Safe and Sound so Far

More bad news about swine flu.  Korea is buying 10 million sticks of Tamiflu to vaccinate children and the elderly.

At my school we did another hand-washing lesson and the administration bought some boxes of hand sanitizer.

This is what “socialist” health care looks like in the modern world: a government actually putting the health of its people over the interests of insurance companies.

Old School

Thinking about Les Paul’s passing has put me on a jazz guitar kick.  I was pleasantly surprised to see this clip of John McLaughlin keeping it real from 1985.

The man is a musical chameleon, in the best of ways.

Over There

“5 Myths About Health Care Around the World”:

“In some ways, health care is less ’socialized’ overseas than in the United States. Almost all Americans sign up for government insurance (Medicare) at age 65. In Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, seniors stick with private insurance plans for life. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is one of the planet’s purest examples of government-run health care.”

“As for those notorious waiting lists, some countries are indeed plagued by them. Canada makes patients wait weeks or months for nonemergency care, as a way to keep costs down. But studies by the Commonwealth Fund and others report that many nations — Germany, Britain, Austria — outperform the United States on measures such as waiting times for appointments and for elective surgeries.”

“U.S. health insurance companies have the highest administrative costs in the world; they spend roughly 20 cents of every dollar for nonmedical costs, such as paperwork, reviewing claims and marketing. France’s health insurance industry, in contrast, covers everybody and spends about 4 percent on administration. Canada’s universal insurance system, run by government bureaucrats, spends 6 percent on administration. In Taiwan, a leaner version of the Canadian model has administrative costs of 1.5 percent; one year, this figure ballooned to 2 percent, and the opposition parties savaged the government for wasting money.”

Chronos

Where did summer go?

Not that I’ll miss the heat that much.

Clifford Brumbaugh

There’s no joy in Mokdong, as the Seoul Heroes (formerly Woori Heroes, formerly Hyundai Unicorns) are coming to the end of another K.B.O. season out of playoff contention.  Me and a friend took the trip across town to the smaller, less popular ball park (as opposed to Jamsil Stadium, home of the Doosan Bears and LG Twins).  What it lacks in size it makes up for in laid-back atmosphere.  And you get to sit in the front row.

My Shocked Face

Tom Ridge admits he was pressured to manipulate terror warnings to help Bush win re-election.

Of course, lots of people knew this at the time.  They were promptly asked “Why do you hate America?”

Absolutely disgusting.

Perils of Phonics

I’m probably going to get a cold soon since I taught the “th” phoneme to a group of afternoon students today.

There’s no “th” sound in Korean, so students usually do sort of an “f”-sounding thing.  I individually went to each student and demonstrated the proper tongue and teeth positions, and they gleefully showered me with spit.

(Make an “f” sound yourself, then stick your tongue out to see what I’m getting at.)

My need for penicillin aside, it was kind of fun.

Suck It, Elmo

It’s puppet week here at school, so I’m indulging my students with video clips from Sesame Street and The Muppets.  Their favorite characters?  Cookie Monster, hands down for the former.  Animal from the latter.

I teach very classy six year-olds.

One Of The Greats

R.I.P. Les Paul.

Conspicuous Consumption

I didn’t know Baby Armani existed until today.

Thank you, Apgujong.