Observations Along the Road

Roadkill Along the Information Superhighway

Saturday Miscellany: GF Foods, Plantar Fasciitis, West LA Markets, and Bag Closures

Written By: cahwyguy - Sat Mar 16, 2013 @ 8:03 am PDT
Posted in miscellaneous, news-chum , , , , | No Comments »

userpic=observationsThe “clearin’ of the links” post seems to be increasingly moving from Friday to Saturday, so let’s just go with it. There is some slight connection between these stories, but not enough to make a full themed article:

  • Gluten Free Waste. My wife is gluten-free, for a reason. She’s dealing with Celiac, and there’s a medical basis. But for many people, going GF is the latest food fad. A recent Time article posits that we are wasting billions of dollars on GF food unnecessarily. They cite a new survey from market research firm the NPD Group that found America is cutting gluten out of its diet in a big way, with just under one-third of 1,000 respondents agreeing with the statement: “I’m trying to cut back/avoid Gluten in my diet.” Time notes that is the highest level since the company added gluten consumption to the surveys it does about Americans’ eating habits in 2009. TIME labeled the gluten-free movement #2 on its top 10 list of food trends for 2012. Time’s contention is that many of those paying a premium to avoid gluten are doing so without any legitimate medical reason. From what I’ve seen of fad diets, I’d tend to agree. As always, we’re heading towards a GF bubble here.
  • Foot Pain. Another article that hits close to home deals with Plantar Fasciitis. This is something I dealt with recently — it impacted my ability to exercise tremendously, and it took me almost a year to get rid of it. They recommend shoe fixes, but I haven’t seen that my fancy insoles made a big difference. More important, to me, was a “boot” I wore at night that prevented the Plantar from relaxing, so it didn’t get re-inflamed when I stood up in the morning. That, combined with anti-inflammatory medicine, seemed to make the biggest difference.
  • Remember Market Basket. Curbed LA had an article this week about a sad Pavillions at Wilshire and Stoner being closed, and talking about redevelopment that might occur at the even sadder (but open) Santa Monica and Barrington Vons. This caught my eye because of the location. You see, many many years ago (back in the 1970s and 1980s) the Wilshire and Stoner location housed the Market Basket where we did most of our shopping. My parent’s accounting office was in the Barrington Plaza next door, and I was always picking up stuff there for them (either there or Westward Ho on San Vicente). Wilshire and Stoner was also the location of the Crocker Bank where I got my first credit card (which I still have). In the 1990s, they “redeveloped” the parcel putting in an office building, but with a covenant that they retain a market there for the Seniors living in the Barrington Plaza. They put in a fancy Ralphs… which died. Then came the Pavillions, which died. Meanwhile, the really old Marina style Vons on Santa Monica stays busy.
  • There’s Profit in Everything. We often think about the big parts of business, not the little parts. For example, when we talk GF bread, we think about the bread itself not the bag… or how they close the bag. Well, Businessweek did that thinking. They have a really interesting article on a big battle between the clip-on bag closer and the twist-tie closer manufacturers to gain market share. As I said, big business… and not something you commonly think about.

Music: The Legendary Josh White (Josh White): “Trouble in Mind”

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Friday, umm, Saturday news Chum: Comments, Entertainment, Medical, Razors, and Property News

Written By: cahwyguy - Sat Feb 02, 2013 @ 6:49 am PDT
Posted in news-chum , , , | No Comments »

userpic=observationsYesterday was February 1st, and so the Birthday Song Poll preempted the normal news chum collection. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a collection of marginally interesting news articles for you. Heaven forfend!

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Friday News Chum: Redistricting, Fonts, Liddsville, Dogs, Lawns, Apollo 11, Stomach Flu, and Postage

Written By: cahwyguy - Fri Jan 25, 2013 @ 11:17 am PDT
Posted in news-chum, politics , , , , , , , | No Comments »

userpic=headlinesWell, it’s Friday at lunch, and you know what that means — time to clear out the accumulated links that couldn’t be formed into a coherent theme. Well, at least I couldn’t figure out a theme. Perhaps you can:

  • Impacts of Redistricting. Let’s start with a couple of aspects of redistricting. First, in California, the state senate districts have staggered elections and terms (just like the real senate). This means when redistricting occurs, there is a short period where some people might have two state senate representatives and others might not have a state senate representative at all. The state senate has just addressed the quirk, assigning senators to those areas that ended up without representation. If you are wondering how this happens, The no-senator areas, known as deferrals, stem from the interplay of the Senate’s election schedule and redistricting. One-half of Senate seats are up for election every two years and the 2011 remap moved some residents from odd-numbered districts scheduled to be on the ballot in 2012 to even-numbered districts on the ballot in 2014. The result is that those areas have no senator for two years. Here’s another redistricting issue: Redistricting in many states results in gerrymandering, where districts are created to have majorities in one party or another. The Republicans in Virginia and a number other “swing” blue states are attempting to take advantage of this by allocating electoral votes to the winner of the district. It’s one thing to allocate proportionally based on total state voting, but doing it by congressional district allows the gerrymandering effect to predominate, disenfranchising those in the minority in the district.
  • Readability. Let’s move away from politics. You’re reading this post on your computer, in a serif or non-serif font, depending on your preference. Mine’s serifed. We’ve always believed that serifed fonts were more readable because the serifs helped move your eye along the line. Guess what? Serifed fonts may not be more readable. Ariel or Lucida Sans for the win!
  • It Won’t Be The Same Without Charles Nelson Reilly. Those of us who grew up in the 1970s will remember Lidsville, a Sid and Marty Krofft series about talking hats. It may even live in that scary memory place with the Bugaloos, the Banana Splits, and H.N.R. Puffnstuff. Well, this article will really cause you to flip your lid. Alan Menken, composer of such shows as Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and many others, is working on a live-action movie version of Liddsville (as well as a musical episode of The Neighbors). Dreamworks is producing.
  • Turning Wolves into Dogs. There has been a lot of debate of how the wolf was domesticated and became man’s best friend, the dog. A story in the Washington Post posits that it was moving to a diet of grains and potatoes that did it. A team of Swedish researchers compared the genomes of wolves and dogs and found that a big difference is dogs’ ability to easily digest starch. On their way from pack-hunting carnivore to fireside companion, dogs learned to desire — or at least live on — wheat, rice, barley, corn and potatoes. As it turns out, the same thing happened to humans as they came out of the forest, invented agriculture and settled into diets rich in grains. Co-evolution at work!
  • A Concrete Jungle. Los Angeles has been referred to as a concrete jungle. San Francisco, on the other hand, has a problem with concrete lawns. Specifically, under San Francisco city law, at least 20 percent of a front yard must consist of permeable surfaces with vegetation, mostly to allow for proper drainage and to keep the neighborhood looking green. Homes can be reviewed for compliance every time an owner does construction on the driveway or property. However, this is ignored more in the breach, and now the paved-over lawns in San Francisco are creating environmental concerns due to excessive drainage.
  • Learning from the Past. Another thing that those of us from the 1970s will remember is the Apollo Program and the launches to the moon. Bet’cha thought it was dead. Well, not quite. NASA has started testing a vintage F-1 series engine from the Saturn V.  The hope is that it could become a template for a new generation of motors incorporating parts of its design. Those of us who live in the San Fernando Valley remember well the roar of those engines — they were built in Canoga Park and tested in Chatsworth!
  • Getting Sick of It All. I’m sure you have all heard the exhortations about the Influenza going around the country, and you have gotten your flu shot (except those of you who don’t believe in vaccines — but that’s a different debate). There’s another “flu” going around (with “flu” in quotes since it really isn’t a flu), and this one doesn’t have a vaccine: There’s an epidemic of norovirus, a/k/a “stomach flu”, going around. It’s a pretty strong variant (from Australia, where they make things stronger). This variant causes nausea, forceful vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, accounted for 58% of outbreaks of norovirus nationally. Norovirus typically begins very suddenly and lasts one to three days. Most people recover without treatment, but some require rehydration with liquids or intravenous fluids. The disease is most severe in the elderly and can also hit young children hard. Norovirus is extremely contagious. The best protection is vigilant hand washing with soap and water. If surfaces may have been contaminated, the CDC recommends disinfecting them with a diluted bleach solution made of five to 25 tablespoons of household bleach to a gallon of water.
  • Stamping It Out. And lastly, first-class postage is going to 46¢ on Sunday, with postcards going to 33¢. I’m sure most of you are unfamiliar with postage and postage stamps, as you have never written an actual letter or paid a bill by mail. You see, people once communicated not via email, but by putting pieces of paper in an envelope, affixing a money-equivalent to the envelope, and giving it to someone to take to the recipient. Seriously, even those of us that use postage stamps forget the price of postage these days, as most first class stamps are “forever” stamps. So pick up some forever stamps now, before the price goes up. Those dollars you save might buy you a cup of coffee. I emphasize the “might”, given Starbucks’ prices. You’ll do better at McDonalds!

 

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News Chum – Old Things: Dumb Phones, Old Medicine, and Building with Books

Written By: cahwyguy - Wed Oct 10, 2012 @ 11:25 am PDT
Posted in news-chum , , , | No Comments »

Today’s lunchtime news chum presents three articles about old things:

  • Stupid Phones. A CNN reporter has an article where she defends her use of a stupidphone. Although I’m not the luddite she is, I too have a phone without a data plan. Why? The primary reason is that I’m cheap, and data plans are expensive. Second, I’d probably waste far more time futzing around on the nets than I already do (did I say that with my outside voice?). But I’ll probably cave at the next replacement, depending on the cost of Verizon’s data plans.
  • Expired Medicine. A recent study has shown that most drugs are actually still good for years and years after their expiration date (aspirin being a notable exception). This, of course, is published after I cleaned my dresser and got rid of a load of expired medicines. Still, it is useful to know. The same, by the way, is true of much food, where the “expiration” date is really a “best by” guess. Speaking of medicines, CVS has been refilling prescriptions without consent and billing insurance companies. The LA Times is investigating this, and wants to know if it has happened to you. I’ve never trusted the current incarnation of CVS — the outlet near us has screwed up prescriptions, been late on filling things, and has been uncommunicative. I’ve been very happy to be able to return to our local Walgreens.
  • Building with Books. Old fashioned books. Most of us love them; some of us are replacing them with digital books. But what should we do with the books and books that fill our house. Perhaps build another? This interesting Curbed article looks at what happens when people build things with books. The results are well worth reading.

P.S.: There’s an election coming up. Read. Investigate. Be informed. I’m going through my sample ballot, and you can find the results of my research in the following two posts (a third should be up by this weekend):

 

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Friday News Chum: Obits, Animation, Non-Christian Christians, Fecal Transplants, 404 pages, and Close Shaves

Written By: cahwyguy - Fri Sep 28, 2012 @ 11:08 am PDT
Posted in news-chum, obituaries , , , | 1 Comment »

Well, it’s Friday at lunch, and that means it is time to clean out the news chum links, toss them into the water, and see if anyone bites on them for discussion.

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Why I Support the “Individual Mandate”

Written By: cahwyguy - Sat Jun 30, 2012 @ 3:15 pm PDT
Posted in politics, rant , , , | 1 Comment »

Way back in 1984, columnist Art Buchwald wrote a piece on the insurance industry that has always struck with me. It began as follows (you can read the whole piece here):

I’m not a betting man by nature, but I have this bookmaker. He works for the Reluctant Insurance Company of America. This is how we bet. Every month I give him a certain amount of money, and he takes a gamble that my house won’t burn down or be broken into or damaged by a falling tree. Another bet I place with him is that my car won’t hit someone in an accident, or I won’t be hit by somebody else. Still a third one is that my family will not be stricken with an illness that will require hospitalization.

Funny enough, I was never anxious to win one of those bets. I didn’t want to collect from the bookie on any of them. He seemed to feel the same way I did. So much so that if, for some reason, I forgot to send him a check for one of our bets, he would mail me a nasty letter wanting to know where the money was. He was not, he told me, in the bookmaking business for his health.

Recently, due to an illness in my family, my bookie lost one of my bets. Since this was the first time I had won, I thought he would be happy to pay off. After all, even in Las Vegas the house expects to lose once in a while.

You can guess where the piece goes from there, with the bookie refusing to pay out, and even threatening to break his legs.

Thinking about insurance as legalized gambling is very instructive. Currently, we’re in a situation where a lot of people have employer-subsidized casinos where they can gamble. These casinos pay very well, but they are open only to the employees. They are like credit unions: they know their community, and they pay very well.

Those who aren’t so lucky to have employer-subsidized casinos have a problem. Playing at the other casinos are very expensive, and some of them are quite shady. Some of them have really bad odds: they collect in lots of money, and pay out an extremely small percentage, with the rest going to the mob bosses that control the casino. Others only allow you to gamble if they know you will lose; if you have ever won before, they do not permit you to play the game because their oddsmakers tell them that if you have won once, you’re going to win again. Further, there are a group of players that only want to go into the casino when they know they will have a winning streak. When their luck is cold, they avoid the casinos. Casinos could not stay in business very long if the house regularly lost; it depends on the balance of winners to losers.

Let’s now translate the above into the affordable care act, often called “Obamacare”. One thing Obamacare does is mandate that the house pay a certain percentage to the winner, and not to the mob bosses — in other words, that a significant portion of premiums (I think 80%) must go to medial payments, not administrative costs. Obamacare also mandates that individuals who have ever “won” can continue playing — in other words, that individuals with preexisting conditions must be able to get coverage. It also mandates that the casinos must pay out when people win — in other words, that when you get sick, the insurance companies cannot retroactively drop your insurance. It also mandates that players just learning the game can come in the casino with their parents — in other words, that children who are unlikely to get sick must be covered under their parent’s policies. All off these have the potential to cost the casino money. To counter this and balance the system, Obamacare mandates that people cannot play only when they know they will win — in other words, that people must get health insurance when they are young and healthy. This is the basis of the “individual mandate”: to provide incentives for people who do not carry insurance to carry insurance, and those premiums offset the additional coverage costs.

Now, Obamacare recognizes that not all players have the same ability to gamble. For those that have the ability, they have the choice: they can regularly gamble and lose, or they can pay a fee (lower than their gambling costs) for not playing (this is the tax that the Supreme Court just ruled as legal). For those that can’t afford to play at all, the government will provide the casino and pay for them to play — this corresponds to Medicare and similar programs. For those that can barely afford to play, the government will provide subsidies to help them play — in other words, low income people can get financial support on buying insurance. Lastly, the government will maintain a list of available casinos (the “registries”) that tell people the best places for them to play; it is the states that have the option of setting up state-run casinos for those that can’t find anyway to play.

Continuing the analogy: Does the government dictate when people can win and when they lose: in other words, are there “death squads”. In the government run casinos, yes — but this is what we have today with Medicare dictating what they will cover (in other words, this isn’t new). For private-run casinos, only partially. The government does dictate some cases where the people can win — that is, coverage that must be provided. The government, with some exceptions, does not dictate when people lose (i.e., when things aren’t covered). That’s up to the private insurers  (oops, casinos). The exception: abortion, and this restriction came not from Obama but from the Conservatives in government.

So there you have it. Insurance is legalized gambling. The individual mandate is simply a way to get more people into the casino so that the casino operators can afford to let more people play and have better payouts.

 

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A Positive Experience

Written By: cahwyguy - Sun May 06, 2012 @ 6:28 pm PDT
Posted in miscellaneous , | No Comments »

For the last few days, I’ve had an odd sore throat. Negligible hoarseness, but a little pain when swallowing, especially after a sneeze or yawn. However, getting to the doctor is a problem: I’m the only driver on the vanpool next week (meaning if I’m not on, the van doesn’t run and all the regular riders are inconvenienced, plus it raises the costs for all). So I decided to try a local Minute Clinic at the CVS in Reseda. I must say, I came away impressed.

When you need to check something medically on the weekend, it is usually a pain. ERs weren’t designed for that purpose–they take forever and cost lots and lots. The few times I’ve tried the local urgent care, I wasn’t impressed. The Minute Clinic was clean, there was no line, and they had a nice automated check in. From the time we arrived to the time we left was under an hour. They did a strep test — no strep, so it is likely a virus. It should go away in a week; if not, I’ll work in a visit to the doctor on Friday when I was going to be off the van anyway.

I also must comment on this CVS. When Walgreens stopped accepting ExpressScript, we had to switch to the CVS across the street (this is the Northridge CVS at Reseda and Devonshire). The store is old and crowded, and their pharmacy is backed up. Prescriptions are not ready when promised, and it takes forever for them to call the doctor. The CVS we were at today (Tampa and Victory), in contrast, was clean. The pharmacy was prompt. I left with a positive impression. It really showed the difference that different stores–even in the same chain–can give.

Music: Elton John (Elton John): Your Song

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Cleaning out the Links

Written By: cahwyguy - Fri Jan 06, 2012 @ 11:48 am PDT
Posted in news-chum, security , , , , , | No Comments »

It’s Friday at lunch, and you know what that means–it is time to clear out the accumulated news chum links from the week that haven’t fit into any theme. There’s a bunch of interesting stuff in here, so read on, McDuff:

Music: Cheapo-Cheapo Productions Present John Sebastian Live (John Sebastian): Waiting for a Train

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