Happy Friday!
Framing Health Care Debate as Battle of the Sexes (NPR)
Though women in America are, on average, poorer than men and receive less health coverage than men, they are still charged exorbitantly higher premiums than men for most of their child bearing & rearing years. Women are being ripped off in the insurance market even when their plans explicitly exclude maternity coverage. Even if health care for women costs more during child bearing & rearing years, men and women should shoulder that cost equally. After all, women don’t make babies by themselves.
Men should expect to pay for maternity coverage they will never use for two reasons:
1. Chances are, their wife or girlfriend or random hook-up will need to use it.
2. ‘Shared risk’ is the definition of insurance. Everybody pays into the pool knowing full well that there is a chance they will never take out of it. Should women not have to subsidize with their premiums men’s viagra prescriptions? Prostate cancer treatments? Penile implants? Should my premiums not be used to subsidize the treatment of somebody with cancer just because I might never get cancer? That is the DEFINITION OF INSURANCE. If it was a pay for service system, it wouldn’t be called insurance.
Roman Polanski’s entry in Dickipedia
Where Polanski is deftly identified as “One of the most talented rapists of all time.”
In the US, Hope for Victims of Genital Mutilation (Newsweek)
Sometimes, I just want to put all the world’s men on a ship and send it out to space.
Somali Pirates Seize Chinese Ship (NY Times)
On a prior attempt by Somali pirates to take down a Chinese ship, the crew members were able to successfully fight off the pirates with homemade Molotov cocktails.
Never back down!
Business Etiquette You Should Know (Exelle)
- Shiyuan
Originally posted at My Dad is a Fob
Submitter says: “My dad used the music software we got him for Christmas to make a rap about my mom and her friends playing Mahjong. The music video is set in our family living room.”
The music, the sweaters, the quiet clinking of the Mahjong tiles – it’s like I’m in my living room. Notice that one of the ladies is wearing a Taiwanese flag scarf. Had to repost this gem.
- Shiyuan
Picture scooped from Day in Pictures, San Francisco Chronicle
Nepalese K-9 police officer Padam Gurung and colleague put their hands and paws together to worship at the Tihar festival in Katmandu.
I’m hoping against hope that this picture isn’t doctored because it is so freaking cool. If any of you have pets of your own, you will know how unspeakably hard it is to get them to pose for any pictures, ever. It’s practically a law of nature – a pet’s moment of extreme cuteness ends right before you can manage to get your camera out.
Not my cats, of course. They’re always cute.
Asian pets are so smart, y’all.
- Shiyuan
More is Less and Somebody Else’s Money, the recent two-part series on health care by This American Life does a fantastic job of unseating what has been the primary assumption driving the health care debate – that the rising cost of goods & services, which everybody agrees is untenable, is caused by the unchecked greed of America’s big insurance companies.
This is an assumption held by President Obama, a major voice in the debate over health care reform, who accused the insurance companies last week of wanting to maintain the statuo quo system, even as it becomes apparent that costs will continue to skyrocket.
President Obama’s argument – an argument that’s shared by much of the left – is that if left to their own devices, insurance companies will continue to raise premiums and limit coverage, because that is how they make their money. Since a few major insurance companies currently have a lock on the insurance market, the obvious solution is to introduce smaller, more cost-efficient insurers, who can keep the big companies in check. That’s the main force behind the public option – we think that it will keep costs down & big insurance companies honest by acting as good ole’ fashioned competition.
As Ira Glass and his awesome team of super sleuths have discovered, the real story is far more complicated.
Everybody has something about themselves that they find to be fatally wrong. (Obviously this is more self-perception than any measure of reality). For me, it’s an oily t-zone. (That’s the triangular area around the forehead and nose that is most prone to shine.)
Although it’s been hardwired into my brain that shine is bad, I’m recently learning that I was wrong and misinformed.
It wasn’t until my 500th visit to Sephora did I learn from a kind, Asian skin care consultant that my skin’s production of oil is good. YES, SHINE IS GOOD.
Why is Shine Good?
1. Oil PROTECTS Your Skin
Your body secretes oil as a protective barrier against bacteria and UV rays. Also, oil helps your skin to retain moisture and maintain a youthful glow. (That’s the good kind of glow.)
Unfortunately, the collusion of modern cosmetology and sanitized, artificial ways of living has resulted in a massive push to strip oil from our skin. Wrong! Don’t do it. Using soap, astringent toner, and mattifiers STRIPS your skin of its natural oil. Consequently, your skin will overcompensate by producing MORE OIL. This is where the vicious cycle begins.
