The signal to noise...

Happy holidays to you, your family & friends! -me (circa 1985) – View on Path.

jayparkinsonmd:

Every time a mass shooting happens, I will always post this.

Although not always directly correlated (mental health and gun/shooting tragedies) this is the unfortunate truth in the US health care delivery system - too many barriers to getting behavioral health services, not enough resources (human or otherwise), uncoordinated systems, and insufficient policy/advocacy.

This latter point is a definite (and unfortunate) shared pain between mental health and gun control in the US today. Here’s hoping for a better tomorrow on both fronts.

-cch

jayparkinsonmd:

theweekmagazine:

Our newest infographic features some pretty shocking facts about our plastic surgery obsession. For example, teenage plastic surgery is on the rise. There were 14,000 procedures performed on teens in 1996, compared to 77,000 in 2011.

More…

Super interesting on many levels, especially regarding the cost of these procedures. For example, an appendectomy at an outpatient surgical center costs $47,000 and takes 45 minutes or so to do by a general surgeon. The cost of a facelift, done by a highly skilled plastic surgeon, can take hours. 

This is what happens when competition and paying for something with your own money, not an insurance company’s money, infiltrates healthcare. Costs decrease significantly and they mimic the actual cost of a procedure, not some arbitrary, highly inflated number.

* * *

This is evidence that US healthcare costs (prices alone) aren’t spiraling out of control when there isn’t a financial intermediary (health insurance or employer coverage) between the consumer and the provider.   The same trend on healthcare prices for lasik eye surgery has been well documented.  Unfortunately, total healthcare costs are a function of price times volume.  And holistically speaking, plastic surgery costs are increasing markedly in the US due to increased utilization.

-cch

(Source: theweek.com)

tedr:

paxamericana: Here’s what the 2012 electoral map would have looked like if only white males had voted. 

The #election2012 is over, but this info around #voting demographics is quite interesting. Here’s to the melting pot that is America.

-cch

Funny. For people that have parents with high educational expectations (and for the record I love mine dearly).

-cch

Thank goodness, exercise and fitness equipment has advanced rapidly through the years so we don’t have to work out on things like this!  For those who know me, I’m a health/fitness buff and definitely enjoy a good workout (through sports like soccer or basketball) or at the gym.

I’m thrilled there are lots of new devices and gadgets out there to get other folks interested in health and fitness, be it current or ex-athletes or elderly folks.  Like many electronic gadgets though, there is a balance between marketing and actual results. 

As this article shows, while technology is improving, the technology behind many of these fitness tracking consumer electronics devices isn’t perfected yet and are variable. 

So before you tweet that next count of steps or calories burned… just know that any movement is better than no movement.

To your health,

-cch

Insightful post by Dave McClure here: VC (r)evolution, geeks got next.  If you are involved in the start-up/innovation ecosystem, this is mandatory summer reading!  Not sure what the VC version of the above is… got to think there could be a few great tries on Draw Something. 

-cch

Technology, and specifically cloud computing and big data, is a hot sector right now, with many big companies making huge investments and initiatives in this space.  Technology can be great for many things, but it also can lead to epic fails, such as this one.  Maybe it was easier in the old days, with actual Kodak prints in albums and frames, instead of digital Instagramed pictures on iPhones and iPads.  It’s also hard to remember different passwords for all the different websites most people use - Google/Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, etc. - and to keep changing them every 3-6 months.

This is a nicely written article about how one’s digital life got hacked and destroyed in one hour that appeared earlier this week in Wired… sad that it happened, but yes… it can happen to anyone.   

-cch

Brilliant and thoughtful piece here: “The Social Media Revolution Betrayed”.  Basically where does social media go from here?  And no, it’s not just prompted by this week’s Facebook’s earnings report as I’ve posted about this topic before.

It will be an interesting time over the next few months for these social and digital media companies, both public and private.  For successful private start-up companies, there’s usually a complicated set of decisions around M&A overtures and exit opportunities.  But for those who always dream of being a public company and ringing the NASDAQ opening bell, here’s a nice summary of “social stock” performance. 

-cch