Check It Out

Links to cool places or things.

There are 1,524 posts filed in Check It Out (this is page 121 of 153).

The value of preventative health care

A commenter on Gawker, apparently a doctor, had an insightful comment on the value of preventative health care, something that the health care legislation might help. It describes how a patient with a simple, treatable issue, could rack up a tremendous hospital bill that the hospital will inevitably absorb because the patient can’t afford health insurance.

This kind of thing goes on all the time at my neighborhood hospital, WakeMed. See below for the Gawker comment:

40% of the patients at the hospital I practice at are uninsured. Those 40% cannot afford the $100 cost of a clinic visit. Here’s the way this thing normally works:

1) Patient comes to the ER for something simple. Let’s use an ulcerated lesion on the forearm as an example. EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act) states that we are required to stabilize the patient if they are in distress. The patient is not in distress, so they are given an appointment for a dermatologist and discharged. they receive a bill for $500-$1500 (which they do not pay).
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Supersonic aerodynamics

I was checking my feed for the BBC’s news stories today when I came across a story about an experimental car designed to go 1,000 MPH called the Bloodhound SSC. The article mentioned the car that set the current the world-record speed of 763 MPH in 1997, known the Thrust SuperSonic Car.

I searched for this car but didn’t find an entry for it on Wikipedia. However, I did find a fascinating article on the topic of supersonic. I know a little about aerodynamics from the pilot ground school I took 15 years ago but I had no idea how much different supersonic flight is from subsonic flight.

For instance, from the Wikipedia page:
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Raleigh works to woo Google fiber

I got a little ink in this week’s Independent Weekly, discussing the Triangle cities’ efforts to lure Google’s proposed 1Gbps fiber network:

East Raleigh organizer and blogger Mark Turner said the Bring Google Fiber to Raleigh! Facebook group he created the day that Google announced the fiber program now includes more than 600 members and has drawn the support of elected officials. He hopes upcoming Internet conferences in Raleigh will add muster to the effort.

“I see fiber and Internet connection as being almost as vital nowadays as sewer service and water service, as far as building communities,” Turner said. “It would really position us for some long-term growth.”

Google to offer 1Gb Internet service in trial program

Today Google announced that it will be stringing fiber around a few lucky cities to study how ultra-high-speed Internet service might be used. Speeds of up to 1Gb will be offered and competitively-priced with fiber being deployed directly to the home.

I think the Triangle would be ideal with its concentration of networking companies (Cisco), storage companies (EMC, NetApp), software companies (IBM), and pharmaceutical companies. Raleigh was one of the North Carolina municipalities to oppose Time Warner’s efforts to close off competition, so I would hope the city would be looked upon favorably.

Google expects interested municipalities to respond to the RFI via the web, but you don’t have to be a city official to express interest. Google provides a link for interested residents to nominate their city.

Let the jockeying begin!

The gunslinger test

Gunslinger test

Researchers have shown that people move faster when reacting to something than when they perform “planned actions”. The movements that took place when reacting to something took an average of 21 fewer milliseconds than a planned action.

Inspired by Hollywood westerns, scientists at the University of Birmingham (UK) tested this with a simulated shootout. Participants given buzzers and not given a particular signal as to when to buzz their opponent.

Dr Welchman explained that it took around 200 milliseconds to respond to what an opponent was doing, so, in a gunfight, the 21 millisecond reactionary advantage would be unlikely to save you.

“The person who draws second is going to die. They’ll die happy that they are the faster person to move but it’s not much consolation in this context,” said Dr Welchman.

I think this must have been a fun experiment to conduct. Makes me wonder if there is some mental process that gets overridden or short-circuited when reacting to something. Also makes me wonder if we can train ourselves to override this process at will, i.e. consciously put our minds in “turbo mode” when needed.