Monday, May 26, 2014

Sex discrimination in automobile insurance

There oughta be a law


Now that the nation has addressed unfair sex discrimination in health insurance, the next logical step is to ban gender rating in automobile insurance.
“The gender gap in insurance is especially real under the age of 25,” says Anne Fleming, president and CEO of consumer review site Women-Drivers.com.

“Under the age of 25, male drivers are absolutely paying more than their female counterparts when they drive the same car, are the same age and have the same coverage.”
The above passage comes from a document that also assures us that men pay more for good reason:  They present a higher risk to insurance companies.  But the same is true with health insurance.  In both cases, gender rating charges more for the gender carrying higher risk.

So it's a simple matter of fairness.  And we'll be making this sensible advance right behind the European Union.  Right, President Obama?


Fair is fair.

Or is it?

Friday, May 16, 2014

Liquid Tension Experiment: "Biaxident" (Live)

My Mike Portnoy as Daario Naharis post serves as a segue to a live performance of "Biaxident" by Liquid Tension Experiment.

Four out of five  Three out of four  (counting is hard) of the group were in the prog group Dream Theater in 2008 when this was recorded.  Bass player Tony Levin is the one not part of DT.  Yes, that's Portnoy on drums.  Enjoy!



Thursday, May 08, 2014

How hard is it to cast Daario Naharis?

Bear with me for this minor Game of Thrones rant.

Okay we had the surfer-dude Daario last season.  This season we get an even more forgettable miscasting.

Why is it so hard to cast a good Daario Naharis?  Two words:  Mike Portnoy.



Daario Portnoy?


He'd have to change the hat and shirt, plus lose the wrist watch, but other than that, Portnoy's the obvious choice. And now I'm wondering if he dyed his beard blue having read the books that serve as the basis for the HBO series "Game of Thrones."