Thursday, August 20, 2015

Hippyfied health care

CVS won't sell tobacco products but medical marijuana dispensaries seem to be sprouting up everywhere these days.  Alcohol continues to be heavily demonized (e.g. nearly every insomnia website warns don't drink before bedtime) but hemp use is actually being medically encouraged within a limited for now framework of course.  Granny don't smoke, Granny don't drink, Granny light up a joint in the cancer ward.

38 comments:

  1. Had a grandpa, lived to 96. Apparently chewing all that tobacco killed him.

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  2. Christopher Hitchens said once that while he was a heavy drinker he was always on time for appointments yet I work with perfectly sober people who are always late. Maybe he slept better???

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  3. My local has been on fire the last week or so. 30,000 firefighters and hundreds of
    wildfires in the mountains. Morning walk could only see about a mile, usually we look out south about 30 miles. A big charter jet came in while I was trundling by the airport: 80 Athabascan Indians from Alaska, an elite 'hotshot' crew. Since the lawn
    has gone to hell after no rain since June 2 (and only 2 days under 90) it adds a bit
    of interest and lets me ponder global warming. Say, is pot cheaper than Prince Albert?

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  4. Pot to me has always had that stale urine smell. So much better imo to admire the amber colors in your glass of Christian Bros. while holding it up to the lamp but to each his own I guess.

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  5. Pot: the state of Washington, just across the river, legalized marijuana this year.
    But some localities continue to ban it and there is much lawyer stuff going on. Cops
    have to leave it alone, but it is still illegal federally. Judging from the local news,
    DUIs and other drugs continue to make up a huge majority of arrests and trials.
    Not enough traffic around here for a traffic cam, but what it would show is folks
    signaling right/turning left, folks stopping in the middle of the road to talk to some
    pedestrian and perfectly healthy young folks parking in the handicapped parking
    zone (while some 90 yr old lady in a walker has to walk half a mile to the WalMart
    door. My personal gripe are the people that pull right in front of you...then go slow.
    What's the deal with that? They are in a hurry-then not?

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    1. Lately my biggest gripe are the angry horn blowers. The horn is there for a reason and sometimes you have to use it to politely remind someone "go already!" but the rage behind some horn blowing is more annoying than the person who is not paying attention to the green arrow. I mean ok the guy doesn't know he can go but are you gonna have a psychotic rage over it?

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  6. Legalization is impacting the drug testing that many firms do. it follows that the testing business profits should
    decline. Personally, I took the pee in a cup test several times; once could not produce a specimen. Suspicious, the hired test consultants had me drink several
    pots of coffee. Which finally got half a cup. However, that night I was up all night
    producing several pots of urine. It was sort of a circus; every test cycle there were
    a number of employees who failed and were terminated before they could zip up.
    Odd, the front office types were never tested....

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    1. Re java Saty explained once how a cup of coffee on a cold winter's day can turn into a gallon of piss but it went over my head.

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  7. Elsewhere, we note that the French may be thinking of hiring young American tourists to ride their trains.

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  8. Let me just say that dropping by here, even if nothing is new, is such a pleasure. Other places we've all frequented are literally overrun with "the apocalypse is coming" folks from all sides.

    Here, it's like a few guys sitting around enjoying a cup of coffee shooting the breeze...

    So, why if crude oil is at 2009 prices, is a gallon of gas so much more than it was then? Simple inflation, or something else? And why do gas prices go up immediately when crude rises, but never go down as quick.

    And... a few years back, airlines added a fuel surcharge when gas prices went through the roof... now that they are down, should we expect them to drop that surcharge?

    Just asking...

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    1. I'm sure Donald Trump has a good answer, he talks about oil alot.

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    2. I've noticed that when crude falls, big gasoline explains that "refineries
      are down for maintenance" keeping gasoline high. (Or, we may suspect
      they were shut down exactly to keep gasoline high). Elsewhere, some states, including mine, raised the state tax on gas during a low price time.
      Alaska is lowest at 30 cents/gal, California at 67 cents/gal. As for the airlines, deregulation has led to a consumer abuse system for several reasons. My favorite, shareholder greed. Ever notice that 'trickle down'
      is Orwellian for Trickle Up?

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  9. Ah yes... the airlines... Whatever happened to Fly the Friendly Skies or The Only Way to Fly?

    There's no joy flying these days... it's not cheap, it's cramped and no one is overly friendly, that's for sure. And you can bet they are not rescinding those gasoline surcharges they added a few years back when crude was over $100 a barrel.

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  10. It's like with the iPhone, why is it still so expensive? In HS Economics we learned when a product is brand new it's high-priced but once demand goes up and it's on the scene for awhile the price is supposed to come down.

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  11. There are three major so called methods of pricing:
    Most Significant Digit Pricing. $29.95 is SO much cheaper than $30.00
    Gross Profit Margin. A chosen target as percent of cost of sales. P = (0.5)C
    gives a 50% profit, a common mfg target.
    The airlines use both, but they concentrate mostly on the third method-
    What the Market Will Bear:
    "In markets where there is little or no competition, companies can employ a pricing strategy that optimizes profits. It is often called a What The Market Will Bear (WTMWB) price. This strategy sets the price based on the maximum price the market will pay for the product. On the one hand, the company wants to realize the highest profits possible in the shortest amount of time to help recoup high start-up costs, such R&D (research and development), production, and marketing costs.

    On the other, it may not want its profits to be so attractive as to entice cutthroat competition to enter the market within the time window it needs to build market share and establish a leadership position. This strategy typically works because those likely to buy a new product – the Innovators and Early Adopters – are not particularly price sensitive. If there is considerable uniqueness and desirability built into the product brand, your company can employ a WTMWB strategy. If not, you might consider other effective pricing strategies."
    ---and since the price the market will bear fits the airline strategy, it can be maximized even more by adding surcharges to luggage and other amenities, while
    overbooking, as long as customers continue to purchase.
    ...memorize and award yourself an MBA....


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    1. What the market will bear - you can almost blame the consumer for all the high prices out there from airline tickets to iPhones. Sure we bitch and we grumble and come to think of it we do the same thing with politicians, elect them and then complain about 'em.

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  12. Wonder why the evangelical right is so busy with Planned Parenthood and so strangely silent about Ashley Madison?

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    1. Conversely I wonder how many Ashley Madison clients have had to avail themselves of the services of Planned Parenthood. Fetal tissue donations - have an affair maybe save a life?

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    2. You would think the A. Madison types would be familiar with birth control.
      And if they could afford high end adultery, they could afford the pill. The PP users are covered in the Sermon On The Mount, you know, "who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
      ...who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
      ...who weep now, for you will laugh.
      ...when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you.."
      We assume the adulterers ignore one of the basic ten commandments.
      Dunno, I'm no theological constructionist and am hard pressed to find
      the biblical 'thow shalt not have abortions'. I'm guessing the fetus protectors derive from "Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt." -- Genesis 38:24 Science simply notes
      the progression from inception: zygote, blastocyst, embryo, fetus, viability, etc.

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    3. Thing about PP they're simply coming across as depraved ghouls at this point. It's your prerogative to be a fan, Im not. I like to sleep at night:)

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    4. Highly fictitious and deliberately absurd but let's say in one of the stings PP came out in favor of fetal cannibalism. The Ole Gray Lady editorial board would still staunchly support the organization and refer to critics as right-wing extremists. Just sayin'

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    5. "...I like to sleep at night" so PP has solved your insomnia? :) BTW, I was up at 4AM, a little short of sleep. So, I went to the bakery and got
      half a dozen pastries. (which disrupts the strict diet I've been on) Has
      Yonkers issued a recall on their traffic cams yet?

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    6. Well actually I was pondering why so many normal Americans have trouble sleeping in this country whereas those in the grisly sometimes weird professions (abortionist/fetal technician, euthanasiast of beagles at your local animal shelter, executioner, butchers at slaughterhouses) might not have the insomnia problem but should. Are these careeers a turnon for women?

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    7. BTW John Tesh says if you wake up early and can't get back to sleep your body has probably had enough rest. Lots of seniors go to bed right after "Wheel of Fortune." If anything Yonkers has more cameras than ever. I don't think you can fart in private.

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    8. Insomnia in part may be caused by the modern life style. Consider that for millennia, the only light at night was the moon or the cave fire. The day started early for hunter-gatherers, and they were probably quite tired
      when the sun set. Nomadic tribes traveled long distances, stopping only
      when night came. This continued, at least among the majority of people,
      well into the middle ages; plowing, seeding, reaping and doing the King's
      highway work. It was cold and dark at night and we may guess that most
      were content to stay asleep under their pile of straw. These days many
      folks, even those working all day, are not subject to constant physical activity, they probably have more to worry about and a lot of people just
      have to stay up until Letterman. A subset, usually military officers and executive types, take pride in getting by with 4-6 hours a night (I knew one. He reluctantly went to bed at midnight and set the alarm for 4 AM.
      But he spent most of his weekends fast asleep). Being retired, there is
      the security of knowing that one can sleep as long as they want: but after
      40 years, the guilt of 'being late' still drives the seniors up early, and they
      are out picking weeds when the sun comes up. IMO, part of the PTSD
      from combat is based on long periods of little or no sleep as well as the
      horrors of the kill or be killed nature of that job.

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    9. That's a great analysis and I also agree with what you said recently about insomnia generally being a kind of anxiety state. Not that long ago a couple of workplace issues were really rankling me so on my day off I'd exercise like the dickens, walked incredible amounts ate right and did all the right things and YET STILL had trouble sleeping some nights. You can't seem to get over that hump and have your first dream. It still annoys me thinking about it.

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    10. Also explains why we're an overweight nation. "These days many folks, even those working all day, are not subject to constant physical activity" and yet many of us eat like we're digging ditches or are in a tennis tournament. We're sleep deprived AND we're fat basically:)

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    11. The rabid readers of the 'Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine', like yourself,
      were gratified to learn-
      "CONCLUSIONS:
      Fish consumption seemed to have a positive impact on sleep in general and also on daily functioning, which may be related to vitamin D status and HRV." Thus, we may assume- give a man a fish and he will sleep
      well. Teach a man to fish and he will be out with his boat before dawn?

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    12. Background notes on HRV (Heart Rate Variation), include-
      "In the field of psychophysiology, there is interest in HRV. For example, HRV is related to emotional arousal. High-frequency (HF) activity has been found to decrease under conditions of acute time pressure and emotional strain and elevated state anxiety, presumably related to focused attention and motor inhibition. HRV has been shown to be reduced in individuals reporting a greater frequency and duration of daily worry. In individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) "
      --we conclude the above psychophysiological jibber-jabber above jives
      with your observations. The old wive's cure for several generations was
      a glass of warm milk. Found to be high in tryptophan. Which some OTC
      suppliers sell by the gram. If you hate warm milk.

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    13. On balance my good nights far outweigh my bad except you remember the bad nights more. On occasion when say I go in early the next day and have a long shift I'll go with the natural sleep aid Sleep Optimizer (valerian root and your tryptophan) but with only .3mg melatonin I'll bump that up with a melatonin supplement. Seems to work then I start dreaming about traffic cams in White Plains.

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  13. The literature approaches sleep in a logical manner, as shown in this poem by Wendell Berry, lifted from the much maligned blog of Shaw K:

    When despair for the world grows in me
    and I wake in the night at the least sound
    in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
    I go and lie down where the wood drake
    rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. 5
    I come into the peace of wild things
    who do not tax their lives with forethought
    of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
    And I feel above me the day-blind stars
    waiting with their light. For a time
    I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

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    1. Along those lines I'll practice imagery like lying in a rowboat on a nice day and drifting away from shore. Relaxing.

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    2. Some experiences seem to stick. When I was HS age, a couple of buddies and I bundled up for a blizzard hike. Up along the river, which
      was a black stripe in a blurry white world. Knee deep and a howling wind
      with sideways snow...sort of tough going. In the semi open country side of prairie and scrub oak, we ran across about a half acre of a dense pine
      forest. Worked out way into the middle and hacked out a rest stop. It was quiet and peaceful with no hint of the howling blizzard, other than the
      singing high up in the pines. Hotdogs and a campfire and an hour of
      great comfort before heading back out into Mom nature at her worst.
      Yeah, thinking of stuff like that is restful.

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    3. Dunno if you ever took melatonin but you have extremely vivid dreams. It's almost like they really happened. Do the potsters and hipsters know about this?

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    4. Last night's dream was a frustrating one. Lost my car in the parking lot.
      There were only 5 cars there, but not mine. Dang....

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  14. I see some ex-hedge fund manager bought a little drug company and promptly raised the price from $17 to $750/pill. He got his business degree at Baruch College.
    I'm pondering how a business school with a facility called 'Robert Zicklin Center for
    Corporate Integrity could train and graduate a clearly criminally greedy assh*le ?

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    1. They were talking about that guy on the radio the other day and after all that blowback he agreed to change the price. Probably went up:)

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