Gallop: Actual unemployment is 10.0%. Underemployment is 18.8%
UK pundit advocates pillow smothering disabled children.
Mayor Bloomberg to welfare mothers: no more sodas. How about restricting them to only fruits, veggies and tofu?
Arnold Kling: labor capacity utilization is at its lowest level since the recession began. [This implies] the economy has been sinking since April of 2006 and continues to sink, with the decline only interrupted by temporary Census Bureau hiring earlier this year.
Greenspan: fear, produced by bad government policies is undermining the recovery. Same point made by yours truly here.
Doctors: Smartphones with medical apps are not enough; you also need us. “There’s never a time where I would base a clinical decision on solely what I find on one of these apps.”
Cato: ObamaCare’s mandated health insurance refunds are bad for the sick.
Inside economics jokes. Very funny if you are an economist. (HT to Greg Mankiw)
Allowing teens to drink at home does not reduce their tendency to binge drink in college. They actually drink more.
Cosmetic foot surgery can make your feet look better in high heels and open-toed shoes. It’s called the “Cinderella Procedure.”
Why are hearing aids so expensive and reading glasses so cheap? Regulations and third-party payment.
Academic cheaters tend to be borderline psychopaths…“a personality disorder defined by erratic lifestyle, manipulation, callousness and antisocial tendencies.”
Sharks do get cancer. Besides, digesting shark cartilage would not impart the shark’s cancer immunity if they had any.
Nubians were over-using antibiotics 2,500 years ago. They were regularly consuming tetracycline, for example, most likely in their beer.
Brain cells — not lack of willpower — determine obesity. “…a high-fat diet caused brain cells to become insulated from the body, rendering the cells unable to detect signals of fullness to stop eating.”
Insect eaters are uniting: “Now it’s time for bugs.”
Friends affect your weight — so do friends of your friends.
Study: family and friends do a better job at picking up Alzheimer’s signs than any screening test.
Movie review: Did the Christians burn the Library of Alexandria? Or was it the Muslims? Or even Caesar? (HT to David Friedman)
Oxytocin is called the “love hormone.” New study: it could cure shyness.
Wall Street Journal: She has her facts wrong.
New York hospital accidentally posts info on 6,800 patients. “Mistakes were made.”
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care will drop its Medicare Advantage program, citing the health reform law as the reason. 22,000 senior citizens in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine will lose coverage.
Do Medicaid Managed Care Organizations save money? The evidence is mixed (review by Jason Shafin)
Obama: Health reform is a faith-based initiative.
New York City man received a 25 percent rate increase on the first day of ObamaCare’s mandates. Gov. Paterson accuses insurances companies of unfairly blaming the president’s health plan.
The physical exam is dying a slow death. But Stanford Medical School has 25 bedside tests that it considers essential to good doctoring.
Myth: all the “real” research on pharmaceuticals is done in universities, and drug companies just steal the ideas. Good rebuttal at Megan McArdle’s blog.
“Take Back Day”: You can turn in pills, powders and other solid medicines anonymously and without fear of prosecution. On the other hand, you could try to sell them.
Stephen Colbert’s Congressional testimony is hilarious (video). Members of Congress and staff have no sense of humor, however.
Cokie Roberts does the voice over for a Kaiser Foundation apology for ObamaCare (cartoon video). She obviously is a stranger to this blog.
Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (AKA Obama Care) change the malpractice system? No. HT to Jason Shafrin.
Study: 79.5% of patients fully expect to see a physician rather than another provider, regardless of their condition and regardless of the additional cost.
People who wager on their ability to lose weight lose the bet 80% of the time.
