The insurance company sent a summary of my healthcare expenses for 2016. Grand total for the year, $1338. All I did this year was two routine doctor's office visits, and one visit to the eye doctor. That's $446 per visit, each visit taking about an hour of my time and half an hour of the doctor's time. That's $14.86 per minute, $223 per hour. Anyone remember Brer Rabbit bragging that he was making a dollar a minute? That's cheap compared to medical care these days.
Totally routine visits, just checking up. I had no complaints, the doctor's scheduled the visits, twice a year for my general practitioner, once a year for my eye doctor.
God only knows what it would cost if there was actually anything wrong with me.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
US Army deployment to Poland
The US Army has deployed a brigade (3500 men) to Poland to deter Russian agression/invasion of Poland. The MSM have been talking this up as a big deal.
I'm not impressed. Back in WWII the Germans and the Russians fought it out in this part of the world, deploying armies of a million men, or better. Somehow I don't find a mere 3500 man brigade all that imposing. A 15000 man division would be more like it. Do we have a division that we could deploy, or is 3500 men our utmost?
I'm not impressed. Back in WWII the Germans and the Russians fought it out in this part of the world, deploying armies of a million men, or better. Somehow I don't find a mere 3500 man brigade all that imposing. A 15000 man division would be more like it. Do we have a division that we could deploy, or is 3500 men our utmost?
Friday, January 13, 2017
F35 Program, Progress and Problems
Aviation Week had a two page article on where the F35 program stands now. For openers, Lockheed and the Air Force after lots of negotiation, were unable to agree on the terms of the contract for the next batch of aircraft (Low Rate Initial Production lots 9 and 10) . The Air Force finally issued a contract, without Lockheed's approval, on a take it or leave it basis. The F35 A model, the Air Force model is now down to $100 million each. The first ones built way back in 2007 cost $250 million each. That's not too bad, although the last F22's procured were only $80 million. The two other variants of the F35 cost more.
And the ground based software is late. The Automatic Logistics Information System (ALIS) software isn't ready yet. We didn't have anything like ALIS back when I was pounding a flight line. It apparently handles the paperwork, recording each maintenance action, what failed, what was done to fix it. We flew combat in Viet Nam and did all that stuff with pencil and paper.
And the on board software crashes. Maybe every ten hours the pilot gets a blue screen of death and has to reset the system. Aviation Week claims this is not a safety of flight issue, the plane still flies with the computer crashed, but in combat to have to reset the computer to make the missiles launch or the gun fire could ruin your whole day. Software is up to block 3F, which is supposed to have code to launch all sorts of different missiles and bombs. Except the 3F software is having trouble handling the AIM 9X Sidewinder missile. Which is strange, Sidewinder worked off the Korean War era F86 Sabrejet. You would think if the pre computer vacuum tube F86 could handle Sidewinder, the all solid state and heavily computerized F35 could too.
The article said nothing about the F35 gun, which a year ago was inoperative due to lack of software support. Let's guess that the block 3F software was successful in getting the gun to fire. They also said nothing about the 5.6 G limitation imposed by the engines. Last year it was found that more than 5.6 Gs caused the rotating parts of the engine to bend enough to let the compressor blades hit the engine casing. This caused an engine fire resulting in the loss of an aircraft last year. Since they didn't say anything about an engine fix, I think the services are living with the 5.6 G limitation, hoping that air to air missiles will pull the necessary G's to nail the enemy fighter. The ancient F106 could pull 8 G's any old time.
And the ground based software is late. The Automatic Logistics Information System (ALIS) software isn't ready yet. We didn't have anything like ALIS back when I was pounding a flight line. It apparently handles the paperwork, recording each maintenance action, what failed, what was done to fix it. We flew combat in Viet Nam and did all that stuff with pencil and paper.
And the on board software crashes. Maybe every ten hours the pilot gets a blue screen of death and has to reset the system. Aviation Week claims this is not a safety of flight issue, the plane still flies with the computer crashed, but in combat to have to reset the computer to make the missiles launch or the gun fire could ruin your whole day. Software is up to block 3F, which is supposed to have code to launch all sorts of different missiles and bombs. Except the 3F software is having trouble handling the AIM 9X Sidewinder missile. Which is strange, Sidewinder worked off the Korean War era F86 Sabrejet. You would think if the pre computer vacuum tube F86 could handle Sidewinder, the all solid state and heavily computerized F35 could too.
The article said nothing about the F35 gun, which a year ago was inoperative due to lack of software support. Let's guess that the block 3F software was successful in getting the gun to fire. They also said nothing about the 5.6 G limitation imposed by the engines. Last year it was found that more than 5.6 Gs caused the rotating parts of the engine to bend enough to let the compressor blades hit the engine casing. This caused an engine fire resulting in the loss of an aircraft last year. Since they didn't say anything about an engine fix, I think the services are living with the 5.6 G limitation, hoping that air to air missiles will pull the necessary G's to nail the enemy fighter. The ancient F106 could pull 8 G's any old time.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Teaching reading. Phonics vs Whole Word
Language at the Speed of Sight by Mark Seidenberg. Book review in the Wall St Journal. Unofficial subtitle, Why Johnny Still Can't Read.
In today's public schools the debate is over teaching phonics, or teaching the "whole word method". Surprisingly Seidenberg attribute the "whole word" method to Horace Mann in the 1800s, and phonics to professors of education in the 1900s. By the late 1900s, when I was parent of three small children, the "whole word" method was winning. Granted, whole word is how adults read. The eye sees a whole word, and by some mysterious, miraculous, and poorly understood power of mind, the word is recognized and everything you need to know about that word, how it is pronounced, what it means, what it suggests, pops up instantaneously. The eye moves on to the next word. That's how I read, and how anyone good at reading reads. Trouble is, the process is poorly understood and cannot be taught. They never taught it to me, it just came to me after I had been reading for a while.
Phonics teaches the sounds of each letter, the rules for long and short vowels, and the sounds of common letter combinations like 'th'. The student is taught to sound out words, letter by letter, sounding them aloud if necessary. I was taught phonics, and fortunately St. Mary's elementary school still taught phonics in the early 90s, when my children attended.
My older two children both learned to read without strain, and went on to successful school careers. Youngest son had a terrible time learning to read. I spent a lot of time reading to him, reading with him, coaching and encouraging. Youngest son lacked that mysterious ability to recognize whole words. Words were just little black squiggles on the page, all alike. The only thing that carried him thru was very strong phonics, stronger than I ever had at his age. He could strike a new word, sound it out, get it (the really hard part of phonics) and press on. Then he would strike the SAME word, on the SAME page, a couple of lines down, and not recognize it. He would have to go thru the whole sound it out drill again. Obviously that whole word recognizer was not working for youngest son. Happy ending, by sixth grade, things got better for youngest son and his teacher told me "Reads at grade level". But it was a tough first six years of grade school for him.
The point is, children need both phonics, for when they strike a new word, a common occurance at early ages, and the whole word method to become skillful readers. Whole word cannot be taught, it comes to children after they have been reading for a while. And to become good readers, children have to read. Back in my childhood, we had comic books, ten cents, and a trememdous incentive to read. You wanted to know what Superman was saying to Batman. All the text was juicy dialog, no boring exposition. Every kid had a stash, well thumbed, well read, swapped with buddies. Teachers and parents generally disapproved of comics, but we kids loved them. And read them, a lot. Too bad comics are $5 and up today. And the Sunday funnies are gone too.
Another incentive to children's reading is the bed time story. I read a lot of 'em aloud over the years. A.A. Milne, L. Frank Baum, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Kipling, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and many others. In addition to exposing children to vocabulary and literary conventions, reading aloud shows the children that Mom and Dad read, and that's incentive for any child to learn how to do it too.
In today's public schools the debate is over teaching phonics, or teaching the "whole word method". Surprisingly Seidenberg attribute the "whole word" method to Horace Mann in the 1800s, and phonics to professors of education in the 1900s. By the late 1900s, when I was parent of three small children, the "whole word" method was winning. Granted, whole word is how adults read. The eye sees a whole word, and by some mysterious, miraculous, and poorly understood power of mind, the word is recognized and everything you need to know about that word, how it is pronounced, what it means, what it suggests, pops up instantaneously. The eye moves on to the next word. That's how I read, and how anyone good at reading reads. Trouble is, the process is poorly understood and cannot be taught. They never taught it to me, it just came to me after I had been reading for a while.
Phonics teaches the sounds of each letter, the rules for long and short vowels, and the sounds of common letter combinations like 'th'. The student is taught to sound out words, letter by letter, sounding them aloud if necessary. I was taught phonics, and fortunately St. Mary's elementary school still taught phonics in the early 90s, when my children attended.
My older two children both learned to read without strain, and went on to successful school careers. Youngest son had a terrible time learning to read. I spent a lot of time reading to him, reading with him, coaching and encouraging. Youngest son lacked that mysterious ability to recognize whole words. Words were just little black squiggles on the page, all alike. The only thing that carried him thru was very strong phonics, stronger than I ever had at his age. He could strike a new word, sound it out, get it (the really hard part of phonics) and press on. Then he would strike the SAME word, on the SAME page, a couple of lines down, and not recognize it. He would have to go thru the whole sound it out drill again. Obviously that whole word recognizer was not working for youngest son. Happy ending, by sixth grade, things got better for youngest son and his teacher told me "Reads at grade level". But it was a tough first six years of grade school for him.
The point is, children need both phonics, for when they strike a new word, a common occurance at early ages, and the whole word method to become skillful readers. Whole word cannot be taught, it comes to children after they have been reading for a while. And to become good readers, children have to read. Back in my childhood, we had comic books, ten cents, and a trememdous incentive to read. You wanted to know what Superman was saying to Batman. All the text was juicy dialog, no boring exposition. Every kid had a stash, well thumbed, well read, swapped with buddies. Teachers and parents generally disapproved of comics, but we kids loved them. And read them, a lot. Too bad comics are $5 and up today. And the Sunday funnies are gone too.
Another incentive to children's reading is the bed time story. I read a lot of 'em aloud over the years. A.A. Milne, L. Frank Baum, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Kipling, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and many others. In addition to exposing children to vocabulary and literary conventions, reading aloud shows the children that Mom and Dad read, and that's incentive for any child to learn how to do it too.
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
So I watched the Sen Jeff Sessions hearings on TV
It went on and on. Sessions came across as a decent guy. Three or four bunches of demonstrators were "escourted" out of the room for yelling and waving signs. They apparently got into the hearing room as spectators. I wonder how that happened. You would think the limited number of tickets to these hearings would go to newsies, politicians, and important citizens. How there were tickets left for scruffy looking demonstrators? Who knows.
A number of questions about policy were asked. I would have answered them thusly, "The attorney general enforces the laws on the books. If you don't like the current law, and judging by your questions you don't like current law, then pass another law. But as attorney general I must enforce the laws on the books, not laws you wish were on the books." Sessions didn't use this reply, which is one reason he is up for attorney general and I am not. .
A number of questions about policy were asked. I would have answered them thusly, "The attorney general enforces the laws on the books. If you don't like the current law, and judging by your questions you don't like current law, then pass another law. But as attorney general I must enforce the laws on the books, not laws you wish were on the books." Sessions didn't use this reply, which is one reason he is up for attorney general and I am not. .
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Everything gets more expensive, Children and Pets
Two items from the Wall St Journal today.
1. They figure it costs $230,000 to raise a child today. That's without allowing for college tuition. Wow! I raised three children, all the way to adulthood. I didn't keep records so I don't know just what I spent, but somehow I don't think it was as bad $230K per child. Hell, I had to pay $160K per child for college educations. We didn't scrimp, we sent two of them to Westtown School, and one to Buckingham Brown and Nicholls, we took 'em skiing, sent 'em to summer camp. Worth every penny, they all turned out fine, and are a great comfort in my old age.
2. A graph showing US spending on pets, going from just under $30 billion back in 2001 to just over $60 billion today. Again Wow! A second graph broke down 2016 pet spending as $16 billion on vet bills, $24 billion on pet food, and $16 billion on pet medicines and stuff. I have a cat, very nice beast, and I feed it the $3.50 a bag cheapo dry cat food rather than the $12 a bag fancy dry cat food. Cat doesn't seem to care.
I have to wonder if either of those numbers is real.
1. They figure it costs $230,000 to raise a child today. That's without allowing for college tuition. Wow! I raised three children, all the way to adulthood. I didn't keep records so I don't know just what I spent, but somehow I don't think it was as bad $230K per child. Hell, I had to pay $160K per child for college educations. We didn't scrimp, we sent two of them to Westtown School, and one to Buckingham Brown and Nicholls, we took 'em skiing, sent 'em to summer camp. Worth every penny, they all turned out fine, and are a great comfort in my old age.
2. A graph showing US spending on pets, going from just under $30 billion back in 2001 to just over $60 billion today. Again Wow! A second graph broke down 2016 pet spending as $16 billion on vet bills, $24 billion on pet food, and $16 billion on pet medicines and stuff. I have a cat, very nice beast, and I feed it the $3.50 a bag cheapo dry cat food rather than the $12 a bag fancy dry cat food. Cat doesn't seem to care.
I have to wonder if either of those numbers is real.
Monday, January 9, 2017
About that Florida Airport shooter
Apparently the lawyers don't charge anyone with murder anymore. The Florida shooter was arranged in court today and charged with a laundry list of obscure crimes that I had never heard of, not not murder. To my way of thinking, shooting five people dead in baggage claim is five counts of murder. Lawyers of course live in their own little world. They didn't charge Dylan Roof with murder either.
And this perp walked into an FBI office in Alaska and said he was hearing voices in his head. Now that's gotta be a tip off to even the dumbest cop that this suspect has a screw loose. So our valiant FBI, instead of dealing with the matter themselves, passes the buck to the local cops, who take the nut case to a mental hospital. Where some shrink, confronted with a real live homicidal maniac who hears voices in his head, decides he is harmless and turns him loose. They ever give him his gun back. I wonder who that highly trained and experienced shrink was. And why the shrink was unable to recognize a homicidal nut case when presented with one. If we learned the name of this shrink, maybe the next time the shrink will commit the nut case rather than turning him loose. It also would be nice to learn the name of the mental hospital involved. There was a serious screwup here and the society would be better off for castigating those derelict in their duty.
And a final observation. If the passengers at Florida have been allowed to carry heat, they would have saved some lives, maybe not all, but enough.
And this perp walked into an FBI office in Alaska and said he was hearing voices in his head. Now that's gotta be a tip off to even the dumbest cop that this suspect has a screw loose. So our valiant FBI, instead of dealing with the matter themselves, passes the buck to the local cops, who take the nut case to a mental hospital. Where some shrink, confronted with a real live homicidal maniac who hears voices in his head, decides he is harmless and turns him loose. They ever give him his gun back. I wonder who that highly trained and experienced shrink was. And why the shrink was unable to recognize a homicidal nut case when presented with one. If we learned the name of this shrink, maybe the next time the shrink will commit the nut case rather than turning him loose. It also would be nice to learn the name of the mental hospital involved. There was a serious screwup here and the society would be better off for castigating those derelict in their duty.
And a final observation. If the passengers at Florida have been allowed to carry heat, they would have saved some lives, maybe not all, but enough.
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