Opuscula Ugly signs Of the times

I JUST CAME BACK FROM EARLY VOTING. I don’t know who the folks were voting in the booths on each side of me, but everyone was considerate.

Ditto the poll watchers and the ladies checking IDs and handing out ballots – mine was TWELVE pages long – but it was in English, Kreyol, and Spanish.

ON MY WAY BACK TO THE manse, some jerk angerly laid on his car’s horn because the vehicle in front of his – or hers – failed to move the second the light turned green.

Angry is not a supposition.

The driver didn’t just “toot” his car’s horn to alert the driver in front.

He laid on the horn – a l-o-n-g, loud,angry blast.

Above image of cartoon character Homer Simpson in rage behind steering wheel.

That seems to be happening a lot lately.

I don’t blame it on the snowbirds, already filling the streets.

Most of the cars driven by angry people have Florida plates.

Granted, they may be newcomers; Florida still attracts its fair share of snow ex-pats. Likewise other mostly warm states such as Arizona and parts of Texas and California.

Florida and the other “mostly warm” states are plagued by drivers from the north who bring their driving habits with them; they don’t learn the locals’ ways.

Nothing new

There is nothing new about horny drivers. They are an abundant species everywhere. Always have been, always will be.

But there seem to be more and angrier horn blowers than before. Certainly things were more civilized when I got my first license in 1957. (Since then I have been licensed in at least eight states.)

Likewise politics and politicians who used to lie about each other now take things out of context, twist words, and otherwise prove they rally are not the type people who should be in office. The nastiness is not limited to any party, but the worst always is reserved for the party’s head.

Obama was excoriated by conservatives and Trump is the target of liberals.

The PROBLEM is that no one listens to anyone who holds an opinion even slightly different than the one offering his or her thoughts.

The other day, in Tennessee, a woman candidate for something called for a moment of silence to remember the massacre at the Pittsburgh synagogue.

The moment had hardly begin when a protester starting shouting about how it was a politician’s words that caused the event.

Words CAN hurt and certainly can inflame. It is no secret that President Trump often speaks first and regrets it later, but his opponents often twist his words or modify what he said to suit their own needs.

I have an acquaintance who is is somewhat to the left of Barry Sanders (who is to the left of Hillary Clinton).

It used to be that we could have a civilized exchange of ideas.

Of late, his actions are similar to Trump’s – they are “knee jerk” and I think the emphasis must be on “jerk.”

He no longer thinks objectively, rationally.

I once enjoyed exchanging emails with the man because “back then” he considered both my remarks and his response before hitting SEND. Not so today.

Everything is black (Democrats) or white (Republicans). I write that at the risk of being declared a racist by someone. Nothing seems to be “PC” anymore, what is “PC” for me is anathema to the man with whom I used to exchange emails..

I see America’s lack of civility reflected in other countries as well.

But I LIVE in the U.S. and I am bothered by the state of politics.

Abraham Lincoln said and did a lot of things, some good, some not, but he did understand that

A house divided against itself, cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.

Slavery as it was known in Lincoln’s time is not the issue today.

Slavery to an ideology – be it liberal or conservative – is the issue today.

Until people begin to LISTEN to one another without twisting words or adding things not said, this nation will be a “house divided.”

Unlike Lincoln, I expect to see the “house” further divided until it will be hard pressed to heal itself.

It seems we lack leaders – not just political leaders, but influential people from all walks of life –who can bring civility back to our debates; people who are willing to listen to others and consider their position before replying.

It’s a pity we can’t have simplex speech.

In the “old days,” as anyone of my generation will remember, when someone communicated using a two-way radio, the speaker ended a thought with “Over” and released the Push To Talk (PTT) button. As long as the PTT button was pressed, the other person was unable to communicate.

Now we are duplex – everyone may talk at once and no one listens.

Over

And out.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Ugly Signs

Enterprise Risk Management, BC, COOP Business as usual Direct, indirect risks Come in many forms

ASIDE FROM FARMERS AND WATER-BORNE transportation, drought rarly is considered a risk.

That is a mistake many manufacturers commonly make.

Floods, inclimate weather are the “usual weather suspects.” Rarely drought.

ACCORDING TO THE LOCAL a German media company¹,

Months of drought have left water levels on Germany's Rhine river at a record low, exposing a World War II bomb and forcing ship operators to halt services to prevent vessels from running aground.

That only effects Germany. Right?

Not if a company elsewhere imports German, Swiss, Dutch, or French products for use in its product. The Rhine touches them all.².

A drought has lowered the water level on the Rhine to the point where most river traffic has been stopped; boat owners fear their vessels will run aground even in mid-stream.

The Rhine is one of thousands of rivers in countries around the globe whose traffic is weather dependent. Too much water coming into the river – snow melt, heavy rains – and the waters are too dangerous for many boats.

Too little rain and the tributaries dry up and the river follows suit.

Either way, too much water or too little water, and river transportation is halted.

Granted, when a normally navigable waterway is too high or too low – or frozen solid – there are other transportation options, but all come at a price.

Railroads may not offer door-to-door freight pick up and delivery. Railroads are the most cost effective way to move materials after waterways. Usually rail transportation, especially outside of the United States, is faster than waterway transport.

Trucks can provide door-to-door service. They are faster than waterborne transportation, but more expensive. They also are far less energy efficient and produce more negative impact on the environment than either rail or waterborne carriers.

Lastly, there is airborne transportation. Fast, expensive, and requires land transport from airport to facility.

While drought may not be at the top of an organizations risk list, practitioners need to keep it in mind as they examine ALL the risks to an organization’s input (raw materials) and output (manufactured goods).

Too little water (drought) and too much water (floods) can play havoc with an organization’s bottom line.

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/y72h4vyt

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on (Drought

Opuscula It pays To check The “facts”

’TIS THE SEASON FOR MEDICARE sign-up.

Geezers, and I’m happy to report I am one (it ”beats the alternative”) have from mid-October to Pearl Harbor Day to change plans. (If no change is recorded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) the person automatically is re-enrolled in whatever plan is in effect at the end of the year.)

THIS YEAR, AS I DO EVERY year, I started comparing plans.

First question: Does the plan have the specialists I need?

Then I create a spreadsheet (I use LibreOffice’s Calc) listing in Col. 1 the benefits as they are listed by CMS’s Medicare & You booklet; it comes to my mail box shortly before the sign-up period commences.

This year I found two Medicare Advantage companies who claimed to have my specialist on their Providers’ List. Each got a column on my spreadsheet.

There are three documents every Advantage plan (potential) subscriber needs.
* Evidence of Coverage (EOC)
* Formulary (drug list), and
* Providers’ List (doctors, hospitals, urgent care, etc.)

One of the plans is new to my area (but well established elsewhere). It allows its PCPs to refer to any doctor on its Providers’ List.

One of the plans limits its Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) to an abbreviated list of specialists.

Both plans’ “beyond Medicare requirements” benefits were comparable.

Checking with the one plan’s prospective PCPs to see which could refer me to my specialist I discovered one who told me her practice referred to my specialist, but a patient reported that the specialist did not accept the insurer’s subscribers.

What to do?

Go visit the specialist’s office and ask “What’s going on between the office and the Advantage insurance company?”

The answer: “We HAD a problem, but that has been resolved.”

OK, I continued, what about the other Advantage company, the one that allows a PCP to refer me to any specialist?

“Sorry, we don’t accept that plan.”

But the company rep insisted the specialist was on the list.

The company’s Providers’ List listed my specialist.

I’m not blaming the company rep. She only repeated what she was told, AND she had the Providers’ List to support her position.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The bottom line, at least for this scrivener, is “Check with the specialist.”

It the specialist is critical to your well-being, a phone call, or better, a visit to the specialist’s office, is worth your time.

In the end I signed up with the company that limits its PCPs since I had found several local PCPs who assured me they refer to my specialist. (The one who told me about the insurer-specialist mix-up is about to become my new PCP. My current PCP, who also accepts this Advantage company will not/cannot refer me to my specialist. Pity.)

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

My spouse and I used to share an excellent ophthalmologist who somehow became a resident of a Federal gaol. The reason he was incarcerated was non-medical; no one ever has questioned his professional skills.

Because of his residency at a Federal facility, Medicare banished him from its list of acceptable practitioners.

Apparently the doctor is back in Medicare’s good graces.

The doctor’s staff said he was again accepting Medicare patients.

Hard to believe.

BUT, I found this gentleman’s name on the Providers’ List of the plan to which I just appended my (digital) signature.

I wonder if the PCP I selected can refer me to my preferred ophthalmologist as well as my preferred vascular surgeon.

If truth be told, it’s the surgeon’s team anesthesiologist I want at the head of the table. The surgeon’s good, but the anesthesiologist has the patient’s life in her (or his) hands.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Check the facts

Opuscula Of hurricanes And being “PC”

HURRICANE MICHAEL RIPPED ACROSS Florida’s panhandle and then northeast through adjacent states, causing millions in damage and far too many deaths.

COULD SOME OF MICHAEL’S DAMAGE have been avoided?

Absolutely.

Could some of the deaths been prevented? Probably.

BELIEF AND BUILDING CODES

The “been there, done that” attitude of many Floridians dominated common sense and weather reports.

Again and again, the Panhandlers were told a Category 5 storm was about to make landfall where they lived.

Saffir-Simpson Scale

The Cracker response was “Hurricane Party!” Go to someone’s house, drink too much, and go to sleep. When they wake up, the storm is over.

That’s fine and it works for Cat. 1 and Cat. 2 blows – it keeps fools inside when the eye passes and avoids stepping on downed, hot, power lines.

Because of this attitude, many people foolishly decided to “ride it out.”

Mexico Beach (Florida) was the Homestead of Hurricane Andrew – it was devastated.

Both Homestead and Mexico Beach – and surrounding areas, including Tyndall AFB – had the same problem: lousy building codes and worse building code compliance.¹

Since Andrew, south Florida’s building codes have been enhanced multiple times and building code inspections are taken seriously. (This scrivener lives in south Florida.)

The Panhandle’s building codes were not to south Florida standards, even though Gulf-bred storms are notorious for their severity. Neither private nor government buildings were ready for a Cat. 5 storm.

When Michael came ashore, it was only a Cat. 4. After making landfall it increased to a Cat. 5 storm.²

Video, Hurricane Michael storm surge

While the winds are “bad enough,” storm surge also takes its toll. At Apalachicola near Mexico Beach, the surge was a “mere” 6.5 feet – thanks to a low tide and the shape of the coastline.^{3, 4}

Better safe than sorry The lesson to be learned from Michael, aside from the obvious improvement in building codes and compliance, is that when a Cat. 5, of even a Cat. 4 storm is predicted and evacuation is suggested or ordered, GO.

The storm may make a sudden change in direction; it may suddenly weaken and the property will be spared. But trees and power lines will fall and some people who elected to remain will die.

Buildings and their contents can be replaced; lives cannot.

A FEW WORDS ON “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”

I was informed the other day – shortly after reading Elaine Viets’ Brain Storm – that brain storm, the expression, has been declared “not politically correct.”

Apparently someone who knows someone with epilepsy has taken exception to the word in the belief that it mocks epileptics.

When I was younger, a person in a wheelchair was handicapped. The word was a catch-all for the replacement word: disability. Disability has been replaced by disadvantaged.

I’ll admit that having a mobility handicap – needed anything from a cane to a wheelchair – IS a handicap; getting up and down stairs, or even inclines can be difficult. Likewise being blind – may I still write that or must I write “sightless” or “visually impaired” -- can be limiting. But, as with most handicaps, these can be overcome and life goes on.

Been there, doing that.

While the only true answer to the race question is human, we are challenged by the designations.

A dark-skinned person is, as I key this, black. In some instances, “Black” is capitalized while “white” is not. Before “black” became the descriptor du jour, it was African-American (in the U.S.); before that, negro and colored.

According to Oxford Dictionaries.com⁵,

The word Negro was adopted from Spanish and Portuguese and first recorded from the mid 16th century. It remained the standard term throughout the 17th–19th centuries and was used by prominent black American campaigners such as W. E. B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington in the early 20th century. Since the Black Power movement of the 1960s, however, when the term black was favoured as the term to express racial pride. The word’s origin dates to the mid 16th century: via Spanish and Portuguese from Latin niger, nigr- ‘black’.

The foregoing is a cut-n-paste from the WWW.

In Israel, dark skinned people for many years were called “cushim” (cush-eem), or people from Cush.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, the Bible mentions Cush several times⁶. The famous Queen of Sheba who came from Ethiopia to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem⁷ was, by most accounts, black. Many Israelis identify Cush not as in NE Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Libya), but as Ethiopia, south of Egypt.

The map, above, shows Ethiopia in relation to surrounding countries and gives an indication of the distance between Ethiopia and Israel.

In the image above, an Ethiopian couple are celebrating the pre-wedding henna, common to most communities from Africa to Oman. Henna is a dye placed on the hands of the bride – and sometimes the groom.

Don’t trust the Internet. For some reason, many “Queen of Sheba” images, like images of Jesus, looks surprisingly European. Did they fade as they crossed the Mediterranean Sea?

There was nothing derogatory about the name; it was simply descriptive along the lines of black in the U.S. In Yiddish, blacks were called “swartz” – German and Yiddish for – you guessed it – “black.” (I knew a girl in junior high named Carol Swartz, but she wasn't.)

Apparently some ignoramuses (but not “ignorami”⁸) from the U.S. descended on Israel and declared that “cushim” was not politically correct and forced the word sha'hor'im on the nation. What does that mean? The same as “swartz” – black.

If anyone asks me, a geezer and curmudgeon, I tell them I have a handicap; that’s why I use a cane. If someone asks me to describe one of my neighbors, I say he is a 6’3” black man. I have other equally tall neighbors so the descriptive “black” is helpful.

Of course there is “black” and there is “black.” When the Black Power movement was in its heyday, light skinned blacks were looked down upon by ebony-colored blacks.

At least today I don’t have to shade my description of my neighbor.

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/y7fj2cgk

2. http://tinyurl.com/y9dckmc3

3. http://tinyurl.com/ydcrjqn3

4. http://digg.com/video/hurricane-michael-storm-surge-video

5. http://tinyurl.com/y9n3aonv

6. http://tinyurl.com/y8n25t7h

7. http://tinyurl.com/ydaykexy

8. http://tinyurl.com/y8s3tq7m

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Hurricanes & Being PC

Opuscula Negative ads tempt Me to give my vote To the other guy

IT IS POLITICIAN VS. POLITICIAN in America and although I live in only one state, the negative ads are getting to me.

Worse, I KNOW that in many – most? – cases the ads are, at best, only half (if that much) truths.

I’M CONSIDERING voting for “the other guy” in November.

Rather than hearing that one candidate offered (out-of-state) organizations tax breaks to move to my state, the opponent should tell me what he will do to bring in more tax-paying businesses …. and how he can do that without a tax break inducement.

Rather than telling me that the opponent is somehow connected to a criminal investigation, tell me how you intend to reduce crime.

One commercial slams the opponent for “voting with his party” 89% of the time. Since the man has been re-elected repeatedly, the state’s voters apparently approve of this votes. I think ignoring the party line 11% of the time is commendable. Shows independent thinking, and ANY thinking is to be commended. I would RATHER have the challenger tell me what legislation he will support. (And by the way, the challenger has gone against HIS party’s leader on more than one occasion.)

I could, with clear conscience, vote for either candidate.

Then there is the STATE candidate who promises to “protect Social Security.” The candidate is not running for a D.C. job where he might have some say on Social Security. He promises to increase Medicaid by thousands of people, yet he is silent on how the state will fund this additional burden.

I suppose I should welcome the fact that the candidate is telling us what he will do if elected. (Florida will become “California East” if this gentleman wins.)

Several candidates tell us they will cause trouble for President Trump; never mind that they cannot anticipate Trump’s actions; just that they are “agin’em, no matter what.” ‘Course they blame everything on the president, even “red tide.”

One gentleman contends that his opponent allowed the state to fall to Number 40 on someone’s school quality list. Question; On what is the ranking based? Money per pupil? The state COULD spend more. (The candidate is promising $10,000 – or more – raises to ALL the state’s teachers; how that will be funded is left “to be determined.”) Is the ranking based on college acceptances? High school graduates? The state ranks pretty good in these areas. We’ve even got some better-than-many universities. So, “Who says” the state ranks in the lower half of the rankings?

I will be delighted when the last ballot has been counted and voted tallied. I may not LIKE the outcome, but at least the lies and half-truth advertising will cease.

Hopefully, the candidates in my state will be more gracious than a losing presidential candidate who, although conceding, encouraged her followers to continue the fight, even taking to the streets burning and looting other’s property.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

BCPLANNER: Comments on Lies and Half Truths

What would Mae West say? “Stars” hijack #MeToo movement

AN ARTICLE IN USA TODAY¹ caught my attention not only because of its content, in which women of color, Hispanics, and low-wage workers contend that #MeToo has ignored them in favor of Hollywood and media favorites, but because of racial discrimination.

Maybe I’m just an overly sensitive white male senior citizen, or maybe it’s because I once was a newspaper editor, or may it is because I am a curmudgeon, but whatever the case, the discrimination by USA Today editors bothered me.

Credit where it is due: I was directed to the article from Advisen FPN’s site.²

USA Today got some of its information from the National Women’s Law Center and apparently it picked up the Center’s graphic.

Elsewhere in the article, both “black” and “white” were lower case.

It is sadly – but not surprisingly – interesting that most of the #MeToo attention goes to women in the entertainment industry. (Is “news” news anymore or is it really just “entertainment” for leftists?)

As the image above notes, the #MeToo hashtag was started by a black woman “more than a decade ago.”

Until movie and tv actors took it over, #MeToo was hardly a household word, so perhaps the women who really suffer the most will gain some attention.

The only problem I see with the elevation of #MeToo to national attention is that too many women will contend they have been sexually abused when in fact their claims are bogus. Such claims will, in the end, destroy any credibility #MeToo may have generated.

Is #MeToo for men, too. Males also suffer sexual abuse.

Aside from the racial discrimination that prompted this screed, I’m curious to know what actually constitutes sexual abuse ?

Is it sexual abuse to tell a person he or she looks good?

That USED to be a compliment; ditto a “wolf whistle.”

Is it sexual abuse to call a person “Honey”? If that’s the case, hundreds of servers and cashiers in Dixie are liable to be accused. “Honey,” “Sugar” and similar terms are “just words” – usually said kindly but not necessarily fondly – to both regular and first time customers across the south.

Is sexual abuse offering to hold a door for a female? No more than offering to hold the door for a person with a cane. Is this Handicap “Mobility impaired” abuse?

It IS sexual abuse to solicit a person for a sexual encounter, especially if the person repeats the offense.

It IS sexual abuse to touch another person who does not wish to be touched, no matter what part of the anatomy is touched. (It also can be sexual battery.)

But for some “customer facing” jobs, to call a customer an endearment is akin to saying “Ma'am” or “Sir.”

Perhaps it is not WHAT is said, but HOW it is said as well as who said it to whom.

Wasn’t it Mae West who told Cary Grant³ to “come up and see me sometime”?

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Mae West one-liners: https://youtu.be/FJS670okmZc

Sources

1. USA Today: http://tinyurl.com/ybnqjjz7

2. AdvisenFPN: http://tinyurl.com/yd8s4fup
3. Mae West: https://youtu.be/xY9QxFDwiL0

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Discrimination

Enterprise Risk Management Protect patient data Policies, procedures And inconvenience

ACCORDING TO SEVERAL NEWS reports^{1, 2}

Aspire Health, a large Nashville health care company that offers in-home treatment in 25 states, was hacked earlier this month and lost at least some patient information to an unknown cyber attacker.

The hack, disclosed for the first time in federal court records filed on Tuesday, occurred after a phishing attack gained access to Aspire’s internal email system on Sept. 3. The hacker then forwarded 124 emails to an external email account, including emails that contained “confidential and proprietary information and files” and “protected health information,” according to the court records.

The disturbing thing is not “just” that the hack attack succeeded, but HOW it occurred.

WHAT IS “PHISHING?”

Most Enterprise Risk Management practitioners know that phishing is defined as

the process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity using bulk email which tries to evade spam filters.

Emails claiming to be from popular social web sites, banks, auction sites, or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. It’s a form of criminally fraudulent social engineering.³

Many organizations have policies to reduce the threat of phishing attacks.

Unfortunately that’s all they have – policies, and maybe procedures to report a phishing attempt.

Preventing such attacks needs on-going re-enforcement and, where appropriate, severe consequences. Exposing client information can prove very costly; a hit on the organization’s bottom line.

HOWEVER, the miscreants got to the sensitive information – be it patient information or personal/financial.

While if will be inconvenient, the information needs to be moved from an “open” server to one behind an (additional) firewall.

This server’s access should be secured by

* A second password or other defense (retina scanning, etc.) and
* Be restricted to a limited number of trusted personnel; personnel who are repeatedly reminded of the procedures and consequences of unauthorized access to the secured data.

Most organizations that deal in classified information, defense contractors for example, limit access to sensitive information to relatively few people, people who have been vetted and awarded a security clearance.

Information requests, especially requests originating in an email – even if the email seems to have been authored by an employee – must be considered “suspicious” and treated accordingly.

Admittedly, blocking access to personal information to all but a select few will slow down information retrieval, but it simultaneously reduces the chance of compromising the security of the data.

Limiting access to sensitive data also makes tracking access to that data easier and faster.

Obviously not all customer information needs this level of security, but the information that DOES demand the security can be protected.

I worked for organizations that required multiple passwords: one to log onto the user’s computer, another to log on to the network, and still others to log onto secure servers. The passwords were changed at least every 90 days (which I thought was too great a duration between new passwords).

There is almost no excuse for a data breach, especially one originating with a phishing email.

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/ya5kokgc

2. http://tinyurl.com/y7nq52dv

3. http://tinyurl.com/ybt5uqfn

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on No phishing zone

Opuscula Prohibit Multi-subject Amendments

I THOUGHT IT WAS ILLEGAL to bundle multiple, often unrelated topics into a single constitutional amendment.

Apparently, in Florida this bundling is Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

November’s Florida ballot contains a dozen questions for which Florida voters are asked – in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole – to vote Yes/Si/Wi or No/No/Non.

This begs the question: If the voters cannot comprehend English, how can they safely drive when non-pictograph signs are in English, the nominative language of the U.S.?

Many of the amendments on the ballot have two issues, issues what often have nothing to do with each other. As examples:

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Rights of Crime Victims; Judges	Prohibits Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling; Prohibits Vaping in Enclosed Indoor Workplaces
Creates constitutional rights for victims of crime; Raises mandatory retirement age of state justices and judges to 75 years.	Prohibits extraction of oil and natural gas beneath all state-owned waters. Adds use of vapor-generating electronic devices to current prohibition of tobacco smoking in enclosed indoor workplaces.

The examples' text in the table have been abbreviated.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but I cannot see the relationship between

Rights of crime victims and judges’ retirement age or
Offshore oil and gas activities and “vaping” (use of electronic “cigarettes”).

Isn’t “enclosed indoor” redundant? (Vaping amendment description in table.)

I might be in agreement with both questions in an amendment, but then again, I might agree with one part and disagree on another.

To my simple mind, it appears as if the amendments’ writers are trying to “slip one by the voters.”

One issue per amendment.

Clear language.

The League of Women Voters (LWV) published a “translation” of the “amendment-ese” for voters smart enough to use public libraries. To its credit, the LWV’s “translation” did not (seem) to promote a for or against vote.

It will be interesting to see what percentage of voters cast a pro or con vote on each amendment (in addition to the political candidates and the local issues). we'll never know – it's the American way – if those voting on the amendments actually understood the amendment questions.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Amendments

Opuscula Selecting A Medicare Provider

IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN, time for geezers (like me) to review Medicare options.

The top four are

1. Plain ol’ Medicare
2. Medicare with a drug plan
3. Medicare Advantage plan, and
4. Medicare Supplement (Medi-Gap) plan.

THE PLACE TO START IS medicare.gov. Medicare puts out a booklet titled “Medicare & You” that includes a wealth of information about Medicare AND plans available to people in different parts of the country. The booklet is free from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a/k/a CMS. (What happened to the second “M” is beyond me.) The booklet is available on line or may be requested from

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
7500 Security Blvd.
Baltimore MD 21244-1850

MAKE A LIST, CHECK IT TWICE

No matter if you are a Medicare innocent or an old hand, there is some information you want at the ready.

Do you have a family physician, a “Primary Care Physician”?
If you do, write down the doctor’s name.

Do you have any specialists on whom you depend?

Write down the specialists’ names.

Do you take an prescription medications?

Write down the names of the drugs and their potency.

WHAT PLAN TYPE?

After looking at “Medicare & You” (ibid.) decide what plan option suits your needs. Medicare Part B will cost you at least $135/month no matter the plan option.

Yes, you paid into Medicare all your working life or at least from 1958, and no, it doesn’t seem reasonable that you have to keep paying, but ...

A Medicare Supplement (Medi-Gap) plan will cost you the monthly fee PLUS an additional fee.

If you want to see ANY practitioner, usually sans a referral, the Supplement plan may be right for you. However, don’t be talked into a Supplement plan because you like to travel. Medicare and most Medicare Advantage plans cover you wherever you go in the U.S. Most Advantage plans provide coverage outside the U.S. as well, albeit there will be paperwork on your return to the U.S.

Once you decide on the plan (Medicare, Medicare with Rx, Medicare Advantage, or Medicare Supplement) see what plans are available for your ZIP code.

There are two basic “variations on a theme” with Advantage plans.

There are plans for people with limited incomes; these are identified as “SNP” plans.

There are HMO and PPO plans. HMOs generally are “plain vanilla” and require subscribers to see a limited number of doctors while PPO plans offer a greater number of physicians – at a cost.

My preference is Medicare Advantage HMO.

WHICH PLAN SUITS BEST?

Each Advantage plan has three (3) main documents. All of the documents are online or may be ordered from the company offering the plan.

Evidence of Coverage
Forget about “summaries” or “plan overviews.” They are useless. The controlling document is the EVIDENCE OF COVERAGE, the EoC. The EOC is the agreement between the plan provider and CMS. Once approved by CMS, it is “cast into concrete” for the calendar year. Get a copy of this document (digital or paper) and guard it well.

Providers’ List

The PROVIDERS’ LIST identifies all the physicians, hospitals, urgent care clinics, pharmacies, and, often, optometrists and opticians, and dental providers. This list is “subject to change” during the year.

Formulary

The FORMULARY lists all the prescription drugs the plan will provide and the tier level for each drug. Most advantage plans have four or five “tiers”; each tier has an associated price. The PRICE for each tier is listed in the EoC. The drug list is “subject to change” during the year.

ITEM BY ITEM

Most plans’ EoCs conform to an alphabetized list.

Many of the service’s fees (co-pays) are determined by Medicare. Common immunizations are $0 co-pay because Medicare requires it. Mammograms, PAP smears, prostate tests are sans co-pay.

But there ARE differences among plans.

I usually create a spread sheet starting with my critical requirements. For me, those are three things: my specialist, my hospital, and the tier level of my most expensive medication.

After that, I simply go down the list.

Some plans will have extra services, and some plans are more generous that others. For example, one plan gives the first five inpatient days as $0 co-pay; another gives all Medicare days (90) as $0 co-pay, and another EoC promises $0 co-pay for unlimited inpatient days. (It turns out that most acute hospital stays are five days or less.)

Given my personal priorities – specialist and hospital – I quickly reduce the field.

ACCESS TO SPECIALISTS

Many, in fact almost all, Advantage plans have a great number of specialists on their Providers’ List. HOWEVER most plans allow the PCPs to refer to a “sub-list” that may, or may not, include a specialist you want to see.

To find out is a particular PCP can send you to the specific specialist you have to ask the PCP’s office administrator. (Most PCPs haven’t a clue.) If you are willing to accept an alternate, well and good; but if you are committed to one practitioner, you will need to select a different PCP.

REFERRALS ARE A GOOD THING
Referrals can be a pain in the posterior, but they actually are a good thing. The PCP should be the center of your health care and should know who you’ve seen and the results of the visit. A good PCP will aggressively follow up with the specialist to make certain the PCP gets a complete report.

Do NOT, however, depend on the PCP to be up to date with medications. If you take multiple pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, talk to your pharmacist. The pharmacist is more likely to be aware of any contra-indications than the PCP. (However, make the PCP aware of ALL prescription and OTC drugs you take.)

YOU AND THE PCP

Your PCP should be your adviser; he or she should be your medical consultant, just as you (may) have a financial or mechanical consultant. Consultants recommend, they are not paid to dictate. It’s your health, after all.

If you have a PCP that insists on something with which you have an issue, change PCPs. Medicare Advantage plans allow subscribers to change PCPs once-a-month. You are “stuck” with the plan for the calendar year, just as the plan is “stuck” with you. The only “out” is to move out of the plan’s coverage area.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

BCPLANNER: Comments on Medicare

Opuscula Words that Make my day

I LOVE LESS-USED WORDS.

I’m not a Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. or Wm. Frank Buckley Jr.; my command of the language, compared to theirs, is sorely lacking.

But I have Merriam-Webster’s (M-W) Word of the day in my inbox (in box? in-box?) to add to my personal treasury of words. In Hebrew, “vocabulary” is “otzer meleem” or treasury (otzer) of words (meleem). I like that

A few of the words M-W sends to me I already know. I remember the admonishment from my primary (elementary, grade) school days: “Use a word three times and it is yours.”

Back in the day, if you used some words even one time you got your mouth washed out – back in the day.

I once worked with a fellow I nicknamed “Third Definition Gregory.” Jess and I worked on a small town newspaper. He often reached down to a word’s third definition for his reports, ergo “Third Definition Gregory.”

A few readers might have thought ol’ ’’Third Definition” was inconsiderate, using words which which they were not familiar. I, on the other hand, considered part of being a good “journalist” was gently educating the readers. To be honest, educating some readers is akin to leading that proverbial horse to water.

There are a few words that I use so often I probably should be arrested for their abuse: picayunish and ubiquitous are two that sit at the top of the list. Because I was for many years “in journalism,” I know about the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and by extension, picayunish. The Picayune used to be a fine daily but, as with many newspapers, it became a victim of both tv and the Internet. Now it lingers on as NOLA.com.

When I labored as an Enterprise Risk Management practitioner, all of my “risk lists” included the ubiquitous other, the risk my client and I failed to discover but had to prepare to avoid or, at least, mitigate. Not an easy task.

IN ANY EVENT, I subscribe to M-W’s Word of the Day and when a word of particular interest to this scrivener (amanuensis) pops up I do a quick copy-n-paste of the word and its definition (sometimes “daffy-nition”) into a file I titled simply as “Favorites” - in my case, followed by LibreOffice’s Writer extension: “odt.”

The file has more than “just” words. It also has HTML codes I use once in a blue moon¹. Don’t be too confident that you can correctly define “blue moon.” In truth, Favorites.odt is a catch-all for things I want at hand “in the event of.” One of these day I may get around to organizing the contents, One of these days.

My grand-daughter, too young to have any interests other than social media, learned to love – at 7 years old – a Webster’s desk dictionary. I promised it to her to keep her hands off my unabridged. (It is so heavy she could barely lift it.) Hopefully she will sign up for the free M-W Word of the Day – I intend to encourage her.

Why hang on to an Unabridged when a word can be correctly spelled and defined by keying the word in a browser’s address field? Because a. The word may not be on line (unlikely, but …) b. There may be yet another definition c. (The REAL reason) While looking for the word in the unabridged other interesting words are discovered.

Dictionaries can be as fascinating as encyclopedias. Ask any child who has been given the opportunity to sit with real books. (Or adults who have a child’s curiosity. Here I raise my hand.)

The Internet is a wonderful thing for the curious.

The problem – my problem – is that unlike sitting down with a real book, my Internet searches normally are highly focused. I don’t get to see whatever entry came before or after the entry I sought; there are fewer “ah ha” moments when you may sit back and, in the words of Dick Martin², admit that “I didn’t know that.”

When I lived overseas I used to listen to a BBC program on Friday mornings called My Word. It was panel format where the wordsmiths on the panel were challenged to define a word. The definitions were often comical, albeit in the end accurate.

Words have been the tools of my trades – plural – for years. First as a reporter, then as a PR flack, later as a technical writer, and finally as a Enterprise Risk Management practitioner writing reports to everyone from executive management to the folks charged with doing the actual tasks. The executive summaries often were written in simple terms management could comprehend; the instructions for responders were written in terms they used daily. (Know your audience.)

While I no longer write for a living, I still enjoy encountering new-to-me words. When my grandkids (grand-kids, grand kids) are close by, we sit and “read” the dictionary. When they are distant, I have M-W’s Word of the Day. (I’d prefer to sit with the grands.)

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/ybpezsha

2. http://tinyurl.com/ybpm3q3y

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Words