The Armadillo Codes
In which we learn that our health-care system is not prepared to deal with injuries caused by frozen armadillos.
Bureaucracy
They Made Apollo 11 Go Through Customs
Departure from: MOON Arrival at: HONOLULU, HAWAII, U.S.A. Flight No.: APOLLO 11 Cargo: MOON ROCK AND MOON DUST SAMPLES Nothing else to declare, I guess. Except that they had just Walked on the F*#%ing Moon! Probably…
Further Reactions to the Turtle Code Controversy
I want to end this week with one more follow-up on last week’s revelation that the new set of federal insurance billing codes has some real gems in it, the most puzzling to me being the code for “struck by…
Now This: TSA Searches Woman’s Afro
Reportedly, they also scrambled two F-16 fighters to intercept, just out of an abundance of caution.
More on the Risk of Death by Turtle
Yesterday we learned that the new set of medical-insurance codes will include nine for turtle-related injuries, including three for the mysterious category "struck by turtle." Since turtles generally don't get up enough speed on their own to crash into people,…
Injury Code W59.22XA: Struck by Turtle
The Wall Street Journal has an item today noting that a new federal law is about to expand the number of medical-insurance codes dramatically. The codes are used by hospitals and doctors to describe a patient's injury, and apparently the…
TSA Settles With Woman Whose Top Was Pulled Down
I'm glad to see these people finally having to pay someone, but $2,350 is not enough for this. The 24-year-old plaintiff alleged that at the Corpus Christi airport in May 2008, she was selected for an enhanced pat-down, sufficiently enhanced…
The HAZCOM Song
Those of you who work with the rules governing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's "Hazard Communication Standard" (not to be confused with the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded "Homeland Security Advisory System," which has at long last been ditched) will…
Offices and What Not to Do in Them
The first office I’m going to mention is my new one. We have just moved to a new building in San Francisco, and these offices are so much better than our old ones (leased just before the dot-com crash in…
Insurer Sues FBI for Crashing Ferrari
I guess in this case FBI stands for "Ferris Bueller Imitators." According to the Detroit News, a Michigan insurance company has sued the FBI and the Department of Justice alleging that one of its agents totaled a $750,000 Ferrari during what…