Random Babbling

    - Another 300 pound patient in the office is getting a sleep study to determine why he is not sleeping well... I have remarked on this flagrant waste of money before because it has become the norm rather than the exception in healthcare spending. There is no cost control nor common sense nor self responsibility in many facets of the business. Unnecessary tests and medications rather than simple lifestyle changes are as responsible for high costs as the overpaid CEO's and other inflated charges. When I see a 90 year old person get a thousand dollars worth of tests to determine that 'yes, you are old and will die sooner than later',  I wonder why that person has not reconciled their own mortality long before. As the true costs have begun to be transferred to individuals with higher deductibles and premiums, I think people are finally getting their heads out of the sand. Unfortunately they are still expecting things to paid by others rather than taking responsibility for their own lives. There will Have to be cost controls and individual accountability factored into healthcare or the system will  implode or bankrupt the country. Sooner or later people will Have to accept that 'yes' I will exercise and watch my weight and not smoke and drink or else I will Not expect everyone else to pick up the tab. Sooner or later the elderly will have to say 'yes, I am ready to die' before I expect others to keep me alive for another 6 months. I am not holding my breath.
    - Another disgruntled husband in Jamestown, NY shot his wife dead rather than face his own pathetic weak ego, and so more innocent lives have been devastated because he wasn't able to control his own mind as much as he wanted to control his wife. Sorry dude, your violent anger and hatred exposed your feeble inner life more than you will ever realize. Your lack of courage and ability to control yourself is all too common in testosterone flooded macho men who lash out at others rather than face their own inadequacies. So the guy hid in an attic for a couple days then stabbed the police dog who found him ( recovering fortunately) and eventually turned himself in. Now he faces a 2nd degree murder charge, which unfortunately means only 15 years to life in New York state-far too lenient for taking a life. The dead wife had obtained a protection from abuse order so no way this guy did not premeditate taking his pistol to her workplace and shooting her in the head on the sidewalk. This is who the guy was over for years...in his core.
  - While I have always been impressed by how the small brains of insects are able to coordinate all the functions of flight, I am astounded by their ability to instantaneously compensate their aerodynamic requirements while mating. The male carries the female in many species, including butterflies, dragonflies, houseflies and others, in some cases with both individuals flapping their wings as they maneuver. Not bad for a small group pf neurons... 

Post Election Thoughts

   -The vote in Warren County went 68% Trump, and while I voted Hillary primarily for healthcare and green energy reasons, I understand the frustration people have against the current government-and America generally- in which they feel the rich and powerful make the rules and hoard the profits. Voters feel a sense of injustice for the same reason that the jury voted to acquit O.J. Simpson in 1995; the historical record of oppression was on trial..Not O.J... So the blue collar working class and others are fed up with Washington and did what they thought was right. As for Trump himself, Peter Thiel summed up the national divide up well when he said that his supporters take him "seriously but not literally", while everyone else takes him literally but not seriously. Which means for instance that building a wall may not mean literally building a wall rather getting something serious done about immigration policy. We shall see what parts of the spin relate to reality. 

  - During the campaign I saw 'Vote Trump' signs in front of  beautiful houses, but I am not sure what definition of 'MakeAmericaGreatAgain' those homeowners thought had failed them; the America they inhabited looked  quite prosperous to me. And I saw signs in front of run down houses whose occupants probably worked two jobs to pay the bills, but they also had satellite dishes on the roof and pizza boxes in the trash. So neither were those homeowners as oppressed as they may have believed. For every 'lowering' of living standard that America has experienced through the loss of jobs, a Chinese or Mexican workers living standard has been raised, so the flux and flow of jobs is nothing new regardless of how painful it is to individuals. America has a deep safety net that many world citizens do not. The disaffected American worker justifiably wonders why billions of tax dollars are wasted overseas in wars and other places while his own life position seems to be stagnating. The income and education gap is real, and we'll see how much a billionaire can truly relate to the working class.

   -Like most elections, this one did not contain analytical discussions so much as sound bites with simple explanations and solutions that appealed to the powerlessness people feel within their own lives. In the Twitter age half truths sound great in a few sentences. I know a  Trump supporter who  emphatically claimed that trucks could never run on natural gas because they would never produce enough power to haul freight. A simple Google search of 'natural gas trucks' exposes the absurdity of that claim. So 'bomb the shit' out of ISIS sounds like a great solution to someone who has never researched the long troubled history of the middle east. It sounded great to the second George Bush who never thought beyond the first invasion wave. If only life were so simple. 

   -President elect Trump described his first transitional meeting with Obama productive and that they had "great chemistry". I believe it. Trump in 2004 admitted that "In many cases I probably identify more as a democrat" and Obama is a careful thinker who knows that he has to insure a smooth transfer of power.  Trumps daughter Ivanka is friends with Hillarys daughter Chelsea and I suspect that both will be positive influences behind the scenes. 

 

 

Computers

         Found some funny 'truths' about computers written years ago:

1~  "We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire woks of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true."
                                                                                          - Robert Wilensky, 1997

2~ " Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot proof programs and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning".
                                                                                            - Rick Cook  1989

3~ "To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer."
                                                                                            - The Farmers Almanac  1978
             

  Shopping and looking up information on Google have become much easier since the internet...but the vulnerabilities to finances, electrical grid etc.as well as the misinformation and propaganda and sheer glut of noise and distraction seem to me to have not really benefited humanity much. I sometime think that the tech industry has perpetrated a massive scam on the world with promises of an improved lifestyle, when in fact they have profited massively while introducing a new set of problems. As always there is no changing human nature, so the power of technology to aid such 'revolutions' as the 'Arab spring' also helps ISIS types to recruit mass murderers with the click of a mouse.