INTERESTING: Buying decisions are the equivalent of “micro elections”

Saturday, December 4, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/murphy/murphy170.html

The TSA’s False Tradeoff
by Bob Murphy

*** begin quote ***

The market economy solves this problem effortlessly through market prices and the profit-and-loss test. If a car factory is using up resources that consumers would prefer go into alternate sectors, this fact manifests itself objectively when the accountant announces that the car factory is “losing money.” After all, to be unprofitable simply means that the car factory cannot earn enough revenues from its customers in order to pay the prices for resources that other entrepreneurs are able to afford. That is the sense in which consumers are “voting” (through their spending decisions) that the car factory either reform or shut down.

*** end quote ***

We need to emphasize more these micro elections and de-emphasize the Gooferment.

We can control corporations with the very fine razor of individual buying decisions. No bureaucrats needed.

The Gooferment on the other hand is immune to our intentions. Completely.

Like some wag said, “if elections changed anything, they’d be outlawed”!

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INTERESTING: … in that it demonstrates how fragile the financial “eco-system” is

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

http://www.smh.com.au/business/millions-cashless-in-bank-glitch-20101126-18akf.html

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ONE of Australia’s biggest banks is scrambling to process payments to millions of customers, who potentially face days of uncertainty about when they will be able to access their money.

A corrupted file in the National Australia Bank’s computers on Wednesday jammed its payment system, hitting customers from a range of banks who rely on the NAB to process payments.

*** end quote ***

As an IT guy, I assume they are talking about a corrupted database, where the the software develops the IT equivalent of Alzheimer’s. (“Let’s see Joe Jones’ record please.” “Don’t have Joe’s in that slot have Sam’s.” “Tilt. Summon programmer.” To which the programmer says: “<synonym for excrement>” and schedules rebuilding the index. That’s like a Doctor’s secretary having to go through every file folder recreating an index into the filing cabinet. Long and cumbersome for people. Same for computers.) The fact that there’s a “holiday” around when the problem occurs makes me suspect that there was a change or testing going on. When I had a Dister Recovery Group, Tday Weekend was a great time for testing. Basically four days with minimal requirement from “real people”. It’s one of the most highly sought weekends by IT people to do “stuff”. So, when ANY holiday comes, think of the herds of nerds globally changing stuff. If that doesn’t inspire you to take a little extra cash and make a few preps for at least a little outage, then you are truly clueless. :-)

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Separate School and State!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

http://cafehayek.com/2010/11/school-lessons.html

School Lessons
by Don Boudreaux on November 26, 2010
in Education,Other People’s Money

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But why don’t supermarkets, restaurants, churches, apartment complexes, clothing stores, dog groomers, and other service providers in Fairfax County encounter the same problems that plague the school system? After all, the county is growing just as fast and just as unevenly for these merchants as it is for Fairfax County Public Schools. Yet we never hear that some coffee shops or department stores continue to be overcrowded while others are well under capacity. Why might this be?

*** end quote ***

Of course, the answer is that the politicians and bureaucrats can not possibly know the answers. And, even if they did, they can’t possibly know how to “price” it. (How much of taxpayer money to “invest” in “stuff”?) A McDonalds is easier; an owner figures out how much of his wealth to risk. Of course, he’s going to be “right” more than any bunch of politicians and bureaucrats.

Sorry, but we must separate School and State!

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INTERESTING: The TSA’s gloves (Updated: 26NOV10@1000)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Having spent a lot of tie in hospital lately. And, time in two different ones — RWJUH and SPUH — thankfully not as the patient — some of which was under “Neutropenic Precautions” and infection control. One thing that I vividly remember is the Nurses goign through gloves darn near every minute.

The gloves, while protecting the nurses and patients, were expendable. They could carry an infection from one patient to another.

How many times does the TSA screen change those gloves?

Any one test them?

So not only is the search a violation of everyone’s Fourth (i.e., secure in your person) and Fifth Amendment (i.e., takings) rights. Not only is that back scatter xray an unproven safe “medical device” (Has the FDA certified it?), that has radiologists publicly avoiding it and operated by unlicensed technicians.

But, those gloves could be a disease vector!

Anyone thought of that?

If they have I haven’t seen it.

# # # # # posted 2010-11-23 07:34

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=232457

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINES
Doctors sound TSA germ alert
Dangers include syphilis, lice, viruses, ringworm
Posted: November 24, 2010 9:09 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh

*** begin quote ***

Syphilis, lice, gonorrhea, ringworm, chlamydia, staph, strep, noro and papilloma viruses all are part of the possible fringe benefits when airline passengers next go through a full hands-on pat-down by agents of the federal government’s Transportation Security Administration, according to doctors.

*** and ***

“If an athlete with jock itch (a fungal infection) undergoes a TSA pat-down, that TSA agent could spread the passenger’s jock itch from his crotch to his armpits and neck. The same is true for a person suffering from ringworm or other skin fungal infections: Merely touching them and then touching another body part can cause them to spread,” the website said. “Even worse, if that same TSA agent does not change his or her gloves between pat-downs, they could be spreading jock itch, ringworm or other infections from traveler to traveler. So traveler #2 could end up with the jock itch picked up from traveler #1.”

*** end quote ***

Glad to see that folks with MD after their name confirm my suspicions. Doesn’t take a genius to figure this one out. I’m surprised it took me so long to tumble to it. After my decade plus on the First Aid Squad, I should have been on it sooner. Touching ANYTHING after touching a patient without fresh gloves would most certainly get a reprimand.

# # # # # posted 2010-11-26 10:11

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Every child is “sick”; hard to believe

Sunday, November 21, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/25vmyb5

Survey: One in 10 US children has ADHD
Associated Press

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“A government survey says 1 in 10 US children has ADHD, a sizable increase from a few years earlier that researchers think might be explained by growing awareness and better screening. ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, makes it hard for children to pay attention and control impulsive behavior. It’s often treated with drugs, behavioral therapy, or both. The new study found that about two-thirds of the children who have ADHD are on medication.” [editor’s note: So now they have done it; they’ve turned a legitimate ailment, affecting a very small number of children with severe learning disabilities, into an epidemic-level crisis that almost everyone has, and now can beg billions from the Feds to fund their game – SAT] (11/11/10)

*** end quote ***

How can one out of every ten children be “broken”?

Stupid!

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INTERESTING: Engaged in a huge number of species-wide social experiments?

Monday, November 15, 2010

http://web.docuticker.com/go/docubase/61784

Premarital cohabitation and divorce: Support for the “Trial Marriage” Theory?
November 7, 2010 18:50
Source: Demographic Research

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   A number of studies show that premarital cohabitation is associated with an increased risk of subsequent marital dissolution. Some argue that this is a consequence of selection effects and that once these are controlled for premarital cohabitation has no effect on dissolution. We examine the effect of premarital cohabitation on subsequent marital dissolution by using rich retrospective life-history data from Austria. We model union formation and dissolution jointly to control for unobserved selectivity of cohabiters and non-cohabiters. Our results show that those who cohabit prior to marriage have a higher risk of marital dissolution. However, once observed and unobserved characteristics are controlled for, the risks of marital dissolution for those who cohabit prior to marriage are significantly lower than for those who marry directly. The finding that premarital cohabitation decreases the risk of marital separation provides support for the “trial marriage” theory.

*** end quote ***

Now, I’m just a fat old white guy injineer but it would seem that “We, The People” are engaged in a huge number of species-wide social experiments. Abortion, same-sex marriage, sex selection, trial marriage, single mother households, serial monogomy, serial marriage, multigenerational welfare “farming”, Prohibition, Welfare/Warfare Statism, Theocracy, Socialism, Communism (although I’d be hard pressed to define it), genocidal tribal warfare, and on an on. Just name a few off the top of my head.

And, most of them, if not all, in some way trace back to he Gooferment. (It truly is the root of all evil. The Serpent in Garden of evil wasn’t a snake; it was a politician.) Before we try to remake the face of the Earth in the vision of Al Gore, before we change civil society, before we collapse under the weight of debt, before we throw away generations of accumulated wisdom, we should have an idea for what we want to accomplish.

Isn’t the medical adage, “First do no harm”, appropriate here?

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INTERESTING: And you wonder why I sat for 30+ hours in the hospital one day?

Friday, November 12, 2010

http://community.advanceweb.com/blogs/nurses_11/archive/2009/07/01/how-do-i-chart-that.aspx

*** begin quote ***

  • DO NOT mention medication errors in a patient’s chart. In the patient chart, document only what was given.

*** end quote ***

Yeah, we wouldn’t want the truth in a medical record.

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INTERESTING: Wrong way corrigan; probably just as old?

Saturday, October 30, 2010

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/elderly-woman-caught-on-video-driving-in-wrong-direction-on-i-95/

Elderly Woman Drives ‘Wrong Way’ On I-95
October 29, 2010 11:27 PM

*** begin quote ***

DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) — Pennsylvania State Police questioned an 84-year-old female from Wilmington in connection with a wrong-way driving incident on I-95 Thursday afternoon.

Witnesses say she was travelling east in the westbound lanes of Route 322, and then she got on the southbound lanes of I-95 travelling northbound, causing a number of crashes along the way.

*** end quote ***

Amazing. The skill for everyone to get out of granny’s way! Isn’t there a saying about God protecting the idiots and fools. Where were her family members who didn’t yank her license? I’ve had to do it to an elderly relative who acted like replacing the side mirrors was normal maintenance. We’re all just fortunate it wasn’t a bigger disaster. We have enough of those when everyone is going in the SAME direction. Now watch some politician save us from older drivers. Oh yea, right, that won’t happen because old folks vote. I guess a politician will award her a safe driving certificate because SHE didn’t hit anything?

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INTERESTING: Calorie count finding

Monday, October 25, 2010

http://web.docuticker.com/go/docubase/61231

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Compared with meals and snacks prepared at home, food prepared away from home increases caloric intake of children, especially older children. Each food-away-from-home meal adds 108 more calories to daily total intake among children ages 13-18 than a snack or meal from home; all food from school is estimated to add 145 more calories.

*** end quote ***

I guess the implication is that “do it at home” will make you skinny?

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Will Vermont be the first State out of the “union”?

Saturday, October 16, 2010

http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2010/10/13/code-purple-student-article-possibility-independent-vermont

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From 1777 to 1791, Vermont was its own Republic. Now, in 2010, a group of Vermonters is fighting to secede from the United States. Their goal is to save the Green Mountain State from centralized control and establish the Vermont Second Republic. The secessionists believe that the United States of America, which they refer to as the United States of Empire, isn’t the pinnacle of democracy it once was and that Vermont would do better as an independent republic.

*** end quote ***

Too bad Aunt Marion sold her farm to the developers instead of my Mom. Imagine how life would have been different? I could be in the thick of an active secessionist movement. Vermont may be the first out. Vermont was the promised land in my novel “CHURCH 10●19●62”. So those of you, who slogged through it, know how Vermont could use its advantages to lead in the future. Wish I was there to help. Argh!

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