Footnotes

Alt Text: A Belligerent Guide to Board Games

Apparently videogames have become too cool for me, because I’ve been increasingly getting into board games over the last few years. These days, even the ungeekiest visitors to my home don’t bat an eye at the Rock Band drum set in my living room or the stack o’ consoles under the TV. But if I tell them I play a lot of board games, they look at me like I invited them to a tea party with Mr. Cuddlebear and Sparkle Horse.

Like any good geek hobby, board games give you an excellent chance to feel superior to the unwashed masses without actually having to wash. However, to work up a good head of snobbery about your cardboard and dice, you need to know the general categories of modern board gamery.

The Atlantic | Does the Vaccine Matter?

All of which leaves open the question of what people should do when faced with a decision about whether to get themselves and their families vaccinated. There is little immediate danger from getting a seasonal flu shot, aside from a sore arm and mild flu-like symptoms. The safety of the swine flu vaccine remains to be seen. In the absence of better evidence, vaccines and antivirals must be viewed as only partial and uncertain defenses against the flu. And they may be mere talismans. By being afraid to do the proper studies now, we may be condemning ourselves to using treatments based on illusion and faith rather than sound science.

Op-Ed Contributor - Big Food vs. Big Insurance - NYTimes.com

so far, food system reform has not figured in the national conversation about health care reform. And so the government is poised to go on encouraging America’s fast-food diet with its farm policies even as it takes on added responsibilities for covering the medical costs of that diet. To put it more bluntly, the government is putting itself in the uncomfortable position of subsidizing both the costs of treating Type 2 diabetes and the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup.

Op-Ed Contributor - Wall Street Smarts - NYTimes.com

“IF you really want to know why the financial system nearly collapsed in the fall of 2008, I can tell you in one simple sentence.”

Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. - Boing Boing