tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post1751263755397004761..comments2023-12-23T16:22:22.290-05:00Comments on alicublog: IN WHAT SHOULD BE THE NADIR...roy edrosohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161980502027888634noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-15204906243693312572013-11-17T21:45:49.013-05:002013-11-17T21:45:49.013-05:00More likely sold the damn thing and bought an isla...More likely sold the damn thing and bought an island.BigHank53noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-52705077499747296652013-11-17T19:38:50.684-05:002013-11-17T19:38:50.684-05:00My designated driver is the Republican party itsel...My designated driver is the Republican party itself. When they get through with me I'll be dead of alcohol poisoning, and glad of it.Aimaihttp://aimaiameye.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-81582406806507335682013-11-17T18:27:35.146-05:002013-11-17T18:27:35.146-05:00$20.6 million (and she was pressured out by the st...<i> $20.6 million (and she was pressured out by the stockholders because of poor performance)</i><br /><br /><br />Oh man, I could totally perform that poorly!tigrismusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-58852545641814257092013-11-17T16:05:12.078-05:002013-11-17T16:05:12.078-05:00Don't forget that they lay off some of the bet...Don't forget that they lay off some of the bets with reinsurance, so even if they lose their bet somebody else will pick up the tab. <br /><br /><br />Half of all years they have to pay out more than average. Those years their insurance insurance kicks in.MikeJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-54538702901838555192013-11-17T15:40:46.200-05:002013-11-17T15:40:46.200-05:00It's wise to have a designated driver in that ...It's wise to have a designated driver in that case.Mark_Bzzzznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-62905299131447940822013-11-17T15:37:59.063-05:002013-11-17T15:37:59.063-05:00The thing about the profit margin of the insurance...The thing about the profit margin of the insurance companies is that it's essentially risk-free. Due to the rule of large numbers and the face that they hire good actuaries, there's a vanishing possibility that they can ever lose money. Somewhere along the lines of the probability that the air molecules in the room will suddenly be in the top half simultaneously. It's literally like printing money.Mark_Bzzzznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-85193244835900815562013-11-17T15:33:21.007-05:002013-11-17T15:33:21.007-05:0011th dimensional chess from the programmer in chie...11th dimensional chess from the programmer in chief!Mark_Bzzzznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-7598500651193341782013-11-17T14:38:54.900-05:002013-11-17T14:38:54.900-05:00"can't they see what dickheads they look ..."can't they see what dickheads they look like for acting like pissants on the anniversary of his assassination?"<br /><br /><br />One of the many, many reasons why I have always been a Democrat is that on the day of the assassination, as I was being driven home from high school, I saw the local John Birch Society president walking down the street with a transistor radio pressed to his ear and a big shit-eating grin on his face. They were acting like pissants while the rest of the country -- including, in those long-ago days, decent Republicans -- were still stunned and horrified by a vicious political murder.Tehanunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-18527879229171236722013-11-17T14:32:19.743-05:002013-11-17T14:32:19.743-05:00Oh, he's fucking something.Oh, he's fucking something.Tehanunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-19230622535525212332013-11-17T14:16:06.066-05:002013-11-17T14:16:06.066-05:00Huh. My MD friend in Canuckistan makes more than ...Huh. My MD friend in Canuckistan makes more than that, and he gets a 6 month sabbatical every 5 years.StringOnASticknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-32688179452311764892013-11-17T11:49:43.101-05:002013-11-17T11:49:43.101-05:00Sometimes I get confused between the ;usage of ...Sometimes I get confused between the ;usage of 'fucking' as a transitive verb and as an adjective.Mark_Bzzzznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-18552185698923446732013-11-17T11:46:42.420-05:002013-11-17T11:46:42.420-05:00Off topic, but for some reason I was watching Fox ...Off topic, but for some reason I was watching Fox (not the cable news channel, but the broadcast version) and on their sunday morning talker they had George Will and a few other bitter right wing talkers. The entire broadcast was devoted to President Kennedy, but not to the assassination, or the tremendous loss suffered by the country, but to pissing on Kennedy's legacy and complaining about how much America loved him despite how little they felt he had actually accomplished. <br /><br /><br />Yeah, he could have accomplished a lot more it he had not been shot in the head in his first term, but you know, most of President Johnson's accomplishments can be seen as Kennedy's legacy. Even if you viscerally hate all Democrats, can't they see what dickheads they look like for acting like pissants on the anniversary of his assassination? [rhetorical question]<br /><br /><br />I know the complaint couldn't have been about how myths are build around presidents that totally outstrip their accomplishments, because they all revere Reagan, whose presidency was a wretched hash of selling weapons to terrorists, throwing insane people out in the streets, and murdering nuns in Central America.<br /><br /><br />I have never felt so angry at my television as I did halfway through that shot. And then I changed the channel.Mark_Bzzzznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-9901110019166278232013-11-17T11:25:18.318-05:002013-11-17T11:25:18.318-05:00Given the surprisingly minor policy differences be...Given the surprisingly minor policy differences between the two I wonder what could POSSIBLY account for that. Pupienusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-86521620090493671262013-11-16T23:29:52.006-05:002013-11-16T23:29:52.006-05:00Watch out. They nibble.Watch out. They nibble.XeckyGilchristnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-74186497896656394112013-11-16T21:06:08.029-05:002013-11-16T21:06:08.029-05:00I'd settle for a tapir. A horny tapir, with a ...I'd settle for a tapir. A horny tapir, with a penchant for skullfucking.Jeffraham Prestonianhttp://jprestonian.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-78672847207080563542013-11-16T20:41:06.691-05:002013-11-16T20:41:06.691-05:00But they take all the risks!But they take all the risks!XeckyGilchristnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-84291972703808342312013-11-16T18:10:29.862-05:002013-11-16T18:10:29.862-05:00I like the criolipolisisI like the <a href="http://lacriolipolisis7.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">criolipolisis</a>Jose Pereznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-50411252278787417852013-11-16T18:02:28.244-05:002013-11-16T18:02:28.244-05:00I do not understand about this, David M. Cordani, ...I do not understand about this, David M. Cordani, Cigna Corp., $12.5 million, plus $8.4 million in stock<br /> (only a 27 percent jump in pay from the previous year -- better luck <br />next year, Dave!)Jose Pereznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-63141812157448679772013-11-16T17:54:19.492-05:002013-11-16T17:54:19.492-05:00Two of the three largest insurers in California ar...Two of the three largest insurers in California are non-profit (though not "mutual" insurance companies, i.e., customers don't "own a share" in the company).<br /><br />Kaiser-Permanente was started by Henry J. Kaiser as a health plan for his employees at various Kaiser companies.<br /><br />Blue Shield (completely separate from Anthem Blue Cross of CA, a subsidiary of for profit Wellpoint) was started in 1939 by the California Medical Association (state equivalent of the AMA) as a preemptive strike to stave off the threat of some type of nationalized healthcare then being proposed in D.C. (FDR-Care, if you will).<br /><br />But it's all apparently a lot more complicated:<br /><br />http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/07/08/59143.htm<br /><br /><br />A lawsuit alleges that Blue Shield and Blue Cross both somehow evade insurance premium taxes based on a differentiation of what constitutes "insurance" vs. a "prepaid health plan." I haven't the time or legal background to dig into those weeds productively, but there is probably some really interesting history in there of about six decades of insurance regulation and tax law.PersonaAuGratinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-23144148911437140422013-11-16T17:22:31.625-05:002013-11-16T17:22:31.625-05:00The bigger the pool, the smaller the ripples.The bigger the pool, the smaller the ripples.PersonaAuGratinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-11622111036237775672013-11-16T15:40:52.994-05:002013-11-16T15:40:52.994-05:00I can't remember the first, but they do have a...I can't remember the first, but they do have a rough order because Judge Dee meets his companions in the first book. Let me think about this a minute. The first one I ever read turns out to be the second one written. The Chinese Bell murders (fantastic) and then The Chinese Gold Murders introduces his two henchman. I would definitely begin with those two if possible. The books don't follow one on the next like the Gordianus books, possibly because Gulik is not exploring a well known and pretty short period of historical and political time. But Judge Dee does rise up through the ranks, beginning as a young judge and ending up as the Emperor's right hand man, and that is important to the stories.Aimaihttp://aimaiameye.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-56454320362178154042013-11-16T15:33:23.367-05:002013-11-16T15:33:23.367-05:00Profit margin is calculated after all expenses inc...Profit margin is calculated after all expenses including compensation of officers and owners. (Speaking as a CPA.)marindenvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-67418524185998228312013-11-16T14:07:19.954-05:002013-11-16T14:07:19.954-05:00The day #askMegan hits is the day I die of mirth.The day #askMegan hits is the day I die of mirth.TGuerrantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-75120483031411636562013-11-16T14:04:56.011-05:002013-11-16T14:04:56.011-05:00Wait. Can we get yellow magnets shaped like ribbo...Wait. Can we get yellow magnets shaped like ribbons from China that say Support Our Programmers?TGuerrantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-50937801228568661542013-11-16T12:58:17.657-05:002013-11-16T12:58:17.657-05:00So the nurse is an unpaid volunteer? Any doctor wi...So the nurse is an unpaid volunteer? Any doctor with a private practice who is making less than $50,000 (even 13 years ago...hell, especially 13 years ago) is definitely doing something wrong. I'd take that sob story with a grain of salt.harumphnoreply@blogger.com