Gene patenting ruled invalid -> cheaper healthcare

I love it when the universe responds to my suggestions. :-) A week ago I wrote that we should ban patents on genes (as opposed to specific genetic therapies) as one way of reducing healthcare costs. A judge just did that in one specific instance, potentially paving the way for all other gene patents to be invalidated.  It looks like the case was the work of the ACLU and the Public Patent foundation, which pre-emptively challenged the company holding the patents.  Read more here.

I know that the revenue potential from gene patents helped drive the sequencing of the human genome in the late 1990s, but the incentive structure should have been different.  17 years of exclusivity based on who got to a particular piece of code first is excessive, especially when there's little incentive for competitors to understand what the gene does once one company sequences it.

Why is the US Census so obsessed with dividing up Latinos and Asians?

Question 8 is solely devoted to slicing and dicing the Latino population into different subpopulations.  The only other question on race, #9, has three ticky boxes for white, black, and American Indian, but it has a large number of subdivisions for various (east) Asian populations.  So all white and black people are undifferentiated masses, apparently.  If they did the same to white people, there'd be ticky boxes for "Jew", "Australian", "Mormon", "German" etc.  Interestingly, the Middle East and SW Asia (Indian, Pakistani, Iranian etc) are ignored entirely.

Here are a couple of interesting discussions of the issue by various ethnic communities:
http://riogringa.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/03/us-census-question.html
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/006124.html

If the goal is to understand immigration patterns (which is useful), why not just have open-response questions asking the following:

- List all ethnic groups you identify with (space for up to 10).  Be as specific as possible.  

- List all countries you have lived in for at least 5 years.  (space for up to 10)

- List all US states you have lived in for at least 5 years.  (space for up to 10)

- How many years has the US been your primary place of residence?

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There have been separate discussions of how the US census data is sometimes used to hunt down particular groups (like Japanese in WWII) despite the pledge of confidentiality.  Obviously, I'd be more comfortable getting specific on things if I weren't afraid my data would be misused.

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"White" now encompasses what used to be a range of distinct ethnic groups.  Back in the 1800s, the Irish, the Germans, and the Italian immigrants in the US didn't get along and were seen as very distinct groups.  Now they're intermixed and assimilated, and the tension is far lower.  That's the great thing about America... we're a big multiethnic melting pot of assimilated cultural influences.  As new groups come in, we should welcome and merge them in. 

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So, back to the "race" question... I'm tempted to put "Mixed".  It's not a lie -- I'm part German, part Swiss, and part Norwegian.  Alternates are "Human" and "American". 

[personaldev] Using Supermemo-type flashcard systems for changing habits instead of memorization

Supermemo and its various free clones (eg Mnemosyne) have become popular over the last couple of years because they interactively quiz you on facts in such a way that they optimize your rate of learning.  It's based on research into when the brain decides to forget vs remember new information... the data show a power law of forgetting that's remarkably clear given the usually dismally fuzzy data seen in the social sciences.    In the Supermemo system, you're given a series of virtual flashcards.  In addition to trying to remember what's on the opposite side of the flashcard, you also rate how well you remembered the answer, from 1 to 5. A 1 means you didn't remember the answer, a 3 means you remember the answer with some difficulty, and a 5 means you remember the answer effortlessly.

Implementing habit changes is difficult.  Habits are moment-to-moment choices that require constant attention to change.  The trouble is that it's difficult to remember in the moment what changes you're trying to make unless you're receiving frequent reminders of it.  Often, there are a lot of changes you'd like to implement, and it's hard to focus on them all without letting most of them drop?

Hey, so why not use Supermemo-type systems as a way of reminding yourself what you want to focus on?  In this case, there's no question-and answer flashcard.  Instead, the flashcard is simply something you want to change or work on, and when it comes up you go through the motions of the habit you want to form in your head and then rate how well you're doing at making that change occur.  If you give it a low rating (1-2) the system will remind you of it more often.  If you give it a high rating (4-5), you've internalized the habit and it can stop reminding you of it. 

So I've started doing this.  I'll report back on how it goes.

How yoga hits all four types of exercise (recs for local places in SF?)

There are four types of exercise I need:
1. Cardio
2. Muscle building
3. Balance
4. Stretching

How do my current forms of exercise stack up?
Hiking hits 1 and a bit of 2.
Rock climbing hits 2 and a bit of 1 and 4.
Snowboarding hits 3 and a bit of 2.  OK, when it comes down to it, snowboarding is more of an adrenaline rush and a physical skill than heavy exercise.  I'm usually the most winded and worn by the times when I have to push the board along the ground over long distances, as opposed to when I'm actually riding.
Physical video games (Dance Dance Revolution, Wii Fit) hit 1.
Yoga... while not quite as objectively fun as the others, manages to hit all of 1,2,3,4. 

It's kind of funny that I live in a big city full of yoga studios but I haven't tried any of them.  I've done some yoga with D over in Oakland but none in SF.  Anyone have any recommendations for yoga places in SF?  Better yet, anyone else want to join me in learning?

Nice collection of hacked signs

This is good for 10 minutes of laughter.

http://hackedirl.com/

I especially like this one: