Nobrainer’s Think Tank

When asked, every one of the 164 hand-picked audience members said they felt that health care needed to be changed.

Of course, everybody wants change. That’s what people do. They want change.

But to encourage change for change sake, or to only ask about who’s interested in change without finding out what kind of change they want is mindless, i.e. Really. Fucking. Stupid.

War-Time Fungus Joins Elephant Dung to Make Biofuels.

I’ve been keeping up with Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell blog, which has served to make me very excited about the movie. Lately two things have been worrying me: 1) is it going to be just like the Hangover? and 2) I’m really expecting good things, which is often a bad thing (e.g. I heard so much great buzz about the Hangover that I was disappointed that it wasn’t better than it was).

The latter point is still to be determined, but today Tucker addressed the former:

This actually leads me to a point some people have asked me about: How similar is IHTSBIH to The Hangover?

I guess I can see why, if you only read the loglines, you might think the movies are similar. The Hangover is about three guys and what happens in the aftermath of a bachelor party in Vegas. IHTSBIH is about three guys who go on a bachelor party, and how that affects their friendships. OK fine, if you stop there, I guess they seem similar. But trust me on this: These two movies are about as different as two movies can be, while still being in the same basic genre (the R-rated male comedy). The Hangover is just like most all other Hollywood comedies, except its funnier. The piece of feedback we get the most consistently across all screenings is this, “I can’t really describe this in terms of another movie–it’s not like any other movie.”

This is good news, but it enhances my worries related to point 2.

I applaud Greg Mankiw for making some very good points about the health care debate. Today, for example, he notes that there is more than one way to measure the quality of health care received and that life expectancy doesn’t the whole story. Considering that Americans are considered to be relatively fat and unhealthy, it says something about the quality of care we receive in America when longevity expectations are still on par with other nations.

I also take the view that life expectancy is no way to measure a nation. Sure long lives are good, but I know that I want my life to be judged on many more things than simply how long I lived. For example, I’d rather be productive and die the day I turn 70 rather than turn into a useless blob at age 60 who merely persists until age 80.

Coalition of the Swilling notes that, in another sign of some being more equal than others, newly revealed health care proposals will change the taxability of government provided health care (which is not new and which I support) except for people in unions.

Yes. They seem to be proposing special tax breaks for union members.

You may commence slamming your head against your keyboard. . . now.