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Another Phony Obamacare Victim Story
In the last couple of decades, a particular technique of news-story construction has become so common that I'm sure you barely notice it as something distinctive. It's the use of a device sometimes referred to as the "exemplar," in which a policy issue is explained through the profile of one individual, whose tale usually begins and ends the story. It's ubiquitous on television news, but print reporters do it all the time as well.
As the Affordable Care Act approaches full implementation, we're seeing a lot of exemplar stories, and I've been noticing one particular type: the story of the person who seems to be getting screwed. If it were true that most Americans were indeed being made worse off by the law, that would be a good thing; we'd learn their stories and get a sense of the human cost of the law. The trouble is that in the real world, there are many more people being helped by the law than hurt by it, and even those who claim to be hurt by it aren't being hurt at all.
To see how misleading some of these exemplar stories can be, let's take this piece from last night's NBC Nightly News, which uses an exemplar named Deborah Cavallaro, a self-employed realtor from Los Angeles who buys insurance on the individual market:
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
We learn in this story that her insurer is cancelling her current plan, which costs $293 a month, because it doesn't comply with the new law. They've offered her a new plan at $484 a month. That sounds like it sucks! But here are some things the story never tells us.
First, what exactly was her old plan? Deborah looks to be around 45. If she bought a plan on the individual market for $293 a month, I can guarantee you it barely deserved to be called insurance at all (I've bought insurance like this on the individual market). It probably had a deductible in the thousands of dollars and had substantial cost-sharing for any significant medical event. But the story doesn't tell us what sort of insurance she has.
Second, the reporter, Peter Alexander, tells us that "the administration points out that many people will get subsidies to offset the higher costs." So what about Deborah? Is she going to get subsidies? He doesn't say, but she well may, which would mean she wouldn't be paying more, or might actually be paying less. But again, this information is just spoken by the reporter, while the flip side—the victim of Obamacare—is presented in the form of a living, breathing person.
But wait. Maybe she's not a victim after all. How does the $484 plan her current insurer is offering compare to the other ones she could get? Did she or the reporter go to the California exchange and try to figure that out? Apparently, they didn't. But I did.
It took less than 60 seconds. Let's assume that Deborah has a high enough income that she isn't eligible for subsidies. I put in that I was 45 years old and got nine different choices for a Bronze plan, which in all likelihood most closely resembles what Deborah has now. The average monthly cost was $258, or $35 a month less than what Deborah's paying now for her bare-bones plan. And that's for a plan that, while it's the least expensive option, almost certainly involves less cost-sharing that what Deborah has to deal with now. She can get a Silver plan, with more generous coverage, for $316, only $23 more than she's paying now. Congratulations, Deborah!
I don't know why Deborah's insurance company wanted to sell her a policy for $484 a month, but when we look at all the facts, it turns out that she doesn't seem like such a victim after all.
Alexander closes the story by noting that the administration says that nearly half of all uninsured adults could get coverage for $50 a month or less. Well that's interesting. Can we meet one of those people, to learn about their struggles and triumphs? How about a story profiling someone who used to be uninsured, but is now on Medicaid and can finally see a doctor? I haven't seen many of those.
I'm not saying that there aren't going to be people who are going to end up paying more, because there are. But there are also people who are going to be paying less, and people, like Deborah, who are going to pay about the same but get better coverage. There doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on exactly how many people are going to end up paying more and how many will end up paying less, though Jonathan Cohn, one of the two or three best health-care reporters in the country, says that the experts he trusts the most "say the majority of people will probably end up paying less than they do now, as long as you account for subsidies, Medicaid, and the ability of young adults to enroll in special catastrophic plans or stay on their parents' policies." But what we do know is that 1) lots of people will pay less and get the same or better coverage than they have now; and 2) virtually everyone who pays more will be getting more.
That means that there are going to be very few people victimized by the law. Unfortunately, we seem to be seeing a lot of these stories; here's an almost identical story from CBS about a 56-year-old Florida woman that goes through the same routine: she's got an almost meaningless insurance plan ($54 a month for a 56-year-old woman? Good luck if you get sick on that plan); she got a letter from the insurer offering her a new plan for $591 dollars a month; this is terrible. The reporter, Jan Crawford, says the woman will be eligible for subsidies. How much? What kind of plans could she get? What will her actual costs be? We aren't told. When Crawford finishes, the anchor says, "Great reporting, Jan." This Florida woman has now been asked to appear on no fewer than three Fox News shows.
Journalists have a natural inclination to cover bad news over good and to be skeptical of the government, which is usually healthy. But if you aren't careful it can also lead to misleading reporting. If you're going to do a story presenting one person as a victim of the law, it might be a good idea to make sure they are what you say they are.
Tue, 2013-10-29 13:00
Thank you for your robust investigative journalism, proving someone who says their insurance has been upended a 'liar'. Did you stop to consider before posting your smears that this person was an ObamaCare supporter? That it was probably hard for them to go out and admit they were hurt by what they supported?
I am so tired of Liberals who claim this is going to work because of expanded Medicaid, subsidies, and young people staying on their parents insurance. The law, as you are well aware and choose to ignore, was sold on the premise that is would reform insurance markets, and cause a working insurance system to cover more people at a lower cost. What you describe as the utopian scenario of ObamaCare 'helping' is nothing more than a massive expansion of entitlements, where none of those being helped pay into it at all. Hardly sustainable.
So, if entitlement expansion is what the end goal is, as you yourself freely admit, why did we not just do that, instead of ruining the working insurance system for everyone else? Them we could have done something more intelligent, like, say, having the Government buy up some HMOs and set up clinics where those who cannot afford private care could be treated by residents, doctors exempt from malpractice insurance, NPs, etc. And we would have been spared the spectacle of a Ron Popiel president telling us that we should buy his great product from vendors he vilifies every chance he gets.
Thu, 2013-10-31 03:06
So you have no problem with tens of thousands of people dying every year of treatable conditions because they don't have access to affordable health care? You think that is a good thing? And you have no problem paying an extra 1 to 2 grand a year because of the large number of people served by hospitals who can't and therefore don't pay their bills... causing everybody else's bills to be raised on average 100 or more bucks a month?
Julia @ Mininerd
Thu, 2013-10-31 13:43
Did you even read spammsnyder's post? S/he clearly suggested setting up government-run clinics to help people who can't afford health care. How in the world did you get that s/he thinks it is a "good thing" for people to die from lack of care from that suggestion? Further, people who have DIFFERENT suggestions for how to help people are (obviously) not opposed to helping people--they just disagree on the best way to help people. Finally, you need to distinguish between "affordable health care" and "affordable health insurance." If we made health care truly affordable, insurance would become cheaper--except that we would need significantly less of it, since health care would be affordable and therefore we could just pay out of pocket. This focus on the cost of insurance instead of the cost of care is red herring.
Fri, 2013-11-01 18:22
The problem is that conservative insurance company CEO's, and the low information voters who believe whatever they relay to them through right wing politicians and TV/radio pundits, do NOT want the problem of uninsured people dying TO BE SOLVED AT ALL. Why doesn't the government buy up some HMO's and set up clinics? Because the right wingers and their misinformed and misled listeners would not let Congress consider it! That would be "socialism." Some of them apparently do not realize that they may give their lives one day to avoid "socialism." As they said in the '50s, better dead than Red. Thus, the cost of insurance is the ONLY part of the cost of health care that government action CAN affect, at least immediately. The right wing media (and the intimidated "neutral" media such as the big three networks) point out the horror stories of a few that are allegedly CAUSED by the reform law, ignoring the many MORE horror stories caused by the STATUS QUO, some of which the reform law can and will fix even before it is tweaked further by Congress.
But all is not lost, because the way in which insurance is paid for, and thus the access to insurance, affects the cost of health care SERVICES themselves in the long run, and even a little bit in the short run. When people are not FINANCIALLY AFRAID to go to a doctor because they have some reasonable degree of insurance, they get more preventative and screening care, along with more "coaching" by the doctor (particularly when doctors are paid SOMETHING for coaching time and not just "scratch and snip" (writing Rx and cutting). This will make people less likely to go to the ER, where human compassion (and a Reagan-era law, if that's not enough; and for a GOP debate audience last year, compassion was NOT enough!) dictates that they get short term fixes, and a referral to follow-up care, which the uninsured cannot afford. For one thing, they can go to a doctor at a reasonable copay cost for minor illnesses, and follow-up care such as managing diabetes or hypertension. That way, their chronic illnesses are less likely to develop into a crisis that REALLY needs an ER visit. This will save the ER for injuries and crises that had never been diagnosed at all (as in the undetected aneurism or malformed heart valve).
Our models for insurance for medical care were developed in the days when, for many illnesses, doctors could not do very much, and very little of what they COULD do required expensive equipment or long term use of expensive drugs (which, by their nature, require long term use of repeated lab tests to make sure the dosage is correct). In those days, you EITHER missed a few days of work and had a modest doctor bill and hospital bill (because hospitals basically fed and housed you, administered drugs, kept you comfortable, and gave the doctor a place to find you every day for "rounds"), OR you stayed in the hospital a few days and died before you had a chance to run up a bill for your family to pay. In a very few cases, the hospital stay and surgery, whether successful or not, required an insurance claim to pay it.
Today, if you add up all the SCREENING tests that are recommended by doctors for HEALTHY people to get, as often as doctors say you SHOULD get them, at the "sticker price" which uninsured patients are charged, this ALONE is more than the median income of all Americans! And people who have already been diagnosed with a chronic disease, such as diabetes, need additional, and frequent, testing, in addition to maintenance prescription drugs. Essentially, for THOSE expenses, part of a health insurance policy is a "Costco wholesale club" to prepay them in pooled bulk prices. And then the TRUE insurance, protection against rare but very costly losses, is added on to that. So, barring very cheap mass produced automated testing tools (example: a $50 plugin device for your smartphone that clamps on your finger and uses IR spectroscopy to check your blood sugar, combined with an app that tells you when you need an insulin shot) substituting for doctor visits, medical lab tests, and X-ray imaging, it is VERY unlikely that the base price of the irreducible safe amount of medical attention could be brought down to be affordable. Unless, that is, the economic rules are tilted back toward working people again, as they were from the 1930s to the 1970s. And the right wing is TOTALLY against that, even though most of their misled voters would benefit!
I hope and pray that a single-payer plan, combined with incentives for greater efficiency in data sharing between different providers tending to the same patient, and more self-testing tools, is eventually formed to replace Obamacare. But, let's face it, those who say repeal FIRST and THEN replace do NOT want to replace. They have had 65 years of opposition to ALL proposed solutions (we barely got Medicare -- or Johnsoncare -- passed by restricting it ONLY to the elderly) and have NOT proposed any alternatives EXCEPT when a progressive solution is proposed, they they want to "study" alternatives before doing ANYTHING.
If you follow science, think of this: the young Stephen Hawking, before he was "Doctor" Hawking, was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease on this side of the pond; the Brits say who?) and received, at no cost to him (as a not-yet-affluent graduate student), the best medical and nursing care that his country could offer. Because of that care, he was able to BECOME productive, in fact VERY productive, to society. FORTUNATELY for humanity, he was NOT BORN IN THE UNITED STATES. Had he been an American, he would have NOT received the special nursing care, maintenance treatment to slow down his disease, and assistance to read and speak through prosthetics, that helped him to become perhaps the greatest physicist since Albert Einstein, and he would probably have only lived about ten more miserable years after that diagnosis. I hope that in a FUTURE America, another young man or woman like Dr. Hawking WILL be able to overcome such a health challenge WITHOUT having to be wealthy already.
Tue, 2013-10-29 13:11
This article is complete fiction
1) HOW do you know what insurance she has now? You are ASSUMING she has poor insurance right now.
2) Do some ACTUAL research. According to KP.ORG the plan for a 45/year Old Woman in the $415 range is the Copayment 50 plan. That has $0, yes ZERO deductible, and only $50 copays for dr. visits and a 0% Coinsurance, yes ZERO PERCENT!
3) So a broken leg in this plan, would be $50 for the visit, $10 for the x-ray. For a total of $60
4) NOW, the OBAMACARE silver plan(Kaiser Silver 70), which is $416/month is a $2000 deductible, with a 20% co-insurance and a MAXIMUM of $6350 Out of pocket.
5) So a Broken Leg on this plan would be an UNKNOWN amount, with the consumer paying 100% of the first $2000 and 20% of the remainder, up to $6350! So, the same injury could LITERALLY cost 100 TIMES as much, one hundred times!
HOW in the WORLD is the OBAMACARE better? Please let me know.
Thu, 2013-10-31 00:01
jvan, you published a few different numbers in these comments, but the numbers that you publish actually SUPPORT the premise of the article.. depending on how old this woman actually is.
I looked up these numbers also, both at Kaiser and at the Covered California site. I also looked very carefully at the clip from NBC. You (and I before I looked carefully at the clip) assumed that the woman might be on something like Kaiser permanante's plan. But no, she was on a Anthem Blue Cross Clearprotection 5000 plan. Here are some of the details of that plan: Deductible: $5,000. 40% coinsurance. Out of pocket limit $8,500. It does include a reasonable prescription drug plan as long as the person is on "regular" medications. It is considered an "A" rated plan. There are more details available online, along with the statement that this plan is no longer available. It's very much like a bronze plan except that the out-of-pocket limit is lower. Of course, health insurance policies have always gone up every year, so we have no idea how much her premium would have increased if her old plan was still available.
Back to the story: First of all, all of the numbers that you are posting about ObamaCare plans assume NO tax credit.. Therefore, that this single woman, getting insurance for herself and herself only, makes at least $45,000 a year. The reality is that many, perhaps most, single women who need health insurance (don't have employer-provided health insurance) make less, probably a lot less, than 45K a year.
We don't know her health situation.. We can assume that her health is good enough for her to be insured at a reasonable rate NOW. If she experienced a health problem under the old pre-ObamaCares system, she could be dropped. Then all of this nit-picking about which plan is better would be meaningless as the poor woman wouldn't have any health insurance at all... or she would be trying to decide if she could really afford a thousand dollars or more a month.. or if she should risk going without health insurance at all. You don't mention that, and, believe me, when you start to get into your 40's, every year brings with it more of a chance of something that will turn into a "pre-existing condition".
Now... This woman, middle aged, higher income, good health, had a plan with a 5,000 deductible and a limit of 8,500 that cost her $293 a month. She doesn't want to pay $494 a month. And the Republicans are making it seem as if that is her only choice. But you, jvan as well as the author of this article, have shown us that, if she is indeed only 45 or 50 years old, she has plenty of choices, almost all of them much less than $494 a month.
Let's look at plans under ObamaCares that cost about $300/month, which is about what she was paying. First of all, there is a big jump in premiums between people who are 45 and people who are 55. We really don't know how old she is, and I personally think she is a bit older than the 45 years of age that the author of this article estimated. If she is 45, all of the bronze plans are better than what she now has in terms of deductible and annual payouts, and none of them exceed $277 a month. Additionally, 5 silver plans have a premium less than $328/month and are better in terms of copayments and deductibles. Also, 2 gold plans are less than $325 a month.
Unfortunately, if she is older, her premiums will be higher... If she is in her 60's, she will only find plans, including bronze plans, that have premiums in the $400's. That bronze plan, however, also has a deductible of 5000K, but a lower annual out-of-pocket limit of $6350 than her current plan. Of course, she can't be dumped from her insurance if she, like so many people in their 60's, develops some kind of health condition. People in their mid 50's are going to be paying at least $300/month for bronze plans, and at least $400/month for silver plans.
So here is the bottom line: If she is in her upper 50's or 60's, she will be one of these people who will be paying more for a similar plan (bronze) to the one she had, but she can't be dropped, which is a big think when you get into your upper 50's or 60's. If she is only 45 or 50, she has plenty of options, some of them even cheaper than what she was paying.
Age is the key here, as is her income (in terms of whether or not she is eligible for subsidies)......... and we don't know either of those things.
Thu, 2013-10-31 00:06
Tue, 2013-10-29 13:11
I have given up on the whole debate as the majority of posters have no intention of changing their mind when presented with facts that do not agree with their POV. Both the left and the right have extremes that need to be ignored but good God if every discussion boils down to the "it didn't work as advertised and/or I hate the very idea of it" and "your side sabotaged it and you really want to declare WASP theocratic law supreme" then what hope is there of coming together?
Tue, 2013-10-29 14:45
I do understand that we seem to simply go back-and-forth all the time. But I'm trying just to present the ACTUAL numbers I'm seeing as a consumer of health care. And I am, for real, seeing huge increases in costs. There very well MIGHT be some consumers who are seeing decreases in costs, but it's not me or anyone I know. My friends, acquaintances, and I are very concerned with our future ability to afford healthcare.
I am frustrated in seeing these articles that simply ASSUME the ObamaCare will be more affordable. When anyone can simply log in to CoveredCA and KP.org and compare the pre-ObamaCare to the post-ObamaCare prices. And there is no way anyone could reasonably say that the ObamaCare is more affordable.
Thu, 2013-10-31 03:04
Here's the bottom line: We have millions of people going without insurance now because they can't afford it and/or don't have jobs that provide health insurance. We have millions more with substandard health insurance that won't offer much financial protection if they (or a family member) gets ill. We have tens of thousands of people dying needlessly every year from treatable illnesses because they don't have health insurance. We have hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people overpopulating emergency rooms because they don't have primary care.. or their treatable condition has escalated to an emergency because they don't have access to health care. We have hundreds of thousands of people who will have to file for bankruptcy or sell their homes because they don't have adequate (or any) health insurance.
I personally think that the above complex of situations is absurd in a country as rich and as "developed" as ours.
Is ObamaCares perfect? Not by a long shot. Is it better than allowing all of the above listed situations to continue in this country that is supposed to be a beacon for the world? Well.. that's the question for you and any naysayers to answer. What should we expect, those of us lucky enough to be living in this supposedly top-tier country?
Tue, 2013-10-29 13:16
For what it's worth department, a snippet from the "NEWS"! There are those saying this is another "false" report. Funny, too many people saw the same thing happen at the same events.
Michelle Obama Was Board Member Of Radical Group That Supported Marxist And Pro-Terrorist SpeakerPosted by: Dom the Conservative Posted date: October 29, 2013 In: News...
Controversial ties continue to surround the Obama family as yet another odd coincidence surfaces. First Lady Michelle Obama's Princeton classmate Toni Townes-Whitley, a senior vice president at CGI Federal, seems to be the center of a web of scandal associated with the presidential family. While Townes-Whitley was recently found out to have celebrated Christmas with the Obamas in 2010 from pictures she released on her Facebook profile and revelation surfaced that Townes-Whitley was involved in a no bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare website Healthcare.gov, there is yet another puzzle piece that deserves speculation.
Michelle and her classmate were active members of a radical black student organization that supported a Marxist activist. Michelle Obama promoted a "Black Solidarity" event for lecturer Manning Marable held by the Third World Center (TWC). According to Cornel West, Marable was "the best known black Marxist in the country." The campus group was exclusively reserved for minorities, for which Michelle Obama was a board member.
The radical activities don't end there, however. Both Michelle Obama and Townes-Whitley were members of the groups the Organization of Black Unity (OBU) and the TWC, which engaged in a confrontation on campus with Jewish students. The confrontation was brought on by the two groups' invitation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Hassan Rahman, deputy UN observer, to appear on campus.
Rahman prompted a spectrum of reactions by reiterating that "the Palestinians deserve a homeland and that they are entitled to use terrorism to achieve their goal, just as American revolutionaries did against the British. We have the right to kill them if they are traitors and negotiate with the Israelis," Rahman threatened non-PLO supporting Palestinians attending the event.
"The OBU met with Jewish students to discuss the event, and Hillel leaders affirmed Rahman's right to speak on campus… As about 400 students poured into McCosh 50, tension replaced this short-lived calm. The entire center section of the auditorium had been reserved for TWC members, most of whom are black. The remainder of the audience, mostly Jews, filled the outer sections. OBU's Murphy stepped to the microphone, but instead of giving a standard welcome and introduction, he noted the 'subdued controversy' surrounding the speech and noted that disruptions 'would not be tolerated.' He even mentioned the possibility of disciplinary action or prosecution. Patrolling the room were a dozen OBU members wearing security badges, a supplement to the university proctors manning the doorways. Before Rahman had said a word, hopes of a congenial atmosphere were dashed." Does this clear-up the true picture of this flimflammery? Join a Tea Party urgently, this radical, Marxist Presidency has to be brought to a halt NOW! Pray. Amen. Convinced? Wake-up America!
Wed, 2013-10-30 01:28
Yes, Virginia -- diamond rings w/quality 18K gold do indeed cost more than cubic zirconium trinkets that turn your finger green.
As is often the case, the devil is in the details. Unfortunately, far too many people prefer simplistic, non-nuanced, superficial explanations and analyses to complex issues.
Hence, the widespread dissemination within the right wing blogosphere about anecdotal accounts demonstrating the 'horrors of the ACA' ... even when it is the result of news stories which ignore cost/benefit analyses between health coverage plans available under the ACA vs. the POS pseudo-insurance plans that some folks have been relying upon.
Wed, 2013-10-30 11:58
This is like one of those nightmares where I talk and no one can hear me!
What "POS pseudo-insurance plans" are you talking about? Please see my post above. I QUOTED the price for a Kaiser Permanente Co-Pay HMO plan, this is probably one of the BEST health insurers in the country! And the plan I specified above, the Copayment 50 is one of the BEST health coverage's in the country. It is $415/month for a 45 Year old woman in northern CA. Find ONE, ANY Obamacare plan that is even close in price and coverage.
In fact if you look around, at least in northern CA, I cannot find ANY Obamacare plan that is remotely price/coverage comparable to any similar pre-Obamacare plan. If you have some ACTUAL numbers I would love to hear them.
I am so SICK of the left simply STATING, as if it's a given, that costs are down, yet no one can actually show any plan whose cost decreased, yet I can show many, many, whose costs have skyrocketed!
Now if you can show me where costs have decreased, That'd be awesome, because I actually have to find new health insurance now. So please do post the plan you'd recommend. (P.S. again, in Northern CA :) )
Wed, 2013-10-30 07:13
Wed, 2013-10-30 12:16
Because no one seems to be actually HEARING when we speak let's just compare plans.
CHEAPEST Obama-BROZE plan:
Blue Shield Bronze 60:
$4500 Deductible
40% Co-insurance
40% Copayments for all services
$6350 Maximum Out-of-pocket
Pre-Obamacare Plan:
KP Deducatble 40/3000
$3000 Deductable
20% Co-insurance
$10 Drug Copayment
$40 Other Copayment
$6000 Maximum Out-of-pocket
Wed, 2013-10-30 12:21
CHEAPEST Obama-SILVER plan:
Blue Shield Silver 70:
$2000 Deductible
20% Co-insurance
$19 Drug Co-payment
$45-$65 Other Co-payment
$6350 Maximum Out-of-pocket
Pre-Obamacare Plan:
KP Deductible 0/1500
$1500 Deductible
0% Co-insurance (yes ZERO)
$10 Drug Co-payment
$0 Office visit copay (yes ZERO)
$3000 Maximum Out-of-pocket
Wed, 2013-10-30 12:31
PS. Sorry for the multiple posts.
But as you can see above, even when looking at Blue Shield, a lower Quality health insurance, under Obamacare, it can't even compete with pre-obamacare Kaiser Permanente , a much higher quality insurance/hospital system.
If you were to compare actually comparable plans, i.e. KP plans before and after Obamacare the difference is even MORE striking in the cost increases / coverage decreases that Obamacare has brought.
Wed, 2013-10-30 15:36
Jvanleuvan, if I understand you correctly, you are comparing pre-ACA plans (with yearly/lifetime caps that are now prohibited by law) to post-ACA plans (that have said caps removed)? Do you consider this detail to be minor?
I think the analogy from labman-57 about diamonds vs. cubic zirconia applies.
Wed, 2013-10-30 15:45
Additionally, a "much more affordable" plan that can be cancelled by the provider the moment you get sick is rather different than a plan that provides guaranteed coverage.
Remember, this is one of the major reasons why healthcare reform was demanded in the first place: insurance companies saying, "Sorry, you sprained your knee 40 years ago in 6th grade, so we're not going to cover this knee replacement." Or "We see that you failed to report that you had chicken pox when you were 7, so we're going to have to cancel your coverage and you'll have to pay for those colon cancer treatments on your own." All after dutifully accepting your premiums every month for years.
Wed, 2013-10-30 16:40
That behavior is totally reprehensible on the par of the insurance companies. However I, personally, have never heard of that happening. I have been with my insurance company for 35 years (since birth) and I have a chronic ailment, and have never been denied my coverage.
But in the end, this whole concept of what the insurance companies can and cannot do becomes moot if one can no longer afford insurance.
Wed, 2013-10-30 17:12
If you want specific examples from Kaiser (and Blue Cross, natch), in California no less, here you go:
You mention that coverage is moot if one cannot afford it. The subject of the article could previously afford (non-guaranteed) $293/month coverage, and you found an Obamacare bronze plan for $249/month. So I think the more pertinent question is whether "affordable" coverage means anything if it can be cancelled the moment you need it.
Wed, 2013-10-30 18:31
Once again, it is horrible that insurance companies would retroactively cancel insurance. No argument from me. If you read the article you posted it was 286 policies that were incorrectly canceled, out of 9.1 MILLION policies just for KP alone. so it appears that this terrible behavior, is rather minimal.
to speak to "affordability" if we were to refer to the article in question. The lady was a 45 year old female. The Cheapest bronze plan (the same as above) is $294/month.
while for the said 45 year old female the closest Pre-Obamacare plan is: KP deductible 0/2700. $307/month which has a $2700 deductible, after which it is a 0% co-insurance (yes ZERO) a small $10 drug co-payment.
What this means is that for the same monthly premium, given, for example a broken leg (which CoveredCA stipulates costs around $7500) :
* Under the Obamacare Bronze plan it would cost the consumer $5700 to have it fixed.
* Under the pre-Obamacare it would be $2700.
So the consumer's costs more than DOUBLED! this is what I mean by Un-affordable!
So, while it's great to have a law passed to prevent retroactive cancellations, nearly DOUBLING the insurance costs probably isn't worth it. Especially to me and the people I know, as no one I know has ever been denied coverage, and now I and many of my friends/acquaintances are really thinking that our families will NOT have healthcare in the coming years.
Thu, 2013-10-31 12:44
No, that is not what the article says. It says that in a random review of 286 cases, almost 10% (26 cases) were "so clearly wrong that they needed to be reinstated right away." Those were the EGREGIOUSLY wrong cases. After that investigation of 286 random cases, the Department of Managed Health Care then ordered a larger review of all dropped policies over the previous 4 years which (as per the article) could force those companies to "reinstate thousands of dropped policies."
Again, nearly 1-in-10 of these randomly selected cases were so blatantly wrong that the regulating agency ordered them reinstated immediately. What percent do you think were just questionable? How many do you think were "justified" (e.g. the person had a legitimately relevant pre-existing condition), and what do you think is a fair result for a person that pays premiums for years only to find they have no coverage when they need it?
You mention that no one you know has ever been denied coverage; are you and yours all insured through your employers? Because rescission doesn't happen through employer-provided plans (and if you already have an employer-provided plan, then the prices on ACA exchanges are pretty much irrelevant to you anyway).
Sun, 2013-11-03 18:24
Thanks for this article. Journalists need to start digging and present a larger and more accurate picture. Contact state Health Departments. Get current figures. What states are doing well and which ones need to catch up? What are outreach plans really doing? I guarantee it has little to do with any of the Congressional sub-committee hearings.
There's a heckuva lot going on that is not getting report and I want to hear those stories. Meanwhile I'm turning off the big circle jerk of punditry coming out of DC and NYC.
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(If there's one thing we know about comment trolls, it's that they're lazy)


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Paul Reinheimer has a new post talking about some of his experience implementing GeoIP at his HTTP testing proxy service WonderProxy (and the steps you'd need to take to make it work for your application). The GeoIP service helps you identify the sources (geolocation) of connections to your applications.
At WonderProxy we've been helping people test their GeoIP sensitive applications since launch. It's why we launched. Perhaps ironically it's never been a technology we've used on our own website. With our upcoming re-design that's changing.
He's broken it down into four major steps, each with a bit of description to go along with them:
- Using GeoIP
- Acquire a database
- Rebuild Apache & PHP (with the Apache module)
- Handle edge cases
This isn't a detailed tutorial to getting GeoIP support working in your app, but it does provide a good direction and links to several resources to help you along your way.

subset: commoncrawl


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25% OFF! - Presents Everywhere Quickpages
By Trixie Scraps Designs
More By This Designer
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Product Categories
Celebrations Family Holidays - Christmas Memories Religious Seasons
Product Information
- Type: Quick Page Pack
- Designer: Trixie Scraps Designs
- Download Size: 108.9 MB (approximate)
Design Elements
- Page Elements: 6
Designer Notes
It's that magical time of year when busy moms (and dads) everywhere are scurrying to complete their best Santa impersonation, delivering all the most-wished-for gifts on their children's wish lists. And once the shopping is done, the present wrapping marathon begins! Document the fun of it all with this new digital scrapbooking collection from Trixie Scraps, "Presents Everywhere." Great for all your photos of your holiday preparations, gift wrapping night, decking out the tree, and even for tearing into it all on Christmas day... this collection has you covered! This quickpage album includes six 12x12 quickpages, saved as 300 dpi PNG files.
Make sure to check out the coordinating pieces from the whole collection!
Image Quality
High-resolution (print quality) JPG and PNG files (with transparency).
Download Options
Easy install directly into My Memories Suite software. Purchase My Memories Suite
General use installer for other software applications (i.e., Adobe Photoshop & Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, etc.).
Album and Photobook templates are intended for installation in the MyMemories Suite software only.
The General download will still contain all of the digital paper and page element files and template pages in a flat jpeg format so that you can recreate the template.
The layered pre-built pages are not available in the general download.
Download Access
All download options are available after checkout by clicking the "Access Your Downloads" provided on the order confirmation page. You may also access your downloads after logging into the My Account section located at the top right of the website.


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Mobile Deployments
Explore mobile deployment resources that will help you design an effective mobile strategy in this section. Read the latest mobile deployment news and find out about new mobile strategies and topics. Find advice on mobile business benefits including tips for effective mobile business policies and learn how mobility can help your workforce be more productive with their mobile devices regardless of their location. Get the latest research and information on deploying mobile devices successfully in your environment and learn about the government regulations surrounding cell phones, smartphones and other mobile devices. Our mobile deployment resources will help you realize the business benefits for using mobility to empower your workforce. Learn how innovative mobile strategies can put your company ahead of the competition. More about Mobile Deployments
Mobile Devices
This topic section on mobile devices for business includes resources and tips for selecting and maintaining all types of mobile devices such as smartphones, cell phones, netbooks, notebooks and laptops for your business users. Learn about the latest business smartphones, netbooks, notebooks and laptops available and how to successful use these mobile devices to enhance your business practices. More about Mobile Devices
Mobile Security
Learn how to effectively secure your mobile devices with the resources in this mobile security topic section. Get the latest information on mobile security and learn how to keep the devices your mobile workers use free from hackers and threats. Our expert tips and news on mobile device security help mobile IT managers formulate corporate policies and procedures to ensure the most secure mobile environment. Learn how to implement mobile security best practices like authentication and encryption for all of your mobile devices. Discover the importance of mobile data security, data governance and privacy in the growing mobile world More about Mobile Security
Mobile Device Platforms and Technologies
Get the latest information on mobile device platforms and mobile operating systems in this topic section. Our strategic resources on mobile operating systems will help you give you the tools you need for evaluating the right mobile platform to deliver your mobile applications to your mobile workforce. Learn about the most popular mobile operating systems in the market and how your peers are implementing them for maximum ROI. Get help finding the best mobile platform for your organization and read the latest news and expert tips on major mobile device platforms as well as open source mobile operating systems, applications and solutions. More about Mobile Device Platforms and Technologies
Mobile Device Management
Learn how to effectively manage your mobile devices with the resources in this mobile device management topic section. Get the latest information on mobile device management and get tips on implementing mobile device management best practices. More about Mobile Device Management
Mobile and Wireless Services and Protocols
Learn all about mobile services, wireless services and protocols in this topic section. Get tips for choosing the best mobile service for your organization and read the latest news on mobile and wireless services and protocols. Get expert advice on choosing which telecommunication carrier you should use for your mobile and wireless services and learn about advances their making in their ability to deliver mobile and wireless services. More about Mobile and Wireless Services and Protocols
Short-Range Technologies
Bluetooth, Zigbee, Ultra Wideband and RFID advice and news for mobile professionals deploying and working with short-range mobile technologies. More about Short-Range Technologies
Mobile Enterprise Applications
Get the latest information on mobile enterprise applications including mobile unified communication products in this topic section. Discover the most strategic resources on mobile enterprise applications available from the major mobile app stores including iTunes and BlackBerry App World. Find resources for evaluating mobile enterprise applications and solutions and discover the most popular mobile business apps available on the market. Learn about the top mobile applications and get help finding the best mobile enterprise applications for your organization. Read best practices for deploying, managing and maintaining your mobile applications. Read the latest news and expert tips on open source mobile apps, industry mobile applications and small business mobile solutions. Find case studies from companies who have successfully implemented the latest mobile enterprise applications and learn from their experience. More about Mobile Enterprise Applications
Wireless Networking
Wireless networking technology is ever-increasing in enterprise IT infrastructure. For information on what products you need to set up a wireless local area network (WLAN), navigate this WLAN section to answer your questions on wireless security encryption, equipment implementation, and wireless protocols and standards (like 802.11n). We also cover wireless network management tools that aid you in troubleshooting Wi-Fi problems. More about Wireless Networking


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Reminders from the Financial Aid Office
- The tuition due date for the spring 2012 semester is January 5, 2012.
- Students receiving financial aid may begin charging textbooks and supplies in the bookstore on January 3, 2012. This date is different than the date in many award letters. Please make a note of this change.
- The next deadline to appeal for reinstatement of financial aid is January 3, 2012 at 5:00pm.


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July 5th, 2015
Browse Archive by Day
30 bighorn sheep moved from Antelope Island to new home
01/12/2014 10:33amThirty bighorn sheep will find themselves in a new home after park officials rounded up some of the animals Tuesday on Antelope Island.
Utah physician wins research funding for childhood cancers
01/12/2014 11:58amA Utah researcher is one of five in the country who secured a grant to further study childhood cancer.
In our opinion: How to win the war on poverty
01/12/2014 12:22pmThe key to winning the war on poverty is to provide people opportunities to rise above handouts, to promote lasting marriages and to unlock the creative forces of freedom.
7 deluxe ways to embrace winter
01/12/2014 12:36pmInstead of fighting the brutal winter weather, embrace all the snow and ice with the cozy buffer of a luxurious resort.
New A.G. Reyes changes leadership team
01/12/2014 1:01pmNewly appointed Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes shook up the top leadership in his office as part of an effort to change its culture and restore public trust.
Orem pilot enters Alford plea after crashing plane
01/12/2014 1:59pmA Utah pilot who crashed a plane at a northern Idaho airport has entered an Alford plea to reckless operation of an aircraft.
School for children with autism breaks ground on Utah County campus
01/12/2014 6:30pmSpectrum Academy, a charter school in North Salt Lake for children with autism, broke ground Friday for the construction of a new campus in Utah County. The Pleasant Grove campus is scheduled to open in August.
Fairview man dies after 2 tractor-trailer trucks crash near Myton
01/12/2014 10:28pmA crash between two tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. 40 east of Myton left one person dead Sunday and shut down the road for more than four hours.
Farmington man hospitalized with injuries suffered in avalanche
01/12/2014 10:28pmMatthew Morgan, 28, of Farmington remained hospitalized in Ogden Sunday for treatment of injuries resulting from a Saturday avalanche near the Utah-Idaho border. He was doing OK after surgery Sunday, family members say.
Las Vegas man dies after crashing, flipping his vehicle near Beaver
01/12/2014 10:28pmLas Vegas resident Joseph Chase, 41, was killed Sunday in a one-car accident near Beaver.
Man in basement of burning house rescued by 'heroic' Roy police officer
01/12/2014 10:29pmA Roy man suffered second- and third-degree burns in a house fire Saturday night. The man, who remained hospitalized Sunday, was pulled from the burning home by a Roy police officer who was heralded as "heroic."
Ferron fire station roof torn off by wind
01/12/2014 10:29pmThe roof at the Ferron fire station became a casualty of high winds in the area Sunday.
Spanish Fork fire displaces mother and 3 children
01/12/2014 10:31pmA mother and her three children were displaced early Sunday morning after a fire ripped through their home.
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Listed below are links to other agencies that deal with childhood lead poisoning
and prevention either at the federal, state or local level.
files below are in .pdf format and can be opened using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
archivos abajo estan en un formato de .pdf y se pueden abrir usando Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning and WXXI in Rochester, NY provides an overview
of lead hazards and lead poisoning, and highlights the importance of getting children
tested for exposure to lead in this 10-minute video. A Lead Based Paint Guide
The New England Lead Coordinating Committee, a consortium of state agencies working
to eliminate lead poisoning, posted its Lead Safe Work Practices video for the Do-It-Yourself
audience on YouTube:
Additional Information on Lead Safe Work Practices can be found at Wisconsin Department of Health Services
These new videos provide step-by-step demonstrations of lead-safe work practices
and were developed to supplement required training and certification. Contractors
must be trained and certified to conduct renovation, repairs and painting in homes
and child occupied facilities built before 1978. The videos are for:
The videos range in length from 4 to 14 minutes. A transcript and supply list for
each video are provided as additional tools. Please have your sound on or use headphones
to listen to the narration. You will need a media player (such as the Windows Media
Player) to view these videos.
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- "In those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty. ... If all Catholics are obliged to oppose the legal recognition of homosexual unions, Catholic politicians are obliged to do so in a particular way, in keeping with their responsibility as politicians." CDF 2003 and HERE
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Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
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Food For Thought
"The legalization of the termination of pregnancy is none other than the authorization given to an adult, with the approval of an established law, to take the lives of children yet unborn and thus incapable of defending themselves. It is difficult to imagine a more unjust situation, and it is very difficult to speak of obsession in a matter such as this, where we are dealing with a fundamental imperative of every good conscience — the defense of the right to life of an innocent and defenseless human being."
- St. John Paul II
A bit more food for thought…
"Only one sin is nowadays severely punished: the attentive observance of the traditions of our Fathers. For that reason the good ones are thrown out of their places and brought to the desert."
- Basil of Caesarea - ep. 243
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For your consideration…
"One of the most dangerous errors is that civilization is automatically bound to increase and spread. The lesson of history is the opposite; civilization is a rarity, attained with difficulty and easily lost. The normal state of humanity is barbarism, just as the normal surface of the planet is salt water. Land looms large in our imagination and civilization in history books, only because sea and savagery are to us less interesting."
- C.S. Lewis
More food for thought:
"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history."
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- Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 176
Even More Food For Thought
"Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests."
- Thomas Jefferson to Henry Lee, 1824. ME 16:73
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Tag Archives: Romans 8:15
WDTPRS – 19th Ordinary Sunday: trusting audacity and harrowing consolation
the 19th Ordinary Sunday's Collect, or "Opening Prayer" as it has been called, was not in previous editions Missale Romanum before the 1970 Novus Ordo. It has roots in the 9th century Sacramentary of Bergamo and thus is ancient text.
Note … Continue reading
Posted in SESSIUNCULA Tagged Abba, adoptio, Romans 8:15, sonship, St. Thomas Aquinas 1 Comment
WDTPRS 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time: sheer audacity
This coming Sunday's Collect (or "Opening Prayer" as it has been called) was not in previous editions Missale Romanum before the 1970 Novus Ordo. It has roots in the 9th century Sacramentary of Bergamo and thus is ancient text.
Note that … Continue reading
Posted in SESSIUNCULA Tagged Abba, adoptio filiorum, adoption as sons, dies dominica, Romans 8:15, Romans 8:23, St. Thomas Aquinas 27 Comments


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A Candle Spell to Ring in the New Year
I like to take the first few days of the New Year to think about the year ahead with goals for myself and wishes for my family. A wealth of tradition helps to usher in the new year, a time for new beginnings, and is an opportunity to ensure one's luck for the year to come.
I came across this whimsical yet poignant so-called "candle spell", which I felt captured what I wanted to focus on in these first days of January, 2014:
As I light this candle,
I bid the Old Year farewell,
With gratitude for milestones passed,
And memories cherished.
And I welcome the New Year in
With love and warmth and blessings.
That the quality of this new year be assured,
I now dedicate a moment to visioning
Some ways to make this year
A year of excellence,
A year of fortune.
Pause for a moment to envision the kind of year that you want to have and the kind of person that you want to be. Enhance these visualizations by imagining your objectives charged with energy and bathed in glowing light. Then continue:
And thus do my wishes for the year
take on their own life and purpose.
So does the year itself
take on a glowing life and power;
A bright year, a bold year,
a golden year, a year of magic!
So may this year bring luck,
and peace, and prosperity
to one and all.
You can allow the candle to burn continuously, or relight it every morning to reactivate the magic of your celebration. Whether the candle takes a few days or a few months to burn down, you can be satisfied that its flames will radiate your blessings to last the twelve months out. Kind of a sweet idea, right?
How are you starting off your New Year?


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When you spend 31 years racing the same car, you amass a knowledge base on that car like no one else. You know every nut and bolt-which ones will strip if you turn them 1/4-turn more, and every specialty fastener-and you know what works and what doesn't. Just like being married for more than a decade, you also know every blemish on your love, and have learned to overlook them. You've shared some of your best and worst life experiences together, and you know that there's more to your relationship than show-quality paint.
Keith Seymore has been racing this '74 Chevelle for 31 years, and his history with the car extends longer than that. His dad worked for General Motors for 35 years. One of the long-standing traditions of working at a Detroit automaker was ordering your new car every few years. Even to this day, people who really care about cars take special care to custom order their car exactly the way they want them. And if you can, you call in favors to make things happen that aren't on the options list. That's how you find cars decades later that defy what order books say was possible for that year-muscle car collectors have dreams about these sorts of things. When it came time to order a '74-model GM car for Keith's mom, his dad wanted a two-door Chevelle, but he wanted to add the police package goodies. He also wanted the opera window, which turned out to be the biggest challenge of the custom order. After working with the car order desk for weeks, they finally gave him the phone number of the plant manager and said to work it out with him. So he did.
Keith's mom drove the Malibu for four years, and then it was on to the next new GM car. And the Chevelle with the cop motor, cop suspension, and cop shocks was offered up as Keith's car to drive. In stock form, the car was pretty impressive, especially for a mid-'70s commuter. Even though the engine from the era of detuned V-8s, it was still a 454. The police package gave it the LS4 version of the big-block, which had a rating of 235 hp, an aluminum intake, and Q-jet four-barrel. The TH400 transmission had a performance valvebody, and the 10-bolt came with 3.42 gears and a posi. Eight-inch Corvette Rally wheels were also part of the deal, wrapped in HR60-15 Goodyear blue dot pursuit tires. Heavy-duty suspension and skid plates, beefy sway bars, and a gauge cluster that included a tachometer and actual gauges were also thrown in. One of the more interesting items was a performance console transmission shifter.
It didn't take long for Keith to find himself and the Chevelle at Lapeer Dragway, a local dragstrip that a lot of Detroiters make use of. The car in stock, 4,100-pound form turned a 15.10 the first time down the dragstrip. By the end of the day, Keith had quickened that to consistent 14.90s. And that was the start of a 31-year racing relationship with the car, and the start of a refinement process that continues today.
With a 4,100-pound car, there's a lot of weight to shed. Low-hanging fruit included the steel hood and the 60-pound front bumper. And behind the front and rear bumpers was reinforcement and miscellaneous fat that was worth about 50 pounds on each end. As Keith's relationship with the car lengthened, he got more and more refined in his weight-reduction tactics. He found that a 12-gallon gas tank from a Chevette would fit between the rear framerails, retaining a factory look and avoiding the need for a fuel cell. He started moving weight from the front to the rear, such as the battery. A two-core radiator holds less coolant than a four-core, therefore weighing less. And by some miracle, the car cools fine with a two-core radiator.


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In either June or July my total Cholesterol was 244 - had it checked today - drum rollllllll 168!!!!!! no medication ... simply plant based whole food no animal eating
am down about 8 pounds or so since first of the year...
keep pedaling....
thats great! I am hoping the same will happen with me as I would like to get off the med. Already cut down on blood sugar meds and all is great.
Keep up the great life style!
I watched this short message this afternoon and then read your posts. Seems like the approrpiate place to share.
Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food - Hippocrates.
For those with diabieties and taking cholestrol meds, have a look at this health warning put out my Health Canada just posted two weeks ago;
Sure convinces me about rethinking my meds.
Thank you Kiwi and Ronjenk for posting your links. I don't have a lot of faith in Health Canada and reading this blurb in their report on statins makes me feel like Dr. MacDougall is spot on - just another government agency in bed with Pharma:
"If you are on a statin and experience symptoms associated with increased blood sugar, such as severe frequent urination, thirst or hunger, you should contact your healthcare professional."
That statement is misleading and will make many many people think they are not at risk. Well, I'm here to tell you I have diabetes and have NEVER had SEVERE symptoms. In fact, the only sysmptom I have is on the end of a blood glucose strip after I monitor myself. Type 2 can be a silent disease - that's why so many are walking around with it and don't know. I find the above statement from Health Canada dangerous.
My LDL cholesterol is finally down in the normal range(1.97 mmol/L) and I am definitely going to be speaking with my doctor about getting off statins, too, for the very reason that they may be adversely affecting my blood sugar - which, by the way, isn't too terrible, but is higher than I'd like despite ongoing attempts at clean eating. Perhaps the statins are the cause!
All we are saying is "Give Peas a Chance"
I took the Health Canada report completely differently as I have been having some of those symptoms especially about 2 weeks into this diet and apprechiated the heads up of what might be causing it.
I want to be as drug free as possible and I see that possibility even stronger with this diet.
I guess for many they may not exsperince these symptoms but for some they may.
Many thanks for the posts!
Hi Ron - the word that bothered me in the Health Canada report was "severe". Would you consider your symptoms to be "severe"?
Lots of folks are walking around with Type 2 and don't have any symptoms yet. If they wait for severe thirst, urination, they could be well into the disease before it's even diagnosed.
I find that part of the report dangerous and misleading.
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Dec 2, 2009
NXT Guitar Challenge Game
It is finally here on nxtprograms.com, after squeezing in bits of spare time throughtout the school and FLL season and other projects: The NXT Guitar Challenge Game! This project is a "Guitar Hero"-like game for your NXT that requires only a single NXT kit. Using a guitar controller built with a single NXT kit, you are challenged to play a series of "notes" that scroll towards you on the NXT screen while listening to the song. You select the correct note by sliding a plate on the neck of the guitar that is seen by the ultrasonic sensor, and then strum the note using a lever that triggers one or two touch sensors. The game counts your hit and missed notes and displays your score at the end of the song. And unlike other Guitar games, the music plays externally on your iPod or stereo, so you can listen to the real recording on your own sound system while playing along, and you can also author/record your own favorite songs and play along with the real recordings that you already own. You control the choice of music and the difficulty of the game recording!
Also included is a "Free Play" mode, where the guitar converts to an all-in-one self-contained instrument that you can play like a stand-alone guitar using 8 notes from the rock/blues scale. In this mode, the guitar is an upgraded version of the original Electric Guitar project, now including a fun "whammy bar" to bend tones (uses the light sensor as a high sensitivity distance sensor), and a convenient touch-sensor strum lever.
Back to the Game Mode, the free version of the game on the web includes the ability to play the game and record your own songs on the NXT, and 7 sample songs. An enhanced version of the game on the new CD 65 Fun Projects for your LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT allows full authoring and editing of songs on your Windows-based PC using a custom graphical editor. In the PC editor, you simply press keys on the keyboard while listenting to the music to "record" a song, then you can go back and edit/tweak it with the keyboard and mouse.
Also included with the CD version is full source code for the NXT game and NXT song recorder (in NXC) and source code for the PC song editor (in C/C++), so experienced C programmers can try making their own modifications to the game or the editor. Advanced NXT programmers can also use the source code as a way to start getting exposed to some NCX or C programming.
Building instructions are currently posted for NXT 1.0. I also have an NXT 2.0 version built and will post instructions for that as soon as I have time. I will also post a new video when I get a chance, for now here is a link to the preview video posted earlier.
5 comments:
- Dave Parker said...
I should clarify there are five programs for this project:
1. Free Play mode using tones with whammy bar support (NXT-G), on the web.
2. Free Play mode using sampled chord sounds (NXT-G), on the web.
3. NXT Game program (NXC), on the web, source code on the CD.
4. NXT Song Recorder program (NXC), on the web, source code on the CD
5. Windows PC song recorder and editor (C/C++), program and source code on the CD. This is a straight Win32 program (no runtime libraries).
- Dec 2, 2009, 5:04:00 AM
- Jojoguy10 said...
sted my personal review at www.lego-extreme.blogspot.com.
- Dec 2, 2009, 11:41:00 AM
- Jojoguy10 said...
Sorry, my last comment says "see my personal review at www.lego-extreme.blogspot.com"
- Dec 3, 2009, 12:52:00 AM
- Dave Parker said...
A few people seem confused about the fact that the NXT itself doesn't actually play the music (the game is designed to syncronize with external music playing on your own sound system). I have clarified this a bit more in the instructions (thanks for the feedback), but I think I also neglected to note some of the basic "why" points in my blog post here, so let me try to clarify:
1. The NXT is not capable of much at all music-wise for sound. You can play tones, but they are not fun to listen to. You can play sampled sounds, but only very low quality and only a few seconds in the available memory, so the NXT is not up to the task of playing the music itself.
2. Sadly, due to copyright restrictions, I cannot provide free MP3 downloads that go along with the sample game songs.
3. Despite restrictions 1 and 2, the game takes a different twist than Guitar Hero and the like that can make it fun in a different way (with the right outlook, we're talking a hobby do-it-yourself kit here...). You can choose and "record" your own music (that you already like and already own), then try to play along with it. Nevermind that it's hard at first, and the music notes don't look realistic, just whack something out and then try to play it back while listening to your music!
4. Although I give almost everything away for free, part of this game (the optional PC editor) is only on the CD. Aside from being a "thank you" to the people who buy the CD, there is a practical reason too. Although I am happy to provide free software, there is a "support" burden for all software, especially the more complex stuff. Putting the more complex parts on the CD decreases my support time on this stuff to fewer people, thus leaving me more time to make more free projects in the future...
- Dec 3, 2009, 1:14:00 AM
- H said...
hey dave my light sensor has no use!
- Aug 4, 2010, 12:52:00 PM


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Hi guys! It's been a while, isn't it? I hope you all have a great weekend with your dearest one. And I want to show my gratitude to every single one of you who are reading this article of mine. I'm really honored to have you guys back here and I really appreciate that.
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Dr. Brian McCaig
Assistant Professor (Economics)
Contact InformationEmail: email@example.com
Phone: 519-884-0710 ext.4941
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Office Location: P3040
Office Hours: Winter 2015: Tuesday/Thursday, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Personal Website: http://sites.google.com/site/briandmccaig/
Academic BackgroundBA (McMaster Universitiy), MA (University of Guelph), PhD (University of Toronto)
Prior to joining WLU, Brian was a Lecturer and Research Fellow in the Research School of Economics at the Australian National University. He has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute. His current research focuses on structural change in Vietnam and the impacts of new export opportunities on labour markets and informal businesses in developing countries, with a focus on Vietnam.
Research interests
International Trade and Economic Development
Selected publications
McCaig, Brian. 2011. "Exporting out of poverty: Provincial poverty in Vietnam and U.S. market access," Journal of International Economics, 85(1), pp. 102-113
McCaig, Brian and Adonis Yatchew. 2007. "International welfare comparisons and nonparametric testing of multivariate stochastic dominance," Journal of Applied Econometrics, 22(5), pp.951-969.
McCaig, Brian and Thanasis Stengos. 2005. "Financial intermediation and growth: Some robustness results," Economics Letters, 88(3), pp. 306-312.


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"It was my impression at the presentation that it [the Xbox One] was going to come packed in with the Kinect sensor array. It didn't looked like it was packed in with the headset which to me having the headset was included in the last generation was really a pretty crucial thing that drove chat and media and Xbox Live whilst Sony went with the piecemeal bluetooth accessory thing and in my opinion that really helped Xbox Live become a destination for multiplayer gaming. Do you feel that the new Kinect sensor replaces the headset in terms of multiplayer chat or why aren't you including a headset?"
"I think you're going to see a lot of cool things about what we are doing with headsets. In are overall strategy we think headsets are great and we want there to be great headset experiences. I do think the new Kinect can, I wouldn't use the word 'replacement,' I think it can be a great communication experience for gaming. And I think actually the capability frankly when in particular powering Skype and allowing it to constantly run so that I can choose between audio only, audio and voice, so that those things can run across games like we've been doing with third parties for so long. I think it's really foundational to how we think about the communication experience. I do believe your going to see a lot of game communications using Kinect, I also think you will see a lot with headsets as well."
Source: https://www.gameinfo...rc-whitten.aspx


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|National Hockey League
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Wednesday, October 2nd (All times Eastern)
Anaheim Ducks (0-0-0) at Colorado Avalanche (0-0-0), 9:30 p.m.
(SportsNetwork.com) - If 18-year-old Nathan MacKinnon needs advice on how to handle opening night in Colorado, new head coach Patrick Roy certainly has some wisdom to lend the youngster.
MacKinnon will be in Roy's lineup on Wednesday night as the two make their Avalanche debuts in the opener against the Anaheim Ducks.
After missing out on the postseason for a third straight year, the Avalanche fired head coach Joe Sacco and replaced him with Roy, who won two of his four Stanley Cup titles with Colorado in 1996 and 2001.
Roy was part of the offseason overhaul that also saw former teammate Joe Sakic hired as executive vice president of hockey operations.
The 47-year-old Roy retired following the 2002-03 season and later became the general manager, coach and co-owner of his hometown Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2005. He led the club to the Memorial Cup title in his first season at the helm and will now try to succeed as a coach at the NHL level.
"I'm excited about the game, to be honest with you," said Roy. "It's the first game -- this is the date I would say that I put a circle around and I was looking forward to. I like the way the team has played in the preseason games. The guys have played really well. I just felt that we were getting better and better along the way, and I'm curious to see (Wednesday) how we're going to be as a team at the same time."
Sakic and Roy did inherit a club that owned the top overall pick in the draft for and the Avs spent that selection on MacKinnon to join the young core of captain Gabriel Landeskog and forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly.
Just 17 years of age at the time of his selection, MacKinnon had 32 goals and 75 points in 44 regular-season games with the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL last year. He added another seven goals and 13 points in four playoff games to help his club capture the Memorial Cup.
"It's going to be cool. I don't really know how I'm going to feel yet. Obviously there's going to be some butterflies," said MacKinnon, who added his family will be in attendance for his first three games.
"I'm really looking forward to it. Preseason was fun, but this is the real deal. I think as a team we're very confident going into the season."
Colorado, which will open the season without defenseman Ryan Wilson due to a knee injury, will also host Nashville on Friday before playing three straight on the road.
For the Ducks, they will play their first three games of the season away from home. Anaheim also will visit Minnesota and Winnipeg this weekend and will play 11 of its first 16 games this season away from the Honda Center.
A few veterans on the Ducks think that could be a good thing as long as the club wins.
"You get away from the hassle," said Anaheim forward Saku Koivu. "You can really focus on the first couple games. We spend two days in between the first and second games, get some time as a team, some bonding time. Obviously, if you can get some wins, it's a really good thing to start on the road. But obviously that is the one thing is that we have to make sure we come out with some points."
The Ducks open their 20th anniversary season coming off their second ever Pacific Division title and first since their Cup-winning 2006-07 season. However, they were bounced out in the first round of the 2013 playoffs by Detroit.
Anaheim didn't make a lot of offseason moves, but the one headline grabber was the trade of forward Bobby Ryan to the Ottawa Senators for young winger Jakob Silfverberg, prospect Stefan Noesen and a first-round pick in the 2014 draft.
Silfverberg will try to replace Ryan's 30-goal production and on Tuesday skated on a line with veteran Teemu Selanne and center Mathieu Perreault, who was acquired from the Washington Capitals in a trade on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Silfverberg had 10 goals and 19 points in 48 games as a rookie last year.
Selanne, meanwhile, will return for one final NHL season. He is the franchise's all-time leader in several categories, including goals (448), assists (513), points (961) and games played (902). At 43 years and 92 days, he is the NHL's oldest active player and ranks 11th all-time in goals with 675.
Selanne, who spent the 2003-04 season with Colorado, has 36 goals and 76 points in 67 career games versus the Avs.
The Ducks are slated to open the season a little banged up at the blue line. Both Sheldon Souray (right wrist surgery) and Luca Sbisa (sprained left ankle) are out, though defenseman Francois Beauchemin could play tonight despite reconstructive surgery in May on his right knee to repair a torn ligament.
Semyon Varlamov will start this game in net for the Avalanche, while Jonas Hiller is likely to get the call for the Ducks.
The Ducks won two of three versus the Avs a season ago, notching a 3-0 shutout in the lone meeting in Denver. Hiller's backup Viktor Fasth posted 31 saves to record his first career shutout.


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NOTE: A T40 (or T45) Torx L-wrench is required to install the right-side rack on the Water-cooled R1200GS. It's not possible to use a ratchet, you must have the L-wrench. Early waterboxers use a T45, later models use a T40. See the CruzTools 070-2101 kit which includes this tool. Or item CT-TRX2. Be sure to watch the install video.
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2005-2012 (Oil Cooled): The overall width of the 31/38 liter system is 37 inches. The overall width of the 38/45 liter system is 40 inches. These Zega Pro Pannier systems feature a narrower case mounted offset on the clutch side of your BMW to compensate for the exhaust. If you'd prefer a setup with an exhaust cutout for symmetry, order the Zega Pro Special Set.
2013-on (Water Cooled): The overall width of the 31/38 liter system is 38 inches. The overall width of the 38/45 liter system is 41 inches.
The high ground clearance of the boxes allow you to negotiate sections of deep sand or ruts. The high ground clearance also helps with cornering at speed. The 45 Liter size case can fit a full sized helmet for storage.
If you read my review about the top case here are the matching panniers my wife and I both have. We are so happy about switching from the BMW cases to these cases!!! A world of difference!!!! Lots of space, and plenty of protection by your side when you need it. AWESOME / SEXY set of panniers on your bike will definitely get you looks and compliments. Nothing like getting compliments on something that actually works and holds up to every little bit of integrity, priceless feeling! A must have!!!!! So ask yourself what's holding you back from buying them?
By Atiba Odusanya on Dec 20, 2012 at 09:12:47 PM
I really could not be happier with these panniers on my GS LC. The rack is fantastic and the panniers are top quality. I did "stress test" them in a Mojave sand wash and the plastic cover on the bottom did it's job perfectly. No damage to the box or the rack. Highly recommended.
By Bill Jamaca on May 03, 2013 at 01:05:59 PM
Cases are fabulous but the mounting on Water Cooled GS is a problem. The muffler has to be removed to fir the rack on that side. Then once everything is in place the bolt that holds the muffler on is almost impossible to get in and tighten. I have not get found a torx tool that will fit in the very small gap between it and the rack. Any suggestions welcomed as I fear it will come loose.
By Ian Walberg on Jun 05, 2013 at 08:06:39 PM
I just finished installing these panniers on my 2013 gs in my hot garage just moments ago.I cannot comment on the usefulness or the longevity yet so I'll confine my comments to the installation.The installation of the brackets and hangers is pretty straight forward but there are a couple of issues.On the right side,it is very difficult to loosen the passenger peg bolts with the exhaust can in place.I did not have a t-40 torx socket I was using a multi wrench torx tool.I'm not sure you could get a socket in there anyway so I had to remove the exhaust can.The holes did not line up very well with the brackets so I hade to really muscle the mounting bolts in place.Not really what I'd expect of a German-made product.So after I had the mounting frame in place and tightened up,it was time to replace the exhaust.Unfortunately now with the bracket mounted to the bike the long exhaust bolt is hard to fit into its hole.After you get it in it's very hard to tighten.Once again,maybe if you had a short torx socket it would be possible.One thing I do find strange is that Touratech chose to use allen head bolts for the mounting hardware even though almost every fastener on the new GS is Torx.Now you will have to expand your tool kit with a couple new tools.These things aren't deal breakers for me but they are a bit annoying.
By Ray Dawson on Jun 08, 2013 at 03:06:05 PM
Just got mine installed, theres is really nothing to compare them to. I looked at all the others and some looked like a copy of the OEM panniers but were made like a toy what a joke? The Zega Pros were clearly above the rest in build quality. Jesses are popular but I think the zegas look much better on my new 1200. Mounting was easy because I have the cruz tools kit that has a Torx L-wrench. A torx on a 3/8 socket cant get in there with the exhaust can on. But theres plenty of room for the L-wrench just buy the CruxTools BMW kit - your bike doesn't come with tools and its a good kit to have. Watch the install video mine went on about that easy.
By Jason Marquart on Feb 12, 2014 at 04:02:04 PM
The Pannier mounting Rack system fits my new 2015 R1200GS perfectly...well thought out and designed. And the Panniers are the best you'll find...I've tried two other brands of panniers on earlier BMW GS & GSA and these Zaga Pros are superior in every way.
By Chris Realworldreview&opinion on Nov 20, 2014 at 11:11:39 PM


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Google Doodles of 2013
Doodles are the logo-incorporating works of art that Google regularly features on its homepage. They began in 1998 with a stick figure by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin -- to indicate they were attending the Burning Man festival. Since then the doodles have become works of art -- some of them high-tech and complex -- created by a team of doodlers. Stay tuned here for more of this year's doodles.
RELATED: Google Doodles from 2011 and Doodles from 2012.
RELATED: Google Doodles from 2011 and Doodles from 2012.
Image 1 of 45
Raymond Loewy | Nov. 5
A sleek Google Doodle paid tribute to Raymond Loewy, famous for his logos.
More: Industrial designer was the man behind the Coca-Cola bottle and Studebaker automobile.


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I'm pretty happy with AWN and need no native XFCE panels. I've removed all of them but can't remove the last one remaining. Is there a decent way to do it?
EDIT: A 'cleaner' way would be to create a ~/.xinitrc and start everything maunally(ie: xfwm4, xfsettingsd, etc).
You could also edit
You can't not delete all panels, the right way of doing this is disable it from autostart.
Comment it out by placing a '#' in front of it , here , change the line 169 to
When you want to re-enable panel , just remove the
At the very least, if you cannot remove the last panel from the Panel Preferences, then you can make it as small as possible, move it to the screen's edge and select "Automatically hide and show panel" and Lock Panel. That should minimize the real estate it uses. When I do that with a new panel, I get so rectangle in the corner of the screen that opens to the size of the mouse when I hover over it.


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ooJLEoo presents the banned iPhone 5 promo
How do you describe the iPhone 5? With one word — adjective. YouTube channel ooJLEoo (don't ask me how to pronounce it) is best known for their Gentlemen's Rant videos, but they also used to make banned iPhone promos. Of course they aren't real, any dullard would know that, but they are funny. It's one of those things that are so funny because they're so true. Now, the group of John Elerick, Will Stephens, Travon Free and Roger Roth have made an iPhone 5 banned promo, and it is extramazinarylutionary, just like the phone.
Some of the lines I found both funny and true are:
- We take updating it very seriously, and that's why we only really do so once every two years. And the result is iPhone 5 — the sixth iPhone.
- The panorama feature on iPhone 5 is completely revolutionairy and unlike any free app you could've downloaded three years ago.
- In iPhone 5, we said f**k Google Maps.
Make sure to subscribe to ooJLEoo.
You can follow Movies and Culture Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ