Several of these links are from a very helpful private email list created by Friend-of-the-Blog, MJ. I’ll hat tip him upfront for providing so much interesting and useful information.
- From FiveGallonIdeas.com, a DIY emergency kit in a bucket.
- Kit Perez writes her first article on Medium. Four ways the surveillance state is expanding that most people don’t realize.
- Is the medical “system” in the U.S. post-apocalyptic or pre-modern? Both?
- And speaking of post-apocalyptic, a Florida man was mauled by a bear in his own backyard.
- Mike Rowe of How the Universe Works shows how debate should be done.
- Google’s new “fact-checker” shows how fact checking shouldn’t be done.
- More places/ways in which facial recognition is coming to retail.
- And speaking of life in prison, New York state is experimenting with a system that forces family members and friends to send items (often overpriced, always limited) only via a handful of approved vendors. Can you spell kickbacks, corruption, abuse of the poor, and completely ineffective security?
- Did you know that the entire world has (pretty much) only two words for tea? The interesting part is why.
- The sad story of the radium girls of New Jersey and how they changed workplace safety.
- Eleven smells that are slowly disappearing over time.
- Everybody should have one. A “You can’t delegate thinking” embroidered morale patch.
- XKCD proposes a new menu of security options for smart phones.
The exploding phone option would actually be pretty easy to implement.
From the Mike Rowe bit: “Take a moment to doubt your own words, and ask yourself – as any good scientist would – if you’ve got your head up a black hole.”
Perfection…..
Keep them coming Kit!
I like the “you can’t delegate thinking” patch, but I think everyone should have a “Time’s Up” patch, too.
“Is the medical “system” in the U.S. post-apocalyptic or pre-modern? Both?”
Both… QED by the author’s experiences.
Love that “You Can’t Delegate Thinking” patch. Also under it, the “Offline Is The New Luxury” patch. Wish they were in paperweights or plaques.
Now can people stop talking about how weird Florida is? What’s more normal than being mauled by a bear in your subtropical back yard?
I walk my dog in numerous places in and around the Ocala National Forest. Essentially in every place I’ve been I’ve seen a bear at one time or another. They have no natural predators. Although I personally have no interest in shooting one, somebody has to do it. In recent years there has been one bear hunt with the expected political pushback. https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2015/1026/Is-Florida-s-black-bear-hunt-ethical It’s no surprise to me to hear of an attack; more are sure to follow. I heard of one story where a man shot a bear that was raiding his pantry in his house and got in trouble for it. Relocated animals don’t tend to do well, as I understand it. And when, not if, hunting happens again the bears that will be killed won’t be the ones who live near residential areas. Fortunately black bears as a species aren’t predisposed to aggression.
So Shel, the answer must be to silently use a bow to kill the bears in residential areas, and not report it.
Interesting article on the medical “system.” The author laments the lack of a system, then points out successful and highly functioning areas of our economy like machine screws. I don’t think there is any system there, certainly much less of a system than in health care. What “system” do we have for people to acquire their electronic devices? It is a free market. The author should read “I, pencil” by Leonard Read to discover the enormous value of a non-system in getting things done efficiently and affordably. I am as far out of the “system” as a doctor can get, and because of that, I am able to get things done for my patients. When I needed a shoulder surgery, I called a non-system surgical center (Surgery Center of Oklahoma) on a Friday afternoon, and was in the O.R. on Monday morning. My total cost for repairing three torn tendons in my shoulder, cleaning up some labral tearing, and a distal clavicle excision was $6,149. Part of it was done arthroscopically and part by open surgery, by the team surgeon of an NBA team, in other words, a guy who really knew his craft. Now at ten months postop, I have returned to the jiu-jitsu mats, and am back up to 55 pushups in a set and 8 pullups. Not great, but considering the atrophy of the recovery time, I would say the shoulder is doing marvelously. The key to solving health care problems is not creating a system, but removing the system that we have, and getting government out of the way. The author mentions four areas that are in the same woeful state: health care, education, housing, and government. The common denominator between them is the heavy regulation of government (redundant in the fourth case), in other words, too much systematic control, and lack of a free market.
Anybody remember the smell of coal smoke from train engines?
Hmmm. Institutionalized corruption in the NY penal system? I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked.
Happy to trade smell of coal smoke for Jim Brook type medicine! All aboard?
I was tempted to buy one of those ‘can’t delegate thinking’ patches. But then I realized that most of them will
be sold to folks with a high regard for their own intelligence – a guarantee IMO that they are wrong. And now I’m afraid to buy one as I don’t want to be associated with that other crowd.
There’s a particularly easy and nasty way, called “sponging,” to kill problem bears. The person leaves out an essentially dry sponge with food soaked into it. The bear eats the sponge. When the bear drinks water, the sponge expands, filling the stomach. The bear dies of starvation. I’ve certainly never done it and never will; but if someone ever told me they had, I wouldn’t tell.
Actually, I would probably just shoot the bear. If most human murders go unsolved, then I imagine a bear “murder” would not be solved either. Nifty idea with the sponge, though. I remember a few years ago there were reports of a mountain lion wandering the outer edges of Idaho Falls. I always carry a gun when I ride my bike, but I just made extra sure it was ready to hand then. I sort of hoped I would see it, so I could get a shot. Never saw it, though. I actually bartered with a patient for a holster that goes between the aerobars on my bike – those things that a bicyclist leans down on. A 41 mag revolver goes right there, ready to draw. I’m ready for bears.
Florida takes conservation matters very seriously. Dealing with an illegal bear kill would fall under the responsibility of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. A shooting, if known, would bring an aggressive response both from the FWC and the anti-gun media. The FWC would keep any bullet(s) found for evidence and there likely would be a “reward for information leading to…” with probable hard time along with loss of firearms rights following any conviction. Few locals are willing to take that risk.
I carry when I walk with my dog and (when I think about it) switch to fully jacketed bullets. I’ve been meaning to buy some appropriate hunting ammo from Double Tap, Buffalo Bore, or Cor Bon but haven’t gotten around to it. If anything should happen with a gator – which is a very real concern – or a bear (much less likely), I’d have to plead self defense for me, as the life of my dog would be inconsequential in the eyes of the law.
Florida prohibits open carry, and the CCW permit does not cover concealed long arms. My idea of the ideal weapon in these circumstances is an AR-15 pistol in .300 Blackout but a good one costs more than I need to spend right now.
Shel,
You can build your own, while not a pistol, I’ve built an Ar-15 rifle. You can always buy the parts piecemeal and then build it. The quality is up to you, as you like it.
I have been paying attention to available parts. Perhaps I should start making a list, if for nothing else than a sense of progress.
As a retired health care professional, I got a number of good points from that article, but I agree that the problem is not any LACK of “systems,” but far, far too many of them. As she said, they don’t talk to each other well, and very few people involved have any idea what is going on, much less what should go on. The non-voluntary government total control of medicine, and just about everything else, is truly the problem. Medicine does not stand alone in that, obviously, since the “systems” there must deal with many others besides insurance, as well as non-medial providers of everything from soup to scalpels.
And a big part of the problems is the fact that most, if not all, the people running those systems want nothing less than CONTROL – at some level, and ever increasing – and CYA, regardless of the damage done to others. The lust for control has just about eliminated anything approaching rational thought, or interest in the health and lives of the patients whom they all pretend to care about.
The electronic medical record scam is truly the worst Do you actually think anyone is going to take the trouble to record anything but what they think the medicare and government overseers want to see there? Forgetaboutit. You absolutely, positively cannot count on there being anything useful included, much less the truth. Are they going to record serious errors or malpractice? Right…
I walked away from an exceptionally good paying job at one hospital because I was called in and ordered to CHANGE a note in a patient’s chart… The supervisor said that it reflected badly on a doctor, and they couldn’t have that… Well, shut my mouth! The doctor should have thought of that instead of demanding pressure on a mere nurse to lie for him. I walked proudly to another job the next day.
And that was nearly 35 years ago. I can only imagine how terrible it is now. How many lies per “page” of medical records are there, do you suppose?
Without “part B” of medicare, I can’t begin to see a doctor (or even an NP) these days. I tried it once, for an annoying problem. and just seeing the NP and a single blood test cost nearly $1,000. The wild part is that they never came close to helping me solve the problem, and I still have it three years later.
Part B would cost me more than $20,000. a year, and I don’t have nearly that much income! So, if I get really sick, it’s just too darn bad. Sure wish you lived here, Jim.
For those of you interested, Lloyd Kahn has an article for Kalifornians to consider in the rebuilding of their houses. It has a lot of good advices for anyone considering building their own houses.
http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/2017/12/advice-to-californians-building-new.html
Fascinating article on the etymology of “tea”. Thanks.
I’m a big fan of Mike Rowe. He always has the perfect response.
It’s always interesting when someone describes a totally screwed-up system, notices that it’s completely controlled by federal, state, and local governments, then transitions to a call for more government control as a solution.
That’s a bad case of mind-lock.
So much to comment on…
ML,I see my long term family Dr for 35 dollars cash,professional courtesy fee.Wonderful guy.Mrs just went in,Dr paid by medicare,we went to the cheap hospital lab.I mean crazy cheap,they are out there.Dr sent us there (more on that later) She got A1c just because,a thyroid panel just because,and a CBC.99 dollars cash,it was cheaper than the medicare co-pay! That has to be 1000 dollars at the chain labs easy?
I get my meds dirt frickin’ cheap using generics and coupons from GoodRx online and walmart cheap med program.I mean cheap.Like often cheaper than insurance co-pays.When I need meds I go online,get prices for assorted products, amts and dosages and show options to Dr,we pick the best deals that will treat what is needed.Collaboration with Family Dr.,what a simple concept… that is so hard to obtain for most folks ‘in the system’.
Years of off and on insurance has made me the equivalent of the radical coupon shoppers.The deals are out there,they are hard to find I grant that.
So medical system failure IMO is the loss of the long term family Dr and the rise of the insurance industry,private and public.The Dr as the gateway to get you good deals has been butchered by the insurance industry, hence broken system.My answer is do what I do above,be a shopper EXTRAORDINARE.
What?Prison Industrial complex is criminal in its justice,no kidding????
Bears dont respect property lines.Relocated bears are a problem in the relocation area,where locals kill them as a survival need.And yes,they SERIOUSLY investigate bear murders,welcome to bizarro world.LOL,my dogs,who spend their lives looking for a reason to bark dont make a peep when the bears are around! They disappear!
Oh,the electronic medical records?My time went from seeing patients to messaging charts.Im so glad Im out,,one very messed up system.Hospital answer,just dump more work on nurses.Never mind it comes directly out of time treating your patients.Computers have decimated patient care time,and they are everywhere in medicine.
Last year,without looking I think I spent about 400 dollars cash for the following health care.I treated Blood Pressure,Thyroid and back pain and saw my Dr one time.
Utilizing VA to do what I want,and ONLY what I want (thats a biggie or they can really mess you up with tests and treatments and pills).I dont use VA pharmacy,a big PIA.
I had a lump on chest removed (benign,thank you God), some skin tags removed (they cause discomfort when clothing hits em,thats what you have to say to get that,play the GAME) And a really complete lab work-up,free with my Veteran health care benefits.I had my Family Dr and I make decisions on care,NOT the VA Drs who dont know you from Adam.
Its possible to make the system work,it really helps being an insider or having friends or family that are,they can really help you navigate,as seen in Dr Jim’s story.
Mama Liberty,
You could try looking for an “Out-of-system” doctor on the directory of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (aapsonline.org), or the Free Market Medical Association (fmma.org), or cashdoctor.com. Or you could ask pharmacists in the smaller, non-chain pharmacies that have been in town for years. There is also freemarkethealthcareblog.com, run by a like-minded insurance specialist who realizes that the “system” is all screwed up.
Jim, I’m sure that may be possible in a lot of places, but not here. We have NO doctors practicing in town now, just a handful of PAs and a “rent a doc” from Rapid City in the ER at the tiny, useless and incredibly expensive hospital. I have zero “insurance,” just plain Medicare, which covers nothing but inpatient. I do not want or use any kind of chemical medicine, so I don’t need any pharmacies. The only way for me to find alternate medical care is to go to Rapid City, the closest city 90 miles away, but I don’t have much hope of finding anything there either. Can’t get there much of the year either… I’m snowed in right now and can’t even get out of the driveway.
As an APRN, I can deal with most things on my own or just live with it. I don’t expect to get out of this alive anyway. 🙂
Oh, I goofed on the $20,000 amount above… it’s $2,000. Got carried away with the zeros. 🙂