I’m in a philosophical mood today, so hear me out about this, and tell me what you think. Everybody wants something. And we chase that something so we can be happy. Usually, though, the happy part is assumed and we focus on the wanting. Immediately, I want to finish this draft so I can leave my office for the day. [...]

If you’re a fan of The Hunger Games (I have mixed feelings, myself) you might be aware that some nasty people tweeted their indignation that Rue was played by a black actress. For a minute, let’s set aside the fact that Rue is described as black in the book, and jump right into the more glaring stupidity at work here: [...]

I don’t want to rock anybody’s worldview (yes I do) but… I maintain that one can’t be a Christian and a conservative and have one coherent worldview. The two are opposites. Stay with me: American Conservatism. America was founded on the idea that people (well, white men) should be able to go do their own thing with minimal government intervention. [...]

Note: Spoilers abound below. I really wanted to like The Hunger Games, the trilogy by Suzanne Collins that has just spawned a movie. My friends read it and loved it. The movie trailer looked bad ass. So I bought all three novels and read them in a day and a half. I want my 36 hours back. My main complaint [...]

I’m going to take a much needed break from ranting about Republican politics to explore something that’s been gnawing at me lately: activism in the digital age. On any given day, my News Feed has at least two or three posts promoting a cause– International Women’s Day, Defend Rush Limbaugh (click that link, you’ll be charmed), you name it. I [...]

So, it’s 2012, and we’re still arguing about birth control. Even though 95% of American women have pre-marital sex. (With American dudes, in most cases, also indulging in some non-marital bliss.) Even though contraception goes hand-in-hand with greater educational and professional opportunities and healthier families. And let’s not forget that women make up roughly half the workforce– I only took [...]

My good friend had a baby yesterday, which renders anything YOU got done lazy by comparison. It’s got me thinking about all the crazy things the body does when it’s baby time. Such as: -Pubic symphysis. The two halves of the pelvis are connected by cartilage called the pubic symphysis, which is Greek for “growing together.” During pregnancy, this cartilage [...]

Anyone with access to the media is aware of the impressive shit storm that brewed this past week when Susan G. Komen for the Cure pulled funding from Planned Parenthood. (But here, just in case.) Planned Parenthood is a highly visible organization that does active work– it screens and treats millions of women every year. Without it, we would notice [...]

Beloved Cool Ship Readers, can you help me out? The Republican primary has me asking myself some questions to which I do not know the answer. And it’s hard to get a straight response from a candidate. Perhaps you can give me one in the comments. 1) How does Newt Gingrich in any way “articulate the deepest-held values of the [...]

Right before Christmas, the FDA earned some serious coal in its stocking by going back on its 34-year-old plan to prevent the administration of certain antibiotics to food animals. The agency explains it is “engaging in other ongoing regulatory strategies… with respect to addressing microbial food safety issues.” So what’s the other ongoing strategy? Why, “voluntary reform,” of course! Because [...]

We all know that your arteries can be clogged, and that this can kill you. Not always, though. Because you are magic.** Your body can sense when arteries are closing– the medical term is stenosis– and will build new blood vessels to bypass the clot and keep blood flowing. Like adding another lane on a highway. This is known as [...]

Remember when the recession hit, and so many people lost their jobs? Right. Remember how more men lost their jobs than women? Well, panic not: two-thirds of the people hired for new jobs in 2011 were dudes. At the end of 2009, women made up 49.99% of the workforce– SO close to half! Contrary to what you might believe, though, this surge was [...]

Every year, a handful of kids and teens– mostly males– are diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that infects the bones. For some patients, this means their leg must be amputated above the knee. But thanks to an increasingly-popular surgery, hundreds of amputees– from Ewing sarcoma and other maladies– are able to play soccer, ice skate, and run. How? [...]

Note: This article has been edited since it was published last to clarify the author’s thesis. Last year (hello 2012!) marked the first year I split the holidays with a significant other. (Sorry again, Mom!) And this year I became acutely aware of the centrality of food to our concept of social gathering and closeness, because I had two vastly [...]

Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones while driving. At first, I thought this was silly. I’m an adult! You can’t tell me what to do! Except… I totally talk on my cell when I drive. I have texted while driving on occasion. And, most memorably, I’ve been the freaked-out passenger [...]

You know what’s gross but actually quite brilliant? Fecal transplantation. This procedure has only been done a handful of times, for various reasons including “it’s pretty gross” and “feces isn’t FDA-approved,” but it’s very effective at rebalancing the human biome. The what? The hundred trillion bacteria that live in and on your body. For reference, you are only comprised of [...]

Hey, reader, let me throw some facts your way. Ready? Catch: Renal dialysis is the treatment for end-stage renal failure, which is diagnosed in 100,000 new people every year. Basically, a filter is hooked up to your body to clean your blood for a few hours, a few days a week, forever (or until you can get new kidneys.) Or [...]

In 1848, Phineas Gage was working at his job as a railroad foreman when a slight mishap caused a three-and-a-half foot, thirteen-pound iron pole to rocket through his skull. The pole travelled through the side of his face, through his left eye socket, and out the top of his head, sailing eighty feet and landing, covered in guts and seriously [...]

My last column—er, rant—bemoaned our awful choices in terms of a Republican presidential candidate. I ended with the concession that Ron Paul is a straight-shooting kind of guy, and perhaps the only decent pick of the lot. Paul has a non-traditional platform that seeks to shrink the size of the federal government in order to cut the national debt and [...]

Let’s have a moment of appreciation for Jerry Robinson, who died in New York on Wednesday at the ripe old age of 89. Robinson was a cartoonist for the Batman comics and originated the Dark Knight’s archenemy, the Joker, and side kick, Robin. Robinson also designed covers for Playbill (theatre geeks lament!) and created his own sets of lesser-known comics, [...]