Getting Clipped

Ya think maybe there's a connection between that cute story and this...

Inspired by "Heidi Schabziger"

Good Advice

Great Stuff

This is the best stuff around for brewing your morning coffee...

Good Morning

Inspired by "Dennis Bullard"

For My Daughter In Tennessee

Inspired by "Philosoraptor"

Virtual IKEA

I'm old enough to remember those old Sears Roebuck catalogs.  I'm also just old enough to remember the stack of 'em piled up out in the old outhouse and what I used 'em for.  Here's a modern day high tech catalog and I guarantee it'd be of no use in an outhouse back then unless you was remodeling...

Inspired by "DVICE"

Idiot Lights

Inspired by "Marty D'Arcy"

Comments

Our daughter in Tennessee who has five children called yesterday evening and informed us she is going to have another baby next spring.  After I hung up the phone I began my usual routine of calling family members and telling them the news.  I have done this with the birth of all our grand children and since I have a sizable extended family it takes several phone calls up and down the east coast to get the word out.  Once all the phone calls were made I sat back and reflected on all the many calls made in the past going back some seventeen years now.  I tried doing the math but six times a lot of relatives made my head ache.

Anyway, I remember when I called everyone about our daughter's first pregnancy the common reply I heard when I announced the news was...

When I called and announced the second pregnancy the common reply was... 

   

When I called and announced the third pregnancy the common reply was...

When I called and announced the fourth pregnancy the common reply was...

When I called and announced the fifth pregnancy the common reply was...

Then, when I called last evening and announced the sixth pregnancy the common reply was...

Just For Kids

Inspired by "Head-like-an-orange"

For My Daughter In Tennessee

Inspired by "Dawn Hart Jackson"

Reminder

Tell Me Again How This Is Suppose To Work

Let's see now.  The way health insurance works is a bunch of healthy people pay insurance premiums or their employer does.  Then when someone gets sick the premiums collected from all those healthy people pays the medical bills for someone in the plan when he or she gets sick.  And, if someone who isn't in the plan gets sick and then wants to get into the plan they can't because they haven't been paying their fair share of the premiums to support the plan while they were healthy. Sounds fair, right?

Wrong!

When Obamacare takes effect next year, coverage is "guaranteed" even if you are sick with a preexisting condition or illness.  Thus, young healthy adults will have an incentive to game the system. They'll put off buying insurance until they get sick.  And that's not all.  What's called the "community rating rules" states that the sick person who hasn't been paying his or her fair share in the past will pay "reduced" premium rates and healthy folks will pay "increased" premium rates even though they have been paying all along.  And the "guaranteed issue" along with the "community rating rules" will cause a "death spiral".  If young, healthy people refuse to buy coverage, the insurance pool gets older and sicker, and premiums climb higher and higher.  And Obamacare will require more and more tax dollars until it is in the same shape Medicare is today.

Oops! 

P.S.  Speaking of all those healthy young people gaming the system.  Remember a few years back when the Obama administration was trying to sell Obamacare to the American people.  One of their arguments was that a main reason healthcare costs were so high was because hospitals and doctors were passing on the costs of treating uninsured sick young adults to those of us that were insured.

Inspired by "Investors.com"

Peeping Feds

Did you SEE (pun intended) where the FBI can remotely activate the microphone on your laptop? Yup, it was reported in the Wall Street Journal  the other day that the FBI's "Remote Operations Unit" can upload software over the internet onto your computer without you knowing it just like any other trojan.  Then when you get on the internet they can listen in to anything you're saying anytime they want to.  Oh, they say they won't do it unless they have a warrant from the court to perform the "surveillance".  But how do you know?  The whole idea is to do it without you knowing it's being done in the first place.

That's kinda scary huh?  But do you know what's a whole lot scarier?  Don't you think if these Remote Operations Unit fellas in the FBI can hack into the microphone on your laptop, they can just as easily hack into the webcam as well!!!

THINK ABOUT THAT.

And if you think I'm way out in left field all by myself, read this...
http://www.amazon.com/Threat-Vector-Jack-Ryan-Novels/dp/0399160450