Broadcast news, local style
Today, I had to kill time for about half an hour at a local business. A TV was on showing local news at noon. Normally I would ignore it and whisper sweet nothings to my iPad instead. But today was… Continue Reading
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Does buying green make you a schmuck?
I have been interested for some time about the effect of essentially useless moral badges. By “moral badges,” I mean moral choices that one makes as a statement of one’s values, but have very low expected utility. Whether or not… Continue Reading
Open letter to various visitors to our flower garden
Dear all, First of all, thank you for visiting our garden. It is small, yes, but I get no small pleasure from it, and hope you do, too. It allows me to pretend that I don’t live in an utterly… Continue Reading
With bated breath
As Burt notes over in Not a Potted Plant, we will know the fate of ObamaCare on Monday. This is the first time I’ve ever had a personal stake in a Supreme Court decision. I mean, I suppose we were… Continue Reading
The Atlantic is not a medical journal
I feel like I gripe about the health coverage in the New York Times and Slate a lot, and so this morning it is refreshing to have come across a lousy health article in another estimable publication. This morning’s contender… Continue Reading
Co-opting the Montessori Report Card
I send my oldest kid (4 1/2 years old) to a local Montessori school. I’m talking totally old-school, completely unreconstructed Montessori. Nearly bare and hushed classrooms, practicing silently walking lines, washing tables, etc. They actually have a picture of Maria… Continue Reading
Because we could all use a break from Inequality
I’ve decided to toss off a few random thoughts from my own wee corner of the medical world. 1) Whither the manscaping, teens of America? Don’t you want to take a few moments to enjoy your new tokens of puberty… Continue Reading
Dance 10, Looks 3 – Inequality of Talent and Looks
Note: This post is part of our League Symposium on inequality. You can read the introductory post for the Symposium here. To see a list of all posts in the Symposium so far, click here. This is cross-posted on the main page.… Continue Reading
You Really Coulda Been a Contender
Recently, I was chatting with a cognitive scientist at a party, and he mentioned in passing that he didn’t believe there was such a thing as innate talent. All one needs is enough deliberate practice. I was really surprised. This… Continue Reading
As though on cue
My, my, my. I write a post that deals in part with vaccines and autism, and then look what the universe serves up. Running a fever during pregnancy is associated with a risk of autism spectrum disorders and developmental delays… Continue Reading