Dave Duerson committed suicide last week. That he was a successful NFL safety and businessman in retirement alone justifies the reverberations felt throughout the sports world.
Then there's this: Dave shot himself in the heart, not the head. He suspected the depression with which he suffered mightily in the final years of his life was connected to a career filled with jarring head trauma. So he wanted a post-mortem examination of his brain, believing that he was afflicted with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Although the results have not yet been revealed, I suspect they may show the hallmarks of CTE.
Until the results are released, and no doubt in spite of whatever the diagnosis, the NFL remains big business. But what happens in the wake of successful careers is nothing short of astonishing; not to mention tragic.
Monday, February 21, 2011
YOU try the individual market
NYTimes linking begins again. This time, one well-off, healthy family of three tries to get insurance in the individual marketplace and BOOM, epicfail.
Look, I'm not saying I think ObamaCare is the panacea to our problems with health care. Many of the criticisms (other than "socialized medicine", "death panels", "bankrupt our country", etc) are valid. But have YOU tried recently to get healthcare? Any congressmen/women trying?
Crickets.
Look, I'm not saying I think ObamaCare is the panacea to our problems with health care. Many of the criticisms (other than "socialized medicine", "death panels", "bankrupt our country", etc) are valid. But have YOU tried recently to get healthcare? Any congressmen/women trying?
Crickets.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Last symposium as a PhD student
Holy crap, tomorrow is the last MSTP symposium I will attend as a PhD student. Next year, I'll be a third year medical student.
In some ways, time has flown by quickly; in other ways, it's gone by very slowly. ~5 1/2 years at UCLA, and still ~2 1/2 to go.
I have a boat-load of work to finish in the next few months for this all to be realized, and according to some of the powers-that-be, "productivity" has "declined" over the past few months. So be it; point taken. Finishing is indeed a challenge, and in many ways since I turned in the "return from leave of absence" form to the medical school, I'm psychologically had one foot out the door w/r/t being a graduate student.
All that said, I can't complain.
Oh and I get a chance to talk about my research at the symposium tomorrow as one symposium speakers, which is both exciting and daunting: it's challenging to convince people what you do is interesting and very important. In reality, it's all just another variation on the same theme of nitty-gritty, slow-and-steady work-- character building.
In some ways, time has flown by quickly; in other ways, it's gone by very slowly. ~5 1/2 years at UCLA, and still ~2 1/2 to go.
I have a boat-load of work to finish in the next few months for this all to be realized, and according to some of the powers-that-be, "productivity" has "declined" over the past few months. So be it; point taken. Finishing is indeed a challenge, and in many ways since I turned in the "return from leave of absence" form to the medical school, I'm psychologically had one foot out the door w/r/t being a graduate student.
All that said, I can't complain.
Oh and I get a chance to talk about my research at the symposium tomorrow as one symposium speakers, which is both exciting and daunting: it's challenging to convince people what you do is interesting and very important. In reality, it's all just another variation on the same theme of nitty-gritty, slow-and-steady work-- character building.
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