Author: linked

A Short Story has the video. But:

minion (n) a servile or fawning dependant

Its also a rather nice font. Neither are what Aaron had in mind. I think.

The insurance industry — you know, the one conservative lawmakers and the AMA are so desperate to protect at all costs — has this unpleasant habit called “rescission.” Customers have insurance, and they pay their premiums, but once they get sick and require expensive medical treatment, the companies drop the coverage.

[…]

One executive said rescission is about “stopping fraud and material misrepresentations that contribute to spiraling healthcare costs.” So, for example, when a woman in Texas was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer, her insurer dropped her coverage because the company found an instance in which she visited a dermatologist for acne, and didn’t tell the insurance company about it. This, the insurer said, was an example of “fraud and material misrepresentation.”
“Late in the hearing, [Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.)], the committee chairman, put the executives on the spot. Stupak asked each of them whether he would at least commit his company to immediately stop rescissions except where they could show ‘intentional fraud.'”

The answer from all three executives: “No.”

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) added, “This is precisely why we need a public option.”

As Gruber said, U.S. health insurance executives are simply evil bastards.

Unfortunately, our very expensive, very inefficient and highly rationed model of healthcare doesn’t show any signs of going away.

To talk about bike lanes on Kent Avenue.

One star from Bruni.

“It may be the end of this market.”

Sounds like hyperbole to me. I like the market where it is. I liked its old location. I’m sure I will like the new location. Particularly since there are tables and chairs nearby. And no mud puddles to negotiate.

I guess, in short, I like the Greenmarket.

Bob Scarano has pretty spot-on architectural criticism (though I withhold judgement on Toren).

Malcolm Smith continues his quest to make David Paterson seem like an effective leader. To think, only a year ago we thought Sheldon Silver was the worst thing that could happen Albany.

So sad. So irreversible. And so inevitable… Sure, Ratner says he still plans to build. Yippie! The new arena design now on the table bears as much resemblance to Gehry’s as a Dumpster does to his Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

The Post’s Steve Cuozzo is clearly not impressed with Ratner’s AY bait and switch (“there’s no way to sugar-coat the calamity”). Instead of great architecture that celebrates Brooklyn, we’re now faced with “Atlantic Terminal North”. In other words, yet another value-engineered shopping center from the folks that brought you Metro Tech. (Clearly I’m on a different page from Marty on this switch.)

There goes the neighborhood.

The BRT powerhouse is pretty much toast by now, but the IRT powerhouse on West 58th Street in Manhattan is slated to go before the Landmarks Commission for a designation hearing in July. The IRT plant was designed by McKim, Mead & White, and has already been heard by LPC twice (first in the 1970s, then in the 1980s) – in both cases, LPC took no action. Its an incredible building (as was the BRT plant) – if you agree, sign the petition.