Monthly Archives: February 2006


Overgrazing the Canadian Commons

In Canada, and needing surgery? You might be better off to be a dog:

Accepting money from patients for operations they would otherwise receive free of charge in a public hospital is technically prohibited in this country, even in cases where patients would wait months or even years before receiving treatment.
But no one is about to arrest Dr. Brian Day, who is president and medical director of the center, or any of the 120 doctors who work there. Public hospitals are sending him growing numbers of patients they are too busy to treat, and his center is advertising that patients do not have to wait to replace their aching knees.
The country’s publicly financed health insurance system — frequently described as the third rail of its political system and a core value of its national identity — is gradually breaking down. Private clinics are opening around the country by an estimated one a week, and private insurance companies are about to find a gold mine.
Dr. Day, for instance, is planning to open more private hospitals, first in Toronto and Ottawa, then in Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton. Ontario provincial officials are already threatening stiff fines. Dr. Day says he is eager to see them in court.
“We’ve taken the position that the law is illegal,” Dr. Day, 59, says. “This is a country in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years.”

This is not an unexpected result when the commons is overgrazed and free riders multiply. Heck, this is the expected result of any government program.
Via Hit & Run.


Home Vetinarian: Medicating Your Cat

If you have ever given your cat a pill you know how true the instruction set linked below is; if you haven’t then you should read these instructions closely before trying; and if you are contemplating inviting a cat into your household, well, ponder these instructions before finalizing the invitation:

1) Pick cat up and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

Pretty straight forward, right? Well, you are not quite done!


Tossing Out the Internet Taliban

BoingBoing asks:

Why spend money on bad technology that doesn’t work?

With respect to SmartFilter* and other filtering companies the only good answer is don’t! We should all assist in the effort to keep dialogue, conversation and the free flow of information available to all.
It is not just BoingBoing that is being blocked or filtered by these systems. There is a very high liklihood that your blog is also on their lists. I know Modulator shows up on at least some censoring systems. In our local library system only those with the specially requested adult access privileges are able to read Modulator.
Here is BoingBoing’s Guide to Defeating Censorware. Use needed, spread the link far and wide, and send BoinbBoing your latest techniques.
Via Defense Technology.

*No link love from here for those who aid and abet the internet taliban.


You Are What You Eat

We are not quite as restrained at Modulator as they are at Marginal Revolution. Here are a few quotes from this article cited by Tyler in his ongoing Markets for Everything series

:….there is no polite way of describing Guo-li-zhuang.
Situated in an elegantly restored house beside Beijing’s West Lake, it is China’s first speciality penis restaurant.

They aren’t kidding. You will want to examine closely the photograph depicting:

A dish combining the male organs of an ox and a snake

Is there more to this than just being very exotic?

“This is my third visit,” said one customer, Liu Qiang. “Of course, there are other restaurants that serve the bian of individual animals. But this is the first that brings them all together.”
….
In China, you are what you eat, and The Daily Telegraph’s nutritionist, Zhu Yan, said the clients were mainly men eager to improve their yang, or virility.

Yep, kill enough animals, eat the right parts and you can really be a dick.