Keira Knightley v. Breast Enhancement

She refuses to allow studio execs to digitally enlarge her breasts in upcoming promos - an admirable stand.

McCain Goes Negative.

We knew it was coming, especially when Steve Schmidt joined the McCain camp. But the reasonably civil, rational debate that the likes of Andrew Sullivan and Matthew Yglesias expected has now been thrown to the curb, at least by the Republicans, in favor of the new highly negative ads produced by the McCain folks. It's an act of desperation for a stale, bungling campaign that has failed to generate any enthusiasm at any level, whether it be from small donors, the blogosphere, live audiences, the participants in Web 2.0 (McCain has 8,704 subscribers on his YouTube channel; Obama has 65,248- even Ron Paul has 53,326 subcribers!), or the voting public - see the trend at Pollster.com's National Poll of Polls. The new ads are, at best, juvenile indeed:




There are roughly 98 days left until the election. It's disappointing to think that these two ads may only be the beginning.

Recent Addition to Reading List

Lolita, Vladimir Nobokov

So.....

I'm done moving.

An update:

Finished:
Hunting for Hope, Scott Russell Sanders
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig
True at First Light, Ernest Hemingway
A Man Without A Country, Kurt Vonnegut
The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship, Charles Bukowski
Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality, Dr. Pauline Chen
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death, Jean-Dominique Bauby
How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

In Progress:
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, Atul Gawande
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, Atul Gawande
Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Summer Reading List (Evolving)

Here's what I have so far (bolded titles have been finished):

Hunting for Hope, Scott Russell Sanders - written by my favorite professor at IU

On the Road, Jack Kerouac - a classic, and the timing feels right

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, Robert M. Pirsig - the subject matter intrigued me

True at First Light, Ernest Hemingway - it's Hemingway. I can't go wrong.

A Man Without A Country, Kurt Vonnegut - it's Vonnegut. I can't go wrong.

The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship, Charles Bukowski - a different strain of Bukowski

Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond - recommended by an IU professor in order to 'round out any quality liberal arts education'

A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson - recommended by same professor that recommended Diamond, for the same reason

Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut - I've never read it, for some reason

Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality, Dr. Pauline Chen - on the Pritzker reading list, and something I've been interested in for some time now

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, Atul Gawande - another quality book recommended by the Pritzker folks

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, Atul Gawande - Pritzker, again

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death, Jean-Dominique Bauby - Pritzker, again, and I've heard good things

How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman - Pritzker, again.

Choke, Chuck Palahniuk - written by Fight Club author. Involves a dropout med student. Interested?

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Pritzker, again. Good things, again.

Finish the Harry Potter series

The list will evolve as I finish some of these works, I'm sure. There's also quite a few of books from the Pritzker recommended reads list - I'm partially following the list for two reasons: I've never been a fan of medically-oriented TV shows (Scrubs, ER, etc.). This is primarily because I don't watch TV all that much and secondly because I find other things more worthwhile. The second reason is that my exposure to medical literature is limited and doesn't extend far beyond Michael Crichton, sadly. So I hope to resolve that situation.

Medical Specialties

It's difficult to keep an open mind regarding one's future when a financial aid information sheet asks:

"Name of medical specialties under consideration:

Specialty #1)
Specialty #2)
Specialty #3)"

That question, along with, "Are you considering primary care as a specialty?", is geared toward third years, or at least one would think. But it lends a sense of immediacy to my summer.