Health Insurance companies surprised they are doing better than they thought?

Are health insurance companies doing a little better than they thought they would? Yes, to some degree, they are. And something about it, sounds a little like the oil companies to me. Funny how things are so terrible, oil is in desperate situation, yet, Oil Companies are turning in record profits.

Awww, how nice for them.

Health Insurance companies are finding that they are doing well in one area in particular, that of people not going to the doctor's office anymore, as often as they used to. This is in part because of an active attempt on education on the part of the Health Insurers, but also because people simply can't afford a doctor visit and because in recent years, they have become "gunshy" at going, because of the expense out of pocket. Its brilliant how the insurers have come up with the plan to "educate" and how it has been able to cover over, how people are simply afraid now to go to the doctor because of how expensive it is.

I was in an insider meeting with a big health insurance company, just this week. They were saying they are losing money, but are cutting costs in different ways, like their programs, their computer and internet related costs and other things. But then they said, they are doing rather well, better than they thought, in certain areas. One, was in people not going to the doctor as often.

People are avoiding, going to the doctor. So the Health Insurance company, is saving money. Whoohooo!

Right?

Except for one thing. I can relate, myself. I don't want to go to the doctor lately. The past year or two, its been expensive. Its a bit scary. We can't handle any more high costs of health care. So, we don't go.

Is that a good idea? No!

Preventative care, saves us a huge amount of money. Its taken years, decade after decade, for industry to realize this. If we take care of ourselves, if we go to the doctor and get things taken care of BEFORE they become out of control, we save money.

So, eventually, the economy will get wrestled under control. It may even take a few more years. Or, longer. But, at some point, these people that are now avoiding the doctor, are going to HAVE to go to the doctor, or the hospital. And then, what they have missed by skipping the doctor now, by skipping preventative measures ahead of time, are going to cost us.

Its going to costs us in our pocketbooks, wallets, savings, and health.

So the next time, you think, "Hmmm, maybe I should go to the doctor."
No, don't just go. Use your head, think about it, ask family, call a Nurse.

But don't just, NOT go. Use your head. Some insurance companies offer free calls to a staff Nurse. Talk to them, they will tell you whether or not you should go, or not go. That alone, could save you money, or your life.

As always, if its an emergency, just call 911. If you are going to die, CALL SOMEONE, stop worry about the cost. I'd rather owe a lot and be alive, than die and be debt free.


But, if its reasonable that you need to see someone, then go.
It may, in the long run, save you a lot of money, or your life.

Randy Quaid's Star Wackers - special ed.

So, what has happened to Randy Quaid and his wife? There was an explosion of news, then suddenly, nothing. Did the Star Wackers, finally get them?

Wouldn't we all like to know what's going on? Is Dennis Quaid, Mel Gibson, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan all in dire danger? Was Mel Gibson drugged leading to all his different rants going on this past year or two?

If you remember, the Oscar nominated star ran off to Canada from Hollywood, after telling everyone that they were on a "hit list" of the now notorious assassin group known as 'star whackers'. He said that the late Heath Ledger and David Carrandine had both been killed by the group, warning that others, including Mel Gibson (who one might not be surprised about at this point), are all in danger. Randy denies being on drugs or mentally ill, but isn't that part of being mentally ill, that you don't THINK you are? I'm not saying anything, I'm just, sayin'.

From the Daily Mail in the UK:

"'They follow us, they tail us,' Quaid told the Good Morning America TV show.
'They tag our cell phone they hack our computer.'
Quaid, who has appeared in the National Lampoons films with Chevy Chase, offered no evidence about the so called Hollywood hit squad.
His wife said Gibson, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan were all in danger.
'I think he was drugged. I think he was slipped a Mickey,' Evi Quaid said of Gibson.
Quaid said the official causes of deaths of Ledger from an drugs overdose and Carradine from auto asphyxiation, were a 'flat out fraud'.
The oddball couple are due in court in California on Tuesday to face charges of smashing up their former home. They are also accused of staying at hotels and failing to pay their bills.
They insist that they did not flee to Canada to avoid facing a court but fear for their safety.
'We're just trying to find some safety and security in this,' Quaid said.
He also warned that his younger brother Dennis was in jeopardy but has ignored his warnings.
Dennis Quaid had said his brother should seek therapy."

More at:
Kansan.com
ABCnews

Opening Theme in TV shows

Not since and having set the pace for, The X-Files, TV shows made me want to always watch the title sequence. Even though I've seen it time and time again, I either always look forward to seeing it again, or it actually very much sets the tone for the episode I'm about to watch.

These shows for me are:

I was very fond of this show and sad to see it go off the air. I couldn't find the full title sequence for this next one, but when I would watch it, it would send chills down my spine, the good kind:
Saving Grace

This song is such a perfect contrast with the subject of the show that I can't believe it:
Dexter

Again, I couldn't find the actual title sequence here either, but its a perfect video for the show opening:
True Blood

It took me a while to "get" this song for the show, but after a while, it kind of grew on me. I would still prefer a different song, different genre of music, but perhaps, this really is a perfect match of song and show:
Justified

Have fun.

Terrorists in US Courts, get off?

This is frustrating and perhaps a good argument for not trying international criminal terrorists in US courts. To begin with, our courts pretty much, in many ways, well, suck. And we really don't need to be letting terrorists off, or to have our same rights. Because, they have no US rights, so do not, try to give them to these people. 

They do however, have Human rights. There's a difference. We should treat them like Human beings, but we should also dole out appropriate punishment. Terrorism and their advocates are a special class of criminal. Handling them as a civil criminal, is frankly, a little insane, or at best case, ignorant and childish. Leaving them alive, in jail, forever, can give them a kind of bully pulpit to preach from, to become a leader to others on their side, on the out side of prison and can make them a kind of living, speaking martyr. 

Let's not do that. Just remember, do not look at terrorists, as the kind of criminal you are used to. Consider that in movies, remember how the anti terrorists work with city cops, go up against the terrorists and the city cops try to handle it like the terrorists are civil criminals, and they die, or let them escape? Rewatch the Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, Rutger Hauer film from the 80s, Nighthawks. Regardless of what you think of that film as popular medium, it has an antiterrorist from Europe who tries to train the city cops, and repeatedly fails, until they finally get it. And that's the point.

Terrorists are not to be handled like normal criminals.

"A federal jury in Manhattan acquitted the first Guantanamo Bay prison detainee to face a civilian court of all but one of the charges he faced.
NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports:

"It took a Manhattan jury seven days to find Ahmed Ghailani guilty of just one count of conspiracy and acquit him of murder and terrorism charges.
Prosecutors said Ghailani bought a truck and explosives for the bombing before he left Africa and hid in Pakistan.
The defense said Ghailani was a dupe and had no idea that he was helping with a terrorism plot for al-Qaeda."

"Federal prosecutors had charged Ghailani with 276 murder and attempted murder counts in connection with the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people, including a dozen Americans." by Eyder Peralta

I think this is a good argument to not try this type of crime in a court that will only find them guilty of 1 out of hundred of crimes against Humanity. Perhaps the World Court is the place; a court where this is handled and has been handled well, in the past. But to do that, we need to follow certain guidelines and perhaps that is part of the problem in this current situation.

But I would argue, they need to either execute them on the spot, or treat them appropriately so they can be tried, and sentenced for the crimes they have committed; and not be able to wiggle away. Those arrested by the Military, need to be handled by the Military, don't they?

Horror and Sci Fi updates

AN EXCRUCIATING WAIT FOR ‘THE WALKING DEAD’ SEASON 2

As many of you die hard Walking Dead fans out there know, the first season only has six episodes and we are already half through. We are just getting started and it's almost coming to an end already.As you all know there is a second season planned, the bad news according to THR is that AMC isn't likely to launch the second season until next October, which will feature 13 episodes.The main reason being, AMC's Fearfest was the perfect promotional platform to get interest for The Walking Dead and the fact that AMC had four new shows to air next year, which is the most the network has ever had.So it looks like we will be in for a very long wait for more zombie action but on the plus side Frank Darabont is expected to return to write and direct another episode, and well good things come to those who wait, right?

From We Love Horror Movies

MORE ALIEN INVASION IN ‘YEAR 12’

Man, Hollywood is really catching the alien invasion bug lately. Here’s yet another one, called “Year 12″. The plot goes thusly:Set twelve years after an alien invasion, the film follows an underwater miner who is recruited by the human resistance in a plot to destroy the alien mothership.Commercial and music video director Fredrik Bond will make his feature film debut on the movie from a script by Edward Ricourt. Joe Roth is producing.

‘IRON MAN 3’ GETS RELEASE DATE

U.S. Opening Date: May 3rd, 2013

With Iron Man 2 topping box office and DVD sale charts like it did it should come as no surprise that the “superhero franchise which everybody likes” would return for a third installment. With only a 2013 release date and the news that Disney recently paid through its nose to distribute the movie, Internet rumours and fan expectations are running wild that the third flick will feature evil Iron Man mastermind villain the Mandarin as the baddie and will take a turn for the darker as Tony Stark / Iron Man fights his alcohol addiction as he famously did in the comics.For our part we’d want Iron Man 3 to be more than Iron Man fights another evil robot version of himself. Time

‘AVATAR’ 3 DISC COLLECTOR’S EDITION SPECIAL FEATURE DETAILS

Special Features (this extended collector's set includes more than eight hours of bonus features):

Disc 1:
* Three Movie Versions Original Theatrical Edition (includes family audio track with objectionable language removed)
* Special Edition Re-Release (includes family audio track with objectionable language removed)
Collector’s Extended Cut with 16 additional minutes, including alternate opening on earth
Disc 2:
* Filmmaker's Journey Over 45 minutes of never-before-seen deleted scenes
* Capturing Avatar documentary
* A Message from Pandora
* Screen tests, on-set footage, and visual-effects reels
Disc 3:
* Pandora's Box Interactive scene deconstruction: Explore 17 scenes at three levels of production
* Pandorapedia: Comprehensive guide to Pandora and Avatar
* Original script and screenplay
* BD-Live extras (requires BD-Live-enabled player and Internet connection--may be available a limited-time only)

‘INCEPTION’ LIMITED EDITION BRIEFCASE SET DETAILS

HDD Cool Stuff: 'Inception - Limited Edition Briefcase Gift Set' Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy Combo Pack


Christopher Nolan's mind-bending thriller gets an exclusive edition only available at the WBShop!

Warner Brothers has announced 'Inception - Limited Edition Briefcase Gift Set' will be released on December 6, available for pre-order now at the WBShop.

Disc contents will be identical to the regular Blu-ray release and will be packaged in a limited edition (less than 2000 units) metal briefcase with the following:

♦The metal briefcase measures 9 x 6.5 x 2.75 inches.
♦The full-color "The Cobol Job" comic measures 5.75 x 4 inches and is 33 pages long.
♦The 10-page black & white PASIV instruction manual measures 5.75 x 4.5 inches.
♦The full-color art cards measure 5.75 x 4 inches.
♦The heavyweight zinc alloy spinning top totem is 1.25 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches tall.


=http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=95&uid=100186690040995#!/group.php?gid=100186690040995>From Sci Fi Fantasy Nation

How work affects your reality

Recently, I have been building a distributed web analytics system of multiple servers. This system has by its nature a repository of terabyte amounts of archived and compressed log files going back seven years. Overall, this company has 1.6 petabytes of data over all, the logs, are just a portion of that and I'm so glad I only deal with the web based logs. For those who do not know, a petabyte is a unit of information equal to one quadrillion (short scale) bytes, or 1000 terabytes; and a terabyte (TB) is 1,024 gigabytes (GB). Anyway, you get the idea. Its a lot of data.

I started working on this system about ten years ago and before that, I worked on a smaller version of it in another department. I have other responsibilities but this has been a major player in my work day. For years.

I have built this system up from a single server, to now having two separate systems/versions of about fifteen servers. Before that, I had this system running on my workstation. That seems like, decades ago now; well, it does go back to a previous millennium. I am building up a new system with new servers, and once it is ready to go, I will retire the old system. I have already started on working out the budget and details of the next system while will require all new servers with much more powerful hardware (and software, obviously). But that is for next year, or the year after depending upon budget.

But for now, I have been in the process of moving things from the old system to the new system. I have copied over the entire repository of logs and archives. Just this week, I have started to compare and delete all the archives on the old system. In fact, I'm doing that today, I may be doing this tomorrow, too. I'm telling you, its a lot of files to verify and delete. And if I lose a single log, there are indeed people who, sooner or later, will notice a gap in a historical report and want to know, where is that data and think that it is the most important thing in the world (for some reason, which is funny because this is "trending" software, not accounting software; its designed to show TRENDS people, not exactitudes! -- yes, can you tell I've had this discussion with people before?).

Which is what sparked this blog article.

Because, I noticed something as I was deleting all these files. That is, I noticed that I was deleting literally year's worth of work and effort. I have built this system from nothing, built executables that move logs around, archive them, and have had to fix it as things broke, or developers have had problems, or noticed inconsistencies which required hours, days, and in a few cases, months of working with the vendor support team.

There was one day that this old system went down, and it went down hard. The CEO, seemingly everyone at work was involved, watching, waiting for it to come back up. I don't remember what the reason was for that, but for some reason, at that time, it was being heavily used. I had worked on this system with a guy in another department, who does reporting for the ebiz side of the company, between the two of us, we have been the web analytics department for years and years. And for the first so many of those years, really not until recently, people weren't paying much attention, and no, we haven't gotten much acknowledgment for all out work. In fact, we were only told that to work on this project, was not a path to advancement. Nice huh?

Anyway, this one time, I couldn't get the system back up. I worked with the vendor support people, they couldn't get it back up. We tried to reinstall it, that didn't get it back up. I stayed late, I took off at 10PM to catch a ferry home and conclude my two hour commute home; then when I got home, I got online and started to work on it more; from time to time, my boss would call and ask for a progress report. Last time I heard form him was 2AM. I continued to work. I finally got the system up at 6AM and I told him, and went to bed. I had been up working on this almost entirely, for 24 hours straight. I was exhausted, but I had his undying thanks.

Then, not that long after that, he left the company. That is something else that happens a lot at a corporation. You work hard, prove yourself to your boss(es), and/or, you get them in your debt, then they leave and you have to start all over again; sometimes, with people who openly have no faith in you. You work hard, you try to prove you deserve your "attitude" and eventually they find out its true; but typically, not until you have beat yourself half to death in proving yourself all over again. Its really a waste of time, but it does keep you sharp. And, annoyed. Really, its not a great way to live.

Anyway, I have a lot invested in this system.

And now, I'm deleting it. That old system, like a trusty old dog, I am killing it, one delete at a time. And I noticed that, this has affected me. I was surprised to find that because in some ways, this old system has been a huge burden and problem. The database on it has gotten so messed up that even the vendor has asked that we build an entirely new system and simply dump the old one. Which, is what we're doing. The new system is running so much better. I should be glad to see the old one go.

But, I've noticed that, its almost like sawing off a piece of yourself, as I go through the process. Its, melancholy. Because, along with all this work, has gone other things in my life. I got divorced, back in 2002; my kids went through jr high, high school, started college, got jobs, its amazing really, what has taken place throughout this past decade or so.

Part of what brings all this to home, is that as I got back in time for each web server's logs, starting with the present month, and going backward, the logs get smaller. Back in 2000 we were getting many less hits. Now, we are a national power on the internet and have received awards in various ways and we are a leader in the field.

I have the history of all that in my hands. And I'm deleting it all, log by log. Yes, I have a full copy of everything on the new servers. But still, the feeling is there, I am deleting so much. I started yesterday, and I'm still going through it today. Its a lot to delete and I have to verify it so I do not delete a single file without knowing positively that there is a copy available elsewhere.

Its interesting though, how work can affect you personally, like this, outside of your work environment.

But what about my own history? I haven't deleted it, but it has passed. I have my memories, I have my family and friends. But so much is now gone. Is that bad? No, that's life, isn't it. But it pays once in a while, to stop, and reflect, on what has happened, what is happening, where you are going?

Don't you think so, too?

David Lynch and the artist as suffering agent of art

David Lynch’s “Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity” talks about many things.


For on, he talks about an artist’s obligation to live life correctly, healthy, to stay rested and positive, and free from fear.

David Lynch movies can give you another idea, but the, if you met David Lynch, you'd probably see the error of your considerations about him. He advises artists to stay away from suffering.

“Let your characters do the suffering."

“If you’re an artist, you’ve got to *know* about anger without being restricted by it. In order to create, you’ve got to have energy; you’ve got to have clarity. You’ve got to be able to catch ideas. You’ve got to be strong enough to fight unbelievable pressure and stress in this world. So it just makes sense to nurture the place where that strength and clarity and energy come from–to dive in and enliven that.”

So, to all you suffering artists, no longer do you need to suffer in vain. What the suffering DOES do, is give you character, and one of the things all artists need, is character, the more the better. But you need to purge what that brings to the table, through not drugs, drama and aberrant behaviors, but through your art.

Get to work!