Category Archives: Cool Web Junk

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Quality and Efficiency

We need to be less freaked out by death. We pour tons of resources into treating people who won’t get better. We know someone with Stage 4 lung or pancreatic cancer doesn’t have long. But we still treat it aggressively. “We have to shift the ethos of how we die,” says Caplan, “so everyone doesn’t expect full court press in the intensive care unit.” Doctors have to make clear to patients that it’s OK to go into hospice—thereby forgoing aggressive care—and die peacefully. This already happens in some cases. We romanticize the notion of clinging to your last few days of life. But, Caplan says, “the finest moments that somebody spends are not last days in ICU.”

via Is there really much tension between quality and efficiency in health care? – By Christopher Beam – Slate Magazine.

Very true!

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A Very Potter Musical

Updated post on July 13 to reflect new version

Amazingly hilarious production up on YouTube called A Very Potter Musical. I watched the entire thing this afternoon, laughing my head off. It’s so hilarious. Adore the guy who plays Harry, he’s cute and has a great voice. Their Ginny was far more annoying than I see her, but it was funny. Ron was great with his snacks. Hermione was funny too, and had a nice voice. Voldemort was hilarious and – once he was off Quirrell’s back – sexy as well.

My personal highlights:

  • Voldemort tap-dancing – and motorboating Bellatrix
  • Drunk Voldemort
  • The Death Eater chorus line
  • Harry talking about how awesome he is
  • Ron’s giant chocolate bar
  • The Ron/Hermione kiss, if you can call it that
  • Draco rolling around randomly on the floor
  • Goyle’s voice, and the Indian Burn Hex
  • Dumbledore’s twanging accent
  • Voldy and Quirrell’s bromance
  • Texan Cho Chang
  • Cedric “find” Diggory
  • Molly Weasley’s brief and extremely New Jersey appearance

The music was excellent. Sound quality’s not great, I had a hard time hearing some dialogue while music was painfully loud. I wish I had this on DVD, I would watch it far too often.

Here’s the playlist. If you have trouble with it in the embedded player, click here.

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Tech & Gadgets Blog

Users can log into MobileMe and it will show you where you left your phone. You can then send a message to your phone from the home, and it plays an alert (whether or not you left it in silent mode). And the sound alert means that you lost it at your house, the sound still plays so you can walk around to find it. If phone really is lost or stolen, you can also send it a remote wipe command to delete all of your data. Erase contacts, mail, and everything. And if you find it again, you can plug it in and it will restore from backup.

via Tech & Gadgets Blog.

Wow. Just for that feature, I really want an iPhone. I’m just too cheap to pay the data fee monthly. But damn that’s cool – and smart. However, I try to avoid Apple when I can. I can’t stand the attitude their marketing campagins take, especially considering their product is no longer as great as it once was.

Linux for the win, baby. Open Source!