In addition to all the other “joys” you’ve been reading about Obamacare and its Three Stooges rollout, here’s this from a local guy. His family business has always provided great benefits despite employing just six people (and some of them part time). He writes: 1. I have always provided employee healthcare. Always. 2. Currently, we have a high deductible, health savings plan that in addition to paying 75% of the premiums, we fund a good chunk of money into their savings account each month. It works. Our employees like it. They have saved up money over the years. They don’t…
Category: Health and Science
… also general tab clearing The specific, state-by-state insurance cost increases coming to you courtesy of Obamacare. (Not all states are listed; some, like mine, that have already made insurance unaffordable will see less impact.) “That’s not autism!” A touch of sanity. (Personal note: I have one severely autistic relative who cannot function in the world. I have another who is your basic typical introverted, socially non-adept geek who would today be diagnosed with Aspergers, though he is a fully — if quirkily — functioning person. “Autism spectrum” doesn’t begin to put these two meaningfully into the same category.) Ten…
Mark Steyn on America as a banana republic. Political views mess up your ability to do math. Probably other things, too. Fascinating study but not surprising. Another example of confirmation bias in action. Do you get junk emails from your acquaintances urging you to connect with them on LinkedIn? I used to get a fair number of those and thought, “Wow, for people who supposedly know me, these guys are sure idiots.” Like I’m ever going to join LinkedIn. Like I think it’s just wonderful for acquaintances to give my address to all and sundry. Then I got a fervently…
On the darker side It’s just theory and the technology of it is very much over my pretty little head. But Bruce Schneier notes that it’s possible to insert surveillance almost undetectably at the microchip level. More evidence that while the NSA may know what you’re doing, it has no idea what its own people are doing. The ACLU doesn’t come right out and call the FBI America’s secret police. But pretty close. Alas, they still imagine the agency might investigate and reform itself. (Via Sipsey Street) But of course, it’s all just okey-dokey-hunky-dory-nifty-zorch because none of it’s unconstitutional! On…
Carl-Bear (who occasionally traffics in science fiction) makes his best guess about what Elon Musk’s mysterious new “hyperloop” transportation system will be. And finds it familiar. One more (rather weird) way that the rich are different than the poor. Different toxins in their bodies. Government forces one privacy option out of business (in the creepiest way). A new privacy option is born. Not in the U.S. of course. Nobody in their right mind would base a privacy service in the U.S. from here on out. Small business? The IRS wants to know what you’re doing with your cash — and…
The following arrived yesterday from a no-reply email address and with no identifier other than “Anonymous.” I believe this is from the same “Anonymous” who posted at Joel’s Gulch the other day and posted here one time more than a year ago, again surrounding himself with privacy protections. I have no way of verifying any of this. But I don’t need to. It rings true. So I’ll just say thank you, Anonymous, and hope you enjoy every possible moment of the rest of your life. As crusty old Elias Alias would say — Salute! —– From Anonymous: Claire, I was…
Another unexpected consequence in the (very long) wake of Hurricane Sandy: the millionaires’ missing wine. A fascinating only-in-New-York kinda story. Now that’s one young lady you don’t want to trifle with. Economist, commentator, and actor (“Bueller?”) Ben Stein makes one of the wisest observations following the Martin/Zimmerman case. In this, his thinking is a lot like Martin Luther King, Jr.’s. SF/fantasy writer Larry Correia gives Stein some competition. Or at least gives Obama’s whiny, divisive speech (“I’m Trayvon and you’re all a bunch of racists”) its very best fisking. Followed by some voice-of-experience from being a big, dark, scary-looking guy…
Might have been too busy to post. Not to busy to collect tabstuff. If I fail to credit sources it’s because I’ve forgotten where some of it came from. Sigh. “How to disappear without a trace.” Not in a good way, unfortunately … Quietly, with almost no notice even in the financial press, France has outlawed any mailing of currency, coins, or precious metals — a ban that appears about to spread to other parts of Europe. What a coincidence that big, government-approved money launderers banks and investors don’t use mail to ship their loot resources. For the most part,…
We must ban those deadly stiletto assault heels NOW! Well, that’s a different look at Snowden and the NSA … Medical marijuana. For our pets. (H/T. L) Hm. This is the first thing I’ve heard that makes me think a smartphone could be a great idea. (I’m sure there are other things; just none that grabbed me.) Double hm. What exactly is Governor Sandoval of Nevada up to? Might be worth the 15 seconds it takes, especially if it ticks off Bloomberg. While I disagree with her lumping us with “we,” whistleblower Sibel Edmonds has a point. (Heard on NPR…
Well, isn’t that cozy? A top Obama donor is the founder and CEO of a company that will soon control about one half of all medical data on Americans. She’s 85. Just graduated from college. And already has herself a job. Ray Manzarek is dead. Jim Morrison might have gotten most of the press, but Manzarek was the real genius behind the haunting sound of The Doors. “Some of my best friends are germs.” Long, but fascinating. Maybe a leisurely weekend read.(H/T S) You see the wonderful thing about equality for women? We get equal opportunities for political corruption —…