Obviously I know rather less about the Canadian system in practice than I do about countries I've lived in, but in the interest of improving the signal:disgusting blatant lie ratio here are a couple of links:

NY Times

LA TimesI do think it probably makes more sense for the US to end up with something like Canada's system than Britain's, partly ( Read more... )

There's a lot of nonsense being spread about the NHS right now. Not simply misconceptions, but utter shameless lies. I had been meaning to write a post about how it really works, because it seems like the one useful thing I can do to keep the healthcare "debate" well-informed (since I really don't have the expertise to comment helpfully on what's ( Read more... )

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I know not," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

( Read more... )

The other day I was having dinner with a friend, and he asked if I had made any new year's resolutions. I said I never do, ending the conversation prematurely, but that's not really the whole story. Although I didn't make any, because I really never do, I've actually been acting just like the stereotypical person whose resolutions are to eat ( Read more... )

Week 1: Michigan. Chill out and catch up with the in-laws over Christmas. Exchange many gifts, and even see a little snow (man, 2006's green Christmas was weird). Eat much tasty food, but at least apply a tiny amount of self-restraint this time round, and experiment with father-in-law's Nordic Track, which when I can actually stay on it for two ( Read more... )

I had another followup appointment with the ENT today, and it was a distinct improvement on the last one. He didn't actually have much to do this time, so I'm cleared for skiing as soon as there's enough snow (I am optimistically predicting a week from today, though I may be too busy with Strange Things to take full advantage next week) and flying ( Read more... )

Though the really bad parts are over, I'm getting seriously frustrated with how long it's taking my nose to fully recover from what I thought would be minor surgery with a 1-2 week recuperation period. I still need to rinse it out with salt water twice a day in order to be able to breathe through it; it still bleeds far too readily; it still hurts ( Read more... )

It feels very good to be back on the bike. I can't have done more than 10 miles this weekend, spread out over several short trips on both days, but it really is one of my favourite things, not to mention a nice benchmark of how much better I'm doing than just a few days ago ( Read more... )

My nose is now recovering quite nicely. Well enough that I find myself wondering if I should have gone to Cleveland after all, but I'm trying not to think about that - no point turning a positive into a negative, after all ( Read more... )