Bits and blabs

"Over the next two weeks in hospitals and medical centers across the country, new medical school..."

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:28:30 -0400

“Over the next two weeks in hospitals and medical centers across the country, new medical school graduates will begin their internship. Among their many worries — moving to a new city, meeting new colleagues, adjusting to medical training — is a more profound, existential concern that had once plagued me.
Do I have to lose my self in order to become the doctor I want to be?
I learned the answer to that question partway through my internship. Not in the hospital but in the checkout line of a local grocery store.
The customer in front of me was an older woman — she wore a faux camel-hair coat and had hair dyed a matching color. I remember that she had wanted her groceries bagged in a particular fashion, but the sales clerk, a young woman with impossibly long pink acrylics, was perplexed by the woman’s demands.
I felt as if I had stepped into an avant-garde theatre production. Each time the young woman bagged the groceries, the older woman admonished her and asked her to go through the process yet again. The muscles of my jaw tightened with each round of bagging, and even though I was off for the day, all I could think was: I’ve got sick patients to take care of, I can’t wait for this!
Unable to bear it any longer, I stepped forward and bagged the woman’s groceries myself, shoving the plastic bags into her arms while resisting the urge to push her on her way. I imagined steam rising from my head as I ranted. But a part of me was as shocked as the people still standing in line. I had never lost my temper in a store, and I had never raised my voice in public. Now, a few months into internship and with a three-minute provocation, I had the capacity to act like a grizzly bear sprung loose from a trap.
I walked out of the store horrified. That night thinking back on the event, I grew more ashamed of my behavior. But I also realized that it was not the first time I had snapped. Over the previous months, I had thrown myself into my work and shunned everything I once enjoyed and nearly everyone I loved. I believed I needed to do so in order to become a surgeon.
But I had lost my self in the process, and the stress made me irritable. I was no longer the nonconfrontational person I once was.
I had, for example, raised my voice a couple of days earlier at a receptionist in the radiology department when she couldn’t schedule my patient for a CT scan. I had scolded a nurse who had had the misfortune of being the fifth person to page me as I scrambled to finish a procedure. And only a week prior, I had squabbled with my family after my mother innocently asked, “Why do you have to work so hard?””

- Doctor and Patient - Taking Time for the Self on the Path to Becoming a Doctor - NYTimes.com

The strange allure of unboxing and tearing apart new gadgets. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:43:45 -0400

The strange allure of unboxing and tearing apart new gadgets. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine : My unboxing pics of my canon are well looked at ;)

"The new work is part of an emerging portrait of the broader connections between music, emotion and..."

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:18:56 -0400

“The new work is part of an emerging portrait of the broader connections between music, emotion and speech. These studies are finding that musicians are more accurate in detecting emotion — such as joy, sadness and anger — in speech samples. The effect has been found even in children as young as 7 years old, with as little as one year of music training. It is a fascinating example of how experience in one domain (music) benefits another (emotion perception). However, it is not until very recently, with the publication of the new study by Strait and her colleagues, that the biological foundation of the effect has been demonstrated.”

- The Sound of Passion: Scientific American

Barack Obama's Facebook news feed. - By Christopher Beam and Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:04:10 -0400

Barack Obama's Facebook news feed. - By Christopher Beam and Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine

"Soaking up the Sun Me and Human, together Close my eyes and smile"

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:00:53 -0400

“Soaking up the Sun
Me and Human, together
Close my eyes and smile”

- MackenzieSpeaks.com: Four Legged Thoughts:

If All Doctors Had More Time to Listen - NYTimes.com

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:47:29 -0400

If All Doctors Had More Time to Listen - NYTimes.com: I want action, I want change. I want to be able to listen as a standard of care, not just some dream that a couple of physicians realize.

How to avoid medical mistakes. - By Zachary F. Meisel and Jesse M. Pines - Slate Magazine

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:04:03 -0400

How to avoid medical mistakes. - By Zachary F. Meisel and Jesse M. Pines - Slate Magazine

"Maternal mortality is high in Tanzania: for every 100,000 births, 950 women die. In the United..."

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:06:38 -0400

“Maternal mortality is high in Tanzania: for every 100,000 births, 950 women die. In the United States, the figure is 11, and it is even lower in other developed countries. But Tanzania’s record is neither the best nor the worst in Africa. Many other countries have similar statistics; quite a few do better and a handful do markedly worse.”

- The Deadly Toll of Abortion by Amateurs - Series - NYTimes.com

Scientists identify new lethal virus in Africa - Yahoo! News

Thu, 28 May 2009 22:50:06 -0400

Scientists identify new lethal virus in Africa - Yahoo! News

Drug Abuse-Related Government Spending Hit $468 Billion, Report Says - NYTimes.com

Thu, 28 May 2009 21:18:14 -0400

Massachusetts, Model for Universal Health Care, Sees Ups and Downs in Policy - NYTimes.com

Thu, 28 May 2009 21:15:35 -0400

Massachusetts, Model for Universal Health Care, Sees Ups and Downs in Policy - NYTimes.com

Wolfram|Alpha

Sun, 17 May 2009 00:38:53 -0400

Wolfram|Alpha

An ethical proposal for Firefox's popular ad-removal tool. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

Fri, 15 May 2009 08:30:40 -0400

An ethical proposal for Firefox's popular ad-removal tool. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

'24' meets 'The Office' parody--The Live Feed

Thu, 14 May 2009 18:24:25 -0400

'24' meets 'The Office' parody--The Live Feed

What can reality TV teach us about clinical drug trials? - By Darshak Sanghavi - Slate Magazine

Thu, 14 May 2009 17:40:08 -0400

What can reality TV teach us about clinical drug trials? - By Darshak Sanghavi - Slate Magazine

"Not ten days into the second one hundred days, the trifecta has occurred: Pakistani militants are..."

Thu, 07 May 2009 20:35:08 -0400

“Not ten days into the second one hundred days, the trifecta has occurred: Pakistani militants are united more than ever before and fighting battles with a weakened Pakistani government a day’s walk from Islamabad; American people are weary; Key appropriators like David Obey have already given up; Obey’s giving the administration a year before he closes the purse.”

- The Political Rathole In The Near East - The Atlantic Politics Channel

Foreign Policy: The List: Five Disease Outbreaks That Are Worse Than Swine Flu

Thu, 07 May 2009 18:08:14 -0400

Foreign Policy: The List: Five Disease Outbreaks That Are Worse Than Swine Flu

Women Sue Over ObTape, a Device to Stop Urine Leaks - NYTimes.com

Thu, 07 May 2009 17:37:41 -0400

Women Sue Over ObTape, a Device to Stop Urine Leaks - NYTimes.com

Recipes for Health - Tuna Ceviche or Tartare With Avocado - NYTimes.com

Thu, 07 May 2009 17:05:21 -0400

Recipes for Health - Tuna Ceviche or Tartare With Avocado - NYTimes.com

The 10 Genes of a Human Flu Virus, Furiously Evolving - NYTimes.com

Mon, 04 May 2009 20:49:23 -0400

The 10 Genes of a Human Flu Virus, Furiously Evolving - NYTimes.com