This for videos by the Vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green, so we can discuss their often thoughtful and interesting weekly vids… just a little slice of Nerdfighteria here on Elsewhere!
I’ll start with John’s announcement about his new book:
I’m excited about this. He’s been talking about TB for a while now, and they have a new initiative to help fund testing in two of the worst spots for TB in the world… some more on that here:
So feel free to post old videos here and I’ll post new videos each week for discussions.
Somewhere I got latent TB – probably an international meeting + being on immunosuppressants. I’m on an antibiotic that gives me daily nausea. Only 79 days to go! (Out of 9 months . . . )
I’ve read that about 1/4 of the world’s population has latent TB.
My only brush with TB (that I know of) was getting a test for it because of a concern in a college class. Had the skin test where they inject a little bubble under the skin. And that’s when I discovered that I sometimes have an extremely delayed reaction to needles that makes me faint 10-15 minutes later. But the test was apparently negative!
Weird thing is I had a test two years ago that was positive. Last winter I had another test that was negative. Since you can’t prove a negative I decided to go with the antibiotic.
Another nice one wherein he explains how he saw something, and rather than jumping to conclusions, did some thoughtful research and came to a reasonable conclusion.
Also, good on Montana for making their ballots probably neutral.
John’s video about the cost of healthcare in the US really opened my eyes about how it works there, and why turning healthcare into a for-profit business is bad for everyone.
I did not know that US taxpayers pay more tax per capita for public healthcare than people in Germany, Canada, or the UK. Probably any discussion about the costs of public vs private healthcare need to start with that.
I heard an anecdote at one point, that during the development of the game Two Point Hospital, the designers attempted to create the most convoluted health care system they could think of, and accidentally duplicated the one we have in the US. It might be apocryphal, but it’s still funny/sad.