - http://www.churchofgodcarmichael.org/seniors/walking-in-grace-blog/687-divine-interruptions.html
"I seem to need more reminding of how God works in ways that don’t make sense to me. God has purpose, my duty is to be open and ready for what He allows.
An interruption may be a divine appointment." -
http://www.churchofgodcarmichael.org/seniors/walking-in-grace-blog/687-divine-interruptions.html
NYTimes: Packaging Is All the Rage, and Not in a Good Way
Finally - some common sense about packaging things more cheaply and efficiently for online sales: look how much less packaging can be used ---->.
Packaging Is All the Rage, and Not in a Good Way
Amazon is trying to get manufacturers to make packages easier to open, hoping to reduce consumer "wrap rage."
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
25 simple, common-sense tips to lose weight
1. Drink a second cup of coffee. It might lower your risk of adult-onset diabetes…
2. Keep serving dishes off the table.
3. Think before you drink. around 10 teaspoons of added sugar every single day from soft drinks.
4. Practice total recall. British scientists found that people who thought about their last meal before snacking ate 30 percent fewer calories that those who didn't stop to think.
5. Eat protein at every meal.
6. Choose whole-grain bread.
7. Think fish.
9. Cut portions by a quarter.
10. Turn off the TV.
11. Put your fork down when you chew.
12. Choose rye (not wheat) bread for breakfast toast. …were more full 8 hours after breakfast than wheat-bread eater
13. Eat a handful of fruit and vegetables a day.
14. Sip green tea.
15. Work out before lunch or dinner.
16. Hung over? Choose asparagus.
17. Sleep 8 hours a night.
18 Discover miso soup. …can help lower your blood pressure
19. Drink two glasses of milk daily.
20. Take a zinc supplement.
21. Go ahead, eat your favorite foods.
22. Choose foods with the fewest ingredients.
23. Snack on popcorn.
24. Or snack on walnuts. …may boost your HDL (good) cholesterol
25. Scramble your breakfast. …People who ate eggs in the morning instead of a bagel consumed 264 fewer calories the rest of the day [same as rule 5 really]
[See the more detailed explanations for these tips at...]
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/25-best-nutrition-secrets
NYTimes: Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits
"Psychologists have discovered that some of the most hallowed advice on study habits is flat wrong.
"...instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention.
"...in a classic 1978 experiment... students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms...did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room...Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that information more neural scaffolding.
"So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing...Varying the type of material studied in a single sitting — alternating, for example, among vocabulary, reading and speaking in a new language — seems to leave a deeper impression on the brain than does concentrating on just one skill at a time. Musicians have known this for years, and their practice sessions often include a mix of scales, musical pieces and rhythmic work. "...adults of retirement age were better able to distinguish the painting styles of 12 unfamiliar artists after viewing mixed collections (assortments, including works from all 12) than after viewing a dozen works from one artist, all together, then moving on to the next painter. The finding undermines the common assumption that intensive immersion is the best way...
“The idea is that forgetting is the friend of learning,” said Dr. Kornell. “When you forget something, it allows you to relearn, and do so effectively, the next time you see it.”...The process of retrieving an idea is not like pulling a book from a shelf; it seems to fundamentally alter the way the information is subsequently stored, making it far more accessible in the future...When the neural suitcase is packed carefully and gradually, it holds its contents for far, far longer.
“Testing has such bad connotation; people think of standardized testing or teaching to the test,” Dr. Roediger said. “Maybe we need to call it something else, but this is one of the most powerful learning tools we have.”...tests are so often hard. Paradoxically, it is just this difficulty that makes them such effective study tools, research suggests.
Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits
Psychologists have discovered that some of the most hallowed advice on study habits is flat wrong.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Statesman vs. politician
"What is the difference between a politician and a statesman? Here are some answers: (1) A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman thinks of the next generation. (2) A politician thinks of himself first, a statesman thinks of the country first. (3) Anyone elected to office is a politician; a statesman promotes the public good with integrity. Statesmanship conveys a quality of leadership that organically brings people together; and of eldership, a spirit of caring for others and for the whole. (4) A statesman is ever governed by the following principle: I must do what is best for the people as a whole. His job is political probity, even though he may face horrible conditions for carrying it out. (5) A politician makes the possible necessary, while a statesman makes the necessary possible. (6) And my favorite of all: A politician talks the talk; a statesman walks the walk."
From
Friday, September 3, 2010
Nurse Anesthetists want to "fly solo."
No Harm to Patients From Unsupervised Nurse Anesthetists, Study FindsFlawed data - nurse anesthetists are given the least risky cases, and even more so when they are practicing solo. Less sick patients will always do better.TE
See the editorial in the NYT.
Medscape Medical News , 2010-08-06
August 6, 2010 — Allowing certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) to provide anesthesia without physician supervision resulted in no evidence of increased inpatient deaths or complications, a new study published in the August issue of Health Affairs found.
The analysis of Medicare data for 1999 to 2005, encompassing more than 481,000 hospitalizations, found that allowing CRNAs to work independently without oversight by an anesthesiologist or surgeon had little or no effect on mortality and morbidity rates.
Authors Brian Dulisse and Jerry Cromwell, health economists at the Research Triangle Institute in Waltham, Massachusetts, recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) permit the nation's 37,000 nurse anesthetists to work independently without first requiring state governments to formally petition for an exemption, as 14 states have already done. "This would free surgeons from the legal responsibility for anesthesia services provided by other professionals. It would also lead to more cost-effective care as the solo practice of CRNAs increases," the authors said.
The research was funded by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), which applauded the study. "Since the late 1990s, we've been on record calling for the elimination of supervision for nurse anesthetist services," AANA President-Elect Paul Santoro, CRNA, MS, told Medscape Medical News. "This antiquated regulation places undue costs on the healthcare system. Local institutions should be free to decide for themselves. This study confirms our position and is supported by several previous studies."
In a blistering response posted on its Web site yesterday, the American Society of Anesthesiologists said theHealth Affairs study "is an advocacy manifesto masquerading as science and does a disservice to the public. It makes dangerous public policy recommendations on the basis of inadequate data, flawed analysis and distorted facts."
CMS reimbursement rules prohibited payments to CRNAs unless they are supervised by either an anesthesiologist or the surgeon. In 2001, CMS issued a rule that states could seek an exemption from the oversight rule.
By 2005, 14 governors in mostly rural states were granted permission to opt out of the supervision requirement. "Solo practice by CRNAs is especially important in rural areas, where anesthesiologists are in short supply," Dulisse and Cromwell write.
The authors used Medicare inpatient (part A) and carrier (part B) data to study inpatient mortality and complications. It included 481,440 hospitalizations, of which 68,744 were in states that opted out of the supervision requirement.
They found that the proportion of surgeries performed in which anesthesia was administered by CRNAs without supervision increased by 5 percentage points in both opt-out and non-opt-out states.
"Despite the shift to more anesthetics performed by nurse anesthetists, no increase in adverse outcomes was found.... In fact, declining mortality was the norm," they said. "The mortality rate for the nurse anesthetist solo group was lower than for the anesthesiologist solo group.
"These results do not support the hypothesis that allowing states to opt out of the supervision requirement resulted in increased surgical risks to patients. Nor do the results support the claim that patients will be exposed to increased risk as a consequence of more nurse anesthetists' practicing without physician supervision," they concluded.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists said the study "reflects the weaknesses of billing data when used to make an assessment of safety and quality." The data do not distinguish between complications resulting from surgery or anesthesia, nor do they discriminate between conditions existing before surgery and those resulting from surgical or anesthetic care.
"The existing Medicare policy requiring physician supervision of nurse anesthesia is rooted in the overwhelming preference of patients, particularly Medicare beneficiaries, for a physician to be responsible for their anesthesia care. Suggesting that this patient preference be pushed aside on the basis of flimsy analytics is irresponsible," said the statement from the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
NYTimes: Your Own Hot Spot, and Cheap
Mifi - the wave of the future. "If Virgin can make money from this, it boggles the mind how overpriced the competition is". A credit-card-sized, $40-a-month portable wifi. Pretty cool. Read how incredulous David Pogue is as he describes it. TE
STATE OF THE ART: Your Own Hot Spot, and Cheap
Virgin Mobile's MiFi is nearly like the ones offered by Sprint and Verizon but with three exceptions: an unlimited data plan, no contract and a $40-a-month service fee.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)