Hmmmm...

[url]http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/12/24/1929258/how-healthcaregov-changed-the-software-testing-conversation[/url]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;362837]First buried as the slab descends into the upper mantle, then gradually erased by annealing as the temperature rises. It's beautiful - first they're out of sight, then later if anyone tries to dig them back up, they're gone. Revisionist geologic history, as it were.[/QUOTE]Exactly. :smile:

[QUOTE=cheesehead;362964]Exactly. :smile:[/QUOTE]

Exactly what?

What did you mean to say Richard?

Please forgive me for this Richard, but I find myself with little time for those who say things without saying things.

Another data point on those (allegedly) unnecessary medical procedures:

[url=online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304244904579278442014913458?mod=WSJ_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond]Fake Knee Surgery as Good as Real Procedure, Study Finds[/url]
[quote]A fake surgical procedure is just as good as real surgery at reducing pain and other symptoms in some patients suffering from torn knee cartilage, according to a new study that is likely to fuel debate over one of the most common orthopedic operations.

As many as 700,000 people in the U.S. undergo knee surgery each year to treat tears in a crescent-shaped piece of cartilage known as the meniscus, which acts as a shock absorber between the upper and lower portions of the knee joints. The tears create loose pieces of cartilage that doctors have long thought interfere with motion of the joints, causing pain and stiffness.
Enlarge Image

Patients led to believe they had knee surgery saw results comparable to those who had the procedure, a study by Finnish researchers found. Here, an arthroscopic surgery, during which two incisions are made: one for a small camera and the other for the surgical tool. Washington Post/Getty Images

But researchers in Finland who studied two sets of patients—one that received the surgery, and another that was led to believe that it had—observed no significant differences in improvement between the groups after one year.

Surgery did provide a slight advantage in certain areas early on, including a decrease in pain felt after exercising and in some quality-of-life measures, but the differences disappeared by the end of the 12 months, the researchers said in a paper published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The patients agreed to participate in the study prior to the procedure and were informed they would either receive the surgery or not.

"The implications are fairly profound," said Jeffrey Katz, a professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who wasn't involved in the Finnish study. "There may be some relatively small advantages to meniscal surgery, but they're short-lived."[/quote]
To be fair, additional advantages of surgery include GDP-stimulative revenue for the medical industry and complications requiring -- you guessed it...

[QUOTE=ewmayer;362966]Another data point on those (allegedly) unnecessary medical procedures...[/QUOTE]

Some might consider this to be funny (other's might not)...

Hey, let's spend a lot of money together. Just to be clear, you'll spend the money, I'll collect the money. But because of the legal arrangements it will all be cool and legal and (oh, by the way, I'll get all the money)....

[QUOTE=chalsall;362965]Exactly what?

What did you mean to say Richard?

Please forgive me for this Richard, but I find myself with little time for those who say things without saying things.[/QUOTE]Are you really, truly, sincerely, honestly unable to understand that my comment simply signaled my agreement with Ernst's words that I quoted just above it?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;362966]Another data point on those (allegedly) unnecessary medical procedures:

[URL="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304244904579278442014913458?mod=WSJ_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond"]Fake Knee Surgery as Good as Real Procedure, Study Finds[/URL]

To be fair, additional advantages of surgery include GDP-stimulative revenue for the medical industry and complications requiring -- you guessed it...[/QUOTE]

My mother had surgery on one knee, with debatable results. When she had the first replacement, she said that she should have done it years sooner. She subsequently had the other replaced, as well. The biggest drawback I was aware of was that she needed to take a jolt of antibiotics about a day before dental procedures, even cleaning. The concern was that dental work can release "showers" of bacteria into the bloodstream, where they might find their way to the junction between live bone and the device, and cause ugly problems.

I have had many surgical experiences, and most of them came out OK in the end. Of course, not all medical encounters involve surgery whether it is needed or not, as I recounted. On the other hand, I had operations to correct crossed eyes at 3 and 6 years of age. That worked quite well, though I have some residual drift if I'm not paying attention to anything.

I have certainly have bad medical experiences, but generally, I've gotten within a tolerable distance of what I expected in eventual results. Nevertheless, I know a lot more than many people in the medical area, so my choices have tended to be fairly well informed.

This last point brings back the importance of knowledgeable Patient Advocates to buffer and assist people in understanding their situations and choices.

Movie "Review": When I first saw the ads for [i]The Wolf of Wall Street[/i] my first thought was an incredulous "Has what happened in 2008 been so completely forgotten by the elites already that we're right back to glorifying Wall Street crookery in film?" Seems I wasn't the only one:

[url=www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-28/youre-simply-continuing-feed-wolves-wall-street-one-victims-open-letter-kings-hollyw]"You're Simply Continuing To Feed The Wolves Of Wall Street" - One Victim's Open Letter To The Kings Of Hollywood[/url]
[quote]You people are dangerous. Your film is a reckless attempt at continuing to pretend that these sorts of schemes are entertaining, even as the country is reeling from yet another round of Wall Street scandals. We want to get lost in what? These phony financiers' fun sexcapades and coke binges? Come on, we know the truth. This kind of behavior brought America to its knees.

And yet you're glorifying it -- you who call yourselves [i]liberals[/i]. You were honored for career excellence and for your [i]cultural influence[/i] by The Kennedy Center, Marty {Scorsese]. You drive a Honda [i]hybrid[/i], Leo [DiCaprio]. Did you think about the cultural message you'd be sending when you decided to make this film? You have successfully aligned yourself with an accomplished criminal, a guy who still hasn't made full restitution to his victims, exacerbating our national obsession with wealth and status and glorifying greed and psychopathic behavior. And don't even get me started on the incomprehensible way in which your film degrades women, the misogynistic, ass-backwards message you endorse to younger generations of men.[/quote]

[URL="http://gizmodo.com/a-tv-anchor-tries-to-gift-bitcoin-on-air-is-immediatel-1488636715"]A TV Anchor Tries to Gift Bitcoin On Air, Is Immediately Robbed[/URL][QUOTE]Each of the anchors were to receive $20 worth of the digital currency, but all that went down the drain the second anchor Adam Johnson absentmindedly exposed his QR code of the private key to the camera, which is basically like giving someone your debit card and writing down the pin number for them. So naturally, a Reddit user by the name of milkywaymasta immediately snatched the Bitcoin and bragged about it online:[/QUOTE]

o Nice discussion of the exploding [in terms of numbers, not function - we hope] electrical/computer-hardware resources being dedicated to Bitcoin mining [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/12/links-122913.html]on Naked Capitalism yesterday[/url] (search for 'bitcoin' in the reader comments);

o And speaking of insanely carbon-intensive economics, [url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131219142321.htm]tough winter in Greece[/url] this year. But I thought EU officials had said "Greece is recovering"?

o [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/28/business/academics-who-defend-wall-st-reap-reward.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1388247638-tGQ02o/gvzt5FKNS48BvcQ&#commentsContainer]Professors for hire: Academics Who Defend Wall St. Reap Reward | NY Times[/url]
[quote]...interviews with dozens of academics and traders, and a review of hundreds of emails and other documents involving two highly visible professors in the commodities field — Mr. Pirrong and Professor Scott H. Irwin at the University of Illinois — show how major players on Wall Street and elsewhere have been aggressive in underwriting and promoting academic work.

The efforts by the financial players, the interviews show, are part of a sweeping campaign to beat back regulation and shape policies that affect the prices that people around the world pay for essentials like food, fuel and cotton.

Professors Pirrong and Irwin say that industry backing did not color their opinions. [/quote]
"We came to our conclusion that smoking has no ill health effects independently of the generous research funding provided by the Tobacco Institute..."

It's a pity the new economy thread for 2014 with your interesting initial posts has vanished, Ernst. If you still have what you wrote saved anywhere and feel like reposting it, I'm certain I am not the only person who would appreciate that.