Tuesday, June 30, 2009
BofA
Bank of America (like all banks!) is so annoying. I think they changed my account type to charge me a monthly maintenance fee on my checking account, but I don't know for certain. This Advantage fee showed up and the rep says it is waived for all these balance requirements that I do not (have never) maintained. I'm not paying $20/month for an account that allows the bank to have access to my money! And I'm not keeping lots of money in the bank. I got the account type changed to Access, which has all the features I thought I had, including maintenance fee waiver for direct deposit and savings account fee waiver for monthly transfer. It really sucks that we have to constantly be vigilant about new fees and charges on accounts. If I didn't have auto-pay on so many things, I would change accounts. But that's how they keep us....
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Climate Change Climate Change
WSJ article http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597505076157449.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
Opinion article states that the number of climate change skeptics is increasing. A lot of scientists worldwide disagree with the UN reports. Politicians worldwide are backing off expensive, economy changing policies until more proof is gathered. The EPA is not using current evidence, some say in order to promote the green initiatives. Interestingly, the 60s generation of "Question Authority" is swallowing Al Gore's science hook, line, and sinker.
"The collapse of the "consensus" has been driven by reality. The inconvenient truth is that the earth's temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of C02. Peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. A global financial crisis has politicians taking a harder look at the science that would require them to hamstring their economies to rein in carbon."
Dr. Ian Plimer, a well-known Australian geologist, earlier this year published "Heaven and Earth," a damning critique of the "evidence" underpinning man-made global warming. Paul Sheehan, a noted Australian columnist -- and ardent global warming believer -- in April humbly pronounced it "an evidence-based attack on conformity and orthodoxy, including my own, and a reminder to respect informed dissent and beware of ideology subverting evidence." Australian polls have shown a sharp uptick in public skepticism; the press is back to questioning scientific dogma; blogs are having a field day.
Why has it changed from global warming to climate change anyway?
Opinion article states that the number of climate change skeptics is increasing. A lot of scientists worldwide disagree with the UN reports. Politicians worldwide are backing off expensive, economy changing policies until more proof is gathered. The EPA is not using current evidence, some say in order to promote the green initiatives. Interestingly, the 60s generation of "Question Authority" is swallowing Al Gore's science hook, line, and sinker.
"The collapse of the "consensus" has been driven by reality. The inconvenient truth is that the earth's temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of C02. Peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. A global financial crisis has politicians taking a harder look at the science that would require them to hamstring their economies to rein in carbon."
Dr. Ian Plimer, a well-known Australian geologist, earlier this year published "Heaven and Earth," a damning critique of the "evidence" underpinning man-made global warming. Paul Sheehan, a noted Australian columnist -- and ardent global warming believer -- in April humbly pronounced it "an evidence-based attack on conformity and orthodoxy, including my own, and a reminder to respect informed dissent and beware of ideology subverting evidence." Australian polls have shown a sharp uptick in public skepticism; the press is back to questioning scientific dogma; blogs are having a field day.
Why has it changed from global warming to climate change anyway?
Friday, June 26, 2009
Health Care
I get a newsletter from Elements of Health, a place I went for a short time for chiropractic care (the only chiropractor I have seen that would even touch me, but also said he couldn't help my problem after a few sessions.) I love this: (excerpted and summarized in some parts)
"The current health care crisis is the result of a lie. That lie is that you will be healthy if you get the right health care. The current crisis has developed because of the emphasis on treatment of disease and the lack of preventing disease. Ultimately, the most powerful, predictable, and cost-effective solutions for the current health care crisis won't come from a restructured health care delivery system; it will come from us taking responsibility for ourselves through practicing self-care.
Since health has no inherent value, the only manifest value associated with health comes from the utility of possessing good health. The degree that you possess health is the degree to which you are able to do and experience what you want in life. The quality of your health directly related to the quality of your life.
Being healthy is a sound financial investment. It keeps the money that you would otherwise spend on health care, surgery, and drugs in your pocket to spend. Ultimately, self-care leads to a greater overall effect on long-term health outcomes than health care, regardless of the quality, and at far less cost.
The author suggests that primary care should be free and easily accessible, connected to public health programs. This would lead to a decreased need for secondary care, although not eliminating it; private insurance would be used for secondary care.
For additional information on self-care, see the newsletter at http://www.theelementsofhealth.com/The_Elements_of_Health/Newsletter_files/Health_Care_in_Crisis_-_Part_III.pdf
There are two previous articles; this is Part III of a series but can be read alone.
The part of self-care that I think most of us should be doing and probably aren't is "being present and doing nothing." My PT asked me about six months ago to do this daily for 5 minutes, and it is very difficult to turn everything off and do this. This not the time to go through your mental to-do list! I continue trying to be....
"The current health care crisis is the result of a lie. That lie is that you will be healthy if you get the right health care. The current crisis has developed because of the emphasis on treatment of disease and the lack of preventing disease. Ultimately, the most powerful, predictable, and cost-effective solutions for the current health care crisis won't come from a restructured health care delivery system; it will come from us taking responsibility for ourselves through practicing self-care.
Since health has no inherent value, the only manifest value associated with health comes from the utility of possessing good health. The degree that you possess health is the degree to which you are able to do and experience what you want in life. The quality of your health directly related to the quality of your life.
Being healthy is a sound financial investment. It keeps the money that you would otherwise spend on health care, surgery, and drugs in your pocket to spend. Ultimately, self-care leads to a greater overall effect on long-term health outcomes than health care, regardless of the quality, and at far less cost.
The author suggests that primary care should be free and easily accessible, connected to public health programs. This would lead to a decreased need for secondary care, although not eliminating it; private insurance would be used for secondary care.
For additional information on self-care, see the newsletter at http://www.theelementsofhealth.com/The_Elements_of_Health/Newsletter_files/Health_Care_in_Crisis_-_Part_III.pdf
There are two previous articles; this is Part III of a series but can be read alone.
The part of self-care that I think most of us should be doing and probably aren't is "being present and doing nothing." My PT asked me about six months ago to do this daily for 5 minutes, and it is very difficult to turn everything off and do this. This not the time to go through your mental to-do list! I continue trying to be....
Vet visit
Kachina and Jill went to the vet today for their annual checkup. Kachina is now 8.2 pounds, so she has gained a little weight since her thyroid procedure. She has to go back in August for lab work. Jill was 13.6 pounds, so she also gained weight. I'm going to have to make her exercise more! She also has cavities so it was recommended that she have her teeth cleaned and at least one pulled. It's a lot of money but I think I have to get it done. At least she's not in pain.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Propane accident
A co-worker (K) and a previous co-worker (J) were injured in an accident this past weekend. They were at K's house and they noticed a gassy smell from her grill. J told her not to check it, to step away, and at that time, it exploded. K has first degree burns on her face and arm. J is still in the hospital for second degree burns but he is expected to be released in the next day or two.
I did not know this, but apparently these accidents happen due to the heat here in Phoenix causing the tubing to deteriorate on grill equipment. Check your equipment at least annually to prevent any accidents!
I did not know this, but apparently these accidents happen due to the heat here in Phoenix causing the tubing to deteriorate on grill equipment. Check your equipment at least annually to prevent any accidents!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Anti-food?
With all the "documentaries" and books about the food industry, agriculture and farming, the obesity "epidemic" and fast-food, I found this opinion article to be an interesting point of view.
The author essentially raises the issue: why are we making food a political issue when so many worldwide (yes, even in the USA) are going hungry? We have reached 1 billion worldwide that are not getting enough to eat. We live in a great country where we have the resources and freedom to eat what and how much we want and many of us (okay, most of us!) choose to eat things that we know we "shouldn't." Having said that, I'm more concerned with the amount of food we throw away and waste, for various reasons, notably large portion sizes at restaurants and purchasing groceries with good intentions but no plan. Rather than politicizing food, maybe more effort could be spent on wellness plans as part of the "overhaul" of the health care system.
Since I personally can afford to eat what I want to eat, I feel it is somewhat my duty to eat better quality food to help bring the prices down for others over time. Yes, I am idealistic, but one person does make a difference. :)
The author essentially raises the issue: why are we making food a political issue when so many worldwide (yes, even in the USA) are going hungry? We have reached 1 billion worldwide that are not getting enough to eat. We live in a great country where we have the resources and freedom to eat what and how much we want and many of us (okay, most of us!) choose to eat things that we know we "shouldn't." Having said that, I'm more concerned with the amount of food we throw away and waste, for various reasons, notably large portion sizes at restaurants and purchasing groceries with good intentions but no plan. Rather than politicizing food, maybe more effort could be spent on wellness plans as part of the "overhaul" of the health care system.
Since I personally can afford to eat what I want to eat, I feel it is somewhat my duty to eat better quality food to help bring the prices down for others over time. Yes, I am idealistic, but one person does make a difference. :)
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Cattle and climate change
Letters, from the Independent (UK)
Ill-informed celebs blame my cattle for climate change
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
After checking my organic sheep and cattle this morning, listening to curlews and skylarks wheeling over their nests in the pastures my livestock maintain and watching the bumblebees working over the hay meadows which provide their winter fodder, I opened my Independent and choked on my porridge ("McCartney urges 'meat-free days' to tackle climate change, 15 June)
Here were a bunch of ill-informed, gas-guzzling, jet-setting "celebrities", who probably fly more often to New York or LA than I drive my low-emissions car to the local market town, attacking what I do. What prize patsies they make for the coal, power and aviation industries in passing the blame for global warming from fossil fuels to the eating of beef and lamb. We should be more discerning about the quality and sourcing of all our food. It is fundamentally dishonest to take the world's most shocking examples of deforestation, factory farming and water and energy inputs, then to imply that all meat is produced by means of a hypothetical mix of all of these unacceptable methods.
In reality over half of the UK's farmland is unsuitable for cropping, so centuries of pastoral farming are to a huge degree responsible for our finest landscapes and for locking up millions of tons of carbon in our grassland.
It is the rapid acceleration of carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels which poses a threat to the planet. In contrast, emissions from our cattle and sheep have been falling as their numbers have dwindled in recent decades.
I am serious about climate change, but because I am not a "celeb" I can only act locally by, for example, heating my home entirely with fallen wood I have cut myself, using a 100 per cent renewable electricity supplier and taking, at most, one (short-haul) flight per year. Whether through ignorance or cynicism, those promoting "Meat-free Monday" are abusing their high profiles while ignoring their own massive carbon footprints. They are reducing this critical issue to a dishonest farce.
Aidan Harrison
Rothbury, Northumberland
Ill-informed celebs blame my cattle for climate change
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
After checking my organic sheep and cattle this morning, listening to curlews and skylarks wheeling over their nests in the pastures my livestock maintain and watching the bumblebees working over the hay meadows which provide their winter fodder, I opened my Independent and choked on my porridge ("McCartney urges 'meat-free days' to tackle climate change, 15 June)
Here were a bunch of ill-informed, gas-guzzling, jet-setting "celebrities", who probably fly more often to New York or LA than I drive my low-emissions car to the local market town, attacking what I do. What prize patsies they make for the coal, power and aviation industries in passing the blame for global warming from fossil fuels to the eating of beef and lamb. We should be more discerning about the quality and sourcing of all our food. It is fundamentally dishonest to take the world's most shocking examples of deforestation, factory farming and water and energy inputs, then to imply that all meat is produced by means of a hypothetical mix of all of these unacceptable methods.
In reality over half of the UK's farmland is unsuitable for cropping, so centuries of pastoral farming are to a huge degree responsible for our finest landscapes and for locking up millions of tons of carbon in our grassland.
It is the rapid acceleration of carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels which poses a threat to the planet. In contrast, emissions from our cattle and sheep have been falling as their numbers have dwindled in recent decades.
I am serious about climate change, but because I am not a "celeb" I can only act locally by, for example, heating my home entirely with fallen wood I have cut myself, using a 100 per cent renewable electricity supplier and taking, at most, one (short-haul) flight per year. Whether through ignorance or cynicism, those promoting "Meat-free Monday" are abusing their high profiles while ignoring their own massive carbon footprints. They are reducing this critical issue to a dishonest farce.
Aidan Harrison
Rothbury, Northumberland
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)