Something is bugging me today

 

 

Credit http://thisisphotobomb.com/

 

I don't know for how long the NFL will allow this video to be posted. Enjoy.

 

 

The guy being creamed is Reggie Bush on his rookie season. He came to the game as the most fantastic player ever and the hype was annoying so I confess enjoyed this a bit more than I should.

 

UPDATE: One of my millions of readers alerted me that if you search for "imma let you finish" there is a web-craze out there about this incident. A nice site is http://kanyegate.tumblr.com/.

 

All from http://roflrazzi.com/

 

 

 

And my favorite:

 

 

Today I received an email from security: a cougar was spotted on the trail behind my building and we should not go there. A couple of immediate observations: (i) it was very sad to see how many people came up with he same jokes about this incident - I will spare you; (ii) this kind of settles the dispute I have with my wife on whether this place is not urban.

 

Security, always concerned, decided to send a dude down to the trailhead. I drove by and he was there, back to the woods, waving people away from the trail. I mean, really? You send a dude to buffer the cougar? And without a red Star Trek shirt? Now *that* sends a message on appreciated the guy is.

What is the difference?

 

Two weeks ago a pair of geniuses decided to shoot an AK-47 in North Seattle, neat I-5. The police was on the scene faster than the reporters, closed the highway and used a patrol airplane equipped with infrared cameras to pin their location and arrested both. Amateur criminals, professional cops.

 

Today I was watching the Brazilian news. The Rio de Janeiro police was rounding up traffic dealers in one of Rio's favelas (typically on top of a hill). The traffic dealers decided to shoot randomly towards the avenue downhill. The police called out the operation and left them alone. Amateur cops, professional criminals.

 

Nice.

Few weeks ago my wife needed medical attention. She was dehydrated, a dangerous thing during late pregnancy.

 

It was not an emergency, so we called her doctor. She instructed us to go to the hospital for IV treatment, just in case. "IV treatment" in her case consisted of two bags of salty water stuck to one of her veins for 2h in an ambulatory room shared with six other patients. It was not as bad as it might sound - the hospital has a luxurious new building with the ambience of a five star hotel.

 

I received an itemized bill from the hospital: $1,800 for 2h of room use, 45 minutes of nurse time, a 20 minute talk to her doctor and two U$10 IV bags. My insurance covered the whole thing without co-pay. My health plan sent me a "benefits notification" letter today. They paid the hospital approximately U$1,000 and the debt was settled.

 

I just cannot see the hospital losing any money by accepting U$800 less than they were willing to charge me. The difference (U$800) is just extra profit they are not realizing. If they were losing money they would just refuse my insurance, but they don't.

 

I watch the health care debate, and something always scare me. People that accept health care as a "for profit" business can't possibly understand capitalism. Government run? I don't know. For profit? Crazy.

 

Price is determined by the value perceived by the customer, not production costs. Unless the customer is suicidal, "health" has infinite value, so setting the price is a matter of solving an integral equation. It is a very simple problem: to maximize return given what the population that can pay. If Bill Gates were willing to use health care services once a week and pay one billion every time, the industry would be better of charging Bill Gates one billion and letting everyone else die. With the current fiduciary rules, any responsible "for profit", publicly traded company would be mandated to put their shareholders interests first and do exactly that.

 

Just like the fire department, policy and justice, health cannot be for profit. Let "insurance" companies sell luxury and better accommodations, but the basic care will only be affordable if there is a not for profit basic service available. Governments around the world indirectly subsidize their companies by taking care of health care costs and retirement costs. Being a fundamentalist about capitalism won't change that, just drive the American economy down, progressively less competitive.

 

Then there is the humanity element of the problem. Is it ok to let people suffer? I am not religious, but I think human life has intrinsic value. I don't care what lifestyle someone adopts, they deserve care. Even if you behave irresponsibly, you deserve care. Even if you sit behind a desk for 60h-80h work weeks without exercise, smoke cigarettes, eats at fast food chains and inhale the exhaust pipe of your SUV/sports car, you still deserve medical care for your cancer. Even if you don't eat protein and drink milk, you still deserve medical care.

 

When that congressman yelled "you lie" to the president, the response that popped into my head was "sure, I am a politician. But you're stupid".

The modern industry is a very precise machine. If you're wondering what the value of your life to the industry is, wonder no more. it was just adjusted sharply up - you are now worth about U$129k of treatment per year. If you cost any more than that the industry would like you to die. The goverment would probably want you alive to justify their bloated costs and unnecessary jobs. Which one do you prefer handling your cancer bill?

 

I think it is ok to make any joke, about anything. It is just that certain things in life are not funny. Conan O'Brian for instance.

 

I stole this joke from someone, I can't remember who. I just recall it was a man and he was - deservedly - burning Al Franken.

 

I like stand-up comedians and I watch lots of stand-up shows on TV. Some are awesome, but when they fall flat they are brutal. After a while it is failry easy to see content from newcomers showing up on more seasoned comedian's shows. I don't know if they buy the material, but Carlos Mencia and Wanda Sykes sure use a lot of recycled material.