Friday, December 08, 2006
Long Tongues and Short Penises
The National Geographic reports that an Ecuadorian bat, Anoura fistulata, has the longest tongue of any known mammal. Like me, they also cannot resist the obvious Gene Simmons commentary.
The bats use their super-tongues to reach their food, and it also seems that malaria allows HIV to reach more victims. Research indicates that when an HIV-positive individual is infected with malaria, that person's viral load increases dramatically, upping the chance of passing on the virus. AIDS sufferers are also more susceptible to malaria. This is just more evidence that we need more and better research into malaria, as well as HIV/AIDS.
The best way to reduce HIV spread is to encourage effective condom use. Unfortunately, it appears that the majority of condoms on the market are too big for Indian men, and so can't be used effectively. Unsurprisingly, most people aren't willing to go to the pharmacy and ask for smaller ones. (It's also hilarious to note that the article insists that size doesn't count - and convincingly(?) uses India's population growth rate as evidence)
Finding a good fit is important in most situations, most notably in finding a job, where nowadays burnout is a seemingly inevitable result. Best Buy is leading the pack in innovative workplace schemes, with their no-mandatory-meetings and output-over-time-assessments that allow workers to work whenever, and wherever, so long as good work gets done. Since implementing their program, whose '7th commandment' is that "Nobody talks about how many hours they work," Best Buy claims massive gains in productivity, satisfaction, and retention. This sounds like someplace I could work! It also sounds like an idea that Washingtonians especially ought to consider.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Rep. John Dingell claims that he will try to correct a major failing of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, which created the Part D drug benefit, to make CMS negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. This is the only rational thing to do, of course, but the pharmaceutical industry gives lots of money, especially to the Republicans, who will thus do anything to stop the legislation, and keep drug prices high.
Also in Washington, possibly due to short penises: SUV-heavy DC is rated the nation's unfriendliest place to drive.
The bats use their super-tongues to reach their food, and it also seems that malaria allows HIV to reach more victims. Research indicates that when an HIV-positive individual is infected with malaria, that person's viral load increases dramatically, upping the chance of passing on the virus. AIDS sufferers are also more susceptible to malaria. This is just more evidence that we need more and better research into malaria, as well as HIV/AIDS.
The best way to reduce HIV spread is to encourage effective condom use. Unfortunately, it appears that the majority of condoms on the market are too big for Indian men, and so can't be used effectively. Unsurprisingly, most people aren't willing to go to the pharmacy and ask for smaller ones. (It's also hilarious to note that the article insists that size doesn't count - and convincingly(?) uses India's population growth rate as evidence)
Finding a good fit is important in most situations, most notably in finding a job, where nowadays burnout is a seemingly inevitable result. Best Buy is leading the pack in innovative workplace schemes, with their no-mandatory-meetings and output-over-time-assessments that allow workers to work whenever, and wherever, so long as good work gets done. Since implementing their program, whose '7th commandment' is that "Nobody talks about how many hours they work," Best Buy claims massive gains in productivity, satisfaction, and retention. This sounds like someplace I could work! It also sounds like an idea that Washingtonians especially ought to consider.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Rep. John Dingell claims that he will try to correct a major failing of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, which created the Part D drug benefit, to make CMS negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. This is the only rational thing to do, of course, but the pharmaceutical industry gives lots of money, especially to the Republicans, who will thus do anything to stop the legislation, and keep drug prices high.
Also in Washington, possibly due to short penises: SUV-heavy DC is rated the nation's unfriendliest place to drive.
Labels: bats, Best Buy, burnout, Dingell, Gene Simmons, HIV, malaria, medicare, nature, Part D, productivity, science, tongue, workplace
