Friday Medical Comedy Relief: California Style

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Yesterday in the California State Capitol, where we are dealing with such actual crises as a massive state budget deficit, declining educational system and job losses, our state Assembly found time to pass AB2312, a bill aimed at providing a framework for overseeing and regulating California’s far-flung medical marijuana industry.  which would for the first time …… (read the rest)

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Never Let Anyone Make You a Carrot

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“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.”  –Paul Cezanne
A couple of years ago my sister told me a story about how she came home from work to find her husband and then 5-year-old daughter playing “house” with her dolls and dollhouse.  They were deep into the imaginary …… (read the rest)

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Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

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Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in college, I studied the field of political science.  In both undergraduate and graduate school my areas of specialization were public opinion, voting behavior and polling.  I worked with the legendarily brilliant Jack Citrin, still at UC Berkeley and now Executive Director of the Institute …… (read the rest)

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Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Fifi, by Fujitsu

Back in February I chaired the IBF’s Consumer Health and Wellness Innovation Summit.  When I wrote about it on my blog, I closed by describing a tongue-in-cheek conversation I had with a fellow investor about how the company pitches kept veering to the pet food/service market.  To excerpt myself:
As I and my table-mate, a well-known medical …… (read the rest)

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What’s Done Cannot Be Undone

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Shakespeare’s play MacBeth opens with two witches uttering these words:
“When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
“When the hurlyburly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won.”

The quote refers to the impending reunion of three sister witches intent on evil, but it struck me as a great metaphor for what the outcome …… (read the rest)

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Avengers Assemble! Prepare to Defend Your Healthcare Coverage

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I happened upon a pretty funny healthcare piece on FunnyorDie.com, the comedy website owned by Will Farrell and other comedians and venture capitalists.  It is unusual to think about a group that includes people from those two professions joining together;  I am guessing such a coalition works since the phrase most often heard by venture …… (read the rest)

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War is Hell

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The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution. –John F. Kennedy
Despite what JFK once said, it seems that the way our American culture faces into crises is by declaring war against the perceived perpetrator.  Even when no guns are fired or troops deployed, we have adopted the language of …… (read the rest)

Posted in Consumer Engagement, Health and Wellness, Healthcare, Healthcare Policy, Healthy Eating, Preventive Health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Breaking Research: Beer Makes Men Smarter, Women Make Men Stupider, World Achieves Equilibrium

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. –Benjamin Franklin A woman drove me to drink and I didn’t even have the decency to thank her. –WC Fields If you are a man, then I’m about to rock your world in a good way.  A recent study by researchers at …… (read the rest)

Posted in Girls Rule!, Health and Wellness, Innovation, Random Thoughts of the Day, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

A Woman’s Work

Women in Wisconsin=not happy

OK, I’ve had it.  I have laid off the feminista manifestos for a while, focusing my writing mainly on healthcare issues that are my stock in trade.  But, as the saying goes, I saw the straw that broke the camel’s back and it came in the form of Wisconsin Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman and …… (read the rest)

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Friday Medical Comedy Relief: Crystal Clear

Much better than purple tinted quartz in an emergency

Some of you may have read my post on the tree-hugging, crystal-worshiping form of healthcare I subjected myself to (quite willingly) in Sedona a few weeks back.  Well, a friend of mine sent me this pretty hilarious video in response, demonstrating the consequences of a world where this kind of medicine becomes the standard of …… (read the rest)

Posted in Health and Wellness, Random Thoughts of the Day, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments