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August 23, 2005
Outside Reading
Posted by Derek
A few more links for further reading. . .
Professor Bainbridge wonders about what the Merck verdict says about our jury system. (The quotes he gives from the Wall Street Journal report make me feel like breaking something loud and costly.) There's plenty of comment on the same topic here at Asymmetrical Information as well.
Colby Cosh asks if engineers have become mentally crippled by early exposure to PowerPoint, in light of some disturbing reports from inside NASA. (And an engineer replies that the problem probably comes from the work environment, not the schooling. I don't know whether to be relieved or not. I see an awful lot of the stuff myself, so I hope it isn't taking too great a toll.)
And Medpundit looks back on a Nobel Prize-winning chapter in medicine. But it's not one that a lot of people like to be reminded of. . .
Comments (2)
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1. Giagan on August 24, 2005 10:01 AM writes...
Derek,
Thanks for the link to the Prof. Bainbridge piece. It really gets at my biggest problem with the Vioxx verdict. These jurors made their choice based on any red herrings the plaintiff's lawyer could find, completely forgetting that the question was whether or not Vioxx caused Ernst's death!
The jury was told that they needed to have "the courage to do it", but all they've really done is taken the first step toward potentially crippling the pharmaceutical industry. I guess that takes a kind of courage, if you want to call it that...
Permalink to Comment2. NJ Biologist on August 24, 2005 11:02 AM writes...
PowerPoint is not responsible for shuttle accidents any more than Sybyl is responsible for bad compounds. In both cases, the failure comes from managers not asking questions (and their reports not having answers...).
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