You are right, of course. I was just commenting on the part of the story:

...and thinking in more modern times,technology stealing (which is not a China invention, I am sure someone will point out) and the crappy things we buy from them. It backfired, but my intention was not being a troll.

...anything coming from China is a either a good idea or safe? (Not even trying to be get both).

But I am suddenly hungry.

I have news for you...
The least thing you will find in an hot dog is actual meat.

Isn't he? He looks like a teddy bear. Well, a drunk teddy bear, but still lovable.

better yet, restart the server before and after the test. So they will have on Ip completely different from what you have been using as well.

Unless you have a commercial connection, they won't give you a static address anyway. So do the test, then restart your server...new IP for you.

This will just contribute to Mr. Shatner getting even richer....so count me in.

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.

Agree. We get Kaiser here in Colorado, through employer, so not sure of the prices for individuals, but I can vouch for the services. Would not change it for anything.

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

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.

Yes. I do . Google wave is great for writing papers and for collaborative projects.
Simple enough that you can get projects started quickly with a bunch of people who never used it before.

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!