Check It Out

Links to cool places or things.

There are 1,524 posts filed in Check It Out (this is page 76 of 153).

Flu shot effectiveness below 50 percent

My friends are making noise about getting a flu vaccine. I am not anti-vaccine at all, but not all vaccines are the same. And not all flu vaccines are the same, either. Each season’s flu vaccine is a coin toss whether it will actually work. According to CDC statistics, patients 65 or older who got a flu shot during the 2012-2013 season were only protected from flu an abysmally-low 9% of the time.

There is also evidence from the CDC that repeatedly getting flu shots makes you more susceptible to getting the flu.

There are a lot of claims being made about the flu vaccine, including a lot of hype. I think it’s important to pay attention to what the science tells you.

The flu vaccine was 47% effective against medically attended flu for all influenza strains in the 2011-12 season, and being vaccinated the year before lowered effectiveness, according to a study yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

US researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and elsewhere looked at complete data for the season, which was relatively mild and peaked late. They found an overall vaccine effectiveness VE of 47% for preventing medically attended flu.

VE against 2009 H1N1 was 65%, but against H3N2, which was the predominant strain during the 2011-12 season. VE was only 39%. Its effectiveness against type B strains was 58% but was actually lower against the Victoria strain included in the vaccine 52% compared with the Yamagata strain not included in the vaccine 66%.

The investigators also noted a statistically significant difference between VE for those who received a flu vaccine the year before 33% and those who did not 56%.

via Flu Scan for Nov 14, 2013 | CIDRAP.

Consultant: Aiken is considering run for Congress

Gary probably can’t say this because he’s working with Clay and most likely is bound by what he can say. That doesn’t stop me, though.

District 2 is a conservative district and Clay has no political experience, but he can’t be counted out. He has name recognition, his own money to fund a campaign (I assume), and the brains to grasp the issues. As Kelly said to me, “I’d hate to run against him,” and she’s right. A lot of right-wingers are flipping out about this and for good reason.

RALEIGH, N.C. AP — Pop singer Clay Aiken, who first made a name for himself as a contestant on “American Idol,” is considering a run for Congress in North Carolina’s 2nd District, a state Democratic Party consultant said Friday.

The “American Idol” runner-up from 2003 has talked with him and other advisers and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee about whether to seek the seat now held by Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, consultant Gary Pearce told The Associated Press.

via Consultant: Aiken is considering run for Congress – SFGate.

On the Matter of Why Bitcoin Matters — The Magazine on Medium

Glenn Fleishman, frequent contributor to The Economist, takes a closer look at Marc Andreessen’s recent NY Times opinion piece about Bitcoin.

Marc Andreessen wrote an essay for the New York Times about Bitcoin, “Why Bitcoin Matters,” in which he attempts to explain the relevancy of the digital currency for the future of commercial transactions. He uses analogies, allegories, history, and ostensible facts to build his case.

However, I believe he fundamentally misrepresents or misunderstands key aspects of the technology, ecosystem, and impact, despite Andreessen Horowitz, of which he is a founding partner, having just under $50m in investment fully disclosed in “Bitcoin-related startups.” I own no Bitcoins; Marc has a “de minimis” amount. I will note that someone owning Bitcoin investments and not Bitcoins is the same as owning gold-mine investments and no gold.

via On the Matter of Why Bitcoin Matters — The Magazine on Medium — Medium.

Why Bitcoin Matters – NYTimes.com

Internet pioneer Marc Andreessen explains the promise of Bitcoin. I thought I understood these concepts well enough but this showed me new possibilities.

That last part is enormously important. Bitcoin is the first Internetwide payment system where transactions either happen with no fees or very low fees (down to fractions of pennies). Existing payment systems charge fees of about 2 to 3 percent – and that’s in the developed world. In lots of other places, there either are no modern payment systems or the rates are significantly higher. We’ll come back to that.

Bitcoin is a digital bearer instrument. It is a way to exchange money or assets between parties with no pre-existing trust: A string of numbers is sent over email or text message in the simplest case. The sender doesn’t need to know or trust the receiver or vice versa. Related, there are no chargebacks – this is the part that is literally like cash – if you have the money or the asset, you can pay with it; if you don’t, you can’t. This is brand new. This has never existed in digital form before.

via Why Bitcoin Matters – NYTimes.com.

RALEIGH: Raleigh Housing Authority: Where the streets have magicians’ names

A prominent local journalist commented that this “story” smacks of “piling on.” I have to agree. Naming streets? The nerve!

There might be a lot of things to take issue with regarding Steve Beam but to jump on him for naming streets is not one of them. This is weak and petty, N&O. It’s your credibility that’s in a disappearing act.

RALEIGH — When the Walnut Terrace public housing complex reopens next year, its residents will find that their new addresses bear the names of obscure magicians.

Steve Beam, Raleigh Housing Authority director and card-trick expert, has named the new development’s streets after historical figures in magic, most of whom – like Beam – were known for masterful illusions with a deck of playing cards.

via RALEIGH: Raleigh Housing Authority: Where the streets have magicians' names | Wake County | NewsObserver.com.

Nasa says Mars mystery rock that ‘appeared’ from nowhere is ‘like nothing we’ve seen before’ – Science – News – The Independent

This is bizarre.

A mysterious rock which appeared in front of the Opportunity rover is “like nothing we’ve ever seen before”, according to Mars exploration scientists at Nasa.

Experts said they were “completely confused” by both the origins and makeup of the object, which is currently being investigated by Opportunity’s various measuring instruments.

via Nasa says Mars mystery rock that ‘appeared’ from nowhere is ‘like nothing we’ve seen before’ – Science – News – The Independent.

Here’s the referenced Mars status report from NASA.

Cord Cutters And The Death Of TV – Business Insider

The cord-cutting and shift away from TV that I mentioned before is accelerating. TV as we’ve known it is dying.

The TV business is having its worst year ever.Audience ratings have collapsed: Aside from a brief respite during the Olympics, there has been only negative ratings growth on broadcast and cable TV since September 2011, according to Citi Research.

Media stock analysts Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson recently noted, “The pay-TV industry has reported its worst 12-month stretch ever.” All the major TV providers lost a collective 113,000 subscribers in Q3 2013. That doesn’t sound like a huge deal — but it includes internet subscribers, too.

Broadband internet was supposed to benefit from the end of cable TV, but it hasn’t.

In all, about 5 million people ended their cable and broadband subs between the beginning of 2010 and the end of this year.

via Cord Cutters And The Death Of TV – Business Insider.

The Problem with Facebook


Larry Lessig shared a video from Derek Muller of Veritasium about one of the biggest problems with Facebook: the intentional throttling of shared content.

It’s easy to take it for granted that what you post on Facebook is seen by all of your Facebook friends but that is actually far from the truth. Facebook’s business model actually requires the service to limit what people see, and to sell you the opportunity to promote your content for a fee. This video is a well-thought-out examination of what your role is as a Facebook user (hint: you’re being manipulated).

I wrote about this activity last year but it’s good to have a video which explains it so much better.

After loss of key doctors, WakeMed seeks to stabilize

I enjoyed John Murawski’s excellent health care story in today’s N&O. You should read it if you haven’t already.

One underlying theme I deduced from the story is summarized here:

“Hospitals have a possibility of providing you with a network of referring physicians, where you can sleep on a more comfortable cushion, knowing that you’re going to get a share of the market and referrals on a regular basis,” Lacin said.

Lacin also said working for Rex frees him and other doctors from money worries and lets them concentrate on practicing medicine.

This got me thinking. Could medical care simply not be a good fit for the so-called “free market?” Honestly? Doctors don’t want to hassle with the business side so they let someone else (i.e. hospital) deal with it and, before you know it, our medical costs are soaring.

What if we went to single-payer healthcare in America? It seems to me that the burden of business hassles could be taken on by the government just as easily as a hospital and the costs could be much less.

With its soaring costs, I think it’s fair to say the free market is failing the medical industry. One day Americans will wake up to this and join the civilized societies which value the mutual health of their citizens.

via After loss of key doctors, WakeMed seeks to stabilize | Health & Science | NewsObserver.com.