INTERESTING: A health care plan alternative

Friday, June 19, 2009

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/06/a_real_free_market_health_care_1.html

A Real Free Market Health Care Solution
By Frank S. Rosenbloom, M.D.

*** begin quote ***

Solution:

   * 1. Don’t pass any of the Democrat health care plans. Savings of at least $3 trillion over the next five years.

   * 2. Immediately do away with Medicare, Medicaid, and The Center for Medicare and Medicaid services. No other major industrialized nation has a separate system for the elderly, disabled and the poor. Scrap the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation. Savings of nearly $1 trillion in federal tax dollars yearly, $1 trillion in savings for states and billions in savings by dissolving the tyrannical Joint Commission.

   * 3. People should be responsible for purchasing their own health care, not the government or the employer, making health insurance completely portable. Scrap Hillary Clinton’s HIPAA act at a savings of billions yearly. Let’s make it HIPAA-posthumous.

   * 4. A Health Insurance Company must offer a good basic low-cost health care plan with expanded health savings accounts. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.

   * 5. No health exclusions for three years. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.

   * 6. Health plans should promote healthy practices and preventive health. Taxpayer cost zero.

   * 7. For the poor, government should subsidize the premiums, not be involved in paying providers. Taxpayer costs by my estimate around $600 billion per year.

   * 8. Retired people of lower means should be helped as above but should not have a separate insurance plan run by the government. Sorry, Medicare is dead. Promises were broken, but we are mature people and we need to get over it. Let’s not let it happen again! Taxpayer cost around $300 billion per year.

   * 9. End tax penalties for individuals purchasing individual health insurance. Taxpayer cost zero dollars as these penalties are merely punitive, designed to make people dependent.

   * 10. The health insurance companies in each state should have the option of creating a risk pool from some of their premium funds. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.

   * 11. Laws should be changed to allow for private health co-ops to be formed as an option for those so inclined. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.

   * 12. Patients should be free to change insurance plans at least twice yearly and since their insurance would not be controlled by their employer or the government no permission is needed from them. Taxpayer cost zero dollars.

   * 13. There should be no legal right for insurance plans to dismiss competent and qualified contracted physicians for “no cause”, when that no cause is really due to the physician acting as a patient advocate.

   * 14. Tort reform with penalties for frivolous lawsuits and the loser paying some of the costs.

Well, there you have it. The savings for taxpayers over three years: Nearly $5 trillion. Not requiring bills hundreds of pages long: Priceless! A few short regulations and we have a viable health care system for the future covering over 99% of the population, devoid of the treachery of Medicare and without dependence on the federal government. It’s very simple, very sensible, and so easy even a government official can understand it. It’s even short enough for Congress members to read fully, though some may require several days. Oh, yes, Mr. Obama, I want our $600 billion back.

*** end quote ***

Wow! What great ideas. Zero chance to kill Medicare. But, great ideas.

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TECHNOLOGY: Opera 10 changing the paradigm

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

http://unite.opera.com/  

Opera Unite: a Web server on the Web browser

With Opera 10, we are introducing a new technology called Opera Unite, radically extending what you are able to do online. Opera Unite harnesses the power of today’s fast connections and hardware, allowing all of us to help define the future landscape of the Web, one computer at a time. Read about how Opera Unite is going to change the way we interact on the Web on labs.opera.com.

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Interesting. Run a web server from your machine. It’s going to turn all notions of security upside down.

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SERVICE: CCBETTY use isn’t obvious to me

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

http://www.ccbetty.com/home/faq

*** begin quote ***

What is Cc:Betty?

Cc:Betty makes it easier for everyone to follow group discussions and collaborate with dates, places, pictures, videos, links and more! Cc:Betty can be used with any email service so there is no download required. To get started, just include betty@ccbetty.com on your group email and Betty will set up a shared Mailspace page to make it easier for everyone to follow the discussion.

What is a Mailspace?

Your Mailspace is the central page where your discussion will be tracked – along with all of it’s related files and assets. In your Mailspace, you’ll not only view the history of the conversation, but also any images, events, places, video, links, and more. Check out the video below to see a Mailspace in action.

*** end quote ***

Not sure how useful this is.

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SERVICE: FACEBOOK allows custom urls; no big deal?

Saturday, June 13, 2009

http://www.facebook.com/reinkefj

200906131013.jpg

Now if I just had some friends to tell … …

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TECHNOLOGY: Free Fonts

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

http://www.fontex.org/

*** begin quote ***

As we all know, you can never get enough good quality fonts. The keyword there being quality ;) While it is hard to find real quality in the sea of free fonts, there are a lot of very talented designers creating some very cool fonts. Here’s a list of 20+ that I’ve recently enjoyed.

*** end quote ***

I LOVE fonts!

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INTERESTING: Hot Summer Series

Monday, June 1, 2009

DISCLAIMER: I get a “cut” if you sign up through this link!

http://www.quicksales.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=992994&u=www.hotseminarseries.com

Hot Seminar Series

*** begin quote ***

Every summer my friend Kelly McCausey hosts a Hot Summer Seminar series, this year is no exception. For eight weeks this summer, Kelly’s online seminar will feature sessions with the folks who have built successful careers from their own homes. The series will focus on occupations one can do 100% from home. Yes, I will be participating too.

I wasn’t asked to promote the Hot Summer Seminar Series but I felt it was relevant because the majority of the FWJ community does wish to earn a full time living from home. Learn how to succeed as a Virtual Assistant, Freelance Writer and Blogger, WordPress Designer, Ebay Seller, and others.

*** end quote ***

I signed up because it sounded good. With such a low cost, it is easy to get a good ROI.

YMMV

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SERVICE: Microsoft’s BING does NOT do my search correctly

Monday, June 1, 2009

My “favorite” search for my fellow alumni is:

“manhattan college” -marymount -“marymount manhattan college” -“borough of manhattan college” -marymount -manhattan.edu -bmcc.cuny.edu -msmnyc.edu -mancol.edu -gojaspers.com

which Microsoft’s BING search engine translates into:

http://www.bing.com/search?q=%22manhattan+college%22+-marymount++-%22marymount+manhattan+college%22+-%22borough+of+manhattan+college%22+-marymount+-manhattan.edu+-bmcc.cuny.edu+-msmnyc.edu+-mancol.edu+-gojaspers.com+&go=&form=QBRE

and returns:

*** begin quote ***

http://www.gojaspers.com

*** end quote ***

What part of “-gojasper.com” didn’t you understand?

Argh!

Who test this stuff for them?

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TECHNOLOGY: CNET 100 aka my “shopping list”

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10244820-29.html?tag=mncol

Audio & Music

   * Amazon MP3

   * Grooveshark

   * iTunes

   * Jamendo

   * JamLegend

   * Lala

   * Last.fm

   * Nexus Radio

   * Pandora

   * Project Playlist

Browsing

   * Diigo

   * Firefox

   * Flock

   * Google Chrome

   * iGoogle

   * Internet Explorer 8

   * Maxthon

   * Opera

   * Safari

   * XMarks

Commerce

   * Amazon

   * Craigslist

   * Elance

   * Etsy

   * Eventbrite

   * PayPal

   * Woot

   * Zillow

   * ZipRealty

   * ZocDoc

Communication

   * Digsby

   * Dimdim

   * Gmail

   * Pidgin

   * Postbox

   * RingCentral

   * Skype

   * Windows Live Hotmail

   * Windows Live Messenger

   * Yahoo Messenger

Infrastructure & Storage

   * Adobe Air

   * BitTorrent

   * Carbonite

   * DropBox

   * Dropio

   * Facebook Connect

   * Mozy

   * OpenID

   * Windows Live SkyDrive

   * YouSendIt

Location-based services

   * FlightStats

   * Goog411

   * Google Earth

   * Google Maps

   * Live Search Maps

   * OpenTable

   * PolicyMap

   * Topix

   * TripIt

   * Yelp

Photo & Video

   * Amazon Video on Demand

   * Flickr

   * Hulu

   * Justin.tv

   * Photobucket

   * Picasa Web Albums

   * Picnik

   * Ustream

   * Vimeo

   * YouTube

Productivity

   * FreshBooks

   * Google Calendar

   * Google Docs

   * Intuit QuickBase

   * LogMeIn

   * Microsoft Office Live Small Business

   * Microsoft Office Live Workspace

   * Mint

   * Remember the Milk

   * Zoho

Search & Reference

   * About.com

   * Answers.com

   * Ask.com

   * eHow

   * Google

   * Live Search

   * Scour

   * WikiHow

   * Wikipedia

   * Yahoo

Social & Publishing

   * Bebo

   * Drupal

   * Facebook

   * Gaia Online

   * Hi5

   * Meebo

   * MySpace

   * StarDoll

   * Twitter

   * WordPress.com (with WordPress platform)

Editors’ Choice

   * Amazon Web Services

   * Aviary

   * Cuil

   * Evernote

   * Farecast

   * GoodGuide

   * Google Voice

   * Mobile Me

   * OAuth

   * Presently

   * Twitter Search

   * Windows Live Sync

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HARDWARE: Verizon MiFi 2200 Mobile Wifi Hotspot

Monday, May 18, 2009

http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/05/13/review-verizon-mifi-2200-we-love-everything-but-the-price/#comment-440019

Review: Verizon MiFi 2200 – We love everything but the bill
by Greg Kumparak on May 13, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Short version: We’ve loved the MiFi mobile router since we first laid eyes on it back at CES. After a few days of playing with the Verizon MiFi 2200, we still love it just as much – but with one hangup: the nasty monthly bill. After a trivial hiccup with the activation, we had 4 computers up and running in minutes. Speeds in our area are about average for the local EVDO Rev-A network, and we’ve had absolutely no connectivity drops in our 2 days of testing.

*** end quote ***

Interesting to anyone who needs wifi!

*** my comment ***

It would seem that Verizon, like the other Baby Bells, has not mastered the ideas of a competitive marketplace. Hi speed, all you can eat, and long lock ins at a cheap price. Just like the cable companies who always think internet and voip are like cable tv (i.e., no big deal when you’re out of service), so to the Bells have that take it or leave it mentality with a cost plus percentage mark up that they had when they were regulated and guaranteed a obscene profit. Argh! Where are the internet innovators who will clear the debris and send these dinos to the dino rest home?

*** end quote ***

Over priced.

Not recommended!

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TECHNOLOGY: Print On Demand for magazines

Monday, May 11, 2009

http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/07/cloud-computing-enterprise-technology-cio-network-cloud-computing.html?partner=technology_newsletter

Commentary
A Cloud In Every Garage
Russ Daniels, 05.07.09, 06:00 PM EDT
HP on how cloud computing can help re-ignite the global economy.

*** begin quote ***

HP has a cloud service, called MagCloud, that makes it possible for anyone to publish a professional-quality magazine and print, promote, sell and deliver it on demand. Printing on demand means no large press runs, no pre-publication expense, no waste.

By eliminating substantial pieces of the physical supply chain, we can offer professional-quality print to a mass audience while reducing the impact on the environment. The same on-demand technology can be extended to book publishing and allow individuals to print customized books, mixing their own content with that of professionals.

Looking ahead, we envision a rich ecosystem of printing services–connecting businesses to businesses and businesses to individuals–that delivers information where, when and how it’s needed.

*** end quote ***

Print On Demand for magazines?

I like POD for books. It makes the family history possible. Have to see how this is implemented and how much it costs. Niche magazines might be possible if they are built on a advertising model and if they are dirt cheap. Where will be the margin for the mission?

Reigniting the world economy?

Nah.

Cloud computing has major problems: version control; payment; and data ownership right off the top of my head.

Maybe I’m just an old fuddy duddy

Besides, connectivity to the cloud is NOT ubiquitous or cheap (i.e., free are very close to it). And the ISPs (i.e., AT&T, the Bells, Comcast, the Cable Companies) have other ideas on how they are going to keep their monopoly and monitize it. And, don’t forget how they are strangling peer 2 peer technology with caps and deep stateful packet inspection (i.e., poisoning).

No, this ain’t the Far East with big pipes to the home and “enlighted” politicial and technology leadership.

The inet may have been an American invention, but it’s going to be the Far East boom 2.0!

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