Blogosphere: A Real and Virtual Community?

Have you ever knocked at a stranger’s home, found the door open and then invited yourself into the living room where two good friends were chatting by the fireplace? Have you then sat in the sofa between the friends and just enjoyed their conversation? Well, I have. That is how I started following Gérard’s blog ‘Contraste et Lumiere’.

In his own words, ‘Contraste et Lumiere’ is about:

“Le contraste c'est la dualité. La lumière c'est ce qui donne la vie aux choses, ou du moins une certaine apparence. L'objectif de ce blog est de réunir des choses très différentes souvent même opposées et de faire le pari que loin de s'annihiler, elles peuvent se combiner, se renforcer les unes et les autres et déboucher sur une plus grande clarté."

Gérard’s interests range from politics, art, literature, jazz, film, to good wine, cuisine, and philosophy. I did not know how much I enjoyed philosophy until I started reading his blog. Here are some examples. The comments his friend, Pergame, leaves him are equally interesting and hilarious. In fact, the other friend, who was chatting with him by the fireplace when I dropped in, is Pergame. His daughter Lili, who is a newcomer to the blogosphere, also passes by from time to time.

Before starting to blog, I have lurked in different blogs and even left some comments. What I did not expect is the blogosphere to be like a real community. To my surprise, I found the blogger community really real in a virtual medium kind of way. Folks, that is very interesting to me!

*Photo: web 2.0 memosphere map by i_wish_you_could_talk

Healthcare Around the World

I watched a rerun of an interesting Frontline report by T.R Reid entitled ‘Sick Around the World’ in which he compared the health care systems of five capitalist democracies, i.e United Kingdom (U.K), Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland. According to an excerpt from his upcoming book on international health care ‘We’re Number 37!’, there are four basic health care systems: the Beveridge model, the Bismarck model, the National Health Insurance [NHI] model, and the Out-of-Pocket model. He chose the U.K as an example of the Beveridge model, Taiwan as an example of the Canadian-style NHI model, Germany, Japan and Switzerland as examples of the Bismarck model. He focused on three Bismarck countries on the theory that the U.S would learn more from these private-sector systems than the British-style National Health Service. Each example offered a system that delivered health care for everyone - but with remarkable differences and concerns.

Here is the full report:



The title of T.R Reid's newest book 'We're Number 37!', which is scheduled to be published by Penguin Press in May 2009, refers to the U.S's ranking in the World Health Organization 2000 World Health Report. Although some have criticized the WHO 2000 report, most agree with the 2007 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that the U.S spends more of its percentage of gross domestic production on health care than other nations including the U.K, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. Defenders of America's health sector claim that it delivers superior health outcomes, such as longer cancer survival rates. Detractors claim that other nations' systems deliver equal or better health outcomes such as longer life expectancy and better infant mortality rates. The Frontline report shows that nearly every system faces problems of rising cost and lack of access to care. Still, as the U.S looks to reform its health care system, there are lessons that it can learn from these countries. I found the following excerpt particularly interesting:

“These four models should be fairly easy for Americans to understand because we have elements of all of them in our fragmented national health care apparatus.

When it comes to treating veterans, we're Britain or Cuba [the Beveridge model].

For Americans over the age of 65 on Medicare, we're Canada [the NHI model].

For working Americans who get insurance on the job, we're Germany [the Bismarck model].

For the 15 percent of the population who have no health insurance, the United States is Cambodia or Burkina Faso or rural India [the Out-of-Pocket model], with access to a doctor available if you can pay the bill out-of-pocket at the time of treatment or if you're sick enough to be admitted to the emergency ward at the public hospital.

The United States is unlike every other country because it maintains so many separate systems for separate classes of people...”

La Vida ...

After a month of absence for the holidays, I returned to my regular workout schedule at the end of January. This time, I am starting to even motivate complete strangers. For example, a month ago, I was on a treadmill next to a red-haired guy. After a 15-min walk, I started to increase my pace and eventually sprinted. The red-haired guy next to me started running too. I increased my pace; he increased his pace. I did it again; he did it again. As I was feeling proud to have challenged my red-haired companion, I saw from the corner of my eye that he was about to collapse. He stopped; I stopped. He was breathing heavily. I panicked a little bit. Oh My God! What if he collapses? After a few minutes of huffing and puffing, the red-haired guy left with a red face. He is okay.

I am also attending a Pilates class. The instructor is a sweet Southern lady who likes to end her class with Il Divo music. I think that is her way of preventing her students from leaving the class early. Clever!

La Vida Sin Amor: lyrics

Cuando el sol cae un
dia mas
se que no quieres dormir
La pasión nos vuelve a desnudar
Porque sin ti yo no se vivir

Y en la oscuridad enloquecer
A un
hombre y una mujer

LA VIDA SIN AMOR
ES UN FUEGO SIN PASIÓN
LA
VIDA SIN AMOR
NO SIRVE YA A MI CORAZÓN
PUES OLVIDE AMAR

Lagrimas
que nunca lloré
Suplicas que no te di
un mundo .igual que solo sabe huir
dejando atrás todo mi sufrir

Y en la oscuridad piel sobre piel
El alma calma su sed

LA VIDA SIN AMOR
ES UN FUEGO SIN PASIÓN
LA VIDA SIN AMOR
NO SIRVE YA A MI CORAZÓN
PUES OLVIDE AMAR

Y
en la oscuridad piel sobre piel
El alma calma su sed

LA VIDA SIN
AMOR
ES UN FUEGO SIN PASIÓN
LA VIDA SIN AMOR
NO SIRVE YA A MI
CORAZÓN
PUES OLVIDE AMAR