Balanceinfinity

The American healthcare industry is fascinating for a number of reasons. First, when insurance is involved you have the person seeking the service completely removed from the person paying for it - which almost always will result in overconsumption. Then, you have life or death issues, which people won't apply their usual cost/benefit analysis. Do you need a new car? Depends, is it worth the added expense. Do you need brain surgery even if the chance of success is 4%? Will it possibly extend my life? Yes, no matter how much it costs.

More systematically: offer a "good housekeeping" seal. Presumably those who have good implants will cooperate and open their books so you can look at who they install to and outcomes. Being a reliable 3rd party, cooperating and getting a gold medal seal will help with sales.

Makes one wonder - in the absence of thorough regulation, why a third-party evaluator hasn't arisen to provide real risk analysis for patients regarding each device (the good device seal) - and I'm surprised insurance companies aren't more aggressive in ensuring that they aren't making the patients worse 9which would increase their insurance costs).

Sadly, horribly, that is now a risk with every major procedure - but at least it's a known risk that the patient can choose to accept when the underlying condition is not life threatening. Devices that don't work properly and haven't been properly reviewed by the FDA are risks the patient can't reasonably evaluate.

the best food in London is always in the restaurants from the places the British colonized: Indian, Middle eastern, American, etc. English food - traditionally English food - is better than it used to be, but still down the gastro list.

Cruising is kind of fun. I've traveled every way, from backpacks and youth hostels to four star hotels - they each have their merits. No, if you take a cruise and stop in Maine, it won't be the same as staying there for a week with friends (I've done both), but if you haven't done it don't mock it. If you just want a day to look a city over (or maybe take a hike in a national park) but don't want to shlep in and out, cruising is a fun way to go.

One great thing about cruising is this (same is true of resorts in general), if you have a large, diverse family, you can all get together for meals or activities on some days, but go off and get away from each other on different days - so you don't all drive each other crazy. Also, when you get older, it makes traveling a lot easier.

As you age, you just can't bring the same focus and stamina to bear on a project - which is ok, because experience, wisdom, and efficiency can actually make things easier.

There's not the 24H grind with programming to a deadline. There can be long days, especially when preparing for a court appearance or a trial, and law firms notoriously work their associates very long hours to cover their significant pay checks. Attorneys at firms bill by the hour, so there's an incentive to work lots and lots of hours to be at the top law firms - but there are lots of more human jobs at companies as in-house counsel, or with the government or with a non profit or NGO.

I'm a lawyer, but talented paralegals (typically just a college degree) can do very well. Especially ones who can master ediscovery - the production of documents stored electronically.

It's a fair question - when you're presenting an oral argument the goal is to teach/convince/explain. The ability to see your audience is huge: do they have a quizzical look, are they trying to jump in on your comment; do they look at you with incredulity? an experienced attorney (which all of the SCT bar are) will use these visual cues to focus their argument.

I realized that I was only a so-so programmer. the real ninjas were so passionate and knowledgeable; I was only successful because of brute force and overworking. I moved on to a career in the law - which is a much more natural fit for me.

This is totally addictive

Not surprised they are moving from in-person, but i am surprised they aren't moving to a video system; so much of communications are visual.

best/easiest writing tip 1: You place a square around the subject of the sentence and a circle around the verb. This ensures you have one (or more) of each, as opposed to having an implied subject or verb. Then look at how close they are - the fewer words in between the subject and verb, the clearer the sentence is. Thus: Joe quickly and unerringly picked the wrong word becomes: Joe always picked the wrong word

Best easiest writing tip 2: The most important word in the sentence is the verb - it should always do the heavy lifting. This means that - when possible - you should avoid the passive voice, but it means much more. When writing, select verbs that pop. From: Joe walked down the street without direction To: Joe meandered west.