Maggie's Farm

Sweet jumpin' catfish! Zach the Wack job is back. Well, I guess you can't keep the fundamentally unstable away for long. Always nice to have the hand-waving bizarro-types around as a control group to measure your sanity.

First, Ebola. Frankly, it doesn't scare me at all. But I do worry about 2 things. One is the fact most Americans don't follow rules and even most basic hygiene. That is less geared toward those in health care, but to some degree this must be applied. As my father said when the first Ebola patients arrived on our shores "their health care will require perfect behaviors to prevent spread of disease." He's right - and we got lucky with the first few. Less so, now.
A second point about Ebola is how it is spread. There is some evidence it can be spread via aerosol, when people cough and sneeze. Which makes the nurse on the plane a very important issue. This doesn't even take into account mutation, which apparently is very slow with Ebola, but is clearly occurring. It's been around for quite some time, yet only now is taking off.

Is there anything the government could have done to help? Probably not much, despite having a guy in the Oval Office who considers himself just shy of omnipotent. But there are some protocols which can be, and should have been, put in place months ago simply to prepare. Am I scared? Hell no. But I won't take risks, either. When I fly to Florida in a few weeks, I'm probably going to wear some kind of mask on the plane. It's probably a good idea, anyway. I get sick after I fly about 20% of the time.



As for the liquidation and deflation article, one of my first posts here at Maggie's was about the Mississippi Bubble. It's a classic story which has continued to repeat over and over again. We're seeing it yet again today. Funny how people love to forget the past, thinking "we're so much smarter now." Not so - these things happened for a reason, and if you ignore those reasons, you might hold back the tide for a bit, but eventually you'll still be overwhelmed.

By the way, Angie's List, which I think started as a great idea, has basically undermined itself with advertising.

It's also hit a roadbump in all the 'free' recommendation sites out there. While the recommendations on free sites can be easily manipulated by business owners posting good reviews that are fake (or vice-versa, having competitors post bad ones), the reality is over time these things even out.

Yelp has seen some of the pitfalls of review manipulation:
http://www.sfweekly.com/foodie/2014/09/18/restaurant-exchanges-cheap-pizza-for-bad-reviews-in-protest-of-yelps-business-practices

Paying for a service, like Angie's, reduces this kind of manipulation. But the reality is reviews are everywhere, and when it came time to paint my house, I considered using Angie's. Instead, I talked to several neighbors who had their houses painted. Usually you get reliable responses from people you know.

That said, the free review marketplace remains a huge thorn in Angie's side. It won't go away, and it's at least moderately reliable.

I belong to Open Table so I can get my rezzies (and some free money in the process) and reviews. That's a great service.