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Government

Submission + - In Finland, Broadband is now a legal right (cnn.com)

xirusmom writes: Finland has become the first country in the world to make broadband internet access a legal right for all citizens.
Starting Thursday, telecom operators will be obligated to provide a reasonably priced broadband connection with a downstream rate of at least 1 Mbs, to every permanent residence and office, CNN reports

Politics

Submission + - Liberalism, atheism and higher IQs (cnn.com)

xirusmom writes: A new study finds that political, religious and sexual behaviors may be reflections of intelligence. The study correlated data on these behaviors with IQ from a large national U.S. sample and found that, on average, people who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs. This applied also to sexual exclusivity in men, but not on women.

Submission + - Court rules photo of memorial violates copyright (typepad.com)

WhatDoIKnow writes: The sculptor who designed the Korean War memorial brought suit against the Postal Service after a photograh of his work was used in a postage stamp. Though first ruled protected by "fair use," on appeal the court ruled in favor (pdf warning) of Frank Gaylord, now 85.

Comment Re:Just forget paying (Score 1) 1197

One emergency room visit will change that.. I recently spent a few hours at the ER and the bills summed up to $6000. I expect the insurance actually pays a third of that price, but even if you are able to negotiate that deal yourself, it is still a burden. And if you get admitted to the hospital... you are screwed. Any major surgery will cost you 15-30k.

Comment Re:Move to Canada (Score 1) 1197

Just found the numbers:
NHE (National Health Expenditure) $7,681 per person (for 2008).

Source: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/25_NHE_Fact_Sheet.asp#TopOfPage

And...
In 2007, the latest year for which data is available, among 26 countries with similar accounting systems in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), per capita spending on health care remained highest in the United States (US$7,290). The U.S. was followed by Norway (US$4,763), Switzerland (US$4,417) and Luxembourg (US$4,162). At around US$3,895 per capita, health care spending in Canada was similar to six other OECD countries, including the Netherlands, Austria, France and Germany.
http://www.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=media_20091119_e

Comment Re:Move to Canada (Score 1) 1197

The right way to compare it is how much it is spend in health care per person, no matter were the money comes from. If it is cheaper to pay taxes and get the health care via the government, so be it. If not, so be it too. Let's see:

If your numbers are correct, then $160 billion/ 33 million = 4800 /year/person

We have health care plan through my husband's insurance, we pay 448 but his employer pays 700. this is for the 3 of us. We have copays of $30 for doctors visits (preventive once a year is $15), $100 for emergency room, $100 for MRIs, $700 for hospital admission. So lets assume 1 doctor visit, plus preventive, and one emergency room visit.
((448+700)x12+30x3+15x3+100)/3=4670/year/person - we are healthy our max copays/ person is $1000 so it could go up to $5500/person/year with one hospital admission and a few procedures.

If you consider variables, it is about the same in total cost /year. The difference in this math is that I am using the best case scenario for the US. I doubt that anyone can get this deal without the employer group. Plus, you have to consider that insurance companies cover the cost for people who are younger and not yet eligible for medicare. To truly evaluate the costs we would have to weight medicare spending to the equation and I expect that costs to treat older folks are way higher. While for the same cost/person of the best case scenario, EVERYONE is covered in CANADA.

Comment Re:yes, but... (Score 1) 474

I sure I watched star wars when I was a kid, but it did not make such a big impression on me. Sure it was cool, but it was not a life changing event, as it was for my husband.
Than I married a geek and started watching them again( and again, and again...). An even without the "stop raping my childhood" feeling, I can say the originals are much, much better than the prequels. Why?
(1) The originals are indeed darker, like everything else that was done in a time when we did not use to protect children from every single fact of life.
(2) The romance,... I will take Han over Anakin any time. The stupid love story combined with incredibly bad acting is too central tho the prequel's story, and it turns me off completely. Han and Leia have more of a sexual tension that works a lot better, plus, it is funnier.
(3) Abuse of CGIs. By all means, use it, but please, use it when you need it, not just because it is there. All in all, I think the lack of resources in the first movies lead to more creativity in general.
(4) Han shot first.

And as for everything else (cartoons, xmas specials, etc...), running the risk of joining the trenches : - George, please STOP it already! Haven't you have enough money? Can't you do anything else with your life? Don't you have any new ideas? Stoooooooooooop!

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