Hurlshort

Wow, I share a professional shortcoming here, and you use it to attack me? Low blow! Plus you barely even post anymore. It's like you don't care about our friendship.

Skin, mostly. I will try the benadryl, thanks.

It's like you're writing from a script.

Speaking of dogs, mine has been hit with seasonal allergies and bit himself up good last night. So this morning I gave him a nice early bath in the cold, which neither of us enjoyed. Time to order more allergy supplements.

The last fact about Phillipe seems unnecessary though. I mean, it plays into this whole idea that there is some sort of competition between the two. Honestly I can't really say I know many people with degrees that think people without degrees are stupid. I'd actually say it's more likely that a person with a degree will look down on a person with a degree from a rival school than they are to look down on people who have a tradeskill education. For example, I look down on Stanford grads.

Spenser Confidential was everything I was looking for. Bummed it wasn't a series, but it was great as a movie.

I was a bit of an expert in the Focke-Wulf, back during my Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe days. Memories...

I chuckle at the idea that a revolutionary candidate will actually be able to do anything revolutionary while in office. The executives powers still have limits, and every big move will be challenged heavily until it becomes a smaller move.

I think I've said it before, but two bad people for 4 years is preferable to one for 8 years.

I'm not going to bother trying to predict anything anymore. I tried to explain how the delegate system works to my students today and I think I just made it worse. They now know less than they did at the start of the day.

I decided to back Cyber Knights in the final hours: I've played the heck out of their previous title, Star Traders, so this looks like a pretty safe bet. Not sure why I waited so long, but they are comfortably over their target.

I can't believe Hoonding has been posting for over a decade.

Why call it insurance at all, then? I mean, that is kind of the way it already works. You do pay for visits to the doctor under most insurance plans with a co-pay. You typically have a max deductible of 10k to meet, after which the insurance is supposed to cover the rest. The issue is the insurance companies make their money by declining coverage. Maybe you do have cancer, but that test that you want to take to find out might not be covered. No insurance company says "Come this way and we'll take care of you." You pay them for coverage, then you have to work with a doctor that is hopefully in their network to convince them to cover you. It's a dumb system. I agree ACA was a dumb solution. It just got the government into the insurance business. edit: As the head of a fairly healthy family of 4, I'm on the phone with my medical insurance company regularly. It is always a miserable time on the phone. I'm sure they bank on that fact. I'm curious what types of experiences you guys have had when dealing with your medical insurance companies.

I don't believe Rage is anywhere near the success level on Fallout 3 & 4. They used the name and the universe to get their foot in the door. Yeah, it was a different camera, combat system, etc. But you were still a vault dweller stepping out into a wasteland.

But we are just one health care reform away from the gulags!

That ship kind of sailed when Bethesda took Fallout 3 and made it into a massive hit.

BG2 was great, but it wasn't the combat that made it enjoyable for me. Same with PoE and I've loved actually knowing what is going on with the TB version of Deadfire. I mean, I guess it is just a matter of preference, but I tend to have a lot more engagement and involvement in the systems when a game is turn-based. JA2. Come at me, bro.

Sweet, I really need a new map to explore. I'm on my 3rd character and it isn't quite as thrilling when you know where everything is.

Pretty sure the vast majority of this is just confirmation bias for people already voting one way. It's hard to imagine there are sizable numbers of people on the fence that are swayed by some of the crazy stories you see on the internet.

Nothing Pete Davidson has done on SNL has made me think he would be worth watching as a stand-up. He works best as a foil to other comedians.

It's obviously a more complex issue than that, but that would be the humane thing to do. But let's break it down: 1. The government offered to evacuate him out of the country and then hit him with a bill well over a reasonable cost of a flight. 2. He had insurance in China, but that does not work in the US. Why? He's paid into an insurance program. If the insurance company represents his best interests, they should be supporting him here, and the hospitals should be working with that company instead of him as an individual. 3. He is expected to cover $2200 for the flight and $2,600 for the ambulance (because it costs more to drive to the hospital from the airport than fly across the Pacific Ocean, apparently.) 4. The hospital actually waived the costs on their end. That was the right thing to do. But if we had a better system, it wouldn't even be an issue.

Insurance is such a strange concept. I mean, I guess it works for things that you are hopefully not going to ever need. Hopefully I will never need my life insurance policy, but for $37 a month, it is nice to know my family is covered if I die during a 25-year period of time. Auto insurance is a bit more pricey, but my odds of being in a fender bender are decent enough given the miles I drive, so it's comforting. But again, that is firmly in the hopefully not going to need category. Insurance doesn't cover general maintenance for a good reason. With medical, we all need it on a regular basis. We are healthier when we do so. We pay a tremendous amount into this system that is an absolute mess.

Here's another ridiculous health care cost story: https://www.yahoo.com/news/american-quarantined-check-signs-coronavirus-192948402.html We shouldn't need to crowdfund to cover health expenses. These folks are making a fortune off our health:

I don't understand how anyone looks at our medical insurance system and thinks it works in any way. Companies are raking in huge profits while everyone struggles with medical debt. We managed to create an education system that is open and free to everyone without turning into a communist dystopia, so I'm pretty sure we can find a way to cover healthcare costs. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2019/08/04/as-sanders-and-warren-attack-private-health-insurer-profits-soar/#7aa7e83c532b