Bloggle

Thirteen years of coffee and commentary. Tridecaphobes, beware.

Monthly Archives: February 2013

February 24, 2013
by deCadmus
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  • A high-school basketball game features a twist of sportsmanship that makes it the feel-good story of the week. (Reported by CBS’ Steve Hartman, who now has totally inherited the legacy of the late, great Charles Kuralt.)
  • Steven Brill’s Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us is Time Magazine’s  cover story and this week’s must-read:

    “What are the reasons, good or bad, that cancer means a half-million- or million-dollar tab? Why should a trip to the emergency room for chest pains that turn out to be indigestion bring a bill that can exceed the cost of a semester of college? What makes a single dose of even the most wonderful wonder drug cost thousands of dollars? Why does simple lab work done during a few days in a hospital cost more than a car? And what is so different about the medical ecosystem that causes technology advances to drive bills up instead of down?”

    Why, indeed.

  • And, because the medical billing story is almost certain to raise your blood pressure, here’s 15 Hedgehogs With Things That Look Like Hedgehogs as therapy.

February 23, 2013
by deCadmus
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“No matter your genre, lack of playfulness can drain the creativity out of your writing faster than a leaky bathtub drains chocolate milk and Lucky Charms. The best way to introduce more childlike fun to your writing is to follow Shakespeare’s advice: ‘The play’s the thing.’ Of course, he meant this in another context—but this article is about taking things out of context, so go for it! Play with your children or your pets. Take an improv class. Dance badly to your favorite music. Take recess instead of a coffee break. Just make sure your inner 5-year-old has a chance to play at least once a day, and even more often when you’re facing a writing deadline.”

The contents of comment SPAM I received this week. So far as advice goes, I like it, though I don’t see any reason you couldn’t have your coffee and recess, too.

February 14, 2013
by deCadmus
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February 13, 2013
by deCadmus
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The knowledge of how to fight Roya, and the money for fungicide, the labor to treat it, and to cut back the trees deals a huge blow to the income and profits of the coffee farm. The real impact is on organic farms,  whether certified farms or organic-by-default farms, on casual coffee farmers who have little technical knowledge, and on smallholder farms in general. In a couple crop cycles, Roya unmanaged is the death of the coffee farm.

–Tom Owen, How Can a Leaf Rust? Roya in Guatemala

Hat tip: JimSeven’s Leaf Rust: End of Days?

February 12, 2013
by deCadmus
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