Hi. I'm Newley Purnell. I cover technology and business for The Wall Street Journal, based in Hong Kong. I use this site to share my stories and often blog about the books I'm reading, tech trends, sports, travel, and our dog Ginger. For updates, get my weekly email newsletter.
There was a beautiful sunset here in DC tonight. I snapped some pics of it from our second-story balcony. I like ’em a lot. Note that I haven’t altered the colors in any of these. Beautiful, if I do say so myself. A couple of my favorites:
And a this one, of the scene as reflected in my window:
If you enjoyed the modest swimwear I mentioned a while back, you’re in for some more guffaws — Saudi Islamofascist style!
If there were ever a reason that we simply must win the war on terror global struggle against religious extremism, it is this.
(Via MeFi.)
Don’t miss Malcolm Gladwell’s latest New Yorker article, “The Moral-Hazard Myth: The bad idea behind our failed health-care system.”
The subject is a tangled one, and Gladwell does a good job of outlining the economic and philosophical reasons for our health care system’s sorry state. Though I find this passage a bit reductive:
People without health insurance have bad teeth because, if you’re paying for everything out of your own pocket, going to the dentist for a checkup seems like a luxury. It isn’t, of course. The loss of teeth makes eating fresh fruits and vegetables difficult, and a diet heavy in soft, processed foods exacerbates more serious health problems, like diabetes. The pain of tooth decay leads many people to use alcohol as a salve. And those struggling to get ahead in the job market quickly find that the unsightliness of bad teeth, and the self-consciousness that results, can become a major barrier. If your teeth are bad, you’re not going to get a job as a receptionist, say, or a cashier. You’re going to be put in the back somewhere, far from the public eye.
Is it really that simple?
Also, Gladwell plainly dismisses the idea of moral hazard — he says people don’t make needless trips to the doctor when they’ve got health insurance, which is one of the arguments made by opponents of universal health care.
I have this observation, though, after living in Taiwan, a country with universal care: people there go to the doctor a lot (at least compared to Americans). As in, whenever they have a cold or cough or the most minor of ailments.* Of course, as Gladwell also says, people going to the doctor a lot isn’t necessarily a bad thing: when people seek medical care more often, they tend to nip niggling ailments in the bud before they become more serious — and this saves health care system funds in the long-term.
*The Taiwanese affection for health care services might stem from reasons other than moral hazard (or lack thereof). For example, I wonder if the Chinese belief in traditional medicines (like accupuncture and herbal remedies) used to treat everyday aches and pains may translate to more frequent use of Westernized medical treatment.
UPDATE: Zimran Ahmed has some interesting commentary on Gladwell’s article over at Winterspeak. And the fine folks at MargRev are also discussing the piece.
…Write a Novel in 100 Days or Less.
RIP, Six Feet Under. Just watched the series finale. Pretty powerful. I won’t supply any spoilers, but I will say this: the episode certainly provided closure. Though I missed most of the last two seasons, it was one of the few shows I’ve ever watched regularly. I will miss it.
For a post-mortem on tonight’s finale, keep an eye on the official SFU bulletin boards.
Thanks to an unexpected mention on linkfilter, I’ve been getting a lot of traffic to my buddy CD’s hilarious story about an emergency room trip due to a run-in with a bunch of jalpeno peppers. If you missed the tale when I first related it, be sure to give it a read.
I knew that headline would get your attention.
Moleskine porn isn’t what you’re thinking it is. Moleskines aren’t animals or weirdo fetishists. They’re notebooks. (And good ones at that; I own a couple myself.)
For the best in Moleskine minutia, check this site out. And this one. This one’s pretty good for pics, too.
But my favorite moleskine site is micronomicon.com, which gives the Codex Seraphinianus a run for its money; the author also has a cool travel blog. (Micronomicon link via DY.com.)
The details, from the BBC:
Ecuador’s state oil company says it is suspending crude oil exports following five days of protests in two provinces that have slashed production.
Hundreds of demonstrators in Sucumbios and Orellana have occupied oil installations and airports.
What it all boils down to:
Not all sections of Ecuadoran society have benefited equally from oil revenues.
The traditionally dominant Spanish-descended elite gained far more than the indigenous peoples, who make up a large proportion of those who live in poverty.
For all the criticism that Wal-Mart receives for its low wages and minimal health benefits, the retail giant says more than 11,000 people in the Bay Area are clamoring to get a job at its new Oakland store.
The country’s largest employer plans to welcome customers into its 148, 000-square-foot store on Edgewater Drive next Wednesday, and it says it already has filled 350 of its 400 openings.
I have zero problems with Wal-Mart. In fact, more to the point: I like Wal-Mart. They have a lot of stuff there. For cheap.
Okay, so they’re anti-union. That’s not cool. But let’s face it: the labor movement is stuck in the 1950’s: they’re battling corporations with anachronistic tools that don’t work in today’s globalized world. Unions don’t matter when big companies can simply shutter their stores and move to another “right to work” state — or to a third-world country.
The people who complain about how evil Wal-Mart is are usually rich enough that they can shop wherever they want. And they can rail against the company’s labor record because they’d never ever be reduced to actually working there, so the issue’s purely academic. The truth is that if you want to support the working stiff, you should be all for Wal-Mart, since they offer goods for lower prices than anywhere else.*
I feel the same way about McDonald’s and Starbucks, two corporate behmoths similarly disliked by the patchouli-wearing trustafarian crowd. You know what? I like a quarter pounder with cheese every once in a while. And also, I think Starbucks coffee tastes pretty good.
In the third-world countries I’ve visited and lived in, the local folks — despite what the anti-globalization, Che Guevara-T-shirt-wearing college kids claim — feel a similar affinity for Mickey Dee’s and Starbucks. They’re good places to work. And they provide pretty good products.
It doesn’t surprise me, then, that the Oakland Wal-Mart is getting swamped with job applications. Even in the People’s Republik of California.
*Another anti-Wal-Mart argument is that they use their size and clout to unfairly put independent hardware stores out of business. Yes, that’s unfortunate. But you can no more blame Wal-Mart for this than you can blame cheap imported cars for the troubles of the American auto industry. Them’s the breaks in a free market economy.
