The British epidemiologist Jeremy N. Morris died recently. In the 1940s and 1950s, Morris did some of the first empirical research that showed how important it is, health-wise, to have a job that involves some physical activity. A 1949 study compared the health of the drivers of London’s double-decker buses with that of the conductors.

“And there was a striking difference in the heart-attack rate. The drivers of these double-decker buses had substantially more, age for…

The more you ignore health care reform, the closer it gets to happening. This weekend, the big important bill passed by a very narrow margin in the House of Representatives. Now that big important bill has moved into the Senate, where it and two other bills of equal bigness and importance will have their details hammered out before merging into one super bill—if Joe Lieberman can’t filibuster it to the end of time, that is.

So far,…

So, you’ve got your big, world-changing idea. You’re up and running, it’s going well, and now you’re looking to take things to the next level. Whether that means hiring staff, boosting your technological capabilities, or expanding geographically, you’re going to need money. One way to get it is through social venture capital.

While there are many different social venture firms, each with its own philosophy and process, leaders have begun to emerge within the nascent space.…

The tragedy at Fort Hood casts a dark, wide shadow, and it behooves us—as a nation, as individuals, and as global citizens—to ponder the plight of those who are afflicted by violence, whether on American soil or anywhere in the world. But keep in mind that the shadows will pass, and that even in death there is the opportunity for learning. To see what we learned this week, head here.

More than 40 percent of Obama’s top fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, according to a new report by USA Today.

Forty-four years in the making: the world’s first historical thesaurus.

Ever wonder how people really talked in the 1800s, or 1500s, or earlier?

You can stop building the time machine. Such questions are now easier to answer than ever before, with the publication—after 44 years of work—of the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. At almost 4,000 pages and about 800,000 meanings, this mind-boggling reference work is the biggest thesaurus ever and the world’s first historical…

The House is voting on its health care reform bill tomorrow. Exciting! There’s a summary of the bill and rules for the vote here. Will Americans be able to afford insurance? Will our country go bankrupt? Are we on a slippery slope to socialism? If you want to get in a last-minute call to your representatives to let them know what you think, you can do that here. Once the House votes, it’s the Sentate’s turn.

UPDATE: The…

Apparently, it would look just like this. Tom Baker (via NotCot) has produced a stunning set of photographs of a car-free Los Angeles. It’s a tough concept to imagine, but it sure is a beautiful one to behold. Photoshopped or not, these images fill me with a bizarrely wonderful feeling. Though they do make me realize just how much asphalt there is in this city.

Thanks, Amrit.

There’s a post on Kottke today with the headline “I don’t read books anymore” that has me thinking. As recently as two years ago, I was reading between 15 and 20 books a year, most of them novels—and that was in addition to my magazine and blog roll. This year, I haven’t finished reading a single novel. I made it about 400 pages into Infinite Jest, and was absolutely loving it, but I put it…

It’s tax policy time! The Homebuyer Tax Credit (official site here here) gives $8,000 of taxpayers’ money to people buying new homes. It was about to expire, but Congress just signed off on an extension through April. Everyone seems to think this was a big mistake.

Ezra Klein (speaking in the third person) says it’s pointless because most people who are buying homes aren’t moved to do it by a paltry $8,000:

Like a lot of renters, Klein took…