Geoff At The Burning Man Project

I am so envious.

Group photo. Geoff is wearing the pith helmet. He said the dust really mats up the hair. Consequently, his leg reminds me of the goons from the old Popeye cartoons. (Yes, I'm that old.)

Geoff described this as a random penis flamethrower car.

Shagadelica. A double-decker bus covered in glowing fur. It has a ship's fog horn mounted on it and it tows a trailer with a 5000 lb generator and 10kw sound system.

Lots of flames were in order. The guy in the foreground appears to hardly notice the large fireball nearby.

And the people underneath it seem to be doing well, too.

A Sense Of Entitlement

Dr. Donald F. Condon wrote an opinion piece which was printed in yesterday's Spokesman Review. He leads off with this:

"The primary problem with Medicare is simply this: Medicare doesn’t pay. Reimbursement for care is 35 to 50 cents on the dollar of charges submitted. This doesn’t cover overhead. It costs more to provide care for a Medicare patient than the reimbursement schedule pays.

Medicare constitutes 20 percent of my schedule, but since Medicare patients are, generally speaking, more complex, it often requires 30 percent of my time.

Medicare payments represent 5 percent of my income, so that means 25 percent of my day I am working for free. This busyness does not mean business is good. My practice population is aging and matriculating into Medicare coverage, threatening the viability of my practice."

He then continues on stating how bad Medicare is and supporting each declaration with what sounds like weak, selective support.

"Medicare is irresponsible and not held accountable: About two years ago Medicare prematurely launched a new computer program that was not ready to handle its own billing requirements. The consequence to my practice was that over $60,000 in charges was not paid for over six months."

Having been on both ends of the "computer program" spectrum--development and implementation--for 20 years, I have never seen a new "computer program" go in flawlessly.

Medicare interferes with the doctor-patient relationship: Medicare instructs patients to report physicians they feel may be overbilling. This is an unfair burden on the patient.

I'm sorry, but I just can't wrap my brain around that. If you tell a patient to report when a doctor is cheating the system you are interfering with their doctor-patient relationship? Do you mean the part where they're supposed to trust their doctor?

"I know of no other industry that is as mistreated as the health care industry. Government and military contract winners expect a profit, sometimes even large profits. Only the health care industry, charged with the health of the nation, is expected to subsidize the government."

So it's all about the money? Well, maybe not.

"Most of the physicians I know are generous and serving; that is why they are in health care."

What a wonderful sentiment. But at the beginning he said,

"I have worked with Medicare for 30 years, feeling I was doing my part. If ever there was such an obligation, it was paid back years ago."

So it must be all about the money.

"The Medicare system has taken advantage of the generosity of the physician for far too long. The current administration claims that physicians are paid too much and proposes to pay even less."

Is it unreasonable for him to expect what he thinks he is owed since he has obviously paid his dues?

A Dangerous Toy

While I was picking up popsicles for Mead's first cross country meet today, I saw these "high bounce" balls waiting at the checkout counter for children to nag their parents to buy. The label caught my eye.


That's not a warning, that's a challenge. So I bought two.


It works! A clever marketing strategy, don't you think?

Seller: Careful, this can be dangerous.

Consumer: Oh yeah? Let's find out.

Properly Applied Law?

A former Goddard [Kansas] police officer admitted he offered to help dismiss a drunken driving charge in exchange for sex with a woman he arrested in February...

Aside from the abuse of power and position in this case and he admits to the crime and the argument that he deserves to be punished, there is one aspect of the law applied here that I find disturbing. The officer was charged with wire fraud in federal court, specifically with violating Title 18 United States Code, Section 1343 and Section 1346.

Who was he defrauding? The people of Goddard for whom he was serving as a police officer. How? The charging document states:

"CALVIN SCHAFFER, the defendant, for the purpose of executing the scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive knowingly transmitted and caused to be transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate commerce writings and pictures...to further the scheme and artifice to deprive the Goddard Police Department and the citizens of Goddard, Kansas, of his honest services."

That is the basis of the charge right there. Even though the ellipses indicate I left something out, what I listed is the essential description of how the law was violated. Think about that for a second. A public servant used a publicly-owned communications system to send non-work related communications that crossed state lines and by doing so defrauded the public of his services while doing so.

Here is the specific part that goes where the ellipses are:

...that is, the defendant, while on duty as a Goddard police officer and with computer equipment belonging to the Goddard Police Department and the citizens of Goddard, Kansas, sent e-mails to a person he had previously arrested containing pictures of himself nude and partially nude...

Yes, that is certainly offensive. But think about how the law was applied for a second. What if the public servant is sending an email to a craigslist contact asking if an item is still for sale? Or come up with a scenario on your own. The charge of wire fraud is not concerned with the type or content of the communication, only its purpose and effect. Emailing a craigslist contact certainly deprives the public of services just as much as sending an email containing nude photos.

So is this a true case of wire fraud for which the law was designed or is this a case where the law can be applied?

Locavore 100-Mile Challenge - Observations and Aftermath

Note: Please keep in mind that even though some of my comments could be considered critical of buying local, I am writing primarily about this week's experience as constrained by the rules of the challenge.

***

* Physical: In the beginning I was a little concerned that my diet change would affect my energy levels. I ride my bike to work and treat it like a twice daily 40-minute workout. (In addition I normally run 2-3 times a week but didn't this week because of a sore foot.) As it happened, there was nothing to be concerned about. I felt hungry a lot of the time but my energy levels were pretty much the same. And I'm five pounds lighter which seems impossible considering how much food I was eating. Kathy was concerned that the lack of salt would somehow affect my health. I'm not going to get into the salt issue since it was addressed sufficiently by the other challengers.

* Economic: I can't complain about the price of fruits and vegetables. They don't seem that unreasonable. Locally grown meat--which made up my greatest expenditure--can really set you back if you're buying individual cuts or packages. Now don't take that to mean meat prices are unreasonable. It does cost more but you're better off buying in bulk. Of course that requires freezer space as well as a single large payment so there's that. We've purchased a half of a beef before and found it well worth it. It tastes so much better than the industry-raised, grain-fed stuff. Even Kathy, who's not much of a meat eater, noticed how the grass-fed beef had a better taste and texture. Local milk is way more expensive. I'm ambivalent about the various milk arguments so when we go through a gallon every day I'm concerned with balancing cost with nutrition.

* Availability: Fruits and vegetables are great when they're in season. If you don't know how (or can't afford it) to can, then you're at the mercy of the seasons. Or you can buy those apples shipped here from Chile. In the not-too-distant past--okay maybe more distant for you than me--people had root cellars for storing their food. Some of that knowledge is not so common any more but it hasn't completely disappeared. I still have some of that in my set of Foxfire books. I should peruse them some time. The farmers markets are great, but you're limited by your available transportation and the day/hours the market is open, especially if it's while you're working.

* Experience: Emmer and comfrey? Never heard of 'em. But I have now. I enjoyed the creativity of the other challengers. Some of their dishes looked amazing. And some not. Same with mine. Making my own butter was a fun and interesting experience.

As far as my family went, Stephanie took the greatest interest. Although she occasionally added salt, pepper or butter, she also tried new foods and liked most of them. Tomorrow we pick up some blue potatoes with which to make blue mashed potatoes. Will the butter turn them green? Josh has always been a go-with-the-tried-and-true-foods kind of guy. Anything other than beef/chicken, potatoes and corn is "gross". He was not about to try the lamb or yellow squash but he does like that local beef. Kathy loved the vegetables, but then she always has.

The home grown vegetables provided the greatest satisfaction for me. Plucking that plump tomato off the vine, revealing a meaty interior with a sharp knife, and getting that rush of juicy freshness the taste buds with each bite is the best.

Everyone else said enough about salt so I don't need to delve into that other than to say I sorely missed seasoning. I also missed ice cream and beer--though not necessarily together.

Overall, this was a valuable and worthwhile experience. And it was fun. Except for the lack of salt. But there's already been enough said about that.

Locavore 100-Mile Challenge - All Done

Breakfast: My last two hard boiled eggs and the last of the apple cider.

Morning snack: An apple and my last peach.

Lunch: Leftovers from the last two nights. Grilled lamp chops, mashed potatoes with and with the roasted garlic, the rest of that roasted onion, yellow squash, and a homegrown tomato.

Afternoon snack: Three apples.

Dinner: Grilled sirloin steak (Olsen), green beans from the garden, and corn on the cob from Greenbluff. Butter made from Mountain Moon Farm raw milk (Addy) on the veggies! Sorry, no photos of this meal.

Back on Day One, I said I ate a peach from Harvest House. I had one peach for each day. Yesterday, TiCaFam brought to my attention that Harvest House sells peaches obtained from elsewhere. I called them today and they said they grew and sold two types of peaches but also sold peaches from the TriCities area. I couldn't remember what type I bought. While I had them on the phone I verified they grew the corn I bought as well as the apples used to make the cider. My daughter, Steph, had gone with me to Greenbluff last Saturday so I called her and asked if she remembered what type of peaches I bought. She said we didn't buy them there. I had brought them home from my trip to the Spokane Farmers Market. I remember not buying anything from the Wapato stand at the market because I learned they were too far away. But I don't remember exactly which stand I bought the peaches from although I'm pretty sure they were within the 100-mile limit.

Although Remi generously gives me the benefit of the doubt, after thinking it over, in the interest of fairness and to avoid any discredit I think it best to withdraw my name from the challenge.