Odds and Ends for the Weekend

Haven’t been feeling very well and it has killed my writing the last few weeks.  Adding insult to injury, I broke a tooth 5 minutes before the local dentist closed for the weekend and have to wait until Monday to get something done.

Anyway, I ran into quite a few interesting things on the Net during all this and will put them in this post while I plot out a rather large one on the very bad economic news this month.

First up is a low budget docudrama aimed at educating kids about the Battle of Bunker Hill.  Since we live in a very visual age, I think the idea for the whole series has a great deal of merit.

Next is a fascinating find of the earliest known Hebrew writing. It dates 400 years earlier than the previously oldest Hebrew discovered and suggests the Old Testament is well, older than thought.  The content is very much like the scriptures and contains commandments on how to treat orphans, the poor, and slaves.

Ever buy expensive running shoes?  That may be making a fundamental mistake about running if this article is correct.  All I can say is that is my natural way of walking when barefoot so I wouldn’t be surprised if the theory pans out. No matter what, the prices commanded by these shoes is ludicrous.

Finally, a cautionary story about how success can corrupt the creative process to the point of destroying a project.  Duke Nukem 3D was a hugely successful videogame released in 1996 and the sequel was promised almost immediately.  Last year it was cancelled after an insanely prolonged development that showed no sign of completion. At least it no longer is the king of vaporware!

Horrific Disaster in Haiti

The reports coming in from Haiti indicate that a true catastrophe has happened that may be as bad (or worse) than the tsunami that hit Indonesia.  Estimates of over 100,000 dead are on the low end and the human suffering is great.  The U.N. peace keeping HQ was completely leveled with no survivors.

Once again, please pray for the survivors and their rescuers.

Massive Earthquake in Haiti

Initial reports are that it was a magnitude 7.0 that collapsed a hospital in Port-au-Prince and damaged many buildings.  Communications are cut and I expect there will be a large death toll since the epicenter was inland. 

Pray for those affected, it is going to be bad.

Reality Is Stranger than Fiction

Global warming has gotten so bad that iguanas are falling out of trees from the heat in Florida. Oh wait, they are freezing from the record cold there.  My mistake.

The next link may not be reality, since it is only theory, but it qualifies as stranger than fiction.  The theory postulates that 8 percent of our DNA was inserted by animal viruses and furthermore they may cause schizophrenia!

I always though insanity was hereditary, but I thought you caught it from your kids, not your pets.

On a Lighter Note

Over at Dark Roasted Blend there is a nifty tribute to birds titled “Praise to a Common Duck.”

I can attest to the amazing acrobatic agility of barn swallows and the blazing speed of hummingbirds since we get both out here on the farm.  Also seen around here are Canada geese, bald eagles, hawks, turkey vultures, many a songbird and occasionally a blue heron.

So far none of the cats have brought in a large bird, but they do enjoy the sparrows a lot.

Mayo Clinic Testing Dumping Medicare

The world famous Mayo Clinic is piloting a program of refusing Medicare patients at their Scottsdale, Arizona clinic.  While technically not rejecting the patients, there are few on Medicare who can afford to pay their own way.  In other words, if you have Medicare as your only means of health insurance you are screwed.

This is something that has been coming for some time.  In a desperate effort to contain spiraling expenditures on an already overstressed social programs, the government has been underpaying fees and services.  Medicare, like Social Security, is in very bad financial shape and rationing is starting to happen.

The quote of the article for me is this:

Mayo’s move to drop Medicare patients may be copied by family doctors, some of whom have stopped accepting new patients from the program, said Lori Heim, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, in a telephone interview yesterday.

“Many physicians have said, ‘I simply cannot afford to keep taking care of Medicare patients,’” said Heim, a family doctor who practices in Laurinburg, North Carolina. “If you truly know your business costs and you are losing money, it doesn’t make sense to do more of it.”

Basic economics, that.

Medicare is for the elderly and disabled. It is already getting difficult to find doctors that accept it in some areas and that is going to get worse if the above quote is any indication.

Funny how every federally run welfare program is mismanaged.  Knowing that, what sense is there in either expanding Medicare or adding yet another program as Obamacare? 

Being on both Social Security Disability and Medicare, I’ve been sensitive to the growing problems with both.  In fact, I’m planning for the day when I can’t get medical care due to being on Medicare.  I can’t afford to save or go on another plan, so I’ll simply stop going to the doctor when that happens.

I won’t be the only one and things will get very dire in America as the quality of living plummets for many.  We are a graying nation and don’t have enough young people to sustain the system.

Oh yes, we are living in interesting times.

Andre “The Hawk” Dawson now Hall of Famer

 

Amidst all the gloomy weather and economic predictions, one ray of light for today.  Andre Dawson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame today.  Ever since Ryne Sandberg got in I’d hoped “The Hawk” would be the next Cub MVP to get in.  Watching him play was always a delight and there are vivid memories from then.   The one that stands out is when Eric Show beaned him and knocked him out for a few horrific moments. Winning the National League MVP for a losing team was another highlight as it showed just how dominant he was that year.

But the best memory was seeing him at baseball card convention in La Crosse.  Dawson was always such a serious player and it was very rare to see him smile.  My mother took a hand sewn Cubs flag she’d made to get his autograph and when he saw it a huge smile broke out.  One of these days I’ll get the photo of that smile while he signed the flag scanned into the PC. 

Congratulations to one of baseball’s class acts!