My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on July 27, 2013

The question posed by the WSJ this past week was “will the young and give up disposable income to pay for health insurance” or with they pay the penalty until it becomes too expensive?

It has been difficult to explicate the complex and questionably titled “Affordable Care Act” – Obamacare to many who are politically uninterested when it comes to the cost and care when government dictates health care decisions. The WSJ graphic (below break) is a poignant illustration for those who are younger and healthier when it comes to paying for health insurance. The “seller” of Obamacare (President Obama himself) has ballyhooed the early perks and at what is perceived as “free” in the short term, particularly since nationally we’ve extended childhood until age 26, expanded Medicaid and included pre-existing conditions.“Children” are now covered by law on a parent’s health plan, but its not free, someone is paying. Those who are younger  and statistically healthier notice few negative changes since going to the doctor is a rarity, unless they have a baby. Some Gen-Xers might be sharp enough to realize that Obamacare is one of the reasons they may be under or unemployed … that is unless they are jaded by politicians, left wing activists and the liberally slanted media outlets, all who support a more socialized America. Those groups, willingly or unwillingly, support policies that expand America’s entitlement class and growing divide between the takers and the makers.

Come on PEOPLE! Independence and ambition is what built our great country … sadly, it is entirely possible that dependence and a sense of entitlement may be what brings our undoing. Do you need current day examples — Greece, Spain, etc.

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Category: Health, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: government, healthcare, obamacare, wsj

Posted By RichC on July 26, 2013

It is difficult not to be in awe by the photos our space probe Cassini has sent back from near our solar systems second largest planet.

The first photo shows the distinctive rings of Saturn and the tiny blip that is our planet Earth. The second is enlarged and shows our blue marble being orbited by the moon. We are small … very tiny indeed.

Category: Photos, Space | 1 Comment »
Tags: cassini, saturn, space

Posted By RichC on July 26, 2013

These are the kinds of stories that I need to keep away from my job-seeking son … but that I would have used as “dream material” when in high school or college!

ESCAPING THE RECESSION BY BOAT

When the Great Recession hit, young people found a million different ways to cope with their battered job prospects. Alex and Nick Kleeman found the best way, scraping together enough cash to buy a 32-foot sailboat, then plunging into the Pacific for the adventure of their lives. So what if they didn’t know how to sail?

FULL story in Outsideonline

Test: Apple’s iCloud online Pages app. Converted text to archive text of article to PDF

Category: Archive, Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: adventure, recession, sailing, south pacific

Posted By RichC on July 25, 2013

I notice that for a few days that Lin Pardey’s Kindle version of the book Bull Canyon is only $2.99. I’ve been wanting to read for a while now (since I own all of the more practical Pardey books) and have enjoyed everything previously written or put to video. I don’t expect it to be “as” functional, but enjoy knowing more about their life.

Category: Books, Sailing | No Comments »
Tags: Books, ipad, kindle, pardey

Posted By RichC on July 25, 2013

After participating in a smartphone and tablet mobile device survey today and analyzing the apps that I regularly use, only a handful stood out. One app that has impressed me as each subscribed magazine issue arrives is Zinio. I’m not sure that I’m totally ready to give up the trip to the mailbox for the glossy magazines yet, but that day is coming. If you haven’t tried the Zinio app, do yourself a favor and at least download it to your tablet and start collecting a few issue of your favorite magazine.

Category: Tablet, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: app, ipad, magazine, reader, tablet, zinio

Posted By RichC on July 24, 2013

Alexander Polli, BASE-jumper, amazes viewers with daredevil flights in a wingsuit by high risk maneuvers like flying through a narrow mountainside cave in Spain.

Category: Video | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By RichC on July 23, 2013

Apple is testing a few new online iWork applications for those iCloud users accessing their cloud account. The addition of Apple’s document, spreadsheet and presentation software to iCloud will move the beloved computer company one step closer to Microsoft and Google went it comes to online “Office” productivity software.

I’m reluctant to commit to one particular system still preferring Office as an “install” on my computer, but with Microsoft’s move to Office 365 and the subscription model, one of the Office-like open-source software packages looks to be my current preferred direction … but I will still give Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote a try, even after Google’s online apps continue to fall short.

We’ll soon be introducing a new and exciting feature to iCloud. It’s called iWork for iCloud and it’s a suite of apps — Pages, Numbers, and Keynote — that make it easy for anyone with an iCloud account to create and edit great-looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations right on the web.

We’d like to invite you to be one of the first to try it, so we’re giving you early access to the iWork for iCloud beta. All you have to do is sign in to iCloud on a Mac or a PC using the current version of Safari, Chrome, or Internet Explorer. Then just click on Pages, Numbers, or Keynote and you’re off.

We’re really proud of these apps and we’d appreciate your help in making them as great as they can possibly be. So we’d love to hear your feedback as you use them.

Sign in to iCloud.com to get started with iWork for iCloud today.

Sincerely,
The iWork Team

Category: Apple, Cloud, Computer, Software | 2 Comments »
Tags: apple, beta, cloud, icloud, keynote, numbers, office, pages

Posted By RichC on July 22, 2013

The tax man in the form of the Internet online giant Amazon.com has warned advised me that they will begin to collect Ohio sales tax for Amazon Web Services. This is probably appropriate as too many tax dollars are lost to online out of state vendors, but paying more taxes is still hard to swallow.

Hello,

We want to let you know that starting with your September 
2013 bill (sent out at the beginning of October), AWS 
will begin collecting Ohio sales taxes for accounts …

Category: Business | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, taxes

Posted By RichC on July 21, 2013

Hmm, I’m not really sure what to think of this? I’m sure those who supported President Barrack Obama’s campaign don’t mind being followed by his twitter account, but for me it is probably an indication that the IRS or Department of Justice is next.
For those of you who are not socially connected, the President’s staff to sends most of his personal Twitter posts, but they say those with a “-bo” indicates it was sent personally. I don’t pay much attention, but was surprised to see that he follows RichC.

Category: Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: obama, potus, twitter

Posted By RichC on July 20, 2013

I might wear the “invisibility cloak” swim skin or wetsuit if it offers protection from ocean rash or as SPF sunblock (UVA and UVB protection), but am not sure the white and black horizontally striped suit is for me? On the other hand, if I were swimming in waters that are regularly visited by those seal eating “big boys and girls” (Great White Sharks) then I might reconsider function (deterring sharks) over style (limited invisibility)  … or I might just opt for staying on the beach !

An “invisibility cloak” to protect surfers from sharks has been launched in Western Australia, the scene of five fatal shark attacks in recent years.

Scientists from the University of Western Australia, with designers Shark Attack Mitigation Systems (SAMS), have unveiled two new wetsuits that they say could save lives in the water.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3014479/fast-feed/shark-repelling-wetsuits-use-natures-technology-to-keep-surfers-and-divers-safe

"We have converted that into patents that we know will hide [wearers] or present wearers as not shark food." https://radiator.net/sams/

Category: Environment, Recreation, Sports, Video | No Comments »
Tags: sharkshares