Interrelativity

Interrelativity: musings about interrelatedness

  • The Battle is Rejoined (Week 3 update)

    After an 8-day radiotherapy cease-fire, Amy’s platelet (PLT) and white blood cell (WBC) counts increased above the threshold required for the resumption of daily radiation treatments this past Tuesday, so she has completed another [nearly full] week of treatment … and we are hopeful that she can continue on with the remaining two weeks of…

  • Guns and Levees

    This week’s CounterSpin includes an interview with Will Bunch about the diversion of federal government funding from levee projects in southern Louisiana to the war effort in Iraq: New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with…

  • Compassion, Judgment and Blame in the Wake of Katrina

    Last night, on the America’s Public Media radio show Marketplace, I heard a story about "Survivor: Waveland", where a group of 100 residents in Waveland, MS, had taken refuge in the Coast Inn and Suites.  One of the owners commented on a destitute woman in town who was always seen pushing her cart down the…

  • The Invisible Hand of RFID

    "Privacy Invasion as ROI", by Ross Stapleton-Gray of Stapleton-Gray Associates, is an interesting article that might be characterized as the Internet of Things meets the Invisible Hand, Metcalfe’s Law and the Law of Unintended Consequences, arguing that the deployment of RFID readers and tags is likely to evolve in a bottom-up way that will ultimately…

  • Health Care Systems: Satisfaction and Risk

    In a conversation with a neighborhood friend last night, I shared my impression that the health care systems in other industrialized countries are superior in many respect to the system in this country.  This topic arose in the context of a series of discussions over the course of the evening that included a comparison of…

  • A Radiotherapy Cease Fire

    The week in Amy’s cancer counterinsurgency started out "normally" (in sharp contrast to events unfolding in the southeast US in the wake of Hurricane Katrina), with Amy heading in for her daily dose of radiotherapy on Monday.  On Tuesday, however, her complete blood count (CBC) test revealed a platelet (PLT) count of 39 (thousand per…

  • One World: Disasters and Responses

    Listening to, reading and watching news reports of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I’m struck by the refrain of terms that reminds me of human responses to other disasters, natural and man-made.  Injuries, death, destruction, sickness, shortages of electricity, water, food, shelter and medical care, inadequate preparation and/or slow response by the authorities, refugees, refugee…

  • The Risks of Changing, and of not Changing, Careers

    In introducing this week’s segment of "Take Two: Life Changes" on NPR’s Morning Edition today, Ketzel Levine gave an update on the subject of a previous segment, 58-year-old Terry Rusinow and her mobile espresso cart, "Duck, Duck, Brew", who is now pursuing a "Plan B" in her entrepreneurial venture(s) — seeking high-volume, half-day events she…

  • A Duct Tape Solution to Videogame Addiction

    Evan had some friend over last week while Amy was trying to rest.  They were loudly enjoying their video games, and after admonishing them once to keep quiet, I told them they would have to go outside to play (it being a beautiful, sunny afternoon with temperatures around 75 degrees F).  They pleaded with me…

  • More Cybershaming via Cameraphone on a Train

    Another recent incident of cybershaming, involving a subway passenger in New York who used a cameraphone to create and share a photographic record of shameful behavior, was reported in the New York Daily News yesterday.  On August 18, Thao Nguyen was on her way back from an interview when a man sitting across from her…