We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
I am medically self-insured, to an extent. I am responsible for a $20,000 two-year deductible on all medical expenses, and after that my quite inexpensive major medical (aka "catastrophic") insurance kicks in.
Much to my surprise, it turns out that many both large and small businesses use this same model, as do many large unions. In most of those cases, however, the business or union covers the costs of the deductible, and brand-name insurance companies administer the policies for a fee.
Today a record 61% of covered workers are in a self-insured plan,
according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's 2013 survey, up from 49% in
2000.
Democrats clearly want, as a step towards single-payer, one-size-fits-all medical insurance controlled by them. As usual, they want control "for our own good", of course.
My approach would be to deregulate medical insurance, and to let a million flowers bloom.
The first of these is a location story, the second is the ol' online-vs-retail story. Both make the same point while coming at it from different angles.
About five years ago I needed a tire for my Firebird. The guy who owned it before me apparently wasn't a very good parallel parker and the right-front was all chewed up.
Being on a Firebird, it was a pretty hefty piece of meat, so I knew it was going to be a little pricey.
I first called a Cuban buddy of mine up in Miami and asked him if he had any buds in the biz, which he did. I gave him the size, he did some inquiring, and his buddy's best price was $135. Given that the local Goodyear place wanted $168, that sounded like a winner.
But then I figured I should probably call the local tire shops and ask them if they had any 'specials' going on. You never can tell. I called two of them.
"Hi, got any specials going on?"
"Nope."
"Okay, thanks, bye."
Then I noticed some tiny place called something like "Bill's Tires". This time I didn't ask about any specials, just explained what I needed. Ol' Bill fumbled around in the catalog for a minute.
$89.
The shop was a block away.
Bought the tire, it looked just the others, worked perfectly.
When it all began, I would have bet you that $89 that (1) the most expensive quote I'd get would be here in our exclusive little tropical island paradise hideaway, and (2) my buddy's buddy, who owned a tire shop up in Cubantown, would have the cheapest.
$89 instead of $135. One block away.
It pays to shop around.
And, given what we've seen in past online-vs-retail stories, this next one is a little bizarre.
One
reason that many Americans believe Medicare does not contribute to the
deficit is that the majority thinks Medicare recipients pay or have
prepaid the cost of their health care. Medicare beneficiaries on average
pay about $1 for every $3 in benefits they receive…However, about
two-thirds of the public believe that most Medicare recipients get
benefits worth about the same (27%) or less (41%) than what they have
paid in payroll taxes during their working lives and in premiums for
their current coverage. - See more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/09/the-problem-2.html#sthash.4KIgRJ0U.dpuf
Medicare
beneficiaries on average pay about $1 for every $3 in benefits they
receive - See more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/09/the-problem-2.html#sthash.4KIgRJ0U.dpuf
There are some things in life which are observable, and conform to rules which we may be capable of determining. There are other things which are observable, don't necessarily conform to rules, but often are postulated to be rules.
Empirical evidence often suggests certain actions may yield desired results, because a rule exists supporting this action. We were told the stimulus would yield, at a minimum, $1.25 for every dollar spent. This multiplier has been seen before, is measurable (to a degree) and conforms to Keynes' prediction of a multiplier. Many people claimed the return on stimulus would be much higher - upwards of $1.75! But Keynes' 'rule' of a multiplier, just because it was observed, isn't necessarily a rule.
The truth is, we spent far more than we gained in GDP over the last 5 years. There is a reason for this. While a multiplier may exist, and probably does, the factor may vary. More importantly, it is likely to take place if stimulus is focused on productive activity, not consumption. We have spent the last 4 years pushing consumption, telling people to buy homes, cars, food or anything at all. Keep the access to money cheap and available, provide support ot everyone. But here are the results. It's true this data is for the G-7, but a quick review of data in the US shows just as bad a return on dollars spent.
In the 20 years prior to Bush's final year and Obama, the average deficit was roughly $253 billion. In the last 5 years it was $1,215 billion. Over 5 years, we spent $6 trillion more than we collected in taxes to generate....$800 billion in GDP growth. That's a return of 13 cents on every dollar of deficit. In the previous 20 years, GDP grew by $5.57 trillion compared to $5.069 trillion in deficit for a return of $1.10 on each dollar of deficit. At some point, the Keynesians have to admit defeat.
Some economists predicted a slow economic recovery. Even Krugman did. But sometimes you can be wrong, even when you are absolutely right. It's all in the context. Krugman is great at twisting context to suit his needs.
(It's worth noting the link to the Money article may go some way toward explaining why it's so easy to get food stamps these days. But then again, there are many different ways to look at poverty, which means how we address it needs to improve.)
What would Italian cooking be like without their foods from the Americas?
Eg: tomatoes, potatoes, squash, baccala, corn (for polenta), bell pepper, chocolate, etc.
If you drive east from Milan on A-4, all you see are cornfields. It almost looks like Massachusetts, except for the Alps in the distance and the stone barns and farm houses.
Set up for breakfast at our B&B overlooking Lake Garda last week.
What's for breakfast? (At 9 am, when most Americans have been working for a couple of hours)
See below, and note the cheese on the far left end of the table. It's 12-month Parmesan, still soft enough to eat with a knife and fork. Never had 12-month Parmesan before. Great stuff, maybe my favorite cheese right now. (Parmesan for grating is aged 18-36 months.)
I have been slow to get to this over-worked story, but It's an excellent article about the surgical approach to identity confusion. I suspect that the vast majority of American Psychiatrists would agree with the author's point of view.
Michael Jackson thought he was Elizabeth Taylor, but he was not.
New York, that strange part-Dutch, part-English, part-Everything-else city, runs on the creativity of the impossible. Starving artists, aspiring actors, failed musicians, flailing poets, real estate mavens without a dime and brokers trading thin air gamble on the impossible. New York always seems on the verge of total anarchy and destruction and yet keeps going on in that strange half-mad creativity.
For months, I was trying to explain to my wife a vocal affectation younger members of the office staff employ. I've noticed it for about 2 or 3 years, and its use is growing, not diminishing. I can't mimic it myself, and trying to explain it to her only left her more confused than before. I asked my boys if they were aware of it, but since I couldn't explain it well, they just shook their heads.
Then, on CBS' Sunday Morning program, a short piece was delivered on "Vocal Fry". That's it, I pointed out to my wife. I don't have the CBS piece, but here is a very clear example of the speech pattern.
When I first heard it, I thought "that's someone trying to be a Valley Girl," but the tone is lower rather than higher, as it is in Valleyspeak. I assumed, like Valleyspeak, it would be a fad and go away. Its use has grown substantially, however. Today, apparently, it is used as a means of sounding either authoritative or sexy. I think it sounds lazy. I don't think I'm judging harshly, oftentimes when this voice is used, the person provides a blank stare along with it. Clearly it began as a derisive or insulting voice, though now it's just commonplace.
Once, an anxious parent wrote into Liberman’s blog to complain that a Ph.D. daughter populates her speech with uptalks, as do her doctor/lawyer peers. Could Liberman point to any research proving the “negative effects” of this feminine affectation? “You're certainly entitled to your crotchets and irks, just as your adult daughter is entitled to her prosodic preferences,” Liberman responded. “But in order for the two of you to get along, something's going to have to give. And realistically, it's you.”
It's not just women doing it, either. Many of the young men in my office are beginning to use it, one young fellow outside my office speaks exclusively in vocal fry. Is it an affectation? Perhaps it started out that way, but it's becoming a standard.
I don't agree with Liberman's response. Sure, I'm getting old and young people are doing things I don't like or agree with. Most of it I can live with. But as a parent, I don't have to accept anything, even from an adult son/daughter. My father will still comment on behaviors of mine he dislikes, and I accept his point of view, even if I don't always agree with it. More often than not, though, I realize he's got a point. Even as adults, we can still learn, and we should learn, from our parents.
Have you heard it, and if so, what was your point of view?
♪ Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light... ♫
While I don't think any of these would fall under the heading of 'earthshakingly critical', there might be the odd occasion, like the above, where it would be fun to throw one or two into a comment or email.
For standard special fonts (is that an oxymoron?), like é con acento or the tilde in señor, they're all right there on the top panel of the Character Map program, found in Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools. First select 'Arial' at the top, double-click on the character you want, hit the 'Copy' button to copy it to memory, then hit Ctrl-V to paste it into the editor.
And you have zee perfect résumé!
Pic: Sorry, the artist screwed up. He thought I said special founts.
There are, however, a handful of oddball fonts that only reside in some offbeat font set or in only one common set in an odd place on the panel. The hitch is that we only have the default Windows fonts to work with, which basically means Arial, Verdana, Tahoma and Times New Roman. If you use a special font from a different font set and the reader doesn't have that particular font on their system, it won't be displayed.
As the earth continues its petty refusal to cooperate with the warmists, we've been having loads of fun watching them get more and more desperate. We've recently had terrorism, violence, war, $80 trillion in damage and the North Pole turning into a picturesque lake officially linked with AGW, and then I noted in my post last Sunday how they're also elevating the scare tactics.
Today's clever ruse is brought to you by the good folks at RealClearPolitics, and a nice — if not downright informative — piece it is. It's always good when some science guy does his best to dispel misinformation.
It's a pretty straightforward process. He gives one page for each of the ten main scientific controversies of our day. Yes, Virginia, evolution is real. Yes, animal testing is necessary. Yes, embryonic stem cell research is important. No, vaccines don't cause autism. Yes, 'alternative' medicine is (generally) bunk.
That last one, however, only gets ½ point because of a personal story. My mom fell off a horse when she was 9 and suffered a small neck pain for something like 55 years. She tried everything, from neurologists to acupressure, as well as a couple of chiropractors. One day a friend mentioned some old semi-retired guy who had performed some chiropractic miracle on a friend of hers. My mom went to see him. After the second visit, she was cured forever.
And no, Virginia, the Hadron Collider won't cause a black hole to gobble up the earth. And, I'm sorry to say, cold fusion is pure bunk. Nuclear power, however, is quite safe. Finally, yes, GMOs, or genetically-modified organisms (food in this case), are perfectly healthy.
Oops, wait, I forgot one. It was slipped into the #9 slot and I accidentally clicked past it.
Climate Change Is Largely Manmade
As it clearly states:
But in truth, among scientists who study the Earth's climate, there is no controversy whatsoever. The rise in global temperatures over the past few decades is undoubtedly caused by human activities.
Uh, hold on a sec, will ya? Something about that is ringing a bell.
(thinking)
Oh, right, that "past few decades" part. The past few decades is how long it's been since it has warmed up. I remember now.
But an excellent try, nonetheless, RealClearPolitics, and a big gold star for the 8½ items you did get right. As I said, it's always admirable when someone steps up to the plate and tackles the tough ones.
Even if it is only a fake-out to couch the real message.
The worst class I took in education school was on “math teaching methods.” It was taught by my advisor at the time. (I say “at the time” because shortly afterward they changed advisors on me, and she no longer taught courses, but worked with Ph.D. candidates. From what little biographical information I have seen about her, she has not ever taught any classes, math or otherwise, in K-12.)
The math teaching methods class was remarkable for its embrace of every educational fad I detest...
Kim Komando was one of the first online gurus. While she's a little too theoretical and not enough 'in the trenches' for my tastes, she's still much smarter than the average online "computer expert", like all those bozos who declared Windows Vista to be "bloated". For those of us who actually are down here in the trenches, we know that by simply turning off a few pesky background programs magically transformed the "bloated" Vista into a smooth, quick, quite stable operating system.
Kim recently came out with an article titled 5 Bad Tech Habits -- And How To Break Them, so I thought I'd skim through the piece and toss in a few tidbits. She's right on all of them, but some need a bit of elaboration or clarification. I suggest you read the article first.
From the top:
1. Forgetting to clean
So, clean your tech gear as often as you'd clean any other germ or bacteria magnet. Keep some tech-friendly antiseptic wipes near your computer and phone charger.
She's 100% correct about using some kind of handy-wipe for anything with buttons on it, like a phone or keyboard. You get the the littlest bit of something like 409 under the buttons or keys and it'll turn into a thick sludge over time. I spray 409 onto a paper towel for the chore, but you have to be careful not to use too much.
As for maintaining a clean keyboard, I adhere to a rule I've been using almost from the beginning. If I get up and actually do anything, like step outside and touch something or lift up a box or whatever, I give my hands a quick rinse before returning to the computer. I'm not trying to be antiseptic; just knock off whatever's on the surface.
- Qatar wants to build a gas pipeline thru Turkey to Austria. -It also has to go thru Syria -Assad in Syria has said no, it will hurt Russia (Gazprom’s gas monopoly in the EU) -Putin has accumulated a large share of Gazprom -France wants the gas, but must first overthrow Assad
Daughter
of Reverend “God Damn America” Wright and 12 other Democrats are
charged with embezzling $16 million in Federal health grants that should
have gone to AIDS charities and other programs for the poor and needy. -
See more at:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/09/13-democrats-charged-with-embezzling-16-million-in-federal-grants-for-aids-charities-and-other-needy-programs-rev-wright-daughter-among-those-charged/#sthash.gVHGh18t.dpuf
While Rigoletto and his daughter Gilda listen in hiding, the horny Duke sings seductively to the barmaid Maddalena in Rigoletto. Lyrics in Italian and English here:
My attention was drawn to this article recently, though it is several years old. An intriguing method of balancing desires and scarce resources. I am reminded of my youth and music, playing a record I enjoyed over and over again until, at some point, I just didn't want to listen to that great song or album anymore.
I doubt I would have employed Ayn Rand's rationale if asked to choose my toys when I was young. Delayed gratification isn't something most of us understand until later in life. Today, however, I take a very different view about how I employ things I enjoy. I realize my enjoyment can wear thin quickly, so I tend to not 'overplay the record'.
Fifty years ago, psychologists played a cunning trick on a bunch of American four-year-olds. They were given a marshmallow and told that if they waited for 20 minutes before eating it, they could have another one. Most cracked within seconds, but about one in three held out and – with suitably smug expressions, no doubt – got two sickly confections when the experimenter came back into the room. Their careers have been tracked to the present day, and the goody two-shoes among them (I am sure I would have scoffed the sweet at once) seemed to be healthier, to do better at school, and to have more controlled and perhaps happier lives than those who gave in.
Austrian Economics is deeply concerned with 'time-preference' and its impact on the market, because choosing between immediate and delayed pleasures are part of what drive the market. This explains, to some degree, the general opposition to Keynesian stimuli.
President Obama meets with his advisers on this most serious of issues
As far as I can tell, roughly 95% of both the MSM and the blogosphere still believe wholeheartedly that Assad gassed his own people. There are just three eensy little problems with this:
1. He gave the UN inspectors complete run of the place in their investigation. Compare that to Iran giving the UN nuke inspectors extremely limited access.
2. He was already handily beating the rebels back and thus had no reason to throw himself into the spotlight and incur international wrath.
3. al-Qaeda has long expressed its strong desire to use chemical weapons against the West and the Syrian branch has been caught red-handed with Sarin gas in their possession.
You know how those crime shows are always focusing on motive?
And there's a secondary meme that's evolved in recent days that I believe is off the mark. This blurb from the Washington Times incorporates both:
While saying he sympathizes with current public distaste for more war, President Obama on Friday made the case that the U.S. must live up to its global responsibilities, and for the first time raised the possibility that additional military action — beyond what’s on the table now — may be necessary if Syrian President Bashar Assad uses chemical weapons again.
In my opinion, it has nothing to with a 'distaste for more war' and everything to do with the following. Even site favorite James Taranto is on board the 'Assad Did It' bandwagon, and, as sharp and focused as he is, he seems to have completely overlooked the one key word in his column here. Let's see if you can spot it:
There are reasons to suspect that the effort may be losing rather than gaining momentum. Congressmen respond to their constituents, and the Washington Post reports (with a Fox Butterfield twist): "Americans widely oppose launching missile strikes against the Syrian government for its alleged use of chemical weapons, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that finds little appetite for military action across the country despite a growing drumbeat in Washington."
Alleged. And, James, if something is only alleged, then only a total moron would take such devastating and possibly far-reaching action on it. Far-reaching, that is, if you count Iran closing down the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation.
The bottom line is that Americans don't like going to war over an alleged anything.
Another media-driven misconception that's been there from the start is that the rebels are 'moderates' and thus are the good guys. Kerry's used the word "moderates" in every speech he's given on the subject. But such is hardly the case.
Secretary of State John Kerry's public assertions that moderate Syrian opposition groups are growing in influence appear to be at odds with estimates by U.S. and European intelligence sources and nongovernmental experts, who say Islamic extremists remain by far the fiercest and best-organized rebel elements.
And here's yet one more meme the protectionist media is pushing, the 'reluctant' president:
The most amusing part of the entire drama, of course, is watching the squishy liberal media dance around the issue. Saddam Hussein gasses 250,000 Iraqi Kurds, Bush wants to stop him, and that's a bad thing. Assad gasses his people, Obama wants to stop him, and that's a good thing. Gosh, I wonder what the difference in those two wildly-opposed attitudes could be?
Then you throw in the doubt of who really gassed the citizenry and, if it actually was al-Qaeda, now you're saying we should fight on the side of al-Qaeda?
As to why all of this is taking place, let's just ask science:
In the name of al-Qaeda, we thank the infidels of the West for removing the largest obstacles in the path to attaining our glorious future World Caliphate, where Allah (Peace Be Upon Him) shall reign supreme forevermore.
Up to this point, our righteous path has been blocked by Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Thanks to the combined efforts of America's military, the European Coalition, NATO and America's right-wing bloggers, we have already disposed of three of these obstacles, with only one left to go. Although Iraq was briefly in Western hands, it shall soon be ours once again.
Our special thanks go to sites such as Hot Air and PJ Media, who encouraged us at every step in both Libya and Egypt. Their constant praising of us as "rebels" and "freedom fighters" was especially encouraging to the troops in the field.
A blogger by the name of Walter Russell Mead recently wrote a very important article titled Why Syria Isn’t the Big Story This Week, which a number of bloggers, including Instapundit and Hot Air, linked to.
...to punish a bloodstained government for its use of chemical weapons against its own people.
Yes, that's who did it, Mr. Mead, as Assad's most mortal enemy, the Israeli Mossad, will helpfully corroborate.
He then goes on to describe how, even though the world might be in flames next week and you'll be paying $12 a gallon the week after that, the 'real story' was India's economy.
Again, we thank the West deeply for its support, praise be to Allah.
As for Syria, after our first successful gassing of the citizens (their martyred souls shall rise to Heaven, praise Allah!), the present plan is to wait until the perfunctory bombing begins, then stage another attack, blame it on Assad, then watch the bombing escalate to the point where he must relinquish the kingdom.
Even if the bombing fails to dispose of this tyrant, he will still be tremendously weakened, and we should have control of every city except Damascus within a few years.
The first of these is a location story, the second is the ol' online-vs-retail story. Both make the same point while coming at it from different angles.
What would Italian cooking be like without their foods from the Americas?
In 
Let's all sing along!
On September 11, Another Pilot Died in His Seat
Kim Komando was one of the first online gurus. While she's a little too theoretical and not enough 'in the trenches' for my tastes, she's still much smarter than the average online "computer expert", like all those bozos who declared Windows Vista to be "bloated". For those of us who actually are down here in the trenches, we know that by simply turning off a few pesky background programs magically transformed the "bloated" Vista into a smooth, quick, quite stable operating system.
