When all the shouting is over....

This is about as straight as it gets.

Listen (Read) to this

Seth often has very pointed and very correct things to say. This is one of them. I highly recommend subscribing to his blog. It is mostly marketing related, but it often is related to real life. It sometimes relates real life to marketing - very difficult, don't you agree. Read.

HealthCare

I haven't posted anything recently, and this non-bill just came in, so here goes.
Roughly One Thousand Dollars (US) per hour for Emergency Room service! I don't know if this is typical, but I expect it is.
This visit was caused by an adverse reaction to a prescription antibiotic - a fairly severe reaction if you ask me.
I don't know how much of this will be covered by Medicare and supplemental medical insurance, but I'll add that to the blog when I find out. Even so, is this a reasonable cost for emergency room services? I don't know the answer to that question - but it seems quite a high cost to me.
Which brings up the question, will healthcare reform change this cost? I expect reform to change hospital costs, and I don't simply mean who pays them - I mean the costs themselves.
It's a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand I'm glad the ER was there and available in our time of need - even though the wait to be seen was long (and difficult). And I did have the feeling (faith?) that there was a competent team of medical experts taking care of us, which was comforting. Still, it's a lot of money . . .
By the way, the patient is fine - stopped taking the antibiotic, was back to normal in a few days.

It's a Surprise!

It's apparently really easy to rewrite history. Selective recall, I think is the phrase. Here is what I remember - well, a little bit of it. What do you think?
Roughly two years ago the major issue in the USA was the war in Iraq. Is that still going on?
Roughly one year ago the major issue in the USA seemed to be illegal immigration. Is that still going on?
Today the major issue in the USA is the economy. Who knew? Well, not us, apparently. While we worried about the war, and the Mexicans, we were being ripped off by the very institutions we thought were beyond reproach - the banks and Wall Street.
As far as I'm concerned, the GWB presidency was a resounding success (for him)- assuming his goals were to bankrupt the country, divide its' people, enrage the world against the USA, replace the Berlin Wall with the USA-Mexico Fence, and so on and so forth. But the biggest, most important goal he obviously had - make all of his friends as rich as possible no matter who got hurt - that one was without question fully achieved.
I just wanted to write this down now, lest it be forgotten.

The Earth is getting warmer

I can't say if I personally am intelligent, but I enjoy listening to those who obviously are. Dr. Stephen Chu, US Secretary of Energy, certainly is, and I recommend strongly that you go to YouTube and search for "Stephen Chu" and watch and learn. I just listened to his 13 minute talk about the Citizens Briefing Book, and it was facinating.
Our planet is warming. That's a measurable, observable fact. I believe and accept that this is true.
We, the people on this planet, do affect the warming. We do not know the extent of our effect, but our effect is real. Our effect is something we can change (if we want to).
Change is natural. The planet has been colder and warmer in the past without any help from us. We have some theories as to exactly why - cooling caused by volcano eruptions or meteor impact or sun cycles - warming caused by sun cycles, natural greenhouse gasses - but we aren't sure what caused the cycles. Perhaps the planet has a natural feedback system - as the temperature goes up it releases particulates (lava) into the air to reflect sunlight away, lowering the temperature (creating an ice age?). Or perhaps it is random - normally the steady state temperature would be high, but occasionally a meteor hits and the again the resulting particulates reflect sunlight and cool the planet, which then begins to warm slowly again. I don't know. No one does. Change is natural.
Idiots are boring. Thank goodness they know it all - I'm sure they will take good care of the rest of us. Some examples from the gallery:
"Crackpot science for ignorant people." (from the same group that said Galeleo was wrong)
"global warming is a fraud." (from the same group that thought the Earth was flat)
"What you and others are doing is trying to repeat something over and over so people will believe it; then it'll be easier to sock them with a carbon tax." (from the same group that believe in trickle down economics)

I'm ranting. I'll stop now.

Climate Change

Recently I saw a letter to the editor poo pooing global warming based on the writers perception of current weather. I'd like to introduce that writer to these indicators.

Change and Wisdom

I read an article which led me to the School of Wisdom . I offer this without prejudice - I find it interesting, perhaps you will too.