Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Considering terminal musics

Music Wonkery

A recent visit to my personal abode and culture bunker by Clan Johno included a soundtrack provided by Band of Gypsys.

In subsequent discussion, I explained that someone who hears “Machine Gun” and is not moved has no soul.  And I didn’t mean “soul” in the James Brown, real supabad sense.  I’m not saying you have to like it- you could be moved to loathe it.  OK.  But the energy and the wailing and the wah wah wah weeeoooooDRAAAAAANNNNNNNN ah wa wa wa wa wa awaw provokes all who hear.

Which days later got me to thinking about dying in a horrible plane crash. 

Assuming I had it with me, and I had the time to listen, and I was together enough to make my player work at that moment, and not flipping the fuck out at the prospect of my imminent demise, I decided I would like “Machine Gun” to be my terminal music.  The last music I heard before impact and non-existence. 

Yeah. 

So.  All the assumptions listed above apply to you.  What is your terminal music?


Posted by GeekLethal on 05/29/07 at 01:52 PM
Music Wonkery • Permalink

Medi-Jacking: “Retail” Medical Pricing

Partisan Politics

Competition in the medical system is a Republican plank—the theory being that normal business competition takes place in the medical sector, yielding market forces that optimize across the board. I don’t think that medicine operates the same way as other areas—normal competitive forces require that the buyer have choices and knowledge of those choices, so better decisions can be made.

I recently had some blood tests done as part of a normal checkup—right down at the end of the hall, sir! Weeks later some handy information systems that my insurance company provides give insight into the costing side of the medical equation that I haven’t really had before. I was stunned to see the lab charges.

I wasn’t stunned by the amount that the insurance company had paid on my behalf, which was around $22. I was stunned by the “normal” fee for the service—over $125! In other words, if someone was stupid enough to go to the doctor and pay fee-for-service, they’d get hijacked (or medi-jacked, if you like) for $100 more!


Posted by Ross on 05/29/07 at 02:51 AM
Partisan Politics • Permalink