Herald Sun (earlier version, since updated):

SAM the koala, who became a worldwide symbol of hope in the aftermath of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, has died.

She [had been] expected to undergo surgery today to treat cysts as a result of urogenital chlamydiosis, a life-threatening disease that affects 50% of the koala population...

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 20:30:13 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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His brother’s (successful) surgery prompted Steven Den Beste to medidate on an engineering solution to a fatal operating-room error, and the ever-present danger of Murphy’s law.

About two years ago, I wrote about fatal post-op cross-connection mistakes, and how at the time the Food & Drug Administration was pushing for more “education” as a solution, instead of working to make them mechanically impossible.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 14:37:46 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 22:26:24 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Veeshir:

The part that makes this The Funniest End of Civilization Ever is that the GOP are all sitting there with their thumbs up their asses... instead of actually advocating conservative policies.

...I saw some GOP CongressTool on Cavuto the other day, Cavuto asked, “Well, what do you want to do?” and the answer was a list of “Here’s our vision of skittle-shitting unicorns” and when Cavuto asked, “How are you going to get them to do that?” the answer was, “Oh, we have plan, don’t you worry about that.”

And he would not explain how he’s going to insure all Americans without raising taxes or screwing it all up.

They've already decided the gov’t is going to take over healthcare, now they’re just haggling over the price.

The GOP absolutely does not understand that tea partiers are angry that the gov’t is taking over healthcare, not how much they’re taking over.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:38:07 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Posted by: Old Grouch in Meta at 14:33:47 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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...this morning!

(Flood geeks can waste a bunch of time playing with the hydrology stuff that lives here.)

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 19:19:01 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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“The real purpose of hate-crime laws is to reassure politically significant groups... that someone cares about them and takes their fears seriously.  That’s nice.  It does not change the fact, though, that what’s being punished is thought or speech.” - Richard Cohen

Via: Gabe at Ace

Posted by: Old Grouch in Clipfile at 15:30:00 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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50 posts in July (topped off with a gratuitous cat picture), up 2 from June. 

August, 2008 was the year’s nadir, with only 29 posts.  Surely I can do better this time around!
 
The July linklist will appear (below the break) shortly...

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