I'm based in the UK but grew up in South East Asia.

That's gotta count for a little bit....

This is a brilliant example of how badly brainwashed the general american public is with regards treatment on the NHS here in Britain.

- Maximum legally allowed time to wait in the ER INCLUDING first review by an ER doctor, appropriate first-line imaging and tests AND review by a doctor in the specialty to which the ER doc refers you = 4 hours

That's right - you will be seen, initially investigated (in your case Xrays and some basic blood work) and referred for an opinion from a subspecialist AND given a decision to admit or discharge, all within 4 hours of arrival.

And how much will you be billed at the end of it all?

You won't even see a bill. You walk in, you walk out.

The most paperwork you do is to confirm your name, address and general practitioner at the front desk, as well as a face-to-face triage by an experienced ER nurse.

Your system is broken, and kept in place by a group of conmen who have convinced you that there are boogiemen lurking around the corner of healthcare reform. Much like the North Korean belief that the rest of the world is a starving nuclear wasteland.

You raise an interesting point.

On a slightly different tangent, I've lived without a watch for about 3 years now and find my internal 'timekeeping' to be far more accurate - I can usually guess the time of day to within a quarter hour and this often freaks out people who ask. Fun :)

-Nano.

And interestingly, you could argue that as physical remonstration is used by many species to punish their young, children have well-developed mechanisms of coping with and learning from such punishments.

Compare these to the 'new age' time-out techniques and the like which are based on adult psychology and are probably completely inappropriate for immature minds. Probably far more damaging, but we won't know for another couple of decades or so...

-Nano.

it is a bold move from Microsoft, and it will be interesting to see how the operating system fails

Fixed that for ya'.

-Nano.

My friend still uses his 12" PB on a regular basis.

So much for those 5 upgrades in the meantime...

Let's just directly quote the conclusion of the linked paper (a randomised placebo-controlled trial on 45,000 patients - pretty good evidence in medical terms):

"The use of early beta-blocker therapy in acute MI reduces the risks of reinfarction and ventricular fibrillation, but increases the risk of cardiogenic shock, especially during the first day or so after admission. Consequently, it might generally be prudent to consider starting beta-blocker therapy in hospital only when the haemodynamic condition after MI has stabilised."

In other words, beta-blockers (well, metoprolol) do reduce deaths from some of the problems arising from acute MI, but can raise the risk of death from other problems arising from acute MI.

This doesn't blow beta-blockers out of the water by any means. As a doctor, these side-effects are entirely predictable. It is the last sentence of the conclusion that is the 'art' of medicine rather than the science - using a physician's experience to determine WHEN to introduce certain treatments to a patient.

Unfortunately, there is no way of measuring this 'art' in a scientific way.

You have to understand that the US has a history very different than that of European nations, in that we defined our very existence by fighting for our freedom.

Unlike those darned Frenchies, Poles, Russians, Spaniards, Czechs, Croats, Serbs etc. etc. who have never had to fight for their freedom from an oppressive foreign power?

Your point is invalid. Try again.

It's also a convenient way of throwing up a smokescreen.

Making a lot of hoo-ha about an obviously manipulated photo leads you to believe in their integrity. Which then allows them to slip far more subtly doctored and 'serious' photos through the net.

Now where's my tinfoil hat?