Allan Besselink - Likes

I share all sorts. :-) Lots of photos, photography and tech stuff though. Feel free to sub to me if you like. :-) BTW, you can see who is following you here: http://www.google.com/reader... #whatsyoururl - Kol Tregaskes

274 more comments

http://www.google.com/reader... - Michael Hocter

Thanks, Michael. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... :-) - Müjdat Korkmaz

More often I end up sharing directly through FF even if I find it on GReader, but sometimes I share there. http://www.google.com/reader... - Tony, Paradox of FF

http://www.google.com/reader... Just about internet! - ★ Soner Gönül

http://www.google.com/reader... I'm glad you asked this right now. I just realized that several people are following me and I didn't even know it. I hope it hasn't been this way for long! - Michael Fidler

Michael, it's not been clear until very recently, you can see notifications here: http://www.google.com/reader... - Kol Tregaskes

Love yr posts :-))))) - Johni Fisher

http://www.google.com/reader... - Lode Nachtergaele

mine is http://www.google.com/reader... ;) - alebaffa from twhirl

http://www.google.com/reader... - OnuRC

thanks for starting this thread - here's mine http://www.google.com/reader... (mostly social media stuff, a little food, and occasional randomness) - Chris Rogers

http://www.google.com/reader... - James Slater

Kol, thanks! I wish it would tell me when they started following, I'll have to keep a better eye on it now. - Michael Fidler

http://www.google.com/reader... - Kevin Mohr

http://www.google.com/reader... - LouCypher

http://www.google.com/reader... - zsafwan 

http://www.google.com/reader... - Tony C

Mine is http://www.google.com/reader... - hope you enjoy! - outofmyarse

Just noticed that Reader now allows grouping of people you follow! Wondering: is Reader going to become a competitor (instead of complement) to FriendFeed? - Chris Rogers

http://www.google.com/reader... - Steve Lowe

http://www.google.com/reader... - Always looking for more ppl to share links! - Liza

http://www.google.com/reader... - M F

Ah so that's your name, M F! ;-) I'm wanting to live in that area too, nice around there? - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - Simon Tracey

Yes it's alright I moved here two years ago, I was in West London before that - M F

GREAT FEED - I am finding so many great ppl to follow - this is great. - Liza

M F, I like to move to just over the other side of the stream from you. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

And your pics are great! I am going to be stuck in greader for a while! - Liza

http://www.google.com/reader... - phil baumann

Well wave your hand Kol when you get here - M F

http://www.google.com/reader... - Jason Wehmhoener

http://www.google.com/reader... - But I only really use google reader as a simple RSS reader. Follow people on FriendFeed. - Anton Tanderup

http://www.google.com/reader... - Andy Sternberg from fftogo

Hehe, M F. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

mine is http://www.google.com/reader... - Kim Landwehr

Thanks for your latest bookmark there, Kim. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - mridul

feedly.com :) - Zach Landes

https://www.google.com/reader... - Bryan R. Adams

http://www.google.com/reader... - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

http://www.google.com/reader... #greader #whatsyoururl - Ron Bailey

http://www.google.com/reader... - Parvez Halim

http://www.google.com/reader... but everything I share in reader comes on to FriendFeed. - Aram Zucker-Scharff from twhirl

http://www.google.com/reader... - Daltonsbriefs

http://www.google.com/reader... - the stuff I share there is also on FriendFeed. - Hanna Wiszniewska

http://www.google.com/reader... mine are mostly science items - Sally Church

Mine is http://www.google.com/reader... - Mostly Tech. - Svartling

http://www.google.com/reader... - Nick Humphries

http://www.google.com/reader... - Ozgur Uckan

http://www.google.com/reader... - mixed up content in Portuguese (mainly), English and Spanish. - Marcos

Liza, oooh I love the post on generating Mandelbrot fractals in Excel! - Sally Church

http://google.com/reader... - Anton

http://www.google.com/reader... - Shawn Farner from twhirl

http://www.google.com/reader... - Kevin Whalen

@rogersdc / Chris, Google Reader is obviously been trying to become more social, but I'd really like to see FF come out with a bookmarklet that makes sub'ing RSS feeds to FF easier/faster. Right now it's a manual process involving either a new Group/Room or Imaginary Friend. Should be 2 clicks tops.. Also see: http://friendfeed.com/alexsch... - Alex Schleber

http://www.google.com/reader... - Andrew Leahey

http://www.google.com/reader... - Eric Geller

http://www.google.com/reader... - Zachary TG

http://www.google.com/reader... - Vince DeGeorge

http://www.google.com/reader... - Lin Yong from NoiseRiver

http://www.google.com/reader... - Baard @ Pixum

http://www.google.com/reader... - Jason A. Nunnelley

http://www.google.com/reader... - Louis Gray

http://www.google.com/reader... - Travis B. Hartwell

http://www.google.com/profile... - James (!?)

http://www.google.com/reader... - Warren Butler

http://www.google.com/reader... - Brandon Ball

http://www.google.com/reader... - "Jazzperous" Isaksson

http://www.google.com/reader... - Joe Dawson

http://www.google.com/reader... - guilherme

Thanks everyone! :-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - dkb

http://www.google.com/reader... - Adi

http://www.google.com/reader... - Mathew A. Koeneker

http://www.google.com/reader... - Alex Scrivener

Here is mine : http://www.google.fr/reader.... I share (mainly on French sites and blogs) about libraries, literature and arts, human and social sciences, photography :-) - Nadine Pestourie

http://www.google.com/reader... Google and other tech stuff, as well as other random things of interest. - Californian

http://www.google.com/reader... - Chris Luckhardt

http://www.google.com/reader... - Peter Ghosh

Thank you. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/profile... - Kim

http://www.google.com/profile... http://www.google.com/reader... - Kamilah Gill

http://www.google.com/reader... - Robin Barooah

Keep 'em coming, I'll add you all later today. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - Patrik Johansson from Android

http://www.google.com/reader... - Dobromir Hadzhiev

http://www.google.com/reader... - Arthur Guy

http://www.google.com/reader... - Nathan Rein

http://www.google.com/reader... Politics, photography, humor, news, tech, entertainment - amygeek

Thanks for starting this conversation Kol! - amygeek

http://www.google.com/reader... - Shevonne

http://www.google.com/reader... - Dean "Karnatos" Michaud

http://www.google.com/reader... - Eric Johnson

No worries, Amy. :-) Thank you all! - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - Andrew Roche

LOL here we go again :o) http://www.google.com/reader... I share a lot of blogs and funny stuff that I read, it's neat how I can share and it gets posted all over by friendfeed. - David Gross

http://www.google.com/reader... - Joe Bonner

http://www.google.com/reader... - Vlad Bobleanta

http://www.google.com/reader... - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

http://www.google.com/reader... - Ivan Pavlov

Thank you. - Kol Tregaskes

Don't know that I have one, as I eschew most things Google.... - Mike Shields

Not sure if I've already shared it, but my URL is http://www.google.com/reader.... - Tyson Key

http://www.google.com/reader... - Ethan

Thank you guys. - Kol Tregaskes

your welcome kol - Tony C from IM

:-) - Kol Tregaskes

I think that I over-loaded my poor G-Reader by adding all of you. ;-) - Mathew A. Koeneker

Here is my feed: http://l.clipotech.com/shared - I will try to add all of you on this list :) - Svartling

Don't forget to add all out new contacts in to groups. Otherwise we cant comment on each others shared items. - Svartling

http://www.google.com/reader... - Almost exclusively tech, including humor/cartoons and productivity. - Mahendra (SkepticGeek)

http://www.google.com/reader... - I share items about productivity, gaming, movies, and misc. stuff from the Google "cool" via Recommendations feed. Thanks Kol for starting this thread because I've been trying to cut down on the number of feeds I subscribe to and instead just follow interesting people. - Dusty Edenfield

Svartling: good point about adding people to groups. I noticed I couldn't comment on items that were shared by some users. - Dusty Edenfield

Thanks everyone. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - (jeff)isageek

http://www.google.com/reader... - Roberto Bonini

http://www.google.com/reader... - ★Kristy

I've (we) written a lot of more good tips on how to use Google Reader in Google Reader comments. It's too bad we don't have permalinks in Greader so we can share our notes and comments. Otherwise I could have posted a link here. Here are some on friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/svartli... - Svartling

http://www.google.com/reader... - David Peacock

here's mine! Love some of the new features... http://www.google.com/reader... - tomit

http://www.google.com/reader... - Ken Sheppardson

I don't think I added mine yet: http://www.google.com/reader... - LogEx

Thank you. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - DGentry

Almost missed this one! http://www.google.com/reader... - Patrik Arwengrim

http://www.google.com/reader... - Frode Stenstrøm

http://www.google.com/reader... - Aaron Krug

http://www.google.com/reader... - Tristan Seligmann

http://www.google.com/reader... - Russell G

http://www.google.com/reader... - Dani Radu

http://www.google.com/reader... - Kenton

http://www.google.com/reader... - Remo

I guess I best start sharing stuff, then. :D - http://www.google.com/reader... - Bette Cooper

http://www.google.com/reader... - I guess I'm a bit late to the party, but here's mine. I share mainly technology, photography, design... and other random stuff. - Ryan - @magicofpi

Thank you all. - Kol Tregaskes

Yes! The list I was looking for! I'll get my info on here as soon as I get on my netbook - Kamilah Gill from email

http://www.google.com/reader... - George Hall (Australia)

http://www.google.com/reader... - Gtp19

http://www.google.com/reader... - ha3rvey (Ho)^3

http://www.google.com/reader... - Kamilah Gill

http://www.google.com/reader... - Bluesun 2600

http://www.google.com/reader... - CAJ, somewhere else

http://www.google.com/reader... - Martha

Thanks for posting this Kol. Never paid any attention to my shared items folder before but just did! - Martha

http://www.google.com/reader... - Eric Logan

The conversation is really blowing up (in a good way) on Reader. The most important reminder currently is to set up groups and allow commenting. That is NOT on by default! - Vince DeGeorge

http://www.google.com/reader... - Tapio Kulmala

Vince, exactly! - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - Nik

mine is http://www.google.com/reader... - Daryl Hunt on FF

Not sure how I missed this thread. I share lots of tech news, some programming stuff and a little more at http://www.google.com/reader... - Rob Diana

There is also a group that collected a bunch of reader shares at http://friendfeed.com/share-y... - Rob Diana

http://www.google.com/reader... - Nick B.

http://www.google.com/reader... - Mike Nencetti

http://www.google.com/reader... - Slappy Line

http://www.google.com/reader... - Sean Brady

http://www.google.com/reader... - Spidra Webster

http://www.google.com/reader... - Or just go to: Sharing settings on your google reader shared items and search for: Avi Joseph - Avi Joseph

http://www.google.com/reader... - Pete Delucchi

Thank you all. I think I have subscribed you all now (except those feed in languages I don't understand) Here is mine again: http://www.google.com/reader... - Svartling

http://www.google.com/reader... - Nathalie, Dreamer of FF

I've started to follow a few of the people here but there's quite a few, so will take me a while :) - My currently fairly bare feed is: http://www.google.com/reader... - Roy Herrod

http://www.google.com/reader... - Steven Perez

http://www.google.com/reader... - edythe

http://www.google.com/reader... - http://friendfeed.com/kevinar... - Kevin Arth

http://www.google.com/reader... - topics include a bit of everything, but there's a fair about of Android-related stuff in there - Chuck Falzone

http://www.google.com/reader... - Damond Nollan

http://www.google.com/reader... - Californian

http://www.google.com/reader... - Mike Reynolds

http://www.google.com/reader... - AJ Kohn

http://www.google.com/reader... - MLx

http://www.google.com/reader... - German - mostly politics and crude funny things. Maybe some new technology - JoeD

http://www.google.com/reader... - Jesse Stay

http://www.google.com/reader... - Grant Bierman

http://www.google.com/reader... - Neal Jansons

Thank everyone. - Kol Tregaskes

There are a few entries here you might like to read to help you. This one: http://ff.im/6CkQj explains about adding people to groups to allow them to comment and why some don't stay in groups. In this one: http://ff.im/6F9pQ I suggest a way to track a large number of shared items using PostRank. This: http://ff.im/6Ci0P and this: http://ff.im/6AM35 has a few tips on using GReader as a lifestreaming service. And this: http://ff.im/6EMT1 gives a few examples of GReader bundles. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... I mostly share ART with a little bit this and that thrown in for good measure. - Kimber Scott

http://www.google.com/reader... - michael sean wright

http://www.google.com/reader... - Bryce Roney

http://www.google.com/reader... - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

Ryo: Same here :) "completely moved to Google Reader / Twitter / Posterous" All my followers, please subscribe to me on Google Reader: http://www.google.com/reader... or my lifestream: http://l.clipotech.com/lifestr... - Svartling

http://www.google.com/reader... - Alexander Kruel

http://www.google.com/reader... - Tristan Hambling

http://www.google.com/reader... share various science research and news - Colby from iPod

http://www.google.com/reader... - George Moga

http://www.google.com/reader... -- nothing shared yet; still learning several social networks & services, so it might take me a while... - Dennis Jernberg

http://www.google.com/reader... - Adrian Scicluna

http://www.google.com/reader... - Mark O'Neill

Those of you above whom I already follow on FF/Twitter/etc., I've subscribed to your feeds. As for the rest of you: if you follow me on GReader, I'll follow you back. - Dennis Jernberg

I'm sharing some pages now, including a few of my past blog entries. - Dennis Jernberg

http://www.google.com/reader... - Imabug

easier to just follow and edit groups from search url>http://www.google.com/reader... - Ru Viljoen

http://www.google.com/reader... - John Ladd

http://www.google.com/reader... - Marko Saric

http://www.google.com/reader... - Pete Gilbert

Because I have issues with data duplication, I have merged this list with the google reader shares room feeds. You can view the Google spreadsheet at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc... - Rob Diana

There are a bunch of shared feeds that I could not resolve the Google username for because they did not have a named profile set up. - Rob Diana

tristanhambling, your link didn't work. :-( - Kol Tregaskes

Thank you very much, Rob! - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... Right now I'm testing it in comparison to Netvibes. It's yet to be seen if I end up making the switch. - Brad Williamson

http://www.google.com/reader... - ronin

http://www.google.com/reader... - Muge Cerman

https://www.google.com/reader... - Mo Hall

http://www.google.com/reader... - Tal Shafik

http://www.google.com/reader... Mainly photography related things. - Sven

It would be really handy to have all these shared feeds as an opml file. Has anyone added everyone? Care to export an opml of the shared feeds? - Paul Jacobson

My shared stream is at http://www.google.com/reader... - Paul Jacobson

Paul, can do that but it will be out of date the moment I post it as I'm getting more new users all the time. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - Damond Nollan

Maybe someone could hook up something via Yahoo Pipes (or whatever) to automatically generate the OPML? - Tristan Seligmann

http://www.google.com/reader... - Yant

Damond, I'm getting that deja vu feeling. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Whoa, hey, I'm late to this. I'm here: http://www.google.com/reader... :-) - Jordan Hofker

I'm http://www.google.com/reader... Not really comfortable with the custom URL though since it can only be your gmail username. Makes it really easy for spamspiders I think. - TobiasVerhoog.com

Tobias, possibly but not had any problems myself though Gmail has the best spam filters around so I probably not noticed. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... Please dont tell me I have to add everyone manually like I did with Facebook yesterday?? *sigh* - Julia Ault

http://www.google.fr/reader... - Olivier Castets

http://www.google.com/reader... - Chris Hofmann

http://www.google.com/reader... link to my bundle with all my feeds that i have in friendfeed too - Chris Hofmann

http://www.google.com/reader... mostly webdev, photography news, music, world news which i get interested. plus half of them may be article in Japanese. sorry. :-p - browneyes

http://www.google.com/reader... - Edmund Tay

http://www.google.com/reader... - Jez Arnold

Thanks all! - Kol Tregaskes

:-) - Kol Tregaskes

spread those tentacles thats what i say (I'm generally sharing comics, animation, and interesting weirdeness) : http://www.google.com/reader... - Paul Greer

Exactly, Paul. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - Gerald Hildebrandt

There are a few people that have not added me to a group and so I cannot reply to some of your comments. :-( - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - flaimo

http://www.google.com/reader... - Charles Owens

http://www.google.com/reader... - Johnny

http://www.google.com/reader... - Kenley Neufeld

http://www.google.com/reader... - OK I'm in. Late as always. Will post my thoughts, feedback and pleading requests for help over in Google Reader so please follow me over there. Eat your own dog food and all that. - Andy C

MF/Kol = I live in Kingston on Thames. It's OK apart from the traffic (continually gridlocked) and the shops (girls just lurve them). Handy for getting into London both airports and out to the Thames Valley for work type things. Richmond Park and the river in walking distance is great too. - Andy C

phew.. - Paul Greer

Andy, Richmond Park and the others around there are the appeal really. Good place to go photographing and cycling while being very close to London I think. - Kol Tregaskes

Teddington (across the river from Kingston Upon Thames, is where I think I'd like to live. Just 'cos it's cheaper than everywhere else around it. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

https://www.google.com/reader... - Customized with numbers - ‘-.-’ Tutivillus Grift

@Kol many years ago, we made the mistake of asking an estate agent in Surbiton whether it was any cheaper than Kingston. She replied 'No - of course not. We are on the fast line to Waterloo' and looked at us as if we were dog excrement. - Andy C

I've checked rental prices in the area several times over the last 2 years and Teddington is definitely cheaper. I'm not buying, no way I can afford that. ;-) All a pip-dream anyway, need a steady job and I've not had that for a while. :-( - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... Enjoy! - Arvin Dang

:-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com.au/reader... - Threepwood

http://www.google.com/reader... - jcunwired

Mine; http://www.google.com/reader... - S.D.Allen

Thanks guys. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - masstrovato

http://www.google.com/reader... - Chris Myles

http://www.google.com/reader... GReader, Twitter, and Delicious (plus my own sites) are my primary hubs now. Y'all please join me on GReader. - Chris Baskind

http://www.google.com/reader... late as always - Raymundo Roxas

Thank you. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - barbarars

Trying Google Reader.. Share your friendfeed feed WITHIN Reader. (see http://ff.im/6WRIk) - Chris Myles

http://www.google.com/reader... - Claude LaFrenière aka climenole :) - Claude LaFrenière

anyone use google reader on windows mobile professional? I cant seem to get it to work and when I try to go to the mobile site it takes me to the regular site. - David Gross

Nope, sorry can't help you there, David. - Kol Tregaskes

http://www.google.com/reader... - Christopher A Carr

http://www.google.com/reader... - Russ jackson - Russ Jackson

Sweet! http://www.google.com/reader... - Jesse Baer

http://www.google.com/reader... please add! - Brendon Wadey

Jesse, I saw your share of this FriendFeed thread on Google Reader! - John E. Bredehoft

David, I use mobile Google Reader on an older phone with Windows mobile. My bookmark begins with google.com/reader/m/view - John E. Bredehoft

Here's mine...http://www.google.com/reader... - Oscar Antonio Moralí

Aloha! http://www.google.com/reader... - Ryan

check it out...http://www.google.com/reader... - Cos

Will share tech, science and skepticism, and education news stories: http://www.google.com/reader... - TC

in case anyone missed it, mine is http://www.google.com/reader... - David Gross

http://www.google.com/reader... - Irma Vermaat

more cool - Brent - Loving Life

http://www.google.com/reader... - Anthony Citrano

http://www.google.com/reader... - James Ferguson

http://www.google.com/reader... - Otto

I share interesting articles about Internet music, social media, open content and copyright issues: http://www.google.com/reader... - David Holmes

"So I'm using Blue Cross's postage to send MY message. Thanks Blue Cross for the postage." - April Buchheit from Bookmarklet

148 more comments

Ingenious. - Itachi

The postcard says "Postage will be paid by addressee", which implies it's the senator who will be paying the postage. Of course, the senator's franking privileges may make it so that the taxpayers pay the postage. - Gabe

True. But why is it that the Senator Hagan/taxpayers should be paying for Blue Cross' message? - Christopher Chung

My friend did this, too. I hope I get one in the mail. - Ayşe E.

They haven't sent me one of these, but when they do, I'll be sure to mail it in unmodified (or with a big "NO ON PUBLIC OPTION" written on it, perhaps). The very notion of government run health insurance is a travesty that will end up bankrupting this country. - Otto

So you don't think Medicare or the Veterans Health Administration is going to pan out, even after all these years? - Mark Trapp

Medicare and the VA system are living proof of my statements. They offer crappy service and are continually costing more and more as time goes on. They are unsustainable in the long term, and basically expanding these failures to cover everybody is only going to accelerate the problem. - Otto

What's long term? The VA system has been going since 1778, and Medicare since 1965. Are you thinking at the 300 year mark, they'll finally collapse? - Mark Trapp

Right on! Good for you! That's a great idea - Ciaoenrico

Our Canadian single-payer health care has been going strong for some time now with no risk of bankruptcy. I'd like to see some evidence that our system is unsustainable. - Matt Mastracci

The VA system is garbage, ask any veteran who has to use it on a regular basis. And medicare is on the verge of bankruptcy, and has been for at least decade now. Last I checked, medicare was the biggest drain of tax revenue that exists. Predictions I've seen give it 10 more years, tops, even with restructuring. - Otto

What Matt said. - Nathalie, Dreamer of FF

Love this post. - Trish R

That's awesome! - Jan Ole Peek

Of course, the assertion that government-run health insurance is unsustainable (whether Medicare, the VA, the Canadian system, or any other) raises the question of what system is more sustainable than government-run insurance. It's certainly not the current American one. ... I love April's use of the mailer. - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of health care reform... But insurance reform is unnecessary. The problem is not the insurance companies, their reactions and bad-behaviors are created by the high cost of medical care to begin with. Fix the health care system to not cost so damn much, and the problems with insurance will solve themselves. Strike at the source of the problems, not at the consequences of them. - Otto

Otto: Insurance causes high prices of medical care. Since you don't pay, the hospital can set its prices arbitrarily high and the insurance company pays whatever its maximum is. Since the insurance company pays so much, they have to have high insurance rates, which makes insurance expensive to buy. If the government had their own insurance, they would be big enough to demand low prices,... more... - Gabe

That's insane. The existence of insurance does not cause the high price of medial care. You have it exactly backwards. Furthermore, the idea of a government-run-insurance plan would not solve that problem, if it was at all the truth, because you're dealing with a supply demand situation. The government run plan could say they weren't going to pay above $X, at which point the medical... more... - Otto

The truth is that most of the waste in medical costs comes from two places: administrative overhead and fraud. Both of these are primarily caused by Medicare and the bureaucracy surrounding it. - Otto

Otto: Why is that you keep ignoring all the evidence from other countries that support national health care (e.g. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues...) and you also keep ignoring the facts that show that medicare has lower costs that private insurance (e.g. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/Nationa... ) - Robert Felty

@Otto - why do you think there is so much administrative overhead? To deal with all the different insurance companies and the reems of paperwork to get a claim approved and avoid malpractice suits. That means more people have to be hired and trained just to deal with all that stuff and more systems and processes have to be put in place to handle it all. Insurance companies make more... more... - Fa La La La Lindsay

@Lindsay: I know several people who work in administrative roles in hospitals. Not one of them agrees with you. The problem isn't the insurance forms and such, those are fairly standard. Almost all of the administrative overhead is due specifically to Medicare. And no, I do not work in the health insurance industry, so your ad-hominem attack makes no sense whatsoever. Why is it that... more... - Otto

@Robert: I'm not ignoring evidence from other countries, I'm discounting most of it based on facts that contradict the ones you are linking to. And Medicare has lower costs than private insurance because it rarely pays for anything. How many people who have medicare must also have their own insurance in order to get proper medical treatment? Have you looked up the numbers on that? - Otto

Otto, how does limiting the pricing result in providers refusing service? In Canada, the Federal Government sets the pricing schedule, but the private providers are still here, providing us good service for a set fee. More info on our system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... I would say that our health care system is an excellent counterpoint to "if you fix the fees at a certain point, providers will stop providing service". - Matt Mastracci

Otto - would you care to share some references which contain the facts that contradict those which I shared? I am open-minded, but I need to see actual data from credible sources to form my opinions. - Robert Felty

How does Otto make the claim that insurance isn't even part of the problem when medical loss ratios in the health insurance business have dropped from 95% to 80% in just 15 years? (and if you don't know what that means, you don't have an informed opinion about health care reform.) - Andrew C

I am always amazed at the ignorance of those arguing against public health care services when practically the entire world is doing it and they always have their facts wrong about Medicare and every other system. They'll become advocates when they or their loved ones are being evicted or foreclosed upon while they are dying an excruciating and untreated death. - Brad Nickel

Otto, just exactly how many veterans have you actually talked to? The VA definitely has flaws, but all the veterans I've talked to seem to like the service provided, and often compare it favorably to the private sector. And why are all those people out there so opposed to changing Medicare if it's so terrible? Since you've stated you haven't seen a doctor in decades, how could you possibly have any experience with any health care system whatsoever? - Victor Ganata

FFS... @Matt: Canada has a lower doctor to patient ratio than anybody else does, and it's decreasing all the time. @Robert: You have Google. Use it. I wouldn't believe links you provide me, so why should you believe links I provide you? Do your own research and make up your own mind. I'm not trying to convince you or anybody else, and I frankly don't care what you believe. @Andrew C:... more... - Otto

*shrug* I'm supposed to be swayed by second-hand anecdotal evidence from someone who doesn't have any recent direct experience with any health care system? If you don't care, why do you continue to post? - Victor Ganata

*shrug* I'm supposed to be swayed by somebody who actually has a vested interest in the health care system (ie, a doctor)? See, I can use fallacious arguments as well as you can, Victor! ;) Also, I post to express my opinions and ideas. Why else would anybody post anything? - Otto

Otto, your facts on doctor:patient ratio are incorrect. Our ratio is 2.2 per 1000, versus 2.4 per 1000 in the USA. In fact, our ratio has improved from 2.1 in the 1990s. While our doctor:patient ratio is not as high as other public health care systems, it isn't far off that of the USA. - Matt Mastracci

Here's my reference: http://www.oecd.org/dataoec... "Between 1990 and 2007, the number of doctors per capita remained relatively stable in Canada" - Matt Mastracci

Otto, but, fair is fair, so long as you don't pretend your anecdotes are generalizable truth, I won't pretend mine are either. It is clear that you do have quite a grasp on fallacious arguments. :) And I do agree that it's important to consider the source of your evidence. - Victor Ganata

Otto, the dropping medical loss ratio specifically means an increasing share of premiums isn't going towards paying for health care; that is /by itself/ inherently bad! In an actual working market, advances in efficiency, if any, would be passed along to the consumers in the form of lower premiums. Instead, prices are getting jacked up even faster than health care inflation because the health care insurance industry exploits monopoly power. - Andrew C

@Matt: According to the WHO: http://nofearsingapore.blogspot.com/2007... the numbers are slightly different. Close, admittedly. However, the important thing to note is that Canada's ratio is the lowest among almost all industrialized countries, which was my point. I was not comparing to the US, specifically. - Otto

@Andrew C: I understand what "medical loss ratio" means. I understand what "profit" and "premiums" are. What I don't understand is why you think a company should not be allowed to make a legitimate profit? Insurance is gambling. If you don't like the bet, then don't gamble. Or, if you really want to see the loss ratios decrease, then ALLOW COMPETITION. Currently there is virtually no... more... - Otto

You make no sense. A company should certainly be allowed to make a legitimate profit, but indefinitely extracting rent at this level is a clear symptom of market-setting power. Trying to call one the other doesn't actually make them the same thing. Also, people can only reasonably get it from their employer _because that's the only affordable option_. Individual insurance exists; it's... more... - Andrew C

I find it pretty funny BTW that you have implicitly agreed with the rest of us that the health care _insurance_ industry actually is part of the problem. - Andrew C

"Insurance is gambling. If you don't like the bet, then don't gamble." It shouldn't have to be a game. Everyone is going to need medical attention at some point in their life. It's a matter of how you will be able to afford to pay for it. People pay for insurance because it's the only way they can afford to ensure that their health will be taken care of. It's not really an option if you... more... - Fa La La La Lindsay

lolling at the "insurance is a gamble" statement. Classic. - Andrizzle Gizzle

It's the conservative message: You're On Your Own. - Andrew C

For the record, I'm not a conservative. I'm also not a liberal. I'm a person, with my own opinions and ideas. Labeling people only means that you're not paying attention to what they're saying. - Otto

@Andrew C: Individual insurance is priced out of the market because of regulations limiting what kinds of plans can be offered. Why can I not a health insurance plan for, say, emergencies only? I'm healthy, I don't have any need to go to the doctor much, I never get sick, the only reason I'd need to do so would be an accident. So why can't I buy that insurance? State regulations... more... - Otto

@Lindsay: Your statements are provably false. Not everyone is going to need medical attention at some point in their lives. Furthermore, if your statement was true, health insurance would not work at all, since the entire point of "insurance" is to spread risk. If risk was 100%, as you claim, then there's nothing to spread. For the record, I do not currently have, nor need, health... more... - Otto

So basically you're gambling, hoping that you will "win the game". At what point do you decide you need insurance? And hopefully you don't get anything before then. It is pointless to argue with someone like this, just let him enjoy his smug satisfaction on having figured out the whole mess. - Andrizzle Gizzle

Everyone has some chance of getting hit by a bus or eating E.coli tainted food or having a tree branch fall on them. {shrug} - Andrew C

Except for the winners who have somehow divined ways not to do so, I guess. - Andrew C

@Otto, your claim about emergencies-only plans being ruled out seems incorrect to me: http://www.insurance.com/health-... - Andrew C

Otto is completely right. Insurance, not having insurance, it's all gambling. What's relevant is regulation limits choices; or forces one person's judgement and preferences on another. Big government healthcare won't work because the government can't do anything well because unlike a market it doesn't have distributed knowlege and I don't think the incentives are right. Witness the UK's... more... - Rob Fisher

While I don't know if we're using the word catastrophe in the same way, clearly there are policies that have very high deductibles where realistically, the only time they would pay benefits would be if you ended up hospitalized. And there are plenty of policies that don't cover preventative care at all. Even these types of policies are out of the reach of quite a few Americans. - Victor Ganata

What a silly response Otto. Its all emotional. Why do you think the argument here is so passionate? The fact that you would even dismiss it that way tells me everything I need to know about your point of view and existence. Sad. - Brad Nickel from email

If "the government can't do anything well" why do they even exist? Unless you're an anarchist, I can't see how it makes sense. - Victor Ganata

There are limited things governments might be good at. Defense of the realm; keeping the peace. They are not good at providing goods and services. When they try to provide (or control the supply of) food, for example, you get famine. That's because you need market signals to stimulate [the right amount of] supply [and demand<delete], and that information is not centralised. The same problem affects government supplied healthcare. Hence waiting lists. - Rob Fisher

We have waiting lists now. In what way are the NHS's waiting lists worse than the delays caused by having to argue with insurance companies to get coverage for diagnostic tests, procedures, and specialist referrals? - Victor Ganata

Because the latter involves the invisible hand somehow! - Andrew C

It's hard to say. I'm not arguing that you don't have a problem, just that more government isn't the solution. E.g. on the NHS you often end up paying for your own treatment anyway just so you get it in time. This is not an improvement. - Rob Fisher

So that's not really different from the current system we have now: you can always pay cash. I think "more government isn't the solution" is a bare assertion that needs a fair amount of evidence to actually prove. - Victor Ganata

Medicare and the VHA have waiting lists? Really? I haven't ever heard anyone waiting for Medicare, and it's single payer. I haven't heard of anyone in England (or Canada, or any other developed country) put on a waiting list. Do you have evidence to support that? You would write off education, food safety, the highway system, firemen, and air safety as well? Seems like you're asking for a very extreme form of government that isn't very much like what developed countries are or what they provide. - Mark Trapp

Otto: The way that discourse works in research-based journals is that one person makes a claim, and backs that up with either data, and/or references to other research. I would happily read any references you give. I don't understand why you wouldn't look at references that I give. - Robert Felty

Rob Fisher: if government controlled healthcare doesn't work, then why does Canada spend less on health care per person, but have lower infant mortality rates, and longer life expectancy? In addition, these numbers have improved since they started their single payer system, while our numbers have basically remained flat. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues... - Robert Felty

Victor: What can I say? You probably won't be impressed by my Austrian economics theory. You could come and live in the UK and get sick, and see what it's like. :) I do hope the USA manages to avoid the worst of it. Maybe look around at what many other countries do; I don't think anyone gets it quite right. Singapore seems to have good healthcare; but their statistics look good partly... more... - Rob Fisher

Part of the reason all healthcare isn't like that is because not all health procedures and exams are as simple as eye exams. - Andrew C

I also think it's fallacious to believe we're actually arguing about a completely government controlled system. The public option is not even close to a true single-payer system, and nowhere near a nationalized health care system. It is quite similar to Medicare, except with different eligibility criteria, and as far as I can tell, Medicare doesn't seem to have destroyed the private health insurance industry, no matter how many people try to argue that slippery slope. - Victor Ganata

@Rob Fisher - the number of Canadians who seek treatment in the US is not very large: http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi... - Andrew C

You probably can't get a new liver in an hour and expect to have a good outcome no matter where you go. - Victor Ganata

But you should be able to get simple scans and tests quickly and cheaply. You can't on the NHS. The point about this not being about an NHS-like system is taken, though. - Rob Fisher

If you are insured by a private insurer in the US your health fate is decided by insurance underwriters and doctor panels whose sole mandate is to save and make money for the company- not to keep you healthy or prevent you from getting sick or sicker. A doctor's intuition on what a patient may need, even in terms of preventative/investigative testing is hooey as far as they are... more... - Karma Martell

How do we get to a point where you can make money by keeping people healthy? People want to be healthy, so it must be doable. - Rob Fisher

The prescription drug cos would fold, Rob. That is not what they want. - Karma Martell

i wish i could do more than "like" this. oh, and while i'm here loving this, @Rob Fisher -- my answer is, make money doing something other than "keeping people healthy" -- putting profit and human life in the same objective is bound to have some horrifying conflicts of interest, no matter how pure the "health" motivation is. and with $$ involved, it will never even be close to approximating pure. - (dot)lizard kelly

@Rob - you can make money by keeping people healthy, but as (dot)lizard kelly just said, you can make _more_ money by not... for example, by collecting premiums from healthy people and denying coverage to your sick customers. - Andrew C

@kelly - I wouldn't mind people profiting by keeping people healthy. Hospitals and doctors do that. The trouble with insurance companies is that they profit by denying people care. - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

Karma: As long as *someone* can make money at it, doesn't matter who. (dot)lizard kelly: food is important to be healthy; people make money at providing food; no conflict of interest there. I'm not convinced there's anything so different about healthcare. I'll sleep on it and let you know if I have thought of an amazing business plan in the morning. And if it doesn't work, I'll be looking for regulations that stop it working. - Rob Fisher

(I suspect the reason is you can't switch insurance companies easily.) - Rob Fisher

Simple scans and tests frequently lead to incidental findings that are almost always benign but lead to literal million dollar workups. I actually don't think easy access to everything is always the right answer. - Victor Ganata

The food example may not be a good counter-argument here in the U.S., where farmers have actually been paid not to grow things in order to artificially keep prices up. - Victor Ganata

Evidently you and others that spout this free market gobbldy gook have never worked for corporate America and the absolute incompetence in those organizations. Hello , can you say mortgage, banking, savings and loan, energy, etc etc etc. It is a lie and a myth and you folks have gotten away with it for far too long! Thanks, Brad - Brad Nickel from email

I have worked for corp America. As Brad says, free market is never free. The wealth is not distributed. There needs to be accountability and standards. As Obama says, an insurance co should not be able to come between a decision made by you and your doctor. And Victor, it's about fair access, not just access if you have the money and you can override the system. - Karma Martell

The problem is that access is controlled by two forces: actual medical need, and the need to generate a profit, and lots of times these forces end up opposing each other. As the costs of medical care continue to increase, I think we're going to have to decide as a society which is actually more important. - Victor Ganata

This is not to say that I don't think people who actually provide the care shouldn't be compensated for their labor. (In my case, that's just self-interest.) But there's a huge difference between fair compensation and outright profiteering. - Victor Ganata

So who is paying for the "Public Option"? - Brett Veenstra

And who here does not know Blue Cross is a private company. - Mahmood Padura

If you go by what's in the House bill, the public option will initially be financed by seed money from the federal government that is supposed to be paid back in 10 years. In the long run, it's supposed to be funded entirely by the premiums of people who choose to participate in the plan. - Victor Ganata

Otto: it is not the existence of insurance companies that keep prices high (auto insurance's existence doesn't make auto repairs artificially inflated), it is how the system works. If I am a healthcare provider and you are a patient who will only pay $100 no matter how expensive the treatment is, I can set the price as high as I want. Your insurance might only cover $500, but somebody else's might cover $1000 or $5000, so there's no reason I shouldn't set my price at $5000 for the treatment. - Gabe

Furthermore, let's say that there's a 1% chance that you'll need another $5000 test (an MRI perhaps). If you do need it and I don't give it to you, there's a chance you'll sue me and my malpractice insurance goes way up. If I give it to you and you don't need it, you don't care because you're not paying for it. You end up getting lots unnecessary tests just so I don't get sued. In... more... - Gabe

I dunno, didn't Japan solve the MRI problem by providing lots of them and driving the cost-per-exam down? ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh... ) - Andrew C

And besides, the insurance companies in the States deal with that problem by denying procedures. - Andrew C

Health care is not a right http://peikoff.com/video-u... - Crutis

It might be instructive to look at the US airline industry before and after deregulation. It used to be that prices were fixed, so airlines competed on service. This meant that service was good, and profits were built-in so airlines weren't constantly in bankruptcy. It also meant that flying was a luxury that most people could not afford, which made it not so crowded either. After... more... - Gabe

Unless you intend on repealing EMTALA, access to emergency care regardless of ability to pay is in fact a guaranteed right in the U.S. - Victor Ganata

Hmmmm... Unless Crutis you think they fall within Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! Thanks, Brad - Brad Nickel from email

What of someone is happiest if they choose not to acquire health care insurance? It would seem to me that the imposition would thwart their pursuit and remove their liberty. - Mattb4rd

When are we going to learn that the cake really is a lie? Re: Washington D.C. - I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. - Mattb4rd

Civilization is impossible without some form of government. The idea that we can live without it is the lie. - Victor Ganata

No, the lie is that government is somehow required in all aspects of daily life. Civilization does need government, but mostly it needs it to stay as small as possible and leave people alone as much as possible. You are not a child. Grow up and deal with your own problems instead of expecting the rest of society to take care of you. - Otto

BTW, a "public option" doesn't actually bother me provided you use absolutely zero tax money to pay for it. Make it paid for entirely by the premiums of the people who opt-in to it, and I have no further argument against it whatsoever. (Also, eliminate the part of the current plan that imposes tax penalties on those of us who choose to not have health insurance, as that is simply flat-out wrong. If I choose to cover my own risk, then that is my business, not the governments.) - Otto

Yeah Otto, that works well. For example banks, mortgage companies, savings and loans, toys from China, Enron.... The naive Libertarian view of the world that somehow everything will work out in the end and all will be well makes me laugh every time I hear it. Greed, perversion, violence, and chaos don't go away when the government goes away. Human run institutions are all equally flawed... more... - Brad Nickel from email

Brad: I don't know what world you're living in, but it's not the same one I am. Government has done very little good in the world, and is in fact responsible for the vast majority of evil in it. Perhaps you forget who's waging wars, eh? A few people inconvenienced by a bank or who signed bad mortgages doesn't really much compare to millions and millions of dead people. Also, "this... more... - Otto

Sure, because the US Department of Defense had absolutely nothing to do with the Internet whatsoever. But I agree. To believe that the government is either completely virtuous or always evil is delusional. - Victor Ganata

Actually Otto, religion and greed are responsible for most of the wars. Whether a government fights them or not is irrelevant and these days its private corporations that are fighting much of our wars and doing a piss poor job of it as evidenced by the debacle that is Iraq. That there is a fine example of where we should have let government run things, but we had to privatize things at... more... - Brad Nickel from email

@Victor: The DoD had very little to do with creating the internet, short of funding it. They paid for it in order to connect universities together (whom they were funding for other projects as well). It's not like they sent over a bunch of engineers to lay some cables or actually wrote any of the protocols or anything. Vint Cerf didn't actually go work for DARPA until 1976. The first pipes were laid when he was still in school. - Otto

@Brad: It's amazing to me that anybody can espouse a philosophy like yours, which enables governments to control the population and do basically anything they like, including killing millions of innocent people through senseless wars and immoral legislation. Corporations didn't bomb Iraq and Afghanistan, the federal government did. Corporations didn't lie to us about the non-existent... more... - Otto

Yes, because ordinary people with no funding or government backing whatsoever can always complete large scale worldwide projects if they just work hard enough, without any assistance. Rugged individualism FTW. - Victor Ganata

@Victor: Why must everything come down to "large scale" and "worldwide" in your view? Are you so incapable of taking care of your own problems that you want to a) take care of everybody else's and b) have yours taken care of by everybody else? We're talking about health care. Why must "health" be a worldwide problem, to the extent that you want to take away individual rights in favor of... more... - Otto

Otto, where are we talking about taking away individual rights? I'm talking about HR 3200, not some fantastical single payer system or some nationalized health care system from your paranoid nightmares. Don't be a fool. Look around you right now. Clearly health can be a worldwide problem. And it's disingenuous to believe the Internet would have been built if some government hadn't been around to provide funding. - Victor Ganata

Silly Otto... Its obvious that an informed conversation with you is impossible, since you are unable to defend your actual philosophy or arguments and rely upon distortions and extremely silly exaggerations to try and make a point when the question being asked can not be answered with the truth. This happens every single time I debate a Libertarian. They can't explain themselves or how... more... - Brad Nickel from email

Because we'll have to pay for your silly self to keep you alive when you are sick and dying and don't have coverage. - Brad Nickel from email

@Victor: HR3200 takes away my right to choose my own health insurance (in my case, none) by imposing additional taxation and penalties for my choice. It also uses tax money to finance the "public option", which I'm firmly opposed to. And it's disingenuous to believe that the internet would have NOT been built if the government had not provided the funding. It would have happened... more... - Otto

@Brad: I'm tired of listening to your socialist and communist rhetoric. (See? I can apply incorrect labels just as well as you can! I'm not a "Libertarian".) Anyway, if you want the government to control your life, keep it to yourself, I'm not interested. Also, if you can find anywhere I called you anything other than "Brad", I'd be very interested. Note: Saying your ideas amount to "totalitarianism" isn't name-calling when it's true. - Otto

You are a funny guy Otto and I mean that in all the ways it can be interpreted. - Brad Nickel

Fine. Welcome to my block list, Brad. If you ever grow up and decide that you want to have a real conversation instead of trolling, then I'll be happy to oblige you. Until then, just rant incoherently to somebody else, eh? - Otto

LOL. See what I mean. You are funny. - Brad Nickel

Are you kidding me about the Internet, Otto? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... Note that 2 of the original nodes were UC schools--government funded public schools. With HR 3200, it's obviously going to take money to get the public option up and running, but it's supposed to be paid back in 10 years. As for the mandate, it's not ideal, but I don't see how else it will work. Otherwise,... more... - Victor Ganata

No, I think they are supposed to let him die. - Brad Nickel

@Victor: No, I'm not kidding, and that link backs up every word I just said about it. As for the public option paying for itself, are you joking? Medicare is continuously in the red (average benefit per person in Medicare is $11,000 per year!) , and you think making a bigger version will somehow magically work? As for the mandate, that's an absolute deal-breaker, because it it is... more... - Otto

That's how government projects almost always work: they award private companies contracts to do the work. Even HR 3200 is structured that way. - Victor Ganata

If you actually look at it, HR 3200 isn't structured like Medicare. And why is it that state laws that mandate you to carry auto insurance if you drive haven't been struck down by the Supreme Court if it's so unconstitutional? If you're totally healthy there are policies with $10,000 annual deductibles that cost like $50 a month. Obviously, the health insurance companies would rather you pay for a more expensive plan if they can get you to. - Victor Ganata

Why in the world is a high deductible insurance plan not what you want, Otto? - Andrew C

"Medicare is continuously in the red" - regular people who aren't on Medicare either lose benefits or coverage entirely or get outrageous rate hikes, so I'm not sure why you seem to keep claiming private insurance is any better... - Andrew C

My goodness, a single-payer plan in BC costs ~$54/person/month and the deductible is way lower than $10K. And what I lose in 'freedom', I gain back in peace of mind and more money in my pocket overall. (and isn't the glibertarian definition of freedom money?) (Amazingly, the US actually spends as much _government_ money on health care per capita as Canada, and then of course far more in private money on top.) - Andrew C

@Victor: a) State laws don't require you to carry auto insurance. They require you to carry auto insurance *OR* post a bond for some fixed amount, in case you hit somebody else. and b) Auto insurance is about liability (protecting other people from you), while health insurance is not (it's about about protecting you from other things, people included). - Otto

@Andrew C: I fail to understand the question. A high deductible insurance plan is not what I want, because it is not what I want. What I want is a health insurance plan that will only cover me from, say, accident. Something that doesn't cover routine crap which I won't be needing anyway, or which I can pay for myself. In cases where there is an accident, I don't want *any* deductible,... more... - Otto

A high deductible plan effectively only covers you for catastrophes, because you're on your own for the first $5K or $10K, so all "routine crap" will be out of pocket. - Andrew C

BTW, not seeing a doctor even for routine checkups is also gambling. Good luck with that. - Andrew C

"Effectively" is not the same thing as actually. And if there was some kind of major incident, I'd still be on the hook for the $10k, which is still problematic. Basically, a high deductible means that you're getting no real coverage at all, it's not disaster coverage. - Otto

The $10k outlay doesn't sound problematic to me; you've been investing your money, right? - Andrew C

Andrew C: No, it's not. There is no actual need for "routine checkups" in a healthy human being. You'd free to disagree, but I'm just going to say you're wrong, and that is that, so there's no point in arguing it. And whether I can afford $10k or not is beside the point, it's still not the type of coverage I actually need or want. - Otto

Otto - You have a valid point that insurance is designed to cover catastrophes. It turns out that preventative medicine helps to avoid catastrophes though. So it is in the best interest of insurance companies to encourage their customers to get preventative care. One way to do that is to pay fot it. Another way to do it would be to give people discounts for getting regular checkups, just like you get discounts on auto insurance for having a good driving record. - Robert Felty

Yeah, there really is no point in arguing with you, not when you just make statements and "that is that". (Good thing cancer never starts off growing in the body for years before becoming a major problem! And that arteries don't ever get clogged before they close up entirely.) - Andrew C

Robert: Preventative medicine does help to avoid catastrophe, however, it's also far cheaper to cover your own costs there instead of relying on insurance coverage to pay for it for you. It makes no sense for insurance to cover basic care. You don't pay for gasoline with your auto insurance, do you? The fact that insurance covers basic care means added burdens to the administrative overhead, higher premiums, etc, etc. It's a bad system overall. - Otto

OK, so you want catastrophic coverage that starts from dollar 1 for accidents, but no insurance for routine procedures. I think this is a little ridiculous, but you're right, I don't think insurance companies offer that. - Andrew C

Insurance companies are actively prevented from offering it, is what you meant to say. Many state laws require certain minimum levels of coverage, so the plan I want/need is unavailable to me because of over-regulation. - Otto

Preventative care isn't gasoline. Food is the analogy to gasoline. And no, health care insurance doesn't pay for food. - Andrew C

@Andrew C: Okay then, if you don't like that metaphor... Does your auto insurance pay for oil changes? My point is that health care should not pay for routine stuff *unless I want it to*. I do not want it to, I'm perfectly capable of dealing with routine stuff on my own. - Otto

Otto - this is not just about you though. It is mostly about the millions of people who don't have any insurance at all right now. Also, with the oil change analogy, that is not quite right either. Standard auto insurance does not pay for vehicle failure. It pays for vehicle damage due to accidents. There probably is a small correlation between frequency of oil changes and automobile accidents, but I bet that the correlation between regular colonoscopies and advanced colon cancer is much higher. - Robert Felty

Robert: Auto insurance does indeed pay for vehicle failure, if you have comprehensive insurance. Depends on the type of failure. On the other hand, you can get liability insurance to only pay for accidents caused by you, if you so want. You have choice of what to get. And I'd venture to bet that the correlation between colonoscopies and colon cancer is indeed quite high, but in the... more... - Otto

Otto - my dad gets regular colonoscopies, because he has diverticulosis, and I am not ready for him to die just yet. - Robert Felty

Robert: He has a medical condition. I'd hardly call that "routine maintenance", sort of thing. - Otto

Sure. The reason why health insurance companies don't offer plans like that are completely because all 50 states have strict mandates, and certainly not because the health insurance companies don't think they're profitable and would prefer that you pay for more coverage. Of course it's always the government's fault, and never the invisible hand's. - Victor Ganata

Victor: In this case, what I said was in fact true. All 50 states and even the federal government have tons of regulations on the health insurance industry. Rates, premiums, etc.. these are all fixed by the individual states. The insurance companies have to work within a very narrow window of guidelines, sort of thing. This is one reason that so many of them have tried hard to deny... more... - Otto

The only regulation I see that applies to all 50 states is that insurance companies have to be solvent, capable of paying claims, and able to process claims in timely fashion. Fact is, the insurance companies have continued to make record profits despite all these regulations, so I'm not exactly going to cry them a river. - Victor Ganata

Switzerland gets by with strict regulation... Admittedly, I doubt they have the kind of catastrophe-only plans you like, but (1) the insurers there make it work, and (2) they achieve better coverage and outcomes than the current US system does. - Andrew C

@Brad Nickel - The right to life does not imply the right to the labor and property of other individuals. Medicine is exactly that: the products and services of tremendously skilled individuals. To claim by right their labor and products is the moral equivalent of slavery. - Crutis

I just can't get over the rhetoric. It truly makes me laugh outloud. Slave labor. It's not worthy of further debate. - Brad Nickel from email

It's hardly slavery when health care professionals take oaths to serve society in exchange for the position of privilege it puts them in. And they provide care that isn't fully compensated quite frequently: it's part and parcel of many of the contracts they sign with insurance companies. Are you going to call that slavery too? - Victor Ganata

@Victor, no I call it what it is: charity. Charity should be encouraged. @Brad, when you stop laughing maybe you can refute the right of a physician to contract with a patient without government interference. Until then the only laughable idea is the logical conclusion of your argument that physicians could be imprisoned unless they run their businesses for free or at a loss. - Crutis

It is impossible to be a physician without government interference, since license to practice is issued by the state. I'm not sure I'd want it otherwise, personally. Anyway, once again we're straying from the topic at hand: there's nothing in HR 3200 that says you have to accept gov't issued insurance, anymore than you have to accept Medicare or Medicaid. It will still be quite possible to have a nice little boutique practice without getting a paycheck from the gov't. - Victor Ganata

I do medical billing for a nursing home. Those of you who are in favor of a public option obviously don't understand Medicare and Medicaid. We couldn't take care of anybody if we had to rely only on what the government pays. And doctors didn't go to school for all those years and incur all that debt just to be civil servants with tons of red tape and poor compensation. There will be a huge shortage of doctors within a decade. If the bill passes the Senate, we're in for a true disaster. - Dawn

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Few inventions have lent themselves to as little improvement over the years as the simple fan, with its whirring blades that blow air across a desk or through a room. But now even the conventional fan has been transformed. James Dyson, the British inventor behind the vacuums that bear his name, has come up with an incredibly simple-looking, circular fan that has no blades. It uses "Air Multiplier" technology to push 119 gallons of smooth air out every second. - Derrick

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Here's how the new setup works: Air is pulled into the machine's cylindrical base with an impeller that draws from jet-engine technology. The air rushes up into a hollow ring. The air is then forced out of a 1.3-millimeter-wide slit (less than 1/16th of an inch) that runs all around the ring. Here's the tricky part, developed during four years of testing: As the air exits through the... more... - Derrick

As the air exits the loop, the lower pressure pulls air from behind the fan along with it, and air around the front of the fan also gets pulled into the stream. That's simple physics. But it was the wing-like ramp that served as a breakthrough. "We realized that this inducement, or amplification, effect could be further enhanced by passing airflow over a ramp,” said James Dyson. “This... more... - Derrick

I know at least one person who will want this immediately. - Andrizzle Gizzle

Here's video: http://www.youtube.com/user... - Derrick

Wow, that's pretty f'in awesome. Can't wait to see this trickle down to the masses. Me wants a bladeless fan! - Chieze Okoye

Well, not 100% bladeless (there are blades in the impeller part, most likely), but I can see how the air is delivered much more smoothly in this way. Awesome and practical, but "worth a ~30x markup over a bargain bin fan" awesome? Not quite. - Chieze Okoye

Can you stick your hand in it safely? - Laura B.

I think so. There are no moving parts in that circle, just air moving around due to a clever application of physics. - Chieze Okoye

Since I read about this for the first time, I've been wondering 1) how much noise does one make 2) how well the technology would work in computers and other gadgets. - Jemm

I wonder if this idea is applicable to propulsion. Imagine a boat/ship that didn't kill or harm any animals in the blades because there were no blades that were accessible. The animals would be sucked through the ring and that's it. Disheveled probably, but not dead or seriously hurt. There's still the issue of the intake, but it seems like you could easily grate that off (like on this fan) - Chieze Okoye

What I want to know is whether or not it will help me vacuum in hard-to-reach places (oh, wait, I'm think of the Dyson ball vac or whatever it's called - looks like the same guy, though). - Curtiss Grymala

@Curtiss: Same guy. His inventions either suck or blow, apparently ;) - Jemm

Suck and blow are just opposite ends of the same stick. - Brian Sullivan

+1 Jemm - Curtiss Grymala

*bites tongue* - Derrick

wow. a $300 fan. - Chris Greene

@Chieze - good idea on the boat propulsion. Anyway, I am starting to admire this Dyson guy.. ;) - Anthony Citrano

@Jemm I couldn't have said it better myself! ;) - Kittyburgers

Uses a search in friendfeed on "service:friendfeed" so it doesn't grab all the other services. Besides that it's just a bunch of php string functions to clean up the RSS feed. Will share soon. - Mitchell McKenna from Bookmarklet

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Ready to share? :) - Kevin Donahue

Cool thanks! I am looking for some developer to help my side project Twuoted.com, interested? - Montana Flynn

Mitchell, any chance it's ready for public consumption? :-) I'd love to implement something like this. - Allan Besselink

Hey guys, wrote a quick post on how to setup the plug-in to import from Friendfeed (but I haven't tested it on another account yet, so use at your own risk). Once I get a chance to test it, I'll post it in the official Sweetcron discussion board and let you know. http://mitchmckenna.com/blog... - Mitchell McKenna

"On the weekend, Balsillie upped the value of his bid for the club to a possible top-end value of US$242.5 million -- a figure that includes the price of the team purchase, as well as compensation for the city of Glendale, Ariz., should he be successful in relocating the team to Hamilton." - Josh McConnell from Bookmarklet

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Agreed. I'm having a hard time believing the courts can turn this deal down, now that Glendale is getting an excellent chunk of coin from it. The article makes an excellent point saying they have to look out for the internet of the creditors. Only thing holding it back is Bettman... - Josh McConnell

Bettman is an idiot for many reasons, but especially for investing in markets that don't yield profitable outcomes. Bring the game to the fans, dimwit. - Shey, Jamaican of FF

I'm convinced that no matter what giant sum of money Balsillie offers he's not going to get approval. Bettman will never give in. It is time to find a replacement or this league is going to be in trouble. - Kenton

Abby, the NHL should do the right thing and send the team back to Winnipeg. :) - Bill Sodeman

@Kenton: but when push comes to shove, is it not the bankruptcy court that is going to decide since there are creditors involved? Or is it, in fact, Bettman who gets the final say? If this is the case, then why go to the courts at all when clearly the NHL is bidding for it too? - Josh McConnell

Amen, Abby :) - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Jim Balsillie is the man. I wish he was buying the Leafs. - Garin Kilpatrick

@Josh, I don't know. I *think* the NHL and board of governors have the final say as to where the franchise can go, but I don't know that for sure. - Kenton

And the plot thickens! It's now Balsillie verses the NHL, as the third bidder has dropped out: http://thestar.ca/Sports... - Josh McConnell

ooh interesting - Shey, Jamaican of FF

correct me if I'm rong but isn't the auction (when it goes 2 auction) open to anyone ? - S.D.Allen from IM

I think anyone can bid, and purchase the team. The issue is really whether it can be moved or not. I think the NHL as the frachisor has the say in that regard. The fact that the team can't make money where it is makes it very unattractive to potential buyers if they were to get the same treatment as Balsillie. - Kenton

I hope so. Guess we will find out soon enough! Isn't the auction tomorrow (Sept 10th)? - Josh McConnell

I wonder if Google ever thought that people would use GR as a FF replacement and social networking alternative? - Chris Nunz

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Possibly, but don't you have to jump through several hoops in order to allow commenting or something? I'm not too familiar. If they wanted it to be a FF replacement you'd think they would make that process a bit easier. - Chris Nunz

Kol. stop trying to kill friendfeed. - Slappy Line

Slippy: FriendFeed is dead. We are in its afterlife. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Afterlife => eternal life to me, Robert. So we're in good shape here then, right? :) - Craig Eddy

Slippy, LOL. Not me, I want FF to live on forever. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Robert, you're probably right but I'm sticking around till the bitter end. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Christopher, yeah you have to add users to a shared group to all commenting and it's buggy at best. Comment view is poor too and you cannot search the comments only. GReader is a long way off being fully social but it's getting there. Nearly 250 followers for me now. - Kol Tregaskes

How is it fading away? Have they given a shutdown date? Have they stopped adding new features? Have they quit supporting current features? Did I miss the announcement? Besides the whole trauma of facebook buying friendfeed, that is... - Bette Cooper

GReader is not a replacement....yet. I'm finding the comments area very poorly laid out and following shares has some good signal but still adds a lot more noise of topics that do not interest me and that's just following roughly 30 people. So GReader changes are doing more harm than good from an experience standpoint the way I had used GReader in the past. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

There may be a friendfeed replacement somewhere, but gReader is not it. - Jim Addz No Value

okeee dokeeeee, it`s actually really simple going through your shizzz, and the tsunami aka Google Wave is soon coming wooooooohooooooooo - sofarsoShawn

I do feel alone in GR, there is some magic in FF. Even, FB or Twitter does not have this magic. - dstamand

I think FF and GReader are two different things: a social media aggregator and an RSS reader with social network functions (shared by Blogger), respectively. I don't think one can replace the other. If FF gets a superior replacement, I'll throw myself into it. - Dennis Jernberg

I think Google Reader is amazing for discussions and posting notes with embedded media! - Svartling

Google READER was a great FEED READER. I wish google would stop trying to turn it into a social tool. The clutter, mess and bloat is really getting on my tits. Google already has enough OTHER entities that could have been assembled into a friendbook-esque tool without messing with my reader. Props to google for seeing a niche and diving in, but still, no es bueno - Slappy Line

I hope they will add more social features. - Svartling

They should fork it into Google Reader and Google Facefeed. - Slappy Line

Google Reader as-is can not replace Friendfeed. (And I prefer Netvibes to Reader.) Friendfeed is magic, Google Reader is boring and cluttered. Flickr is magic, Picasaweb is boring. - Friendfeed works just fine for the time being. There are so many interesting people posting as usual. Those who have not noticed that we are in afterlife. - Liviu Barbat

GReader is definitely no replacement but with so many people joining it's the second most chatty place on the net for me now. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

For my it's the second most chatty place on the net also. Next after Twitter :) - Svartling

Funny, I don't see FriendFeed fading. I'm watching it at Gnomedex and the screen is going faster than ever. - Robert Scoble

I disagree, and find Google Reader slow, poorly designed, and full of duplicates. - Aaman (Clone of FF)

So frickin' fast. I remember Ben Johnson posting a 9.83 in Seoul, and we knew that was dirty. 9.58! - Louis Gray

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The man is a legend, PERIOD! - Ahmed

Even here, it looks like he slows down early. Wow. - Louis Gray

23.4 mph ... close to breaking the speed limit in most metropolitan areas :-) - Allan Besselink

Sad for Tyson Gay ... he ran a personal best and an American Record but looked quite disappointed with the silver. - Kelly Norton

More like insane lightning bolt... - John Wang from iPhone

Agree. Legend. Period. - iconic88

Wow! The world record progression is faster than linear progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Nenad Nikolic

Facebook is already improving! - Mike Nencetti

http://www.facebook.com/nencett... - Mike Nencetti

How can you do this? - Manuel Mas

do what? invite people. I just send the link I suppose. - Mike Nencetti

Any automatic way of importing them? - Manuel Mas

no I just posted it on some popular FF users thread. Probably Kol's - Mike Nencetti

http://friendfeed.com/questio... - Mike Nencetti

Recently added a couple twitter friends to fb. It was funny in an odd way. Like asking them out LoL. Glad I did! - R1CC1

Hmm, agree, could be better news - Pete Gilbert

Lets see. If things don't go well, we can break out the pitchforks :) After all the commmunity is FF's most valuble posssesion. - Roberto Bonini from iPhone

this is brilliant, thanks for sharing. - dkb

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LOVE! - Fa La La La Lindsay

Killed me. :D - Ayşe E.

This is "verbatim"? Wow... just wow. - MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS

B., Colbert played a clip last night of part of her speech, and I have no words. "Rambling incoherence" would be a compliment. - Ayşe E.

I haven't laughed that hard in a while, just brilliant. Just to be sure I looked up the transcript, it's an excerpt from the second paragraph. - mikepk

Ayse - that description is an insult to everyone with the DT's! - Matthew DeVries

MDV, I stand corrected. Apologies to all who suffer from the DTs! Palin's a moe-ron. ;P - Ayşe E.

Classic! - Allan Besselink

hilarious - anna sauce

NBC yanked it off of YouTube; I've updated the link at my tumblr: http://ayse.tumblr.com/post... - Ayşe E.

"O" Face -------------> - MVB (Grinch of FF) from Bookmarklet

very nice. Ferrari really knows how to manipulate the lines of a car beautifully. - Bren -- feeling merry

zoom zoom ZOOM - Tony C from fftogo

Is this the 430 replacement? Tis nice. - Derrick

wow - Brian Newman

Similar but much nicer than the 599 - Andrew Smith

I changed my mind. Don't get the other car. Get this one! And yes I read your reasons for why you should get one of the other cars. I don't care. - pea

that thing is pretty. - Tony C from fftogo

Feast your eyes on Ferrari's all-new F430 replacement! Spied being rolled onto the back of a truck in Italy, these pictures show the Prancing Horse's new entry-level model – the F450. As you can see, the new model looks very different to the current car with a pair of sweeping side air vents, which have been enlarged to cool the improved engine and brakes. In a bid to compete with the Lamborghini Gallardo, the new car will get a larger 4.5-litre V8 engine – hence the name – putting out around 500bhp thanks to modified mechanicals including a higher rev limit. It will also get a new gearbox too, in the shape of the California’s seven-speed double clutch unit. This is likely to modified to suit the mid-engined car’s sportier demeanour. The F450 may even be the first car to incorporate KERS. Used on Formula One racers, the kinetic energy recovery system turns energy saved from braking into extra power. Expect the F450 to make its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September with UK sales starting in 2010. - Cee Bee

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MVB I found your car bro. - Geoff Schultz

!! - tiffany

دل می رود زدستم، صاحبدلان خدا را!!! - Business Blogger【ツ】™

i agree with the comment above - Cee Bee

What Cee Bee said above. - Steve C

I would like to be shown as supporting Steve C's comment. - Slappy Line

I echo what Slippy "Nickname" Lane said in his comment - Psychotic Sparky

When I sell it all and retire, Geoff... - MVB (Grinch of FF)

Oh please let me provide the insurance. - Gwen Sutton

Oh, and here she is in sexy red: http://friendfeed.com/mvanden... - MVB (Grinch of FF)

@Steve C: Something about Oh my God! - Business Blogger【ツ】™

Interesting analysis. I have to think about this after I get some sleep. - Robert Scoble

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content should be pulled not pushed +1 - Kirill Bolgarov

FF seems like a v powerful platform that is "almost" there on a bunch of apps. a pretty good twitter reader-but as you say doesn't bring in my full twitter feed. a great commenting engine-but Scoble still picks Disqus for his blog comment engine. a group email engine that could replace egroups/yahoogroups-but lacks the simple invitation engine required for that. a powerful real-time search engine-but doesn't index all of twitter...so close on so many things - Tim Connors

Interesting take, I believe that "3. Allow users to import their RSS feeds so they come in the steam as well." is already possible now, as RSS into a FF Room (now "group"). Or do you mean as a 1-click import option? That would be useful I guess, a "import all my Google Reader feeds at once" option. Agreed that it would be great if there were an option to select Twitter users from an... more... - Alex Schleber

Alex is right. You can import any RSS you like (if it's not your own feed i suggest creating a group that is either public or semi public and adding the feed to that). Another thing... you CAN import twitter accounts for people not on friendfeed - Chris Heath

Chris, I think Lew is referring more to (semi-)automated import of larger numbers of Twitter users into a combined Room-type feed (if you want all your "following" in the so-called "with friends" feed, you can import that into e.g. Thunderbird. For FF it doesn't work b/c Twitter has that feed password secured). Right now the process is exceedingly manual... - Alex Schleber

Intriguing article. I would have to agree with one key element - it's far better to do one thing well than two things in a mediocre fashion. I don't see FF as a microblogging platform ... the features (that I have discovered thus far!) seem to make it a much better "aggregator of discussion". - Allan Besselink

Alex, yeah getting password protected RSS feeds into ff should be high up on the list of new features down the road - I know a lot of people have been asking for that. Also in regards to the 'import all my twitter friends not on friendfeed into a group' functionality ... AFAIK friendfeed does have a special firehose of all of twitter, but there's a special agreement on the use of it. - Chris Heath

I agree FF should try to be a better twitter client. This would be very useful. I also think it would be possible for them to become more useful than disqus for blog commenting. All we need is a good and easy to use wordpress plugin. - TobiasVerhoog.com

Totally disagree, the best posts on FF come from the Micro blogging. Just b/c it's not as popular does not mean that there isn't a market for a third competitor. I also don't buy into the FF is not growing meme. We need to see them stall for a year before I'm convinced that they are doing something wrong. As is, its the best social networking site out there. - Davis Freeberg

+1 on this. The Helvetica theme is great, but it still needs the standard FriendFeed logo/branding. - Allan Besselink

Nah… I would like to have the header links and the FriendFeed in red though just like Helvetireader. - Remo

I vote against the standard branding! The design is visually cleaner without it. - Robin Barooah

What about two Helvetica themes, one branded, one not? - Travis Koger

Just the logo seems like an odd thing to make two separate themes over. I personally vote for keeping the Helvetica theme the way it is. - Rishabh Mishra (p248)

@Rishabh, yeah I would never really expect that there would be two themes with only the logo being different. Just a point of discussion. - Travis Koger

- why do people want the logo to be standardized? does it look better than the Helvetica title? - Robin Barooah from IM

Personally, I like the Helvetica title better, but I think some people want the official FriendFeed logo on it for the sake of consistency. - Rishabh Mishra (p248)

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