Insurance Scams

Wow - I just switched from Progressive to Liberty Mutual... I got a larger amount of insurance for over $100.00 less PER MONTH! Holy Crap!

::shock::

I went to this site (after searching on google I think) comparisonmarket.com, and I was completely amazed that there were FIVE companies giving me a better deal than Progressive. Liberty Mutual gave the best deal, followed by Traveler's. Does anyone know anything about Liberty Mutual? Any experiences with them - good or bad?

After my most recent "fiasco" involving insurance companies I decided to do a little snooping - I wanted to find someone who would give me excellent insurance with the lowest rate instead of just pretending to myself that I was getting a good deal. Reminds me of the lendingtree.com commercials I see. A forum where you are actually receiving quotes from more than one source, competitively trying to get your business. Yeah. Pretty close to the theoretical perfect competition model too. Makes an economist proud.

And now for something completely different...

Is Persuasion Dead?
By MATT MILLER


Speaking just between us - between one who writes columns and those who read them - I've had this nagging question about the whole enterprise we're engaged in.

Is persuasion dead? And if so, does it matter?

( Read more... )

(babble)

This reminds me of my Classic classes - specifically Greek & Roman Mythology, Intro to Political Science, and Greek & Roman Literature. In each of those classes I was impressed by the things that children learn then as opposed to the things children learn now.

In ancient Athens, the purpose of education was to produce citizens. Back then you would take classes like rhetoric, drama, public speaking, government, art, reading, writing, math, and music. There were open debates happening all over the place, forums where people could discuss their opinions and persuade people to believe/think what you do.

It isn't that we don't still have a semblance of this in our education system, but it happens so late in the development of our children (young adult stage) with debate clubs and college level philosophy courses, that by the time it happens it can be, in many ways, too late. Or were/are the only people engaged in these activities the elite, the rich? Is it because we have had a giant surge in "the masses"? The ones who would cleave to religion as an opiate?

We are overrun not by how well we should educate our next generations, but in how much it costs, and that it costs us too much (government) and that we should shift the burden to the private sphere. Hmmn. We shouldn't put the burden for education solely on the parents or teachers - the only way to educate is to have multiple layers of reinforcement, of ideals, ethics, morals, as well as the basic fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Maybe there should be a complete overhaul of the school system. Where there is more of an across-the-board sameness of curriculum, etc... I grew up moving around frequently, I lost count of how many schools I ended up at. And at each one, I lost a bit of time (or rather floundered) as I found my way into the ever shifting curriculum of each school. Or is that too much to expect? (/babble)

Education, not Annihilation

Books, not Bombs

YAY!

We got the power back on! And the Cable/Internet too! What a wacky day, six and a half hours ago, the lights in (only) the bedrooms and bathrooms went out which knocked out the internet too... The fridge and garbage disposal were hit too I figured out, as we tried the breakers. Turned on the TV to check it, still had a signal... Then POOF, the cable was gone... Fifteen minutes later the rest of the power in the apartment goes out. The hallways only have emergency lighting, etc. Fortunately I had called when there was still just a partial outage, so techs from both companies were already on scene. The whole complex was out. They dug up the underground cable & had tower trucks on the poles...

What a trip. Got to finally check out that Margaritas in East Hartford though - and that was great.

Book Meme - Disturbing results

We don't allow no coons in this building. Credit was not supposed to be an end in itself. Like a glowing jewel, the city lay upon the breast of the desert. When the White Tsar is no more, and the Son of Heaven has vanished, then the campfires of Genghis-Khan will be seen again, and his empire will stretch over the earth. Their children, however, raised speaking the pidgin, quickly evovle more sophisticated structure, developing a creole.

Moved around a bit to attempt to make some sort of sense. Gah!


1. Take five books off your bookshelf.
2. Book #1 -- first sentence
3. Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty
4. Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred
5. Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
6. Book #5 -- final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph.

1. the City and the Stars - Arthur C. Clarke
2. Isle of Woman, A Novel of Human History - Piers Anthony
3. The Alienist - Caleb Carr
4. The Two-Income Trap - Elizabeth Warren & Amelia Warren Tyagi
5. The March of the Barbarians - Harold Lamb