Mal: Gotta say, doctor, your talent for alienatin' folk is near miraculous. Simon: Yes, I'm very proud.

'Safe'


Natter 58: Let's call Venezuela!  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Kathy A - Apr 17, 2008 7:30:06 am PDT #2373 of 10001
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil

One last point about the Frontline show:

The US spends 16% of GDP on health care, and I think the second-highest was like 8%? I forget exactly, but it was lower.

The reporter did highlight the fact that those who do health care on the cheap, such as Japan, are struggling to pay the bills. The government sets medical costs on an annual basis, and always lowballs the providers. The ones going bankrupt are the hospitals, not the patients.


tommyrot - Apr 17, 2008 7:34:04 am PDT #2374 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

Japan also has the problem of very low birthrates, so the % of the population who are retirees (and who need more healthcare) is high, and going to get much higher.

Of course, we're gonna have a similar problem with all the retiring baby boomers, but I don't think it'll be as bad.

Oh, and one Japanese solution to this problem? Healthcare robots! No, really.


Consuela - Apr 17, 2008 7:35:51 am PDT #2375 of 10001
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

The ones going bankrupt are the hospitals, not the patients.

Yeah, and they know it's going to be politically dangerous to raise the cost of treatment, but that's what they'll have to do. $10/night for a shared overnight stay in the hospital! $90/night for a private room!

On the other topic du jour, I grew up up the hill from an orchard and a dairy farm, but other than that, have no farm experience. My father's family had a livery stable in western Mass. around the turn of the 20th Century, but his dad was an engineer with Con Ed in NYC. I don't know what my mother's dad did, but they lived in Queens, so no rural background there, either, although her mother came from coal-mining country in Pennsylvania.

Lace-curtain Irish, all the way.


Jesse - Apr 17, 2008 7:37:28 am PDT #2376 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Hey, there's still a farm in Queens! [link]


Consuela - Apr 17, 2008 7:38:45 am PDT #2377 of 10001
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

Hah!

I must admit it's a nice side-effect of being home sick (::coughs up part of a lung::) to be able to chat with Buffistas during the work day instead of trying to threadsuck Natter at night.


lisah - Apr 17, 2008 7:40:37 am PDT #2378 of 10001
Punishingly Intricate

Dairy farmers' grandchildren represent!

My maternal grandparents owned a dairy store. So, they got the milk and whatnot from the dairy farms and delivered them to the people of Wilmington, DE. also, they made ice cream!


juliana - Apr 17, 2008 7:42:21 am PDT #2379 of 10001
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I miss them all tonight…

Mom grew up on a farm outside of Lockport, IL. She was in charge of the horses. The address of my house in AK was a Star Route (AK's version of Rural Route) for a very long time, and it's still surrounded by woods. She's farm folk, I'm wilderness folk. Well, wilderness folk that ran to a city as soon as she could and never looked back, but still.


lisah - Apr 17, 2008 7:42:53 am PDT #2380 of 10001
Punishingly Intricate

oh my gosh, I just did a google search for my grandparent's dairy and came across a board where people were talking about old Wilmington and there were posts about food nostalgia that mention the milkshakes from the dairy. now I'm crying.


sarameg - Apr 17, 2008 7:43:54 am PDT #2381 of 10001

Aw.


sumi - Apr 17, 2008 7:45:12 am PDT #2382 of 10001
Art Crawl!!!

I didn't grow up on a farm but the address we lived on in NJ was a RR.

(My dad grew up on a farm and he had a street address. Weird, no?)