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The Kaiser Family Foundation has a fascinating report on the costs of healthcare. Their report, released on September 15, 2000, is based on their research and analysis of the industry over the last ten years. Here’s the press release. And, here’s the report. Check out this little tidbit:

Since 1999, premiums have gone up a total of 131 percent, far more rapidly than workers’ wages (up 38 percent since 1999) or inflation (up 28 percent since 1999).

Okay, so this dude Tyler Shields is one twisted artist. And Matt Dallas? Well, he’s still a homosexual.

How did I miss the original of this? Love the remix. Omg, so so so love it!

Lyndon K has a very unique look. He’s hot, but he’s not the typical model I feature on Humpday Hotness. Which is exactly why I selected him. Always good to mix things up a bit!

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The preview for the new season of Nip/Tuck has Mario Lopez returning. You may recall the steamy naked shower scene Lopez did the last time he was on (after the jump). Now he’s back and dressed as a dominatrix of some sort. I can’t wait to see how this gets worked into the show. Oh, and how many bottles of baby souls did he have to drink to fit into that girdle?!

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Evandro Soldati is 24 years old and from Brazil, though he’s of Italian ancestry. Italian and Brazilian makes for one sexy combination. Hot dayum!

Evandro was ranked the 7th most successful model in 2008. Perhaps it’s all that fame and fortune that made him so comfortable in his so skin, that he posed nude. Sort of. His infamous photograph is the one at the very end of the gallery (after the jump). In the photo he has a sheer black sheet draped over that clings to him like saran wrap. You can see everything, including his Brazilian piça. (That’s vulgar Brazilian Portuguese for penis…)

Listen to David Gergen’s comments at about the 2:35 mark. And then the teabagger Mark Williams makes some interesting comments about the corporate influence in Washington around the 3:15 mark. His concern over corporate influence in Washington, D.C. is about the only thing I can agree with him on.

This is an oldie but a goodie. I remember watching this on some funniest video show when I was a kid. Then today my overly caffeinated brain decided to recall this distant memory. It took about 35 seconds to find it on YouTube. Oh man, I love the intarwebs.

Love it! You can check out more of the Billionaires for Wealthcare at their site.

I love drag queens… a LOT. Chico’s Angels is just brilliant. Also, the hot, shirtless guy is Steven Hill from Real World Las Vegas. Hey Scott Herman, you gonna let this poser get all the love from the drag queens? I think Scott should guest star in the next episode!!

Chicos Angles trailer 2 from Dotfilmz on Vimeo.

My buddy Nagu just shared this, and I find it fascinating. The only thing I’m not seeing is the proposed healthcare cost. If we assume it’s $1 trillion over 10 years (with the public option), then it would be roughly 1/3 the size of the Iraq War box on the upper right. Make sure to visit Information Is Beautiful for the larger image.

From the site:

Billions spent on this. Billions spent on that. What does it all look like? Hopefully The Billion Dollar Gram will help.

This image arose out of a frustration with the reporting of billion dollar amounts in the media. That is, they’re reported as self-evident facts, when, in fact, they’re mind-boggling and near incomprehensible without context. But they can start to be understood visually and relatively, IMHO.

(This is one of the first images I created for my book. So a lot of the figures are from 2006/07. I’ve also visually cheated slightly here and there to make everything fit)

I hoping this will be a “living image” that I’ll keep updating all the time. So if you find any interesting, juicy or eye-popping billions, please comment below (with a source). Let’s see how high we can make this image!

Brandweek has an article about how AT&T’s ranking in an index of customer satisfaction has plummeted while Verizon has remained steady:

AT&T’s perception among adults over the age of 18 has steadily eroded throughout the summer, while Verizon Wireless has retained its standing, per an online poll of 5,000 consumers.

Consumers were asked to rate quality, value, satisfaction, recommendation, reputation and impression to generate an overall index score. Thanks to drops in the quality (“Is it high quality or low quality?”) and recommendation (“Would you recommend the brand to a friend?”) rankings, AT&T’s index score fell to 14.6 as of Sept. 10. That was down from 18.3 on June 16 and is considered a substantial drop for this type of index, per YouGov.

Verizon Wireless’ index score on Sept. 10 was 21.2, which is consistent with its rankings throughout the year.

AT&T rep Jenny Bridges said the survey is off base. “We continue to have low churn rates, which can be attributed to the fact that our customers are pleased with the services we’re providing them,” she said. “We care about the experience customers have with AT&T. That’s why we continue to invest billions of dollars a year in making network improvements, including the continued launch of our 3G wireless services in markets across the U.S. and the launch of HSPA 7.2 in six major markets by the end of this year.” (emphasis mine)

The quote from the AT&T rep at the end of the article pisses me off. It’s like they just don’t get it. Would it be SO awful for them to say, “Look, we know we have some holes to plug in providing our customers stellar service. To fix this, we are executing a 10-point plan over the next 10 months that will provide our customers with the flawless service they expect.”?!??!?!

Fuck AT&T and the high-horse they rode in on. And you know what? When people ask me if they should buy an iPhone, I now tell them NO WAY. I love my iPhone but I hate AT&T so much that I wouldn’t wish the dropped calls and lack of coverage on any fellow smart phone user.

IMHO, if Apple waits until the end of its contract in June 2010 to leave AT&T, I don’t think they’ll have the “phone to beat” anymore. The shift to Palm Pre and Google Phones on Sprint and Verizon may have already doomed them. Apple: Please take note. Kthxbye. LOL.

This weekend the birthers, anti-healthcare shouters, and general anti-socialist loonies gathered at the National Mall to protest stuff. The organizer of the event reported the crowd was 2 million strong. That estimate was wrong. Very very wrong. In fact, official reports from a number of sources (like fire marshals) put the number at 60,000 to 70,000. Oops. Someone wanted it to seem like their protest was bigger than it was. FAIL.

And, here’s a web site that illustrates the order of magnitude of this error. (My screencap is a small glimpse. Make sure to click through for the full experience.)

And here’s a picture, which is a nice reminder of what *actually* drew millions of people to the National Mall. To be fair, estimates vary on the size of the inauguration crowd. BUT, the lowest estimate is about 800,000 people and the highest is 1.8 million. So there! WIN.