#TeachEcon!

Opinion | Prescribing in a 'Black Box' of Prior Auth Decisions An excerpt from 'Coverage Denied'

Thanks to @medpagetoday.com for highlighting an excerpt of my book Coverage Denied: How Health Insurers Drive Inequality, which hits shelves this Thursday! www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

Close up of a blooming Euphorbia flower. It’s a bunch of bright green stems with a small yellow flower with a green cup around it on each. Bursting out of each flower are two more stems with their own little cup and flower. It looks like the two horns that stick out of Shrek’s head

Ah, I love it when the Shreks are blooming in Seattle.

As if I wasn't distracted enough . . . Hello BlueSky World.

Distract me – but please – only with relevant science/econ research.

Hi, Josh!

Why is home improvement such a slog? I want to replace my door. I want you to come here, measure, tell me how much and then go. I don’t need your powerpoint presentation or to go over my financing options.

I'm not joking when I say mRNA technology is more important than "AI" and it's a tragedy we're throwing billions into one while our government is aggressively defunding the other.

mRNA technology may be THE most underrated and unfairly scrutinized (fuck you COVID antivax crew) medical breakthrough in my lifetime.

Like... The things this is already showing it can do in the last 5-7 years is incredible.

anyone who knew someone with pancreatic cancer knows how big of a deal this is

Whoa, definitely big news.

We've launched In Development! It is aiming to be the New Yorker for global development.

We want to promote discourse on development without dogma - stories doing deep-dives into pressing development issues, backed up by evidence, argument, and experience.

Subscribe here: indevelopmentmag.com

The Boundary Waters Vote is Imminent The Senate is expected to take up the vote to permit the poisoning of the Boundary Waters as soon as today.

The switchboard is open to forward calls to your senators: +1 (202) 224-3121.

For more information on the Boundary Waters Wilderness and why it's so important to protect: morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/the-bounda.... 🌎

SOME OF US ARE TRYING JENNY 😂😭

bsky.app/profile/jenn...

As @kateclancy.bsky.social pointed out last week on Instagram, so many of us would LIKE to interact with the world with just our minds and our minds’ work (“disembodied”), but circumstances (menstruation, pregnancy, misogyny, racism, etc.) force us to be “embodied” during our intellectual work

Wow. I might now be obsessed with this.

Disappointed, though not surprised, I began to describe various life- saving components of USAID’s global health portfolio, highlighting how we prepare for and respond to emerging pandemic threats; support the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV; and immunize millions of children from the deadliest childhood diseases. I spoke for about five minutes, focusing primarily on our infectious diseases work and hoping to keep the attention of people who seemed to have no experience—or interest—in global health. When I finished, the room was silent, the political appointees looking at one another in what appeared to be disbelief. The silence was broken by Ken Jackson, who chuckled softly and shook his head. “Wow, there really is so much that USAID does that we never knew,” he said. “This is the story that needs to get out there.” Joel, also smiling, chimed in next, echoing Jackson’s amazement. “I had no idea you did all this,” he said. “As a Republican, when I think of what USAID does in global health, I assumed it was just, you know, abortions.”

This is NUTS

www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usai...

Whistleblower says Trump officials thought USAID did 'just abortions,' asked for 'Barney-style' slides before gutting agency, per new book Read an exclusive excerpt from Nicholas Enrich's "Into the Wood Chipper"

NEW—I got an exclusive excerpt from a USAID whistleblower's new book that made me gasp multiple times. It details Trump's dismantling of the humanitarian aid agency & his team/DOGE's shocking ignorance to public health.

'Into the Wood Chipper' by Nicholas Enrich is out tomorrow. Read excerpt here:

A lovely mossy boulder with a face. I walked past this venerable stone gentleman on Dartmoor when I was beginning to write my first novel, Villager, and it whispered all 104,000 words of the book to me. So now I have to pay it all of my royalties. Unfortunately my ex-publisher stopped paying me royalties last year. Understandable, the boulder was not happy. But now I have a new publisher and the book has been republished. So remember if you purchase a copy you will be helping a boulder to eat, pay the rent on his riverside moss garden, and feed his boulder family.

Yes it could be argued that keeping up with world events is important but alternatively can I interest you in hugging an ancient mossy boulder that looks like a face and quietly listening while it tells you stories from centuries cloaked in mist.

I was thinking Costco, but this works, too. I wonder if they would sponsor a work visa to the UK?

Last week I briefly talked abt tech hype cycles during my AI unit.

I asked students if they had heard of MOOCs. They all shook their head no. I explained what they were, & that tech/higher ed leaders promised MOOCs were the future. The students laughed bc that narrative sounded very familiar.

"Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?!"

(From memory but I triple checked to make sure it was right because I'm not embarrassing myself on main)

Humanity did that. Science did that. Publicly-funded research did that. Excellent universities did that. Diversity did that. International cooperation did that.

Artemis II is a perfect example of what we can do at our best.

Welcome home, Integrity crew!

I just had Claude Code go backpacking in Yosemite for me. I hear the views were absolutely breathtaking!

It only cost $8.47 in API calls.

Here's the step-by-step process:

"The dawn of the Intelligence Age."

This morning, NASA sent up a message recorded by Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell before his death: “Hello, Artemis II! This is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood! When Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and I orbited the Moon on Apollo 8, we got humanity’s first up-close look at the Moon and got a view of the home planet that inspired and united people around the world. I’m proud to pass that torch on to you — as you swing around the Moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars … for the benefit of all. It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be. But don’t forget to enjoy the view. So, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, and all the great teams supporting you – good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on the good Earth.” Jim Lovell Jim Lovell Gemini VII, Gemini XII, Apollo 8, and Apollo 13 Astronaut

This morning, NASA sent up a message recorded by Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell before his death:

You can basically get to the moon faster than you can travel across the US via Amtrak.

It's amazing we don't go there more often.

Johns Hopkins Carey Business School offers Maryland grads half-off tuition Experts say the unusual move could signal that the business school is among many facing headwinds.

This is a sign of financial stress: Johns Hopkins University's business school is offering 50% off its MBA program for new Maryland college graduates as it tries to fill seats that were likely filled by international students in the past.

Gray and orange tabby cat in close-up profile staring out the window. His ears are pointed forward and he has murder in his eyes.

When there’s a crow cracking peanuts on the roof like he owns the place (he does, we don’t fuck with crows around here).

this is the cyberpunk dystopia i signed up for