You’ve probably heard about most of the big ticket items like the public option and the insurance marketplace, but here are ten things you probably didn’t know were in the health bill.
1. Any medical instruments accidentally left inside your body cavity during surgery are yours to keep.
2. The several hundred [...]
Here’s what I think may have actually happened.
Elin Nordegren has historically been embarrassed at her lack of golf skills, routinely coming up with excuses why she won’t be available to play a round with some other PGA spouses.
Tiger urged her to practice. But this practice had to take place beyond [...]
Thanks to his entire preschool’s enthusiastic focus on superheroes, my three year-old son’s current obsession is the song, Iron Man. So I decided to show him the song being performed live on a YouTube video. We watched the performance, him with a grin on his face and me with a [...]
Doesn’t it seem weird that there even is a real Maurice Sendak? I was listening to some outtakes of appearances he’s made on Fresh Air, and the whole time I just kept thinking, “Come on. You’re actually that Maurice Sendak?”
Think about it.
You’re Maurice Sendak. You’re at a dinner party (anywhere, [...]
During the first couple seasons of Mad Men, I didn’t really think the show lived up to the hype. I love the show and we never miss an episode in my household, but with shows like Six Feet Under and The Sopranos so often being left at the Emmy altar, [...]
Over at Skeptical Hypochondriac, I mull over a few recent findings from a Pew/Annenberg study on how we’re being impacted by the rise of social networks.
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For many months, I’ve been thinking, Damn, my wife’s underarm cleanser container looks way too much like a toothpaste dispenser. And this morning, that similarity took its toll. Yuck. Not recommended.
Don’t get me wrong here. I enjoy looking at cover shots of January Jones and Shakira as much as the next guy. But are we going a little too far with the photoshop work on these images? Looks like the artist who did these two covers graduated from the same [...]
Our neighborhood in San Francisco is famous for massive Halloween crowds and this year was no exception. We (usually at least two of us) have to site at the bottom our steps where we pass out dual-fisted handfuls of candy. Closing the door between trick or treaters would be impossible.
We [...]
If you want to participate in a reality television show, the first question you might want to ask is:
“Who will be playing the part of me?”
Sure it could be you. But it could also be whatever you the producers feel like creating. There is a line of reality wannabees from [...]
In a recent and in depth look at the problems with chat rooms and forums (posters often ultimately ruin both) Robert Scoble uses Twitter as an example of a cleaner user experience. As an example, he quotes a user who shared the nearly blow by blow account of someone [...]
I just became nostalgic for a tweet I read about two minutes ago but I’ve forgotten the subject matter and author because my brain is completely dead. I also planned for this to be a five page essay, but I could barely break 140 characters.
[...]Save all the emails and calls telling me all the good things about the web and social networks. I am a social network user and abuser. I build sites. I am wildly familiar with all the great things about the web – so familiar in fact, that it’s probably safe [...]
The web has a way of always making you want to be something else. You might be one thing, but then you see all of these other things and you think, damn, maybe that’s what I should be. Sure, I’m all good with my incredible wife and ridiculously awesome kids [...]
A new documentary called The Cove chronicles the efforts of Ric O’Barry (former trainer of Flipper and current activist working to halt the killing of dolphins) as he tries to save dolphins who are rounded up and either sold into captivity or slaughtered in the village of Taijii in Japan. [...]
So a guy in South Carolina has been arrested for having sex with a horse. And it’s not his first offense. He’s done it before. Years ago. With the same horse (which is somehow noble in a Mark Sanford sort of way). The horse is 21 years-old. Her name [...]
This is war. Angelina Jolie has replaced Oprah on top of the Forbes Celebrity 100.
That’s it. Oprah, fuck Brad.
FWIW, Oprah still out-earned Jolie about by about 10x. So there’s that.
[...]There was probably a time, during my days of hardcore political blogging, that this “supremely” epic collapse of the most disgusting elements of the right wing would’ve have amused me and given me some sick pleasure. But those days are long gone. It just depresses me now. I just can’t [...]
Anyone know why Google finance is so horrendously weak compared to most of their offerings? The news is consistently incomplete or way behind and they are often way behind the curve. For example, it’s now about 36 hours into the Open Table IPO and you still can’t get a quote [...]
Isn’t it incredible that headlines as obvious as this were pretty much impossible for eight goddamn years?
Obama wants increased fuel efficiency, less smog
[...]Reading through the details of the investigation into the February turboprop plane crash just outside of Buffalo is scary. The pilots did just about everything the opposite of what was called for. Some of the details of the behavior is especially chilling, like this line item:
In the minutes before [...]
For those who haven’t checked it out, the Weekly Checkup is a good way to get the flavor of my new blog (The Skeptical Hypochondriac) that promises riveting content, occasional humor and eternal life.
[...]Hey, why doesn’t Facebook do anything interesting (except sell ads) with their aggregate data? Why can’t I see the most popular stories being linked to or the trending topics, etc? I get it’s a social network, but I am talking about aggregate stuff here, without necessarily saying who linked to [...]
Really, really bad if this trailer is any indication. Even if the rest of the movie is perfect, these scenes could bring it to its knees. Wow. Even the movie poster on this page is torture.
Last week I got to see an advanced preview of a new movie written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida and directed by Sam Mendes. It’s called Away We Go
It is a fantastic movie. It’s one of the best comedies I’ve seen in a long time and maybe the [...]
If you haven’t had a chance to check out the new blog, this is probably a good introduction.
Flu Complacency – Not This Guy – The Skeptical Hypchondriac
The BBC actually had a headline that warned against flu complacency. Wow.
[...]According to a recent survey, you are more likely to support the use of torture if you attend religious services on a regular basis.
[...]I created swine flu news feed (and a permanent link to it) over at the new blog. See Swine Flu News.
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A few months ago, I noticed that even though stories related to personal health are always well represented on the most-emailed pages of news sites, there was really no go-to blog on the subject.
Well, as of today, there’s a site to go to. I am pleased to [...]
There are rumors that Showtime’s Brotherhood is likely to get canceled. I really hope this is not the case.
Brotherhood is an excellent show that did something I’ve almost never seen in television (and believe me, I’ve been watching). It got better. Season 2 was better than season 1 and [...]
My friend Raanan of Automattic fame is in Iraq this week (along with some other techies) and is sharing his experiences over on his blog.
[...]Philosophical question:
If I get charged 50 bucks for a parking ticket, then shouldn’t Billy Bob Thornton get a minimum of life in prison for this interview?
[...]A trillion or so into this mess and pretty much everything seems like it’s normal in this environment, but let’s just pause for a second and consider the fate of GM’s Rick Wagoner.
He just got canned by the President of the United States. Even though he didn’t work for the [...]
Interesting news/documentary from Now on PBS. I’d never seen this show before.
“One of the most controversial figures in the illegal immigration debate is Joe Arpaio, the longtime sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, whose aggressive hard line on local crime has received national attention.”
The People’s Sheriff . NOW on PBS
[...]My friend Daniel created a most excellent show called Damages. One of the greatest parts about the show on Fx is a new character added this season. He’s bad. He’s mysterious.
And his name, well, you’ll know why I mention his name right after Glenn Close says, “Tell me who it [...]
My friend Jeff O’Keefe is an excellent writer who is on the way, I’d bet, to being a fixture at readings across the country. He’s already been published several places and recently taught fiction writing at Stanford. He entered the world of fiction after taking a break [...]
There are endless articles about how Facebook (and its relatives) are going to change (usually for ill) the way human psychology and experience works. I did, however, find the piece, The Way We Live Now – Growing Up on Facebook by Peggy Orenstein to be quite interestingSix of my [...]
Obama on the Tonight Show. Obama picking the brackets for March Madness.
I don’t get it folks. From almost every angle, seems odd. Still love him. Just curious.
I mean, sure, he’s got to use his political capital right now to get the budget and other items moved. This is the [...]
A new poll indicates that worries about unemployment have tripled over the last year.
In other news, people with hemorrhoid flare ups are three times more likely to be thinking about their ass.
What if only people who had any idea what the fuck they’re talking about could speak or write about the economic catastrophe in which we find ourselves?
It’d be pretty quiet.
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