6/29/2017

America Health Care Coverage






Interesting information on US Health Care. Click for more info:

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-gaba-20160329-snap-htmlstory.html

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The compiler of the information, Mr. Charles Gaba, is not an admirer of the current Senate Bill on Health Care. He notes that:

The official name of the Senate GOP's Trumpcare Plan is "The Better Care Reconciliation Act" Plan...otherwise known as "BCRAP"
.
acasignups.net

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The Center for American Progress has put together their own state-based and Congressional-District-based breakout of the latest score by the CBO of the Republican Senate's "BCRAP" healthcare bill.
They've once again taken the CBO's total estimates for net coverage losses as of 2026 (15 million nonelderly people losing Medicaid, 7 million losing individual market coverage) and done their best to break that 22 million total out by state, district and even the type of Medicaid coverage (Adults, Children, the disabled and ACA expansion), along with the million or so elderly Medicaid enrollees who would likely lose partial coverage (they'd still have Medicare but lose Medicaid). I'm once again taking their raw data and reformatting/color coding it into individual state-level infographics, suitable for sharing via social media.
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Health care coverage is very complex and hard for we mere mortals to comprehend.  The bottom line, though, is it is very expensive, and Congressional Republicans are proposing to cut taxes and lower subsidies. Tax cuts are a fine thing and it is likely the well to do will appreciate it. But the low income folks who lose their insurance or have to pay more likely will not like it.







6/28/2017

Talk Radio



Talk radio is an important part of forming political opinions for many Americans. Five of the ten most listened to radio programs are conservative talk. Another conservative talk show, Hugh Hewitt is the 17th most listened to conservative show. Thom Hartmann is 19th and the only progressive radio show among the top 20.  I was surprised that Laura Ingram and Dennis Praeger did not make the top 20.

The programs are all entertaining, although become boring from their incessant snarky criticism of everything and everyone with whom they disagree. This obviously appeals to their listeners. The hosts are getting rich talking so they are on the economic right track.

The top two hosts, Limbaugh and Hannity, are both college dropouts. Number three Glen Beck took a college course.

Mark Levin, Hugh Hewitt, Laura Ingraham are lawyers. Michael Savage is a PhD in nutritional ethnomedicine. Dennis Praeger has a BA. Thom Hartmann has three degrees in herbology and homeopathic medicine.

Lesson learned for future would be conservative talk shows hosts?  Don't waste time with college. The three most successful hosts don't have college degrees. And don't be a liberal - conservatives are far more popular.

I find that talk radio has become more polarized.  People want to hear incessant criticism of the people they disagree with. It pays for radio shows to ignore nuance and blast their opponents. And this is bad for civil discourse.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-listened-to_radio_programs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Hannity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Beck

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Savage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Levin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hewitt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thom_Hartmann

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Prager

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Ingraham



THE CRAZY, INGENIOUS PLAN TO BRING HIPPOPOTAMUS RANCHING TO AMERICA


THE CRAZY, INGENIOUS PLAN TO BRING HIPPOPOTAMUS RANCHING TO AMERICA

(Back in the days before environmental impact statements)
"Inthe early years of the last century, the U.S. Congress considered a bold and ingenious plan that would simultaneously solve two pressing problems – a national meat shortage and a growing ecological crisis. The plan was this: hippopotamus ranching.

Hippos imported from Africa and raised in the bayous of Louisiana, proponents argued, would provide a delicious new source of protein for a meat-hungry nation. In the process, the animals would gobble up the invasive water hyacinth that was killing fish and choking off waterways. It would be an epic win-win. A bill was introduced in Congress, and newspaper editorials extolled the culinary virtues of "lake cow bacon."

This week in The Atavist, writer (and WIRED's Mr. Know-It-All columnist) Jon Mooallem describes the hippo ranching scheme and the story of two fascinating men behind it: one a modest frontiersman and soldier of fortune, the other a self-aggrandizing con man. Both were spies. Each was sworn to kill the other. But the great cause of hippo ranching brought them together."

6/20/2017

6/16/2017

Your chances of being killed by a terrorist are quite low. Quit worrying about it.

Your chances of being killed by a terrorist are quite low.  Quit worrying about it. Of course it is your right to agonize over the threat.




John Mueller, a political scientist at Ohio State University, and Mark Stewart, a civil engineer and authority on risk assessment at University of Newcastle in Australia … contended, “a great deal of money appears to have been misspent and would have been far more productive—saved far more lives—if it had been expended in other ways.”

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/did-the-u-s-overreact-to-the-911-attacks-undoubtedly/

http://www.orfaleacenter.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.gisp.d7_orfalea-2/files/sitefiles/other/UCSBpaper.pdf


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Terrorist incidents in the U.S. are quite rare, so estimating off a single year is going to be problematic. Looking at the time-series, what you see is that the vast majority of U.S. terrorism fatalities came during the 9/11 attacks (See this report from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.)


https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/259398/is-this-chart-showing-the-likelihood-of-a-terrorist-attack-statistically-useful/259426


6/15/2017

Wind and Solar in March accounted for 10% of U.S. electricity generation for first time



JUNE 14, 2017

Wind and solar in March accounted for 10% of U.S. electricity generation for first time


Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly


For the first time, monthly electricity generation from wind and solar (including utility-scale plants and small-scale systems) exceeded 10% of total electricity generation in the United States, based on March data in EIA’s Electric Power Monthly. Electricity generation from both of these energy sources has grown with increases in wind and solar generating capacity. On an annual basis, wind and solar made up 7% of total U.S. electric generation in 2016.

Click to read the article:



6/09/2017

Zero to Forty

Zero to forty is a measure used to indicate how fast a car can accelerate. But it is also a pretty good estimate of how many years we have left to live.  We could have zero minutes left to live, or forty years, living to a ripe old age.

Social security publishes tables on life expectancy. The table below shows on average how long you will live.  A 70 year old male has 14.24 years left, on average, while a 70 year old woman has 16.43 years.

Call it 15 years left, on average +-. Close enough for government work.  Make the most of it. Do a little good, have a little fun. Do all the things you want to do. Don't worry, be happy. Get right with your relatives and friends. Live long and prosper.
























The link below takes you to the table.

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html