jeremy mandle posts here. http://mandle.posterous.com Most recent posts at jeremy mandle posts here. posterous.com Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:18:00 -0700 They're Still Fighting It? Wait... What Is It? Who Are They? http://mandle.posterous.com/theyre-still-fighting-it-wait-what-is-it-who http://mandle.posterous.com/theyre-still-fighting-it-wait-what-is-it-who

Just drove past protesters, of what exactly I've no idea, holding the following two signs & an American Flag:

"We love our FBI, CIA, & Police!"

"National Healthcare Is A Lethal Injection To This Country!"

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/119116/mandle.JPG http://posterous.com/users/Q0bJbbcyul Jeremy Mandle mandle Jeremy Mandle
Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:44:27 -0700 My Healthcare Rant http://mandle.posterous.com/my-healthcare-rant http://mandle.posterous.com/my-healthcare-rant Tonight Obama will engage the US in a "State of the Union" style address regarding the current, revised healthcare reform bill. Watch it.

 This rant is a stream of conciousness style post from my Facebook page earlier. Fairly unedited.

 --------
Disclaimer:
this is a rant... I apologize for partially formed thoughts, poor grammar, typos, etc.
---------

 A nation should provide affordable care, or at the very least ensure that affordable care exists, for its citizens.

 Most nations provide protection from external harm in the form of a military. Do those of you that oppose "paying for someone else's healthcare" as you like to phrase it, feel that the military shouldn't protect those that don't have a job? By your definition of citizenship the only duty a person need perform is pay taxes to be considered a citizen. Don't more citizens die every year from sickness versus those that are victims of terrorism or war?
Doesn't our country oversee, develop, and enforce standards in almost every aspect of industry & manufacturing?
What if that system had been a privatized, for profit, competition based system. A system that was rife with corruption, convolution, and driven by profit versus basic humanity.
Wouldn't we as citizens of that country demand that the standards of our workplace, the quality of our motorcycle helmets, the requirements for food handling at our favorite restaurant be handled by federally funded departments? I would.

 The healthcare industry, mostly the pharmaceutical, sees the biggest profits when more of its *customers* are very unhealthy. How can this continue? This is almost worse than the tobacco industry. They're at least being slightly honest. They're not telling anyone they're making themselves healthier by using tobacco products.
Shouldn't prescription medications for some illnesses carry a warning label stating that the benefits provided by it could be acheived via other methods and behaviors? Such as diet, excercise? Or is that solely the job of the doctor? Right, the doctor we never go see... because it is way too expensive. In part because malpractice insurance is out of control for the doctors. Also because most of them have trouble getting paid by insurance companies and by individuals that have no insurance. Some doctors will give you a discount if you pay cash! They're overhead and cost of doing business is too high, too complicated, too much in the way of the oaths they took to remain.

 At its core the problem with healthcare is a power struggle... one of money not human well-being. Insurance comanies should at least be as transparent in their intentions as banks. Right?

 Bank Customer: Here. Hold my money. If I need it, I will take it. I'll pay your fees if I make a boo boo. You'll pay me some interest on profits you make by using/investing my money.

 Bank: Yes. We'll do that. Thank you for choosing us as your bank. And the FDIC insures your money at this bank.

 as opposed to this...

 Health insurance customer: Here's some money. Pay my doctor if I need some services from them.

 Health Insurance Company: I'm sorry. That procedure was coded as a 123w09 by your doctor. We are only responsible for paying 30% on a 123w09. Your doctor probably should have coded it a 123w00 but they knew that you would be resonsible for more of te cost and figured they could get the money from you much faster and easier than from us.

 -or-

 I'm sorry. The plan your employer picked for you does not cover the cost of the hearing aid, but we will pay for 90% of the cost of the appointment that determined you suffer from acute tenitis and have lost 35% of your hearing.

 -and all the while-

 We won't share any of the massive profits we make investing the money you give us.

 I could go on.

 So, if anyone (private or public insuree) can walk into a healthcare facility and expect to receive some decent, affordable level of care you will raise moral.
Raise moral and you will make your nation's citizen's a bit happier, and happier leads to healthier.
We're all In this together.

 This quote from Elvis Costello's "All This Useless Beauty" loops in my mind whenever I think about this *issue*:

 "And our leaders have feasts / On the backsides of beasts / They still think their the gods of antiquity..."

 Legend:
our leaders = the privelaged
beasts = the average citizen

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/119116/mandle.JPG http://posterous.com/users/Q0bJbbcyul Jeremy Mandle mandle Jeremy Mandle
Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:53:00 -0700 Is SEPTA paying you to advertise? (inspired by @rbender's earlier tweet) http://mandle.posterous.com/is-septa-compensating-you-for-use-of-your-ad http://mandle.posterous.com/is-septa-compensating-you-for-use-of-your-ad
@rbender's tweet earlier today reminded me of this little post I started [and have yet to finish] about @SEPTA's advertising on passes.
  • Why can't we pick our advertising?
  • Wouldn't SEPTA's advertising department benefit from the metrics they'd gather based on what ads purchasers choose?
  • Can we pay more to not have any advertising on our passes?
[A few weeks ago...]
So the guy seated across from me on the R5 got on the train, sat down, reached into his pocket... & then instantly became an advertising space for the next 45 minutes. See it? The SEPTA pass on his shirt. He didn't clip it on until he was seated & will most likely remove it upon his arrival but for the duration of the trip he became a little billboard for McDonald's Egg McMuffins.

Img_4036

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/119116/mandle.JPG http://posterous.com/users/Q0bJbbcyul Jeremy Mandle mandle Jeremy Mandle
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:40:00 -0700 [rant] Who is the loose cannon in product development at Jelly Belly? http://mandle.posterous.com/rant-who-is-the-loose-cannon-in-product-devel http://mandle.posterous.com/rant-who-is-the-loose-cannon-in-product-devel

Maybe you can remember when Jelly Belly started releasing the more eclectic jelly bean flavors? I'd like to say it's astonishing that after the Buttered Popcorn flavored jelly bean failed so miserably they decided that pudding was a good idea? First of all pudding is dead to kids these days. They eat all kinds of cleverly packaged yogurt based products instead. Did the executives at Jelly Belly look at an inventory report one day and see 100 million gallons of Buttered Popcorn flavoring lying around and say, "Let's get into the pudding business"?
So now it sits on the clearance shelf.
$0.50 for a four pack. Which is insulting to everyone except the idiot that buys it. The supermarkets are to blame as well. Which one of the fucking buyers thought it would actually sell? They probably got a free 60" Plasma TV for buying 5 pallets of this goo. And the savings get passed on to us. Yeah right.
What a massive fail.

Photo

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/119116/mandle.JPG http://posterous.com/users/Q0bJbbcyul Jeremy Mandle mandle Jeremy Mandle
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:47:00 -0700 I really miss the liner notes y'all http://mandle.posterous.com/i-really-miss-the-liner-notes-yall-maybe-read http://mandle.posterous.com/i-really-miss-the-liner-notes-yall-maybe-read

A few days ago I switched to the iTunes cover art screensaver on the MBP. Wow. I've been transported to the times in my life when album cover art had a major influence on my taste in fashion, art, food, design, sense of humor, and popular culture in general.
 
Some of the albums I buy these days... I tell ya I wouldn't even know them by their album artwork! It's killing me, seriously. Where would I be... what would I be worth had I never seen and worshipped those three guys in b&w, sitting on the curb on the "Check Your Head" album cover? I can't even list the number of album covers burned into my memories. What worries me is a growing number of album covers & liner notes that I'll never see. It's partially my own fault. I submit. I could buy CDs of every album it I want cover art & liner notes, but I won't.
 
I miss it. The Cover Art. The smell of a CD booklet fresh from shrink wrap. I can remember the 1st CD booklet I received that was primarily made from recycled paper & soy based inks. Kenny Garrett: Pursuance. It had a different smell, matte finish, no staples.
 
Something else that's missing in this age of digitally distributed music is the liner note album credits. I used to looks to see who produced the album, took the photos, designed the album artwork.

Who did the artist(s) thank?
Where was it recorded?
Are there any candid photos could act as a window into the musicians soul?
All of this information was part of the experience of obtaining new music and I've taken it for granted.
Alot of passionate people work really hard to produce that album you purchase, shouldn't we be able to read some of their names in the "package"?
I know on some iTunes album downloads a PDF booklet is included at the record label / artists discretion.
Maybe the content distributors should step up and include an XML file that can be read by music players that contains the album credits... at the very least. Perhaps Myspace, Facebook, Last.fm, etc... have in a way replaced the album liner notes. Want candid photos, look online. Want to know who the lap steel player was on that track, check Last.fm.
 
Imagine if downloadable movies were stripped of their ending credits... If they only appeared online and on the DVD case. That would never fly.
 
I feel less informed about my music collection. 10 years ago I began ripping my CD collection to MP3 unaware that I'd soon banish those jewel cases and the fantastic booklets of information the protected to the attic, instead leaving the accompanying CD to the mercy of some 250 compartment folio. When did convenience become such an important factor in owning a large music collection?
 
Now having said all that I do believe that curtailing the needless use of plastics in the packaging, promotion, and distribution of music is a great thing. And there are still some albums that I will buy the old fashioned way. Here's what I'd like to see at some point.

  1. 1. When purchasing and downloading an album I'd like it to include at least a high quality PDF of the CD booklet as well as a computer / portable media player readable version of the textual content. Some kind of open format would be best.
  2. The opportunity to pay more for the download and be albe to "purchase media". Much like the software industry has done. For a $8.99 download I'd pay an extra $5 if they'd ship me the actual CD.

Any thoughts, insights? I'm sure this topic has been discussed / debated at great lengths many times over. I just felt compelled to honor my own inner discomfort with this post.  So chime in all you listeners, musicians... What do you think?

Photo

Sent from my mobile

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/119116/mandle.JPG http://posterous.com/users/Q0bJbbcyul Jeremy Mandle mandle Jeremy Mandle