The Fount of Useless Information
Your place for useless information that just might possibly be interesting.
Dandelion tires? It’s not a Beatles lyric, it’s biotech
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/14/tech/dandelion-tires-latex-biotech/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
This is another one of those ideas that I wish I had thought of, though realistically, I have too ideas I am already thinking about to add any more. Rubber …
Connection between dirty diapers, childhood health
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/14/health/time-bacteria-children/index.html?hpt=hp_bn13
I wrote earlier about the potentially huge issues regarding the microbiome, this article shows its importance starts at the very earliest days. Normal birth (i.e., vaginal) gives a ‘gift’ of a bacterial culture …
Study: Diet Soda Increases the Risk of Diabetes. Why Do We Still Drink This Stuff?
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/study-diet-soda-increases-risk-diabetes-why-still-192600358.html
Earlier I mentioned some science that shows that diet sodas make you drunker than regular soda, this time it is research that indicates …
Prices For Hip Replacement In US Vary Hugely
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/256222.php
Which is worse? That the estimated cost (surely underestimated!) varied by over an order of magnitude or that half couldn’t even provide an estimate? If this weren’t such a tragic commentary …
Americans’ 90% tax rate
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/08/opinion/mccaffery-marginal-tax-rates/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
I knew things were bad at the lowest level, but I always get surprised at how bad it really is. In particular the rather substantial economic disincentive to getting married. There has always been talk …
Path to citizenship should be a long hike
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/08/opinion/navarette-path-to-citizenship/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
This is another article I expected to vehemently disagree with when I read the title. I conflated the idea of citizenship with immigration. Immigration does not need to be tied to …
Obamacare: A Deception
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/02/03/obamacare-a-primer/
For those of you liberals who think that Obamacare is the greatest thing since sliced bread (you are totally wrong) and for those conservatives that think Obamacare is a socialist gift to the poor (ditto), here …
The Youth Unemployment Crisis: A Fix that Works and Pays for Itself
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/02/the-youth-unemployment-crisis.html
Apprenticeship can be a great idea. However, it is not very different in concept from indentured servitude and that is subject to a lot of potential for …
I read about Dell’s decision to take his company private and did some head scratching over it. Generally speaking, the only point in going private is to be able to avoid the costs of regulation (which are non-trivial; for a …
The End of the Web, Computers, and Search as We Know It
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/02/the-end-of-the-web-computers-and-search-as-we-know-it/
The author makes it sound like there is a looming revolution in the way things are done. Perhaps so, but to me this seems like an evolution …