Category Archives: medicine

chaos and health

In a private forum, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote: I remember that one of my early epiphanies on the road to libertarianism came when I was reading about chaotic, scale-independent oscillations in heartbeat frequency. One might naively think that the healthier the … Continue reading

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what the cat did in the night-time

Whenever I get settled in my big chair, Pillow (the junior cat) is all over me; but when I’m in bed he almost never comes within reach. So I was surprised when, on waking in the night, I found him … Continue reading

Posted in medicine, pets | 3 Comments

how much is in there?

I reloaded MacOS, restored my home directory from backup, and was surprised to learn that I have 3e5 files. Most of the bulk is music, but that’s only 7e3 files. Is there a tool analogous to du that gives the … Continue reading

Posted in medicine, neep-neep | 1 Comment

I suspected as much

Roderick Long (1993): How Government Solved the Health Care Crisis: Medical Insurance that Worked – Until Government “Fixed” It Hey, I’m a fictional character! Dr. Anton Sherwood, “an older man in a tweed suit”, appears in The Secret Hour by … Continue reading

Posted in me!me!me!, medicine, politics | 2 Comments

they keep on talking funny

The latest thing to puzzle me in med-speak is “benign yet appropriate”. When would it be inappropriate to appear healthy? There apparently exists a surgical tool called a synovial elevator. Makes me think of a bioengineered building, with beams of … Continue reading

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what, more links?

Friendly societies: ancient free-market social security Meet the Mind Readers: brain implants to control prostheses. In previous studies, Nicolelis’s team showed that when monkeys had their brains hooked up to robotic arms, they assimilated the arm, effectively making it their … Continue reading

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pot is bad for your health after all

A woman volunteered to donate an organ to her mother, but mom’s pee tested positive for marijuana, so no go. I could understand disqualifying the disobedient from receiving an organ from the limited pool of dead strangers, but how does … Continue reading

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