A Curious Little Blog

According to many people, we are in the midst of a health care crisis. As evidence, people cite the large number of uninsured -- up to 43 million according to some estimates -- and the underlying problem of skyrocketing costs. Only higher education has increased at a rate comparable to health care in the past 30 years. But why has this happened? And does it constitute a crisis? Health care vs. health insurance Insurance exists to cover catastrophic costs that the insured would not otherwise be able to afford. If your house burns down, you are suddenly without anywhere to live and, in all probability, you still owe the mortgage on your house. If you die, you leave your family with burial expenses and the problem of making ends meet without your income. Home insurance and life insurance cover these two eventualities by paying a large sum in the event of tragedy, while collecting smaller amounts from a number of people who will never suffer the loss (but who cannot know this in adv...

Kids still played "Cowboys and Indians" when I was growing up. Westerns were not as popular then as they were in my parents' generation, but they were still common, especially on tv. (At one point in the early 1970's, almost all of the top prime-time shows were westerns.) I had a complete outfit, with boots, vest, chaps, and hat, and of course six-shooters without orange tips. On the other hand, I've never seen my kids or any of their friends play cowboys and Indians -- I think they would look at me funny if I suggested it to them. I suppose it's not pc to portray this sort of struggle, even in play. Heck, you can't even sit "Indian-style" anymore -- now it's "criss-cross applesauce." If I were an Indian, I would be happy if people acknowledged borrowing cultural things from me. I guess it would have to be "Native-American-style," however, which no one will bother to say (although it's only two syllables longer...

I have never found Chris Rock funny, but this video certainly is: It's actually not new, but it seems appropriate at this time. Professor Gates might have saved himself some trouble if he had watched it. I should add that I am not the adoring fan of police that I once was. Police are generally out to do their job, which is to enforce the law, but they are also in a position of power that it is easy to abuse. I don't think, however, that they systematically discriminate against blacks; as in the video, they discriminate against people who challenge them. And, although I don't always like it, I can't really blame them: the world is a dangerous place, and they do not want you to show any signs of putting them in danger. Since we're on the subject of racial profiling, it was heartening to see Harry Alford stand up to Barbara Boxer last week when she attempted to make an argument on the basis of race. In defending the Waxman-Markey bill, she put forward statements...

I admit to being something of a Marxist. I've always preferred Groucho. Karl wasn't funny at all -- much too long-winded. His only one-liners were "workers of the world, unite" and "religion is the opiate of the masses." But try using those at amateur hour and see if you get any laughs. I've seen almost all of the famous Marx brothers' movies, but I honestly can't remember much of them at all. (Two scenes that stick in my head: Harpo irritating the guy at the lemonade stand, and Groucho declaring war because of an imagined slight.) This weekend, I watched A Night at the Opera , which is considered one of their best. And, I'm sorry to say this, I didn't find it very funny. Am I losing my faith as a true Marxist? Honestly, I've always liked Groucho the best, Chico pretty well, and Harpo not at all -- I put up with him because I have to in order to see the others, but he's really irritating to me. I also don't care much...

I snore horrendously. At least, I used to before I got a CPAP, a machine that basically blows air up my nose so I can breathe while I sleep. Before the CPAP, I resorted to Breathe-Right strips. These are a little smaller than bandaids and about the same colour. Unlike bandaids, they are quite stiff. When you press one on across the bridge of your nose, it pulls up the outside of your nostrils so more air can get through. Do they work? Well, I got a CPAP, so obviously they weren't sufficient. On the other hand, I still use them regularly along with the CPAP, so I do think they help. For a long time Breathe-Right strips came in two sizes: small/medium, and medium/large. This is functionally the same thing as having small and large, but I suppose it allows people with large noses to console themselves that they are really medium. This changed recently, however; now it is small/medium and large. The small/medium now also says, "fits most people" or some such langu...

Since I just saw a news clip about President Obama's citizenship, I suppose the issue is still alive, and I'd like to add my two cents. I've read any number of conservative columnists saying that this is a dead end and that it is fodder for nut cases. I agree on both counts, but neither means that it isn't a real issue. It's probably a dead end because I can hardly imagine a circumstance in which Obama would be turned out of office, and it is fodder for nut cases because this is the sort of thing they thrive on. But I'm still not convinced that there isn't a problem here. I'm an historian, and I'm used to making historical judgements on the basis of less evidence than I have seen presented in favour of Obama's birth in Hawaii. If he had lived 200 years ago, I would be pretty well convinced that what he asserted is true. But this case is quite different, because Obama is alive and well, and could easily release his birth certificate and end ...

I often get gas at a station called Wawa, which is undoubtedly one of the dumbest names I've eve heard for a store. On top of the pumps, the store has been running ads for their no-fee ATMs. One of them shows a man saying, "I saved $175 last year," and the other shows a woman saying, "I saved $24.50 last month." The ad states at the bottom that this is based on an typical ATM surcharge of $1.75. I'm all for saving money on ATMs, but these amounts are ridiculous. $24.50 in one month? That's 14 withdrawals, or nearly once every two days. I can't imagine a circumstance in which you would need to withdraw cash every other day. Some people may get paid as frequently as once a week, so I could see an argument for that many withdrawals (I don't even average that much), but why every other day? Even the other example, $175 per year, is pretty bad -- 100 withdrawals means more often than once every 4 days, or about twice a week. If there is a rea...

My whole family likes Miniwheats. Tanya introduced me to them back when we first got married, and I am hooked. Now, original Shredded Wheat is one of the more disgusting culinary inventions that I know of. It's just a brick of knitted wheat-based fibers that look like they are ready to be made into a burlap sack, and taste that way. They tried to improve on this at one point by making a cereal called Miniwheats -- not the same as the present version, and I don't even think you can find them anymore. These were simply smaller bricks of unflavoured wheat fiber, each one still too big to fit in one's mouth. Then someone at Kellogg's got a brilliant idea: why don't we make them so small that you can actually spoon them into your mouth like other cereal. Genius! They called the new cereal "Bite-sized Miniwheats." And then they went totally crazy and put sugar on them. I don't know why this took so long, since every other cereal is full of sugar....

I just bought some microwave popcorn. I got the one that says, "No Diacetyl Added," because the last thing I want is popcorn with extra diacetyl. Yuck! I'm surprised the government hasn't banned it yet. By the way, uh, what is diacetyl? Ah, yes, consulting Wikipedia, I find that diacetyl -- also known as "biacetyl" -- is the chemically known to scientists as butanedione. It is a byproduct of fermentation, and, as such, occurs naturally in alcoholic beverages; it is also present in butter, and is therefore used as flavouring in artificial butter products. Apparently, people who work in factories that manufacture artificial butter flavouring can get a nasty lung disease from inhaling this chemical over a period of years. The only consumer ever to be diagnosed with the same lung disease ate two bags of microwave popcorn per day for ten years; the air in his kitchen had levels of diacetyl comparable to that in factories. I can therefore eat diacetyl-laced ...

An article in the Wall Street Journal today goes a long way to explaining Sarah Palin's resignation in terms that not only make sense, but actually agree with why she said she did it. She was being harassed by so many Freedom of Information Act requests and trivial ethics investigations (according to one article I read, she had been acquitted on all 15 of them so far) that she didn't have time to do her job. Resigning was therefore the best thing for Alaska, even though she knew it would hurt her politically. I can't prove this is correct, of course, but it fits both with the facts and with what she said in her resignation speech; and, by Ockham's Razor, it seems like the best explanation until someone can prove something different. Even otherwise supportive conservatives have been critical of her decision to step down, and Rich Lowry goes so far as to say that her stated reason -- it was for the good of Alaska -- is absurd. Mr. Lowry should be ashamed of himself,...

I can see why Republicans want to get rid of Mark Sanford: he's an embarrassment. But I can't see why Democrats would have any objection to what he did. After all, it was just about sex. (And love, and marriage, and faithfulness, and some other things, but nothing about government.) I can see, however, why Sanford would not resign. A better question would be, why would he? If he resigns, he admits that he screwed up in a big way, and his political career is over. If he doesn't, maybe his career is over, but maybe it isn't. Already his story has been pushed off the front page by Sarah Palin's resignation, and who knows what else will happen between now and 2010 or 2012. People have a way of forgetting things. I don't mean anyone will forget his affair entirely, but its importance will surely diminish over time. By 2012, Republicans might be begging Sanford to run for president. They might not, I admit; I'm just saying it is a possibility. If he f...

The primary school across the street has a sign up that reads, "Have a safe summer." Now, I've got nothing against safety, but is that the best thing they could wish you? How about a happy summer, or a good summer, or a fulfilling summer? Somewhere along the line, safety became the highest good (especially for children), and everything else is a matter of personal choice. The state won't do anything to keep kids in traditional two-family households, but God forbid if you should fail to strap them into a carseat until they are 7 years old, or let them jump on a trampoline without proper safety precautions, or try to let them play with any of a vast array of toys that have been recalled because they pose some sort of safety risk. Just to be clear: I don't think the government should be in the business of telling families how to raise kids. If parents want to get divorced, I think it is unfortunate, but I don't oppose government sanctioning of it. What I d...

If people think that resigning from the governorship hurt Palin's chances for the presidency in 2012, I agree with them. That was my first thought when I heard about her resignation. If people think that Sarah Palin resigned from the governorship in order to run for president in 2012, however, I think they're nuts. With all the abuse she (and especially her family) has taken in the last year, I don't find it in the least bit remarkable that she would want out of public office. I am disappointed, I admit: she is the most remarkable conservative politician I have ever seen, with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan, and I had high hopes for her future. I'm not convinced that she's out of politics forever, but this move certainly puts a future presidential run further into the future. But why assume that that is her goal? Journalists don't seem to understand that Sarah Palin is a person before she is a politician. She hasn't been training for politi...