Thursday, November 01, 2007

HWR: The Anti-Halloween Edition

You know us wonks and geeks, we just have to be different. So while it seems that every other "carnival" is touting scary monsters and yummy treats, we're oiling up our sliderules and adjusting the paperclips holding our glasses together. November 1 is actually famous for more than just All Saints Day, and (wonk that I am), we'll be exploring its not-so-famous associations.
Before we start, however, there’s some cobwebs I’m motivated to clean up:
First: We got a LOT of submissions from what my pal Julie calls “splogs” (spam blogs). These can be either transparently commercial endeavors, or folks who just submit to every carnival. I deleted them mercilessly.
Second: If you’ve ever hosted a carnival (HWR, etc), you know that there’s a LOT of reading to do. I suspect that I speak for most (if not all) of my fellow hosts when I tell you that if you didn't care enough about your entry to include a summary, I didn't either, and it was zapped.
Third: We all think everything we write is Pulitzer prize-worthy. It’s not. Please don’t submit more than one entry per blog. I was VERY nice this time, and picked the one I deemed most appropriate. Next time I host, I won’t be so generous.
Okay, that’s off my chest (and the axe is out of my skull), so on with the show.
On This Day*:
■ In 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Austria. And today, Jon Swift presents Fair Game, at his eponymously named blog. Jon opines that what makes conservatives like Malkin and Macsmind different from liberals like (Ezra) Klein is that conservatives would rather struggle and be faced with terrible health care choices than to have no choice at all, which is what would happen under socialized medicine.
■ In the year 996, then-Roman Emperor Otto III issued a deed to the Bishop of Freising. This is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi (Austria in Old High German). This morning, Jimmy Atkinson presents 5 Little-Known Giant Health Care Issues Facing the United States at OEDb: Nursing Online Education Database.
■ In Mexico it’s the Day of the Dead (BOO!). Here at HWR, PatKing presents Getting rid of the dead weight of old regulation. Pat, blogging at Healthcare $$ and Sense, discusses how we keep adding new laws and regs, but rarely delete the old ones.
■ In 1973, at the height ot the Watergate Scandal, Leon Jaworski was appointed as the new Special Prosecutor. Today, David Harlow presents Rhetoric vs. reality, or, the not-yet-ready-for-prime-time universal health plans: Britain's NHS, Medicare (for All), and the FEHBP, presented at the HealthBlawg.
■ Way back in 1512, Michelangelo’s masterpeice, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, was exhibited to the public for the first time. In what some might call a modern masterpiece, Jason Shafrin blogs about Therapeutic non-adherence: a rational behavior revealing patient preferences. At the Healthcare Economist, Jason avers that "drugs should be judged not only on their efficacy, but on the degree that patients will comply with the treatment."
■ In 1920, when Joe Paduda was still a young man, the American fishing Schooner Esperanto defeated the Canadian Schooner Delawana in the First International Fishing Schooner Championship Races in Halifax. Legend has it that Joe lost almost $5 betting on the Canooks. Today, though, he presents The Faux Canadian. Observing that there's lots of good info out here in the blogosphere, but that there’s also lots of misinformation, Joe deconstructs and debunks [ed: we call that “fisking"], an email from an alleged Canadian, one who is none too fond of their health care system.
■ And in 1755 , the terrible Lisbon earthquake nearly destroyed that fair city, killing between sixty and ninety thousand people. Daniel Goldberg discusses a modern day “healthquake” in his post ON MRSA & Prevention.
■ Dateline: Desert Rock, Nevada. In 1951, American soldiers were involuntarily exposed to an atomic explosion for training purposes. And today, David Williams presents the latest developments in the Avastin/Lucentis saga. Over at his Health Business Blog, David had asked "did the FDA really force Genentech to withhold Avastin from compounding pharmacists?"
■ In 1886, the Ananda College, a leading Buddhist school in Sri Lanka, was established with 37 students. Although he wasn’t one of them, Zagreus Ammon has some thoughts on the concept of Alternative Medicine for Underserved as a Public Health Problem.
■ In 1957, Michigan's Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opened to traffic. Today, Lisa Emrich, blogging at Brass and Ivory, continues the alt.med theme. Her own experience with drug interactions forms her thesis about the value of what she calls "integrative medicine."
■ The first medical school for women opened in Boston, Massachusetts, on this day back in 1848. And over at the HealthBeat blog, Maggie Mahar thinks that The Bay State is a terrible venue to try out Universal Heath Care coverage.
■ In 1970, a fire at a dance hall in France killed 144 young people. Today, fires are raging in California, and Michael Millenson (President of Health Quality Advisors LLC in Highland Park, IL.) is guest-blogging at Matthew Holt’s place. Mr Millenson thinks he’s found a connection between the California fires and health care reform.
■ November 1, 1955 saw the The Famous Flames, a band featuring James Brown, record "Please, Please, Please" at a radio station in Macon, Georgia. Today, New York attorney/blogger Eric Turkewitz comments on an article in the Archives of Internal Medicine which claims that communication is a major cause of medical malpractice, especially among staff in training.
■ In 1963, The Rolling Stones' released their first single: 'I Wanna Be Your Man.’ And rockstar health-blogger Dr Roy M. Poses looks into some potential conflicts of interest surrounding PBS’s recent series on “the Mysterious Human Heart.
■ The worst rapid transit accident in US history occurred under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York City on this date in 1918. But Michael Cannon thinks that’s nothing compared to the dangers of Universal Coverage.
■ In 1876, New Zealand's provincial government system was dissolved, which led to some major disruptions. Workers Comp Insider Julie Ferguson discusses the initial impact of the Southern California fires on businesses and suggests that employers prepare to deal with post-traumatic stress reactions from employees who suffered their own major losses and disruptions.
■ And finally, on November 1, 1941, iconic American photographer Ansel Adams took a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico. It would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography. Which has nothing to do with my post, but Mr Adams is a fave of my eldest daughter. My post, on what I call Open Source Health Care, is about whether we're using the wrong models in determining how best to finance health care.
Thanks for playing along, and be sure to join us on November 15 at Maggie Maher’s place.
*Factoids courtesy of Wikipedia.
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