One Robin Does Not a Spring Make --

.
---but, OH!, it is a hint.

I, like everyone else I know, am tired--so-o-o-o tired--of winter.


Enough already.






And I mean, ENOUGH!



Today, I saw a robin.

What a deliciously beautiful sight.







Hurray, for the coming spring!


.

A Good Thing....

.
Vermont Senators voted 26 to 4 on Wednesday to deny a request to extend the license to operate for the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor.

It is leaking tritium like a sieve. And the operating company lied about the extent of tritium contamination in the local water supply.

Truly, the nuclear bunch is one full of honor....NOT.

The only true answer? Wind. . . Solar. . . And both close the site of use--i.e., roof top. This cuts out the necessity for long, expensive transmission lines. And prevents the homeland security issues faced by "long, expensive transmission lines."

Now, if we can just get rid of the notion of "clean coal," this country might actually become a better place.
.

What Is a Progressive?

.
What being a progressive/liberal means to me: caring about and standing up for people and issues I don't have to care about, that my circumstances don't require me to care about

The essence of the conservative worldview: as long as I've got mine, I don't care if you have yours.
.

U of Michigan Does It Again!

.
by Ariel Schwartz, 02/17/10

It’s not easy walking on a prosthetic foot. Aside from the obvious difficulty of adjusting to an artificial limb, dragging around the weight of the foot exerts a lot of energy — 23% more than walking on a natural foot, to be exact. But a prototype foot developed by researchers at the University of Michigan makes it easier for amputees to move around normally by recycling kinetic energy generated while walking.

According to the researchers, “Humans normally dissipate significant energy during walking, largely at the transitions between steps. The ankle then acts to restore energy during push-off, which may be the reason that ankle impairment nearly always leads to poorer walking economy.”

Typical prosthetic feet can’t mimic the ankle’s natural push-off, which is why the limbs feel so heavy. The University of Michigan prototype, on the other hand, is able to reproduce the ankle’s strength by recycling energy produced while walking. There are other artificial feet that can mimic the ankle’s push-off, but they require big batteries and motors. Since the prototype device recycles energy, it only requires a small battery that uses less than one watt of power.

No word on when the artificial foot will be released commercially, but it is currently in testing at the Seattle Veterans Affairs Medical Center. An Ann Arbor-based company is also reportedly looking into producing a device based on the University of Michigan research.

.

Happy Birthday, Susan B Anthony

,
In her own words:

• It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.
• There is not the woman born who desires to eat the bread of dependence, no matter whether it be from the hand of father, husband, or brother; for any one who does so eat her bread places herself in the power of the person from whom she takes it.
• [T]here never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers.
• I always distrust people who know so much about what God wants them to do to their fellows.

.

Another Good Argument for Singe-Payer

.
If this is how the insurance companies are going to behave, we should STRONGLY threaten our Congress critters to just pass single-payer, Medicare for All.

Anthem Blue Cross apparently isn't taking any chances. The company recently informed many of the approximately 800,000 Californians who buy its individual policies that premiums will rise sharply March 1. Although Anthem provided no details, insurance brokers say they're already seeing increases of up to 39%. That's on top of even larger rate hikes last year.

Medicare for All!

God Bless Michigan

.
The good stuff just keeps on coming: teeny, tiny & with possible medical applications.

A tiny, tiny solar-powered sensor system is in the works.

Developed at the University of Michigan, the 2.5 x 3.5 x 1 millimeter system is the smallest in the world, and it can harvest energy from its surroundings almost perpetually.

Measuring in at 9 cubic millimeters, the micro sensor requires half a volt to operate, but the device can put out up to 4 volts of power with reasonable indoor lighting. It probably won’t be on store shelves any time soon, but the solar-powered system could be used to make environmental sensor networks that keep track of water and air quality both cheaper and more efficient. The device also has a number of possible medical applications — for example, it could monitor pressure changes in the eyes for patients with glaucoma. Eventually, the sensor could be powered by heat or movement and used inside the body.

.

Even the Cubans Can Get It Right

.
This should be required reading for all Senators and Representatives.

If they see that the Cubans do "health" better than the good ol' USofA, maybe that will be enough catalyst to make our elected animals get off their keisters and really make some meaningful health care delivery reforms!

Cuba-trained students, unencumbered by the massive debt that plagues grads from US medical schools, have the luxury to do the kind of medicine that Cuba instructs — family medicine. The island's medical schools focus on nutrition and other preventative approaches. Cuba also is well known for its focus on the "social determinants of health."

Cubans also enjoy a better doctor-patient ratio than Americans: 59 doctors per 10,000 people compared to 26 for us.

Cuban life expectancy also matches that of the United States, its infant mortality rate is lower, and the island's HIV/AIDS transmission is among the lowest worldwide. Cuba's aggressive health-care delivery system also costs much less — around $200 per capita annually, compared to our $7,000. And it provides timely and primary care for every citizen — near universal accessibility.

To the Cuban government, health care is a right.

Hoh, boy, schooled by the Cubans. We really, really, should be ashamed.

Medicare for All!

.

And So It Goes...

.

The Office of the Actuary, an independent arm at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), released a new report showing that "National health spending accounts for the largest share of the U.S. economy since federal auditors began tracking the data in 1960." And, minus some sort of reform effort, it's only going up.

In 2009, national health spending made up a record 17.3 percent of the gross domestic product, a 1.1 percentage point increase from 2008, the largest-ever one-year increase reported, the CMS actuaries report based on preliminary estimates.

Total health spending grew 5.7 percent to $2.5 trillion last year. That rate of growth is faster than the 4.4 percent in 2008 but still less than the 6 percent reported in 2007. The 2008 figure was the lowest growth rate since the CMS actuaries began issuing these reports 50 years ago.

WE CAN'T AFFORD TO WAIT--

Medicare for All!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

.
Well, my gentle snowflakes, I made it home. Trust me in this, being caught on the other side of the bad, bad ice/snow storm that went through Oklahoma from SW to NE was no fun.

Anyway, I am back. Look for some, I hope, interesting rants in a couple of days when I begin to get caught up.

Suggestions? Requests? Prayers for the quiet to continue?
.