Best Sellers By Area

What does it say about various locations when you compare bestsellers?

DC Non-Fiction

COURAGE & CONSEQUENCE, By Karl Rove.
CHELSEA CHELSEA BANG BANG, By Chelsea Handler.
GAME CHANGE, By John Heilemann & Mark Halperin.
STONES INTO SCHOOLS, By Greg Mortenson.
THE PACIFIC, By Hugh Ambrose.
CHANGE YOUR BRAIN, CHANGE YOUR BODY, By Daniel G. Amen.
SWITCH, By Chip Heath and Dan Heath.
PAYBACK TIME, By Phil Town.
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, By Rebecca Skloot.
REWORK, By Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Bay Area Non-Fiction:

THE BIG SHORT, By Michael Lewis.
CHELSEA CHELSEA BANG BANG, By Chelsea Handler.
GAME CHANGE, By John Heilemann & Mark Halperin.
WOMEN FOOD AND GOD, By Geneen Roth.
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, By Rebecca Skloot.
WILLIE MAYS, By James S. Hirsch.
THE KIND DIET, By Alicia Silverstone.
THE PACIFIC, By Hugh Ambrose.
THE HAPPINESS PROJECT, By Gretchen Rubin.
EVERYDAY LIFE IN TUSCANY, By Frances Mayes.

National Non-Fiction:

THE BIG SHORT, by Michael Lewis.
CHELSEA CHELSEA BANG BANG, by Chelsea Handler.
COURAGE AND CONSEQUENCE, by Karl Rove.
THE PACIFIC, by Hugh Ambrose.
CHANGE YOUR BRAIN, CHANGE YOUR BODY, by Daniel G. Amen.
GAME CHANGE, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.
AMERICAN CONSPIRACIES, by Jesse Ventura with Dick Russell.
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, by Rebecca Skloot.
HAVE A LITTLE FAITH, by Mitch Albom.
NO APOLOGY, by Mitt Romney.

I always look at the national bestseller list and scratch my head, even more than the Bay Area one. Maybe as a generalization, more politics in Washington, more lifestyle in San Francisco, more conservative reading interests overall in nationally.

Indian firms hope to cash in on U.S. health-care law - washingtonpost.com

Indian firms hope to cash in on U.S. health-care law - washingtonpost.com Ezra Klien was interesting but this is what I was talking about when I wondered who will turn this into a financial windfall. Indian firms seem to be prepositioned for maximum gain. Nice of them to through us a bone by gaining a "Toehold" through mergers and aquisitions. Maybe the new software needed will be American made.

Weeds

This is not our problem, although we wish it was. Irises are coming up, and it's all out war with the weeds.

If health care passes

Who will win? Not politicaly or socialy but financaily. When umpteen million financaily strapped people begin to exercise their new benefit of seeing a doctor regularly and checking on every discomfort they have lived with for years. From hemorrhoids to cancer the volume of treatment is going to skyrocket and money is going to change hands. Insurance companies have opposed this down the line so are they the losers, I'm not so sure about that considering their customer base will be increased phenomenally. Certainly Health Care providers will see a huge increase in business but will they be regulated by govmnt and insurance cos so much that it becomes less profitable across the board sort of neutralizing the whole endeavour. Fringe companies such as pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, testing, radiology, ect ect, ect are bound feel the love if they arn't caught up in regulation as well. Maybe some smart young people will find a way to milk this with a start up company of some sort. This subject is probably already been considered and acted on by the next wall str. phenom, but in all the press and coverage of the new bill I havn't seen much on the best way to position yourself on the receiving end of this huge spending spree.

Visualizing Arguments

I called my local representative at one point in this yearlong health care reform process. Courtesy of one of those lefty blogs I'm always reading, I see that fivethirtyeight.com, a political polling blog used a word cloud to map the verbatim comments that voters provided to their representatives when telling them to vote either for or against the health care bill.

Those for...


and those against...


Not a bad summation of the viewpoints, I suppose, although mine in favor would have included the words "political suicide", referring to the result of not passing it.

Synchronized Flushing

The Canadian obsession with hockey is illustrated graphically by the water utility in Edmonton, Alberta.

Blogging at 33,000 Feet

Is it a good thing that we can now get on the Internet on airplanes? At least they tell you not to make phone calls over it. And since I have been so negligent in blogging lately due mostly to insane work and a bit of unanticipated travel, I figured I might as well post this from the turbulence above the Rockies.