I never truly understood how much healthcare in the US costs until I got Appendicitis in October. I'm a 20 year old guy. Thought other people should see this to get a real idea of how much an unpreventable illness costs in the US.
The cover page of sorts. You can see the original total up at the top. Thankfully I was still on my dad's insurance for another month or so. $55,029,.31 would have been way too much for me to pay on my own. Then again $11,119.53 is still a ton at this time in my life.
First page (back)
The services I received. I think you can see how outrageous some of these costs are. Such as the Recovery Room that I was in for maybe two hours. Or the Room and Board that I had for one night. Or maybe the $4,500 worth of anesthesia they supposedly used on me.
As the year draws to a close, it's time to take a look back at some of our favorite digital moments with First Lady Michelle Obama in 2013. It's been a big year: she started the first official First Lady Twitter (@FLOTUS) and Instagram (@MichelleObama) accounts and recorded her first Vine. She also celebrated the 3rd Anniversary of Let's Move! by "mom dancing" with Jimmy Fallon, hung out with Kelly Ripa, answered your questions during her first Twitter chat, and welcomed thousands of Americans to the White House for tours, the annual Easter Egg Roll, and the Kids' State Dinner.
The White House joined Tumblr in 2013 and we're pleased to share 13 of our favorite GIFs from the past year with you. They're pretty amazing, so don't forget to follow the White House on Tumblr.
Over the past twelve months, @WhiteHouse added almost a million new followers and continued to be an important tool for the White House to engage with the American people and give updates from President Obama and his Administration. Check out the top tweets of 2013 and be sure to follow @WhiteHouse on Twitter.
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc.
This is a story of recovery, despondency, occasional despair, and a pretty big gamble that paid off. It's the why, the how, and the what of the things you might be able to gain from merging two significant domains into one unified site.
Spent ages working out quality and style guidelines for copy and media, and followed them like subeditors who had tucked into wayyy too many cans of V;
Brought in the best guest writers and paid them the best rates in a systematised editorial process;
Dramatically increased our social and email presence and published stuff that generated it's own awesome links;
Tried every on-site SEO tactic we could, killed duplicate content, limited and focused our categories and tags, and essentially gave Google everything that she wanted: really quality, fresh, and engaging content.
And yet it was all for naught, we were, to put it mildly, in a hole. Going nowhere fast. We'd tried everything, pulled every string and ticked every box, we were doing stuff better than ever, but still we were failing.
So, we figured, let's do something dramatic. Let's kill WPMU.org and merge it with her sister site WPMU DEV.
This is where I get to insert the video, right? :)
Awesome. Happy now. Moving on.
Why on earth would you kill such a well-known site?
It's a good question, and it's not one we arrived at lightly. Essentially though we were ready to take the punt for a bunch of different reasons, not the least of which being that seven months of declining organic results are enough to make anyone more risk-friendly than averse. But, more specifically:
Latent penguin / penalty Issues
Let's face it, clearly Google had some pretty serious issues with us, and just because we recovered so well from Penguin, that didn't mean we went off their radar, or the strategies we'd been employing (all white-hat, incidentally) weren't falling close to the boundary line.
There was every reason to believe that a hex of some sort had been placed on wpmu.org. It was a monkey we just couldn't shift, and to stretch the metaphor a little, those kinda monkeys aren't in the trees, they're clinging firmly to you day after day.
I always knew I'd get to use this image in a post one day
We had to shake the chimpguin!
Dilution to concentration, juice-wise
Back in the day, I set up WPMU.org as an "independent" site, the main business being WPMU DEV (at the extraordinarily bad, and still bad, premium.wpmudev.org domain).
Same, but different, kinda, look. It's complicated.
And it has been that, we take no affiliate revenue, have no editorial agenda as regards any company outside of us and aim to give fair, balanced and decent coverage to all things WordPress. We're really trying to be the same as the Moz blog, for WordPress.
But let's face it, it's WPMU DEV's blog, and more to the point, we were generating organic links and engagement with a site that wasn't our main business, while at the same time trying to do the same with WPMU DEV. It was a little nuts; both sites had thousands of unique domains linking to them, so they were both moderately powerful. Why on earth didn't we just merge them together, and have one super-powerful site rather than two middling-to-strong ones.
Brand, brand, brand
And last, but certainly not least, there's the small matter of Google and our brand... and if there's a primary lesson in this piece, this could well be it.
Put simply, a search for 'wpmu' or 'wpmu.org' rendered a very different group of results to one for 'wpmu dev':
Somebody's got the SEO right for one of these grabs...
I wonder what the impact of all those high-quality and fresh posts could be along with the WPMU DEV brand? Hmmmmm.
Technical time: merging two domains into one
It's actually remarkably straightforward, here's how you go about it:
First up, download and print this Moz infographic, and keep it by you at all times.
Second, fire up Asana; this will be fabulously useful if you are on your own and even more so if there are a bunch of you.
If there are a bunch of you, sit very close, or jump into a hangout, and (here we go)...
Decide on the new URL. We moved wpmu.org to /blog/ on premium.wpmudev.org, so it was pretty easy to transfer our staging. (Oh yeah: Get a staging server too, or just set things up with a modified hosts file.)
Go through your dbase and theme files and replace every link via find and replace. (I.e. replace "wpmu.org" with "premium.wpmudev.org/blog".)
Test the heck out of it. Give yourself at least a few hours to try pretty much every page (and make some user personas, too).
Use Open Site Explorer to find the major links to your site, and email whoever wrote the articles or manages the site, asking them to change their links to the new site.
Test some more.
Go tell Google using Webmaster Tools (and Bing if you have some extra time). ;)
Keep a good eye on things, and also run a Moz Analytics campaign on the new setup to pick up Crawl Diagnostics.
Ask everyone you know to look at the new setup and find issues (they will). Fix them.
Sit back and wait to see how well it works.
So, how was it for us?
I was expecting that we'd take a hit.
Before the move I'd said that up to a 30% hit would be manageable; we could build back from that, and it was to be expected by the dilution of link juice coming from 301s. Anything more would be a big problem, but we'd battle through.
Here's how it actually went:
Before and after organic shots
On the Monday before we picked up 10,371 organic visits. On the Monday following, 14,627.
On the Tuesday prior, 10,458, and after, 14,546.
The two days taken together were almost exactly 40% up.
Not. Bad. :)
However, we did note that there was no significant change in organic visits for non /blog/* results at WPMU DEV, in fact over the two days (mostly Tuesday) we saw a slight decline of around ~1000 visits (around 2.5% of the overall traffic, but around a 6% variation in the original WPMU DEV traffic), which might indicate that the whole "concentrating juice on one domain" theory might not be the right one.
In conclusion
From this experience we've learnt a bunch of stuff, which I'm going to try to summarize in three main areas.
You can move and not lose, so move away
A well-managed and carefully executed move from one domain to another, or in this case from one domain onto another, can clearly work well.
This is super-important, because honestly, when I brought this up with most people prior to this venture they were very very dubious as to whether this could be pulled off without some serious collateral. When Google says that you can retain your ranking, it's true, you can. And then some.
This may be a successful tactic to escape domain toxicity
The lack of any positive organic bump in the root domain we moved to as /blog/ could indicate that the success of this domain move was not due to the amalgamation of link juice between the two sites, but could in fact be due to the content having escaped some negative/toxic algo penalties that wpmu.org had accrued as a root domain.
However, Google is not stupid. You would expect that they would happily pass along the bad with the good on a 301, and it's often recommended you don't redirect (another thing that was making me nervous).
Branding could be the single most important factor
You don't need to be a multinational; having a relatively established brand like WPMU DEV is enough.
Sure, we're no Moz, let alone a Pfizer, but it could be that moving content from a well-established site (but not brand) to our more-established position is literally worth a 40% bump.
If so, the importance of building and managing a brand alongside your content strategies could well be top of your agenda. At least that's my takeaway... what's yours?
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Every sub-topic has its geeks. There are geeks who are into pencils, Bob Dylan, futures pricing. There are geeks who obsess about Wikipedia edits, journalism and even geek culture.
When you do something that matters, it will probably matter to the geeks most of all, and the geeks will speak up, dissect, analyze and perhaps extol or criticize. It's a symptom of doing good work.
The question is this: will you spend a lot of time listening to them?
The more you listen to this audience, the more likely it is you will delight them.
On the other hand, if you want to reach a much larger audience, you have no choice but to figure out when to ignore them.
On January 1, Greece assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union in a state close to suffocation, not only via austerity adjustments since 2010, but also literally, by a toxic cloud fueled by wood fires that replace conventional heating.
The beret dense smog that grips these days Athens or Thessaloniki is also a metaphor for the political gridlock: the government insists on not lowering the tax on heating oil to intractable limits for broad social layers, but a group of 41 deputies of the conservative New Democracy (ND), rector of the bipartite Executive, has unsuccessfully raised a parliamentary motion to reduce it. An authentic rebellion aboard the party of Prime Minister Andonis Samaras. ND and Pasok socialist now number just 152 seats in a House of 300, and the rebel MPs representing about one-third in the ranks of ND.
The mutiny of the conservatives is just the penultimate chapter of an intestine, economic, but with clear political implications, the result of six years of recession and unfathomable weariness of citizenship to the endless cuts crisis.
Horrific Statistics
A 27.4% unemployment (nearly 52% among those under 24 years)
3.8 million Greeks living in poverty or social exclusion in 2012 (400,000 more than the previous year)
350,000 households without electricity for non-payment bills
30% of the population have no access to public health care
Virtual paralysis of the universities, which since September run almost unattended by the dismissal of officials
Three killed by asphyxiation because of home fires for warmth
Four out of five blocks of flats facing the winter without heating due to inability to afford it
21 continuous quarters recession
34.6% of the Greek population at risk of poverty or social exclusion
Political Setup
SYRIZA, leads most polls of likely voters ahead of ND
Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn caress between 9% and 11% of the votes and consolidated as the third political force
Only 33% of citizens believe possible ND victory if the election were held today
The once mighty Pasok, houses more than a trashy expectations 5% support, compared with 44% of votes in 2009
How much longer the "New Democracy" government of Prime Minister Andonis Samaras can hang together remains to be seen.
Should Samaras lose a vote of confidence for any reason, the Greek house of debt that that cannot and will not be paid back all comes crashing down.
For those counting, Greece received 240 billion euros in aid, in a foolish attempt by the Troika to keep Greece in the eurozone. Most of the loan has been earmarked for the recapitalization of banks and the payment of interest on the debt, which now accounts for 157% of GDP.
Germany and the ECB are adamant there will not be writedowns on that debt. Both are in fantasyland.
Default, accompanied by a messy eurozone breakup awaits.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
According to the latest Field Poll, California voter views of labor unions have taken a decidedly negative turn over the past two and one-half years. Whereas a March 2011 survey found voters by a four to three margin, believing that labor unions generally do more good than harm, opinions about this have shifted, with more voters now saying they do more harm than good, 45% to 40%.
The poll also finds Californians sharply divided on the question of whether public transit workers should be allowed to go on strike, with 47% feeling they should continue to have this right, while 44% believe they shouldn't. Voters in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, who faced a paralyzing strike by its Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) workers in both July and October and who face the possibility of a third strike, are more likely than voters elsewhere to oppose public transit workers having the right to strike.
Overall Results
click on any chart for sharper image
Demographic and Political Breakdown
Union Household Trends
Those on the take at the expense of everyone else (unions) are overwhelmingly pro-union.
Even among union households, note the sharp 13% increase in the percentage of people who say unions do more harm than good.
By a 49-35 margin, nonunion households now say unions do more harm than good.
Primary Union Support
Union households
Los Angeles County
San Francisco Bay Area
Age Group 18-29
Latinos
Blacks
The age demographic is interesting. Are teachers pounding pro-union propaganda into kids heads from age six through college?
Support for Ability to Strike
Those in Favor of Ability to Strike
Democrats
Independents
Liberals
Union households
Los Angeles County
Age Group 18-29
Age Group 30-39
Latinos
Blacks
Those Against Strikes
Republicans
Conservatives
San Francisco Bay Area
65 and older
Asians
These results are extremely interesting. Of course we see the expected political breakdowns.
Aging Population an Anti-Union Force?
Those 40-64 are against strikes by a 49-43 margin. Those 65 and older are against strikes by a 50-39 margin.
Those over 65 may be increasingly dependent on reliable public transportation and may be on fixed income as well. Those on fixed income budgets do not like price hikes because their income cannot keep up.
Implications suggest that an aging population is an anti-union force.
Liberals in Favor of Strikes (Until Strikes Happen)
All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.
The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations.
Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees.
A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.
For more on public union slavery, coercion, bribery, and scapegoating please see ...
The best way to deal with public unions is to not deal with them at all. Ronald Reagan had the right idea when he fired all of the PATCO workers.
Scott Walker had the right idea in Wisconsin when he ended collective bargaining of some public unions. Unfortunately, Walker failed to include police and firefighters.
Want to arrange a limo in France to take you to the airport or go on a private tour? Thanks to a new law in France, you have to wait a minimum of 15 minutes except at 4 or 5 star hotels.
The reason: taxis persuaded government that chauffeur driven limos are "unfair competition".
Note: "VTC" (Voiture de Tourisme avec Chauffeur) translates roughly as chauffeur driven touring car.
Starting January 1, limos must wait 15 minutes before they can pickup passenger. According the Minister of Crafts, Trade and Tourism and the Interior Minister, the delay helps distinguish the activity of VTCs from taxis.
The "Competition Authority" criticized the decree, emphasizing in particular that the radio taxis also operate on reservation. The "Competition Authority" claims the situation is "detrimental to consumers."
I had to look this up because it's the first I have heard of France's "Competition Authority".
Wikipedia explains "The Autorité de la concurrence (English: Competition Authority) is France's national competition regulator."
It's shocking the Autorité de la concurrence actually translates its rulings and opinions into English. Here are some examples.
What's even more shocking than decisions translated into English is the fact that the Autorité de la concurrence appears to be on the right side of the issue (Does someone at the Autorité de la concurrence operate a VTC on the side?)
Regardless, Hollande's Minister of Crafts, Trade and Tourism and the Interior Minister ruled in favor of taxis. But the taxis are not fully appeased either. Taxis don't want competition from VTCs at all.
This is the way things "work" in France.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Not, "no, I've thought about it, but I'm not interested," but, "no, I feel like saying 'no', whatever you're offering, the answer is no."
If the fractious child or the skeptical prospect or the frightened boss is coming from a place of no, your proposal just isn't going to work.
Shaking that rattle or waving that spreadsheet isn't going to work, because it's not going to be judged on the merits. The facts are irrelevant... if your partner (and yes, the person you're with right now is your partner, engaged in a dance that will end with yes or no) is in search of a no, nothing is going to go right.
The best path, then, is to first work on the 'no'. Not the pitch or the facts or the urgent thing you need approved right now. First, talk about the dance, and the goals, and how it feels to get to a yes.
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Weekly organic traffic at WPMU.org took a nasty slug, and made a solid recovery. 
Dear Search Lords, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Us So? 
Before and after organic shots 
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