XML FeedsHere we go again.
I visited whitehouse.gov to see the new healthcare reform bill. I did not find a bill, but I did find a page; http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/proposal, outlining a series of proposal. Unfortunately, it appears that for the most part it is just a return to the Senate bill. Once again the president is back to insurance as a means to healthcare reform. Insurance companies do not provide healthcare; it is the doctors and hospitals that provide healthcare. I keep hearing about comprehensive healthcare reform and then see that it is just about the insurance. Comprehensive healthcare reform would mean all aspect of healthcare including the pharmaceutical companies and big corporate healthcare providers. If the president and congress really wanted to help with the problems of healthcare, they would include all aspects of healthcare.
Health insurance is such a big business because of the problems with the cost of healthcare. One can not even afford to go for basic healthcare because of the expense involved; if anything, health insurance has given healthcare providers an excuse to charge more. Why isn't the issue of healthcare costs rising faster than the inflation rate being addressed? The main problem with healthcare in the US is that healthcare costs are excessively high compared to the quality of care provided. The heathcare industry is defrauding the public and the government has let it go on for decades upon decades. Even now with healthcare reform they are going to do nothing about it! The pharmaceutical companies have been defrauding the public for decades and the government has done nothing about it. Americans don't even have the rights to purchase their medications outside of the US, a move that would help to save Americans millions of dollars a year on healtcare.
There are problems with health insurance that needs to be fixed. For one, remove the anti-trust protection that health insurers now enjoy. Secondly, allow Americans to buy their their health insurance across state lines. Increasing the competition would help to drive down the cost of insurance. The proposals presented by the president will not help to lower the cost of healthcare, but will increase the cost of health insurance. Trying to cap the premium rates will only eventually end insurance companies providing healthcare policies since nothing is going to be done about the rising costs of healthcare. If heathcare insurers are paying out more in claims than they are taking in from premiums payments, they would have no choice but to stop insuring people for healthcare.
The first step in healthcare reform is to fix the problems with the excessive costs of healthcare; the excessive medication costs, the overcharges and doubling billing, the fraud and scams, being perpetrated by the healthcare industry. Healthcare in the US is a big business with the only concern being the bottom line. If the problem with the excessive costs of healthcare were fixed, then the cost of insurance would follow. We would see lower premium rates since the insurer would be paying less in claims. As long as the focus in on health insurance instead of the real problems with healthcare, Americas will not see any real healthcare reform. They will continue to pay more and more while receiving the same, or lower, quality of healthcare.
Happy George Washington's Birthday!
While today is not the birth date of George Washington; he was born on February 22, it is the day the United States celebrates his birthday. Many think that today is Presidents('s, s') Day but the legal bank/federal holiday is Washington's Birthday and it is to celebrate the birthday of George Washington. There are some states that have a state holiday on the third Monday of February of Presidents Day. On January 1, 1971, Washington's Birthday was moved to the third Monday of February to comply with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act; an act designed to give federal employees a three day weekend.
When I was attending college, I came home one day to discover that Mum had baked a cake. I asked her why she had baked a cake and she told me she had decided to bake a chocolate cherry cake to celebrate George Washington's birthday. I was not even aware that it was Washington's Birthday. Mum often baked her chocolate cherry cake on Washington's Birthday, but she also baked it at other times as well. Washington's Birthday always reminds me of Mum baking her chocolate cherry cake, and I decided that I would celebrate George Washington's birthday today by baking her chocolate cherry cake.
Mum's recipe is simple and I decided to share it with my readers so they can enjoy this wonderful easy to bake cake. You start with your favourite boxed chocolate cake mix. Following the instructions on the box, prepare the chocolate cake mix. Once the chocolate cake mix is ready, you use one tin of cherry pie filling and carefully fold it into the cake batter. To make sure there are no pits in the cherry pie filling, first spoon the cherry pie filling onto a large plate and using a fork, press each cherry to feel for a pit. If a pit is found, discard it and continue checking the rest of the cherries. On occasion, I have found pits in cherry pie filling and you don't want to bite down on a pit when eating this delicious cake. Pour the batter into a rectangular glass baking dish and cook in a moderate oven, 180°C, 350°F, gas mark 4. You will need to bake this cake longer than the instructions on the box suggest and you will just have to check the cake after about 35 to 40 minutes. Don't worry if this cake cracks during baking. Also, it will seem that it is rising too high, but this is a very moist cake and will collapse back down after cooling.
Once the cake has cooled, you can either eat it without any type of icing, or you can make a simple chocolate glaze. I decided to top it with a simple chocolate glaze made by combining 50 ml (1/4 cup) of melted butter with 45 ml (3 Tbs) of cocoa powder. Mix the cocoa powder and butter together and add 750 ml (3 cups) of icing sugar (confectioners sugar) and 45 ml (3 Tbs) of water. Using a whisk, stir the mixture over a medium heat allowing the icing sugar to dissolve and the mixture to come to a slight boil (bubbles forming). Once the glaze is ready, quickly spread it over the cake. This glaze will cool and harden quickly, so you have to spread it quickly over the cake. I found that I was a little shy of the glaze I needed, so you may want to increase the amounts I listed.
This is a delicious cake and it always brings memory of Mum to mind. It is a great way to celebrate the Washington's Birthday holiday. The cherry pie filling added to the chocolate cake batter is of course the tie to George Washington. Most have hear the tale of how George Washington as a lad cut down one of his father's cherry trees and since he told the truth, went unpunished for the deed. Of course the tale is not true and was created by Mason Locke Weems in a biography of Washington published shortly after his death. True or not, the story of George Washington and the cherry tree has lived on and is much a part of the celebration of his birthday.
Valentine's Day - 2010
Valentine's Day is here once again. At first I was not going to even mention Valentine's Day this year. For the last several days I have been so blue. Valentine's Day can be hard on those who are alone and wishing for someone in their life. The shops with all the cards and balloons and chocolates just reinforces the loneliness. Yesterday the blues were so bad that I just had to get out of the house and I went and visit with my Aunt and then with Sister #1.
Today was not much better with Valentine's Day just around the corner. However, today I received a very sweet valentine's card in the post and it really brighten my day. The card was totally unexpected and that added to the joy it gave me.
Google Plans Building Experimental Fibre Networks
Google has just announce plans for building experimental fibre networks in a small number of locations across the United States. These fibre networks will offer gigabit internet access to individuals.
Posted on Google's blog, the company states:
We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.
Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone. Here are some specific things that we have in mind:
* Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it's creating new bandwidth-intensive "killer apps" and services, or other uses we can't yet imagine.
* New deployment techniques: We'll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we'll share key lessons learned with the world.
* Openness and choice: We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we'll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.
Perhaps this will be a wakeup call to the existing broadband internet providers. For way too long existing broadband companies have resisted upgrading their networks, refusing to spend the money needed to move the internet forward, while at the same time raising costs and reducing services to their customers. When my local broadband provider raised their prices for internet access, I asked the company if they also reduce the pay for top CEOs. I did not receive an answer; however, I already knew the answer, of course not. There is no real competition in my area for broadband internet access, it is either DSL through my local telephone provider, or the cable company, and both charge the same fee for the same bandwidth.
Years ago I question why the telephone company that serviced my area was not moving to fibre. Not only would it have provided better voice communications by replacing the old switched network, it would have allowed them to move into offering high speed internet services. The telephone company in my area lagged considerably behind the cable company in offering broadband internet access. DSL is now available on more streets in my county, but it is still over ageing copper lines in serious need of an upgrade.
This year marked the 10th anniversary of the AOL/Time Warner merger. At the time it was, and still is, the largest merger in American business history. The largest internet company merging with the largest media company. The merger failed miserably and is a regular discussion in business classes around the country. The idea behind the merger was sound, but it was never implemented properly. In my opinion, the problem lied in the infrastructure, or the lack of it. In order for the merger to be a success, it was crucial the old coax network that provided cable television to the homes to be replaced with fibre. That never happened except in the larger metropolitan areas, and only then in certain areas. The cable network in my county is all coaxial, not one bit of fibre. This coaxial network is already being strained by the move to digital high definition television and the increase of television channels. The coax that provides high definition television is the same one use to provide broadband internet access, and it is a shared bandwidth.
I would like to see Google build their experimental fibre networks in rural areas where competition is limited or nonexistent. However, Google wants to reach 50,000 and up to 500,000 people with their network. It will be harder to reach that number in rural areas as oppose to higher population density areas, and the cost to reach the target number in rural areas will be higher than in a denser population area. Therefore, I doubt if Google will be building a network in my rural county. It has been estimated that the cost for Google to build their experimental networks to reach their targeted number to be $60 million to $1.6 billion depending on the final size and footprint of the network; Google has about $25 billion in cash.
A most unpleasant weekend
Once again, we have had a disruptive storm; the third for this winter season. Thursday night just before going to bed, I looked outside and noticed that a light rain had started to fall and that it was starting to freeze on the side porch. Friday morning I awoke to the sound of sleet hitting the window panes. When I checked outside, I was surprised to find a heavy blanket of wet snow on the ground. When I took a measurement I found that 11.4 cm (4.5 in) of new snow had fallen during the night. There were still a couple of inches of snow on the ground left over from the last storm The snow had changed to sleet and I ventured out to get some photographs before the sleet compacted the snow.
The beauty of the snow would prove to be short lived as it would end up contributing to a most unpleasant weekend. The sleet lasted for about hour or less before it turned to rain, a freezing rain since the surface temperature hovered around -0.2°C (31.7°F) throughout the day on Friday. As you can see in the photographs above, the wet snow clung to just about any surface, and especially to the thick needles on the pine trees. With the already thick layer of wet snow, the freezing rain was a real concern; pine trees are easy to break and easy to uproot. At 12:33 pm on Friday the electrical power flickered three times and went completely off. I ringed the power on number and reported the outage. At 2:32 pm the power had been restored. I had the thermostat for the heating system set to 15°C (59°F) and by the time the power had been restored the temperature inside the house had dropped to 13.7°C (56.6°F) I had another power outage at 3:20 pm which was restored by 6:36 pm. During the power outage, the inside temperature dropped to 12.7°C (54.8°F).
When I ventured out to gather the post, I saw a tree had fallen across the street. I was hoping that it would be the only one; however, I would come to find that my hope would not be answered. When I returned to the house, I started to notify the sheriff department of the blocked street when I saw a state patrol vehicle and an emergency vehicle stop and go to work removing the tree from the roadway. Obviously some of the motorists that had to reroute had already notified the sheriff department.
At 8:26 pm, I heard a tree snap, and immediately my power went out. I again ringed the power on number and reported the outage. I decided to also call the power on number and report that a power cable was on the ground; I was asked if the cable was arcing, but at the time it was not. I also notified the sheriff department that I had a tree down across the street. I was sitting in my rocker-recliner waiting for the power to be restored and noticed that the outside light supplied by the electric company was on across the street. Suddenly the power lines across the street started arcing, generating a brilliant light that lit the entire area, including my front garden. I could see my garden and the trees as if it was day. This arc repeated for three times before it stopped. I noticed that the outside light across the street was now out as well. The power distribution lines are equipped with circuit interrupters. They will automatically reset three times, and if the short does not clear, will open and stay open. I decided to go outside and investigate what had happened. It was still raining hard, and I had to use an umbrella since I did not have a rain parka. With my LED torch in hand, I walked up to the street to see what had happened. I did not find a tree across the street, but I felt something under my feet and when I turned the torch downwards, discovered I was standing on the broken power cables. That scared me, even though there was no danger from being electrocuted. I quickly got off the cables and moved my torch around to try and understand what had occurred. I discovered that the top of a pine tree had snapped and fell across the feed to my transformer, breaking the cable and pulling it from the main distribution lines. The arching had occurred where the cable had been attached to the main lines.
I returned to the house hoping that my power would be restored quickly. I noticed a fire truck stop on the street, but it soon went on its way. I waited for some time to see if the line would be repair. I would learn Saturday morning that the freezing rain had caused a large number of pines to break and uproot all over my county, as well as the counties to the east and west. This storm would cause a major disruption to my county to a degree that we have not seen in several years. As I had not eaten anything at all during the day, using my battery powered florescent lantern, I prepared a dinner consisting of a peanut butter and honey sandwich and some tinned cranberry sauce. It is a good thing I fixed my dinner when I did, later in the evening my florescent lantern developed some problems and I could not get it to function. At 11:00 pm, I decided to go to bed since it was obvious that my power would not be restored that night; the inside temperature was 12.8°C (55°F).
Saturday morning I ventured out at daylight to see how much damage had been done by the storm. I found a large number of the few pines I have on the property had been broken or uprooted. Some of the pines were quite old, and I hated to see them gone. I love trees, and this was a heartbreak for me. All along the street in front of my house trees were down across the roadway. Just below my driveway, at the corner of my property and the neighbours was several pines and some small hardwoods that completely blocked the street.
I returned to the house, but I knew that was no need to notify anyone of the situation. The same situation would be everywhere, and the people that needed to know were fully aware. The inside temperature at 7:48 am was 10.1°C (50.1°F). To stay warm, I put on several layers of clothing, including two pair of jeans, and wore my knit cap. My friend had sent me a snuggie earlier in the winter, and laugh if you want, it was nice to be able to use it and have my arms free to hold my book or magazine to read. Late morning, the power company trucks came rolling up my street and I went out to see if they were going to repair my broken cable. They were repairing the cables, and one of the workmen informed me they hoped to have my power restored that day. I was glad to hear that news as it was getting quite chilly inside my house. I found out the power people were only clearing enough of the fallen trees to get their equipment around them so they could work on the power lines.
My neighbour came over around noon to tell me that I was welcomed to come over to her house as she had a fire going in her wood fuel heater. She has a nice wood fuel heater with a glass front; something that I have wished for, but my wish has yet to come true. When I arrived at her house a bit later, she had a nice fire going in her heater and the house was pleasantly warm. She also has a gas cooker and offered to make me a cup of coffee. I readily accepted since I had not had a cup that morning. She had some tinned chicken noodle soup in her cupboard and made us a hot bowl of soup for our lunch. I visited with her through the afternoon until around 3:00 pm when I made my leave to go and see about Molly the deranged. I also decided that I would get ready and go out to see just how much damage around the county had occurred and to visit Sister #1 who had also lost electrical power. I was applying my makeup in the dim light when suddenly the lights came on. At 3:56 pm Saturday, the electrics were restored and my heating system started. I checked the inside temperature and found that the temperature had dropped to 9.2°C (48.5°F).
Sunday morning the sky was bright and sunny. I crawled out of my warm bed and was delighted to find that I still had electrics. I was concern the power would stay off for too long, and my plants would get too cold. I have a couple of tropical plants and they can not stand for it to get too cold for too long. My house is well insulated and has doubled glazed windows, but if the power stayed off long enough, eventually the temperature inside would drop close to the outside temperature. I put on my coat and ventured outside to walk around the property to see if there were other trees down as well. While the sky was clear and bright, the treetops still wore a coat of ice. On the backside of the property I found more pines broken and uprooted; I probably lost most of the pines I had on the property. While I was on the backside of the property, I heard chainsaws so I went to investigate. I found some workmen in a small ravine working to remove some down pines that were on top of some power lines. I live in a relatively rural county, and there are power lines criss-crossing many ravines and hillsides. It was estimated that 20,000 homes had lost power, a major number for my county. Plus, the storm had affected the counties to the east and west of my county as well. To the north they had mainly sleet, to the south mainly rain.
When I returned to the house, I decided that I would prepare a roast in my crockpot and let it slow cook through the day. While I was preparing the roast, I heard some commotion on the street and went to investigate. I found the department of transportation was removing the trees from the roadway. There are so many downed trees blocking the roadways in the county they don't have the time to cut up the trees and grind them in a chipper. The goal is to simply clear the roadways for now, and the removal from the verge will have to wait for later. They cut the trees into sections small enough to manage, then they use a motor grader with a front end blade to push the trees to the verge. I was concern that an accident would happen in front of my house because the motorists would come at speed down my street, and there was only enough room for one vehicle to pass by the fallen trees.
It took some time for the power lines to be cleared and there were people still without power even today (Monday). The Red Cross and Salvation Army set up shelters so people would have a warm place to stay, and some food to eat. I was one of the lucky ones and my power only stayed off for a relatively short time. The last major power outage that occurred in the county I went three days without power and the house got very cold indeed. During that outage, I packed ice from the front garden into some cooking pots and placed them in my refrigerator. By doing so, I did not lose any food in my refrigerator; it was like the old ice boxes used before refrigeration was common.
I went out this afternoon to pay the bills and even this evening on my way home power trucks were out working on the lines. Hopefully Tuesday morning will find everyone with power restored. The forecast for Tuesday morning is freezing rain changing to just rain. However, on Wednesday the forecast is calling for wind gusts up to 34.8 kt (40 mph). My concern is that with the ground so saturated with water, the high winds will cause more trees to uproot. I can only hope for the best.
Update on the wind, forecasts state it could blow up to 53 knots (60 miles per hour). That is not the kind of winds you want to see with the ground saturated with water.