There is plenty to be said about the current health care debate. Unfortunately there is far too much misinformation being spread. In an attempt to combat the misinformation, the White House has sent out an email they are hoping will go viral. In case you haven’t seen it, or just in an attempt to help stamp out misinformation, here is the email:
Read the rest of this entry »
For a great piece of satire, or maybe irony… Or maybe he’s going for reverse-psychology… Check out this Newsweek article by Jonathan Alter. One paragraph that really jumped out at me, illustrating how people blindly and ignorantly resist change:
I’m with that woman who wrote the president complaining about “socialized medicine” and added: “Now keep your hands off my Medicare.” That’s the spirit!
People’s blind ignorance can be just as bad as their blind faith!
The White House has taken a little initiative and started a new program called Reality Check - a resource “to help you separate fact from fiction and share the truth about health insurance reform.” Here’s the highlights from their first distribution:
- CEA Chair Christina Romer details how health insurance reform will impact small businesses.
- Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes tackles a nasty rumor about euthanasia and clearly describes how reform helps families.
- Matt Flavin, the White House’s Director of Veterans and Wounded Warrior Policy, clears the air about Veteran’s benefits.
- Kavita Patel, M.D., a doctor serving in the White House’s Office of Public Engagement, explains that health care rationing is happening right now and how reform gives control back to patients and doctors.
- Bob Kocher, M.D., a doctor serving on the National Economic Council, debunks the myth that health insurance reform will be financed by cutting Medicare benefits.
The White House also has a blog post out countering the claims that an “uncovered video” shows proof that Obama wants to eliminate private health insurance.
FactCheck.org took notice that the White House has decided to jump into the industry; and they have pledged to continue their fine work, and Fact Check the Reality Check.
Fact Check does have a few recent health care or health insurance related posts worth checking if you are interested:
Finally, I’d like to relay some great points from a blog post I Stumbled Upon.
The question with government health insurance will not be if you can get the care you want, but who will pay for the care. Same as today, you’ll still have the option to go outside your coverage and pay for it out of pocket yourself.
St. Patrick is considered as the Patron Saint of Ireland. There are many, though, in Ireland that hold him in disdain. These people will never celebrate his legacy or life.
It has been stated that St. Patrick rid Ireland of all of its snakes. Scientists have found that Ireland had not had snakes since icebergs surrounded the island. What could then be meant by the old
legend?Before Christianity began to spread into Ireland, the Druids were the leading religious figures in Ireland. One of the symbols of the Druids was a snake. In Christianity, the snake symbolized the devil.
According to the legend, St. Patrick stamped his staff on the ground to rid the snakes out of Ireland. The snakes that were sent from the island were the Druids.
During the seventh century, the Christian Church taught its missionaries that if they could not convert any natives, they were to use any means necessary to convert the nonbelievers.
The Druids were not interested in giving up their old ways and converting to Christianity. St. Patrick is said to have lead to the murders of almost eight hundred Druid priests and priestesses.
As he would walk by a Druid who would not convert, he would stamp his staff and walk away. His flowers would then attack and kill the nonbeliever.
In Irish folklore, there is a story of a she-beast that St. Patrick banished to Lough Derg (Red Lake). There is an island in the middle of Lough Derg that is called St. Patrick’s Purgatory. It is said that the she-beast called Caoranach was sent to this island.
It was said that there was a woman who followed St. Patrick very closely, but no one ever knew her name. After St. Patrick stated that he had banished the she-beast, this woman was never seen again.
There was an Irish documentary writer who looked into the theory that St. Patrick may have killed a lover on the island in Lough Derg. In 1998, the writer had a team sent into the water to fish around for evidence. I woman’s mummified remains were found in the muck under the water.
Found here.
Being of Irish decent myself and an avid beer connoisseur, I’ll be celebrating for different reasons obviously.
Bill Nye, the harmless children’s edu-tainer known as “The Science Guy,” managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco, Texas at a presentation, when he suggested that the moon does not emit light, but instead reflects the light of the sun.
As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun but produces no light of its own.
But don’t tell that to the good people of Waco, who were “visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence,” according to the Waco Tribune.
Nye was in town to participate in McLennan Community College’s Distinguished Lecture Series. He gave two lectures on such unfunny and adult topics as global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption.
But nothing got people as riled as when he brought up Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”
The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector.
At this point, several people in the audience stormed out in fury. One woman yelled “We believe in God!” and left with three children, thus ensuring that people across America would read about the incident and conclude that Waco is as nutty as they’d always suspected.
This story originally appeared in the Waco Tribune, but the newspaper has mysteriously pulled its story from the online version, presumably to avoid further embarrassment.
Pulled from here.
Thanks to MissAnn & Kathy for some additional details!
The Science Guy is entertaining and provocative at MCC lecture
By Tim Woods Tribune-Herald staff writer
Thursday, April 23, 2009Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in the Waco Tribune-Herald on April 6, 2006
Audience members who expected to see Bill Nye “The Science Guy” conduct experiments and wow their children received quite a surprise Wednesday when Nye spoke at McLennan Community College.
Nye instead addressed such topics as Mars exploration, global warming and energy consumption, particularly oil and gas. He even ruffled a few religious feathers along the way.
The scientist with a background in stand-up and sketch comedy kept spectators interested, entertained and at ease with his funny, sometimes hilarious, delivery.
Speaking as part of MCC’s Distinguished Lecturer Series, Nye spoke to two audiences, one at 1:30 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m., of about 600 each. He said the first audience, though littered with young children listening to some rather adult scientific topics, “was very supportive.”
The second group also was rapt from the beginning, greeting the scientist with a raucous standing ovation upon his introduction.
“You haven’t heard the presentation yet!” Nye told them.
Opening with a discussion of Mars and his hopes for further discovery on the neighboring planet, Nye encouraged the audience to take interest in discovery and “change the world,” a mantra he repeated throughout.
Nye indicated that the presence of water in Mars’ atmosphere - evidenced by the planet’s ability to form frost - leads him to believe that there is a strong possibility that the planet once supported life.
The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”
He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.
A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.
“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children.
Nye also was critical of what he said was governmental agencies’ lack of action, even lack of understanding, in protecting the Earth from global warming and wasted resources.
Nye ‘s educational science show won 28 Emmy awards during its television run from 1992-98.
It seemed most in attendance were pleased to hear Nye speak, and some were even awed by the presence of a childhood icon.
“How cool is that, to be face to face with the man, Bill Nye ?” said Jared McClure, who worked sound and video for the event. “And he’s funny, too.”
twoods@wacotrib.com
What is Valentine’s Day to you? A special day with your sweetheart? An excuse to wear red and pink? An chance to eat chocolate all day? A day to exchange gifts with the special people in your life? Just another Hallmark-Holiday?
For me personally it’s a day to do something special for my sweetheart. I do also feel that it is a bit too commercialized, and another Hallmark-Holiday used to guilt people (more often men) into parting with their hard-earned money. I typically get flowers for my wife, but usually for-go roses. I always try to do something special though. This year my wife told me she wanted something that cost me less than a dollar (I might have spent a little more than that on ingredients and parts; but there is something special about making something for your sweetheart).
Back to the topic at hand… With the commercialization of the holiday some people aren’t even aware that it is actually “Saint Valentine’s Day” being named after one (or possibly several) Christian martyrs of ancient Rome. It was first commercialized in 1847 in Great Britain by Esther Howland who crafted hand-made cards, and turned it into a very lucrative business. But long before that the Catholic church took the holiday from a pagan celebration.
The Roman celebration was originally held during the ides of February (the 15th), when the goddess Juno Februata inflicted her ‘love fever’ on the young and unwary. It was a fertility festival known as Lupercalia, and involved sexual excess and the occasional orgy. Eligible young women wrote ‘love notes’ and placed them in container. Eligible young men would then draw a note from the container, and then socialize with the young women in an attempt to guess whose note they had drawn. A bunch of sexed-up young adults writing, reading, and discussing erotic notes (probably while drinking); you can see how this would naturally lead to sex.
For years the early Catholic church tried to stop the celebration. The funny thing though was that they did not look down on the sexuality of it, but instead condemned the people for celebrating pagan gods. Finally in in 496 C.E. the name and date were changed by Pope Gelasius. The goddess Juno Februata and the god Cupid were combined and recast as a cherub, and the church spent the next decade-or-so eliminating sex from the festival. But to this day some of the original traditions are still carried on. From adults down to grade-school kids, ‘love notes’ are exchanged, and often still dropped into a container anonymously. And lovers still ‘reward’ each-other with sex (I recall a comedian once saying Valentine’s and his birthday were the only days he could count on getting laid).
So no matter which way you celebrate it, Happy V-Day everyone!
Sources: my brain (from all the stuff I’ve read over the years), but also here, here, here, here, and here.
No, this isn’t some crazy cloning or in-vitro-fertilization experiment. Births on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day are not that uncommon; and even twins being born on one of these days is apparently not that rare. Here’s a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence though, being born in different years.
Think about the oddity of one having a birth date of December 31st, 2008 and the other with a birth date of January 1st, 2009. The Griffin twins were born in Michigan this past New Years; Tarrance arrived at 11:51pm on the last day of 2008, and twenty-six minutes later at 12:17am his brother Tariq arrived as one of the first babies of 2009.
Two years ago (2006/2007) the Hoenig family pulled off a similar feat in Boston, delivering a baby girl at 11:58pm and her twin brother a few seconds after midnight. Another pair of girls back in 1991/1992, the first at 11:56pm and the second at 12:14am.
In honor of today’s inauguration of President Barack Obama.
I really don’t want to sound like I’m doing a sales pitch, but there is absolutely no reason that you should still be throwing away money to AT&T, MCI, Qwest, or any other company that’s robbing you for long distance phone service.
The first reason is cell phones; almost every package out there gives you nationwide long distance included as part of your minutes. I personally have been without a home phone for years because of this; why pay for the line that solicitors call more than my friends and family? Additionally, there are now “home phones” with Bluetooth capability to connect to your cell phone.
If you’re really hung-up on having a home phone though, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is the way to go. This is phone service over your high speed internet, and essentially makes it so that no number is long distance (although some carriers may have a different package for international calls).
My parents use Vonage, and have been very happy with their service. Also my brother used Vonage while stationed overseas; just plug-in the modem to your internet connection, and you have a US phone number anywhere in the world (note that its illegal in a few countries). Vonage works with most any ’standard’ home phone, does not require your computer to be on, and costs $24.99 per month.
Skype is probably the second most established of the common VoIP services. Skype is just software installed on your computer, and allows both voice calls and video calls via a USB microphone/headset (and webcam if you’re doing video), so it requires your computer to be on. It will not work with your home phone, and is often said to not replace the home phone since you cannot call 911 with Skype. The software is free and calls to other Skype users are free; unlimited calls to non-Skype numbers in the US and Canada costs $30 per year.
Another service on the rise currently is MagicJack; their home page is currently offering a 30-day free trial. Several tech sites named it “product of the year” for 2008, and its buzzing as one of the “hottest holiday gadgets” this season. Some customers don’t like the nuisances (your computer must be on to make and receive calls, and the computer gets a pop-up when a call is incoming - here’s a neutral review); but its really tough to beat the price: $40 for the first year, $20 per year after. MagicJack works with most any ’standard’ home phone, or with a USB microphone/headset, and requires your computer to be on.
There is another company in the mix as well, and they are preparing to revitalize themselves. Ooma has announced a new handset that includes the typical gambit of features, plus supports up to six wireless handsets. Ooma works with a device plugged into your high speed internet, so does not require your computer to be on. Their initially released modem works with most any ’standard’ home phone, but it appears 
their new modem my be proprietary to their wireless handsets. Ooma only charges you for the equipment, then the basic service is free; you can upgrade to their premier service for $12.99 per month or $99 per year. The first generation modem costs $249.99; the price for the second generation has not been announced yet.
Any-which-way you go, you really have no excuse for getting robbed by the long distance fees plus 5 or 10 cents per minute that some of the carriers charge. Embrace change and see what VoIP has to offer.
Nod to Geeks Are Sexy for Ooma info.
Here’s something interesting I came across today: www.livedrive.com
Live Drive is a company currently in start-up; you can sign-up for a free beta account (not sure how this will transition once they are done testing, they will be charging for their service eventually - but I don’t know how much).
Once signed up you can download a small piece of software, once installed you will be able to access your online storage location by opening My Computer, and then opening the “LiveDrive” drive that appears there. It works like a USB drive, only its online. You can install the software on as many computers as you want, so you can access the files from anywhere.
Instead of uploading a backup like most storage sites, if you are accessing the “LiveDrive” drive and saving files there, it syncs automatically. According to CEO Andrew Michael, “It gives you a drive letter on your desktop - anything on that drive is then intelligently synched - it saves changes to documents. BT and other services are just web-based - you must upload the files yourself. This is like a USB stick but it is online.”
Another really cool feature is that you can share files you have uploaded (of course everything defaults to ’secure unshared’). If you set them to ‘private share’ you enter an email address and it sends an email to that address providing a link to the file. If you set it to ‘public share’ anyone who knows your Live Drive address can access it (check mine: http://johnny.livedrive.com).
If this was a free service I would say it is the best online storage out there. I’ll reevaluate that opinion once they are out of beta and list their pricing plan.
Found via The Register.
I’ve been saying this for years. I get it that teachers and professor should be paid well, I get it that colleges need to turn a profit to be lucrative, and I get it that authors need to get paid for writing text books. But it has all really gotten out of hand (come-on, $200 for a text book you will use for three months; then can’t sell to the used book store because the author has released a new revision).
In relation, the other thing that really irritates me is employer’s misconception of what a degree costs. Being in the IT field I can’t even remember how many interviews I’ve been on where the employer listed a bachelor’s degree as a requirement, and then during the interview informed me that the starting salary was $30,000 (or there-about). And don’t get me started on the ones that want you to have a degree, certificates, and experience, but want to pay less than $40,000.
I have witnessed second-hand an even worse under appreciation for degree value. My wife has a master’s degree; this really excites some employers during the interview process – they like the idea of that highly educated employee on their team. Then the lowball salary offer comes in; when questioned about it the typical response is that “the master’s degree was not a requirement of the job.”
Well apparently someone else noticed that college costs too much; a report released by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (PDF) indicates that on average the cost of college has risen 439% since 1982. What!? Inflation has only risen 95% since 1982.
Previously the maximum an undergraduate student could borrow in federal funding was $23,000; that’s not enough to cover a bachelor’s degree at most state schools. If you wanted to go to an out-of-state school or to a private school on federal funding alone you could forget it. Last year President Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 changing that. One of the many things that the CCRAA did was to raise the maximum that a student could borrow from $23,000 to $30,500. That is still only enough money for some state schools, which means you will need some other funding or will need to get a private student loan.
Another side effect of the CCRAA was that other lenders were no longer authorized to issue federally funded loans. The idea with this being that Direct Loans (aka: U.S. Department of Education Direct Loan Program) would be the only organization issuing federally funded loans, so costs would be kept down. A great idea in theory, but what it really did was eliminate all their competition.
Ever notice how a grocery store with horrible service will lose out to the grocery store with good service; and eventually force change or closer? Ever notice how service at most Post Offices is horrible, but we have no alternative? Direct Loans has some of the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced, and I have no alternate to choose from. Coincidence?
Currently about 8% of students seek private loans because federal funding isn’t enough. Last year in the US about $60 billion was issued in federal loans, and about $17 billion in private. A few months ago CNN covered a report by FinAid.org that showed 33 lenders have suspended their private student loan program since August 2007. Included in these are a few big-dogs, Wachovia, Bank of America, College Loan Corporation, and Campus Door. The current economic down turns have not helped; Sallie Mae is the county’s leading private student loan provider, and one of a very companies still offering private student loans.
Even President-elect Barack Obama has given the nod acknowledgment that this is a problem. On his campaign site (and still there after winning), under the Education section Obama states he “will create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth $4,000 in exchange for community service.” This would not only be a great boost for those struggling with tuition, but as noted on his page could almost make community college tuition completely free. The plan goes on to state that recipients would be required to conduct 100 hours of community service. It does not indicate if this will be a one-time credit or a renewable credit, but with the statement that it could “cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university” – it implies you could receive the credit more than once. He also wants to simplify the financial add application process, stating that it should simply be a check box on your taxes, instead of the six-page form.
Another statistic from the NCPPHE report that CNN sites: 40% of Americans age 35 to 65 hold an associate degree or higher, ranking 2nd in that statistic; Canada ranks 1st with 44%. For those under age 35 Canada ranks 1st again at 55%; but the US ranks 10th down at 39%. I thought we were supposed to be getting more educated.
Even if you do manage to get enough funding, and manage to keep your head above water to make it through school, and miraculously land a job in your chosen field (or close enough); will you be able to afford the payments? Can you afford two mortgage payments? Somehow we manage it; between my wife and me our monthly student loan payments come equal to our mortgage payment.
The cost of college in the US is getting out of control; it’s making it difficult for young Americans to afford higher education. Schools themselves cost too much, the economy makes borrowing enough funds difficult, and employers are unwilling to pay for the cost of the degree they demand. But who should change? Can schools actually lower their tuition costs? Should the government lend more money? I’m sure we can agree that many employers should be paying their employees what they are worth. Can Obama bring the change he has promised; and will it be enough to break out of this problem?