(hugs Canada and my somewhat crappy extened coverage through work)

I think there have been four failed attempts for national health coverage in the US in the last 60 years.

If Roosevelt had survived the war, we'd probably have gotten national health insurance in 1946.

Damn you, Hitler!

Hitler killed Roosevelt?

I can totally imagine somebody saying this. Even in Hebrew, because we use the English words for "shell" and "script".

The other day when I was cursing my php & sql scripts, I had a wonder a bit moment about programmers in non-english speaking places. You pretty much need english, huh? Or do they translate it? I have no idea. I write very read-out-loudable code (because I can't not. Very literal) so I started mentally writing german and french sql queries. Then I remembered I had to debug the damn script and quit.

Kat, the fierce descriptor kinda nails the source of my discomfort (and kinda smushes it.) I'm feeling like being waaay under the radar right now, and my hair isn't. I'm in a sloppy-bun-tied-up-with-a-pencil mood and the hair isn't. Huh.

Hitler killed Roosevelt?

Well, the stress of the war probably shortened Roosevelt's life. (He died of a stroke in early '45, I think.)

We had a medcal savings account for a ong while and I liked that system. Now we have a group plan at work. I guess it's ok. We do work for doctors so we never actually pay them.

don't tell, but I'm going to sneak in Perkin's suitcase when she leaves for Galapagos

I am confused by the need to fly to Florida to go to the Galapagos. I thought they were off the West coast of South America? Is she taking the scenic route?

This is an interesting concept - a real estate site by the Expedia people that proposes to value your house. Except I tried mine and it told me what it was assessed for taxes at, which is, at a guess, at least $60K less than it would sell for. www.zillow.com

It also says my house is 2 br when it is 3, and says it has baseboard heating when it has radiators. Oh well.

Well, the stress of the war probably shortened Roosevelt's life.

OTOH, would FDR have run in 1940 (never mind 1944) if WWII hadn't occurred?

IMO, it's an open question. There was the two-term tradition. But at the same time, a number of people wanted FDR to run in 1940 because they didn't see any viable liberal candidate to carry on the New Deal and not because of the war. (Example: Harold Ickes was writing in his diary as early as 1938 that he wanted a third term for FDR for that very reason.)

(He died of a stroke in early '45, I think.)

Yes, April 12.

Job hunting gets more complicated.

the West coast of South America?

longitude(North America) != longitude(South America). Map.

longitude(North America) != longitude(South America).

NYC and Santiago, Chile are in the same time zone. Much of the Caribbean is an hour ahead of the U.S. East Coast.