Because we have monopolies (or duopolies) in most regions of the US when it comes to ISPs. I have Time Warner Cable where I live. No FIOS or any other wired, high speed ISP. What incentive does Time Warner Cable have to improve their infrastructure when they can just raise my rates, give me the same service they've always given me, and make more money knowing I have no other choice?

Reverse that and you have the Dune shields. Block fast moving items but let slow moving ones through.

I was actually going to add another example where life is interesting - just not UFO/Bigfoot/Ghost interesting, but didn't. Yes, Himalayan Polar Bears qualifies as interesting. Just not the same kind of interesting as finding actual evidence of Bigfoot or of a ghost would be.

Including the bones? And what if one Bigfoot is wandering the woods, gets injured and dies alone? Do the other Bigfoot hunt his corpse down (knowing where it is due to psychic abilities or something) for the sole purpose of eating him? Even if Bigfoot did eat their own dead, there would still be traces.

Some of the people might be reasonable but just with bad evidence that they don't know is proven false. Many more, though, are thoroughly mentally committed to the proven-false phenomenon and will take any debunking of their theory as propaganda from The Conspiracy that wants to keep everyone in the dark about it. (See: The Moon Landing Deniers.)

Actually, I think reality is far more interesting than we think it is. It just isn't "interesting" in the area of Bigfoot, UFOs, and ghosts. Look to astronomy, though, and we're constantly finding weird planets/stars/etc that challenge our current understandings of the Universe.

NEWSPEAK ALERT!

No, Dan Cathy donated money to organizations that worked against redefining marriage to fit a certain political agenda.

LK

Is that because of the distoration insurance causes, though? We don't have to buy cars through intermediaries and they aren't ridiculously jacked up. We don't buy groceries through intermediaries and they aren't ridiculously jacked up. I think part of the reason medical costs have gone nuts, and to a degree education costs, too, is because people are separated from actually paying them. Most people don't pay for their medical costs, they pay for their medical insurance, or rather just a part of it. People don't care what things cost, they care if it's covered by insurance or not. Your premise seems to be that without insurance you'd be paying 3x as much. Maybe competition would drive the price down to what the insurance companies pay.

I used to wear a watch all the time. I felt naked if I wasn't wearing one and would compulsively look at my wrist to see what time it was. Then I realized just what you said and I decided to try going without one. I haven't worn one in months except for one day where I knew I wouldn't have access to my smartphone and I was going to need to see what time it was. During that time, it felt just wrong to have this "thing" on my wrist. I don't miss my watch at all and if I needed to see something that a "smart watch" would show, I'll just look at my smart phone.

I think I'm going to convert to Improvism. They let you make up the religious rules as you go along.

Woz gets way more hero worship than I understand, but he left Apple WAY before they made flashy smartphones. Like 20 years before in the Apple II/Macintosh days.

Vaccines, sure. I think you may misunderstand how insurance works. It's a risk pool. It exists so if you have a heart attack, you don't have to shell out $500,000 for treatment. That $500,000 is spread over all the people who MIGHT have a heart attack. Basically, you trade the low probability of a high expense for the certainty of a low expense. The insurance co. doesn't collect $500,000, they collect more to cover their own costs and profit. Everybody's happy.

Now, how does that work for things like vaccines, where there's a 100% chance of you getting them? Yup. No risk pooling. You pay the cost, plus the insurance company's costs, plus their profit, minus whatever discount they can negotiate as a big company, if they care to because you're ultimately paying for it anyway. Blood transfusions, not so much. I've never needed one, so I infer the risk is low. I'd rather pool that risk and pay a couple bucks a year because hey, maybe I'll need one someday. The years I don't, that money can pay for someone else's.

Birth control isn't much different. You have a high likelihood of needing an inexpensive thing. The cost is just tucked away in your premium where you won't notice it, you'll just be ticked off (again) that your premiums are so high, and wonder why they can't control costs better.

Because companies can bundle many peoples' plans together and get lower rates from insurance companies. If you bought your insurance plan separately, you'd have zero power to haggle terms with the insurance company and would be forced to take what insurance companies offered. Until recently (with ACA), this meant you could have a horrible insurance plan. At least now it means your plan would need to meet some minimal standards. It would still be more expensive than the corporate-bargained ones, though.

90% of businesses have a "closely knit ownership structure." This also doesn't mean "a few owners" as trusts can count as individuals. It's not as narrow a ruling as you think.

There should be a "menu" of religious beliefs. With the right donation to the Church, you get a certificate validating your religious belief. Corporations donating millions get an extra "blessing" certificate. Whoever does this would quickly be rich.