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Alabama fire marshals are surveying the damage from a fire at Choctaw County High School in Butler.
The school was badly damaged in the fire reported about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday.
The fire appeared to heavily damage the west wing, which consists of mostly classrooms, the science lab and computer room.
The fire was contained at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, but small flames were still visible at that time. Fire breaks prevented the blaze from spreading further. Some of the walls in the building had started to lean.
The Alabama State Fire Marshal's Office began surveying the scene after the heat of the fire subsided about 9 a.m. Wednesday. The cause was not immediately known.
Classes were suspended Wednesday for the high school but school was held as normal at other district campuses.
Choctaw County High School was built in 2005.


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Gearing up for the Spring Season
As the Ducks gear up for the spring season, check out the team's highlights and hopes:
Scheduled to open their season on February 23 at Kean University, the Ducks are hoping to capture their first Empire 8 title this year. Finishing last season with an overall record of 21-19, the team made it to the semifinals of the ECAC Metro Tournament. A Spring Break training trip to Auburndale, Florida is planned to help get the Ducks ready to achieve their goal to return to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history (with their only other appearance being in 2002).
The Ducks' home opener is slated for March 25 at Neshanic Valley Golf Club. Though the team will participate in a handful of tournaments and invitationals this spring, they are ultimately looking to improve upon their showing from the first part of the Empire 8 Championship which began in the fall. Stevens finished the fall portion – the first two of four rounds – in seventh place and will complete the final two rounds on April 16-17 in Danielsville, Pa.
Finishing last year with an overall record of 9-6 and a conference mark of 5-3, the team is looking to capture its first-ever Empire 8 title and return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006. The 2006 trip was the last of six straight appearances in the NCAA tournament for the Ducks, and they are eager to kick-off another such steak. Men's lacrosse will open their season at home against Endicott College on February 26.
Outdoor Track & Field
Men's track & field will open the 2011 season in Lexington, Va. on March 26. The team finished third overall in the Empire 8 last year with Sebastian Luna '11 (javelin) and Michael Pawalowski '11 (triple jump) named conference champions. At the 2010 ECAC Outdoor Championships Mohamed Abuouf '11 placed fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and Luna was ninth in the javelin.
Looking to build off the momentum from their success at the ITA Regionals in the fall, men's tennis opens the 2011 spring season against Haverford College on March 2. The Ducks had arguably the most successful season in school history in 2010 when they went 18-4, captured their second-ever Empire 8 title and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history. Following a Spring Break trip to Claremont, California, the goal this spring is to win the Empire 8 title and make their fourth appearance in the NCAA tournament.
The Equestrian team returns to action this spring following a busy fall portion of their schedule that featured seven shows. Stevens' Annual Show is set for March 5 at the Centenary College Equestrian Center in Long Valley and their first competition will be March 26 at Briarwood Farm. Julia Cederroth '12 has already qualified for regionals and the Ducks are looking to have several other team members join her.
Women's lacrosse is coming off a great 2010 season in which they set a school record for wins with a 17-3 record, won their first-ever Empire 8 title, earned their first NCAA tournament win and reached the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament. The Ducks have a very talented core of players returning, and are anxious to earn the second-straight Empire 8 title and return to the NCAA tournament. The team's season-opener is March 5 at Montclair State University and they will play fifth-ranked Gettysburg College in Orlando over Spring Break.
Outdoor Track & Field
The 2010 season was ground-breaking for the team as the first-ever track & field athletes qualified for the NCAAs. Salme Cook '10 placed 14th in the country in the 800-meter run and Maggie Kowalska '13 was 17th in the javelin. Kowalska was also the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year, and the team placed third at the 2010 Empire 8 Championships. The Ducks open the 2011 season in Lexington, Va. on March 26.
Heading into their second season as a varsity sport, the team boasts a solid young core and several new recruits this spring as the Ducks look to climb their way up the Empire 8 standings. The Ducks won eight games in their first year and Lauren Hurley '13 was a second-team All-Empire 8 selection in 2010.
The softball season will open with several games as part of the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Fort Myers, Florida over Spring Break and the first official game will be against St. Lawrence University on March 13.

subset: commoncrawl


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And now I'm working on New Horizons... What a trip.
Just have to wait another 25 years to see the movie...
No surprise ending - the main character rides off to sunset over horizon.
It's on Youtube too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
They could have filtered out the CbCr noise first, though. (NeatImage does this very effectively)
space.com [space.com] also has the video. Although you have to put up with the ads, they seem to have more bandwidth than the original site does, which I'm still waiting on for the download.
The summary mentions that Triton used to be a dwarf planet, in its own orbit, but was captured by Neptune. The reason we believe this, is because Triton orbits in the wrong direction. No other large moon in the solar system has a retrograde orbit. If it formed from the same dust cloud as the planet it orbits, or formed from other orbiting debris (as Luna did after Earth's collision with Theia [wikipedia.org]), then it would orbit in the same direction. It is also one of the few moons with a detectable atmosphere (mostly nitrogen), and also one of only a few with geologic activity, including liquid nitrogen geysers. About a third of its mass is water, although all is believed to be frozen.
Available on YouTube [youtube.com].
Or is that too waiting on a design competition for human settlement and colonization.
""The new Triton map has a resolution of 1,970 feet (600 meters) per pixel."
Yeah, America! That's in feet, not communist metric! Pixel res of 1970 feet per. What accuracy! Go suck a steak in cream, you metric surrender monkeys!
Each new user of a new system uncovers a new class of bugs. -- Kernighan


text:
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl Joins NCAA Football to Host Youth Clinic
Additional Information
Football fundamentals, safety and character development taught to young athletes
Shreveport, Louisiana- June 12, 2012 – On Saturday, June 16, boys and girls ages 5 to 13 from Shreveport-Bossier City and the surrounding region are invited to attend the NCAA Football Youth Clinic Hosted by the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl, a free half-day clinic of football skills and drills training at Independence Stadium. Participants will have the opportunity to meet and work with college football coaches; run offensive, defensive and agility drills; learn proper techniques to promote on-field football safety; and learn about the importance of character development and good sportsmanship.
The 2012 clinic will run from 8-11:30 a.m., with registration beginning at 7 am. Participants will receive a free t-shirt and lunch from Chick-Fil-A, and are encouraged to pre-register online at www.ncaafootballclinics.com. Sideline seating will be open for family members who plan to stay for the clinic, and concessions will also be available.
"The NCAA Football Youth Initiative is an incredible program and we are proud to partner with them for the third consecutive year in hosting a youth clinic, " said Jack Andres – 2012 Bowl Chairman – Independence Bowl. "This is such a special opportunity for the youth in our community to work with collegiate coaches and we look forward to increased participation and attendance this year."
The 2012 clinic will feature coaches from Southern University, University of Louisiana-Monroe, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Northwestern State University and Grambling State University.
"Learning football fundamentals, proper technique and safety is essential to youth football players' success on the field," said Bob Vecchione – chair, NCAA Football Youth Initiative Committee. "NCAA Football youth clinics provide an opportunity for young athletes to learn these valuable skills and more importantly, to learn the invaluable character-building and sportsmanship lessons needed to be successful off the field.
Registration is now open for the NCAA Football Youth Clinic Hosted by the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl. For more information or to register, please visit www.ncaafootballclinics.com or call 318-221-0712.
Follow NCAA Football on Twitter: @NCAAFootball
Find the NCAA Football Youth Initiative on Facebeook: www.facebook.com/ncaafootballyouth
About NCAA Football
NCAA Football USA, Inc. represents a coalition of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA), the Football Bowl Association (FBA), the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Football Foundation (NFF) and serves as the collective voice to promote college football. NCAA Football is managed by IMG College, a division of IMG Worldwide. For more information on NCAA Football, visit NCAAFootball.com
About NCAA Football's Youth Initiative
NCAA Football's Youth Initiative began in 2007 when NCAA Football USA, Inc. provided $750,000 in grants, equipment and uniforms to help rebuild the New Orleans Recreation Department's youth football league following Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, NCAA Football committed $1.5 million to develop a three-pronged national youth program comprising youth clinics, apparel grants and a legacy gift. More than 30,000 young athletes have been positively impacted since the program's inception. For more information, visit www.NCAAFootball.com/youth.
Contact: NCAA Football Media Inquiries: Telleen Anderson, firstname.lastname@example.com, 404.814.1330
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl:


text:
International Game Technology Reports Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2012 Results:
- Revenues increased 13% to $301 million in the third quarter, primarily due to increases in the interactive businesses. Excluding the interactive businesses, revenues were flat.
- Gross margin decreased to 59% from 62% in the third quarter, primarily due to the inclusion of the interactive businesses and lower MegaJackpots® yields.
- Installed base increases were primarily driven by global lease operations growth.
- Excluding the positive impact from the interactive businesses, average revenue per unit per day in the third quarter was $50.20, down 4% sequentially and 7% over the prior year quarter, mainly due to lower MegaJackpots® yields and a higher mix of lower-yielding units in the installed base.
- Double Down bookings per daily user were $0.25 in the third quarter compared to $0.24 in the second quarter subsequent to acquisition.
- Double Down monthly users were 5.2 million as of June 30, 2012, a decrease of 7% when compared to March 31, 2012.
US Dollars (US$) Q3 2010/11 Q3 2011/12
Gaming Operations (inc. Interactive) 267.4m 301.2m
Product Sales 221.6m 231.6m
TOTAL 489.0m 532.8m
Other sources:
http://www.gamingintelligence.com/premium-news-and-archive/16931-costs-and-expenses-weigh-on-igt-as-q3-profit-slumps ;
IGT's net income has declined for three straight quarters. In the second quarter, net income fell 11.1% from the year earlier, while the figure fell 33.1% in the first quarter.


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Original URL: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/10/no_mac_on_o2/
O2 lacking Apple focus
Mac users not welcomed to view bills on line
Posted in The Channel, 10th July 2007 10:45 GMT
If the last batch of rumours turn out to be true, and O2 is planning to stock the iPhone, then they'll have to do something about their on-line billing system; it can't be accessed by most Apple Mac users at all.
O2 have confirmed that on-line billing isn't supported on Macs, but they reckon it works with Firefox on Panther and might work on other combinations, if you're lucky.
The good news is that from June 2007 all services that O2 develops will be supported on all the popular browsers; including Safari, though the iPhone version of that browser isn't explicitly mentioned.
One might think that any company intending to sell the iPhone would already have a Mac-friendly architecture in place, but that would assume the technical development and top management communicated with each other: something no mobile operator has ever achieved. ®


text: My daughter has been giving me trouble during the day lately. She will latch on for a minute or two and then start crying and refuse to nurse. This is making it impossible tto get her into a routine and her sleeping at night is terrible! I've tried nursing her in a dark, quiet room, letting her tell me when she is hungry etc. I don't know what else to do. She needs to eat and I was really hoping a routine would get her to sleep thru the night too... :-(


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Talkonaut (Android) Mobile IM chat and VoIP application for Android.
· Support for basic core XMPP/Jabber standard for IM chat and Presence.
· Support for SRV domain records while connecting to third-party XMPP servers.
· Support for Google's gmail accounts.
· Support for voice calling to Google Talk and to Gmail to those with "Gmail Voice and Video" plugin installed.
· Support for IM typing notification.
· Support for our built-in MSN, Yahoo, AIM and ICQ transports both for IM chat and voice calling. Standard Jabber transports are not yet supported.
· Support for SIP both for making and receiving calls.
· Support for DTMF tones and dialing phones from dial-pad.
· Chat history is saved on SD card into /sdcard/talkonaut by default and is dynamically loadable upon opening a chat window.
· Support for avatars.
What's New in This Release:
· Support for Multi-user chat rooms (XEP-0045).
· Support for File Transfer (XEP-0047).
· Possibility to update one's own vCard and avatar.
· Camera access and photo sending.
· Customizable ring-tone and audio notifications


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"This project is a great boost for the economy of south central Pennsylvania," said U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA). "By reducing the number of long haul trucks on Pennsylvania's roadways by 600,000 a year, this project will benefit not only the local economy, but drivers on interstates across the commonwealth as well."
"With the demand to move freight in the U.S. expected to nearly double over the next 20 years, and in order to handle the additional volume, we need to add capacity at our Rutherford intermodal facility near Harrisburg, Pa., which already is operating at high capacity," said Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman.
Harrisburg's freight market is expected to begin new services from Memphis, Birmingham and Charlotte in the next few years, dramatically increasing traffic. This project will ensure that the Rutherford facility is able to handle the increase and benefit from the added business.
The grant is available through DOT's Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program.


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Insurance companies can do what they like - who are we to tell them what policies they can and cannot agree to? Furthermore, by keeping the future-sick out of the pool, they lower costs for the patriotically healthy.
Down with Statism! Towards a Individualist Future for All!
If one provider takes on coverage for "suspected losing cases", then they will go out of business, especially if their competitor is always only taking "profitable cases".
Try reading TFA. Pay attention to the part where (as in the summary) they explain the shift away from an all risks pool to a preferred risk pool.
Next, learn something about why healthcare is so expensive, because you clearly have no fucking idea. Hint: it is related to the business model of the insurers, not the actual cost of the delivering the care. If it were, all those other countries who are delivering better healthcare for far less money would not be doing so.
The business model of American insurance companies (as if they all have the same model anyway) has little to do with the cost of health care. The high cost of health care in this country is due to an almost total lack of regulation over health care prices.
As an example, if there are price controls for drugs, the cost of drugs will come down, whether there's an evil capitalist insurance company involved or not.
I know it's parody, but there is a really good point in it:
Yes, in a free market, companies are free to do what they want. (policy and contract wise)
But... if they do what they want, who is doing what should be done? Namely providing health insurance to the ones who need it (which may be anyone here at some point)
And that's the point where the state had to step in, because the insurance companies didn't do what they were supposed to do.
This is the difference between Insurance and Insurance Companies.
Insurance is a bet between the insurer and the insured that the insured will not need to cash in. By setting appropriate odds, the insured pays less for benefits than if he/she covered them directly and the insurer makes a profit.
This scheme can be extended in 2 ways. First, the insurer can take some of the premiums and invest them, insuring more profit, since the invested money helps reduce the amount of reserve cash that has to be held in order to meet obligations.
The second way to extend this is to broaden the pool. Take lots of people. It's possible to compute over a statistical population how many people will cash in and set rates, reserves, and investments accordingly. This is what actuaries are for. You also deepen this pool by extending it through time, since the claims rates for many insurable conditions vary with age.
That was the original idea. Insurance companies were early and enthusiastic adopters of computer technology since computers helped with the bookkeeping of the large pools of insured people as well as being able to assist with actuarial computations.
More recently, however, 2 things have distorted that plan. One the one hand, advances in technology have skewed the original actuarial computations. Car crashes are more survivable, cancer isn't a guaranteed death sentence, and so forth. You have people paying in longer, but the expense of the payouts has also risen, and the likelihood that multiple payout events later in an otherwise curtailed life will occur likewise.
The other distortion has been that really cheap computing has led to the development of sophisticated data mining. This, in turn has led to the processes of "cherry picking" (favoring those who will pay in but not make a claim) and "lemon dropping" (dropping the policies of people most likely to prove unprofitable). All of which makes the process more efficient.
The problem is, this efficiency is gained at the expense of one of the primary benefits originally accorded to organized insurance. The pools become shallower and narrower. The insurance companies get more profit, but the outliers in the insured base pay for it. The more likely you are to truly need insurance, the less likely you'll get it. If not from outright denial, simply because in order to support these extra profits, you'll pay a higher premium rate. If you can afford it at all.
That will require a government solution. Either laws preventing health insurance companies from turning down coverage on individuals in that manner, or an actual heath care system for all and an end to regular private insurance.
Or we can go full capitalist and just get rid of health insurance, then the cost of heathcare will have no choice but come down because almost no one will be able to afford the service (causing the providers to go out of business).
A business that makes money by turning customers away does not lend itself to "free market solutions".
So Obamacare prevents companies from refusing coverage or dropping it when the customer gets sick.
So Obamacare prevents companies from refusing coverage or dropping it when the customer gets sick.
hmm, I now see why the republicans hate this idea. its bad for Big Business and good for the little guy.
That will require a government solution.
I agree, even though I am a free market advocate. The long-term solution to healthcare is completely free market: your parents buy you a health insurance plan before you're born (similar to how parents know they have to pay for their kids' college and braces). In the meantime, for those of us already born, Medicare should be expanded to cover everyone born before (e.g.) 2015, and no one else -- ever. A 100-year phase out of Medicare similar to the phase-out Ron Paul h
I like it!!!! I am going to register a corporation tomorrow to get ready for this. I will then offer by far the cheapest option available. For getting such a huge piece of the market I will of course pay myself tens of millions per year in salary. In 15 years, when it turns out I cannot actually cover their health care, I'll simply have to close the company and leave the poor saps who bought my insurance dangling in the wind. I'm going to have my hundreds of millions though, so whatever.
That would be fraud, which is in the purview of the government to prosecute. Prevention of such a calamity is in the purview of the private sector, where private ratings agencies would conduct audits on the financial solvency of insurance companies.
If we replace the term 'private insurance companies' with 'banks' we can see just how disastrously naive that notion can be.
I'm generally not a "government solutions" kind of person, but I do wonder how private insurance is allowed to exist for essential things like health care. How does the profit motive not create an inherent, unethical conflict of interest?
Also, insurance spreads risk and expense over a pool of policy holders. Pretty much everyone needs health care. Coverage-wise, it would seem like one large, central pool would be the best case. And, if the insurer isn't out to make money, it could instead focus on, say, reducing premiums.
That's why in sane countries they've gone Single Payer, as opposed to the USA which is run by lunatics who still think laissez-faire anarcho-libertarian economic theory does anything but cause monopolism and boom/bust depression cycles.
I'm generally not a "government solutions" kind of person, but I do wonder how private insurance is allowed to exist for essential things like health care.
How is essential defined here? Which of the following goods and services are essential?
Every single one of these things could save lives or drastically improve one's quality of life. Some of these are commercially available, some are available in hospitals, some are neither. Is it the presence of a doctor that turns some of these things into "essentials" and others into goods? Which of these should we allow profits on? If a government system does not cover any of these things, is it unethical?
If profits are unethical, should we allow profits on anything? Why?
I know this is a smarmy post—I'm not trolling, honestly. But I find people come into these conversations with a pre-existing mental framework that "health = essential" and therefore "profiting on health is unethical" without much exploration. Not everything offered in the health care industry is essential or life-saving, and many goods and services which are absolutely essential and life-saving are offered privately with no objections from anybody (e.g., refrigerators). What makes "health care" exist outside of the framework of goods and services in general? Most health care spending is dedicated to gradually improving quality of life, not saving people from axe wounds. If allowing profit and unrestricted competition is a bad way to improve people's quality of life, why are we even talking about health? Shouldn't we jump to the conclusion that anything that improves people's lives should be strictly non-profit and centrally planned?
I think that most people don't have a problem with *reasonable* profit earned by providing essential things, as hard as reasonable is to define. They have a problem with "gouging you for as much as they can take from you because you need it and have no choice but to die or live a life of suffering". That's no longer profit, that's just plain exploitation.
I don't think people from the other side (like me) who are sane think capitalism is bad. The issue is capitalism isn't the point of society, instead, it should be a tool to promote common good, to increase the utility of society.
So, profit isn't bad, as it increases utility in society. Whoever, when capitalism becomes the point, the motivation, that is when we draw the line. It's like a CS instructor focusing on teaching C or C++ but not teaching how to program with any tool they can find. Some tools are be
LIfe, liberty, property, pursuit of happiness and all that.
Still, I don't know why we get all hung up in debate. National health care works. There is proof everywhere. The question you ask really is irrelevant. There are models that work well we can simply copy.
When a broken limb doesn't carry the threat of crippling debt and care of a chronic but treatable illness isn't a severe financial burden life is simply better. Getting injured and having a many-nights stay in a hospital in Europe might cost you all of 20 dollars, not tens or hundreds of thousands. No years-long fight with medical providers and insurance companies afterward either. If you're an American, this is probably really shocking to you.
Does this hurt some companies business models? Sure does.
Are we going to have to kick a bunch of crooked politicians out of office? Yep.
Are we going to have to tell a bunch of ignorant conservatives to sit down and shut the fuck up? Yes. (Yes. They are the problem. It's time to grow up and talk like adults.)
Still, I don't know why we get all hung up in debate. National health care works. There is proof everywhere. The question you ask really is irrelevant. There are models that work well we can simply copy.
My problem is less with Single Payer, but more with who will be in charge of it all.
There have been 18 government shut-downs since 1976 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdown_in_the_United_States).
The Us government has a track-record of grasping for more and more power, regardless of the cost.(Income tax was originally a 'wartime' thing, and taxes are currently used to manipulate every sector of the economy)
The US government has a track record of poor management and blatant cronyism(Copyright ref
The problem is that human nature being what it is, we are all addicted to life, and it is a well known fact that nearly all of us will do whatever it takes to preserve our own life and health if we think that is required.
So since this is a known fa
Insurance companies price insurance based upon an individual's risk. The fact that some people can not afford the price of their insurance either because they are poor or because they are high risk is not the insurance company's problem.... it is the government's problem. The government could leave the insurance market alone, but provide medicaid to the poor and high-risk pools to those who are of high risk.
or, the government could kick the companies' ass and force them to abandon the concept of PROFIT when it comes to human life.
we don't have a profit motive for giving us roads, clean water, electricity. well, there is some, but its mostly an infrastructure INVESTMENT in our own people.
if those things (roads, water, etc) were left entirely to companies, the rich would have them and no one else would.
is this the kind of world you want to live in? not me!
we (the US) is one of the richest countries in the world, if not the richest. the fact that people lose their houses over being sick and unlucky enough to be poor enough to not afford insurance (or to have insurance and the greedy bastard company cancelling you!) is an insult. a damned shame and a preventable problem. we have the money here. but the wealth distribution is skewed so that the uber rich who can afford to get sick don't actually care about insurance. the rest of us do care and we are only a few paychecks away from being homeless if we get unlucky and very sick.
some things should not be capitalistic. providing care for sick people is one of them.
unless you are a monster, that is. and we clearly have quite a few of those running around and running things, here.
How does the profit motive not create an inherent, unethical conflict of interest?
it does!
but that's beside the point. if you disagree, I'll invoke the danger word: SOCIALISM! you're programmed to hate anything that is even close to being attached to this word.
Well, we know how well the last government solution turned out... But in all seriousness, yes, there needs to be government regulation acting as the referee for an open market solution. I say this because, wait till they get ahold of your DNA and digitally synthesize your body. Protein folding and all. I mean, it's better than out-right cloning from a pure data extraction methodology.
What do you think the Affordable Care Act does?
That will require a government solution.
because spoiled brat rich guys don't want to contribute their fair share to the society that made them rich.
that's why.
they won't act good on their own.
It's to their credit that we as a culture see them as the gateway to health care, and they have done many, many things to insure that people don't interact directly with providers, but in the end, they are middlemen. Nothing more. They do not provide care. Doctors, nurses, clinics and hospitals do. And, given the current state of things, they have done nothing to control costs.
Big Data isn't destroying the US health system. It's the lack of coverage, for-profit insurance protecting their margins by charging everyone more and more to do less and less, to deny payment (and therefore care) so that people get so sick that they lose their jobs and their coverage, passing on the burden to providers and taxpayers that, by law, can not deny essential care. It's a system that only pays up when absolutely necessary, that does not to help people stay off of the doctor's office.
It's a culture that insists that chronic illness or disability is a moral failing and that it is the fault of the person for merely being ill. It's the insistence that health is a privilege, not a right. It's not some computing trend that insurance companies are using to discriminate. Insurance companies have been doing that forever.
s/off/out/g. I can't brain today.
This is not destroying the healthcare system - it is (potentially) destroying the health insurance industry. The two are different things.
The auto insurance industry has had very fine grained data on drivers and their habits for many, many years. That hasn't affected the auto industry at all, and it doesn't seem to have materially affected the auto insurance industry either.
The auto insurance industry has had very fine grained data on drivers and their habits for many, many years. That hasn't affected the auto industry at all, and it doesn't seem to have materially affected the auto insurance industry either.
If the government required auto insurance companies to insure people with pre-existing conditions (i.e. their car is already wrecked) then the situation would be different.
It still wouldn't affect the auto industry, only the insurance (and potentially auto-body and mechanic shops, which would stand to benefit). Though, as always, the analogy is horribly flawed. If you kill or injure yourself, you can go buy a new one.
In fact, auto insurance is nothing like health "insurance" because no auto insurer covers routine maintenance (checkups) or design flaws (existing conditions).
In the auto insurance industry, if you can't get insured, you don't get to drive (legally). In the health insurance industry, if you can't get insured, you die. Slight difference. Also, if you can't get auto insurance, it's generally your own doing. If you can't get health insurance it's generally due to factors beyond your control (regardless of the statistically poorer health of people who take worse care of themselves).
Health insurers are destroying themselves. Why do you think people like me don't have insurance? We've figured out the game. If they are willing to insure a person, it can only be because that person doesn't need health care. So those who need it are denied, and those who don't shouldn't buy insurance because it is a ripoff. Either way, no one should be a customer of a health insurance company.
If you get insurance anyway, should change insurers about every 2 years so you don't get charged a huge "inertia tax", the penalty they love to levy on loyal customers for being loyal and not changing. And changing is only if you haven't developed some problem they can claim is a pre-existing condition that they shouldn't have to cover. And be ready to get a lawyer to sue them if you are injured and actually need health care. They will deny half the claims on various technicalities. They're testing you, seeing if you'll roll over, play dead, and let them get away with it. If you have family and friends to help you fight back, or aren't too beat up to fight back yourself, then they try to walk the fine line of denying just enough that it's not quite worth suing them. They'll try to wear you down, bury you in paperwork. They'll occasionally take your side and save you from an outrageous bill here and there.
The medical community's outrageous prices are the only thing keeping insurance going. If not for that, it'd be better to deal directly with the doctors. You still can, so I've heard. Have to do a lot of haggling, but it can be done. You may also need the leverage of not having any money, to get them to cut you some deals. They'd rather get some money than no money, if you should go bankrupt and get all those medical debts erased. Of course if you're hurt or sick, haggling sessions are the last thing you need on your plate. Medical debt is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US. Medical debt is also quite peculiar-- it doesn't seem to count the same as other kinds of debt, and I've heard it is possible to defer paying it and still be able to buy the basic necessities and even have a credit card. For this reason, many doctors won't even see you if you don't have insurance. Too easy to stiff them entirely.
You go in for an oil change. It costs $5 no matter what. You get a statement from the auto insurance company that is "not a bill" which is a good thing, because it shows that you were charged $500/qt. for oil.
The $5 oil change would be great, except that your auto insurance bill is $3000/mo, up from $2700/mo last year. Your lucky though. You're a 40 year old driver who hasn't had a ticket in 15 years. Family man. You've heard the horror stories about the young people and seniors trying to get car insu
Great timing to have an article about insurance companies using big data to isolate individuals, when the previous article is about researchers putting together a database of people's family ties...
Medicare Bills Rise As Records Turn Electronic [slashdot.org]: The goal was not only to improve efficiency and patient safety, but also to reduce health care costs. But, in reality, the move to electronic health records may be contributing to billions of dollars in higher costs for Medicare, private insurers and patients by making it easier for hospitals and physicians to bill more for their services, whether or not they provide additional care. Hospitals received $1 billion more in Medicare reimbursements in 2010 than they did five years earlier, at least in part by changing the billing codes they assign to patients in emergency rooms, according to a NY Times analysis.
This is why the rest of the world uses ICD-10 coding.
I've worked in health care biling. Here's what's happening. EMR (electronic medical records) allow doctors to easily bill for all the services they should always have been billing. Before, with paper forms, it was a huge hassle and lots of things were just written off and not followed up on, or got lost in the shuffle. Now that it it's automatic, there's no reason not to take every dollar you're entitled to by law. Solution: change the law.
This is "evidence-based medicine", n'est-ce pas?
Kind of bizarre that this whole jeremiad seems to ignore the fact that the Obamacare reforms ban exactly this practice starting in 2014? This is responsible for a lot of the disruptions to the market we're seeing now -- some young healthy people are going to be paying more, and some older sicker people are going to be paying less. (The other disruptions are that some of the old policies had coverage caps that wouldn't have covered expensive catastrophic illnesses; that's also banned, and their replacements are more expensive.)
If you take out the ability of insurance companies to selectively deny coverage (which the ACA does), this ability to model outcomes can enable new more effective ways of paying doctors for care and hopefully improving outcomes. Given an expected outcome, an insurance company can pay for improving that outcome rather than just paying for every test run or treatment rendered.
This is slightly off topic, but I think it's not just the application of computing power to medical data, but the application of computing power to control and recover a lot of costs has generally been so successful that I think it's actually cutting the "slack" out of the economy and contributing to the decline of the middle class and growing economic inequality.
They're shaving the savings off the top and putting it in their own pockets, but the economic byproducts of the savings (cheaper goods) doesn't offset the economic loss of the savings not being spent on goods and labor, like additional inventory or additional workers.
Say a business sells a widget for $10. Their cost to make the widget is $4 and because of imperfect data/processing, sales forecasts, shipping, etc are all less accurate. They have to carry inventories to meet customer needs. Inventories require workers, facilities (which need construction...), they have to buy more raw materials. So $2 is added in overhead to the $4 and the profit on the widget is only $4.
With improved data/processing, they gain efficiencies. They carry as close to zero inventory as possible. They buy less raw materials. Need fewer workers. Smaller facilities (...less construction, fewer carptenters, less building materials, less
Since the price of the widget doesn't go down and at best rises slower, the consumer is only marginally benefitting, especially since the depressed employment resulting from greater operating efficiency results in lower wages, further mitigating any price declines or slowing price increases.
The $1 that was previously "lost" on administrative costs is now executive salaries, bonuses and benefits where it produces less economic impact than had it been spent on productive economic activity.
e-credibility: the non-guaranteeable likelihood that the electronic data you're seeing is genuine rather than somebody's made-up crap. - Karl Lehenbauer


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All Gardeners Kneel
All gardeners kneel to do their work —
Sowing a garden, planting shrubs,
Or weeding out a tiny patch
Where rhubarb shows its little nubs.
We must get close to Mother Earth.
Feel her glowing like a hearth.
Or underneath the quiet ground
There is a rhythm and a beat —
Life answering to other life
Below the barley and the wheat.
The clover and the grasses know
The forces hidden far below.
The cattle on the distant hill
Lie down beneath the purple sides,
Resting upon the ancient earth.
But cattle too must kneel to rise,
And sheep close by the river's brink
Oft lean upon their knees to drink.
So gardeners kneel in the warm sun
To sow the seeds of fruit and flower
Or tamp a tiny seedling in,
Part of the lovely springtime hour
When all Creation seems to feel
A blessed urge to stop and kneel.
— Edna Jaques
March is coming to an end, lets hope it "goes out like a lamb" and we have spring weather with mild warm days. We are having over 12 hours of sunlight as the days get longer. April will bring rain showers to get the planting and growing season going.
Smile a little: A women's lib speaker was addressing a large group and said, "Where would man be today if it were not for woman?" She passed a moment and looked around the room. "I repeat, where would man be today if it were not for woman?" From the back of the room came a voice, "He'd be in the Garden of Eden eating strawberries."
Several from the Valley were in attendance at Morgan County Republican Assembly. Those present were Julia and Todd Castor, Jeanne and Ed Richardson, Vivianne and Rick Lorenzini, Mary Ellen Higgins, Cari Castor and Gertie Chapin.
Church chat: Each Sunday in Weldona, mass is held at 7 a.m. with Father Joseph Toledo at the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. The Weldon Valley Presbyterian Church meets each Sunday in Goodrich with worship and Christian education at 10 a.m. with Pastor Mark Kenning.
This past week the women of the church met in Goodrich for spring cleaning and prepared the church for the Easter season. The group also planned the soup supper for Good Friday. Senior recognition Sunday will be May 4 during worship followed by a brunch. Graduating high school seniors of the church will be honored.
School Scoop: Need to get rid of your used ink cartridges and used cell phones? Drop them off at the school as the FBLA is recycling them. The "After Prom Party" committee is planning the annual event. Donations can be sent to school. Congratulations to the Warriors of the Month. This month it was a family affair with Kaitlyn Gallegos the elementary Warrior and Cameron Gallegos the secondary Warrior. Bill McCracken was the adult. Bill has grandchildren in the school and a strong supporter of the school and activities. Best wishes "Warriors."
What's Cookin': Cherry nut bread — ½ cup butter, 1 ½ cup sugar, 3 eggs, ½ cup cherry juice, ½ cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 ½ cup flour, 1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoons salt, 1 cup chopped nuts, 1 cup cherries (the canned cherries are good). In a bowl blend flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add cherry juice (from canned cherries), milk and vanilla. Blend in flour mix. Fold in nuts and cherries. Pour in two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake for one hour in oven at 325 degrees.
First Facts: Children's Museum — Brooklyn Children's Museum in New York City, it opened in 1899 with exhibits and displays aimed at young visitors.
Weldon Valley History: Warren Armer Blodget — Blodget was married to Verna R. Strickland. They were married in 1916 in the Methodist Parsonage of Fort Morgan. Blodget filed on a homestead north of Jackson Lake. They had eight children. In the 1950s, he worked as the ditch rider for the Weldon Valley Ditch. Both he and his wife are at rest a Linn Grove Cemetery in Greeley.
Calendar of Activities: No school this week, Spring Break! Monday, March 31, Back to School. Wednesday, April 3, 11:30 a.m. G.L.A.D. Club luncheon. Friday, April 4, 1 p.m. senior high baseball at home. Saturday, April 5, 11:30 a.m. senior high baseball at Eagle Crest. Sunday April 6, 5:30 p.m., 4-H meeting.
Thought for the Day: "Music washes from the soul, the dust of everyday living."


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In Bangkok, negotiators must advance a draft text for December's Copenhagen talks. Government delegates are wrestling with the two key issues, cutting emissions and paying the costs.
"Our children and grandchildren will never forgive us unless action is taken. Time is running out, we have two months before Copenhagen," Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in his opening address to negotiators.
"Much needs to be done and much needs to be resolved. Let us use the two weeks in Bangkok to the full to ensure the future," he told around 4,000 participants, including government delegates from 177 countries, representatives from business and industry, environmental organizations and research institutions.
Prime Minister of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva, left, and Connie Hedegaard, minister of climate and energy of Denmark at the Bangkok talks. September 28, 2009 (Photo courtesy Earth Negotiations Bulletin)
"There is no plan B," the prime minister said. "If we do not realize plan A, we go straight to plan F, which stands for failure."
The Bangkok talks, part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, continue through October 9 and are the next to last negotiations before the Copenhagen meeting opens December 7.
Connie Hedegaard, Danish minister for Climate and Energy, said, "The cost of not delivering in Copenhagen is high, ethically, economically, and politically. We must do it. We must bring the world on the track to a sustainable future. If we have the will it is doable."
The global conservation group WWF warned that the deadly floods now drowning the Philippines should remind delegates that their discussions could mean life or death to millions of people.
Typhoon Ketsana, locally called Ondoy, killed 140 people, displaced 116,000 and affected more than 435,000 others. The storm hit the main island of Luzon Saturday morning. A combination of the storm and monsoon rains has left 80 percent of the city under water, the worst rains to hit Manila in more than 40 years. In just six hours, an amount equivalent to a typical month's rainfall in the rainy monsoon season fell on Manila.
While individual storms and floods can not be linked to climate change, WWF said, the science is clear that more frequent and more severe extreme weather events are are an increasing consequence of climate change.
"The Philippine floods should remind politicians and delegates negotiating the climate treaty that they are not just talking about paragraphs, amendments and dollars but about the lives of millions of people and the future of this planet," said Kim Carstensen, leader of the WWF Global Climate Initiative.
"After months of haggling, losing time and arguing we have now entered the last phase and have an absolutely last minute chance to rescue the climate deal," Carstensen said.
WWF applauded Japan, China and India for outlining concrete mitigation action and for playing an increasingly constructive role in the negotiations, confirming their determination to become the world's next economic leaders on the basis of a green economy and low carbon growth.
"Pledges such as Japan's to reduce emissions 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and that of Indonesia to keep emission growth 26 percent to 41 percent below business as usual projections by 2020 are bringing us closer to the global emission reduction targets we need," said Carstensen.
Forest and climate experts from the nonprofit Ecosystems Climate Alliance warned today that negotiations on the forest component of the agreement risk failing to reduce emissions or prevent deforestation.
Negotiators are hammering out the details of the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries, or REDD.
"The rules for REDD are being set now," said Bill Barclay of Rainforest Action Network, "but forest protection is being ceded to carbon cowboys and corporate greed. If we don't act now to prioritize the protection of intact natural forests including their soils, we will lose a unique opportunity to end the deforestation and degradation that is contributing to climate change."
Illegally logged timber loaded aboard a barge near Nabire, Papua, Indonesia is discovered by a Greepeace research team. (Photo (c) Greenpeace/Rante)
Destruction of tropical and peat swamp forests accounts for nearly 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and has been among the most contentious and complex issues in the climate change negotiations.
The international community committed to address deforestation in the 2007 Bali Action Plan, pledging to create, "Policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries."
But negotiations to date are failing to deliver on that mandate. Hopes for protecting forests through the United Nations negotiatings process require renewed focus on protecting intact natural forests through avoiding deforestation and forest degradation, and progress must be achieved at the Bangkok meeting.
Agricultural commodities, biofuels, and wood and paper products, in many cases being produced in illegal or highly unsustainable ways, are driving global deforestation and degradation.
"Without policies and measures to reduce market demand for illegal or unsustainable commodities, countries around the world will be consuming in ways that undermine the same REDD activities their dollars are going to support," said Andrea Johnson of the Environmental Investigation Agency, a member of the Ecosystems Climate Alliance.
The Alliance is calling on all country delegations to change the "deficient definition of forest" being used in the climate negotiations. The group maintains that the UNFCCC definition of forest does not distinguish between natural forests and plantations.
The groups say that unless this is changed, measures to introduce REDD into a future climate agreement could have the perverse result of encouraging conversion and destruction of the world's remaining natural forests.
A subtle change of language from the original Bali mandate now frames the entire scope of REDD, warns the Ecosystems Climate Alliance, which objects to the term "sustainable forest management," that in practice is closely associated with the logging industry and destructive activities such as industrial-scale logging of intact natural forests.
"Sustainable forest management is industry-speak for logging," said Sean Cadman of The Wilderness Society.
"Forests that have been logged or degraded have lower carbon stocks, less biodiversity and less resilience than primary forests. Tree plantations are even worse. REDD provides the opportunity to break the cycle of industrial-scale deforestation by placing economic value on the role of standing forests in climate change mitigation," Cadman said.
Since an estimated 1.6 billion people in developing countries are dependent on forests for their basic needs and livelihoods, REDD must directly benefit local communities and Indigenous Peoples and respect their rights and tenure.
"There is an increased understanding in the REDD negotiations that forests cannot be effectively protected without securing the rights of forest dependent communities," said Nathaniel Dyer of Rainforest Foundation UK, "but the current text does not sufficiently reflect this and must be strengthened."
Copyright Environment News Service, ENS, 2009. All rights reserved.


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Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Mo Williams netted 18 points off the bench to lead six Trail Blazers in double figures in Portland's 91-74 takedown of the Chicago Bulls at United Center.
Damian Lillard added 16 points while Robin Lopez and Nicolas Batum scored 13 apiece to help Portland win its second straight to complete a five-game Eastern Conference road trip with a 2-3 mark.
"We all know where things are in the standings and with the playoffs. Every game is critical. We let a couple get away on this trip, but I didn't need to say anything to them. Everyone knows where we are and what we need to do," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts.
LaMarcus Aldridge, playing in his second game since returning from a back injury, had a season-low five points on 2-of-10 shooting but grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds with four steals. Aldridge missed the previous seven games.
Three Bulls had double-doubles, with Carlos Boozer's 16 points and 12 rebounds leading the way. Taj Gibson posted 13 points and 10 rebounds and Joakim Noah finished with 11 points and 10 boards.
"One game is not the end all, either way," said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.
Despite the loss, the Bulls clinched a playoff spot Friday night.
Portland has won the last six meetings in this series.
After a back-and-forth opening period, Dorell Wright hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-3 run midway through the second. Williams followed with a floater, a pull-up jumper and three free throws to push the spread to 37-27.
Lillard hit a deep 3-ball before the halftime buzzer for a 47-36 margin at the break.
Jimmy Butler had five points in the first five minutes of the second half for Chicago, but the rest of the Bulls went scoreless over that stretch as Portland broke the game open. Aldridge's layup at 7:56 gave the visitors their largest lead at 62-38.
The Blazers rolled the rest of the way.
Game Notes
Chicago shot just 33-for-84 (39.3 percent) from the floor and 3-of-17 from 3- point range ... D.J. Augustin had 15 points and seven assists for the Bulls ... Lopez had five blocked shots.


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A few little things ended up nickel-and-diming the Cubs to death Saturday in a 4-3 loss to the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field.
Starting pitcher Travis Wood missed badly on just one pitch, and it cost him a game-tying 3-run homer by J.D. Martinez in the sixth inning.
The Cubs had a chance to go back ahead in the bottom of the eighth, but Alfonso Soriano was picked off second base with runners on first and second and one out.
Later that inning, Darwin Barney looked to have walked on a 3-1 pitch with the bases loaded, but home-plate umpire Phil Cuzzi called the pitch a strike, and Barney wound up popping out.
Reliable closer Kevin Gregg gave up a run in the ninth inning on a small scoring play -- a squeeze bunt executed by former Cub Ronny Cedeno. And that was that.
Cubs manager Dale Sveum was in a suitably foul mood afterward.
"Well, yeah, Soriano's safe at second base," said Sveum, whose team dropped to 30-43. "There's a run. The guy (Astros reliever Jose Cisnero) is throwing the ball all over the place. Barney takes the 3-1 pitch, and it's eight inches inside. So it's popup and an out. It's a shame."
That's the way it goes a lot of times for losing teams, even when they're playing a Houston team that's 29-47.
Soriano, who rarely displays emotion over bad calls, was upset with second-base umpire David Rackley because Soriano felt his hand was on the bag before the tag was applied.
"I never get mad," Soriano said. "Sometimes they call a bad pitch. It's not an easy job they have. When I get mad at something they call, it's just because I'm 100 percent they didn't have the right call, and they called me out. I know I'm safe, and that's why I got mad."
The Cubs had their chances. They were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, making them 1-for-16 over the last four games.
"I think the whole year is like that," Soriano said. "Nobody was hitting when we need it. It's a little frustration, but we're trying to forget this game today and come back tomorrow and win the series."
Wood turned in his major-league-leading 14th quality start, but he hasn't won since May 30. His ERA is 2.85. He sailed until the sixth, when he threw 24 pitches. He was gone after a 4-pitch walk to Matt Dominguez starting the seventh.
"I didn't feel tired or anything," Wood said. "I was cruising, but I've got to bear down right there, knowing the tying run's at the plate. I missed bad with the pitch. It's supposed to be backdoor, and it ended up coming all the way across the plate. That just can't happen."
The Cubs need to help themselves in another area, too, and the onus is on the front office to act.
Currently, they're carrying 13 pitchers, meaning they have just four bench players. Not long ago, a roster with 12 pitchers was considered unwieldy. Twelve is the norm now, but 13 is more than unlucky. It makes a manager's job nearly impossible in the late innings.
The Astros closed with right-hander Jose Veras. Sveum had already used left-handed pinch hitter Julio Borbon, so he sent up right-handed hitting Scott Hairston as a pinch hitter to lead off the ninth, and Hairston struck out. Switch hitter Dioner Navarro was available, but he's the backup catcher, and managers don't like burning them, in case of injury to the starter.
Sveum said the issue would be addressed by Tuesday's series opener at Milwaukee. Until then, the situation has the potential of being yet another little thing that can kill the Cubs in a big way during a key situation.


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Mahjong Master Triplets Lite
- Publisher: 1MPACT GAMES CO.,LTD.
- Genre: Entertainment
- Released: 2 Nov, 2012
- Size: 14.3 MB
- Price: FREE!
- App Store Info
DescriptionThe highly acclaimed "Mahjong Master" series of puzzle games is here! Highly addictive and engaging, Mahjong Master offers challenge for your mind and treats for your senses! Are you the next Mahjong Master puzzle solver?
♦ The objective of the game is to clear all Mahjong tiles on screen in each level by forming triplets.
♦ 3 Chapters with 60 FREE levels! More challenging and more fun!
♦ Elegant and surreal backgrounds, take you to a magical place.
♦ Enchanting and soothing music, lets you relax and dive into the fun.
♦ Awesome in-game special effects.