Archive for August, 2008
Runnin’ against the wind
Evacuating in the face of Gustav, said to be heading for my Lafayette street. UPDATE SEP/1/08: Eye about to pass over. Bye-bye electricity. UPDATE SEP/2/08: Back home. Amazingly, no significant damage (for my family/possessions). Sadly, four deaths in town.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )“How ya like me now?” he asked stiffly …
Since the “little blue pill”, the question that seems to be on everyone’s lips is, “What about these phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors?” Right? Here’s someone inquiring, even as we speak. PDE-5′s inactivate one of the chemicals that makes erections go away (yeah, I know it seems that the verb should be “make” instead of “makes”, but that’s because the subject [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )How old is too old to … well, you know …
How old is an old person? I’m not sure (although Ohio State University seems to have a strong opinion). It’s got some range to it, certainly. For instance, at the upper end, “old” is at least somewhat younger than “dead”, yet at the lower end, “dead” might be younger than “old”. What to do? Well, if you really want to generate some strong opinions, modify the question and ask, “When is a man too old for sex?”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )We know your time is important. Please take a few moments to fill out this questionnaire…
So, how would one go about determining which charcteristics are the basis for “desirable humanity’? One way would be a questionnaire. I’m certain you’ve received many requests to “just take a few minutes of your time, and, for free, give us the info we can use to make a whole bunch more money.” Like me, you probably never comply
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Here’s your summons, doctor. Wanna play tennis?
Dr. Robin Hanson says we should cut medicine in half. He’s right. Imagine what it would be like if a person with a sore throat came in and had a negative physical exam. Wouldn’t it be great to say, “You probably have a horse. Over 99% of patients with this presentation have a horse as the underlying cause, and the horse will go away spontaneously, thanks to your immune system.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Ray, where are you, now that we need you?
On many occasions, I was witness to the generic event of a surly, arrogant “JD”, slouch-walking into Stasco’s office, having been referred to the Dean of Men by a classroom teacher. Shortly thereafter, a different young man would emerge, crying and no longer slouching purely by choice. He had become an acquaintance of the “board of education”; the Billy Parker philosophy was that before you could teach such an individual, you must first get his attention. We had almost no “crime” on campus, and the school had the highest academic ranking in the county.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )We don’t wanna hear it
I have an investment partner whose gainful employment, unlike mine, cannot be succinctly described. Truly he is an entrepreneur. He uses his superior intelligence and education to take an entity’s high-potential, low-performance business, reorganize it, and sell it for enormous profit. He manages the affairs of people who have marketable talent, but no financial skills (popular bands). He buys onto the boards of tech companies that have wonderful products and no knowledge of how to sell them. He buys small oil and gas companies whose owners have no idea of the actual worth of their companies (plus or minus), and resells them. He wears a lot of hats. He is a gazillionaire.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Not tonight, dear; I have a headache.
In a post on the Future of Humanity Institute’s “Overcoming Bias” blog, Dr. Robin Hanson discussed the “inexplicable shortage of sex” and the neglect of sex as a research topic. He asks the question: since sex is the greatest gift, what can we do to inspire more precious gift-giving? The question addressed is “why we have too little sex”. An implied question is “why have men evolved to desire sex more than women?”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 5 so far )How do you like this education, doctor?
Chances are, if your doctor seems quite successful, he is a drug rep. He may not even know it. He surely won’t admit it, especially not to himself. It probably started out as a part of his continuing education …
…The rep appeared in my office. She had been “Miss fill-in-the-blank-town” in our area, and she was about 25. She was wearing a diaphanous white organza pants outfit, accented with a violet bra and thong. And, she was sweet and smart.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Why your doctor thinks what he/she thinks
When it comes to the source of your doctor’s upgraded medical knowledge, follow the money. I thought that phrase was from Jerry Maguire: but apparently it’s not: . Whether from the mouth of a sports agent, an investigative journalist, a movie script writer, or just someone who knows what he’s talking about, when it comes to your doctor, chances are it’s right on.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Doctor, are you FDA-approved?
Once a doctor has received a license to practice in a particular state (determined by the opinions of unrelated state boards), for legal purposes, he is an “expert on the skin and its contents”. That is, everything human. The only things (beyond personal good judgment) that prevent non-surgeons from performing surgery,
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
