Skip to content

General Discussion

A place to talk about whatever you want

32.7k Topics 290.6k Posts
  • Is it over?

    1
    1 Posts
    19 Views
    No one has replied
  • Haircuts for me, but not for thee

    30
    30 Posts
    319 Views
    George KG

    alt text

    alt text

  • It ain't easy being green

    3
    3 Posts
    52 Views
    jon-nycJ

    That’s the amount of garbage we now produce in 24 days.

    And it buys us CO2 reduction measured in gigatonnes annually.

    Pretty good deal.

  • It's almost Labor Day Weekend...whatcha gonna do?

    31
    31 Posts
    272 Views
    brendaB

    Mik, I am sorry to hear that your kitty is so ill. That's mighty hard to go through for all of you. It's good you had the last years together.

    Horace, best wishes to your dad for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery. Glad you can be with him.

  • Colorado Woman Assaulted 12-Year-Old Boy over Trump Yard Sign

    9
    9 Posts
    50 Views
    taiwan_girlT

    @George-K Agree. i think he will have to show that they are only against him. If other people continue to wear political clothes with no problem, I think we will have a case.

  • The Two Tiered Health System

    14
    14 Posts
    86 Views
    taiwan_girlT

    Taiwan has a single payer healthcare. Seems to work pretty well. I have not had to use too much, but I know growing up as a poor family, it helped us and continues to help my mother.

    (NOTE: I know taiwan is very different from the US. Population (25 million vs. 300 million, cultural differences, etc.)

    Some points on Taiwan healthcare

    the government spends only one percent of its health care budget on administration. In US, insurers spend 12 percent of their revenue on administration. And, administrative costs account for 25 percent of hospitals’ budgets.

    Patients’ medical records are all on one system. Taiwan uses a national electronic health records database.

    health insurance premium payments take the form of payroll contributions (5.17 percent of income)

    Progressive income taxes and additional taxes on lottery tickets and tobacco also help fund the Taiwanese health care system. And, the Taiwanese government imposes a copay of about $12 whenever people use the medical system, unless they are low-income. Taiwanese with greater incomes can buy private insurance to pay for services their public system does not pay for.

    Taiwan spends six percent of GDP on health care, as compared to 17.7 percent in the US.

  • The Giggle Factor

    1
    1 Posts
    18 Views
    No one has replied
  • Air Force One to be supersonic?

    6
    6 Posts
    44 Views
    George KG

    Rocketman...

  • Barr urges antitrust filing against Google

    7
    7 Posts
    42 Views
    George KG

    @xenon said in Barr urges antitrust filing against Google:

    Google and AWS don’t have access to the information running on those resources.

    That's what they want you to think, Padawan.

  • It is easy to lose control

    13
    13 Posts
    83 Views
    MikM

    😆

  • HBO - Perry Mason

    2
    2 Posts
    17 Views
    CopperC

    Brings a Ray of darkness into your life.

  • The Insane Engineering of the P-47

    5
    5 Posts
    39 Views
    CopperC

    That water injection is really a cool idea.

    I learned about that from a KC-135 (Air Force tanker - looks like a 707) pilot. She told me they user the water injection during takeoff for extra power and it creates an ugly black exhaust. That is why you see the black exhaust coming out of some older jets from back in the 50s and 60s. I don't think they do it anymore.

  • Does 🍎 speak sooth?

    7
    7 Posts
    69 Views
    AxtremusA

    These parts here ...

    One major privacy feature in iOS 14 is the need for apps to actively ask for permission before tracking you across services. Apple will allow you to choose between “Allow Tracking” or “Ask App Not To Track.”

    This has caused quite a stir, with Facebook saying it will no longer be able to collect iPhone identifiers for advertisers (IDFA) from users, hugely impacting the business model of itself and its advertisers.

    Just disallow cross-site/cross-service tracking from the get do would be fine. Just don’t even have anything like IDFA to begin with would be fine. First Apple Inc. built stuff that compromised your privacy, now they bill letting you undo some of that damage as new features.

  • The bradykinin hypothesis

    16
    16 Posts
    90 Views
    jon-nycJ

    A most curious etymology.

    From la wik:

    Bradykinin was discovered in 1948 by three Brazilian physiologists and pharmacologists working at the Biochemistry and Pharmacology department of the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo, in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil, led by Dr. Maurício Rocha e Silva. Together with colleagues Wilson Teixeira Beraldo and Gastão Rosenfeld, they discovered the powerful hypotensive effects of bradykinin in animal preparations. Bradykinin was detected in the blood plasma of animals after the addition of venom extracted from the Bothrops jararaca (Brazilian lancehead snake), brought by Rosenfeld from the Butantan Institute. The discovery was part of a continuing study on circulatory shock and proteolytic enzymes related to the toxicology of snake bites, started by Rocha e Silva as early as 1939. Bradykinin was to prove a new autopharmacological principle, i.e., a substance that is released in the body by a metabolic modification from precursors, which are pharmacologically active. According to B.J. Hagwood, Rocha e Silva's biographer, "The discovery of bradykinin has led to a new understanding of many physiological and pathological phenomena including circulatory shock induced by venoms and toxins." Etymology: brady [Gk] slow, kinin [Gk ] kīn(eîn) to move, set in motion, ? from the effect of snake venom on intestinal smooth muscle, which was noted to slowly contract.[25]

  • And Andrew Sullivan is leaving NY Mag

    31
    31 Posts
    292 Views
    jon-nycJ

    Well to be fair you didn’t know the full cost there either because the government picked up most of it.

  • Military Times’ survey of military personnel’s opinions

    1
    1 Posts
    15 Views
    No one has replied
  • Rangers lead the way!

    7
    7 Posts
    48 Views
    taiwan_girlT

    I visit a friend in Indianapolis one time, and also visit the Medal of Honor Memorial there.

    If you are in Indianapolis, a nice place to visit and reflect.

    Medal of Honor Memorial

  • 2 Posts
    27 Views
    HoraceH

    Shockening and sicking. Biden's supporters' very souls are at peril and there will be blood on their hands if he is elected.

  • Super Savers emerging from the pandemic

    4
    4 Posts
    35 Views
    89th8

    Agreed, same here. Didn't have daycare for 6 months (at $2,300 a month), and our overall monthly spending is way down. In February, in a pure coincidence, I started some remote-work 1099 independent consulting (in addition to my normal W2 job) that added to the income. We've been very fortunate during this pandemic including the many, many, many hours spent with my 2 year-old daughter as we explored creeks among other fun activities. That has been by far the best part of the shutdown.

  • $4. $20.

    7
    7 Posts
    52 Views
    89th8

    @Jolly said in $4. $20.:

    15/32 OSB

    I wood would bet you’re right.