Sugoi & Yokunai

Suppose you are a zealous Democrat. Your friend makes a plausible-sounding argument for a Democratic position. You believe it; your raw experience (an argument that sounds convincing) and your context (the Democrats are great) add up to more-likely-than-not true. But suppose your friend makes a plausible-sounding argument for a Republican position. Now you're doubtful; the raw experience (a friend making an argument with certain inherent plausibility) is the same, but the context (i.e. your very low prior on the Republicans being right about something) makes it unlikely.

Still, this ought to work eventually. Your friend just has to give you a good enough argument. Each argument will do a little damage to your prior against Republican beliefs. If she can come up with enough good evidence, you have to eventually accept reality, right?

But in fact many political zealots never accept reality. It's not just that they're inherently skeptical of what the other party says. It's that even when something is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, they still won't believe it.

Then, there's Thailand, which has a better healthcare system.  Their life expectancy is significantly higher than regional counterparts, and is even slightly longer than that of the U.S. The reason is that they focuses on distribution of care throughout the rural areas, where it is needed. Much of healthcare is a delivery issue – getting medicines and healthcare personnel to the people that need it. In the U.S. so much time and effort is spent developing formal healthcare plans, and incorporating the plan into a complex system which is integrated with a complex insurance reimbursement program that allows the system to continue to function. So much money and effort is devoted to maintaining the system, than to actual patient care. Note that Dr. Kaufman says that he operates outside the insurance system, allowing him to practice the way he does. That works for some situations, such as his telemedicine practice, but doesn't work for more complex and technologically involved areas such as surgery or oncology. You need some kind of insurance program or risk-sharing arrangement for things like this. But for primary care, availability and care delivery is probably most of the battle.

When he died in 1937, Maurice Ravel had no children. His property and copyrights went to his brother, Edouard Ravel. He died in 1960 and, to everyone's surprise, he bequeathed everything to his housekeeper and caregiver, Jeanne Taverne.

When she died in turn, it was her husband, Alexandre Taverne, former driver of Ravel's brother, who inherited. He took a new wife, Georgette, his late wife's former manicurist. It was her turn to inherit when Alexandre Taverne passed away. Finally, when Georgette died in 2012, it was her daughter from a first marriage who received the inheritance.

The daughter from the first marriage of the second wife of the driver of Maurice Ravel's brother is named Evelyne Pen de Castel.