SlugWire

Health Care: Who Knows 'Best'? "...comparative research on effectiveness is only part of the strategy to improve care. A second science has captured the imagination of policymakers in the White House: behavioral economics. This field attempts to explain pitfalls in reasoning and judgment that cause people to make apparently wrong decisions; its adherents believe in policies that protect against unsound clinical choices. But there is a schism between presidential advisers in their thinking over whether legislation should be coercive, aggressively pushing doctors and patients to do what the government defines as best, or whether it should be respectful of their own autonomy in making decisions. The President and Congress appear to be of two minds. How this difference is resolved will profoundly shape the culture of health care in America." Interesting NY Review of Books article by Jerome Groopman.

Surgically Implantable Bra

Three years ago, Gail blogged about a bra implanted inside human breast tissue to take the place of an external bra. Plastic surgeons have greatly developed this idea since that time. So far, 600 women have undergone the surgery: Conceived by South African plastic surgeons and currently being performed in Europe, the Internal Bra [...]

Standard vaccine injections, done with a 1-in.-long needle, aren't as effective in obese patients. Instead, they need a longer needle to get the same level of immune response. Researchers aren't sure why, but it's possible that fat prevents shorter needles from delivering the vaccine directly into muscle, where it has better access to immune cells.(Via Ivan Oransky.)...

Video Link. I sneer at your loveseat! (via Dangerous Minds, thanks, Tara McGinley)...

Charlie Nothing made guitars--

He was an enigma, a man looking for a home, producing writing that was cryptic and full of longing.... the McSweeneys insisted that the use of the name was acceptable, even appropriate, given Timothy's background as an artist and search for connection and meaning through the written word. The real Timothy McSweeney, after whom Dave Eggers' website was named, has died. (hattip: Kottke)

Why An Octopus Is More Awesome Than Your Mom

Cartoonist Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal is back with another explanation of how the world works. In today’s episode, he argues that the personality, lifestyle, and biological features of an octopus make it far awesomer than your mom. You’ll just have to read it if you want to understand why babies equal nachos. Link

The singer Pink's recent performance at the Grammy's evoked this reaction from comedian Joe Rogan: Her performance was like Jimi Hendrix doing the star spangled banner while Michael Jackson moon walked and Susan Boyle sang back up. The song, "Glitter in the Air," is from Pink's 2008 album "Funhouse." Much of that album was Pink's reflections on the breakup of her marriage to motocross star Carey Hart. But the story between Pink and Hart doesn't end there...

Caplin Rous: World's Largest Pet Rodent

It’s not unusual to have a pet rodent, but Melanie Typaldos’ pet Caplin Rous is no ordinary rodent. See, Caplin is a Capybara, the world’s largest rodent: The second part of his name, which Typaldos pronounces like "rose," stands for "Rodent of Unusual Size" (a reference to the movie "The Princess Bride"). He’s also a [...]

Color Test Proves that CEOs Are Different

Rich CEOs are different from you and I – not only do they have more money, their brains are wired differently. That’s the conclusion of an online "color test": Ask CEOs to pick their favorite color and what they select will often be very different than what most people would pick. For example, when 877 members of [...]

The Space Shuttle Blasts Into The Night

Early this morning in the pre-dawn hours, the space shuttle Endeavor shot into space for a two-week trip to the International Space Station. This will be its last nighttime launch.

The United States and Australia have long shared a peaceful alliance, but it was not always so. In 1942, U.S servicemen and Australian soldiers fought openly and violently in what is known today as The Battle of Brisbane.

Found Functions. An elegant demonstration of beauty in mathematics (and landscape). Nikki Graziano is a math and photography student at Rochester Institute of Technology; some of her photographs were recently featured in Wired. Graziano "overlays graphs and their corresponding equations onto her carefully composed photos. ... Graziano doesn't go out looking for a specific function but lets one find her instead. Once she's got an image she likes, Graziano whips up the numbers and tweaks the function until the graph it describes aligns perfectly with the photograph."

This Is a Test Product and Nothing Will Be Sent to You. Also available new and used but with the dust-cover missing from Mythic Pictograms who presumably think that it's a "no prize" [via].

Here's How X-Men's Favorite Redhead Could Have Returned...

Astro City writer Kurt Busiek shares a genuine piece of comic history at his blog: the original notes for the story that became the return of X-Men's Jean Grey, unseen even by the people who actually wrote the story. [Busiek.com]

Colorful folk dancer

"A folk dancer from Kerala state looks on near his state's tableau, at a preview ahead of the Republic Day, in New Delhi, India, Friday, Jan. 22, 2010." (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)

"...one of the most famous of all vaudeville tramps at the beginning of the 20th century was Nat Wills. He appeared on stage with a toothless grin, scruffy face, rough clothes, and oversized shoes, but he spoke like a gentleman and delighted audiences with his topical humor and observations on modern life. Released in 1909, his monologue, 'No News, or What Killed the Dog' took off like a wildfire and became one of the early recording industry's all-time biggest smash hits." // Collected Works of Nat M. Wills.

Excellent advice: 43 simple ways to simplify your life.

Chevron Vs. Ecuador

Interesting case: Chevron hires twelve public relations firms to discredit indigenous Indians in Ecuador.

I've been reading references to "corpseman" in the comments, and I didn't understand it. So I googled it. Obama Calls Navy Corpsman 'Corpse Man'.

Battle of the Deathburgers: Heart Attack Grill sues Heart Stoppers Sports Grill

The owner of the Heart Attack Grill in Arizona, which offers a "quadruple bypass burger," is suing the owner of the Heart Stoppers Sports Grill in Florida. Both businesses are "heart-attack/medical-themed," with "sexy nurse waitresses." Both serve obscenely large stacked hamburgers, and side dishes of similar nutritional content. At the Heart Attack Grill, there's a scale over in t...