The biggest point that he is making is that there are a LOT of areas where the US is overspending on health care. Which, if the effectiveness of this health care was in line with the increase spending, it would be alright. Unfortunately, it isn't, so there is a lot of waste.
We are spending money on the wrong things and it is a systematic and cultural problem.
Anecdotally, I tend to see a lot of people in the US go to the doctor "just to play it safe". X-rays for a sore knee, antibiotics used for a mild sinus infection, blood work done because they're not sleeping well at night... we spend a lot of money with the idea in our heads that the medical industry can and will cure all of our ailments.
What is his hypothesis? He doesn't seem to have any sort of agenda other than saying that it is a complex issue that can't be solved by a political one-liner like "tort reform" or "fixing big pharma".
This is true, but it only accounts for a very small slice of the over-spending pie. This is outlined throughout the series of blog posts. I recommended reading all of the posts in the series, it is well worth it.
How much did you know about the industry? Did your company know any promoters or booking agents? Could you get a band that signed up to do business with your company an opening slot on a tour? Could you get them a write-up in a music magazine? Did you know where to send them when they got kicked out of their practice space?
See, that's the thing. Music isn't just distribution of content on the Internet. There's a lot of other shit going on.
I do know a lot about the industry. I was an audio engineer and session musician at the time myself. I knew people and had lots of friends in various places. That wasn't the problem.
I said "levaraging the Internet and file sharing." That's an intentionally simplistic description of what I was up to. There was much more to it that I just didn't feel the need to go into to make my point.
When I lived in NYC, I built recording studios and did noise abatement in a number of bars in Brooklyn and Manhattan. There are plenty of places to pick up supplies
Also, there are TONS of specialty shops. Canal Rubber is my favorite, as I used a lot of mass-loaded vinyl. In fact, in most places in the US, you would have to order in specialty construction materials.
As for general purpose, I got a good discount at Dyke's Lumber. They have locations all over the city.
Metropolitan Lumber is nice also. They've got lots of cheap "used tools", if you know what I mean. I used them when I was working in Hell's Kitchen.
You can haggle prices down quite a bit at all these places. Normally you just say "well, Dyke's gives me %10 off orders of this size" or whatever.
However, when the Home Depot opened up in Bed-Stuy, their prices were so low that pretty much every handyman in Brooklyn shopped there.
Oh, and all of these places deliver. I rarely went in to the location. You just call them up, say you need 20 2x4x8' studs, 10 1/2" pieces of sheetrock, and they'll roll up with a big truck with your stuff. Don't forget to tip!
For the random little things there are hardware stores all over the city. I can't think of a time I had to walk more than 5 minutes to pick up a box of screws or buy some new work gloves.
The more you interact with women, the more you get to know women.
There is no method.
Think about throwing a baseball. No professional pitcher looks the same. They each have their own peculiar windup, delivery, and follow-thru. They each have a different selection of pitches. Some are taller than others. Some are from the Dominican Republic. What do they have in common?
They've all been pitching for a long ass time.
Sure, they have insights on the process. They'll show you their grip on their change-up or how they flick their wrists out before they release their curveball. They'll show you little bits of technique but they'll never be able to teach you how to pitch.
You've got to figure it out on your own.
Confidence is absolutely key. You're up on the mound. Your entire team is behind you, waiting for you to deliver the ball. It's just you and the batter. You're on the spot. You can't undo what is about to happen. There is no proof-reading. There are no mentors to run things by.
It's all up to you.
The first pitch might be off target. That doesn't matter. You've still got at least one more pitch to throw. So what are you going to do, fret about what just happened or think about how having a 1-0 count can work to your advantage? What was that last pitch, a fastball, and you missed up and outside with it against a left-handed hitter? Perfect time to throw your slider in for a strike, just nabbing the upper right corner. Now it's 1-1. The hitter is left thinking if the first pitch, way outside that it was, wasn't just some sort of psychological test, a setup, a prelude for the rest of the at-bat.
Congratulations, you've just gotten through a single batter. There are at least two more to go, and that's just for this inning. If you're lucky, you'll get to face 27 or more of them. If you're not up to par, you might only see a dozen or so. The point is you are hungry for the chance to show off your skills.
It doesn't matter if you're a knuckleballer, a crafty south-paw, or a fire-brand young all-star. You're all experiencing the same thing.
> The more you interact with women, the more you get to know women.
s/women/people/
However, a little instruction about body language and psychology can go a long way if you need it. It's useful to know where you stand. Incidentally, I've started playing poker most nights for the past week, and together with some reading about tells, I feel as though my ability to read people to some degree has improved.
My band's website is the highest ranked page for the search term "red blue yellow".
No meta headers, no keywords, no <strong>, no <h1>... nothing, not even <html> or <body> tags. In fact, the only HTML is a <pre> tag containing ASCII art and a link to our Facebook page. I mean this quite literally, view the source.
However, it has been linked to from other sites quite frequently in recent weeks.
It would seem that Google doesn't penalize invalid HTML, or even pages that have only the most basic HTML.
Yeah, wouldn't say they penalize, but since your site actually is at the URL of redyellowblue.com, and there are other sites (probably with some authority) linking to it, it doesn't surprise me that it would rank highly. Additionally, I doubt there is much competition for this keyphrase. It has a global monthly search volume of 1,600.
I should not that there is no way in hell this has a global monthly search volume of 1,600. Google Adwords lists it at 1,600 probably, which means that the actual numbers are more like 100.
You have to remember Google is inflating these numbers for their own gain - being increased PPC spend, of course.
Who in their right mind would search for "red yellow blue"?
> Who in their right mind would search for "red yellow blue"?
People searching for the band, the "primary color triad in a standard artist's color wheel"[1], or maybe an artist entering random colors because they're bored and want to see what they can find. Since I just learned about the band, I'm sure there are many other reasons that I haven't thought of.
I'm surprised it's not more. Can you substantiate your claims?
I find SEOmoz's "black box breakdown" really insightful on SEO. 4 out of 5 of their top factors are all related to inbound links. On page details factor in very little comparatively.
Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; and Logic Studio, a suite of audio tools. As of January 2010, the company operates 284 retail stores in ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold.
If there are two guys, one guy working on server-side code and another guy working on client-side code, either side could get held up waiting for the other guy to finish his part of the project.
Even if people aren't waiting around for something to be completed by someone else there is an overhead in communication. "Oh, you wanted the LIs to have that class name? Well I've got to go fix my CSS now... gimme a few minutes."
We are spending money on the wrong things and it is a systematic and cultural problem.
Anecdotally, I tend to see a lot of people in the US go to the doctor "just to play it safe". X-rays for a sore knee, antibiotics used for a mild sinus infection, blood work done because they're not sleeping well at night... we spend a lot of money with the idea in our heads that the medical industry can and will cure all of our ailments.