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Comment Re:Try a Neti Pot (Score 1) 87

What your wife experiences is different from those of us with a chronic sinus infection. Saline rinses only flush out the passages between the nose and the mouth. They don't reach the tear ducts or the sub-mandibular glands. For people like your wife, saline rinses are very effective. What I have is a latent infection that cannot fully heal. It's not the same thing.

I've had sinus infections for 30 years. When my sinuses are inflamed all the drainage passages close off. For about 20 years my sinuses flared up approximately every 7 days, with a 3 day recovery for each flare. After having surgery on my sinuses I got it down to every two weeks.

I now have a routine involving moist heat, regular cleaning of the ears and gargling twice a day with Listerine (original, not the sweet stuff). If everything is stable, the Listerine gargle creates suction that draws out fluid. When my sinuses do get inflamed, I have one last resort. That's when I use a straw to drip Listerine directly into my nose. It hurts like hell but also causes all the glands in the head to release at once, flushing out what a saline rinse can't.

Let me be clear about this. This is what I do, and it is not medical advice. Every doctor I've talked to has looked at me flabbergasted when I tell them about this. There are serious and valid concerns about accidentally ingesting a form of alcohol that is not intended for human consumption. On the other hand, the doctors don't have a treatment that can fix the problem.

Comment Re:It's a lesson to the poor (Score 5, Informative) 67

That the Trump administration intends to launch a mass deportation that will involve concentration camps isn't hyperbole. It's his stated agenda. If you think otherwise it's you who needs to pay better attention.

The question is not whether Trump will try to do these things, it's whether he will succeed. Moderates who might once have resisted have been pushed out of the Republican Party. The GOP will have majority control of both houses of Congress and a compliant Supreme Court.

I'm somewhat hopeful that when Trump starts his trade war the economic consequences will be so evident that the Trump administration will step back from the edge. But, there is very little standing in Trump's way except his own incompetence and the GOP's lack of discipline.

Comment Re:The biggest problem of Gimp is the UI (Score 1) 67

I never used Lotus, but LibreOffice does not need to be more like today's Excel. It is, and should be, more like Excel from 20 years ago. The pre-ribbon MS-Office interface was developed based on extensive user accessibility research. Every function had a menu item labeled with corresponding keyboard shortcuts and icons. If you found the icon in the menu you could then find a corresponding button in the toolbars. LibreOffice still uses this proven and effective user interface. Modern MS-Office has buttons for everything buried in disappearing ribbons that you have to hover over to find out what they do.

Incidentally, it is possible to set LibreOffice to use a ribbon-style interface. It is not possible to do the reverse with MS-Office.

Comment Re:GIMP is the poster child (Score 1) 67

It's easy to find college classes and enrichment classes that teach you how to use Photoshop. It's impossible to find one that teaches you how to use GIMP. That says a lot right there.

What does this tell you? Is it that nobody is teaching GIMP because it's inferior, or that people find it difficult because they haven't been taught how to use it? Introduction to Computers at a community college will typically teach students how to use Windows, Microsoft Office, and a few other proprietary software tools. A semester long course exposes students to every ribbon and button in the Microsoft Office interface. LibreOffice has a much simpler interface, and has a stable and capable application set, but at best they might mention it exists. GIMP is undeniably complex and difficult to learn, but it has been under active development for many years and it has a sizable user base. Maybe the problem isn't the software itself but the failure to educate students on a broad set of tools.

Comment Re:Inadequate? (Score 2) 41

I suppose you could call it a shakedown, but it's not corruption. The law is not targeted at a single company and it isn't extracting a bribe. Indonesia has a long history of outsiders stripping its resources and leaving its population impoverished. This internal investment policy has been a part of Indonesia's economic development strategy since it achieved independence.

Comment Re:rfk jr (Score 4, Informative) 136

That's not correct. If your income is below the federal poverty level in one of those ten states you do not qualify for income-based Medicaid. That's $15,060 for a single person in the lower 48 states. You would only qualify for Medicaid if you were eligible for another reason such as age or disability.

https://www.healthcare.gov/glo...

Comment We've got the birth rate problem handled (Score 1) 257

Procreation slows down when people are economically stable and rises when people are desperate. North Korea operates a slave wages economy and regularly experiences famine. That's why they have a high birth rate.

The incoming administration is planning to declare martial law, round up and deport millions of people, and simultaneously launch a trade war against the entire world. Watch what happens when Americans realize we're in a depression. Birth rates will jump. I'm guessing that within 6-8 years the US will be nursing a baby boom generation.

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