Nomads at last: AT THE Nomad Café in Oakland, California, Tia Katrina Canlas, a law student at the nearby university in Berkeley, places her double Americano next to her mobile phone and iPod, opens her MacBook laptop computer and logs on to the café’s wireless internet connection to study for her class on the legal treatment of sexual orientation. She is a regular here but doesn’t usually bring cash, so her credit-card statement reads “Nomad, Nomad, Nomad, Nomad”. That says it all, she thinks. Permanently connected, she communicates by text, photo, video or voice throughout the day with her friends and family, and does her “work stuff” at the same time. She roams around town, but often alights at oases that cater to nomads. [Economist]
Autopsy, a new era: Autopsies were once standard procedure in U.S. hospitals. A few decades ago, doctors would recommend one even when the cause of death seemed certain, because it allowed them to gauge the effects of treatments and find out to what degree a disease had progressed, says Dr. Harry Bonnell, a fellow of the American Society for Clinical Pathology and a pathologist in private practice in San Diego. But today, fewer than one in 10 deaths in the U.S. is followed by an autopsy, in part because of its high cost (which Medicare and most insurance companies won’t cover) and because many doctors believe — erroneously — that modern imaging techniques such as the MRI have rendered the autopsy obsolete. [LA Times]
Syria tunes in the West on Madina FM: Popular ‘Good Morning Syria’ host Honey Sayed and others on the airwaves are mixing thumping music and racy U.S.-style talk shows, providing a rare cultural bridge in the Arab world. [LA Times]
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