09:33 – The new walk is finished, and Barbara is delighted with it. It looked like it would rain all yesterday afternoon and evening, but all we got was a couple of minutes of very light sprinkle several hours after they poured the walk, enough to dampen the street slightly but not to wet things under the trees.
With the two conflicting court decisions yesterday, it looks like ObamaCare is headed back to SCOTUS. Given that SCOTUS has ruled several times recently against Obama’s attempts to legislate, things look pretty dim for ObamaCare subsidies in the 36 states that don’t operate their own health care exchanges. I saw a moronic AP article in the paper this morning that said health care premiums on the federal exchange would increase by 76%. What they really meant to say–at least if they understood basic arithmetic–is that premiums on the federal exchange will more than quadruple. The average policy holder on the federal exchange is paying 24% of the cost of the policy out-of-pocket, with the subsidy paying the remaining 76%. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. SCOTUS has no sympathy for Obama’s attempts to usurp the right of Congress to legislate. There’s no chance that Obama can push his changes through Congress right now, and things will only get harder for him after the elections. I think Obama’s best option at this point would be to assassinate the four or five more conservative justices and appoint progressives in their places.
I think some would argue that Obama has accomplished his mission. The federal government has its foot in the door when it comes to socialized medicine and is now firmly on the path to single-payer health care. Congress will pass bill after bill over the next few decades to “fix” Obamacare and every “fix” will lead us further down that path. The goal all along was to get some socialized health care legislation passed while Obama had the political momentum to do so and then worry about making it work later.
As I’ve said many times, I have no objection to universal health care if it’s done right. That would mean establishing clinics to provide 3rd- or 4th-rate health care to anyone who walked in the door, and without charge. That could be done pretty cheaply–mostly RNs and PAs rather than MDs, only generic drugs, no expensive equipment, etc.–and would still deliver excellent results.
In return, the poor people who would use these clinics would not be able to sue them or their staffs for any reason at all, and would be forbidden to use hospitals and emergency rooms that serve people who can pay.
“I think Obama’s best option at this point would be to assassinate the four or five more conservative justices and appoint progressives in their places.”
Or he could try this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Procedures_Reform_Bill_of_1937
Court-packing isn’t going to happen.
Court-packing isn’t going to happen.
Why not?
I think that Obama’s goal is to extend Medicare to all inhabitants of the USA. My goal is to extend Medicare to all citizens of the USA.
My friend’s son is a missionary in Mexico. He has four kids and they are on Medicaid here in Texas. He just runs back across the border for medical care. His son had a malignant tumor wrapped around his windpipe that they just removed at Texas Children’s hospital in the Houston medical center. Medicaid paid for it all at the finest children’s hospital in the world.
In return, the poor people who would use these clinics would not be able to sue them or their staffs for any reason at all, and would be forbidden to use hospitals and emergency rooms that serve people who can pay.
Can I use both if I can pay? I used the medical clinic in our HEB grocery store the last time I had a cold. I saw an RN and she saw me. My out of pocket cost was $30. She ran a quick flu test, said no flu and said no bacteriological infection. Then she said no drugs and bye, “you’ll live”. That is all that I wanted to know.
And at some point, poor people do need an ER. Heart attacks and cancer need specialized care that is horribly expensive.
I also want to privatize the VA system and throw the vets into Medicare. My father is law is doing much better since he left the VA and is getting treatment through private doctors and hospitals.
And I have no problem with them getting that specialized care as long as they pay for it. If they can’t or won’t, it’s cheap to tell them, “Sorry, but you’re gonna die.”
“Sorry, but you’re gonna die.”
Well that pretty much applies to everyone I know, even myself. The difference is how and when, some with money able to extend the deadline.
And at some point, poor people do need an ER. Heart attacks and cancer need specialized care that is horribly expensive.
And I have no problem with them getting that specialized care as long as they pay for it. If they can’t or won’t, it’s cheap to tell them, “Sorry, but you’re gonna die.”
We’ve got to agree to disagree on this. I think that as a society that we can do this in the USA. BTW, just to be clear, I want single payer, not single provider. I suspect that my friends grandson’s surgery at Texas Childrens was over $100,000 as it was a surgery in three parts over two weeks. The tumor actually wound itself up into his sinuses and had an artery in it that had to be handled very carefully as he had 8 pints of blood in the first surgery due to bleeding. All paid for by Medicaid as his son just has very little income due to the fact that he is a missionary.
I do think that we can pay for this by expanding the Medicare salary tax from 1.45% for the employer and 1.45% for the employee to 5% or 6%. With no income limit on the tax just like it is now. I am not sure what the actual percentage needs to be, it might be as high as 8%. I am hoping that it is not 10%.
And, we get to fold most of the Medicaid into Medicare by doing this. Except for the portion of Medicaid that pays for destitute little old ladies and men in nursing homes.
‘And I have no problem with them getting that specialized care as long as they pay for it. If they can’t or won’t, it’s cheap to tell them, “Sorry, but you’re gonna die.”’
I don’t mind if they get care from charity. Either people who want to help them can pay or medical staff who care for them for free, as happened in Queensland until 1973. They just shouldn’t have an entitlement to it.
“We’ve got to agree to disagree on this. I think that as a society that we can do this in the USA.”
Please do so yourself if you wish, but keep your hands off my money.
They just shouldn’t have an entitlement to it.
You’ve hit the nail on the head here in the USA, Mr. Miles. The influx of illegals and the libturds attempt to legitimize them will change the our country into a third world country. We simply can’t support millions more of no skills “citizens”. Obuttwad is being sneaky trying to send them all over the country. Can you imagine if Texas had to suck up 100,000+ more “citizens” who don’t work, use the emergency rooms for health care, etc. Gov. Perry would send the entire Texas Nat. Guard out in “lock and load”. What else can a Gov. do? A single state can’t support all these “citizens” so secretly fly, bus, train them all over the US. You know, so everybody gets a piece of the pie. Send them all to Maine to Stephen King’s front door to squat.
It’s been my observation that the bleeding hearts who want to help those who won’t help themselves want to do it with other people’s money. I have no objection to the bleeding hearts digging deep in to their own pockets but leave me out if it please.
Lynn, the problem with expanding Medicare and Medicaid is they don’t even cover cost of services provided. Commercial insurance pays 125% of what Medicare graciously allows. Medicare pays 80% of what they allow. Medicaid is even worse.
At a previous job, I dealt with a medical practice where Medicare literally paid 10% to 25% of the amount the practice billed. Literally this practice lost money on supplies billed for Medicare patients. Since Medicare patients made up half the patients in the practice the doctor did the only sensible thing to do: he retired!
Well, I don’t believe we should have any government at all, but if we must it should be kept trimmed back to a minimum. And by minimum I mean certainly less than 1% of what we have now.
In the context of actually having a government, I support providing clinics that provide only the cheapest level of care that is sufficient to keep poor people from picking up torches and pitchforks and storming the wealthier areas. And even then I’d prefer to shoot them if they come after me rather than paying any tribute at all.
Well, I don’t believe we should have any government at all, but if we must it should be kept trimmed back to a minimum. And by minimum I mean certainly less than 1% of what we have now.
Wow, that is so far past the typical Libertarian that Anarchist is probably a good description of the philosophy. I thought that you were joking about previously, I see you were not. BTW, I’m not hating, I’m just noting.
This medical stuff is tough to deal with. Most people do not have the money to cover any procedure much less a very complicated surgery like my friend’s grandson had. Yet, if you have facilities and do not allow the general populace to use them then they will come with torches and pitchforks.
I believe that a public and a private healthcare system will work in the USA but people stuck in public system must have hope of getting treatment.
Lynn, the problem with expanding Medicare and Medicaid is they don’t even cover cost of services provided. Commercial insurance pays 125% of what Medicare graciously allows. Medicare pays 80% of what they allow. Medicaid is even worse.
I know this. Making Medicare the single provider in the USA will require that being fixed. Medicare is currently paying 25% of the total medical bills in the USA for 1/6th of the population. Note that if you go on SS disability then that throws you into Medicare also. That is why I say that the Medicare salary tax for everyone and the employer / employee tax will need to jump by 500% instead of 400%.
“Sorry, but you’re gonna die.”
Well that pretty much applies to everyone I know, even myself. The difference is how and when, some with money able to extend the deadline.
Yes, good medical care can extend that date by 20 years for most people. Then, you are going to die, it is a certainty.
I think Obama’s best option at this point would be to assassinate the four or five more conservative justices and appoint progressives in their places.
…
Court-packing isn’t going to happen.
Harry Reid sorta did this in the DC circuit, which just heard the Helbig case and killed subsidies for Federal exchange Obamacare policies. The Republicans had been filibustering the President’s appointments to the DC circuit, as they were very liberal big government judges. The circuit had one more (R) judge than (D) judge and there were 3 or 4 openings being filibustered. The DC circuit is important as it is the main place where regulatory appeals are heard. Reid decided to break the logjam and deployed the “nuclear option”, killing the filibuster for non-Supreme court appointments.
The curse of my life: people think I’m kidding when I’m completely serious, and think I’m completely serious when I’m kidding. Of course that makes me a dangerous poker player.
No, I don’t want the government doing anything for anyone. If someone wants police protection or fire protection, let them pay for it privately. Same thing with medical care, etc. etc. If they can’t or won’t pay for it, they don’t get it. It’s as simple as that.
The problem, which you statists seem to ignore, is that it’s not possible to limit the size of government. Tom Jefferson and his friends made a valiant effort, and look how long that lasted. If you’re going to accept having government at all, you have to recognize that it’s going to metastasize like any cancer, and spread until it eventually kills the host.
Note that if you go on SS disability then that throws you into Medicare also.
You go on Medicaid until 65, then on Medicare, with Medicaid picking up the 20% copay. (I have a brother-in-law on SS disability who has Down syndrome.)
A large issue is how to care for the young. A 3 year old child isn’t responsible in even the tiniest way for their lot in life. So, when that child is injured who cares for them? When that child has cancer who cares for them? If that child is mentally disabled who cares for them through childhood and until the natural end of their life? As a civilized society we are obligated by our humanity to make sure these young innocent children don’t die or live tortuous existences because they cannot access our world leading medical care. Most people will agree that children should have access to the best medical care regardless of their parents’ situations.
Now comes the slippery slope. If we provide for a child’s welfare and we acknowledge the mountain of psychological and sociological evidence that the environment that child is raised in has a tremendous affect on that child’s wellbeing, health, education, and future prospects, then do we as a society also bear the burden of providing medical and welfare services to the child’s parents? What is the alternative? Condemn the child to poverty, malnutrition, and whatnot because his/her parents are losers? Is that the child’s fault? Do we take the child away from those parents and foster them out? The foster system cannot currently handle the load of abused children let alone adding indigent children to the mix. Do we put them in state homes so they can grow up without human attachment that only parents can truly provide? Do we let bureaucracy be these children’s parent? So, we support the parents too.
When does that support end? Age 18? Age 25? Does it continue through college? When do we shove them out the front door with a suitcase in their hand and holler “have a nice life!”
What about the opposite end of the age spectrum. What do we do with those too old to care for themselves? Are they any less of a burden to our society and does our society have any less of a responsibility to them than small children? They can hardly be held to blame for simply aging. Nor can they be held responsible for the decisions they make during the mental decline that so often comes with aging.
So, where does this leave us? Only mentally-capable childless adults between the ages of 25 and 65 are responsible for themselves? All others get a social welfare crutch?
Relevant to a discussion here a few days ago:
The Progressives: Destroying Western Civilization for the 1%
(Not the the 1% that you’re probably thinking of.)
I tend to come down more on Bob’s side as regards government, and would like to see it broken down drastically, to town-meeting size, whether in rural areas or in all the separate neighborhoods of the cities. I think the ideal political community is probably around 5,000-10,000, tops, and town meetings can certainly handle that, in conjunction with privatized security/common defense needs.
But I also see Chad’s point insofar as having a wide safety net for people in our society who cannot take care of themselves and are thus utterly vulnerable to whatever; money now spent on our endless wars and bailing out the banksters and running a disastrous public education system could be better spent on that net. Rather than $3 billion a year to both Israel and Egypt, maybe $3 billion to providing basic needs of those who have no other recourse. More money could come from cracking down on the massive fraud and cost overruns and the greed-head lawyers, lobbyists and healthcare execs.
I don’t think anarchism can work, certainly not in a complicated society like ours. Libertarianism, sure. The only examples of working anarchist societies I’ve ever heard of is medieval Ireland.
Medieval Ireland? No thanks.
From that link on the Progs:
“… a Martian watching these productions would reasonably think that about 40-50% of the population is homosexual. Our Martian would also conclude that major metropolitan police forces in the US and the UK are composed of about 60% women coppers who can whoop a man with no trouble at all.”
I’ve made this point repeatedly over the years; space aliens watching our media for the past forty years would conclude that, yeah, half the West is gay, three-quarters are minorities and it’s a deuced odd mystery as to why wimmenz ain’t runnin’ the show completely, as their opposite gender counterparts are clearly several orders of magnitude dumber. We also, down here, spend almost all our brain-wave time on sex, making more money and buying more useless shit, and wars….oh wait…
“…working anarchist societies I’ve ever heard of is medieval Ireland.”
Last time I checked, society in medieval Ireland was composed of warring tribes, who changed alliances and loyalties like the drop of a hat, ditto in Scotland. But they had leaders, and warlords, and chieftans, and councils, so to me that is not anarchy. Maybe it is compared to the Tudor monarchies and secret police, armies and navies, and I’m sure many of them thought so at the time. To me anarchy is zero government, zero State. I do not subscribe to that but am damn close.
More crazy shit from our gummint. Really, $17 billion for job training. $1.4 billion just to make it work. What skills are being sold, programmer (lol it’s so easy as Mr. Lynn and Mr. Brad and Mr. SteveF etc know), web designer, burger flipper, paralegal training for crimmigrants? $17 billion! Judas Priest! Maybe I can sign up for an online “become a surgeon” course. Geez. What a waste of money. All from us taxpayers.
Hey, that’s how I got my MD and both of my Ph.D.’s
That has always bugged me as a man, husband, and father. I am tired of men (especially family men) being portrayed as bumbling idiots in almost every commercial on TV. Like if it wasn’t for my wife’s firm guidance I wouldn’t even be able to wipe my own ass.
Given that SCOTUS has ruled several times recently against Obama’s attempts to legislate, things look pretty dim for ObamaCare subsidies in the 36 states that don’t operate their own health care exchanges.
BTW, this is not the total story. Apparently, the number of inhabitants? citizens? on the rolls in Medicaid here in the Great State of Texas has doubled since the federal obamacare website started up. Apparently the obamacare website will evaluate the visitors for Medicaid also and set them up for the process. Not bad if you ask me as this is how my friend’s son got his four kids on Medicaid.
Also, Texas is one of the states that does not have a state obamacare website. Nor did we get the expanded Medicare benefits because Rick Perry, our longest serving governor ever, says that they are not funded after three years and would be more than 10% of our state budget if the federal subsidy is not continued.
OK, that was funny. The spell checker in FireFox is highlighting “obamacare” and suggesting to replace it with “macabre”.
Hmmm. I remember many years ago almost submitting a request for proposal in which WordPerfect had automatically replaced every instance of “Unisys” with “Anuses”. Which actually wasn’t far from the truth.
I also remember that incredibly stupid commercial that Unisys ran right around the time of the merger. It showed two numeral ones merging, with the voiceover saying something like “Not doubled, but raised to the power of two”. I pointed out to a Burroughs guy that 1 raised to the power of two was still one. Moron marketing guys, no doubt.
“…both of my Ph.D.’s…”
Great, now we gotta call him Dr. Bob, instead of Mr. Bob….
Of the jobs mentioned by Mr. Atoz, I’d take the paralegal training and do a lot of it pro bono, too. Just make enough for the three squares and a cot.
“I am tired of men (especially family men) being portrayed as bumbling idiots in almost every commercial on TV. Like if it wasn’t for my wife’s firm guidance I wouldn’t even be able to wipe my own ass.”
One presumes that one learns how to do that from one’s mom first, not one’s wife…just sayin…
But yeah, it gets really effin tiresome after a while; I remember the Cosby show did a lot of that schtick, like Bill the M.D. is a dumbo klutz half the time but “Claire” the brilliant and gorgeous lawyer is a genius at everything. Archie was also the dummy on that show and everyone else was “correct” and kinda smart, even Edith. And that crap was what, thirty years ago? As husband, stepdad, etc. here, they couldn’t nail me for being a dummy and klutz so I sometimes got the “asshole” designation, due to my ability to pronounce the word “no” once in a while.
And as a recovering English major, I can’t even begin to fathom how the FF spellcheck somehow equates “obamacare” with “macabre.”
Funny also how the United States of Amnesia has forgotten HillaryCARE, which was stillborn. Meanwhile this heaving mass of enpurpled Leviathan blubber is bouncing around out on the OB table and about to bounce right off onto the floor…
Nor did we get the expanded Medicare benefits because Rick Perry, our longest serving governor ever, says that they are not funded after three years and would be more than 10% of our state budget if the federal subsidy is not continued.
Sigh. ^Medicare^Medicaid
Wow, Medicaid is now one third of the Texas state budget.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Even-without-expansion-Texas-Medicaid-rolls-rise-5624073.php
United States of Amnesia
Jeff Foxworthy has us pegged. Guys want a beer and to see something naked.
I’m not sure what women want and might be afraid to know.
Sandra Bullock has allegedly said something like:
“Women just dress up for other women. Men just want to see us naked.”
Amen Sandy… 🙂
Fifteen or so years ago I came across paired How to Impress a Woman/How to Impress a Man
The Woman one was about two dozen bullet points: Bring flowers, Tell her she looks wonderful, etc.
The Man one was one bullet point: Show up naked
I later saw similar, but the Man side had a second bullet point: Bring beer
More great nooz from WSJ squirts to my iPhone!
China’s economy is UP, UP, UP, and doing SWELL!
(‘efforts to stimulate the economy paid off’, natch)
Gee we could do that here, couldn’t we? Oh wait…
Hey we’ll just drill baby drill and frack baby frack and keep printing thousands of tons of worthless fiat currency and life will be great! Hell, we can take in millions and millions more mestizos y mestizas and good solid peasant folk from around the world now! And we should! ’cause Nancy Cardinal Pelosi sez we should treat the chillens like the Baby Jesus and the author of “Cujo” sez likewize and even Glenn Beck is on board with this now!
They do it out of love…they do it out of love…
It seems to me that there’s an old fashioned solution to this problem…
And why does it take 25 years? They must have spent a motza feeding and containing this guy.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-24/arizona-inmate-takes-nearly-two-hours-to-die-in-execution/5620430
When we know we have the right person for the right capital crime, let it commence within 24 hours of sentence passed, as in Ye Olden Times.
Meanwhile release the majority of inmates who are nonviolent and in our vast prison industrial system for nonviolent offenses, thus probably closing down about two-thirds of our prisons and jails.
And end The War on Some Drugs once and for all.
Quickest and most efficient means of execution that I know of is still the guillotine. If it is ever brought back it will be….cutting-edge….a sharp lesson…somebody stop me…
Wow, good discussions. I’m just catching up after a couple days of “doing stuff” that ate all my time. Just this, perhaps, on the subject of medical care. We took our dog in for surgery two weeks ago. He had a tumor on his side, benign, just a 3 pound pile of fat stuffed under the muscles.
The surgeon was kinda bored that day, and spent lots of time talking to us. He mentioned that everything they used was pretty much identical to what is currently in use on humans. Total bill for the surgery, including preliminary tests, anesthesia, operation, and a few hours of post-operative care was under $1000. Imagine the equivalent costs for a person.
There is every reason that RBT’s simple clinics could work – they needn’t even be “third rate” – they could handle all standard medical issues with no problem at all. The only reasons that they don’t already exist in every shopping center are (a) bureaucracy/regulation and (b) liability. Solve those problems, and the problem of health care access will solve itself.
Of course, I don’t know any country that has managed that. Medicine for people is just sooooo much more important/difficult/whatever. Point out to anyone involved in it, from politician to doctor, that veterinary medicine is nearly as capable, a hell of a lot cheaper, and maybe worth emulating. Watch them get all insulted…
On a completely unrelated note, I’ve been reading Jerry’s columns since the Byte days, more than 30 years now. Lately, reading them is somewhere between sad and frustrating. Nowadays, every day is “devoured by locusts”. The columns are filled with personal anecdotes of no consequence (losing the remote control for his hearing aid), or else he simply quotes email from his readers. There’s not much in the way of original analysis anymore. I suppose it’s the price of getting older – we’ll all be there soon enough…
I meant “3rd- or 4th-rate” literally. I doubt any of my readers has ever gotten what I’d define as 1st-rate medical care. You have to be in the 0.1% to afford that. We get 2nd-rate care if we’re lucky, 3rd-rate if we’re not.
I don’t think Jerry is up to intensive writing any more, and hasn’t been for quite a while. It’s been at least ten years since Jerry and I talked seriously about me writing the fourth book in his Janissaries series, which he’d kind of roughed out and had written maybe 25% of. I really wanted to do it, but I simply couldn’t justify the time it would take.
“I’ve been reading Jerry’s columns since the Byte days, more than 30 years now.”
Ditto; I remember devouring his articles on modifying and accessorizing the old DEC Rainbow PC, which I had at the time, but I never did get around to doing much of it; prices back then were crazy. I’ve only been looking at his stuff sporadically the past couple of years and noticed some of the same things brad did.
Those years have gone by in a flash, too; I also regularly read the articles by the late Terry Shannon, a.k.a. Charlie Matco, and was myself a member of both DECUS and the old Boston Computer Society. It was fun back then and not so much now.
Ah, the good old days… Once in a while it’s just as much fun as it used to be. However, the sheer complexity we have now is kind of overwhelming.
Just as an example, my “big” project last year was setting up a new web server on AWS. This included getting the web projects themselves set up, everything goes by https, so I needed certificates. Hooked up the code to GitHub, so that deploying changes is as simple as doing a pull. Automatic backups of the database, which are synchronized elsewhere. I was quite impressed with myself when it was all done.
Sometime, maybe next year or the year after, I will need to change or add something. By then I’ll have mucked around with too many other things, and won’t remember how it all hangs together. Likely Amazon will have gratuitously changed their interface, and anyway the Ubuntu version will be out of date. That will all just be frustrating – days of re-learning to do a couple minutes of work.
Vaguely related: Has any of you gotten seriously into IPv6 yet? Our firewall recently died, and it was the last piece of equipment we had that wasn’t IPv6 capable. Now that the new one is, I figure I ought to set it up. I know the basics, but I don’t know the details well enough to set up a network efficiently and securely, especially given that I do need a few ports open for various services; we use VoIP, etc, etc.. What kind of learning curve am I looking at here – is it a day, or a month?
IPv4 has had the Chicken Littles of the networking world screaming, “The sky is falling!” for years now. If you had asked me 10 years ago I would have sworn EVERYTHING that was Internet routable would be converted to IPv6 by now. Most everything is still IPv4. I don’t even think I’ve seen an IPv6 address in the wild.
http://test-ipv6.com/
I doubt any of my readers has ever gotten what I’d define as 1st-rate medical care.
I do. My internist graduated from a top 10 medical school and did a top 5 residency. My mom has. Her bypass was done by one of the top 2 or 3 cardiac surgeons in the world. Of course, living in a city with the world’s largest medical center helps. It also helps to have a wife that’s an MD (top 10 medical school, top 5 residency) to figure out which doctors to use, and more importantly which to avoid.
I really wanted to do it, but I simply couldn’t justify the time it would take.
You might now if Jerry agreed to publish direct to ebook format, assuming the rights aren’t tied to previous publishers. He’s got a pretty good reader base and I’d expect it to sell well.
Maybe. Jerry has already gotten his rights back on several titles and self-pubbed them. Still, this is one of Jerry’s minor series. I’d guess that it might sell 50,000 copies, eventually. Assuming $2.99 price and $2.00 royalty per copy, that’s only $100,000, split 50/50 or $50K each. Probably 90% of that would be in the first year (even ebooks sell mostly when they’re first released), so call it $45K each. And I’m guessing it might take me nine months to write, during which my real business would suffer badly.
I’d call what you’re describing 2nd-rate medical care.
First-rate medical care is what Obama, senior politicians, and the 0.1% get. You don’t go to the doctor; the doctor comes to you. You don’t spend a week in the hospital after surgery. The hospital comes to you, setting up at your home. You don’t have to put up with other patients being around. If necessary, they’ll close the wing for you. You don’t wait for a doctor or doctor(s). They wait around for you.
First-class medical care isn’t just about top-notch doctors and treatments and equipment. It’s about minimizing inconvenience for the patient as well. That’s why only the 0.1% can afford it.
I haven’t yet seen an IPv6 address in the wild, either; I took a three-hour webinar thing months ago via M$ on it but have forgotten just about all of it; no use, you lose. Cisco has a book on “IPv6 Fundamentals,” which I have here.
Here’s what I got from Lynn’s test link:
“No IPv6 address detected [more info]
Good news! Your current configuration will continue to work as web sites enable IPv6.
You appear to be able to browse the IPv4 Internet only. You will not be able to reach IPv6-only sites.
Your DNS server (possibly run by your ISP) appears to have no access to the IPv6 Internet, or is not configured to use it. This may in the future restrict your ability to reach IPv6-only sites. [more info]”
Agreed on Bob’s definition of first-class med care; we have zero clue about it at this level; the sultans and presidents and monarchs get it, plus the really wealthy.
I just sat a half hour at the VA waiting for today’s appointment, which isn’t bad at all; but we hump from the parking lots into a building and hump down a pretty long hallway and then into a small elevator or up two flights of stairs. I’m sure retired officers get a higher level somewhere else but I’m just as OK hanging with the other enlisted scum. Many of them far older than me, from the Korean and Good War capers; I figure if they can hump it, I sure can.
Couple years ago I busted a gut laughing in one of the elevators; I was in there with an old guy wearing a WWII vet hat and his nurse and I said, brilliantly, “World War II, eh?” The guy sez “Yah, I signed up as a young kid in early ’45; Hitler heard I was coming and committed suicide!”
I’m sure retired officers get a higher level somewhere else
As I posted earlier Mr. OFD, most retired officers are in the “fuck off” category with VA medical. Pension is too much so if you work at all your income puts you in the “fuck off” category. Of course, there are plenty of officers who started enlisted and retired at lower ranks and don’t have as much income. When I “retire retire” and start getting SS, I probably will still make too much to be in Category 1 or 2. Medicare plus Tricare for Life at that point.
I’m 59 and want to start a Python programming course. Am I too old based on above Old Jerry Pournelle discussions. It’s a 3 prong course I backed on Kickstarter for Python programming and PP for the web.
Speaking of Kickstarter, I just backed Kraut Source and will try making my own kraut.
Only thing I’ve “backed” so fah is a cop-block enterprise, run outta Baltimore; they film outta-control abusive thug-cops and publicize the stuff; there are similar outfits all over the country now; but that was a while ago.
I’m doing online course work now on CCNA and MCSA via Udemy and Professor Messer. Not bad vids and outlines and cram stuff. Also building a CCNA lab here but we gotta run juice up to the attic and also get better ventilation up there.
My two AT&T DSL modems at the office support IPv6 just fine. But I have IPv6 turned off on my Peplink 30 aggregator so nothing gets in. Or out.
If IPv6 had NAT then I would enable it but for now, disabled. It is not a safe world out there and not having a NAT box between me and the world is scary. Too many bad actors out there!
“Too many bad actors out there!”
Hey, I resemble that!
OFD wrote:
Couple years ago I busted a gut laughing in one of the elevators; I was in there with an old guy wearing a WWII vet hat and his nurse and I said, brilliantly, “World War II, eh?” The guy sez “Yah, I signed up as a young kid in early ’45; Hitler heard I was coming and committed suicide!”’
My father said the same sort of thing. He was a trainee radio operator in the RAAF, serving in Britain. He completed his training the day after the war in Europe ended. He always said that the Nazis heard he was coming and gave up.
Fortunately he didn’t get shipped out to the far east.
IPv6 doesn’t have NAT, that’s true. NAT is a really simple way to provide “block everything” security. An IPv6 firewall is supposed to inspect the traffic and decide what goes through and what doesn’t. This is precisely the point where I worry that I might set things up insecurely.
However, NAT create problems as well. For example, with our VoIP, I have to ensure that voice connections only ever use one of our two Internet connections. Otherwise a call may be negotiated over one external address, and the voice data may then start flowing over the other. But the firewall has only created a NAT mapping over the connection used to initiate the call, so the voice data is then rejected, because the firewall doesn’t know what to do with it. At least, that’s how I understand the problem, and our VoIP provider confirmed this.
With IPv6 this problem ought to go away. Since our telephone system would use its real IPv6 address when communicating with the world, it wouldn’t matter which internet connection is used – it’s just a choice of routes, like any other choice of routes in the Internet.
IPv6 doesn’t have NAT, that’s true. NAT is a really simple way to provide “block everything” security. An IPv6 firewall is supposed to inspect the traffic and decide what goes through and what doesn’t. This is precisely the point where I worry that I might set things up insecurely.
Me too! My incompetence is reaching epic proportions nowadays.
However, NAT create problems as well. For example, with our VoIP, I have to ensure that voice connections only ever use one of our two Internet connections. Otherwise a call may be negotiated over one external address, and the voice data may then start flowing over the other. But the firewall has only created a NAT mapping over the connection used to initiate the call, so the voice data is then rejected, because the firewall doesn’t know what to do with it. At least, that’s how I understand the problem, and our VoIP provider confirmed this.
This is one reason why I have five landlines at the office for our PBX. However, our peplink 30 supposedly recognizes these issues and continues all conversations over the same DSL line. Our peplink 30 shares our two DSL lines and uses a Wimax line as a hot backup.