Super Geektastic

The new phonebooks are here!
The new phonebooks are here!

Addictive Tips uses my graph!

So does

Cnet!

It's this kind of spontaneous publicity - your NAME IN PRINT - that makes people! I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now.

Thank you to IMDB for the verification on the quote.

The Moral Hazard, Foreign Trade Edition

Via US Food Policy blog.

Why and how do insurers write this kind of policy? It's like picking up nickels in front of a steamroller AFTER AGREEING TO HAVE YOURSELF CHAINED DOWN TO THE ROAD!

These shipments were already known to be in violation of trade rules. Why underwrite this risk?

PRESS RELEASE:
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP Files $1 Billion Lawsuit on Behalf of Domestic Producers Against Insurers and U.S. Government for Damages Caused by Dumped Chinese Food Products

04/07/09


Today, domestic producers of fresh garlic, crawfish tail meat, canned mushrooms and honey, represented by the law firm of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, filed a class action lawsuit against major insurance companies to recover close to $1 billion in damages. The Washington, D.C. law firm of Adduci, Mastriani & Schaumberg, LLP is co-counsel with Kelly Drye for many domestic producers of crawfish tail meat. The complaint states that the insurers\' negligent issuance of customs surety bonds, and subsequent refusal to pay under those bonds, allowed the sale of huge amounts of competing food imports from China at below-cost, or \"dumped\" prices. This caused severe financial damages to the domestic producers. The lawsuit, filed in the federal Court of International Trade, also claims that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Commerce Department failed to enforce the four antidumping orders issued years ago to protect the domestic producers from dumped Chinese imports.

Incentives - Part 2

OK, so this one is at least explicitly about medicine. It's also about our local tempest in a teapot - the fact that certain high-falutin' institutions of higher medicine in the area (BIMDC, par example) get a whopping 15-40%! larger reimbursement for procedures.

Now part of this is due to a big negotiating advantage given the size of their ownership company, but it's also because a very large fraction of the place's staff is from a certain school that starts with "H" and ends with "arvard". The PATIENTS want to associate with the elite staff, too.

Overcoming Bias: What is Medical Quality?

So, "incentives - part 1" talks about the "fairness" of incentives, where if you're making money out of me cooperating with you, you'd better share. Otherwise I'm going to stick it to you, even at the cost of my own optimal outcome.

And "Incentives - part 2" talks about people WANTING to spend money, to associate themselves with elite institutions. They are actually willing to pay more themselves, too.

I think both are social status things.

The first could be read as "Yes, you're always going to make more than I do, but I need to show you that I'm in control of how much you make. It's important enough that I'll pay to demonstrate that I am not helpless."

And the second is a little easier: "I want to be able to tell my friends that I went to the GOOD hospital. With the nice Harvard docs."

Any patient incentives need to take these into consideration, I think.

Almost, but not quite perfect conspicuous consumption

This is as close to potlatch as you can get, I think, and it's green, to boot:

Recession hits 'I am rich' application - vnunet.com

This is an iPhone app and Android app that costs $1,000 or $200, respectively. It's only function is to display a jewel on the screen to inform others that you bought it. So you can impress people.

I think it is a little too direct, though. We normally like to dress up our demonstrations of excess wealth in either avocational pursuits, esthetics or philanthropy. Otherwise it's a bit nouveau riche.

Then again, so is a Vertu Phone.

Plus, the picture is too copiable, which is the point of the little authenticity cards in a "real" Fendi bag. Half of the pictures in this ebay auction feature the authenticity card. If it was just esthetics or quality craftsmanship we wouldn't care. But, the aesthetics and craftmanship are essential to the "dressing up" function, above.

If you really wanted to have a good version of this:

1. Custom art work (for $1,000 you could afford some customization. Get a custom logo done here, for instance. It's only $149!)
2. Embedded public key signature to prove it's "real". Link it to the serial number of the phone. Make it displayable as a 2d scannable code so someone can take a picture and authenticate at leisure. It's like Zillow for your phone!
3. Functionality - it has to arguably DO something even moderately useful or fun. Game, reminder system, something. It isn't important what it does, just that it does something. It's like the denominator in a fraction: the smaller it is, the bigger the result, as long as you don't divide by zero - then it's undefined.

Maybe it's not potlatch, I'm now thinking it's more like Limoges snuff boxes: The Art of the Limoges Box

They had a purpose, too.