this week i

published on plan switching behavior in the privatized medicare market and also on the recent pricing history of the epipen, read straightaway into the congressional record.  on the other side of my work-life, the new york times editorialized with our statistics.

shook through the busan tremors.  when the big earthquake hits, we all hope for a buster keaton moment.

found her childhood home on yeongdo island then back to town.  mother and sister out of town so we slept on the floor like she does most nights.





consider this mogadishu zoo the low bar.

rode 1,000 miles on a twenty year old machine with no license plate.  we all need goals.

watched jordan peterson speak about temple grandin, autism, the advent of writing.

to think of church, she remembers a church.  it's always singular instances.  now the thing about human beings is that, you know, we perceive singular instances to some degree, although i think our abstraction capacity often interferes with our ability to do that, but we also perceive abstractions.  and you can kinda tell this if you're ever trying to learn to draw.  like, if i say, draw a hand, you guys, most of you, unless you have artistic training, you're going to draw what's essentially a hieroglyphic hand.  and i think the drawings that children come up with aren't drawings.  i think they're hieroglyphs.  they're abstracted representations that are quasi-linguistic.  they're not artwork, they're proto-language, right, and so hieroglyphs, of course, were one of the earliest forms of written language, it makes sense, because if you want to communicate about something, why not draw an image?  you know, and then the image turns into a word, but i actually think that's the developmental progression of language among human beings.  it's the abstracted image first, and then it's the word

9/30

this week i

rode to miryang, gorae, the mountains nearby.  name that tune: someone got excited, had to call the state militia










9/22

this week i

published our annual survey of employer health benefits to nyt, wapo, wsj coverage.  at the same time, worker-level offers over a dozen years.

consider samantha bee the one worth watching.  tweet us your thoughts.  ..and in a related story.

am surprised there's not more hitchhiking, given the level of trust.  korea refutes thomas hobbes.

noticed the korean couples who buy in bulk and save on clothing.  the best time to wear a tie is when you don't have to, and vice versa.

guess it's fucking creepy when you think about it, but then again, most things are.

circled geoje and tongyeong all weekend.












add motorcycle to the list of simple machines.

woke up early to keep driving.




9/15

this week i

remember the onion's prescience on taco trucks on every corner.

besides the sizzling fajitas and the crispy buñelos fried to melt-in-your mouth perfection, these international trespassers add nothing to society

drove the mountainside.




walked around a neighborhood to be demolished with miguel.  she must have known, she couldn't have known.  and stop fucking those birds.

there are three places like texas.  texas. brazil. bavaria.  [ich bin ein brasilero]

if you close your eyes, you could be anywhere

me: kim jong un.  so let's say he eats too much and explodes.  who takes over?  miguel: raul.



9/8

this week i

woke up at sunrise to jinha to ulsan to gyeongju.






climbed to the top of this hill where the japanese fortress once stood.


joined some highway gangs.


visited the manmade mountain graves of kings.



dropped miguel at the bus station then booked the highest rated hotel under a hundred dollars.  yes that is mexican wrestler fucking and yes that logo has two stick figures sharing a condom for a head but a good value if you don't touch the surfaces.  the complimentary scrunchie a bit much.




biked east into the mountains, south toward the rain.  how many gears does this thing have? saw open the engine, count the number of rings.






keep moving.  most prophecies go unfulfilled, unless somebody's fighting for them.

9/1