rattusminnsotus

Some Health Care Thoughts

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:10:56 GMT

Some thoughts about health care — this will be developed.

The issue about healt care boils down to the question of whether it is a commodity or whether it is a basic right.

If health care is a commodity, then its price will be set by the (more or less) free market and it will be available to those who can pay for it. The rest will be dependent upon charity, which has never been a reliable source of health care.
Any attempt to combine health care as a right and health care as a commodity will necessarily have internal contradictions and lead to a compromised and ineffective delivery system.

If we (as a country) decide that health care is a right, then the most rational approach would be the British system, which is a mixed, not a socialist system.
Since health care is viewed as a right, it is publically supported and managed.
Hopitals are owned and managed by the state, physicians and nurses are public employees.
Thus, there is no incentive to deliver unnecessary treatments.
Since Britain is a democracy that has a private sector, private health care and insurance are available to those who can afford it.

Since this type of system does not seem to currently be politically feasible, we must attempt to approximate it by instituting tighter controls on the insurance industry which finances and thus manages much of our health care system, and by providing a publically funded managed alternative which will compete with the private sector and thus drive down its prices. This system will emphasis cost/benefit analysis and concentrate on maintaining health for the greatest number consistent with an equitable use of the available resources.
Right now, medical technology has reached the point where treatment is a scarce resource: not everyone can have any treatment they want. There must be some system to allocate this resource. Germany and Switzerland are models of this approach.

France has an intermediate approach: parallel public and private systems, with most people receiving publically subsidized health care supplemented by private insurance.

Presently this is done here through the ability to pay; either directly by those wealthy enough to pay directly for any treatment they want, or somewhat less directly to those who have access to and can afford comprehensive insurance policies that will pay for most but not all treatment.

One anomaly of our system is its tie to employers.
This is an artifact of WWII wage freezes. With a scarce labor supply and employers unable to compete on wages, they competed for available workers by offering generous health care benefits. This (particularly when a larger part of the population were industrial workers with union contracts) was effective for a generation or two, but is now breaking down. It is particularly vulnerable as job stability breaks down and workers find themselves losing health care insurance when they lose or change jobs.

Thus the allocation (‘rationing’) question cannot be avoided; just fudged by those who do not want to face it.

Tarzan of the Atheists

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:58:23 GMT

Never thought that Edgar Rice Burroughs had much to say about religion, but I found this in the second Tarzan book:

La: high priestess of Opar:

“It is the duty of a high priestess to instruct, to interpret—according to the creed that others, wiser than herself, have laid down; but there is nothing that says that she must believe. The more one knows of one’s religion the less one believes— (emphasis added) no one living knows more of mine than I”

Tarzan:

“Then your only fear in aiding me to escape is that your fellow mortals may discover your duplicity?”

La:

“That is all—the dead are dead; they cannot harm—or help. We must therefore depend entirely on ourselves....”

from “The Return of Tarzan”
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
1915
p161

Might be a sign of the times that this sort of sentiment didn't seem to attract any attention in 1915.

elegant sufficiency

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:03:23 GMT

Found this online:

==================

Question #41997. shady shaker asks:

Why do we say, "No thank you, I have had elegant sufficiency," when asked if we want more to eat?

Senior Moments

My wife often comes out with the complete phrase "No thank you, I have had an elegant sufficiency and anymore would have been a superfluous indulgence."
I on the other hand just burp and pass out

Dec 05 03, 7:30 AM

Siskin

The phrase seems to be a variation on a polite rejoinder that was once quite widely known and is still around. A host might ask if you have had enough to eat. Rather than just say that you had had enough, being fearful that so bald a statement might be taken as unrefined or ill-bred, you might instead say, “I’ve had an elegant sufficiency”. This presumably has its origin in some catch phrase old enough that it has had time to disseminate widely, since I’ve seen examples from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, and the USA. A possible source is a poem called Spring by James Thomson, dating from the middle of the eighteenth century, very widely quoted during that century and the following one:

An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Ease and alternate labor, useful life,
Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven;
These are the matchless joys of virtuous love.

Violin 17

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:21:48 GMT

Figured I ought to post something in case someone thinks that I've given it up.
In fact it's still going well .... I started the second Suzuki book a few weeks ago.
Occasionally I can even convince myself that I'm making music.
On the lighter side, a few weeks ago Patti came up with an arrangement of the Arran Boat Song that she thought was interesting.
I immediately thought of the Skye Boat Song and dug up an arrangement. Definitely from the same musical tradition, and they make a nice medley. The Arran in particular begs for embellishment, which I've been working on.

The reality of Canadian health care.

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:53:22 GMT

A nice article documenting the lies being circulated about the failings of the Canadian health system
(somehow a cyst turned into a tumour):

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/19/755113/-Another-Healthcare-Lie,-and-the-Lying-Liar-Thats-Telling-It.

SPCO

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:36:16 GMT

Went to an interesting concert last night;
featured the complete version of Mendelssohn's incidental music for The Midsummer Night's Dream.
Included a very competent actress playing a half dozen or so of Shakespeare's parts.
Her Pyramus wasn't quite up to DoctorHook's, 'tho ("I die.... die dee die dee die <flop, flop. flop>).

Happy Birthday

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:22:54 GMT

DoctorHook!!!!

Violin 16

Sat, 30 May 2009 00:55:45 GMT

No, I haven't skipped a month of lessons; just seems a bit repetitive.
Still progressing.... starting the last piece in the first Suzuki book;
a lot of cross string jumping.

At sidebernie's suggestion, I'm giving Claire Givens Violins credit for the avatar I'm using for these posts; I may buy a violin from them some day.

Violin 15

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:11:18 GMT

On the way to my lesson, listening to MPR as is my wont,
I heard the Joan Baez Suite by John Duarte,
commissioned by the guitarist Sharon Isbin.
Very interested, and had me warming up with songs out of my distant past.

Still progressing (Bach to Bach, belly to belly, and all that).
Got through one of the Minuets with only a couple of bad (tone quality) notes.
Major achievement.
Another this evening was playing the theme from Fiddler on the Roof;
a few accidentals that had been beyond me a couple of weeks ago.
And since we had a community Seder last night, I also ran through Dayenu and Eliyahu tonight.
Fun!

Violin 14

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:36:19 GMT

Starting the third (pseudo) Bach Minuet.

The Mankato Suzuki School shares space with the Mankato Ballet.
Due to the fact that we temporarily shifted my time to 10am the place was overrun with preschool miniballerinas.
Hearing hoofbeats in the hallway I started faking the William Tell Overture.
Patti then showed me the technique for bouncing the bow on the strings to get Rossini's hoofbeat effect.

Violin 12

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:47:01 GMT

And on .......

Getting somewhat fluent in the first (more or less) Bach Minuet in the first Suzuki book.
Enough so that Patti dug up a second part and we did a duet.
Great fun!
And the new strings definitely make a difference ... the instrument is much more responsive and easier on my fingers (even though the new strings are steel).

On a tangentially related front:
Mrs. Rattus and I did our first Reading for the Blind.
Once a month we spend an hour reading the local newspaper over the air for the visually impaired (the tangent is that Patti is also involved in the program).
Went easier than we were afraid it would.

Violin 11

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:10:23 GMT

Another good lesson.
Started with the adult beginners group.
Amazingly, I'm the most advanced on in the group!
It actually appears to be a group lesson for parents with kids in Suzuki, but I was invited to join.
Mostly review for me, and since it's right before my lesson, a good warmup.
One fun moment; we were doing Suzuki's version of Perpetual Motion -- basically an etude.
The teacher suggested that she play a harmony part.
I chimed in with "this might work as a fugue..."
She said "go for it" (or something to that effect).
Fun!

Spent this evening restringing my violin -- I have no idea how old the strings that I rented it with were, but the difference was palpable.
I can now play pianissimo!

On a totally different front -- just ordered a HP Netbook as a travel computer.
I'll have to learn Windoze (;-.

Violin 10

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:42:20 GMT

More progress!

No lesson last week -- teacher had another commitment.

Now I'm most of the way through the first Suzuki book, and got a (very simple) Bach Minuet.
Still feels good -- has some accidentals, which pushes me a bit -- fun!
And of course, while minueting, I had to try picking out Mozart's minuet from Don Giovanni -- did it!

And to add to the fun, the Suzuki school is starting an adult beginners group (which just happens to meet right before my lesson).
Of course, as my teacher (to be referred to from now on as Patti) points out, these adults are parents who are learning with their kids, so they're a generation or so younger than we (Patti and I) are and don't have a rich repertoire of '60's folk songs to practice on. Still, it will be fun to play with other people.

Now, if Shar music gets the strings I want (Pirastro Chromcors -- I seem to remember Sidebernie using them) in stock so I can restring my fiddle before I return it and buy my own (still thinking of Fall) ....

Belated B'day

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:36:44 GMT

Happy birthday Charlie D!

and credit to your Grandpa Erasmus for a head start on the discussion of evolution.
It's a popular misconception (still showing up in newspaper articles) that Charles Darwin was the founder of the scientific study of evolution.
In fact, the concept was accepted among biologists fifty years earlier.

What Charles Darwin provided (and documented exhaustively) were the processes of natural and sexual selection, which elevated the study of evolution from a simple description of what happened to the examination of how it happened.
He is also responsible for the removal of any sense of purpose or direction to the process of evolution. This is what drives the Creationists and their ilk batty. Even the moderate church organizations like the Catholics and Methodists try to fudge the issue by adding a divine process of ensoulment to fudge the issue of how we become human.
Darwin's work in turn led to the Modern Synthesis which added Mendel's genetics, and later DNA, to provide the specific mechanisms underlying evolution by selection.

Violin 8

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:54:48 GMT

OK -- I'll be the only blogger not mentioning Obam.... oops ;-)

Another good lesson -- the teacher started fiddling along with me on a couple of pieces -- felt good!
After hearing snatches during the Inaug, I decided to try Simple Gifts (the Copland version, not the John Williams).
It worked!
I definitely have a feeling of intimacy with the violin that I never had with the clarinet -- maybe it's all that dancing check-to-cheek.
Anyway, I feel very comfortable with the instrument.

Violin 7

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:59:46 GMT

Another good lesson.
But the urge to get myself a fiddle now is catching up with me.
We were unhappy with the sound I've been getting from the A string, so as an experiment we switched instruments.
The difference was very obvious, both on the A string, and the responsiveness of the instrument in general.
She thinks the the string itself is bad, so I bought a replacement of good quality (Thommasik) and will do the transplant soon.
We'll see how much that helps.
But I'm sorely tempted to go into Claire Givens violin shop the next time that I'm in the Cities and try out their $500 Chinese student instrument.
Just for information, of course ;-)

Violin 6

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:19:37 GMT

Started lessons again after a few weeks break (from lessons, not practicing).
Yesterday I started to feel like I was actually making music (at least at times).
Since my teacher is also into folk music I brought in a list of about 40 traditional tunes that I had gleaned from a few of my old books and played a few.
Result, they're now part of my curricula -- we spent most of the lesson on them rather than the Suzuki material.
Old Joe Clark in Dorian mode is a bit of a challenge!

My lessons are Wednesday afternoons, just before school lets out and the regular Suzuki kids start trooping in.
That evening we saw the MedHD performance of Massenet's Thais.
The only opera I know of where the third most important part is the solo violin (the Meditation).
I was watching his bowing much more carefully that I ever did before!

Sundog

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:41:27 GMT

It's officially winter!

http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/images_sizedimage_014231634/resources_photoview

Violin 5.1

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:38:51 GMT

Starting to sound like software upgrades (I'm still an alpha product, with beta aspirations).

Dug up an old folksong book, and worked my way through a dozen or so that stay basically in a major scale.
May have set the folk movement back a couple of centuries, 'tho.

Violin 5

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:57:49 GMT

Still making progress.
I know I'll eventually hit the dreaded plateau, but so far I'm still at the "I couldn't do that last week" stage.
Feeling moderately proud -- just managed to coax Shenandoah out of the fiddle.
Not quite the Meditation from Thais, but it's something.

Opera Review

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:24:09 GMT

Saw the MetHD
(Metropolitan Opera live performances streamed into movie theaters in high definition (video, not audio, unfortunately))
performance of Berlioz' Damnation of Faust.

We've seen a number of these productions -- my reaction so far has been mixed.
It's a lot cheaper than flying to NYC and buying tickets, but the sound is not that of a live concert hall (I think that they've used up all their bandwidth on the video) and closeups of 45 year old sopranos singing ingenue parts is not usually an improvement.
Simply videoing a live performance can be a mixed bag -- ruins the illusion rather than improving it.

This time however, I suspect that the performance was actually better in the video format.
Some background:
Berlioz actually wrote the piece as more of an oratorio (he called it a "légende dramatique") than an opera; there's very little dramatic action on stage. One reason why it's not often produced as an opera, despite some glorious music.
In this case the Met production featured a lot of electronics (projected images, etc) and a highly stylized set.
All of it worked beautifully in a movie theater and it was the first really satisfying MetHD performance that I've seen.
There's hope!

Violin 4

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:10:40 GMT

Progress continues.... didn't lose as much over the layoff as I had feared.

Am actually playing music (well, childrens' and folk songs from the Suzuki book and my memory), but it feels good anyway.
There's of course a big gap between what comes out of the fiddle and what I want to come out of the fiddle -- the price of having a musical background -- but it's getting there.

Violin 3.5

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:38:13 GMT

No violin lesson this week....
we're heading east to spend Thanksgiving with Media and Sidebernie.

Violin 3

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:45:22 GMT

Actually, I only have one violin, but I'm becoming better acquainted with it.
Making vaguely musical sounds -- I can pick out a melody or two, which is gratifying.
Since my teacher follows the basic Suzuki method (Sidebernie knows about that), I'm still officially working on basic skills -- noodling is on my own time.

"Defence" of Marriage Meme

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:36:33 GMT

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.