7/30/14 Today's Inquiries

You've got a long link list today.

The Links:

A brief New York Times profile of Osteopathic Medicine reports that almost 1/3 of medical students are graduating from DO programs. I had no idea it was that many. I also didn't know that there were no new MD schools between 1980 and 2002. It's a good primer on the difference between DO and MD, which is basically zero. Less than 10% of practicing DOs utilize the manipulative therapy described in the article.

McDonald's could be liable for it's labor practices. The NLRB changed the category of employer McDonald's falls under. No more unpaid over time. No more clocking out but still working. Sometimes unilateral executive action can have benefits.

WaPo reports that 1/3 of people with a credit report had debt collection in the past year. Which means they weren't even able to make minimum payments on some kind of borrowed money. Which means the sub-prime car loans linked a while back and other returning predatory lending practices are going in the same direction as the housing crisis.

Worldwide water shortage by 2040. Back when I was in early high school, my family visited a family friend for Thanksgiving. He was the director of the Naval War College or some such position. His summary of the future: most of the world will be at war over securing drinking water. This was probably 10 years ago.

Speaking of bleak futures, the Hungarian Prime Minister says he would like to end liberal democracy. I can't wait to see how that turns out. Maybe he can cozy up with Putin. I'm sure the Hungarian people just love the Russians.

Vox wants to know: What would happen in Ebola came to the US? I'd imagine it'd be pretty scary. A lot of the coverage right now focuses on how rural communities in the affected nations are deeply suspicious of WHO, MSF, and others. We like to think we're different from a bunch of tent-dwelling tribal Africans but we're not. People will panic.

The Anti-vaccine movement is not only growing, it's branching out into other kinds of healthcare. Numerous parents are now opting not to give their kids vitamin K shots shortly after birth. This means they are prone to bleeds. So yeah, you'll feel better about not giving your kid autism despite the total lack of evidence connecting vitamin K to autism but your kid is going to be hypotonic, have a blown pupil, and be shitting blood. Good job mom!

David Frum accused Reuters and the New York Times of staging photos of the Gaza crisis. There's a lot to the context of this story so definitely read on if you're at all interested. Warning: These are graphic photos.

The Decline of Milk. I wonder what's replacing it? Mountain Dew? Red Bull? Purple Drank?

A presentation from Open Source Conference about how techies should check their privilege:



This handy chart will tell you when a woman owes you sex. Apparently sex spreadsheets are a thing.

So, maybe it's appropriate that Wired takes a look a Tech's Ugly Gender Problem. Ugly indeed.

Richard Dawkins: You're not helping!

And, The Dark Side of ComicCon: Harassment amid the fantasy. But wait!? Aren't nerds magically immune to harassment because they were a 'marginalized' community and therefore open and accepting?

Andrew Sullivan looks at #Feminism and how feminism is becoming separated form it's cultural and historical context.

Also, two Dish posts about Conservatism: Montaigne and Conservatism and Toward a Conservatism of Joy. Posts like these remind me why I read Andrew Sullivan so much. He has a refreshing and enlightened view of conservatism which is almost completely absent from the fake libertarian leaning GOP and Fox News set.

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