For a coroner, any death caused by disease or old age is natural. When someone dies a violent or suspicious death, medical examiners try to determine both a "cause" and a "manner." The cause refers to the biological condition that killed the victim—in Murphy's case, sudden cardiac arrest. The manner describes all the other circumstances that led up to that particular cause. Most states recognize five different manners: homicide, suicide, accident, natural, and undetermined. If a manner of death is deemed to be "natural," then the victim is thought to have died of an internal disease process or normal deterioration of the body. Outside forces, like chemicals or human intervention, had only a minimal influence. (There are some gray areas: Death by infectious disease is typically categorized as being natural, even though the killer microbes come from outside the body.)

Billy and I got in a tiff about the semantics of natural causes. Looks like he owes me 5 bucks. :-)

-janelane

What the coroner's office means when it says Brittany Murphy died from natural causes. - By Brian Palmer - Slate Magazine

Well, here’s something you don’t see everyday. Our friends over at National Geographic report that octopuses have been discovered tip-toeing with coconut-shell halves suctioned to their undersides, then reassembling the halves and disappearing inside for protection.

Click the link (and go to 12/15/09) to watch the video. It gets better by the minute.

-janelane, I love the whole world

Cute Overload :D

When Sarah Palin's 413-page autobiography, Going Rogue: An American Life, hit stands Tuesday, readers discovered the governor's most mavericky move yet: The book lacks an index. So Slate has compiled its own. Just print out this index, paste it into the back of your copy, and start skipping around! (And, yes, the page numbers are real.)

Alaska
________autumn bouquet of, 1
________robin's egg sky of, 2
________superiority to Lower 48 of, 1-413

Baldwin, Alec
________preference for Stephen over, 314

..

cap and trade
________brilliant suggested renaming of as "Cap and Tax," 390
________characterization of as "environmentalist Ponzi scheme," 391

...

meat
________preference for, 18
________deep question about: "If God had not intended for us to eat animals,
how come He made them out of meat?" 133

ROFL!

-janelane

Slate's unauthorized index of Sarah Palin's autobiography, Going Rogue. - By Christopher Beam - Slate Magazine

I promised Rattle that I would change my name when I completed my PhD, and Noteworthy recently reminded me of this - thus, as of May 1st, 2009 (albeit a bit late) I am now "Dr. Nanochick":) Too bad that title doesn't come with a higher pay raise:)

Finally! Can I have a glowing cat for Christmas? ;-)

-janelane

"The doctor is in"

Investigators began piecing together on Friday how and why an Army psychiatrist facing deployment to a war zone gunned down dozens of people a day earlier at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, in one of the worst mass shootings ever on an American military base.

This guy seems to have pre-traumatic stress disorder. Just the thought of being sent to war sent him over the edge. How did he reconcile joining the army in the first place with not wanting to be sent to war?

This is a tragedy that should never have happened.

-janelane, sympathetically

Suspect Was to Be Sent to Afghanistan - NYTimes.com

Ideally, Buchmann says, you should try to keep your [laptop] battery charged from 20 percent to 80 percent. Keep in mind that these are guidelines for ideal use—it's generally inconvenient to unplug your machine before it goes all the way to 100. But even if you're not on constant guard, be mindful of charging your machine constantly, well past when you know it's full. You also should be conscious of letting your battery run all the way to zero.

Try to keep your laptop as cool as possible. The best technique here is to charge up your battery when the computer is turned off. When your laptop is turned on and plugged in, you should pull the battery out of your computer. Yes, pull it out.

More fodder for the advice drawer that will probably need to be cleaned out in 6 months.

-janelane

Four essential tips for extending the battery life of your computer, cell phone, and every other gadget. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

A little-noticed provision in the health care bill in the Senate would require that insurers put Christian Science prayer treatments on the same level as clinical medicine and at least consider covering it. The measure would apply only to the proposed exchange program that would allow consumers to shop among insurance plans that meet certain standards set by the government. And it has some powerful supporters. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah inserted the measure and got the support of Democratic Sens. John Kerry and the late Edward Kennedy from Massachusetts, where the Church of Christ, Scientist is based. The provision wouldn't be particularly expensive, but critics say it could give new credibility to the unproven treatment and might even be considered an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by the government, although some legal experts dispute that notion.

Proof that we'd be worse off had Kerry gotten elected.

Am I the only one that wishes to God that fucking Orrin Hatch would die, and soon?

All of which is to say, this little girl died in vain.

-janelane

Health Care Overhaul Would Embrace Prayer as Treatment

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Residential customers are paying higher electric bills than they were a year ago, and critics say it's because of a Michigan law that limited competition in the power market.

Opponents of the law say Detroit Edison households are paying about $11 more a month than last October, a 20 percent hike. Consumers Energy households are paying about $5, or 9 percent more.

The Customer Choice Coalition held a Capitol press conference Tuesday to urge eliminating or changing the law's 10 percent cap on competition.

Utility officials have said the law is working as intended. Regulated utilities pushed the law so they could have a guaranteed customer base before building more power plants. But demand for electricity is falling, not rising.

So the article sucks -- it ends too early and doesn't make any valuable points. However, taken in the context of carbon footprint legislation, limited resources, and the falling dollar, rising prices are certainly not anticipated. Did the customers think their bills wouldn't rise with increased plant construction? Did the utilities think demand wouldn't fall (especially in recession-strapped Detroit) with even a seemingly modest rise in rates?

Most importantly, though, this article insinuates that, like the Republicans insist, we should let the market do the work when it comes to conserving energy. Restricted competition? Higher bills? Less consumption, less carbon output, happier polar bears (not to mention drier Georgia residents).

-janelane

Critics Blame Higher Power Bills on Michigan Law - NYTimes.com

Don't miss XKCD's temporary redesign to commemorate the end of GeoCities. Such fond memories of the mid-90's...

Holy shit, that takes me back. Good times, good times.

-janelane

xkcd - A Webcomic - Nachos - HOSTED BY GEOCITIES

KB writes: Three days after my boyfriend started working, he finds this is his inbox. Where did Bob get his email address? Who knows. Oddly enough, this email isn’t surprising when you understand Bob.

Bob's manifesto is a work of genius.

-janelane

Emails From Crazy People » At Least They’re Not On The Internet