News Stories

[ganbaru]

Osama wanted new name for al-Qaida to repair image
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...06-24-03-27-16

As Osama bin Laden watched his terrorist organization get picked apart, he lamented in his final writings that al-Qaida was suffering from a marketing problem. His group was killing too many Muslims and that was bad for business. The West was winning the public relations fight. All his old comrades were dead and he barely knew their replacements.

Faced with these challenges, bin Laden, who hated the United States and decried capitalism, considered a most American of business strategies. Like Blackwater, ValuJet and Philip Morris, perhaps what al-Qaida really needed was a fresh start under a new name.

[Tsuyoshi]

I wonder if this is irony or just simply grave digging by news casters. Maybe both, just to be safe.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Tsuyoshi

I wonder if this is irony or just simply grave digging by news casters. Maybe both, just to be safe.

Well a Japanese translator got stabbed to death by a religious dog for doing Salem Rushdie's work. As with all rabid dogs, treat with extreme prejudice. *sarcastic*

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

. As with all rabid dogs, treat with extreme prejudice. *sarcastic*

Shoot first (headshoot of course), ask question after ?

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Tsuyoshi

Since there's quite a number of students, there's quite a demand for it. The price of health insurance for students reflects their demand more than their actual need for it. I remember in uni how we studied the concept of utility, but hardly anyone takes that into consideration irl.

Surely the higher demand the cheaper it is, for Insurance. Insurance doesn't work as a standard product, so demand won't make it go higher.

As students don't tend to use up their health insurance, they're ideal customers who the insurance companies can cut their prices for.

That said, i could see good reason if they charged a premium if you've had alcohol violations or a poor driving record (indicating risk taking attitude and being more prone to accidents). Likewise I could see a discount being a good idea if the buyer abstains from drugs or alcohol. Of course accident insurance isn't always included in health insurance anyway. For conventional illness 20-30 is incredibly low risk...

[MrTerrorist]

Interesting news.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Shoot first (headshoot of course), ask question after ?

Nonono, skin them and put salt on the wound until they die of pain. They really need to understand what suffering and oppression is to physically force their extremist belief upon others.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Nonono, skin them and put salt on the wound until they die of pain. They really need to understand what suffering and oppression is to physically force their extremist belief upon others.

I cannot approve of such cruelty to dogs, sick or not.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I cannot approve of such cruelty to dogs, sick or not.

I was being sarcastic, but still, I couldn't think of an equivalent to forced circumcision.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by Decagon

With student loans of course.

I need those to live off of! Rent around here is outrageous, even with loans and grants I'm barely above subsistence level here. I'm broke over the summer due to food and rent costs and I'm going to end up having to cancel my phone service, which will hurt later because if I cancel I'll lose all of my crazy discounts. Then when I have money again and re-up, it'll be 20% more expensive every month.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

Surely the higher demand the cheaper it is, for Insurance. Insurance doesn't work as a standard product, so demand won't make it go higher.

As students don't tend to use up their health insurance, they're ideal customers who the insurance companies can cut their prices for.

That said, i could see good reason if they charged a premium if you've had alcohol violations or a poor driving record (indicating risk taking attitude and being more prone to accidents). Likewise I could see a discount being a good idea if the buyer abstains from drugs or alcohol. Of course accident insurance isn't always included in health insurance anyway. For conventional illness 20-30 is incredibly low risk...

Insurance it like any other product. It charges as much as the market will bear. Which is a lot, because nobody wants to die of an easily treatable disease.

The goal, after all, is to profit, not to see to it that the greatest number gets the best healthcare for the cheapest price.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Insurance it like any other product. It charges as much as the market will bear. Which is a lot, because nobody wants to die of an easily treatable disease.

The goal, after all, is to profit, not to see to it that the greatest number gets the best healthcare for the cheapest price.

That's if there is a monopoly, otherwise they'll compete with one another until they reach the minimum they can bear.

Of course it's quite difficult for health insurance companies to really compete with each other... How can you really assess which service is better? By the time you need it you're locked in... (which is why universal healthcare is so much better...)

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

That's if there is a monopoly, otherwise they'll compete with one another until they reach the minimum they can bear.

Of course it's quite difficult for health insurance companies to really compete with each other... How can you really assess which service is better? By the time you need it you're locked in... (which is why universal healthcare is so much better...)

You, the patient, are not even really the customer in the US ... its the *employer* who is the customer. And the insurance companies act as a cartel, locking employers out of any real choice and blackballing them if they try to join up in a cooperative for better negotiating power (hmm, sounds like a uni... cough). Individual policies are almost a fantasy or priced stratospherically in the "if you're that stupid, we'll take your wallet".

The larger the negotiating block, the more *competitive* an insurance company has to be... rather than it being the "casino house that wins on every roll and kicks you out if you win too much".

[ganbaru]

New York state lawmakers approve gay marriage
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...75N5ZA20110625

[Ascaloth]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I was being sarcastic, but still, I couldn't think of an equivalent to forced circumcision.

Well, if you wanted to be really cruel, you might as well customize that level of cruelty especially for their kind. Like, I don't know, using pig fat or something.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Vexx

You, the patient, are not even really the customer in the US ... its the *employer* who is the customer. And the insurance companies act as a cartel, locking employers out of any real choice and blackballing them if they try to join up in a cooperative for better negotiating power (hmm, sounds like a uni... cough). Individual policies are almost a fantasy or priced stratospherically in the "if you're that stupid, we'll take your wallet".

The larger the negotiating block, the more *competitive* an insurance company has to be... rather than it being the "casino house that wins on every roll and kicks you out if you win too much".

Heh, in Ireland we have individualised health insurance. I wonder though, maybe it would be possible to buy health insurance from companies in other countries? It's still messed up. If I want to go global on my health insurance it costs me E785 (which is pretty decent), but that doesn't include the USA. If I were to move to the USA it jumps to 2100. I can't really explain the big difference, because I can't see VHI being in on price gouging, because it's state run (though soon to be privatised).

[killer3000ad]

Delta Airlines deal with Saudi Arabia discriminates against non-Muslims

Jews and Israelis, or passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith, will not be able to fly code-share flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under Delta Air Line's new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines that is set to begin in 2012.

[flying ^]

Monday’s Expected Supreme Court Decision Will Tell America How Much Free Speech Protection Video Games Deserve


got no dog in this fight (i only play booring flight sim and racing games) but i think the Supremes will side with the big corps & their lobby group next week... just like this week when the Supremes handed epic victories to Walmart and generic pharma

[killer3000ad]

NY governor signs same-sex marriage bill into laws

[mangatron]

RIP Peter Falk

Honestly, Columbo is one of my favorite TV shows, I really can't describe the wit and entertaining crime solving that show gave us.

Also fine work in Anzio, and a surprise appearance in Nicholas Cage's Next. And I'll never forget his Titanic joke in Shark Tale

Thanks, Peter Falk for the memories.