"We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all."
-- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

From Investors Business Daily, Thursday, May 01, 2008

Profits of Doom?

"Oil prices aren't high because profits are up; they're high because we don't have enough oil. By clamping down on drilling, refusing to move forward on nuclear energy and hitting producers with punitive taxes, Congress is doing all it can to ensure we don't have enough in the future."

Socialized health care. It sounds great -- in theory. Wouldn't it be great if everyone in our entire nation could receive first-class health care with little or no cost to the patient?

But in reality, this is far from the case.

In a recent article written by Sven R. Lawson, PhD., titled Lessons from Sweden’s Universal Health System: Tales from the Health-care Crypt, he outlines specific cases in the Swedish government centralized health care system that are prime examples of how Socialized health care can and will fail.

Universal rationing means that centralized health care will withhold care from patients due to budget pressures, lack of funding, and government regulation that prevents certain costly, but life-saving procedures from being performed due to their cost.

Delayed consequences of socialized health care are again budget related, but has a much more long-range effect on the quality and innovation of health care. Tighter government budgets means that tasks will be delegated to less qualified, less skilled health care employees to defer costs.
Dr. Olle Stendahl, professor of medicine at Linkoping University, pointed this out in the national Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Referring to the 2005 Nobel Prize in Medicine, awarded to Dr. Barry Marshall and Dr. Robin Warren for their discovery of Helicobacter pylori, Dr. Stendahl explained that part of the reason for their innovative research was a medical system that encouraged research and innovation. But, he continued, discoveries of this magnitude are ruled out in Sweden:
"In our budget-governed health care there is no room for curious, young physicians and other [medical] professionals to challenge established views. New knowledge is not attractive but typically considered a problem [that brings] increased costs and disturbances in today’s slimmed-down health care... Primarily the system
endorses health care regions and administrative directors who can show a surplus in their budget. Quality of care and patients’ well-being are second-tier goals."

Sven goes on to say,
"While it may seem as though the Swedish tax rates are off the chart compared to American taxes, it would not take us long to get there if the United States made the mistake of adopting socialized medicine for all.
It has been estimated that a Swedish-style single-payer health insurance system in America would cost the median-income household some $17,200 per year in health care taxes."

Even if this is affordable for Americans, would this be sufficient to keep socialized health care going? Sven continues,
"As in Sweden, American politicians would promise to freeze the tax to pay for a hypothetical American single-payer system at a fixed rate."

That would put a cap on the income going into the system, but does not address the change in expenses:
"Over the past half century, medical costs have risen just over twice as fast as the payroll on which the tax would be levied. To
avoid raising the tax, Congress would have to have curbed spending one way or the other. This would have resulted in a combination of three things:
(1) a significant lag in implementing new medical technology;
(2) massive reductions in staff, beds, and number of clinics and hospitals; and
(3) widespread transfers of responsibilities
for medical evaluations and treatment downward in the skills pyramid: from physicians to physician assistants (PAs), from PAs to nurses, from nurses to nurse assistants, etc. In short, less skilled staff would be would be operating with yester-year’s technology in clinics and hospitals of greatly diminished capacity."

Sven summarizes the article by saying,
"If we implement a universal, single-payer model in America today, the negative effects will reliably occur about a generation from now. The question that we need to ask ourselves as we enter the election season is this: Are we willing to send that bill down the road for our children to pay?"

---
The article linked above, "Lessons from Sweden’s Universal Health System: Tales from the Health-care Crypt" comes from the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Volume 13 Number 1.

No, this isn't a quote from Captain Planet (although I wish it were something as cheesy and campy as that).

No, this little piece of news that Microsoft is abandoning their DRM-music service through MSN heralds the end of the line for any of their past customers.

The setup: You want to buy some music online, legally, so you go out on the net and look for music download sites.

The bait: You might arrive at the MSN music download site and decide to purchase some DRM-licensed music, and download it to your PC. DRM allows for that music to be on only a certain number of devices, so you may keep one copy on your PC, maybe another on your mp3 player. Each time you want to move the music to a new device, your PC requests a new license file from the MSN DRM authentication system, which issues the approval to copy that piece of music to a new device.

The switch: Microsoft decides to drop their MSN music-download service, and discontinue issuing authorizations.

The dilemma: You are now forced to keep your PC running indefinitely if you ever want to listen to the music you have purchased ever again. Don't delete it from your mp3 player, either, if you ever want to listen to it from there. Because this is the last time you get to transfer the song off of your PC, too.

Forever.

Because DRM will not allow you to move any licensed music you own to another device, never allow you to even burn it to a CD without the authentication from a non-existent MSN authenticator.

Need to reformat your PC?
Say buh-bye to your MSN DRM-licensed music.

Want to upgrade your PC to a new OS?
Oh, I'm sorry. Tough luck.

Want to free up some space on your mp3 player?
Microsoft says, 'screw you'.

I really hope that consumers will get the message and STOP SUPPORTING DRM MUSIC. How many people need to get screwed before consumers get smart and stop supporting DRM? Because if the consumers get smart, and the power of their money goes elsewhere, DRM will go away, too.

Switching to a service like iTunes doesn't really solve the problem, either. As long as there is money in the industry, you will always have companies like MSN or other up-starts trying to get a slice of the pie. That's a part of American economics. If iTunes lasts forever, that still doesn't negate the evil of DRM, or stop music listeners getting screwed by it.

The only thing that makes me less-than-completely-irate at Microsoft is the fact that consumers out there made the big mistake of purchasing DRM-infused music to begin with.

I almost feel like the customers are getting what they deserve.

Almost.

Last week I traveled to Anaheim, California for a conference. Sco and I stayed with my good friend Chris who lives out in Irvine. I had a blast. It only took me a few minutes to realize it had been about 8 years since I had been out to SoCal, so it was a trip I definitely needed to make for a long time.

During the weekend we took a trip to the Orfela winery near San Diego. It was a gorgeous day for driving, and we sampled some of the best wine you will find in Southern California.

The same night we kicked back to have what Chris called a "poor frenchman's dinner." Bread with a little olive oil, sliced summer sausage, fruit and cheeses, and some amazing wine. It was an awesome spread.

I also felt a little inspired watching Clerks 2.

Tuesday night we went to the Napa Rose for dinner, this little restaurant off of the Hotel California in downtown Disney. The great thing about this place is that is has world-class food, but since it's off of Disney, they aren't pretentious at all. Our server was laid back, but had great knowledge of food (and their wine list), and entertaining at the same time. I had the roasted rabbit, which made me wonder what it would take to set up a few snares in my own back yard.

The conference itself was pretty good. I picked up some great info that I will inevitably be putting to good use here at work.

The week did wear a little long, so as much fun as I had hanging out with Sco and Chris, eventually I had to hop on a plane back to Chicago. Unfortunately, our plane was delayed multiple times, which resulted in us sitting on the plane, unmoving, for about 2 hours. I was pretty exhausted when I got home, but it was nice to be home again with Natalie.

Endgadget was recently mourning the announcements from Dell and Motorola slashing jobs in order to cut costs.

Of course, reading this you get the usual reactions:
"Why not fire two or three executives instead, and save the same amount of cash?"
"Why don't they start by cutting their overseas support centers?" (especially infamous with Dell)

Eventually, these comments turn to more broad, political musings. Why are companies like Dell and Motorola cutting jobs? This sounds like a bad barometer for our Economy. In turn, this sounds like a bad report card for George W. Bush, who traditionally receives the blame for a bad economy as the President has for decades.

If you stop for a second to consider the cause-and-effect of these job firings, you realize that it is the top executives of these companies like Dell and Motorola who wield an extra-ordinary power over the political barometer of our economy, and the blame of their decisions falls at the President's feet.

"8,000 jobs cut at Dell,
2,600 jobs cut at Motorola,
that President Bush sure is doing a bang-up job[?]"

Or if you look back at the history of, say, Dell, and their tendancy to sacrifice quality of product for cheaper production costs, and out-sourcing their support centers to who-knows-what-first-language idiots. Maybe the real problem is the fact that people have stopped buying their products, and not that the President's economics has "forced their hand".

Now I'm not saying that the President plays no role in the national and even global economic situation.

I'm also not saying that everything is the fault of "big, bad business". Companies have the right, even the responsibility (to their investors) to make adjustments to maintain their profit margins, regardless if you do or do not agree with their sometimes aggravating ways of implementing those changes. Sometimes a company has to trim the fat, and one can hope that the over 10,000 jobs cut (between Dell and Motorola) are the dead weight that was just begging to be shed, and the net result will work to the better for the American consumer.

What I am saying is that it may be giving a little too much credit to say that the execs at Dell and Motorola don't realize EXACTLY the effect their decisions of firing employees to "cut costs" will have on the image of our President. And they have an awful amount of influence on the collective opinion of our nation's leader, if they so choose to manipulate it.

With that in mind, I take the "Oh, noes!" message with a grain of salt. Yes, unemployment to a certain degree is a sign of a struggling economy. But I will not give over to the sensational over-reaction to say that the decisions of very human, sometimes very biased individuals is necessarily the hard, objective evidence against a single influence in our nation's economy.

I am very open to people's reactions or opinions on this, leave comments please.

Yes, [no,] you read correctly [ok, not really]. Yesterday's post was a joke, of course. I am NOT voting for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States, and here are my real reasons why:

Abortion - Hillary is pro-death. Even though her website strategically leaves out the actual word Abortion (replaced with "reproductive rights"), is it really any surprise to anyone that she will support her perceived right for mothers to murder innocent unborn children? This is the #1 reason why I would never, ever, EVER vote for Hillary Clinton.

Family - Hillary Clinton wrote her manifesto on devaluing the building block of society in "It Takes a Village." While it may require a village government to tax it's citizens, it does not require a village to raise a family.

Hillary as a woman President would not be respected by our nation's enemies - Theodore Roosevelt famously said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far." He was referring not directly to the power of the U.S., even though the U.S. is one of the most powerful nations of the world. He wasn't speaking directly of the threat of American power being used against foreign nations, but at times of necessity, our nation has used it's military power to secure freedom, punish evil, and secure our nation's interests. But what our former President was referring to is the image that our enemies have, and must keep, of the leadership and power of our nation, lest they get overconfident and take offensive action against us.
We do not need to police the entire world; we do not need to make unnecessary shows of force. But we do need our enemies to understand that we do in fact have military power, and a leader capable of wielding that military in a time of need, and a leader who may be respected enough to be feared by our enemies as a formidable foe. Hence the visual of "Carry a Big Stick".
It is in my most humble opinion that Hillary Clinton as President of the U.S. would give such a negative image of the leadership of this country to the U.S. foreign enemies that despise us, that they would have little fear of repercussion for provoking us. America would be forced to face enemies who will have no respect and much contempt for Hillary Clinton as our President.

Taxes, taxes, and more taxes - A few of Hillary's plans sound like great suggestions, sure. Who doesn't like the idea of free, quality health care? And cutting the drop-out rate of students? And, and, and.
But even if you can for a moment ignore the monumental question of the practicality of some of Hillary's plans, how will we even begin to afford to pay for it? Government funding doesn't grow on trees -- it comes out of our paychecks. No, thank you, Hillary.



[Note: the original text from yesterday's post is shown below in italics. My own responses are listed in brackets below each quoted segment.]



"National Health Care - Tax credits will ensure you won't be charged more than a set percentage of your annual income. Insurance companies won't be able to turn you down. Hillary has the strength and experience to ensure that every man, woman and child in America has quality, affordable health care."

[My real thoughts:
Forcing insurance companies to cover anyone will only force down the quality of health care offered to those with insurance. You will still have disparity in care between those who can pay well for their health care, and those who have the "freebie" government hand-out. Just look at the existing countries that have centralized health care: it sucks, and the wealthy who can afford to get it elsewhere do.]

"Ending the war in Iraq - In the first 60 days of office, Hillary will order the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Aid efforts would focus on stabilizing Iraqi entities most likely to get aid to the Iraqi people. Hillary would also uphold a non-interference policy through the U.N., and in partnership with Iraq's neighbors would mediate disputes and aid in reconstruction."

[My response:
This not only sounds impractical, but irresponsible. If we instantly pull out our troops, there will be a vacuum of power in Iraq that will be filled by the most radical element present, which will end up being the insurgents. Just look at Iran. Asking Iraq's neighbors to "help" is also a mistake, since they all will have personal agendas at stake in controlling Iraq.]



"Energy and Environment - Hillary will cut greenhouse emissions by 80%, foreign oil imports by two-thirds, and begin a 50-billion dollar energy research and development project.
"Automakers will be asked to make more efficient vehicles; oil and energy companies to invest in cleaner, renewable technologies; utilities to ramp up use of renewables and modernize the grid; coal companies to implement clean coal technology; government to establish a cap and trade carbon emissions system and renew its leadership in energy efficient buildings and services; individuals to conserve energy and utilize efficient light bulbs and appliances in their homes; and industry to build energy efficient homes and buildings."
"[...]All federal buildings designed after January 20, 2009 will be zero emissions buildings."(site source)"

[My response:
While this sounds GREAT, most of this is just throwing figures around.
How do you stop 80% of greenhouse gas emissions? You would cripple our industry which would in turn cripple our economy.
How do you stop two-thirds of foreign oil imports without changing the oil consumption needs of our society? I'm sorry, you aren't going to just wave a hand and have soccer mom's give up their SUV's, jocks give up their 2-ton pickup trucks, or your family from driving to Grandma's for Christmas.

The last portion of the "Energy and Environment" section is just RIDICULOUS. If Hillary "asks" automakers, oil and energy companies and utilities to take huge profit losses by complying with her whims, at best they will smile and say, "OK, we will try our best." Or, they may just laugh in her face.]



"Education - Hillary will take several measures to improve our failing school system:
- Pre-kindergarten for all four-year olds.
- End 'No Child Left Behind'.
- Cut the minority dropout rate in half.
- Create "Green schools" to improve environment for students.
- 1 billion for at-risk youth for pre-college high schools and multiple pathways to graduation.
- 100 million for summer internship programs.
- Challenge selective colleges to expand access for students from low-income communities."

[My response:
How are we going to pay for all of this? We hardly have the tax money available now to pay for the failing schools we DO have. Her blanket plans say nothing about feasibility, let alone quality of services that will result out of an insane policy like "pre-kindergarten for 4-year olds." That sounds more like "government sanctioned child care." PUH-LEASE!

Asking colleges to "expand their access" for students will effect lowering of admissions standards. Why not give more monies for merit-based scholarships? Or building schools that are targeted to low-income communities? All Hillary will do is take the "selective" out of "Selective colleges", which just demotes their value.]


I hope you join me in NOT EVER voting for Hillary Clinton as President, for the sake of the integrity, security and well-being of our nation!

[EDIT: If you didn't figure this out already, consider this your official notice: APRIL FOOLS!]

Yes, you read correctly. I am voting for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States, and here's why:

National Health Care - Tax credits will ensure you won't be charged more than a set percentage of your annual income. Insurance companies won't be able to turn you down. Hillary has the strength and experience to ensure that every man, woman and child in America has quality, affordable health care.

Ending the war in Iraq - In the first 60 days of office, Hillary will order the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Aid efforts would focus on stabilizing Iraqi entities most likely to get aid to the Iraqi people. Hillary would also uphold a non-interference policy through the U.N., and in partnership with Iraq's neighbors would mediate disputes and aid in reconstruction.

Energy and Environment - Hillary will cut greenhouse emmissions by 80%, foreign oil imports by two-thirds, and begin a 50-billion dollar energy research and development project.
"Automakers will be asked to make more efficient vehicles; oil and energy companies to invest in cleaner, renewable technologies; utilities to ramp up use of renewables and modernize the grid; coal companies to implement clean coal technology; government to establish a cap and trade carbon emissions system and renew its leadership in energy efficient buildings and services; individuals to conserve energy and utilize efficient light bulbs and appliances in their homes; and industry to build energy efficient homes and buildings."
"[...]All federal buildings designed after January 20, 2009 will be zero emissions buildings."(site source)

Education - Hillary will take several measures to improve our failing school system:
- Pre-kindergarten for all four-year olds.
- End 'No Child Left Behind'.
- Cut the minority dropout rate in half.
- Create "Green schools" to improve environment for students.
- 1 billion for at-risk youth for pre-college high schools and multiple pathways to graduation.
- 100 million for summer internship programs.
- Challenge selective colleges to expand access for students from low-income communities.


I hope you join me in voting for Hillary Clinton as President for a better America.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

I may be paraphrasing Edmund Burke a bit, but I think the substance of the meaning is there.

Last night, I DID something, and a friend was safe.

I only hope that friend is wise enough to stay safe tomorrow.

Pi Day.

March 14th.

You could even get more specific, and say,
3/14 16:33 (converting 3.1415926... to m/dd hh:mm)

Regardless of how you want to split it up, today is the honorific holiday dedicated to one of the mathematical constants that has gained a near mystical reputation.

I still remember the first time reading Carl Sagan's Contact (not the movie, you have to read the book), and wondering if, in fact, God would leave his "signature" in the physics which governs our existence.

Don't forget to have some pie for dessert!

Ernest Gary Gygax passed away today, March 3rd, 2008.

The original creator of Dungeons and Dragons, he set the framework for the genre of role playing games.

More info at efluxmedia.com

Thank you Gary, you have touched our lives and your many, many fans will miss you.

I just spent an awesome evening at one of the most enjoyable, and best performed, symphony concerts I have been to in a long time.

Distant Worlds: The Music of Final Fantasy.

Composer: Nabuo Uematsu
Conductor: Arnie Roth


Performances by:
The Chicago Pops Symphony,
The Chicago Festival Choir

My good friends Jim and Paul from St. Louis drove up for the concert, along with their sister Catherine and friend Brandy. We also met up with Brandon, who plays in our World of Warcraft guild. Half the fun was just hanging out with that crew, of course. I wish I could see them more often!

The performance was superb. I attended the "Dear Friends" concert that was last at Rosemont, and as a Final Fantasy fan I thoroughly enjoyed the music, but as a music critic recognized a few flaws in the performance level. But this show was nearly flawless.

Here's a few highlights from the set list:

Liberi Fatali - One of my fav pieces, the choir was spot-on and was a great opener to get the crowd emotionally into the performance.

Vamo' alla Flamenco - the classical guitar soloist was amazing. I love this scene from FF9, the music gives you a sense of the adventurous but playful spirit in this game, and the performers nailed this one.

Main Theme - the guitar soloist also played for the main theme, was a great rendition of the main FF theme.

Opening Bombing Mission - This one took me by surprise as a most exellently performed piece, better than what was recorded on the Distant Worlds CD.

Fisherman's Horizon - Memoro de la Stono - These two pieces have never been played live by orchestra before, and were a nice addition to the show.

Opera "Maria and Draco" - Absolutely the highlight of the entire concert, the very popular opera piece from FFIII (FFVI jap) got the standing ovation it deserved. The Opera voice trio played perfectly to the crowd, adding some amusing but subtle expressions to their performance that prompted an overwhelmingly positive response from the crowd. As One reviewer put it, "Nothing less than a standing ovation is deserved. Bravo."

Terra's Theme - Another piece not often played live, a superb performance and a favorite of many.

One Winged Angel - The conductor introduced the last song as "And for our final piece... well, you don't need me to tell you..." A cult-classic favorite of Sephiroth fans, and excellently performed by symphony and choir.

I was very lucky to have a VIP ticket, which allowed a brief yet exciting meeting with the composer and conductor after the show (after 2 hours in line) but it was entirely worth the wait to get the awesome pics. It was a blast cracking jokes and talking to the friendly Rosemont staff while waiting in line. To Travis, the ultimate bouncer, who could break a man while blind-folded and with one arm tied behind your back: you rock.

I truly had a great weekend at that show, with friends as geeky about Final Fantasy as I am. What a blast!

If you ever have a chance to listen to the recorded Distant Worlds CD (performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Arnie Roth), you have to turn it up LOUD, close your eyes, and pretend you are sitting in the front section of an auditorium.