By Rip Rowan on
9/15/2009 10:48 AM
An interesting concept - author with a bad shoulder travels to 10 countries seeking various solutions, then writes about his experiences with various forms of health care in each country.
Something leapt out at me. Although the book treats this as tangential, I found it strikingly salient:
In an Ayurvedic hospital in India, a regimen of meditation, rice, lentils and massage paid for entirely out of pocket, $42.85 per night, led to “obvious improvement in my frozen joint,” Mr. Reid writes, adding, “To this day, I don’t know why it happened.”
Well there you go. Arrogant Western medicine does, in fact, have an awful lot to learn from Eastern. In most of the countries he visited, surgery and steroid injections are de rigeur. He had to practically travel to the Third World to learn that an inexpensive and risk-free solution was possible.
For over a decade I struggled with a variety of back problems, rejecting the expensive and very risky surgery for so-called "physical therapy" all based in the best Western science has to offer. A couple months of hatha yoga (Bikram yoga, to be exact) and my back and other joints are as healthy as they were at age 18.
Go figure. Maybe after a thousand years, those crafty Indians actually figured something out after all.
I think the author - and the NYT article - miss the whole point. The NYT writer comments that "the comparative merits of different orthopedic philosophies are secondary here." Not so fast, Abby. I don't think it's secondary at all.
Perhaps if Western medicine comprehended - and Western insurance covered - valid and often superior forms of treatment like hatha yoga, the United States wouldn't be in a health care "crisis".
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By Rip Rowan on
8/25/2009 5:28 AM
Welcome address to freshman parents at Boston Conservatory, given by Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at Boston Conservatory:
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By Rip Rowan on
8/17/2009 5:10 AM
I have a solution to the purported "crisis" in health care. Here goes:
- We will select one insurance company which we will allow to gain a monopoly over the entire health care system.
- We will give that insurance company the right to set whatever premiums it wishes.
- We will entitle that insurance company with the power to collect premiums by force.
- We will allow that insurance company to allocate health care resources however it sees fit, to whomever it deems most worthy of services.
Oh, wait. That's already been proposed.
Sorry, my bad.
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By Rip Rowan on
8/4/2009 2:32 AM
I know the rest of the world has moved on, but I thought I might just summarize the whole Gates / Crowley issue.
Clearly, institutionalized racism is still alive and well when an elite black professor at the nation's most respected college, living in a city with a black mayor, in a state with a black governor, in a country with a black President can't pop off at a white cop without getting arrested.
Hopefully, we can all learn something from this.
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By Rip Rowan on
7/31/2009 10:41 AM
Does anyone see anything a little wrong in this picture?
- The federal government, using our money, takes a 60% stake in GM, one of the world's largest auto companies.
- Then, the federal government, using our money, pays buyers up to $4500 to destroy their used car (removing it from the market and driving up the prices for used cars) provided the buyer replaces the destroyed car with a new car. Possibly a GM model.
Am I the only one?
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By Rip Rowan on
4/8/2009 4:47 PM
As the Editor-in-Chief for ProRec, I get a lot of music-industry spam. Most of it I disregard. This is why:
Eco-tainer Alyssa Anjelica James put a fresh spin on the green movement with the release of her first full-length album entitled "within.” Tree-huggers and environment scoffers alike are impressed with her smooth style and soulful lyrics. More than just a performer with a cause, Alyssa has dedicated her support to numerous environmental causes including, “Tree-People,” and “Heart-Song.” As a pioneer of the “eco-tainment” movement, Alyssa hopes to use her talents and experience to entertain and inspire her audiences to “go green.”
Eco-tainment?
I am speechless.
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By Rip Rowan on
4/5/2009 5:07 AM
The keyword to watch for now is #doubledip. Because with the recent uptick in the economy, the investing world is going to start looking for signs of a double-dip recession.
There's every reason to predict another dip:
- Profit taking from the current rally causes the market to drop again, possibly below 6500
- Continued bad news in unemployment
- Continued bad news in housing
- Continued falloff in GDP
- Failing auto companies
The list goes on. Housing and auto sales are likely to have a double-dip feel to them as well. Housing and auto sales have fallen far below their historical averages, so we should expect them to pick up, at least briefly. But we shouldn't expect strength in either sector as long as unemployment and overall GDP are falling. That means a brief (1-2 quarter) uptick followed by another drop.
I'm expecting the current rally to end very soon as profit-takers force the market downward. I don't think we've seen the bottom yet.
The real question is: what is going to happen with the US auto manufacturers? The government has shown little interest in helping out - about $12B in loans (compared to the trillions given to the financial sector). The auto executives have gotten a bum rap. Millions of jobs are at stake. Working class jobs. Will these be saved?
If not, beware.
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By Rip Rowan on
3/22/2009 7:02 AM
 Remember "Change You Can Believe In?"
Remember how we were going to do away with earmarks? Toss out the lobbyists? Get away from old-school politics-as-usual?
"Hope" - remember? Isn't that why you voted for Obama?
Still feel that way?
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By Rip Rowan on
3/22/2009 6:19 AM
The recently passed "Spendulus" package has left me totally aghast. I'm pretty (small-L) libertarian, so when I hear of the federal government taking on this kind of authority and power I naturally pucker up pretty tight. A lot of my friends - Obama supporters from the go - are big supporters of the plan. They see good intentions everywhere. Helping the poor with increased Medicaid funding. Helping the middle class with more tax rebates. Building roads and bridges. Motherhood. Apple pie. Who can argue with that?
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By Rip Rowan on
3/2/2009 8:55 AM
Are we living in a new Depression era?
A few years ago I was working in the IT shop of a national US homebuilder. Even though the world was chanting "there is no housing bubble" it seemed obvious to me that we were in a major housing bubble. This company couldn't build houses fast enough. Growth was astronomical. Folks, this is housing we're talking about. If housing typically grows at a rate of 2% a year, and you see it growing at 20%+ for several years, you can bet your sweet bippy it's a bubble.
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By Rip Rowan on
12/11/2008 4:09 AM
A new Senate report is poised to present a major challenge to the dogma of global warming. The preview, made available today, provides some tasty hints as to what the full report will contain. Here’s my favorite quote: “Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly….As a scientist I remain skeptical.” - Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in meteorology and formerly of NASA who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called “among the most preeminent scientists of the last 100 years.” My favorite part of the quote: “Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly.” The unspoken implication is deafening.
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By Rip Rowan on
12/10/2008 3:36 PM
Is global warming dead?
Last March, NASA reported the oceans have been cooling for the last five years. Sea level has stopped rising, and Northern Hemisphere cyclone and hurricane activity is at a 24-year low.
Environmental extremists and global warming alarmists are in denial and running for cover. Their rationale for continuing a lost cause is that weather events in the short term are not necessarily related to long-term climatic trends. But these are the same people who screamed at us each year that ordinary weather events such as high temperatures or hurricanes were undeniable evidence of imminent doom.
I wonder how long it will be before this guy gets shot?
To the extent global warming was ever valid, it is now officially over. It is time to file this theory in the dustbin of history, next to Aristotelean physics, Neptunism, the geocentric universe, phlogiston, and a plethora of other incorrect scientific theories, all of which had vocal and dogmatic supporters who cited incontrovertible evidence.
Couldn’t agree more.
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By Rip Rowan on
12/9/2008 3:42 AM
 I’m not particularly interested in reviewing Malcolm Gladwell’s latest pop-sociology treatise, Outliers. Who needs another review when such outstanding writers as Stephen Kotkin, Michiko Kakutani, and our buddy Joel Spolsky have all weighed in?
Instead, I thought I might critique the critics.
In order to critique the critics, however, I will have to at least briefly review the book. So, here goes.
I read Outliers. It was a fun and insightful read. The author’s thesis is that innate talent isn’t sufficient to create success, but instead hard work and good fortune are also required. Gladwell points out and refutes two common misconceptions: that the gifted rise effortlessly to the top, and that if you aren’t the very best and brightest you have no chance of success.
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By Rip Rowan on
10/3/2008 7:10 PM
Last night, Joe Biden said of global warming, “I think it’s clearly man-made,” while his opponent, Sarah Palin, said that she believes that the evidence shows that both human and cyclical changes account for climate change.
So, which one is the scientist, and which is the religious fanatic?
But before I get into the question of climate change orthodoxy, the exchange between the two caused me to reflect on my observations of pollution in Europe. It seems to me that many in this country think that Europe must lead the way in cleaning the planet, and the the US is lagging hopelessly behind.
Hardly.
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