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	<title>Wheat-dogg&#039;s World &#187; UK</title>
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		<title>Physics quiz: What is Stephen Hawking&#8217;s nationality?</title>
		<link>http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2009/08/11/physics-quiz-what-is-stephen-hawkings-nationality/</link>
		<comments>http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2009/08/11/physics-quiz-what-is-stephen-hawkings-nationality/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:53:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>eljefe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Physics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random rants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cambridge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Stephen Hawking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[(a) ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>(a) United States<br />
(b) United Kingdom<br />
(c) Manchester United<br />
(d) United Arab Emirates</p>
<p>You have 2 minutes.</p>
<p>{Cue Jeopardy thinking jingle}</p>
<p>The answer is B! Author and theoretical physicist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking">Hawking</a> was born in Oxford, England, 67 years ago and is currently the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucasian_Professor_of_Mathematics">Lucasian Professor of Mathematics</a> at the University of Cambridge, which at last report was still located where it has been for the last 800 years, in England.</p>
<p><strong>Reading comprehension quiz:</strong><br />
Now read this excerpt from a recent (fubar) editorial from the <em><a href="http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=333933006516877">Investor&#8217;s Business Daily</a></em>, and identify the logical fallacy. You have 5 minutes.</p>
<p><code><br />
<blockquote>The U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) basically figures out who deserves treatment by using a cost-utility analysis based on the "quality adjusted life year."<br />
<br />
One year in perfect health gets you one point. Deductions are taken for blindness, for being in a wheelchair and so on.<br />
<br />
The more points you have, the more your life is considered worth saving, and the likelier you are to get care.<br />
<br />
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless. </p></blockquote>
<p></code></p>
<p>Discuss your answers among yourselves for the remainder of class.</p>
<p>Words fail me.<br />
<em><br />
[ADDENDUM: IBD has since corrected its error, by deleting the graf mentioning Hawking.]</p>
<p>[ADDENDUM 2: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/12/birthers-stephen-hawking-paul-rowen">The <em>Guardian</em>&#8216;s Hugh Muir</a> asked Hawking about UK&#8217;s National Health System, the one that the IBD says would have left Hawking to die decades ago. Hawking&#8217;s reply was </p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t be here today if it were not for the NHS,&#8221; he told us. &#8220;I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Muir should have gone to say that, if Hawking were a US citizen covered by a private health insurance, he would still be shelling out tens of thousands of dollars annually for the specialized, ongoing care needed for his motor neuron disease.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t believe <del datetime="2009-08-12T16:40:33+00:00">everything</del> anything the Republicans say about health care reform.<br />
</em></p>
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