Daily Archives: 09/17/2009

(Community Matters) My best friend Michael Mitchell (and you too Charlie!) comparing the existing healthcare system to slavery.

Michael is a 48yo playwright living with lymphoma and quite possibly needing a stem cell transplant which would only partially be covered by his $500+/month private health insurance (which he’s thrilled to have since no one would underwrite him but the state’s fund of last resort). He writes about a single dad with health insurance who still can’t afford his 9yo daughter’s recommended operation & the extraordinary penalty to all his fellow employees because his little girl’s medical condition drives up insurance costs for everyone.

Obviously, the comparison is metaphorical, not intended to dilute the reality of our countries’ worst stain. Anyhow, think about it – people who can’t leave their jobs, who have to rid themselves of all assets, who divorce, marry or otherwise reconfigure their lives simply to access needed medical services.

(Community Matters) The Planck Observatory is a European telescope launched to study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in our universe, remnants of the Big Bang (est 14 billion years ago). The image below is one of the first received since its launch in May.

Of course, I don’t get all this but the CMB is detected by looking for variations in temperature “a million times smaller than one degree – this is comparable to measuring from Earth the body heat of a rabbit sitting on the Moon.”

The image above represents the Planck’s first light survey, conducted over a 2-week period (the Planck continuously surveying the sky).

The image on the right (the Planck) was taken from the Herschel, another telescope launched simultaneously & on the same rocket. I haven’t yet seen images from Herschel, but it, like Planck, observes outside the visible part of the spectrum – gathering information on how stars and galaxies evolve.

(Community Matters) I just had to poach this from Joe.My.God

Twink 1: What should I go as for Halloween?
Twink 2: A top?
Twink 1: Funny. And you can go as “sobriety.”

(Community Matters)