pixelbill

I'm planning on visiting to get some dental work done in the coming months. I have a lot of issues and have never been able to afford proper work here in the US. To get the work done I need here would be in excess of $50,000 but my friend in Taiwan said it would cost at most $1,000 there.

Every time in the past I suggested something like that to my current dentist they had the same reaction, basically: "Oh I would never do that! You're going to get an infection and/or they are going to do such bad work that no dentist here in the US will want to touch you afterwards."

Doctors in the US are so arrogant, thinking they are the best in the world because they are the most expensive. I would love to move to Taiwan, but I suffer miserably in the jungle weather (hence why I am going in winter).

Edit: As someone with chronic health issues in the US, I have a laundry list of horror stories about doctors here. They are far, far from the best in the world.

I think you nailed it, you are lucky.

Most jobs do not function like this, to think otherwise is delusional. At every single employer I've ever worked for, if you left early or came in late despite accomplishing all your work, you would get in trouble. I have seen it happen over and over again.

Typically, they will claim that you could have accomplished more work if you were only there for the extra time, regardless of the reality of the situation. Your time outside of work is worthless to the company, and they would rather waste your time so that they can (possibly) squeeze another drop from you.

I'm curious, this article spins the whole "lower rates of ambulance usage" as a positive thing, but is there enough evidence to say that?

From the article:

_______ With demand for ambulances decreased by available Uber drivers, emergency personnel have been able reach critical patients faster while also applying necessary treatment on the way to the hospital, according to a new economic study from the University of Kansas:

"Given that even a reduction of a few minutes can drastically improve survival rates for serious conditions, this could be associated with a substantial welfare improvement."

The study investigated ambulance rates in 766 U.S. cities from 43 different states. Taking into account the timelines of when Uber entered each city, the researchers found that the app reduced per capita ambulance usage rates by around 7 percent. _______

Okay they claim the study says "emergency personnel have been able reach critical patients faster" but decreased usage does not necessarily equal faster response time. It would have been much more solid if they actually looked at the ambulance response time, not just how many are being used. (My skeptical side leads me to think this is because that data-set didn't match their narrative.)

There is also the question of: Is this actually a good thing? Are those 7% less people using ambulances all not having serious health issues? Especially when something is wrong, you are often not a good judge of your own health.

How many people having chest pain thought it wasn't too bad so they called an Uber instead of an ambulance and died on the way to the hospital? Might not have turned out that way if they just called an ambulance in the first place..

Need more data to decide if this is an Uber propaganda piece.

They have a HUGE bias, I doubt anything coming out of them is the actual truth.

There are around 500,000 minke whales (the type they hunt) in the Antarctic, Japanese whaling kills approximately 300 whales per year.

Please explain to me why you think this is such an issue?