10.02.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:01 pm by kevin
Mackerel Economics in Prison Leads to Appreciation for Oily Fillets
Besides the topic of the article itself, two observations:
…says Ed Bales, a consultant who advises people who are headed to prison
Well, I guess I shouldn’t be shocked that there’s a consultant for everything. I wonder whether Oz is good or bad for business…
…says Jonson Miller, an adjunct history professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia who spent two months in federal prison after being arrested at a protest on federal property.
It’s quite possible that there’s more to this story that explains the sentence (perhaps violence?), but if not, color me shocked that you can get several months in prison just for showing up at a protest.
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09.09.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:22 am by kevin
The Pitfalls of Linking Doctors’ Pay to Performance
It’s a difficult issue. While the metrics and pay-for-performance programs profiled in the article are obviously crappy, and by all accounts antibiotics are grossly over-prescribed, it’s important not to take that as an indictment of metrics and data altogether.
A lot of professions fall into this trap where we say, “well, [medicine/law/teaching/programming] is really complex, and it’s really hard to design good metrics, so why don’t we just bank on the fact that the professionals in this field are really good people who work really hard and have the best of intentions, and it’ll all work out for the best.” That’s all true, but it also ignores the fact that data - particularly in the aggregate - can help us make better decisions. And sometimes - not always, but sometimes - this data goes against conventional wisdom, or individual expertise.
One of the neat things I learned from one of the Gladwell books or articles (can’t recall which one) was how important the Apgar score proved in improving neo-natal care. Simply by having a consistent and statistically useful measure of how healthy a baby is (even if it papered over or ignored the individual complexities of each situation), doctors and researchers were able to learn from thousands of cases and derive best practices. Were those best practices always applicable? No. But they were a whole hell of a lot better than what we had before.
By and large, people have an anecdotal bias - we tend to learn and internalize the lessons of our most memorable experiences, with far too little heed given to unbiased data that all too often better reflects reality. Should we draw a straight line from data to compensation? No. Systems like that are easy to game and not particularly helpful. But at the same time, we shouldn’t minimize the importance of gathering good data, developing valid metrics and - without putting all of our eggs in one basket - using it as a component in compensation.
[via Marli]
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07.24.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:03 am by kevin
For those of you that know my renaissance-man friend Greg Wilson: the author/professor/musician has a new site, www.gregoryawilson.com.
(Yes, the last two posts have been pimping things I’ve had a hand in; that’ll probably keep happening for a while).
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10.16.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:56 pm by kevin
We’re Carboholics. Make Us Stop.
Notable because:
[The author] is chief executive of Princeton, N.J.-based NRG Energy Inc., a wholesale power generator.
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09.12.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:08 pm by kevin
In Surprise Move, Putin Names New Prime Minister
Russian politics is so entertaining.
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05.06.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:36 am by kevin
For $82 a Day, Booking a Cell in a 5-Star Jail
No comment.
Okay, one comment: fuck that.
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03.22.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:38 am by kevin
FDA to tighten conflict-of-interest rules
The first paragraph says it all:
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it would bar outside medical experts with a financial interest in a manufacturer from voting on advisory panels assessing whether drugs or other products made by that company are safe and effective.
Umm… yeah. As many have remarked about campaign finance and other matters, the real scandal isn’t what’s illegal - it’s what’s legal.
Look - I agree that this is a good thing. I’m just a bit shocked that people with financial interests in certain drugs were allowed to vote in the approval process. The best part? If you read the rest of the article, you find that even the new rules allow scientists with a financial stake in the process to serve on the advisory panels (though not vote).
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02.21.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:19 pm by kevin
Why I Oppose the Death Penalty
Yes, it’s another anti-capital-punishment op-ed. What makes this one special, though, is that it’s authored by the Governor of Maryland, who actually has some say on the matter. This week, O’Malley is testifying in front of a legislative committee that may recommend the repeal of capital punishment in his state.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 12:03 pm by kevin
Senior Director Development, Select Service Hotels
This “development” job was posted on jobs.thedailywtf.com - a job board for developers of a different stripe than what Starwood is apparently looking for (hint: the subtitle of the parent site is “Curious Perversions in Information Technology”).
Clearly, some poor HR intern googled “developer jobs” or something equally silly, and didn’t read much past the title before paying $300 or so to post the ad.
Random aside: the misplaced ad mentions REITs, an investment vehicle I’m familiar with thanks to Veronica Mars!
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