US Healthcare System podcast

NPR's This American Life did a great pair of podcasts on the current state of the US healthcare system.  It's worth checking out, as it's both informative and quite entertaining.  

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=6349076

Fibery awesomeness (and the limits to fibery awesomeness)

I've recently discovered that a lot of the dietary issues I've had in terms of various forms of intestinal distress can be solved by taking fiber supplements.  I'm using Metamucil, which is psyllium husk.  I can now eat foods which I thought I was allergic to, and they are now digested just fine.  (Note that in my case these food "allergies" were causing nothing worse than diarrhea)

Fiber has a lot of benefits.  It reduces both diarrhea and constipation by providing bulk and structure that helps the body hold food and guide it through the digestion process. 

Fiber also affects the rate of food absorption.  Since soluble fiber lowers glycemic index, it could be used to make foods that are known for causing insulin spikes (eg sodas and other things high in simple carbs) less unhealthy. 

It turns out that this sort of works.  If you mix the added fiber into the food, you can substantially lower glycemic index and glycemic load, and there have been numerous experiments of adding it to bread and breakfast cereal.  However, it turns out that you can't just take a fiber supplement before indulging in cake and get a good result.  This study found that the fiber has to be mixed in with the food itself in order for this trick to work

I'd love to see this with bread.  I'd love to see this with sodas as well, though I'm not sure if this is possible to do without dramatically affecting the texture of the soda.   If the government is going to start paying for healthcare, they should invest in encouraging the production and consumption of healthier foods.  At that point, it's not a subsidy, it's an investment.

Looking for housing

I'm starting to search for a more permanent place to live.  Four months is a long time to keep most of my stuff in storage and sleep on an inflatable bed.  Four months is also a long time to be in the "temporary situation" intellectual mindset.  At this point it's worth putting more thought into my living environment even if I haven't yet worked out my next great intellectual/work adventure. 

Currently my priorities are:
1.  Find a house of 2-5 people engaged in creative endeavors.  "Creative" could mean anything from entrepreneurship to art to a general curiosity about the world around us. 
2.  Find a place close to interesting culture.  This primarily means "somewhere in San Francisco" but it's possible I could be happy living a block or two from downtown Palo Alto or downtown Mountain View. 

Otherwise I'm not too picky.

Let me know if you know of anything out there that might be a good fit for me.  I'm currently month to month. 

I'm giving a talk on sensory augmentation

I'm going to be giving a talk on sensory augmentation with Eric at this event in San Francisco at 7pm on Nov 6.  Come check it out!