Every now and then I come up with another screwy combination of words that I use to describe blogging.
Blogadaisical
Blogapathy
Blogfusion and Blogstration
Blogrisma
And now I present Blog Habayit or Blog Ha-Bayit.
Archives for March 2007
DovBear’s Quality Proposal
The grouchy old bear says:
So far not one big blogger has written to tell me that s/he is willing to help judge the proposed quality awards. I don’t understand their indifference.
Our blogs are successful (in part) because smaller bloggers read us, and link to us. I can’t understand why the big bloggers aren’t willing to return the favor by helping to organize a contest that recognizes high quality posts, written by smaller bloggers, and rewards them with links and traffic.
I am a cranky cynic who appreciates Dovie’s idea but is not so sure about the concept. The idea of having a panel read/judge posts is not a horrible idea. It certainly has merit. The issue is more along the lines of trying to determine who the panel members should be.
You see the fact that someone has a big blog is not indicative of quality writing. Some bloggers have managed to grow based upon the community that has formed around them. It is kind of the dive bar concept. You don’t go there for the food/drinks but for the atmosphere around the place.
To paraphrase Cheer’s ” it is a place where everyone knows your name.” There are a number of different blogs out there that are like this. You don’t go there expecting to see the blog-ha-bayit (landlord/blogger) produce brilliant content. You go because it is fun to hang out with the people around there.
To be clear, I do appreciate the grouchy old bear’s idea and his effort. We’ll have to wait and see if it pans out.
Walgreens- Unfair Pricing
Over at the Freakonomics blog they have a post that is quite disturbing.
Many of his patients, he explained, must pay for their drugs out-of-pocket, and yet even the generic drugs at pharmacy chains like Walgreens, Eckerd, and CVS could cost them dearly.
So Wolf began snooping around and found that two chains, Costco and Sam’s Club, sold generics at prices far, far below the other chains. Even once you factor in the cost of buying a membership at Costco and Sam’s Club, the price differences were astounding. Here are the prices he found at Houston stores for 90 tablets of generic Prozac:
Walgreens: $117
Eckerd: $115
CVS: $115
Sam’s Club: $15
Costco: $12
Those aren’t typos. Walgreens charges $117 for a bottle of the same pills for which Costco charges $12.
I was skeptical at first. Why on earth, I asked Wolf, would anyone in his right mind fill his generic prescription at Walgreen’s instead of Costco?
His answer: if a retiree is used to filling his prescriptions at Walgreens, that’s where he fills his prescriptions — and he assumes that the price of a generic drug (or, perhaps, any drug) is pretty much the same at any pharmacy. Talk about information asymmetry; talk about price discrimination.
Flying The Unfriendly Skies
A British Airways passenger was refused compensation and told by the airline to “get over it” after a corpse was placed in the row where he was sitting last week.
Paul Trinder, 54, a businessman from Brackley, Northamptonshire, spent more than £3,000 for a first-class ticket from Delhi. He awoke during the flight to find that cabin staff were propping up a dead woman almost next to him. “The stewards just plonked down this body without saying a thing,” he said. “I remember looking at this thin, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill.”
The woman had been in economy class when she died soon after the plane left Delhi. “She kept slipping under the seat belt and moving about with the motion of the plane,” Mr Trinder said. “When I asked what was going on, I was shocked to hear she was dead.”
Mr Trinder, who was kept on board the plane when it landed and questioned by police and a coroner, contacted British Airways to complain, but was told to simply “get over” the experience.
Apparently the overhead compartments were full. Sorry, that’s not really funny. At least she was quiet. Not funny either, but…
Who Remembers Calculator Watches?
When I was in seventh grade I really wanted one of these. Never did get one.
A Survey For My Jewish Readers
I received a request to post a link to a survey.
More info on the survey:
The study looks at issues regarding Negiah (premarital touching) and Niddah / Taharat HaMishpachah (family purity). Niddah and Negiah play an important role in the every day lives of Jewish men and women. The collection of handbooks on this topic grows from year to year, yet we know very little about how Jewish couples, men, and women experience and observe Niddah and Negiah. Anecdotal evidence and our previous research have led us to conclude that many couples and individuals are experiencing difficulties with this aspect of the Halachah. We are inviting the Jewish community at large to participate in this important survey to shed light on these difficulties and explore some ways to address them. Given the intimate nature of these matters, this brief, online survey is totally anonymous, and no identifiable information is collected.
If you are interested in participating please click here.