Comments for Zachary Tracer

Comment on A visit to the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad by Robert Bell

Robert Bell — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 01:08:24 +0000

Way back in 1990 I took a TV camera crew into the museum for a shoot. I was fascinated and stayed for hours. It was the “tune” that played over and over and its origin that mesmerized me. I think I can pick out the notes on piano, but does anyone have–or know how I could get–that simple recording? Thank you. bell.robert@mac.com

Comment on The Saint Petersburg Mosque by Adi S. Yososoemarto

Adi S. Yososoemarto — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:47:39 +0000

very beautifull picture.

Salam.

I’m from Jakarta Indonesia

Comment on Racism in Russia by aroundtheworldin365

aroundtheworldin365 — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:57:21 +0000

I like your post! I am learning a lot about Russia and is refreshing to see your work!

Comment on The State Memorial Museum of the Defense and Blockade of Leningrad by Alexander

Alexander — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:27:46 +0000

I often take tourists to this museum and I am always amazed how devoted and knowledgeable its staff are (elderly women mainly). Everyone, from a cloakroom attendant to a museum keeper, can tell you everything about the siege and they can’t stand when guides or visitors share some myths or refer to movies or popular books about that time.
The only book they consider to be worth reading about the blockade and which they personally trust is Salisbury, Harrison E., The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad.

Comment on A visit to the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad by Zach Tracer

Zach Tracer — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:42:12 +0000

I did visit the Blockade Museum, and found it full of information. – http://zachtracer.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/the-state-memorial-museum-of-the-defense-and-blockade-of-leningrad/

Comment on A visit to the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad by Alexander

Alexander — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:19:13 +0000

I live close to this memorial and go there on V-Day every year. I wish the museum underneath were even more informative, but since it’s free it just cannot be better. Have you visited the Blocade Museum while in St Pete? This is what explaines a lot about the massive toll of WWII

Comment on News and Observer column overlooks big problems in Russian healthcare system by Vishal Ganesan

Vishal Ganesan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:17:48 +0000

Hey man, nice article. It’s amazing that people continue to make this fallacy, namle that a single personal experience is somehow indicative of a general pattern. Anyways, the economist ran an interesting article about Healthcare in India that you should check out. Here’s the link:

http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13496367

Basically, India’s healthcare system offers a market driven alternative to the way we look at healthcare. Instead of poorer individuals being driven out of the market due to increased costs, India has seen the emergence of a private, two-tier system of its own- hospitals with better conditions and more expensive equipment for the wealthy (including the “medical tourists”), and simpler, result-driven facilities for everyone else. The multitude of rival hospital chains throughout the country keeps prices honest and doctors up to par.

Comment on News and Observer column overlooks big problems in Russian healthcare system by GP Stan

GP Stan — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:48:27 +0000

Israel has a two tier system in which everyone gets virtually all needed medical care for free after paying 5% of their income into the system. Insurance provides special things including earlier access to therapy and expensive cancer drugs. As in all single payer plans, Doctors are set up to be motivated to order less rather than more diagnostic and treatment options and more than 90% of medicine works pretty well. Doctors also don’t get paid for piecework so they don’t contribute to useless costs by overordering.

In the U.S. you get paid more by doing more. You can protect yourself from lawsuits by doing more. Patients are encouraged to desire more by direct-to-consumer ads and those who are ensured want us to go all out. If you are lucky, you can get the last few percents of accurate diagnosis and best treatment at the cost of many more adverse outcomes. Going this far up the asymptote is very inefficient on a population basis and greatly drives up the costs of care.

The best systems in the US may be Kaiser and perhaps the Mayo clinic where the physicians are salaried and therefore not motivated to overorder. At Kaiser, their bonus (as you know) depends on the efficiency by which care is delivered.

At one point doctors were very much against being salaried because it would vitiate the entrepreneurial spirit with which they are theoretically endowed. However, they are a beleaguered species now and have many more women. A comfortable salary and relief of the incredible paperwork might be the most desired outcome of reform.

Truly, how the care is paid for is much less important than the motivation of the physician pool. The physician’s pen is the mightiest weapon increasing the cost of medical care in the U.S.

Comment on The Grand Choral Synagogue by GP Stan

GP Stan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:14:17 +0000

Our book group seems to end up readng books about Jewish families with special attention to the times of WWII and the Holocaust. We too have long and painful memories of those times even though we didn’t generally live through them.
I get the impression that white Russians are very resentful of others and that civilization sits uneasily with them, leading easily to violence. Part of this is likely due to survivalist attitudes associated with serious poverty and inequality. How are ordinary Russians doing economically? Is there now a big and growing middle class invested in the society as it is or are most people alienated? As you note, our understanding of what is going on in Russia is thin gruel indeed.

Comment on Tomorrow – Kronstadt by Kronstadt Chapel « The Tracer Blog

Kronstadt Chapel « The Tracer Blog — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:30:05 +0000

[...] 11, 2009 · Leave a Comment I went to Kronstadt, an island city with a long history, yesterday. I have a lot of photos to go through, but I’m posting a quick taste of [...]