Mister D Says...

What a crappy online business taught me about Health Care

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:13:56 -0500

An interesting confluence of events helped my crystallize some thoughts this morning. The first was last night’s passage of President Obama’s Health Care Reform Bill by the House of Representatives by a five-vote margin. The second was a phone conversation I had with a representative of DinoDirect.com, an online reseller of tech toys.

Background: Just over a month ago, I placed an order with DinoDirect for a pair of iPhone headphones, a dock and a case for my 3GS. I was amazed at the prices - the entire order was only $14.89 and shipping was free. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of quality but I figured that, even if the products were total crap, I was only out fifteen bucks.

After two weeks went by with no package, I contacted the company’s online customer service and they told me that things were slow because the products were coming from China. Nontheless, three days later, a package arrived with the headphones (which suck) and the dock (which does not). But not the case.

It has now been over a month and I called the company’s phone number this morning. Yes, it’s a Sunday, but I was pleasantly surprised that someone answered. Until I discovered that the person who answered the phone spoke almost no English and all she could tell me ws that the case was out of stock. When I asked when they expected to get it in stock, she told me they would issue a refund for the case.

I decided to take them at their word; we’ll see if the refund actually comes. That’s not the important part. The lesson here is that I’m not surprised to get lousy service since the prices this company charges are so low. I would be foolish to expect top-notch service at bargain-basement prices.

Robert Heinlein wrote about this idea in several books and used the term TANSTAAFL to describe it; the acronym stands for There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch and, while Heinlein didn’t invent it, his work is where I first encountered it.

What does this have to do with Obama’s Health Care plan, you ask? Simple.

Anyone who thinks the current state of affairs in US Health Care is acceptable is foolish. Things are too expensive, regulations stifle innovation, doctors are prohibited from giving good care and everyone is unhappy. However, the President’s proposal is not the answer.

Put simply, TANSTAAFL: you can’t just legislate your way to better care at lower prices. Something will suffer. The sort of Socialized Plan President Obama has proposed (and, yes that’s what it is) has been tried elsewhere in the world and, in every case, has led to a lower standard of care and longer wait times for treatment. Wealthy Canadians and Eurpoeans routinely come to the US for medical treatment since the rationing of care in their country makes the wait times unbearable.

In short, the plan is bad for many people in the short term and bad for everyone in the long term.

—

But that’s not all. Here’s what really worries me: the majority of President Obama’s support in the genereal election came from Americans with less wealth. Yes, that’s a generalization, but it also happens to be true. It’s also true that most of the President’s domestic agenda items (Health care reform, tax reform, the financial bail-out) favor the poor over the wealthy… but are paid for by taxing the wealthiest Americans.

Think that through for a second.

In the long term, what will a pattern like that do to class relations in America?

TANSTAAFL, folks. If you are currently one of the 96 million Americans who don’t have health insurance, do you really expect a new law to -poof!- give you insurance without anyone paying for it? Employers will foot the bill… and salaries will drop. Or people will get fired. Or taxes will go up. The money has to come from somewhere.

I would love to be wrong about this. But anyone unselfish enough to not be blinded simply has to see how this plan is a bad idea.

Mobile podcasting via AudioBoo and my iPhone

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:18:08 -0500

I’ve started to include an audio podcast here. Well, sort of. I’m using a cool free app for the iPhone called AudioBoo [App Store link] to create short audio recordings that you can listen to in the browser or subscribe to in iTunes or any other RSS/podcast client.

The process is so simple that I don’t even have to walk you through it. Just download the app, create a free account at the AudioBoo website and start recording. You can record up to five minutes of audio and upload it right from the iPhone. I’ve used the Apple earbud microphone, a pair of third-party earbud’s mic and the speakerphone, all while driving, and they all sound fine. The upload is nice and quick (especially over wifi!) and once you press “Publish,” you’re done!

I’ve put links in the sidebar so you can subscribe to the Podcast if you want, or you can just listen via the flash player AudioBoo provides.

Enjoy!

The Yanks and I both win

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:05:58 -0500

Listen!

Saturday night hopeful: after

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:20:07 -0500

Listen!

Saturday night hopeful: before

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:56:16 -0400

Listen!

Hate crime legislation

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:52:00 -0400

(Alternative title: Don’t hate me because I’m rational.)

According to the White House Blog, the “Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act” became federal law today, effectiely making it legal for you to be punished for thinking incorrect thoughts.

Seriously… there are a number of issues on which Leftists and Conservatives disagree, but few are so clarifying as this one. I’ve written before about how I believe that, in general, Leftists are motivated by emotion over reason, and the debate over this issue substantiates that claim.

During his remarks, President Obama said:

…we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits — not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear. You understand that the rights afforded every citizen under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights — both from unjust laws and violent acts. And you understand how necessary this law continues to be.

Let us imagine a scenario in which a young man named William is severly beaten late one night outside a Wal-Mart in Ohio. What punishment do his attackers deserve? We have criminal charges on the books through which they can be made to serve jail time and we have civil courts which could force them to compensate William for medical expenses, lost wages and pain and anguish.

In other words, William’s constitutional right to not be attacked has been protected. Why should this be any different simply because William’s attackers had an imaginary reason to attack him? Suppose they attacked him because he was black. Or Jewish. Or gay. Or Hispanic. Or whatever. Why is that crime somehow worse than attacking him because you don’t like his shoes or because he cut you off in traffic or because you’re simply in a bad mood?

Punishing attackers because of their thoughts frightens me.

I understand why Leftists and Liberals are moved to make this argument. As horrible as it would be to be beaten up because I provoked through some slight, it would be infinitely more terrible to be beaten up for no “good reason” at all. We feel sorry for the victims of hate crime… so we are motivated to do better by them than other victims. This makes emotional sense and is the reason why so many people are happy about this new law.

However, judging people’s thoughts is scary idea. What if the fact that I hate you has nothing to do with your gender, race or sexual orientation? What if I’m just a violent jerk who feels like beating you up? Is my crime someone less than that of the bigot who beats you up with “cause”?

Discussing the issue rationally exposes the absurdity of the claim. This is why the President doesn’t discuss the issue rationally. The end of remarks claim:

We have for centuries strived to live up to our founding ideal, of a nation where all are free and equal and able to pursue their own version of happiness. Through conflict and tumult, through the morass of hatred and prejudice, through periods of division and discord we have endured and grown stronger and fairer and freer. And at every turn, we’ve made progress not only by changing laws but by changing hearts, by our willingness to walk in another’s shoes, by our capacity to love and accept even in the face of rage and bigotry. In April of 1968, just one week after the assassination of Martin Luther King, as our nation mourned in grief and shuddered in anger, President Lyndon Johnson signed landmark civil rights legislation. This was the first time we enshrined into law federal protections against crimes motivated by religious or racial hatred — the law on which we build today.

In other words, our nation made it through all of that conflict and tumult, hatred and prejudice, division and discord without hate crime laws. In the aftermath of King’s assassination, President Johnson signed laws prohibiting institutional bigotry, which is far cry from actively seeking to punish differently based on motivation.

These laws will be abused by zealous prosecutors looking to win big cases. They will be abused by DAs to force confessions from defendants terrified of a hate-crime conviction.

Like Affirmative Action, this is a step backward for American monorities of every kind.

FSJ on trends in smartphone marketshare

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:28:58 -0400

FSJ on trends in smartphone marketshare:

Fake Steve Jobs points to this graph and says, “So, okay. RIM is ahead of us. But look at the trend lines and ask yourself, who would you rather be? Yeah. Me too.”

Football Ramble

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:23:13 -0400

Listen!

Lunchboo

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:51:45 -0400

Listen!

"Can’t please everyone,” isn’t just an aphorism, it’s the secret of being..."

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:48:23 -0400

““Can’t please everyone,” isn’t just an aphorism, it’s the secret of being remarkable.”

- Seth Godin

Very cool map of human exploration of the solar system.

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:16:49 -0400

Very cool map of human exploration of the solar system.

Dressing up as President Obama for Halloween

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:46:58 -0400

Scott Adams likes creative, clever Halloween costumes. Here’s a great one:

One idea is to wear a Barack Obama name tag with my regular clothes. Then I’ll wait for someone to say, “Barack Obama? How’s that Barack Obama? I had such high expectations for your costume and all you did was…oh, wait. I get it.”

"…plot details are not developed at great depth, because the movie is preoccupied with..."

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:52:50 -0400

“…plot details are not developed at great depth, because the movie is preoccupied with providing incomprehensible wall-to-wall computer-generated special effects.”

- The incomperable Roger Ebert, reveiwing GI Joe: the Rise of Cobra.

"You are what you learn."

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:51:19 -0400

“You are what you learn.”

- Scott Adams

Julian Beever's chalk drawings

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:23:00 -0400

This one is for me. Julian Beever creates impossibly cool chalk trump l’oeil paintings and I keep loosing track of the photos of his work. So, here are links to his website and the article about him on the Wikipedia.

Here is a time-lapse video of his work.

Here is a shot of what he does:

I have more of his work in a photoset on flickr.

iTunes + Sesame Street = Awesome. That is all.

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:27:46 -0400

iTunes + Sesame Street = Awesome.

That is all.

Thoughts on taxation and representation

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:40:01 -0400

The famous battle-cry of the American Revolution was against “Taxation without representation.” In fact, the phrase that became famous in Boston in the 1760s was, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.” Colonists were angry about being denied representation in the British Parliament while still being forced to pay taxes to the Crown. This anger led to the Boston Tea Party, other public demonstrations against English taxes and, eventually, to the Revolutionary War.

I bring this up out of the blue because something occurred to me tonight: currently, over 40% of Americans pay no Income Taxes (source). Now, as I’ve pointed out before, our current President was elected running on a platform of “Change,” though he was less than completely specific as to what changes he meant. One of the changes he was clear about was a restructuring of the Income Tax system because, according to the White House Issues page, “for too long, the U.S. tax code has benefited the wealthy and well-connected at the expense of the vast majority of Americans.” The President’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will, “close loopholes that prevent wealthy companies and individuals from paying a fair share.”

We have a progressive tax system in the US, which means that you pay a higher percentage of your income in tax as you earn more money. So, the wealthiest few pay the highest share of their earnings in tax; right now, the highest bracket is 35% (source).

So, at one end of the spectrum, we have people who pay nothing… a lot of people. And, at the other end, a tiny minority who pay over a third of their annual earnings to the government. And, here’s the kicker: much of that money is used to pay for social programs to aid and assist the unfortunate folks who don’t earn enough money to care for themselves… or pay income tax.

And, remember, from which end of the economic spectrum does President Obama’s support tend to come? Right: the ones who receive services paid for by tax dollars taken from the rich. Now, I’m not lucky enough to be one of the few who pay such an unfairly high portion to cover the many who don’t, but I know that I’d like to be. Or, I used to want to be… I’m not so sure anymore; it seems almost better to just sit back and let someone else foot the bill.

Remember the Bostonian battle-cry I started this post with? The fear of taxation without representation is no longer an issue. It sounds like now, taxpayers should be worried about the opposite: people who have representation without taxation.

Optimal Strategy in Ninja Attack

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:29:21 -0400

So I play a lot of Ramp Champ, an addictive iPhone game my buddy Dave got me hooked on. It’s like skee-ball, but cooler, portable and more iPhone-ish. One of the best features of the game is that it has different boards to play; it starts with four and you can buy additional ones through in-app purchase. I recently bought an add-on of two boards, once of which is called Ninja Attack.

I think I’ve got it licked - that’s the point of this post. I want to lay out my approach to the Ninja Attack board and see if anyone can score more points or tickets with a different approach. Here’s what I do:

Ball #1 and Ball #2

Knock down the two black ninjas at either side of the screen. They are worth 250 points each for a total of 500 after two balls.

You have to be sure to aim right at them; they look easy, since they are so close, but a careless toss here will cost you a ball that you will need later, so be careful! Toss at a sharp angle, but not so sharp that you hit the flames the ninjas are hiding behind.

Ball #3 and Ball #4

Once the black ninjas are gone, they will be replaced by duplicates that are white. Hit the two of them with your next two balls. These two bad boys are worth 500 points each, giving you a running total of 1,500 after four balls with five to go.

These shots are exactly the same as the two you tossed before, so just stay calm and knock ‘em down. I know it feels like you’re wasting a lot of balls since you’re not doubling up any targets but, trust me, you’re on the right path.

Ball #5

Here’s where things start to get tricky. Once the white ninjas fall, they will be replaced with red ones, each worth 1,250 points. But, right between them, dead center, will appear a funny-looking samurai worth 1,500 points. Additionally, a tiny red ninja will drop down from the top of the board who is worth a whopping 1,750 points, more than you have racked up in total so far.

Now, you might be tempted to go for any of the three ninjas, but you should not. Instead, take out the center samurai with your fifth ball, taking your total to 3,000 points with four balls to go. This is the secret to maximizing points so, trust me.

Ball #6

Once you’ve taken out the samurai, a pair of scary-looking monster hands will appear, reaching up from the bottom of the screen., each labelled 500 points. You’re going to want to take out some higher-value targets but, trust me, that would be a mistake at this point.

Instead, take your time and nail both hands with one toss when they move to the center and are at their closest to each other. It’s a pretty simple toss as long as you don’t let your head get in your way.

Once you take them out, you will score 1,000 points for a total of 4,000 after six balls with three to go.

Ball #7

Here’s the payoff for your patience. Once you hit the hands, the monster himself will pop up, taking the three red ninjas out of play and presenting his giant, impossible-to-miss face to you, center-stage.

He and his giant eyeball are worth 1,750 points which makes your plan of action pretty obvious: take the ugly sucker out!

Hit him with your seventh ball, racking up a total of 5,750 points with two balls remaining.

Ball #8

Once the ugly monster is down, you’ll see him again, weakened and almost out of commission. He’s still there, but down for the count and presenting an easy target for you to hit with your penultimate ball.

(By the way, this ugly dude is the “Ultra Demon Lord” mentioned in the goals for the Ninja Attack level. If you follow my strategy, not only will you defeat him and earn a silver trophy, you will earn enough points to break 10,000 and earn the gold trophy, too!)

Take him out with your eighth ball, earning 2,000 points for your trouble and bringing your game total up to 7,750 points.

Ball #9

Your last shot took the monster out for good, presenting you with an odd target for your final shot. I think it looks like a tiny golden monster turd, but I doubt that is what it’s supposed to be. In any case, the final target is a small golden pyramid worth a whopping 2,400 points, the largest single-target total you have seen so far.

Your goal is simple: take out the turd with your final ball, earning 2,400 points for a total of 10,100.

Conclusion

Racking up over 10,000 points in that fashion earns you 20 tickets, the most I’ve ever gotten playing Ninja Attack.

That’s my strategy and, with it, I can consistently earn the 10,150 points and 20 tickets.

Can anyone do better?

iTablet rumormongers still haven't learned

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:16:16 -0400

I thought that yesterday’s Apple Press Event might actually quell some of the rumor-hysteria that has plagued the MacWeb of late concerning the mythical Apple Tablet. But, today, I see that the silliness remains. Check this out:

Over at The Apple Blog, Charles Jade has penned a piece reporting on an interview between Steve Jobs and the New York Times. In it, he reports that David Pogue, the Times’s reporter, “asked Jobs if his dismissive attitude towards the devices [e-book readers] had changed since the appearance of the Kindle.” Then Jade wrote this:

Jobs noted that digital books aren’t big sellers, then tossed the tablet fanatics some red meat, stating that “I think people just probably aren’t willing to pay for a dedicated device.”

If that wasn’t an oblique confirmation of the Apple iTablet, this response regarding future products being delayed because of Jobs’ absence is likely as close as we will get before the mythical device is unveiled.

“Oblique confirmation”? At yesterday’s event, Schiller kept referring to the iPod touch as a “true pocket computer.” How is Jobs’s remark that dedicated e-book readers are, at best, a niche gadget, any sort of confirmation that Apple plans to stop marketing the touch as a pocket computer and announce a tablet instead?

You have to really want the tablet rumors to be true to think that Jade’s analysis makes any sense.

In honor of the $9 sale, my nine favorite Threadless t-shirts "

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:49:09 -0400

In no particular order:

“If your pants are on fire, being a liar becomes less important.” Inarguable.
“Calling home.” I love shirts that some people just won’t get.
“If we can put a man on the moon, I should have a robot army by now.” Yeah. And where is my jet pack?
“I listen to bands that don’t even exist yet.” What’s funnier than music snoot?
“A simple plan.” This graphic is awesome.
The Haiku joke. The English teacher in me loves this.
“It’s just safer to assume I know karate.” How many other shirts do you own that can protect you?
“Infamous mishaps throughout history.” Great artwork.
“Allow me to explain through interpretive dance.” Hilariously incomprehensible. :)

Anyone want to lend me $81? (Here’s a link to the sale.)