On the 8 Spot

Ummm… Are There No Copyeditors?

Laura Meckler writes:

Washington Wire – WSJ.com: Women’s Groups Protest Dropping Contraceptives Provision in Stimulus: Women’s and reproductive rights groups expressed dismay Tuesday after the White House and congressional Democrats agreed to drop a provision from the economic stimulus package that would have made it easier for states to expand coverage of contraceptives through their Medicaid programs.

The measure had become a target of GOP attacks, such as this one from House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio “How you can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives? How does that stimulate the economy?” he said last week. His argument is part of a Republican hammering that too much in the bill will not serve to aid the economy.

Supporters of the measure point to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office that, by the third year of implementation, the measure would actually save $100 billion per year by preventing some pregnancies and avoiding the Medicaid cost of delivering and then caring for these babies…

Surely this is $100 million a year? I mean, $100 billion a year is $1,333 in reduced Medicaid costs for every post-menarche pre-menopause woman in the United States…

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: Ummm… Are There No Copyeditors?.

I actually do this, I got Fired from my First and Second Jobs and whenever I feel uninspired to work, I either read the emails of my boss from my first job or read my evaluation from my second job. I get energized whenever i do this.

The hidden enemy

by Paulo Coelho on January 28, 2009

The friends of the warrior of the light wonder where his energy comes from. He answers: “from the hidden enemy.”

His friends ask him who that is.

The warrior answers: “someone we cannot hurt.”

It may be a boy who beat him in a fight when they were youngsters, the girlfriend who left him at the age of eleven, the teacher who called him stupid.

The hidden enemy becomes a stimulus. When the warrior is tired, he remembers that he has yet to show his courage.

He does not think about vengeance, because the hidden enemy is no longer part of his history. He thinks only of improving his skills so that his feats can be known to all and reach the ears of those who have hurt him in the past.

Yesterday’s pain has become today’s strength.

The hidden enemy at Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

From personal experience the places where it is cheapest to buy stuff, only accepts cash transactions. Talking to one store owner it is because of the credit card company’s cut.

I was surprised at how high the fees were. For instance, in this example of a Mastercard, when you buy a $1.50 pack of gum at a convenience store, the credit-card company gets 28 cents. Even on big-ticket items like airline tickets, the credit-card company collects nearly 3 percent.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with those fees. I presume that the issuing banks can choose their own fees (within reason), and that there is more or less free entry — which suggests that the industry should be pretty competitive. Merchants accept credit cards, which implies that the benefits of doing so outweigh the costs.

The True Cost of Credit – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com.

My Wife or My Art

January 29th, 2009

Jack VettrianoJack Vettriano is the UK’s most popular artist, something of a Scottish Thomas Kinkade. But he got a late start on his career, as the Independent quotes him:

It wasn’t until my wife and I separated, when I was 39, that I started painting full time. Before that, we were trapped in a rather difficult position, like a lot of people, struggling to pay the mortgage and also paying school fees for my wife’s child. We could just afford to go out once a month if we were lucky. Once I was on my own, I began painting as a full-time career and within a year I was making three or four times what I had ever dreamed imaginable. Soon I had several galleries keen to represent me, and the press were also starting to show interest.

At Home with Jack Vettriano (The Independent)

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My Wife or My Art | Art Market Monitor.