N, try reading the Bible; not for religious reasons, but because it typically puts people to sleep - very quickly, actually. And definitely get yourself on a schedule.
Donna, they did give my sister some painkiller before the epidural, so she wasn't drug free. I see your point, though. I never thought about it that way.
And Slart, the "pay for babies" thing comes from the fact that you get so much money per child through WIC or something like that. Not all, but some women do take advantage of it. On the plus side, at least here in Texas, the state will pay for a woman to have her tubes tied.
Just watching the news, and realized I had forgotten Turkmenistan existed. Why aren't they in the news? Shouldn't they be in this war stuff, just based on proximity, or have they gotten it all figured out?
this whole birthing in hospitals because it's safer is balogna.
yes, for high-risk pregnancies, it is safer. no kidding. but 90% of pregnancies globally aren't considered high risk. not only are hospitals more likely to require a c-section for a variety of (unnecessy) reasons, they also unnecessarily drive up the costs associated with birth. also, for being safer, the infant mortality rate of the US is significantly higher than any other industrialized country, most of which primarily use birthing centers or midwifery as primary caretaker for births.
and yes, the insurance situation is terrible, try being high risk. not fun.
Abram lost the remote to the tv. Can't find it anywhere. This wouldn't be so bad if he were old enough to go change the channels for us, ala 1980s style, but he's not. It's gonna cost me 30 bucks to get a new one here.
Slart, I did not mean to offend and hope I didn't. I don't come from a wealthy family either, there were a few years in my childhood that we fell below the poverty level, although we never accepted assistance.
If you are poor enough, the goverment will not only pay the medical costs of having a child, but they will also give you money in the form of montly checks. Wikipedia says 45% of US children under 5 participate in this program although I find that really really hard to believe. For these women, having a child doesn't cost them anything, and is in fact an income generator, hence having several kids can in turn support the mother.
Statistically, being low income leads to a greater propensity to be illiterate which leads to a greater likelihood of commiting a (street) crime. The correlation between literacy and crime is undeniable. Many prison inmates are illiterate, maybe as many as 80%. Literacy education, in fact, is a great crime preventer.
My godmother, the ob/gyn, is also my aunt. My cousin (her niece) had 5 kids with a midwife and my aunt is very vocal about how unacceptable she finds this. It is a source of friction in the family, and my aunt, being the professional, sets the standard. We even stopped having family reunions, and this was part of the reason. Fun.
N_ steven's ritual for sleeping matches up with mind almost exactly.
Very occasionally do i get a bout of insomnia usually because i have too many big things on my mind or messed up my schedule with too many late nights.
straw as for your aunt the ob/gyn I find that surprising. My girlfriends mother was one of the forces behind getting midwifery legalized in FL and nationally and helped found the midwifery school here in Gainesville. I know she worked very closely with two ob/gyn's one male one female. It would seem a no brainer but i guess not.
The only issue i can see is like in the case of my oldest niece who was born a premie and therefore they actually needed the full hospital support and staff. But otherwise it just doesn't make sense to me. Why treat birthing as a disease/medical issue vs a normal process.
straw...how does your aunt feel about bankruptcy? would she prefer you spending most of your savings on this? or maybe she'll help you out when it comes time for you to have a child?
i don't typically get angry about too many things, but healthcare in this country and health insurance makes me lose it. the fact that i have to waste so much of my own money every month and then get questioned for the smallest visit to the hospital irks me to no end... and we in turn provide health insurance companies the money they need to lobby the politicians to make sure nothing changes...or when we do eventually have universal health insurance, will benefit the insurance companies and not 'the american people' that politicians are so fond to throw into every other sentence when they couldn't give two shits about the everyday citizen.
i don't think the average american realizes how many people are left out of our current system and have to pay out of pocket. as a freelancer i pay my own healthcare...something my parents didn't even realize. i think too often people see those that can't afford healthcare as poor or not trying or whatever when the simple fact is that most people couldn't afford to pay for it if it didn't come with their job and don't realize how blessed they are to be in that situation.
I wouldn't declare bankruptcy if I had to pay my own medical bills because of lack of insurance, but I sure would get close to hitting the poverty line by subtracting the cost of insurance premiums and medical expenses from my income!
On the other hand I would never dare to take my bicycle on something called "southbound Route 202". Would her death be considered ironic given the SUV? I'll have to listen to some Alanis to find out.
Actually I believe the only way we are going to get insurance cost undercover is by walking away from insurance. Yes I said it walk away from insurnance. I say this because my health insurance cost more than my mortgage at this time, and it still sucks! 80/20 $5,000.00 deductable per sickness with a maximum of $15,000.00 deductable for any given year but you get to pick up the other 20% for anything above and beyond the $5,000.00 per illness.
I think if we as Americans could pull off a Saul Alinsky, and just threaten the insurance companies in massive numbers then maybe just maybe someone will get the message. The time has gone beyond us letting the political element handle this crisis to our pocket book.
The country can't afford for all of us middle of the road people to get sick. Think about it? I say if we can get enough people to say they will cancel their health insurance policy 01/01/2011 unless we see some drastic changes. We will see change. The insurance companies can not handle us all just walking away, we will bankrupt them in a matter of months. Insurance is not like taxes, you do not have to pay it...
Some might think I'm crazy, but I hate being the smuck who is financing the Top executives of Insurance Companies.
wow. i can't say how lucky i was to grow up canadian. even here in japan where insurance is mandated by law we don't pay so much. and my kids are free because the government wants kids to be healthy and not a burden.
when i turned 40 the govt sent me a letter saying they would pay for my check up because they don't want me getting sick and costing them more later on. And that is normal from now on. The govt can see beyond the dogma and the insurance companies still do alright if the size of their massive skyscrapers downtown is any indication...
funny enough my kids education is cheap where i live too because they want more young folks in this part of tokyo. We pay a few thousand to cover the birth but govt pays it back a few months later.
also funny, when we were married the city bought us a tree. i don't know why. but its in my mum-in-law's back yard. i thought it was nice of the city to do that for us. something about the govt acknowledging that life is important and we are not just numbers to be processed til we die and the numbers written out of the active accounts...
AND my education was way cheaper than in the USA based on the recent thread.
but you know USA is still one of the most interesting places on earth to love and to do cool things. it is amazig that in spite of all that difficulty the country remains a leader on so many levels. imagine what the nation would be like if it had those bases covered too.
jump, America has just gone dumb, best as I can figure. We're cooked.
snook you are absolutely right - if we all boycotted insurance things would turn around hella quick. Problem is, so many people have insurance paid for by their employers that they (the employed) have NO IDEA how expensive it is. And they're not about to boycott a free benefit. Now if business owners en masse stopped paying for it, and suddenly everyone had to pay out of pocket, the boycott would happen naturally because every employee would realize they had to make another payment the size of their mortgage every month.
This is what I will never understand: why aren't the pro-business elements in our government (mainly Rs) screaming that insurance should NOT be the responsibility of businesses? That small and big businesses would have so much more flexibility if they were not saddled by enormous health insurance expenses?
wow this insurance stuff is crazy. Had a chat with the missus regarding and blew up into a huge tiff online about it. Weird. But she did offer this website for those interested. Be warned this is more about insurance/pregancy.
Unto better topics
I'll be going to Puerto Rico in October to present at a conference. This is the first time I'll be doing anything like this. I feel honoured/scared/ill-prepared/doubful/unready/nervous as hell. Worse that the topic is on sustainability. I've chosen to write about Sustainability within a Jamaican/ Anglo-phonic Caribbean context - the search for a contemporary model for sustainable living. Pretty much it's about how there are no lasting examples of green architecture in the Caribbean that both responds environmentally and culturally. As well the difficulties we have adopting systems of measure like passihaus or LEED as climate plays a significantly greater role that they allow.
Also, n_, on sleeping tips: no TV or internet/laptop in the bedroom, but you probably already do this. The intense light from the screen makes your serotonin levels go wonky - I can't remember if it makes them higher or lower, but it's bad for getting your body to shut down and go into rest mode.
And, um....ahem, sexual activity can help most people sleep, which may mean with a partner or, um, youknow, on your own. No need to respond to this comment, anyone, just wanted to put it out there. But it reminds me that a women's mag I once read said that orgasms are good for your complexion because of the rush of blood through all your veins, and as far as your face is concerned, it doesn't matter if the orgasms are from a partner or not.
Seriously, you guys, when I give up on architecture I'm going into sex therapy/counseling. It's my favorite thing to talk about, on an analytical level as well as just for fun.
Donna you dirty girl! I love it! But yea you were the only one ballsy enough (pun intended) to suggest what we all thought.
And yes the traditional buildings are perhaps better socially and environmentally. However they very rarely can adapt to our contemporary needs - hence a new model. There've been a few attempts but for some reason they've never started a fire storm.
I love that I just read Donna's advice about not using a laptop in bed while I am pleasantly propped up by my pillows in my bed with my laptop on my lap. Oops, failure #1.
As for talking about sex, Donna, I think we need to hang out. I think we'd get along pleasantly. Oh oh, and I saw Dan Savage on the bus the other day!
lb..the next time i fall asleep a few minutes after 'sexual activity with a partner' i'm going to quote you. "see..it's not my fault, it's my body doing what it does naturally!"
See what I do is work on my laptop while drinking wine (aka right now) and then by the time I put the laptop away and go to bed, the wine kicks right in. Also that Zyrtec I take every night at bedtime doesn't hurt, but it does help my allergies!
You know... Donna... Some of us like to actually avoid using the words "Man" and "Woman" because of the negative connotation but on them by 30 years of feminism.
Some of us like to use more neutral terms that denote gender without concretely tying those words to gender norms or perhaps to other social concepts-- ie, guy/girl, douche/bitch, dude/chick.
As for your argument on healthcare, there are many biases in healthcare specifically male related:
1) Babies never receive any sort of painkiller for circumcision.
2) A multiple amount of money (something like 4 times) goes towards breast cancer research despite the fact that men are predisposed to a higher rate of prostate cancer.
3) Despite research funding, more men die of prostate cancer than women die of breast cancer adjusted to population.
4) Men are more likely to claim long-term disability and are more likely to be disabled because of work-related injuries.
5) Men die sooner than women because of numerous aspects.
6) Insurance costs for men are always higher than women.
7) Many health insurance plans do not cover screening for many diseases because said screenings aren't considered mandatory.
8) Men are at a predisposition of dying from cancer at a much earlier age than women-- testicular cancer.
9) Men are more likely to need catastrophic medical intervention earlier in life.
10) Men are more likely to develop a life threatening condition from venereal diseases due to low mandatory screening and expensive treatment options.
Seriously, I could go on.
Yeah, it sucks that a lot of insurance plans don't cover pregnancy. But to outright say that the health insurance industry is being misogynistic when they offer more benefits and more screenings than men receive is bogus.
Unicorn is back ya'll! And he's into making top 10 lists now. Hope he does one about blacks or jews next. The one on women is pretty much an open and shut case! Well done! Bravo!
I was merely pointing out that while pregnancy is expensive... god forbid I need to have a colonoscopy before the age of 50.
You know, because the cost of a routine mammogram is about $200. While the cost of a colonoscopy is roughly $4,000.
If men were to get routine colonoscopies starting at the age of 20 (the same age women are suppose to get mammograms), the cost of routine pooper shoot examines would total $26,666 whereas mammograms would run $1333.
The cost of treating breast cancer runs between $20,000 and $50,000 where as the cost of treating prostate cancer runs between $45,000 and $60,000.
Use of routine mammograms saves insurance companies roughly $5000 to $15000.
If prostate and colon cancer screenings in men were started 10 years prior to recommended age, the savings cost is between $20,000 - $30,000.
It's mostly just to point out that men don't always get coverage for things that can save companies tens of thousands of dollars mostly because these diseases tend to occur when men generally fall over dead anyways.
Lastly, almost all group insurance health coverage covers pregnancy. Only cheap and or individual healthcare plans rarely cover delivery and post-delivery care.
Most individual health insurance plans are there to cover only "catastrophic" events and the occasional sniffle.
If your insurance didn't cover pregnancy, you should have read the fine print or bought one of their more expensive Cadillac insurance policies!
Also, two wrongs don't make a right. 'Health providers' under-insuring pregnancies is completely unrelated to their other crimes. 'My chicken died, so yours should die too' is petty Mr. Unicorn.
Men's health insurance is much, much cheaper. You are completely wrong by suggesting otherwise. Part of the reason is that men don't go to the doctor's as often. Nature. Fear. Whatever.
Health insurance companies have all of this figured out to a science. They paid attention during the risk management class. If they could openly discriminate on racial health predispositions, they would. It's business to them no different than fixing a car. About as honest as a car mechanic too.
Welcome back Unicorn, now take a deep breath. Tell us a story of what you've been up to during your MIA week!
I have another sub job today; this time elementary special ed. Why's it always gotta be special ed? It's much scarier to prepare for.
So I totally forgot, but I watch The Cove last weekend. I wanted to ask you, Jump, did you know that they sell dolphin meat as whale meat? I was glad to that they at least took dolphin off the compulsory school lunches. I wouldn't want your children, or you for that matter, to get mercury poisoning. Scary.
First i second both of Donna's recent comments re: sustainability in Caribbean and falling asleep from sexual induced exhaustion.
Also, N_ which Murakami book? I assume we are talking Haruki Murakami. A couple of years ago i went on a binge and read all of them up to Kafka on the Shore. Even his non-fiction Underground about the Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
Finally, I saw The Americain last night. Just had a talk with a younger coworker whose said her and her boyfriend hated it all for the exact reasons I and my father liked it. Chiefly that it wasn't a typical action film. It was slow (in terms of filming, tracking shots and editing and pacing), melancholy and it really made me want to see anthony corjbin's Control which I had wanted to see but never did. You can really see corjbin's background as a photographer come through in the way it is filmed...
Wow, today was awesome! Subbing for special needs has been pretty easy so far. Today was kindergarten through 1st, maybe 2nd grade autistic children. One girl, and 4 boys. Two of the children seemed pretty good/normal, just little things like zoning out, or repeating what is said to them. Another was good, meaning he could talk, but not always well, and didn't always sit still. Two were not yet potty trained, and one of those couldn't eat with utensils yet,nor communicate. Both of these were EXTREMELY hyperactive. It was a fun day, though. I'D go back, but I wouldn't want it to be my full time job. I can tell that if I were having a bad day, I wouldn't be able to handle them.
sarah you are making me all nostalgic for my time as a k-12 instructor, my fav time from that period was subbing for headstart and 2-4 grade reading classes...
Still with the health insurance, eh? I don't have the patience or the heart to talk about that anymore. Not when everything else is so bad. I'm feeling very helpless as to the plight of the poor and the unemployed right now. I don't want to seem patronizing but I am wishing there was a way that I could sponsor or mentor an unemployed designer, or at least give someone a place to stay that could use a break from rent.
I am going to treat myself to a Coca-Cola and brainstorm on this.
@ steven, you know i can almost understand that point of view (that the govt helps reglar folks to not die and not get sick is not good for the country). i grew up pretty redkneck-y and it sorta feels right somehow. it may even be true. perhaps america needs adversity to keep things jumping.
nah that makes no sense.
so looks like i will be joining research group to be all brainstorm-y about environmental issues in tokyo and asia. university gig. good pay til the grant runs out. am still teaching this term too at other university (new course on sustainability and architecture+planning). a lot of possible clients in the door lately too. not sure if this means things are looking up, but i am personally going to be very busy for at least the next 2 years now. not sure where to schedule sleep...;-)
Husband and I have that Revolutionary Road sort of itch. I found a stone house in France for 450,000 and it had 5 bedrooms. I wonder if I could convince him to go.
Sarah personally I have been looking at Mikos....off the coast of Greece....seems like a nice place to settle down and DRINK! Figure I can afford a gig there if I give up my health insurance policy...and if I get sick I will just sell the place and most likely come out ahead or
die.
Thread Central
N, try reading the Bible; not for religious reasons, but because it typically puts people to sleep - very quickly, actually. And definitely get yourself on a schedule.
Donna, they did give my sister some painkiller before the epidural, so she wasn't drug free. I see your point, though. I never thought about it that way.
And Slart, the "pay for babies" thing comes from the fact that you get so much money per child through WIC or something like that. Not all, but some women do take advantage of it. On the plus side, at least here in Texas, the state will pay for a woman to have her tubes tied.
Just watching the news, and realized I had forgotten Turkmenistan existed. Why aren't they in the news? Shouldn't they be in this war stuff, just based on proximity, or have they gotten it all figured out?
this whole birthing in hospitals because it's safer is balogna.
yes, for high-risk pregnancies, it is safer. no kidding. but 90% of pregnancies globally aren't considered high risk. not only are hospitals more likely to require a c-section for a variety of (unnecessy) reasons, they also unnecessarily drive up the costs associated with birth. also, for being safer, the infant mortality rate of the US is significantly higher than any other industrialized country, most of which primarily use birthing centers or midwifery as primary caretaker for births.
and yes, the insurance situation is terrible, try being high risk. not fun.
Abram lost the remote to the tv. Can't find it anywhere. This wouldn't be so bad if he were old enough to go change the channels for us, ala 1980s style, but he's not. It's gonna cost me 30 bucks to get a new one here.
Slart, I did not mean to offend and hope I didn't. I don't come from a wealthy family either, there were a few years in my childhood that we fell below the poverty level, although we never accepted assistance.
If you are poor enough, the goverment will not only pay the medical costs of having a child, but they will also give you money in the form of montly checks. Wikipedia says 45% of US children under 5 participate in this program although I find that really really hard to believe. For these women, having a child doesn't cost them anything, and is in fact an income generator, hence having several kids can in turn support the mother.
Statistically, being low income leads to a greater propensity to be illiterate which leads to a greater likelihood of commiting a (street) crime. The correlation between literacy and crime is undeniable. Many prison inmates are illiterate, maybe as many as 80%. Literacy education, in fact, is a great crime preventer.
My godmother, the ob/gyn, is also my aunt. My cousin (her niece) had 5 kids with a midwife and my aunt is very vocal about how unacceptable she finds this. It is a source of friction in the family, and my aunt, being the professional, sets the standard. We even stopped having family reunions, and this was part of the reason. Fun.
N_ steven's ritual for sleeping matches up with mind almost exactly.
Very occasionally do i get a bout of insomnia usually because i have too many big things on my mind or messed up my schedule with too many late nights.
straw as for your aunt the ob/gyn I find that surprising. My girlfriends mother was one of the forces behind getting midwifery legalized in FL and nationally and helped found the midwifery school here in Gainesville. I know she worked very closely with two ob/gyn's one male one female. It would seem a no brainer but i guess not.
The only issue i can see is like in the case of my oldest niece who was born a premie and therefore they actually needed the full hospital support and staff. But otherwise it just doesn't make sense to me. Why treat birthing as a disease/medical issue vs a normal process.
SH - LOL re reading to fall asleep...
ah - thanks for the tip on salary negotiation! I'll use that one next time.
Sarah you need to tap a clapper to your remote....just so you can find it when it is hidding.
straw...how does your aunt feel about bankruptcy? would she prefer you spending most of your savings on this? or maybe she'll help you out when it comes time for you to have a child?
i don't typically get angry about too many things, but healthcare in this country and health insurance makes me lose it. the fact that i have to waste so much of my own money every month and then get questioned for the smallest visit to the hospital irks me to no end... and we in turn provide health insurance companies the money they need to lobby the politicians to make sure nothing changes...or when we do eventually have universal health insurance, will benefit the insurance companies and not 'the american people' that politicians are so fond to throw into every other sentence when they couldn't give two shits about the everyday citizen.
i don't think the average american realizes how many people are left out of our current system and have to pay out of pocket. as a freelancer i pay my own healthcare...something my parents didn't even realize. i think too often people see those that can't afford healthcare as poor or not trying or whatever when the simple fact is that most people couldn't afford to pay for it if it didn't come with their job and don't realize how blessed they are to be in that situation.
My aunt's husband is ironically a bankruptcy attorney...
Exactly, lars. Exactly. It's so fucked up.
uncle pennybags... genius.
I wouldn't declare bankruptcy if I had to pay my own medical bills because of lack of insurance, but I sure would get close to hitting the poverty line by subtracting the cost of insurance premiums and medical expenses from my income!
Hmmm, I see we're still talking about healthcare. Well as long as we're discussing things that make us angry, I'll throw another thing into the fray:
MD Green Party candidate dies after struck by SUV
Words cannot express how upset this makes me.
That's a horrible story DJ dub.
On the other hand I would never dare to take my bicycle on something called "southbound Route 202". Would her death be considered ironic given the SUV? I'll have to listen to some Alanis to find out.
Actually I believe the only way we are going to get insurance cost undercover is by walking away from insurance. Yes I said it walk away from insurnance. I say this because my health insurance cost more than my mortgage at this time, and it still sucks! 80/20 $5,000.00 deductable per sickness with a maximum of $15,000.00 deductable for any given year but you get to pick up the other 20% for anything above and beyond the $5,000.00 per illness.
I think if we as Americans could pull off a Saul Alinsky, and just threaten the insurance companies in massive numbers then maybe just maybe someone will get the message. The time has gone beyond us letting the political element handle this crisis to our pocket book.
The country can't afford for all of us middle of the road people to get sick. Think about it? I say if we can get enough people to say they will cancel their health insurance policy 01/01/2011 unless we see some drastic changes. We will see change. The insurance companies can not handle us all just walking away, we will bankrupt them in a matter of months. Insurance is not like taxes, you do not have to pay it...
Some might think I'm crazy, but I hate being the smuck who is financing the Top executives of Insurance Companies.
enough said...
wow. i can't say how lucky i was to grow up canadian. even here in japan where insurance is mandated by law we don't pay so much. and my kids are free because the government wants kids to be healthy and not a burden.
when i turned 40 the govt sent me a letter saying they would pay for my check up because they don't want me getting sick and costing them more later on. And that is normal from now on. The govt can see beyond the dogma and the insurance companies still do alright if the size of their massive skyscrapers downtown is any indication...
funny enough my kids education is cheap where i live too because they want more young folks in this part of tokyo. We pay a few thousand to cover the birth but govt pays it back a few months later.
also funny, when we were married the city bought us a tree. i don't know why. but its in my mum-in-law's back yard. i thought it was nice of the city to do that for us. something about the govt acknowledging that life is important and we are not just numbers to be processed til we die and the numbers written out of the active accounts...
AND my education was way cheaper than in the USA based on the recent thread.
but you know USA is still one of the most interesting places on earth to love and to do cool things. it is amazig that in spite of all that difficulty the country remains a leader on so many levels. imagine what the nation would be like if it had those bases covered too.
or would that just wreck the whole deal?
a lot of people do believe that all of those benefits of citizenship that you've enjoyed in other countries WOULD ruin the u.s., jump...
jump, America has just gone dumb, best as I can figure. We're cooked.
snook you are absolutely right - if we all boycotted insurance things would turn around hella quick. Problem is, so many people have insurance paid for by their employers that they (the employed) have NO IDEA how expensive it is. And they're not about to boycott a free benefit. Now if business owners en masse stopped paying for it, and suddenly everyone had to pay out of pocket, the boycott would happen naturally because every employee would realize they had to make another payment the size of their mortgage every month.
This is what I will never understand: why aren't the pro-business elements in our government (mainly Rs) screaming that insurance should NOT be the responsibility of businesses? That small and big businesses would have so much more flexibility if they were not saddled by enormous health insurance expenses?
wow this insurance stuff is crazy. Had a chat with the missus regarding and blew up into a huge tiff online about it. Weird. But she did offer this website for those interested. Be warned this is more about insurance/pregancy.
Unto better topics
I'll be going to Puerto Rico in October to present at a conference. This is the first time I'll be doing anything like this. I feel honoured/scared/ill-prepared/doubful/unready/nervous as hell. Worse that the topic is on sustainability. I've chosen to write about Sustainability within a Jamaican/ Anglo-phonic Caribbean context - the search for a contemporary model for sustainable living. Pretty much it's about how there are no lasting examples of green architecture in the Caribbean that both responds environmentally and culturally. As well the difficulties we have adopting systems of measure like passihaus or LEED as climate plays a significantly greater role that they allow.
I've been boycotting health insurance companies since 2008! YEAH!!!!!!
cough cough
why is my left arm numb? Better spray more Windex on it and eat a few Tumbs.
Thanks for the sleeping tips. Hopefully, I can get this in check over the next few months. I'm slowing turning into a walking zombie.
techno, maybe the non-lasting buildings are much more green than the lasting ones?
Wine is a sad substitute for bourbon, that's for sure.
Also, n_, on sleeping tips: no TV or internet/laptop in the bedroom, but you probably already do this. The intense light from the screen makes your serotonin levels go wonky - I can't remember if it makes them higher or lower, but it's bad for getting your body to shut down and go into rest mode.
And, um....ahem, sexual activity can help most people sleep, which may mean with a partner or, um, youknow, on your own. No need to respond to this comment, anyone, just wanted to put it out there. But it reminds me that a women's mag I once read said that orgasms are good for your complexion because of the rush of blood through all your veins, and as far as your face is concerned, it doesn't matter if the orgasms are from a partner or not.
Seriously, you guys, when I give up on architecture I'm going into sex therapy/counseling. It's my favorite thing to talk about, on an analytical level as well as just for fun.
Donna you dirty girl! I love it! But yea you were the only one ballsy enough (pun intended) to suggest what we all thought.
And yes the traditional buildings are perhaps better socially and environmentally. However they very rarely can adapt to our contemporary needs - hence a new model. There've been a few attempts but for some reason they've never started a fire storm.
I love that I just read Donna's advice about not using a laptop in bed while I am pleasantly propped up by my pillows in my bed with my laptop on my lap. Oops, failure #1.
As for talking about sex, Donna, I think we need to hang out. I think we'd get along pleasantly. Oh oh, and I saw Dan Savage on the bus the other day!
Here's to another sleepless night...maybe.
lb..the next time i fall asleep a few minutes after 'sexual activity with a partner' i'm going to quote you. "see..it's not my fault, it's my body doing what it does naturally!"
n_ laptops also trick your eyes into thinking it's daylight out.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/Use-of-laptops-before-sleeping-ups-insomnia-risk/articleshow/5940937.cms
Alright, alright...I'm putting the laptop up for the night. Bring on the Murakami book.
See what I do is work on my laptop while drinking wine (aka right now) and then by the time I put the laptop away and go to bed, the wine kicks right in. Also that Zyrtec I take every night at bedtime doesn't hurt, but it does help my allergies!
Night friends!
You know... Donna... Some of us like to actually avoid using the words "Man" and "Woman" because of the negative connotation but on them by 30 years of feminism.
Some of us like to use more neutral terms that denote gender without concretely tying those words to gender norms or perhaps to other social concepts-- ie, guy/girl, douche/bitch, dude/chick.
As for your argument on healthcare, there are many biases in healthcare specifically male related:
1) Babies never receive any sort of painkiller for circumcision.
2) A multiple amount of money (something like 4 times) goes towards breast cancer research despite the fact that men are predisposed to a higher rate of prostate cancer.
3) Despite research funding, more men die of prostate cancer than women die of breast cancer adjusted to population.
4) Men are more likely to claim long-term disability and are more likely to be disabled because of work-related injuries.
5) Men die sooner than women because of numerous aspects.
6) Insurance costs for men are always higher than women.
7) Many health insurance plans do not cover screening for many diseases because said screenings aren't considered mandatory.
8) Men are at a predisposition of dying from cancer at a much earlier age than women-- testicular cancer.
9) Men are more likely to need catastrophic medical intervention earlier in life.
10) Men are more likely to develop a life threatening condition from venereal diseases due to low mandatory screening and expensive treatment options.
Seriously, I could go on.
Yeah, it sucks that a lot of insurance plans don't cover pregnancy. But to outright say that the health insurance industry is being misogynistic when they offer more benefits and more screenings than men receive is bogus.
Unicorn is back ya'll! And he's into making top 10 lists now. Hope he does one about blacks or jews next. The one on women is pretty much an open and shut case! Well done! Bravo!
Blacks or jews? I'm not that far into crazy town.
I was merely pointing out that while pregnancy is expensive... god forbid I need to have a colonoscopy before the age of 50.
You know, because the cost of a routine mammogram is about $200. While the cost of a colonoscopy is roughly $4,000.
If men were to get routine colonoscopies starting at the age of 20 (the same age women are suppose to get mammograms), the cost of routine pooper shoot examines would total $26,666 whereas mammograms would run $1333.
The cost of treating breast cancer runs between $20,000 and $50,000 where as the cost of treating prostate cancer runs between $45,000 and $60,000.
Use of routine mammograms saves insurance companies roughly $5000 to $15000.
If prostate and colon cancer screenings in men were started 10 years prior to recommended age, the savings cost is between $20,000 - $30,000.
It's mostly just to point out that men don't always get coverage for things that can save companies tens of thousands of dollars mostly because these diseases tend to occur when men generally fall over dead anyways.
Lastly, almost all group insurance health coverage covers pregnancy. Only cheap and or individual healthcare plans rarely cover delivery and post-delivery care.
Most individual health insurance plans are there to cover only "catastrophic" events and the occasional sniffle.
If your insurance didn't cover pregnancy, you should have read the fine print or bought one of their more expensive Cadillac insurance policies!
You seem angry.
Also, two wrongs don't make a right. 'Health providers' under-insuring pregnancies is completely unrelated to their other crimes. 'My chicken died, so yours should die too' is petty Mr. Unicorn.
Men's health insurance is much, much cheaper. You are completely wrong by suggesting otherwise. Part of the reason is that men don't go to the doctor's as often. Nature. Fear. Whatever.
Health insurance companies have all of this figured out to a science. They paid attention during the risk management class. If they could openly discriminate on racial health predispositions, they would. It's business to them no different than fixing a car. About as honest as a car mechanic too.
Welcome back Unicorn, now take a deep breath. Tell us a story of what you've been up to during your MIA week!
I have another sub job today; this time elementary special ed. Why's it always gotta be special ed? It's much scarier to prepare for.
So I totally forgot, but I watch The Cove last weekend. I wanted to ask you, Jump, did you know that they sell dolphin meat as whale meat? I was glad to that they at least took dolphin off the compulsory school lunches. I wouldn't want your children, or you for that matter, to get mercury poisoning. Scary.
First i second both of Donna's recent comments re: sustainability in Caribbean and falling asleep from sexual induced exhaustion.
Also, N_ which Murakami book? I assume we are talking Haruki Murakami. A couple of years ago i went on a binge and read all of them up to Kafka on the Shore. Even his non-fiction Underground about the Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
Finally, I saw The Americain last night. Just had a talk with a younger coworker whose said her and her boyfriend hated it all for the exact reasons I and my father liked it. Chiefly that it wasn't a typical action film. It was slow (in terms of filming, tracking shots and editing and pacing), melancholy and it really made me want to see anthony corjbin's Control which I had wanted to see but never did. You can really see corjbin's background as a photographer come through in the way it is filmed...
Just finished Dance, Dance, Dance. It was good, not his finest work. Kafka on the Shore is my next on my Murakami list!
Just finished Dance, Dance, Dance. It was good, not his finest work. Kafka on the Shore is my next on my Murakami list!
I really liked the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Wow, today was awesome! Subbing for special needs has been pretty easy so far. Today was kindergarten through 1st, maybe 2nd grade autistic children. One girl, and 4 boys. Two of the children seemed pretty good/normal, just little things like zoning out, or repeating what is said to them. Another was good, meaning he could talk, but not always well, and didn't always sit still. Two were not yet potty trained, and one of those couldn't eat with utensils yet,nor communicate. Both of these were EXTREMELY hyperactive. It was a fun day, though. I'D go back, but I wouldn't want it to be my full time job. I can tell that if I were having a bad day, I wouldn't be able to handle them.
sarah you are making me all nostalgic for my time as a k-12 instructor, my fav time from that period was subbing for headstart and 2-4 grade reading classes...
Still with the health insurance, eh? I don't have the patience or the heart to talk about that anymore. Not when everything else is so bad. I'm feeling very helpless as to the plight of the poor and the unemployed right now. I don't want to seem patronizing but I am wishing there was a way that I could sponsor or mentor an unemployed designer, or at least give someone a place to stay that could use a break from rent.
I am going to treat myself to a Coca-Cola and brainstorm on this.
thats cool sarah. sounds like work is adventure.
@ steven, you know i can almost understand that point of view (that the govt helps reglar folks to not die and not get sick is not good for the country). i grew up pretty redkneck-y and it sorta feels right somehow. it may even be true. perhaps america needs adversity to keep things jumping.
nah that makes no sense.
so looks like i will be joining research group to be all brainstorm-y about environmental issues in tokyo and asia. university gig. good pay til the grant runs out. am still teaching this term too at other university (new course on sustainability and architecture+planning). a lot of possible clients in the door lately too. not sure if this means things are looking up, but i am personally going to be very busy for at least the next 2 years now. not sure where to schedule sleep...;-)
Jump, sent you the keys to my sustainability kingdom - hope it helps with teaching!
jump sounds very cool. Is it tied in with public policy government at all or just academic research?
Husband and I have that Revolutionary Road sort of itch. I found a stone house in France for 450,000 and it had 5 bedrooms. I wonder if I could convince him to go.
very cool jump... congrats!
Sarah personally I have been looking at Mikos....off the coast of Greece....seems like a nice place to settle down and DRINK! Figure I can afford a gig there if I give up my health insurance policy...and if I get sick I will just sell the place and most likely come out ahead or
die.
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