In SF last year, I found Uber Black to be about 10% more expensive than regular cabs. They also let you book regular cabs for a small fee (about $2). Services vary by location, of course.

The premium is small (~10%) for Uber Black and nonexistent for UberX. If you only take short rides, the minimum charges would get you, but the improvement in the experience is well worth it to me.

Can't speak to the early days of Uber, but I took it in SF last year and the surge pricing was very much apparent before you booked the ride. You can even get estimates prior to booking. Never went over the high end of the estimate. Drivers all seemed happy with the service as well - we asked. And they mostly spoke flawless English. That was Uber Black, the higher tier of service, but it ended up costing maybe 10% more than a regular cab on average. You did pay more at rush hour, but on the other hand, you got a car in ten minutes instead of waiting for an hour at a taxi stand.

How can you be sure that the taxi company (or any other business you patronize) properly pays its employees and taxes? You can't.

If you're worried about skills, require a commercial driver's license. Problem solved.

No, we don't. Most medical schools do feature some form of the Hippocratic Oath as part of either their induction or graduation ceremonies, but it's purely symbolic. Hospitals have certain legal requirements to treat patients who show up, and members of the medical staff of that hospital may be required to treat those patients as long as they want to retain privileges to treat patients at that hospital, but there is no general obligation to treat anyone who shows up at your clinic door.

This is a terrible summary anyway. They are moving production from a twice-a-day formulation to a once-a-day formulation, because the patent on the latter has a little more life on it. Nothing is stopping doctors from prescribing the older formulation. It's just that generic drug makers can't start making the extended release (XR) form yet, and so any prescription for the XR will be filled with the brand name rather than a generic.

The idea that healthcare isn't a business is crazy. Even purely socialized medicine like the VA or the NHS has to be a responsible steward of the public's money.

You could pretend to be in your late thirties - I am,and remember when Laugh-In was shown on some network in reruns (Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite, maybe).

There are - and have long been - car services that you can hire, for substantially less than the cost of a taxi, to drive you around. They're licensed, regulated, and insured, but they are not allowed to simply be hailed off the street. Only taxis can do that.

Uber Black and Uber SUV are based on that loophole - technically, you are requesting a car service to transport you from A to B, and the car service is then dispatching a vehicle to perform that service. It's perfectly legal to do if you make a phone call, but then you have the headaches of dispatching, seeing where all your cars are, getting the rider to identify where they are located accurately (often in an unfamiliar city), etc. Uber automates that process using smartphones.

If you want to complain about UberX, then by all means do so. It's definitely questionable activity. But the original service is substantially better than taxis for little or no price premium. Last time I was in SF, I took a taxi from the airport to my hotel. I took Uber Black back. For $5 more, I got to ride in a comfortable, well-maintained, clean vehicle driven by someone who spoke flawless English.

Show them the destination on your smartphone app. They'll know you're watching it. Since I started doing this, no more sightseeing.

Murdoch's key insight (and Ted Turner's, for that matter) was that no matter what "campaign finance reform" laws are passed, there is one type of corporation that will always be allowed to put out its views unobstructed: a media corporation. Every time you see a news article supporting "CFR" or railing against Citizens United, remember that they're not opposed to corporate political speech - they just want a monopoly on it.

Actually, it's pretty easy to avoid carbs. When eating in, don't buy them. When eating out, ask for broccoli or asparagus as your side.

Actually, anyone who favors this would tell you the bagel was the worst thing to eat.

But none of that glucose has to come from your diet. The liver is a marvelously capable organ.

Been in ketosis for two and a half years. My mental function is far sharper in ketosis than out of it. This isn't the only way, but it's definitely not harmful.

Isoflurane doesn't have paralytic qualities. It stops you from moving by preventing neurons from firing (though we're not exactly sure how).

Not really. Barring unusual circumstances, the mainstay of general anesthesia is a gas, and has been since the introduction of modern anesthesia in the 1800s. Paralytics, pain medications, and amnestic agents are all used, but they aren't the star of the show.

Chloroform was introduced into anesthesia after ether. It has a much more pleasant smell, but is also substantially more likely to depress cardiac function.

Americans tended to use ether (which is a very good, very cheap, and very safe anesthetic, as long as you don't mind that it's highly flammable, tends to form explosive peroxides when stored for too long, and takes forever to wake up from), while the British preferred chloroform. Because ether is so safe, anesthesia duties were often delegated to a nurse in the US. This is why the US has nurse anesthetists and the UK doesn't.