Stand Your Ground and More Guns

Nice article on guns today in the CSM. His claim is guns make society less secure and an ability to communicate is more valuable than a firearm.

"it is all too often bullies and cowards who carry and use handguns."

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Walter-Rodgers/2012/0430/Florida-style-Stand-Your-Ground-gun-laws-sub-impulse-for-intelligent-thinking

DerfCity

OK, this one was pretty funny and since Derf updates his comics using a single link had to post this one.

Guns In America

Guns in America. Lengthy article in the New Yorker.
"In an average year, roughly a hundred thousand Americans are killed or wounded with guns."

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/23/120423fa_fact_lepore

Also, reference to book I read past few years. Emphasizes the minimalistic role guns played in our society throughout our history. Things picked up just over the past few decades albeit hunting magazines may have set the process in motion years a decade ago. Under the "Talk" tab can see other views of how this particular Wikipedia entry is being eyeballed by gun enthusiasts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arming_America:_The_Origins_of_a_National_Gun_Culture

Health Care != Good Health

The United States spends more on health care than any country on Earth. Where is our return?

"The United States now ranks 39th in maternal mortality, 34th in life expectancy at birth, and 29th for remaining years of life at age 50."
"Americans have better personal health habits — lower levels of smoking, for instance — than people in many more longer-lived nations."
"The stress inequality triggers wears down human immune system functions and invites a wide range of diseases and disorders."

The article goes on to explain how income inequality contributes to the decline of the health of our citizens.

http://toomuchonline.org/is-our-health-care-debate-just-a-sideshow/

Jimmy Carter

Have always thought very highly of Jimmy Carter, when he was in office and especially afterward.
There was a documentary made about him recently which have not seen yet. Think this poster had him down pretty well.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0913958/board/thread/88898876?p=2&d=101443587#101443587

2011 Movies

Bit late but here's list of favorite films which saw in 2011. Does not imply they were created in 2011, simply saw them in 2011. Did not see as many last year. Maybe I did if include Showtime which shows a lot of bad movies.

1) Drive - best have seen in long while.
2) 13 Assassins - Japanese, 13 Samurai?
3) Exit Through the Gift Shop - great documentary on art
4) The Parking Lot Movie - documentary on parking lot attendants and philosophy
5) The Last Train Home - Chinese documentary on the migration of workers during Chinese New Year
6) Black Swan - dark dark dark
7) A Single Man - Colin Firth is a good actor
8) Warrior - UFC fighting with a story
9) Tangled - fun Disney film
10) Legend of the Guardians - animated Owls
11) Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Planet of the Apes redone
12) How to Train Your Dragon - animated dragons and vikings
13) Push - action, bit of everything
14) X-Men First Class

Television Series:
The Pacific (HBO) - WWII
Homeland (Showtime) - POW returning home from Afghanistan

John Ioannidis: Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science

John Ioannidis, a doctor at Tufts University, has been at the forefront of challenging medical research studies findings and how so many doctors seem so reliant on such inaccurate information.

"His model predicted, in different fields of medical research, rates of wrongness roughly corresponding to the observed rates at which findings were later convincingly refuted: 80 percent of non-randomized studies (by far the most common type) turn out to be wrong, as do 25 percent of supposedly gold-standard randomized trials, and as much as 10 percent of the platinum-standard large randomized trials. The article spelled out his belief that researchers were frequently manipulating data analyses, chasing career-advancing findings rather than good science, and even using the peer-review process—in which journals ask researchers to help decide which studies to publish—to suppress opposing views."

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/lies-damned-lies-and-medical-science/8269/

http://now.tufts.edu/articles/man-who-did-math

https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/58674/9-63-fall-2005/contents/readings/ioannidis.pdf

Covid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1EPcB1HsmY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuzLZdVDsW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q62PUoOmwfw

Gated Communities

Never cared for gated communities. The exclusivity of it all as well as the higher maintenance fees and supposedly higher crime rates. Maybe security guards have too much knowledge of residents comings and goings. Perhaps higher security indicates more valuables on the premises while the security residents pay for is really more for image than security. Maybe there should be a study of paranoia rates of those living in gated communities and not. How does one measure paranoia/insecurity?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-gated-communities-such-as-where-trayvon-martin-died-a-dangerous-mind-set/2012/04/06/gIQAwWG8zS_story.html?hpid=z3

Comments of posters at Foxnews.com on Trayvon Martin

Comments by posters at foxnews.com on the killing of Trayvon Martin. Maybe they think they are being funny?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/republican-base-exposed-by-davidoatkins.html

Floating Homes?

Short term solution for the climate crisis? Think I like for my feet to be on dry land.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/Change-Agent/2012/0404/A-growing-answer-to-rising-seas-floating-homes

Healthcare System Comparisons

PBS's FRONTLINE has the best investigative journalism reporting in the United States. The information at this site contrasts the cost and effectiveness of the US healthcare system with 5 other countries. Surprise, we pay more and receive less care. Is what happens when you let the private sector run markets all citizens require.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/

http://www.propublica.org/article/top-muckreads-the-best-most-revealing-reporting-on-our-healthcare-system

Surging Seas

Graphical illustration on Climate Central regarding land areas affected by rising sea levels. I live in South Florida so am gravely concerned about the impact of rising sea levels. Appears when the sea level rises 9 ft my home goes underwater. Will be much more to be concerned about far earlier than that.

http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/