archermoo

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I turned pretty much a blind eye to that. I need my sanity where it is.

Reasonable. On the other side, I probably have even less of an idea about Swedish politics than you do about US politics.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

... And the patients haven't revolted because ... ?

The guys with the money control the media, and the media casts people who are concerned about health costs as communist atheist non-American Islamic African terrorists, or malingering slobs trying to get stuff for free.

 

I can't blame you for not paying attention to the US election campaign that ended yesterday, but that really is what it's all about.

Added to that: There is the perception in the US that if the government is involved in providing something like healthcare that they will be in the group that is paying for more than they are "using". Mostly because they don't seem to understand that for the most part the only way in the long run to be in that group is to die young without an extended hospital stay or heroic lifesaving efforts being made.

That being said, we have already taken another useful step towards improving our healthcare system. We'll see if it survives.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

... Sweet Jeebus' date=' you certainly like your red tape, don't you. ^^[/quote']

 

Me personally? Not so much. The hospital I work for? Sometimes it seems that red tape is what holds it together. But it is a University Hospital, so that is kind of expected. We are however putting a new EMR into place over the next several years. The base system is the same system that Kaiser uses, so it has the potential to reduce the required paperwork by a lot.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

How is your system re. paper? We're almost completely computerized' date=' bar when a patient requests a printout of their case file.[/quote']

 

Let me give you an example: During the rollout of a new system for the Electrophysiology (EP) docs, I was informed by one of the docs that on average there are 27 different paper forms that are required for each procedure. And we actually do have an electronic medical record (EMR) system.

 

On the flip side of that, the hospital where my daughter was born the only paper forms involved were her birth certificate and the application for her SSN.

 

What the US healthcare system needs is a standardized EMR. Even the hospital systems with the best EMRs for the most part only share information with other hospitals in the same system. I'm insured through Kaiser, who is somewhat unusual in the US in that they are both the insurance company and the healthcare provider. For the most part I can go to any Kaiser hospital in the US and they'll be able to get to my medial record. If I'm outside of my local area it might take a bit of time, but they can get there. However if I am in an accident and get taken to a non-Kaiser ER they won't have any access to my records.

 

We are making strides towards it, but it is a slow and painful process.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

History schmistory!

 

^^

Well, keep in mind that I'm not a doctor. Though I do maintain software that doctors use for such things.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Anamnes in Swedish' date=' ought to be anamnesis in English but I don't know if that word actually exists. [i']Anamnes [/i] is basically the part of a doctor's appointment where the doctor tries to find out about you as a person and your ailments. Kinda like an interview.

I believe in the US that would be called "taking a history". I don't remember ever hearing anamnesis used in that context.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Well, this is just me, but it seems like people who say they avoid Christmas generally do so because they think it's over-commercialized. An over-commercialized holiday is bad.

 

Turning a holiday about family into a commercial sale day is bad.

 

I don't get how the thought process goes from there to "turning a holiday about family into a holiday about nothing" is better. I'm not trying to be hostile; this is something I just don't understand. Well, unless you've got a hateful family. Then I understand, in a vague way, that it could be difficult.

Eh, it depends. Some people want to avoid it because they think it is over commercialized, but I'm pretty sure that getting people to want to ignore Christmas isn't the intent of the marketing types.

For a lot of people, Christmas isn't a holiday about family. It is a holiday about being required to get gifts for everyone they know. And having their worth as a person by successfully remembering everyone that they are "required" to get a gift for, and then getting that person a gift that they like.

For some people Christmas is a time of year that they are reminded that they don't have a loving family or friends in their lives. Whether it is true or not.

Heck, I've known people who would be mightily offended that you would suggest that it is a holiday season about family and would instead insist that it is a holiday season about an important event in their religion. And that if families get together that is merely incidental. Some of those people are aware that the calendar timing of the event was chosen because it was a time that people were already used to celebrating a different religious holiday, but a lot are not.

And for some people it is a convenient time of the year to get together with the family that they love, regardless of what other baggage anyone else brings to the table. Some of these people attach a religious significance to the holiday, and some don't.

I have of course missed a number of other possibilities, but you get the idea.

Re: The cranky thread

This is exactly what I'm going through. The difference is that I'm also having to drag the kids to the club meetings so that they too can learn the appropriate superstitions. And if I stop going then it will be a deliberate' date=' malicious attempt to undercut their religious education, and I just can't do that particular fight right now.[/quote']

 

Fortunately Keri and I had that discussion before we got married.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I want OddHat and I to have matching' date=' white gold wedding rings. The ones we have are yellow.[/quote']

 

That is what Keri and I have. Very plain, simple bands.

Re: The cranky thread

I've never felt comfortable in church. Ever. I endure it if I have to, but I avoid it if at all possible. It's not like the people are hostile or anything. But it's like going to a party where you don't know anyone. People might be friendly, but there's this feeling that you simply don't belong. This is a community of believers, and I am an intruder.

 

Well. That and the whole bursting into flame as soon as I cross the threshold thing.

Yeah, except for the bursting into flame part, that's pretty much were I am. I went to church with Keri for a while when we first got together, because it made her happy. But as you note, I felt more and more like I was an intruder, and so I kept feeling more and more uncomfortable. Like going to the meetings of a club that I'm not a member of. No one was unfriendly in any way, far from it. But I'm not a member of the club, and I don't really have any interest in being a member. So it just didn't make any sense to keep going to club meetings.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Isn't that giving in to commercialization' date=' rather than overcoming it?[/quote']

 

How so? I'm pretty sure that ignoring Christmas isn't the intent of commercialization, so I don't see how doing so is giving in to it.

Re: The cranky thread

Man' date=' I'd rather gnaw off my left arm than go to church most weekends. YMMV.[/quote']

 

My opinion pretty much any time. Which isn't to say that I've never heard a good sermon. I've just heard a LOT more crappy ones.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I gotta tell you' date=' it confused the deuce out of me when I first heard people use the word "pop" as the generic term instead of "coke" (what I had always heard) or "soda" (less common, but not strange, either).[/quote']

 

The only one that has ever really confused me (and still does) is using "coke". Particularly since I can't stand colas. Someone asks me if I want a "coke", I'll say no, but I might ask if they have Mt. Dew or Dr. Pepper.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I'd say it's one of the many double standards that we live with (and in some cases have to live with). We favor loved ones over enemies, pets over food animals, members of our own self identified groups over outsiders. Sometimes we expand the circle of the "we", sometimes we contract it. Sometimes we pretend not to make the distinction at all, because it causes cognative dissonance to admit that yes, the welfare of our own loved ones really is more important to us that the welfare of random strangers, who in turn may count more or less according to the group affiliations we share. When aware of these biases, sometimes we try to be "fair".

 

We have to organize, and someone will end up on the bottom; we have to eat, and something is going to be eaten. Our layers of rationalization and deal making build from there.

I don't see that it is even a double standard. Or if it is then putting restrictions the freedoms of criminals (incarceration, loss of the right to own firearms, etc) is a double standard as well. Which is to say that to my mind if eating animals raised as food while caring for animals raised as companions is a double standard, then the term is so watered down as to no longer have any meaning.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I hate to harp on this, mostly because I think it's a silly, silly topic that we as a species don't treat with any consistency, BUT... have you seen the life of just about ANY factory farm animal? We get all mad because people make jokes about hurting a cat, and a pig's life is one long pit of suck. Dairy cows endure horrors galore. But we like ice cream and we love bacon, so f-'em. If Bessie the cow could warm our hearts by frolicsome play with a laser pointer, we might feel differently, but we don't, so tag her ear, chain her to the feed trough, give her shots all the damned time, shoot a bolt into her head, and slap her ass on the grill.

 

Poor, poor kitty. I love my cats, and I love my bacon. I'm inconsistent in my values.

Cats are raised as companions. Pigs are (for the most part) raised as a food source. I don't see any inconsistency in treating them differently.

Heck, I don't see treating pigs who are raised as a food source differently than pigs who are raised as a companion as being inconsistent.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I apologize if I came across as too strong or anything. It's just, obviously this issue is close to my heart and I don't find a lot of humor in it. I'm not saying that anyone here would ever torture an animal. It's just that, I'm positive that every single person who ever did it started out by saying, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if..." and ended by saying, "...Well, it's just a stupid cat/dog."

 

So I'm sorry if I'm a little too evangelical about it, but... yeah. I don't have much of a sense of humor about this particular topic. Not anymore.

I understand. Do you understand why it seems strange to some of us that making jokes about killing and/or torturing animals is strictly forbidden but that it is okay to make jokes about killing and/or torturing people?

Re: The move to FTP

IMHO one of the main draws of CO (and CoH) is the ability to play -YOUR- hero. Fixed classes is kinda a dealbreaker. It's fine for a free trial' date=' but I'm not sure how well it will do in the long term. It seems most games these days give you a lot of flex within your class. From what I know of LotRO, and what I've heard of WoW, you can take a base class and go different ways with traits and gear. So you can have 2 characters standing side by side, with the same class, but have them play completely differently. While you should still be able to swap gear around as a silver in CO, the impact on play is going to be minor. Not a whole lot of customization there.[/quote']

 

I don't know how much customization there will be available to non-subscribers. Heck, I don't know if Cryptic is necessarily sure how much customization will be available. They're looking at beta testing the new system next month, and from a lot of their comments on the CO boards it is obvious that very little is written in stone at this point.

Re: The move to FTP

My understanding is that silver players are choose a class, and then are locked into a path. So they choose "brute" and get smash at first level, tough at 3, haymaker at 5, etc... (names and levels totally made up for this example) Where a full gold member can choose any power he wants, as long as he follows the rules. Now, if they make the standard builds effective, this won't be much or a problem. The main problem I see is if you want to play a brute with say, fire breath (because you are a lava rock monster or the like) if it's not in the standard build, you can't. The flexibility of the character system is lost, and that's one of the main draws in the game. You can look however you want, but will play the same as every other brute out there (as silver).

 

(I am no expert, I just spent and hour or two combing the forums a little after the announcement, might be wrong or they may have changed things)

Yeah, that's what I meant by Silver players not getting to customize their power sets. It does indeed limit options, though while the customizability is certainly one of the things I like most about CO I also know that there are people that will feel more comfortable with "classes" to play. And for people that feel it is necessary there is always the option to subscribe. As long as the game is playable for people playing the straight archetypes it seems like a pretty reasonable upsell opportunity to me.

Re: The move to FTP

If i knew what it meant I might know how I feel about it.

Sorry, the move of Champions Online to a Free To Play system.

http://www.champions-online.com/f2p

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Everyone has hotbutton topics. This is one of mine. Maybe you guys would like to let me know what yours are' date=' and I'll make a few crass jokes about them. Your religion, your sports team, your wife, it's all in good fun, right?[/quote']

 

You've already done one of mine.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

You'll note that I don't make jokes about the Haitian earthquake' date=' or the tsunami in Southeast Asia, or any other real-life tragedy. Similarly, I don't make jokes about boiling cats/dogs -- which is, to me, a far-too-real-life tragedy. Volunteer for a year at your local cat shelter, and see how funny animal torture jokes really are. It's a regular laugh-riot down there some days -- know why? Because someone, somewhere, thought that cutting a stray cat's tail off with a hatchet was hi-freakin'-larious. Maybe they made cat chow mein out of that pesky tail! Har har, great joke, don't you agree? [/quote']

 

But you do joke about cutting people's heads off, or gunning them down by the scores. Which are also real life tragedies, that really do happen to people.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I know a girl who often "jokes" about punching, biting or killing people. She's proud of a time she broke someone's nose in high school, and of the time she dislocated her SO's jaw. When asked about it, she says she's small and non-violent, and that she therefore finds the idea of herself attacking someone to be hilariously funny. I tend to think it's more about expressing a wish.

 

Note that I am in no way saying that every person who jokes about violence would perform acts of violence given the chance; still, it makes me uncomfortable in her case, as I don't trust that she's "only joking". I feel similarly when some people make racist jokes, or joke about their political enemies being rounded up and exterminated. Sometimes I laugh; sometimes I think they're using "only joking" as a cover for their real feelings. I know that's a double standard, and I try to be fair about it, but there we go.

 

When Bill as Teh Bunny calls for mass murder and mayhem, I laugh; even if some part of his psyche would like to rule with an iron paw (and who wouldn't), I know and trust Bill; I don't take the idea of him murdering millions seriously. I wouldn't laugh if the same jokes were told by a neo nazi. Sometimes double standards are valid.

I think the point is that on the one hand, Bill states categorically that making jokes about killing and/or torturing animals is never okay. Never. But then on the other hand he makes jokes about killing and/or torturing people.

I agree that sometimes a double standard is valid. But in this case it isn't that the double standard is "I know Bill is okay because I know and trust him, but I don't trust the neo nazi". It is "Under no circumstances is it okay to joke about killing or torturing animals, but it is at least sometimes okay to joke about killing or torturing people".

Re: The move to FTP

From what I understand the only real gameplay impacting thing that silver players can't even purchase that gold players will be able to do is customize their power sets. Everything else looks cosmetic. Whether not being able to create custom power sets will put them at some kind of disadvantage remains to be seen.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Not really; alarm at 0505' date=' shower dress eat and out the door about 0545. Bus scheduled to leave the transit station at 0603. I walk in the office door about 0630, closer to 0640 if I get a cup of coffee en route (usually) or I have to walk around the building to the place with the ID card reader because the turnkey hasn't got the doors unlocked yet. At that point it's 75-90 minutes 'til class starts, which is enough time to iron out a few things (if they're minor; one thing, if it's major) before class.[/quote']

 

I feel your pain. Though my alarm goes off at 0430, and I need to be out the door by 0515. BART train leaves at 0532 and gets to San Fran at 0625. Then a wait of between 0 and 30 minutes for a MUNI train. Usually I'm at my desk by 0700.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

That said, most of the jokes involving abusive treatment of animals or people are not born of that sort of gallows-humor self-defense.

Agreed. In my experience the jokes about abusive treatment of animals aren't told because the idea of doing whatever sick things to animals is funny in and of itself either. They're told to get a reaction from the lovers of those kind of animals. People generally don't tell jokes about making kitten stew because they think that making kitten stew is funny; they tell jokes about making kitten stew because they think the reaction of other people to the idea of someone making kitten stew is funny.