Opuscula Door code uselessWhen everyone Shares the sequence

I LIVE IN A BUILDING THAT REQUIRES A SECURITY CODE to enter.

There are 26 apartments in the building; there is one entry code.

Most of the apartments have multiple residents.

So far so good.

 

THE PROBLEM IS, that each of the residents share the code

With delivery people

With visitors

With contractors

With their kid’s friends

I am guilty of sharing the code with my daughter and her family.

I did not share the code with the guys who delivered products to the door — they managed to get in anyway.

My grand-daughter who, at age 11, knows “everything” (just ask her), said there is an emergency code known to emergency responders — and 11 year old girls.

Actually, THAT makes sense.

Code = Password

To my Edward Bear mind, the entry code should be treated like a password.

Protected.

Shared only on rare occasions.

Changed frequently.

Alternatively, perhaps tenants could be — as happened in one Florida gated community — given swipe cards or similar to open doors and gates.

Most people already carry a bevy of cards: driver’s license, credit, employer ID, medical, etc. Adding one more card should not be that onerous — unless of course the person is toting multiple packages and the weather is not conducive to fumbling for a card.

Fashion may dictate that cards on lanyards or retractable strings are undesirable, especially for the ladies.

Children, especially active small children (elementary school age) can be rough on any type card; they, then, are the “weak link” in having a physical entry option.

MEANWHILE despite the good intent, the desired security remains in the realm of “desire.” It LOOKS good, seeing the keypad close to the main door, but since the code is known, apparently, by everyone and his brother, it is next to useless.

 

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The sign of a closed mind is the inability to see a different point of view.

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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Communications failure

Opuscula It can be Confusing: This way or that?

Moving around the world can be confusing.

 

FOR INSTANCE, when we lived in Hollywood FL USA, in order to get mail (sometimes) delivered to my street side mailbox, it had to include “Hollywood FL 33312-7901.”

Failing to put the full nine-digit ZIP and the missive went to Never-Neverland.

It seems the USPS, in its bureaucratic wisdom, decided my address belonged to Fort Lauderdale.

To be fair, at one point my neighborhood was in unincorporated Broward County; Hollywood annexed the land.

USPS apparently was unable to update its computers.

The County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) Office had a similar problem. The county has a new SOE so maybe things now will improve.

Dating

In the U.S., dates usually are written DD/MM/YYYY.

In Israel and, I understand, most of the rest of the world, dates are written MM/DD/YYYY.

Actually, my preferred method is DD MONTH ABBREVIATION YYYY so the first of April of 2022 will read 1 APR 2022.

Time on her hands

Most people in the U.S. deal with a 12-hour clock; a.m. and p.m.

In Israel, the clock is the 24-hour variety: 0000 to 2359

Possibly because I was in the (U.S.) military, I never had a problem with either clock.

It simply is a matter of elementary arithmetic.

1500 is 1200 (noon) plus 3 hours or 3 p.m.

Going the other way, 2200 is two hours shy of midnight; ergo 10 p.m. I confess that all my time pieces are set for 12 hours. When the Spouse asks “What time is it?” I know she wants the 12-hour clock time.

Slashing confusion

I suspect the majority of people in Israel live in apartments or condominiums, which are the same thing except apartments usually are rented while condos are owned.

Over the years I have lived in both.

In the U.S., my first address (c 1943) was 39 East 9th Street, Apartment 508.

Note “Apartment 508” followed the street address.

In Israel, my building address is Street Name Number 9. Our unit number is 7.

Unlike in the U.S., writing the address uses a slash (/) between building number and unit number, ergo Street Name 9/7.

Except that for some people, it shows up as Street Name Unit Number/Building Number.

Which explains why the gas company called the other day asking why we failed to pay the bill.

“What bill? We never GOT a bill.”

The clerk agreed to send the statement to my email where I think I saw the problem. The bill went to Building 7, Unit 9 (versus Building 9, Unit 7).

All of this could be avoided if whoever set up the addressing software would have it read

Street Name Building Number - Apartment Number.

In the U.S., “apartment” is abbreviated to “apt.” In Israel, the word for “apartment” only is 4 letters long, hardly worth an abbreviation although Israelis DO abbreviate it with the letter dalet.

Abbreviations

For many years I was an honest reporter and editor in the Several States.

In the U.S., reporters were instructed to “spell it out on first reference” unless the abbreviation was so common (e.g., SCUBA, F, C, a.m., p.m.) that almost everyone knew it.

Before I could write about POTUS, I had to spell out “President Of The United States.”

Hebrew is replete with abbreviations. Worse, many of the abbreviations have several meanings. Worse yet, writers apparently have no obligation to “spell it out on first reference.” Even native Hebrew speakers (I am not) sometimes are at a loss to decipher the “code”

Show me

When I first was in Israel (mid-1970s), the Army invited me to join in its fun and games.

In order to do that, I had to undergo a simple physical.

There was a fellow in front of me who knew even less Hebrew than I. The nurse told him to take a deep breath and hold it while she operated an xray (Röntgen) machine..

He failed to understand.

She tried again, louder, and slightly angry.

After her third try, I caught the guy’s attention and showed him what she wanted him to do.

He did. She got her chest xray, and I moved with the line.

Recently I was a guest at an Israeli government hospital. A Russian nurse told me to “cough” while she performed a procedure.

I was unfamiliar with the word. (I should have known, but “forgot.”)

The woman said she only spoke Hebrew (not true, her native language was Russian), so I suggested she do as I did: mime.

Her reaction was not positive, but she did take it to heart.

The next time she asked me to do something and got a blank stare in return, she knew to mime the action.

Nothing is simple, but it surely can be interesting.

 

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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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Confusing

Opuscula Trial by media Threats by massesNew “justice” in US?

Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who killed two people and shot another during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was acquitted Friday of first-degree intentional homicide and four other felony charges. ^{https://tinyurl.com/4ukmbjsk}

 

I WAS NOT IN KENOSHA when the event occurred.

All I know about the Rittenhouse trial I learned from tv and “social media.”

I DO know that some of the media convicted Rittenhouse before he even set foot into the courtroom.

I DO know that some people threatened to burn down communities across the U.S.; communities that had nothing to do with either the shootings or the trial.

I am given to understand the prosecution was inept.

Gary Varvel editorial cartoon for 23 Nov 2021 (https://tinyurl.com/pnfy9wza)

Not in dispute

What I learned today is that the people Rittenhouse shot were caucasians.

The 3 men Rittenhouse shot: Anthony Huber, Joseph Rosenbaum, and Gaige Grosskreutz (CNN composite: https://tinyurl.com/3f2k48h8)

According to the BBC ^{https://tinyurl.com/m5usypz4}, “Rittenhouse, then aged 17, had traveled to the city (Kenosha) from his home in Illinois. Armed with a semi-automatic rifle, he said he sought to help protect property from unrest."

Wikipedia ^{https://tinyurl.com/338v6zxb} writers contend that “On August 25, 2020, during the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, fatally shot two men and wounded another during three confrontations. Rittenhouse had armed himself with a semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle and said he was in Kenosha to protect a car dealership from being vandalized and to provide medical aid.”

It is unclear Rittenhouse’s interest in a car dealership in another state. Equally unclear is Rittenhouse's medical training and if, in addition to the rifle, he also carried medical supplies..

Apparently someone fired a shot that apparently hit no one, but Rittenhouse turned on Joseph Rosenbaum, who according to a witness, lunged at Rittenhouse and tried to take his rifle. ^{Wikipedia, ibid.}

Based on Rosenbaum’s action, Rittenhouse’s legal counsel decided on a self-defense plea.

Consider

Rittenhouse, an Illinois resident, takes his gun and goes to Kenosha Wisconsin to protect a car dealership.

He is not a trained and sworn law enforcement officer.

He was not in Wisconsin’s National Guard that might have been called out to protect citizen’s property.

He was walking around with a loaded semi-automatic rifle in a highly tense situation.

If he had stayed in Illinois or even left the rifle home, the likelihood of being attacked by Rosenbaum would have been infinitesimal.

The prosecution apparently tried to take away the self-defense plea by pointing out that Rittenhouse came to a tense town with his loaded rifle.

The jury apparently disagreed.

Steve Carlson editorial cartoon for 22 Nov 2021 (https://tinyurl.com/3n7r8mk7)

Justice served

Was justice served.

It depends on your political leanings.

Per the BBC ^{BBC, ibid.} Reactions from politicians on Friday highlighted divisions over the case.

Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, a Democrat, was among those to denounce the verdict.

Lame duck New York Mayor Bill de Blasio went further, in a tweet describing the verdict as "disgusting".

Facebook, Twitter and GoFundMe removed content supporting Rittenhouse, BEFORE THE TRIAL citing rules banning praise or support of mass shooters or glorification of violence. Facebook further disabled searches for "Kyle Rittenhouse" on its website, with a spokesperson saying "We've designated this shooting as a mass murder and have removed the shooter's accounts from Facebook and Instagram"

President Biden reportedly said "While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken... I know that we're not going to heal our country's wounds overnight, but I remain steadfast in my commitment to do everything in my power to ensure that every American is treated equally, with fairness and dignity, under the law."^{Wikipedia, ibid.}

Wisconsin's Governor Tony Evers said it was "time to move forward, together".

 

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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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on New “justice” in US?

Opuscula Dems energy Activities Do not compute

ACCORDING TO BloombergQuint ^{https://tinyurl.com/n2edtczh}, the

U.S. Is Already Exporting Oil From Strategic Reserve at Record Pace

YET, the Democrats are kowtowing to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to sell oil to the U.S. BECAUSE the Democrats are shutting down oil and natural gas pipelines.

Anyone remember what happened when the U.S. was dependent on OPEC oil in the 1970s? VA (!) guaranteed mortgages were at 21%.

 I AM NOT BLAMING the Democrats energy stupidity on POTUS.

Based on too many appearances, it seems the gentleman is not fully cognizant. Someone in the party IS pulling his strings.

The Democrats are promoting clean air — that means getting rid of fossil fuels: coal, oil, natural gas, and, although I have not heard it mentioned, nuclear.

All well and good.

HOWEVER the Democrats are putting the cart in front of the horse. (Horses also are on the Democrats’ hit list. About 44 percent of livestock emissions are in the form of methane (CH4). The remaining part is almost equally shared between Nitrous Oxide (N2O, 29 percent) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2, 27 percent)) ^{https://tinyurl.com/b46jtyps}


Gary Varvel cartoon in The Times Examiner (Greenville, SC) , 11/11/2020 (https://tinyurl.com/ecphb4t6)

The problem is simple: there is almost zero infrastructure to replace fossil fuels.There is TALK about wind farms and solar collectors.

Unfortunately, these are not ready for “prime time” in most locations. (Florida seems an exception; Florida Power and Light (FPL) — not the government — is investing heavily in solar collectors to supplement other resources, including nuclear.)

The push for electric-powered vehicles is slowed by the lack of charging stations. Unlike ubiquitous gas stations, charging stations are (relatively) few and far between, at least in the U.S. (Israel, being smaller, is far ahead of the U.S. in making charging stations available.)

How will the charging stations be powered?

Electricity from a fossil-fuel plant? Solar? Other? And how will power be delivered to the charging stations?

What no one seems to consider is (a) battery life and (b) tire life.

Owners of Toyota’s Prius report the car’s batteries have about a 10-year life before they must be replaced. They also claim that tires wear out much faster than on a lighter gasoline-powered vehicle.

Ignoring public transportation

Railroad tracks cris-cross the U.S.

Most of the rails are for freight trains and almost none are suitable for high-speed rail travel. As “developed countries” are rated, rail travel in America is third world, laughable. Admittedly, the U.S. is larger than most European countries so rail travel in the U.S would need to be very fast and very comfortable.

Airplanes are fast, but no longer are comfortable; private cars are slow, but may offer some comforts. Buses have the disadvantages of both airplanes and private cars.

Meanwhile, with the Democrats selling American oil to Asia (and coal to China), prices at pump inevitably will go up … and up as the supply-and-demand balance shifts. That applies to all conveyances — cars, trucks, trains, planes, ships.

As fuel prices increase, so too prices to move people and goods from Point A to Point B. This will exacerbate the supply chain issues.

POTUS once claimed no one can define “Supply Chain.”

Without stating he is wrong (again), in simple terms (even POTUS can comprehend), the supply chain is:

*  Moving raw materials to production

*  Moving the finished product to a transportation medium (ship, train, truck, inter-modal)

*  Moving the product to the seller (wholesaler, retailer)

*  Moving the product to the purchaser


Simplified supply chain (https://tinyurl.com/kk8v5u3v)
 

Scott Adams "Dilbert" cartoon for 25 Sep 2021 (https://dilbert.com/strip/2021-09-25)
 
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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.
Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.
 
 
 
 
Comment on Plans don't compute

Opuscula Appalled, Ashamed By ignorance

I WATCHED AS A FOX TV personality questioned random people on the streets of New York City, asking them questions about U.S. history.

I can understand a visitor to America not knowing U.S. history, but not a naturalized citizen and certainly not a product of the U.S. educational system (never mind CRT, “new math,” and Ebonics).

As it happens, my Spouse, who was watching with me, knew 90% of the answers; she had to know then to gain her U.S. citizenship back in the 1970s.

The Fox guy asked an assortment of people — different ages, different races (albeit all “human”). There was one gentleman of my generation who knew ALL the answers to ALL the questions.

Was school so much different, better, “then” than it is today?

 

Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited with the aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” while British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” ^{https://tinyurl.com/ufx kpya}

Santayana on education (https://tinyurl.com/56b5z2jc)

Short Sampler

What country helped the U.S. in the Revolutionary War?

From what country did the U.S. want to separate?

When was the Revolutionary War fought?

Answers:

France, already at war with England.

Many Americans wanted to be rid of England’s king (some wanted to stay with England)

The war officially commenced in 1775 and ended in 1776. (Bonus: The U.S. Marines were founded in 1775.)

Who were America’s enemies during World War 2?

When did the U.S. enter the war?

What was the Lend-Lease Act?

Answers:

Germany, Italy, and Japan

December 7, 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii before declaring war

The Act provided war materials to Russia and England before the U.S. officially entered the war.

Civil War: Kin against kin (https://tinyurl.com/297etb5v)

Americans fought a “civil” war (brother against brother, father against son).

When did the war officially commence and end?

Why was the war fought?

Who won the war?

Answers:

1861 to 1865

The war was fought to “preserve the Union.” (The Emancipation Proclamation came well after hostilities commenced and applied only to slaves in secessionist states.)

The Federal government, with its industry, prevailed.

What are “U.S. highways?

Answers:

All highways with “U.S.” numbers (e.g. US 1, US 41) are STATE roads that receive some Federal money for their maintenance.

The only “U.S.” roads are on Federal lands (forests, parks, military installations, etc.)

The Interstate System was created under the Eisenhower administration as a way to rapidly move military equipment and troops. Each Interstate highway had to have two-mile straight stretches every so often to allow B-52 bombers to land, load, and take off.

What U.S. president instituted Social Security?

Answer:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

President Harry S Truman integrated the U.S. military

President Eisenhower integrated public schools

President Lyndon B. Johnson initiated Head Start

What was the last war the U.S. won?

World War 2.

It managed a cease fire in Korea

It followed the French out of Vietnam

It declared premature victory in Iraq

It ignobly left Afghanistan after more than 20 years

Now the easy one.

Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (right) (no relation to Karl) used to ask this question of people who did poorly on his popular radio and tv show “You Bet Your Life”: Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?

U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia Dent Grant

 

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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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Ashamed

Opuscula Human or humanoid? Who is asleep In the White House?

WHO STOLE AMERICA’S PRESIDENT?

The man who “hid out” during the recent presidential primaries and general election — yet still managed to be elected U.S. Chief Executive — apparently is a humanoid robot similar to, but perhaps not as “smart,” as Sophia. ^{https://tinyurl.com/25majm3a}

The person known as POTUS (President Of The United States), among other polite and impolite titles, simply cannot be for real.

 

No thinking person would

•  Try to force a country to host a U.S. consulate for a non-state sworn to the host state’s demise — despite the action being illegal under U.S. law

•  Try to force two warring factions of the aggressor non-states to join forces against a common enemy, the only democracy and solid U.S. ally in the region

•  Attempting to get into bed with a nation that has threatened to physically destroy the U.S.

•  Kowtow to a country that considers America a “paper tiger” and beneath contempt

•  Issue executive fiats that are beyond the scope of the office and the U.S. Constitution

Yet the person or humanoid robot posing as POTUS is doing all of those things.

Sleepy Joe

Some of his political rivals refer to POTUS as “Sleepy Joe.” That is one of the nicer sobriquets applied to him.

Deserved?

POTUS often seems to be mentally “elsewhere” during press presentations; he rarely answers even “easy” questions, preferring to have his minions chase the media — media generally friendly to POTUS — from the room.

In one instance, a visiting dignitary was willing to respond to questions from the media and POTUS shut him up: “No questions.”

When he DOES answer a reporter’s question, e.g., is the U.S. going to give illegal aliens $450,000 each as compensation” for breaking the law?

No, he replied; that’s “garbage.”

The next day, having been advised by people supposedly reporting to him and following his lead, he began back-tracking. As this is keyed, no one knows how much will be paid — the whole process now is secret — and what percentage of the “compensation” will go to the lawyers representing the criminals. (Let’s see. 40% of $450,000 is “only” $180,000 per litigant, adult and child.)

For the record, it was Democrat Obama that established the “cages” for captured illegals. Trump gets the blame for an Obama/Biden administration action.

Tasks ignored

Similar to Jacob Rodney Cohen ^{https://tinyurl.com/4d5cbb3n}, POTUS apparently gets no respect from his staff.

He appointed his vice president as the point person for the border issue.

The vice president has visited borders in central America and in Europe, but carefully avoided visiting the U.S.-Mexican border where criminals are crossing as freely as ants to a picnic basket.

Cartoon of ants raiding picnic

POTUS’ point person on the supply chain issue has managed to avoid visiting West Coast ports where, as this is keyed, more than 100 vessels are waiting to discharge cargo.

Conversely, his predecessor in the White House was encouraging, perhaps coercing, U.S. companies to “bring manufacturing back to the States.” He had some success.

Take down the flag

POTUS has embarrassed the U.S. and shown the U.S.’ “friends” that they cannot depend on the nation to keep its promises.

An agreement to exit the Afghanistan quagmire was inked by the previous administration. It came with several requirements that the Taliban was required to honor else the agreement was void.

The Taliban breached the agreement, but POTUS went ahead and pulled out most U.S. troops, but not all (as the body count reflects) and he abandoned many Afghans who had been working for the U.S. to the hands of the “new’ Taliban, an entity that is strikingly similar to the “old” Taliban.

The U.S. has gone, since POTUS was sworn in, from energy independence to begging OPEC, the folks who brought the U.S. outrageous inflation in the mid-1970s, to sell us oil products.

Because he is controlled by a faction that would allow Americans to freeze rather than warm themselves with — gasp — fossil fuel (oil, gas, coal) in the cause of clean air, he is shutting down oil and gas pipelines. (Oil via tankers from OPEC apparently are exempt.)

Unfortunately, the U.S. lacks the infrastructure to replace fossil fuels with wind, solar, and water power. Even these non-fossil fuel substitutes have an environmental impact.

These shut-downs are no surprise. One of his first actions was to cancel the Keystone pipeline, following in Obama’s footsteps.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is selling coal (as it has been doing for several years) to China so that China can continue to develop war materiel to use against the U.S. while leading the world in air pollution.

Illustration by Gary Varvel for Creators Syndicate (https://tinyurl.com/ahrcm74m)

Private jets, motorcades to save earth

The recent UN’s COP26 in Paris and its follow-up in Glasgow saw politicians and “environmentalists” flying in to the venues, many in private jets. Once on the ground, they were escorted in motorcades. In the case of POTUS, the motorcade allegedly was 80-vehicles long, and of those vehicles, many were mammoth SUVs (GM Escalades, Ford Excursions) made even less environmentally “friendly” by being armored.

China and Russia were notably absent.

POTUS led the way by promising to spend billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars not only to reduce the U.S.’ environmental impact, but to help developing nations (not defined) avoid negatively impacting the environment.

The problem for POTUS is that Congress must appropriate the money.

Such promises in the past have proven empty since the executive cannot force the legislative to do its bidding on all things.

Given the economy of the U.S. in late 2021, and the fact that mid-term elections are nigh, POTUS’ pledge is just words, hot air.

POTUS’ promotion of electric cars apparently fails to take into account

The cost and inability of the “Average Joe” to afford one

The environmental impact or replacing limited lifetime batteries and tires that wear out faster

The lack of charging stations across the country and the infrastructure to get electrical power to those stations

Nothing is without challenges.

States’ rights

While it may not lead to another civil war, POTUS’ fiats and executive orders are trampling on states’ rights.

POTUS has decided that all employers of 100 or more people must have 100 percent COVID vaccinated staff. The health benefits are still out on that.

The questions:

Does POTUS have the authority to mandate vaccinations nationwide?

When did the Federal government supplant states in areas not granted to it by the Constitution and its several Amendments.

Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution is commonly referred to as the Supremacy Clause.

This should not be a prerogative of any government for a malady of the COVID variety. Mandating smallpox vaccinations is another matter. Polio vaccinations, pneumonia vaccinations, and even seasonable influenza vaccinations have been, and should remain, individual decisions.

For the record, this scrivener IS vaccinated, including the booster.

POTUS also has decided that dock workers and most auto workers must be union members.

The problem is, many states have freedom of choice — “Right to Work” laws.

Despite Article VI, Paragraph 2 (ibid.), the several States in most cases cannot be coerced into accepting a presidential fiat. Insisting on implementing a presidential whim first results in court cases. The vaccination fiat already is slated to be heard by several Federal District courts.

 

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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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Human or humanoid?

Opuscula Some things In Israel areLike “Kansas”

YESTERDAY (8 November 2021) I COMPLAINED that “we’re not in Kansas anymore.”^{https://tinyurl.com/dy2rdjvk}

Some things seem “universal.”

 

 

Yesterday I had a 6:45 p.m. appointment with a vascular specialist.

When we arrived at the office by 6:30 we discovered that my 6:45 appointment was actually slated for 7 p.m.

I finally saw the doctor only one hour after my initially scheduled appointment.

Our first PCP in Hollywood was excellent. I credit being here keying this to his diagnostic skills.

Great guy. Personable, albeit talkative.¹

At one point he was three hours behind schedule.

When I had my own transportation, if a doctor made me wait more than an hour sans announcement to the waiting room as to why the delay (e.g., emergency surgery), I left.

Twice in my years I have had ophthalmologist appointments that went over my time limit.

The first time, no one told me until after the fact that the physician was tending to an emergency at a nearby hospital. I walked.

The second time, the doctor’s staff advised those in the waiting room that the doctor was dealing with an emergency. I waited until he was able to see me.²

My last PCP in Hollywood was, like the first, a personable fellow, but also managed to run late.

Even as the first patient of the day, he was late.

On one visit I cooled my heels in the waiting from for more than a half hour, then in an examining room for another 20 minuets.

At that point I left.

As I was leaving the doctor came by. “Where are you going?”

“Home,” I replied. “I’ve waited long enough.”

After that we had an understanding. One hour maximum from the appointed time sans notice and this patient walks.

As a patient you have to love a practitioner who tosses the recommended 15-minute visit limitation out the window.

I’ve known several who, because they either owned the clinic or carefully scheduled patients, frankly stated: “We’ll take as long as it takes.” One ³ even had after-hours “get acquainted” appointments.

The problem in Israel

The problem in Israel is too few qualified practitioners.

Israel has six medical schools accredited by the government:

Faculty of Medicine, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University

Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Faculty of Medicine, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa

Faculty of Medicine in Zefat, Bar-Ilan University

School of Health Sciences, Ariel University

Against that, there were 85 hospitals in Israel in 2014.⁴

The institutions, as they are in the U.S., are exceedingly selective. My current Family Doctor is a Sackler/Tel Aviv University graduate.

As in the U.S., many doctors go abroad to study. When they return to Israel, they must undergo rigorous examinations. (One told me she was approved to practice in Israel and the U.S. That was comforting.)

Back in the day when the “Russians” managed to escape to Israel, the government discovered that in “Russia,” there were different levels of doctors.

For example, a “Russian” dentist might be

A tooth puller

A “real” dentist as in the U.S.

An orthodontist/dental surgeon

Why quotes around “Russian”? Because “back in the day,” anyone who came from the (former) Soviet Union was labeled a Russian; never mind it they came from Georgia or the Ukraine or any other “republic.”

In addition to being selective, Israel apparently has a quota system. Each school must accept a percentage of Arab candidates; reverse discrimination. (So much for “ethnic cleansing” and “apartheid.”) On the other hand, an Arab graduate of an Israel medical school is as qualified as a non-Arab graduate. (Getting in is one thing; staying in and graduating is another.)

At one point in the U.S. I had an older Lebanese Muslim ophthalmologist who spoke Hebrew better than I spoke Hebrew. I asked him how a Muslim from Lebanon knew Hebrew. His reply: He studied at Hadassah in Jerusalem.

Health care in Israel is, as it is in the U.S., “hit or miss.”

Patients may find excellent doctors and/or they may find some practitioners who give them pause. I have encountered both over my nearly 80 years in the U.S. and Israel.

Some things change — the burden of paperwork — and some do not — on-time appointments.

No, “it’s not Kansas anymore,” but maybe still the flatlands.

Cartoon by Val Jones, MD

 

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Notes

1. Dr. Eduardo Perez-Stable (https://tinyurl.com/268kebe7)

2. Dr. Alan D Mendelsohn (https://tinyurl.com/4984dhfn)

3. Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein (https://tinyurl.com/e7m69rs2)

4. Hospitals in Israel (https://tinyurl.com/yshdbnds)

 

 

 

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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Somethings like Kansa

Opuscula Not Kansas anymore: Customer Service Unknown in Israel

ALMOST EVERY DAY BRINGS another unpleasant reminder that we are “not in Kansas anymore.” ^{https://tinyurl.com/ystnhe27}

Here, bureaucracy is rampant on a field of papers and telephone answering systems. A 20-minute wait to get to a “real” person — usually a clerk who would like to help but cannot — is more common than not.

 

Cast of the Wizard of Oz movie (https://tinyurl.com/dm4n79ed)

 

CASE IN POINT: My wife got a new cell phone from an Israeli store (מחסני חשמל).

The cell has a THREE YEAR guarantee.

It “broke” within 6 months.

In “Kansas” (U.S.A.), she would take the phone back to the store where it was bought and the store would either

Replace the device

Send it off to a facility to be checked/fixed/returned or replaced

Although there is a store relatively close by, here she must take the phone to another town to be checked/fixed/returned or replaced.

Since we live in a relatively small town (Yavne — it only has been around since well before Johanan ben Zakkai established an Academy here in 70 CE) it lacks stores and services of a bigger community such as Tel Aviv and Ashdod, cities to the north and south of Yavne.

This also is painfully true of medical care; no hospitals in town, although there ARE clinics and urgent care centers.

Adding to her woe, we (so far) have to depend on taxis to get from point-to-point. While the reality is that taxis may, in the long run, be more economical than buying and maintaining a car (insurance, etc.), it is — at least for Americans — an inconvenience.

I have whined in the past ^{https://tinyurl.com/yzn9nrhw} about the paperwork with which a patient has to deal versus the patient’s doctor’s office making arrangements.

Here, the doctor writes an order for the patient to see a specialist.

If the specialist is not on the patient’s health plan — think Medicare Advantage — the specialist requires a “Tofes 17” — a guarantee of payment — from the health plan.

The patient then has to go to the health plan to get the magic “Tofes 17.”

In “Kansas,” the doctor’s office deals with the health care company. If the specialist fails to appear on the company’s approved list, the doctor’s office and the company work together to get the patient to the specialist he needs. The patient, who presumably has enough to worry about, is not involved until all the arrangements are in place.

Another “minor” issue is that rather than issue a “Tofes 17” that covers the primary procedure and all follow on related procedures, a new guarantee must be requested for each individual procedure.

In my case, that means a new “Tofes 17”

For initial surgery/biopsy

Second surgery to partially eliminate cancer

Third surgery for further eliminate cancer

Six weekly chemical treatments to further eliminate cancer *

Fourth surgery to finally eliminate cancer

Post-op follow-up

all of which does not include related tests and interviews with specialists (e.g., cardiologists, vascular surgeon).

* To be fair, one “Tofes 17” sufficed for the six weekly chemical treatments.

In “Kansas,” I had an open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, a “Triple A.”

Under my Advantage plan, my initial visit to the specialist was covered and all following related procedures, including a hospital stay and post-op follow-up with the surgeon.

As a patient, my only obligation was to show up.

My PCP’s office, the specialist’s office, and the Advantage provider took care of all the paperwork.

The same process was true for a hernia repair and a fempop bypass.

For several years I have had balance problems; unless there is a handy wall, I tend to fall.

Thanks to my former Medicare Advantage carrier and my former PCP’s excellent referral people, I have a mobility scooter (no cost). I can “scooter” to my local PCP’s office or a more distant office as needed.

Not so my Spouse.

Incidentally, if I needed a scooter here in Israel, it would be out of my pocket. To be fair, some health care is less expensive here (no co-pays for out-patient services) and some (equipment such as scooters) is more expensive.

Bottom line: It’s not Kansas anymore.

Main characters in original Wizard of Oz film

 

 

 

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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Not Kansas anymore