Give Me a Break category archive
The Fee Hand of the Market 0
At the Inky, Harold Brubaker takes a look at hospital fees for various services that have been recently made available under a new federal regulation strongly opposed by hospitals and insurers. He concludes that they make no sense when exposed to the light. A snippet; follow the link for more.
Those are the prices consumers with high-deductible plans would have to pay to scan their knee and find out how serious the source of their pain is.
And replacing that knee would cost from $12,300 to more than $44,000 under insurance plans that IBC sells to employers and individuals.
The notion, often promoted by persons who call themselves “conservative,” that someone who is sick will comparison-shop for health care has always been fanciful. The reality is that, if there is a choice, a patient will go where his or her doctor says, and, in rural areas, there is often little or no choice from the git-go. Add in a landscape of wildly variable and irrational pricing schemes, comparison shopping for health care becomes an impossible dream all-too-possible nightmare.
The Misinformation Superhighway 0
After drawing a distinction between misinformation and disinformation, Aditi Subramaniam offers some reasons as to why we are susceptible to misinformation (think the clickbait headlines that Snopes is so fond of debunking) and some techniques for dealing with it.
She starts by telling a story of her own trip down the rabbit hole of a clickbait headline (follow the link below to see what she discovered about said headline and its tenuous connection to facts, as well as for some hints to help avoid falling down your own rabbit holes). Here’s a bit of her article.
The Dearth of Expertise 0
Writing AL.com, Frances Coleman is taken aback by the proliferation of self-appointed experts, which she thinks can be attributed in large part to “social” media. Follow the link for some examples of said expertise (under the circumstances, though, I shall proffer “expertism” as a more appropriate term).
Aside:
Many of these self-appointed “experts,” of course, meet the classic definition of the term, in which
- “x” is the mathematical symbol for an unknown quantity,
- “spurt” is a drip under pressure, so, therefore,
- “expert” is an unknown drip under pressure.
(Grammatical error corrected.)
You’ve Been Zoomed 0
If you have been using the Zoom app to work or school from home, or even just to talk with friends, you should know that El Reg reports that it’s even less secure than previously reported. Here’s a snippet from the latest (emphasis added):
When reports emerged that Zoom Meetings are not actually end-to-end encrypted encrypted, Zoom responded that it wasn’t using the commonly accepted definition of the term.
“While we never intended to deceive any of our customers, we recognize that there is a discrepancy between the commonly accepted definition of end-to-end encryption and how we were using it,” the company said in a blog post.
If you have been Zooming, you owe it to yourself to read the rest. Then pick up a landline.
Aside:
Zoom’s mealy-mouthing is positively staggering.
The Credibility Crap 0
I saw it on the internet, so it must be true.
“Social” Me Me Me Me Media 0
Everyone’s a brand, amd everyone else is a prop.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
Ed from Gin and Tacos follows the tale of a Facebook Frolicker’s descent into the wingnut rabid hole.
Facebook Frolics 0
One more time, the internet is a public place. Comport yourself accordingly.
The Snaring Economy, Gypsy Cabs with an App Dept. 0
Owen Davis reports that Uber has achieved another milestone.
It has gotten itself sued for stock fraud, even thought it has not yet issued any stock. An excerpt:
If Uber had recently gone public in a massively overhyped IPO, only to shed double-digits as the true depths of its mediocrity came to light, a lawsuit would not be unusual. Just ask Blue Apron. But it’s rare for a startup to face investor suits in any situation short of complete and utter fabrication on the part of the founders. It basically signals that the highly illiquid startup stake you’ve got – and for which you’d like good money – is worthless.
Read the whole thing. It will give you a lyft.
