That's what being in a sue-happy environment will get you. If there was something more serious going on that a simple and cheap blood test can shed light on, and they missed it, the malpractice headline would be merciless. Generally you would only follow up on abnormal lab tests, but that distinction may not have been communicated (although for a broken arm you would have to have clinical follow up at some point anyways...unless you had another plan for managing your broken arm). As for lab testing, believe me, no physician is making money off of basic laboratory testing. A BMP and urine dipstick is maybe $20 (tops) until the hospital administration charge master gets a hold of it, in which case you can add a zero. At any rate, the doc is following procedures create by administration. If you want to see where the true money grab is, google hospital administration costs versus physicians (or something similar).

Thanks for sharing the article. It is an interesting read.

Would this be torture for the engineer, or torture for the girl?

BMW cars have been this way for a LONG time. My 1998 318i didn't have any remote lock/unlock features, but if you locked the doors with the key (I know...so primitive) then you couldn't unlock the doors from inside. There was a big warning sticker on the windshield stating this fact.

In case of loss of power (and presumably other situations that sensors could pick out), this "feature" was over-ridden and you could unlock the car doors from inside.

As someone who'd love an electric car, I'm already out of the running with a family of four children. I don't have the cash for a "second" car - it make better financial sense for me to spend that cash on gasoline.

You can get nice off-lease EVs for dirt cheap, low miles, and excellent battery conditions. I bought a 2013 Nissan Leaf for around 9K that was essentially in mint condition. It's not a Tesla, but for my 3 mile commute each way, it does the trick nicely (and the charger at work is a nice bonus in minimizing my overall costs).

The problem though is size -- especially with 4 kids in the picture. My wife and I have the short range cheap commuting car (the Leaf) and a long range ICE cross-over. Works great so far and has been easy on the wallet.

I wasn't sure about the whole EV thing, but now having one I love it (and the way they drive/handle -- its very much a fun car to drive)

Never thought of it like that before. Thanks for the post.

Hmm...anal leaf.. .sounds more like an anatomic structure

Don't forget a sexy assistant to help you bleed the brakes at the end...

And ideally it should only take an hour, but if it is your first time doing it, then plan on doubling or tripling the estimate as a Newbie factor. Also in cars these days there is probably some OBD bullcrap light that won't reset unless you have the equipment to do that kind of stuff or take it to a mech...

What is the point if the service only takes healthy patients?

I think that is exactly the point. It's a fixed bid type thing as opposed to T&M.

Clbuttic

Don't forget the huge tracts of land...

Wow. That is the most bat-shit crazy thing I have seen in quite some time.

I was wondering the same thing. My 14.04 laptop (my main work laptop) gets kernel updates from Canoncial not infrequently. Not sure why this one is special enough for /.

Thank you.

Given a choice between browsing on a phone vs. a desktop? You have gotta be kidding me. Desktop. Every. Single. Time. Input devices that work well and a LARGE screens (multiple). Given a choice, desktop, every time.

Now the reality is that there ISN'T a choice between phone and desktop in most cases. On the bus: phone. At a conference: phone. On the can: phone. It's great for checking up on things, facebook and whatnot, and reading limited amounts of information. But there is no way I am using that in preference to a dual 26" monitor setup with average desktop hardware if I have choice.