Informed consent for Anesthesia

It seems that the more you tell patients about specific risks, the more it relieves their anxiety.
Here's a list of studies of consent for anesthesia.

How Medicare Fails the Elderly

  

OPINION   | October 16, 2011
Opinion:  How Medicare Fails the Elderly
By JANE GROSS
The truth about Medicare: what it pays for is not what most recipients need or want.

China and the global economy

" Never before in history has a country with such a low per capita income played such a central role in the global economy."
An article in which a Yahoo finance columnist argues that China will not dominate the world economy, but that China and India have a GDP per capita that is rising towards that of the developed world. And beyond that hje's skeptical whether China can make the transition from manufacturing to services.

http://www.jgmobile.net/article/20110821/ENT07/308219965/1134/ENT07&template=mobileart

Projection onto Buildings

http://castroller.com/Podcasts/BestOfYoutube/1862328

Rachel's

"Rachel's Challenge" -  Rachel Scott was the first student murdered at Columbine High School in 1999.  Her father Darrell Scott started Rachel's challenge to "start a chain reaction of kindness" which has been heard by millions.  The 5 primary points are to

1) look for the best in others 

2) dream big 

3) choose [friends who are] positive influences 

4)speak with kindness and 

5)start your own chain reaction.

NYTimes: Apple Introduces a New iPhone, With a Personal Assistant

"The iPhone is the most critical product in Apple's line-up and the largest source of its revenue, accounting for more than $13.3 billion — almost half of total company sales — in the most recent quarter."

Although the new phone is virtually indistinguishable from its predecessor on the outside, the company says the iPhone 4S is packed with better technical innards, including a more advanced camera. http://nyti.ms/pIZtws

-Tom. 

World Earthquake Map

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/

Popular Science's yearly list of 'Best of What's New' in Technology:

http://www.popsci.com/bown/2010
http://www.popsci.com/bown/2009

http://www.popsci.com/bown/2008

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2007/index.html

Like a flexible solar panel:

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2007/green/item_59.html

NYTimes.com: Super People

An article about the expense families are going to to ensure their children's resumes ensure them a good college admission.  "Bursting with pent-up energy, the mothers transfer their shelved career ambitions to their children." "Such students are known in college admission circles as "pointy" - being well-rounded doesn't cut it anymore." OPINION   | October 02, 2011 Opinion:  Super People By JAMES ATLAS Has our competitive society finally outdone itself in its tireless efforts to produce winners whose abilities are literally off the charts?  Here is the article about kids whose parents maximize their resume to help them get into good universities... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/opinion/sunday/meet-the-new-super-people.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=super%20people&st=cse And here is a movie coming out this month that's a documentary about bullying and the launch of a nationwide effort to highlight and oppose bullying between girls.  They talk on their website about setting up private screenings at your school (at the left hand column), and have somesuggestions on how kids can handle occurrences. http://www.thebullyproject.com/resources.html View the trailer at the imdb site http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682181/

Floppy music DUO - Imperial march

Thought you'd like this video - remember the noise these floppy drives would make when first reading the disk? This guy programmed it Yo make music.

http://www.trulia.com/crime/

This site provides crime statistics for selected cities.

Crime Map - Trulia

http://www.trulia.com/crime/

-Tom.

Road Dust Suppressants.

Road dust - an environmental hazard. To suppress dust, they've tried "water, salts [MgCl2], asphalt, molasses, vegetable oils, synthetic polymers, lignin [the part of wood that's not cellulose fibers]."

http://www.epa.gov/esd/cmb/pdf/dust.pdf

-Tom.

Gravel Road Dust Suppressants

Road dust - an environmental hazard. People have tried suppressing the dust with "water, molasses, lignin [a wood product used in making Saran wrap]."

http://www.epa.gov/esd/cmb/pdf/dust.pdf

-Tom.

NYTimes: A $42 Million Gift Aims at Improving Bedside Manner

A new center is intended to teach medical students how to have a better relationships with their patients. http://nyti.ms/r1UaHw

On Kickstarter Designers Dreams Materialize - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Kickstarter is an ingenious site where reative minds can seek crowdsourcing funds for a project - a new gizmo or widget, an indie film or an artistic endeavor, a book, or a furniture design.  The project needs a clear plan, a start and end date, and if you don't raise the needed funds, everyone's pladge is returned.  What's in it for donators? If they give above a threshold amount set by the instigator, they get a first production run of the new product at a discount. Or an invitation to an advance showing of the artwork. Or a tee-shirt. And the reward of backing a good idea.
The site describes the basic idea and lists the rules of how the site works through paypal funding.

http://m.post-gazette.com/living/garden/on-kickstarter-designers-dreams-materialize-1176718?p=0

http://www.helium.com/items/2028382-entrepreneurs-are-using-kickstarter-to-fund-their-dreams