On Improving Communication

“The mistake is to think that communications will solve the problems of communication, that better wiring will eliminate the ghosts.”
—John Durham Peters

“The mistake is to think that communications will solve the problems of communication, that better wiring will eliminate the ghosts.”
—John Durham Peters
The Cornell Alumni Magazine had a wonderful article recently, on its famous former professor, Carl Sagan. Here is my favorite Sagan quote from that article: Look again at that dot. . . . On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their…
During a particularly miserable World War II battle, a military analyst estimated that it cost $25,000 in artillery shells for each enemy soldier killed. That caused one soldier to ask: “Why wouldn’t it be better to just offer the Germans $25,000 to surrender?” If only the world were so rational! (Click here to view comments)
A recent Time magazine article by Steven Brill has received a lot of attention, for highlighting some of the crazy ways that hospital set their prices. One quote in particular caught my attention. It had to do with what hospitals call the charge master, which is essentially a big list of what they charge for…
As Jim Newton pointed out several times in his book on the White House Years, Eisenhower valued balancing the budget. Sometimes that meant controlling social welfare spending. But it also meant trying to restrain military spending and foregoing tax cuts, even when his Vice President, Richard Nixon, was running for Presidency and needed a lift in…
I don’t read much war history. I’m fascinated by what causes humans to end up in a state of war, but not so interested in the bloody details of how they fight their battles. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed The Day of Battle, a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson. The book covers the war…
Do you feel like your out of pocket medical expenses are growing? You are not alone. Even for people getting Medicare, the amount of money coming out of patients pockets is growing too. And it is growing not only because all health care spending is growing, but also because patients are being asked to bear…