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	August 22, 2003

QUICK PICKS Five things worth a read: Health Care Bloat: A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows the administrative overhead costs of the US health system are twice what they would be under a Canadian-style public health system. The argument that the private sector is more efficient than the public sector is, more often than not, bumpkus. The extra overhead due purely to excess bureaucracy is $750 for every man, woman and child in America every year. Afghanistan's Dying: Our Mothership Salon.com features a well-researched John Sifton story that shows the situation in Afghanistan is quickly deteriorating back to levels under the Taliban. In short, the country is run by US-backed gangsters. The KM Revolt Grows: Professor Jim McGee adds his eloquent voice to those calling for a shift in the focus of Knowledge Management away from content management and towards productivity and connectivity of people. Writing Good Poetry: A book called The Poet's Companion by two excellent poets, Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux, provides exercises to improve your creative writing skills without being preachy or academic. Dorianne provides an overview in this compelling interview. Thanks to Kara at SpaceTramp for the link. Remarkable Memoir: Claire Smith's personal story in her Salon blog, Life in LA, dates back only to June but already describes a lifetime of tragedy and courage. It's a must read, very powerfully written. 9:46:05 PM  trackback []  comment []

SATIRISTS WANTED Virtual Occoquan is looking for you. All you have to do is take any piece of spam you've received, poke it, tart it up a bit until it's funny, or ironic, and submit it to Mark Hoback within the next few days for the Virtual Occoquan Spam Deconstruction Contest. Win great prizes! Get published! Free Viagra-like-product* for life! Make $60 million a week** in your own home without lifting a finger! Start Your Own Church And Never Pay Taxes Again! Meet exotic friends! Hurry! Rates are going up! Oh, and mark it 'Contest Entry' in the Subject Line so it's distinguishable from real spam. * Offer expires August 21   ** Not every week, mind you. But maybe some week. 2:43:16 PM  trackback []  comment []

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