5-14-16 Hodgepodge

The FDA Can't Stop 'Em All

And that's a good thing.

Via Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine, I have learned of a father who fashioned a home-made insulin pump for his diabetic son:

Third-grader Andrew Calabrese carries his backpack everywhere he goes at his San Diego-area school. His backpack isn't just filled with books, it is carrying his robotic pancreas.

The device, long considered the Holy Grail of Type 1 diabetes technology, wasn't constructed by a medical-device company. It hasn't been approved by regulators.

It was put together by his father...

I have noted before that I think the FDA, which routinely keeps new drugs from sick patients, causes the prices of tried-and-true drugs to skyrocket, and keeps desperate patients from trying novel therapies, ought to be abolished. I won't belabor that point further, except to note that its approval process can take years and costs millions -- and probably does nothing to shield drug and device makers from lawsuits. Remember this as an example when reading the Weiner piece, linked below, about why gold prices aren't more tightly linked with inflation.

Weekend Reading

"The need for tidiness and organization is often a need for control, and this is not necessarily a bad thing." -- Michael Hurd, in "Myths and Truths About OCD" at The Delaware Wave

"Based on my experience over the years, I have isolated four mistaken assumptions that an adversarial person makes in his or her interactions with others..." -- Michael Hurd, in "The Adversarial Mentality" at The Delaware Coast Press

"If you truly wish to make America great again, Mr. Trump, you must do so by making America economically free." -- Michael Hurd, in "Open Letter to Trump" at Newsmax

"Regulation, taxation, and litigation drive up price." -- Keith Weiner, in "Should The Gold Price Keep Up With Inflation?" at SNB & CHF

Mr. Rose is perhaps best known as the journalist at Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, who commissioned and published twelve cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad." -- Elan Journo, in "Flemming Rose Awarded Prize for Advancing Liberty" at The Times of Israel

"The central banks have created a monster, a Frankenstein that is now ravaging the economy and especially those who depend on fixed income." -- Keith Weiner, in "Arizona Governor Ducey Vetoes Gold" at SNB & CHF

Jarring Results in No-Tip Test

The New York Times reports that an experiment in eliminating tips being conducted by Joe's Crab Shack hasn't been going so well:

In one closely watched case, Joe's Crab Shack has decided to revert to accepting tips at most of its trial locations, six months after announcing that it would become the nation's first major restaurant chain to test a no-tipping policy at 18 locations.

...

The number of customers at the no-tip locations dropped 8 percent to 10 percent on average, he said.

I am no fan of tipping, but abide by the practice. That said, the cons of tipping given by the Times are silly. I am against the whole package deal of the so-called "living wage:" I think the government should protect the right of adults to contract. And the math. Really? How hard is it to move a decimal point (to get ten percent) and double that (for twenty) or add half again (for fifteen)?

-- CAV

Updates

5-17-16: Added missing part of teaser quote from Journo piece.