In the news!
First, did you ever hear of the cat lady? That crazy old lady a couple blocks away who has a few dozen cats? What if she were a rabbit lady? Now that would be weird.
Next: as a scientist, I always tend to side with my own team in the scientists vs animal rights activist debates. I'm glad to see that the courts feel the same way.
And, finally, how do we stop the decline of the music industry? Do we need to put an end to piracy? Increase album prices? Blame the economy? No! They just need to make better music. Nuff said.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Good idea, bad idea
It's time for another good idea, bad idea.
Good idea: Making sure everyone in the USA has health insurance
Bad idea: Putting everyone in the USA on Medicare
Yep, folks, that's the way things look. The House just proposed a bill that would "cover 95 percent of Americans" with their new healthcare system. Well, they almost proposed a bill- they have yet to put a price tag on it. Maybe because they couldn't propose a number that big without giggling? All we know is that its' bigger than the Senate's proposal, which is supposed to cost 1.4 trilion (yep- 14 with eleven 0's) dollars over the next 10 years.
Doctors would be paid what they are currently paid for Medicare patients plus 5%. That sounds great...unless you know anything about Medicare. I admit right now that I am not in the category of people who know a lot about it, but I am someone who knows something about it.
I used to work at a Doctor's office. The doctors I worked for could only see a limited number of Medicare patients. Why? Because the government paid them next to nothing for those visits. They lost money on every Medicare patient they saw. And now we want to put 95% of Americans on this program? The doctors won't be able to afford to stay open.
Now I know doctors make a lot. But it also costs a lot of money to be a doctor. You have to pay a rather large support staff (Where I worked, there were about 3 nurses, 1 receptionist, 1 file clerk, and 1 insurance specialist per doctor). You also pump a massive amount of your income into malpractice insurance.
They also expect drug companies to "pay rebates to the government on drugs dispensed" to low-income beneficiaries. They want pharmaceuticals to give the government a piece of the action every time they sell drugs to poor people? In case you hadn't heard, big pharma is going under. They don't have any money. Producing new drugs costs an amazing amount of money, and once they pay to produce one, a foreign company can sell it way cheaper. (Ever wonder why prescription meds from Canada are so cheap?)
I think the big lesson we see from this is that we can't have it all. Sorry, folks. We can't expect to sue over every little thing that we don't like AND have cheap doctors. We can't expect to buy off-brand drugs AND have big drug companies giving piles of money away. It just doesn't work that way.
Good idea: Making sure everyone in the USA has health insurance
Bad idea: Putting everyone in the USA on Medicare
Yep, folks, that's the way things look. The House just proposed a bill that would "cover 95 percent of Americans" with their new healthcare system. Well, they almost proposed a bill- they have yet to put a price tag on it. Maybe because they couldn't propose a number that big without giggling? All we know is that its' bigger than the Senate's proposal, which is supposed to cost 1.4 trilion (yep- 14 with eleven 0's) dollars over the next 10 years.
Doctors would be paid what they are currently paid for Medicare patients plus 5%. That sounds great...unless you know anything about Medicare. I admit right now that I am not in the category of people who know a lot about it, but I am someone who knows something about it.
I used to work at a Doctor's office. The doctors I worked for could only see a limited number of Medicare patients. Why? Because the government paid them next to nothing for those visits. They lost money on every Medicare patient they saw. And now we want to put 95% of Americans on this program? The doctors won't be able to afford to stay open.
Now I know doctors make a lot. But it also costs a lot of money to be a doctor. You have to pay a rather large support staff (Where I worked, there were about 3 nurses, 1 receptionist, 1 file clerk, and 1 insurance specialist per doctor). You also pump a massive amount of your income into malpractice insurance.
They also expect drug companies to "pay rebates to the government on drugs dispensed" to low-income beneficiaries. They want pharmaceuticals to give the government a piece of the action every time they sell drugs to poor people? In case you hadn't heard, big pharma is going under. They don't have any money. Producing new drugs costs an amazing amount of money, and once they pay to produce one, a foreign company can sell it way cheaper. (Ever wonder why prescription meds from Canada are so cheap?)
I think the big lesson we see from this is that we can't have it all. Sorry, folks. We can't expect to sue over every little thing that we don't like AND have cheap doctors. We can't expect to buy off-brand drugs AND have big drug companies giving piles of money away. It just doesn't work that way.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
PETA
So, in case you haven't heard, PETA is full of crazy people. I mean, seriously crazy. Yesterday I was going to downtown DC to play Frisbee with some friends from church when I saw an ad on the Metro saying that PETA would be in the same place as we were going to play. They were protesting something or other "every day, all summer long" on the National Mall. I was halfway looking forward to seeing them there and half hoping they would just not bother me.
When I got off the Metro, it was raining relatively hard. I forgot about PETA and started worrying that none of my friends were going to come play since it was so wet. I was wrong, and we played muddy Frisbee for a few hours. It was super fun.
As I was leaving, I realized that the PETA people weren't there- I can only assume that they didn't show because of the rain. If a group of Frisbee players don't mind the rain but protesters who claim to have an important cause are afraid to get wet, that can only mean one thing. I like Frisbee more than PETA likes animals.
When I got off the Metro, it was raining relatively hard. I forgot about PETA and started worrying that none of my friends were going to come play since it was so wet. I was wrong, and we played muddy Frisbee for a few hours. It was super fun.
As I was leaving, I realized that the PETA people weren't there- I can only assume that they didn't show because of the rain. If a group of Frisbee players don't mind the rain but protesters who claim to have an important cause are afraid to get wet, that can only mean one thing. I like Frisbee more than PETA likes animals.
Ghost written by Olivia
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-written by my Niece, Olivia (10 months)
\ iV hg ]bi,b n'/http:/nazoffffffffffj lk7y[;']
v
-written by my Niece, Olivia (10 months)
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Passive-aggressive notes
For anybody who hasn't seen passiveaggressivenotes.com, may I suggest starting here.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Filthy Hippy Dinner
So, tonight I ate vegetarian. Before you stop reading in disgust, let me explain: all the meat was in the freezer and I was too hungry to wait to thaw it. I promise to make it up by eating 3 pounds of meat tomorrow. Before noon.
So, here we go. I cooked 1/3 cup of couscous in 1/2 cup water with a little oil and garlic salt. I chopped up a carrot, 2 green onions, and about 1/3 of a bunch of cilantro (I don't know how much it was, it was about 1/3 of the bunch you buy in the store). When the couscous was done, I mixed in the vegetables and a bunch of spinach. Then, I added some lemon juice. That's it. It was just a couscous salad.
If I do this again, which I probably will, I think I will make a couple changes. First, of course, I would add some bacon or something. Yeah, bacon would have been smart. Also I think I would wilt the spinach first. That would make it a little easier to eat.
But, all in all, a good dinner, despite the lack of meat.
So, here we go. I cooked 1/3 cup of couscous in 1/2 cup water with a little oil and garlic salt. I chopped up a carrot, 2 green onions, and about 1/3 of a bunch of cilantro (I don't know how much it was, it was about 1/3 of the bunch you buy in the store). When the couscous was done, I mixed in the vegetables and a bunch of spinach. Then, I added some lemon juice. That's it. It was just a couscous salad.
If I do this again, which I probably will, I think I will make a couple changes. First, of course, I would add some bacon or something. Yeah, bacon would have been smart. Also I think I would wilt the spinach first. That would make it a little easier to eat.
But, all in all, a good dinner, despite the lack of meat.
Wanted: movie nerd
So, I just found out that a movie I love is soon to be released in theaters. But it is a limited release, which I assume means that it only plays in some theaters. Am I right about that? More importantly, how do I find out what theaters are the select ones? Anybody know?
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