5 (+1) Thoughts for November 6, 2015

1. The GOP debate is a reality TV show. Yesterday Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie were eliminated from the main stage debate while George Pataki, Lindsey Graham and Jim Gilmore were completely eliminated from all debates. They were cordially led to a back room where the last thing heard was a couple of Cybermen exclaiming, "You will be upgraded!"
2. You know, it may sometimes seem that conservatives are the only ones with fringe ideas about how things work, but it's not true; there are just as many fringe far left beliefs out there. For instance there is the fear of fluoride in water and vaccinations. The difference between conservative and liberal fringe ideas, is that liberal fringe ideas are driven by a fear of corporations taking advantage of people, while conservative fringe ideas are driven by a fear of losing God. Whereas one can overcome liberal fringe ideas without destabilizing one's makeup of the world, the same cannot be said of those who lose God.
3. It was supposed to shut down at 12:01 am, November 6, but at 3:03 am, Clear Wireless' (Sprint) WiMax still has everything turned on. I'm guessing no one actually wanted to have entire teams up, at work, pulling the plug -- either that or this injunction from Mobile Beacon / Mobile Citizen has kept Sprint from moving forward with the shut off. No matter, as the Comcast installer comes between 8 and 10 am, to open the community panel and plug in my cable. While I truly detest the idea of using Comcast, the other alternatives were more expensive and slower than the $29.99 (initial 12 month price) Comcast package with 25Mbps service, plus I got a refurb'd SB6141 for $30 via Woot (an open box refurb), which means that I can fully recoup that cost when I move on from Comcast.
4. The CDC announced that in the first half of this year, the uninsured rate dropped to 9.0%. A comment elsewhere spurred me to do some casual research. In 1963, prior to the creation of Medicare / Medicaid, the hospital uninsurance rate was 30%. In 1974, less than a decade, the uninsured rate was 18.3%.  30% --> 18.3% --> 9.0%. That's all you really need to know, when discussing the effectiveness of government mandates in health insurance.
5. Speaking of health insurance, open enrollment period has begun. Moda Health's prices have skyrocketed, so it's time to leave. As someone who loves to try paradigm shifts (such as my move to MetroMile per mile auto insurance), I'm considering moving to Zoom+. Their tiny clinics are everywhere, it seems, and if one is immobile, one can use video visits. I like experimentation that flips the old paradigm on its head, so I'm going to take a serious look at it.
6. This extra thought is because I left one off from my last post. :D If I haven't talked about IKEA food specials in Portland, lately, it's because they have apparently been eliminated. About the only thing to talk about, is the frozen yogurt flavor of the month: Pistachio. The next time I go to IKEA, I'll ask about why they got rid of the monthly food specials. A while back, I used to know someone who worked at IKEA Portland, and was at least partially responsible for the uniqueness of the store; she's long gone, and so it seems, her legacy, too.