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Rose Madeline Mula writes: When people learn that I write, they immediately assume I've got it made. Look at J. K. Rowling, they think. Didn't she make a gazillion bucks (or in her case pounds) writing about that nerdy little wizard, Harry Potter? True. And my career does bear a striking resemblance to JK's, up to a point — the point where she went from being a struggling unknown, to cashing her first staggering royalty check. I'd be happy with a tiny percentage of her success. But how to achieve it? more »

Adrienne G. Cannon writes: My eye is a little blurry and aches but I can already detect a change in the perception of my "new" eye. It is a bit disconcerting at first but the colors adjust themselves as the day progresses. And there is a depth of field I perceive when I look at objects. The highlights seem sharper and the shadows are deeper. I know there will be more changes, more adjustments, and more delights as I discover my new 20/20 distance vision and savor the clarity permitted by my new lens. more »

In 2010, the Office of Inspector General for Health and Human Services said that bad hospital care contributed to the deaths of 180,000 patients in Medicare alone in a given year. Now comes a study in the current issue of the Journal of Patient Safety that says the numbers may be much higher — between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death, the study says. more »

Val Castronovo writes: Since its founding in 2010, Pinterest, the photo-sharing site that has become the third most popular social network after Facebook and Twitter, has been enthusiastically embraced by art museums across the country. A virtual bulletin board, Pinterest allows users — more than 70 million now — to set up “boards” to which they “pin” images of favorite things — in this case, artworks and artifacts culled from museum collections and archives. more »