Dispatches from around the web

Behold, dear readers, the first installment of an occasional, irregularly-spaced Blinded Trials feature!

For those of you who might have a passing interest in reading what BT contributors might have written for other outlets, from time to time I’ll post a round-up of pieces that have appeared elsewhere. (This was the suggestion I liked best when I asked if people would want to know about such things a little while ago.) I have no particular schedule in mind, and I’m sure they will not all be 100% Russell like this one happens to be.

Anyhow, in reverse chronological order:

  1. I wrote this about the Tribeca Film Festival’s decision to include an anti-vaccination “documentary” in its lineup. (Please note that Tribeca reversed this decision and pulled the screening a short time after this piece ran.) Of them all in this round-up, this is the one I’m proudest of.
  2. Eddie Izzard is very, very funny. He also is, I learned, quite an accomplished endurance athlete.
  3. For completists only, there is this bit of straight reportage (if you will) about a hospital worker who has been charged with stealing Fentanyl, and its implications for some patients.

The Daily Beast did away with its comments section a while ago (mirabile dictu!), so feel free to comment about any of them here. As of yet, I haven’t seen the need to lay out a commenting policy for this new blog. The one at the main Ordinary Times page will do (though mine would be, if anything, stricter). Even if you think I’m a nincompoop, please find a nice way of saying so.

Photo by mikecogh

Daniel Summers

Daniel Summers is a pediatrician in New England, formerly known hereabouts under the pseudonym Russell Saunders. He contributes to The Daily Beast, and his writing has appeared in Salon, Cato Unbound, iO9, and The New Republic. You can follow him on Twitter @WFKARS