Izzard, 47, together with a tour manager, a sports
therapist and the ice-cream van, left Trafalgar Square on
July 26 after a snap decision — “all decisions are snap,
aren’t they? You can’t have a bendy decision” — to run 30
miles a day in as many days around the country. The
effort is for Sport Relief, the fundraising initiative by
Comic Relief and BBC Sport.
He had to downgrade to a marathon a day, and as of the writing of the article, was on his 19th. Impressive! He’s even doing some “impromptu” comedy shows on the road, announcing the shows at the last minute on Twitter. Follow along on his Twitter feed.
Did some code refactoring here at tumbledry over the past few weeks, and fixed a few bugs, too. If anything isn’t working right, please let me know! I’ll be updating server software here soon, and then I’ll have no time to think about tumbledry maintenance for another 11 months!
Even though I won’t have time for more code clean-up, I do hope to continue posting. I’ll do my best.
Anthony Bourdain’s show on the Travel Channel continues to amaze me with its fantastic writing (does he do the writing for his voiceovers? I think he does…) and exotic locales. In the Spain episode, Bourdain visits his close friends, the father and daughter team who run the world class restaurant Arzak. A good quote from the father:
“Joy and order, but not boringness or seriousness.”
— Juan Ramon Arzak
Brought to you by the best show about food currently on television: No Reservations.
Maira Kalman started a blog about “American democracy” in January at the New York Times. Intriguingly, it is an illustrated blog. Mykala and I both enjoyed her August entry: ‘I Lift My Lamp Beside the Golden Door’. A quote:
“Think small” is my new motto. It helps me handle
the complicated too-muchness of it all.
Mykala learned that you can produce an ice cream substitute using just a banana and a blender. The frozen delicacy apparently feels quite similar to ice cream in one’s mouth. She puréed an entire banana down to a surprisingly small amount of brown sludge… probably 2 tablespoons. So, Mykala’s first attempt went like so:
“Alex!”
“What?”
“I think I did this backwards.”
“Did what backwards?”
“The banana smoothie. You’re supposed to purée the banana after you freeze it.”
Mykala is currently carving the brown frozen banana ice-sludge from the depths of the purée container. I think the next attempt will yield significantly more edible results.
I’m a lucky, lucky, lucky man. Dinner: homemade potato salad featuring farmer’s market fresh potatoes, stoneground organic mustard, organic sour cream, and Mykala’s special blend of herbs/spices. Fresh organic eggs in a tasty Rudi’s sandwich. All prepared by my lovely wife.
And all after an hour-long bike ride along the Mississippi, past the Guthrie Theater, along the waterfront, and back… through perfect weather.
While riding the best birthday present ever, a carbon-fiber and aluminum Specialized 2009 Allez Double road bike:
And late in the evening, after talking for hours, the two of us retire to bed, listening to the sound of crickets, in a wonderful peaceful home, on a wonderfully peaceful evening.
In the healthcare article of the year, Dr. Atul Gawande has done some outstanding reporting: he has described the core problems of the United States’ healthcare system. He has also pointed out beacons for reform to pursue — the foremost being the Mayo Clinic right here in Rochester, Minnesota:
“It’s not easy,” he said. But decades ago Mayo recognized
that the first thing it needed to do was eliminate the
financial barriers. It pooled all the money the doctors
and the hospital system received and began paying
everyone a salary, so that the doctors’ goal in patient
care couldn’t be increasing their income. Mayo promoted
leaders who focussed first on what was best for patients,
and then on how to make this financially possible.
That bolded statement (emphasis mine) gets to the core of the article: costs stem from doctors making decisions day in and day out. In the right circumstances, those doctors can pursue financial gain and justify it (falsely) in terms of patient care. Keep honest people honest, and your care costs drop precipitously.
Whom do we want in charge of managing the full complexity
of medical care? We can turn to insurers (whether public
or private), which have proved repeatedly that they can’t
do it. Or we can turn to the local medical communities,
which have proved that they can. But we have to choose
someone—because, in much of the country, no one is in
charge. And the result is the most wasteful and the least
sustainable health-care system in the world.
If you want to be a responsible, informed healthcare consumer, Dr. Gawande’s article is VERYMUCH worth your time.
