Kathleen Dustin:: Exquisite Evening Bags
24-Mar-11
via kathleendustin.com
via thecoolist.com
Laser etched skateboards by Piotr Woronkowcz.
A nurse gives the patient in Bed A the medicine for the patient in Bed B. What do you say? “The nurse made a mistake”? That’s true, but then what’s the solution? “Nurse, please be more careful”? Telling people to be careful is not effective. Humans are not reliable that way. Some are better than others, but nobody’s perfect. You need a solution that’s not about making people perfect.
So we ask, “Why did the nurse make this mistake?” Maybe there were two drugs that looked almost the same. That’s a packaging problem; we can solve that. Maybe the nurse was expected to administer drugs to ten patients in five minutes. That’s a scheduling problem; we can solve that. And these solutions can have an enormous impact. Seven to 10 percent of all medicine administrations involve either the wrong drug, the wrong dose, the wrong patient, or the wrong route. Seven to 10 percent. But if you introduce bar coding for medication administration, the error rate drops to one tenth of one percent. That’s huge.
via slate.com
None of the media that published Richardson’s astonishing numbers bothered to examine the study at the heart of Richardson’s claim. If they had, they would have found what we did after asking independent experts to examine the research: It’s junk science.
via citypages.com
Goat Stampede!
24-Mar-11
via youtube.com
The triumph of coal marketing
23-Mar-11
via sethgodin.typepad.com
From the Science Museum, we learn that the Terminators visited the 1800′s:
“Made from steel and brass, this unusual prosthetic arm articulates in a number of ways. The elbow joint can be moved by releasing a spring, whereas the top joint of the wrist allows a degree of rotation and an up-and-down motion. The fingers can also curl up and straighten out. The leather upper arm piece is used to fix the prosthesis to the remaining upper arm. The rather sinister appearance of the hand suggests the wearer may have disguised it with a glove. Among the most common causes of amputation throughout the 1800s were injuries received as a result of warfare.”
See the full gallery on Posterous
Before I do something, I ask myself “Would an idiot do this?” And if they would, I do not do that thing.
~Dwight Schrute
Fuck The FTC (and Shitty Optometrists)
21-Mar-11
Why the fuck is it illegal to buy eye glasses without a prescription… are teenagers abusing spectacles? Can you get high off that shit? Nope, otherwise people would be selling bifocals on the goddamn street corner. It’s a scam to keep shitty optometrists in business. Remember, every law requires the use of force by the Government. So if you support this law, you support the Government using force against those who break it.
Think that could never happen? Meet Da Young Kim. She owned a company that sold contact lenses. Not corrective lenses; fucking Halloween themed decorative contact lenses. However, the Government’s declared it a crime to buy decorative (non corrective) contact lenses without a prescription. So when the Federal Trade Commission suspected Da Young Kim might not be checking every customer’s prescription, they jumped into action; spending your tax dollars on an undercover sting operation.
Sure enough, they caught her selling decorative contact lenses to happy customers who didn’t waste their money on a pointless prescription. Even though there were no complaints from any customers, the FTC arrested her, and fined her $50,000. But… they acknowledged she didn’t have $50,000, so they auctioned off her car and kept the money as a “civil penalty.”
Now… after hearing that story, people will have one of two distinct reactions: Some will say “What the fuck? That’s bullshit! Fucking Government… Goddammit!” (Those are what you call “good people.”) Other’s will have this reaction: “Well the Law’s the Law. She knew she was breaking the law and she deserves whatever she gets.”
The following is addressed to that second group of people:
You needle-dicked pieces of shit are the main obstacle to the advancement of human liberty. Fuck you. You’re the Government’s bitch and your submissive attitude has enabled tyrants since Man came down from the goddamn trees. “All that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” That’s you.Back in the day people like you turned in runaway slaves because, hey, “The Law’s the Law.” Now you’re saying, “That’s ridiculous. It’s not the same at all.” Oh, so you know some laws are wrong… it’s just that your employees (the Government) didn’t quite fuck this woman over enough to reach your moral threshold for outrage. That makes you a “Douchebag.”
via absolutedespotism.com
Radiation Risk
20-Mar-11
via xkcd.com
Fabulous chart comparing common sources of radiation risk.