Philotic Web

Oh yeah?! Well, our population doubles every "winter" because your old people like our weather better, so nyah!

And by "your," I clearly mean residents of Washington, Minnesota, and Canada.

You're just lucky we loan you our old people!

Give me about two weeks and I'll likely have pictures of me bundled up while in Chicago. It's supposed to be in the 60s during the day, so I'll be rocking a hoodie, gloves, and my beanie as a bare minimum. Even then, there will probably be much teeth chattering as I am prone to getting cold at work, where we keep it at a lovely 76.

The average temperature of the INSIDE of my house (the one I lived in before a college dorm / the last 11 years of my life) between November and mid April is 63-68, dipping down into the 50s at night if we are lazy about the woodstove.

Getting paid
jigsaw puzzles
Kaoru
Kaoru's tattoos
his glasses
his cool fedoras
fedoras
pocket watches
some video games
dried apricots
plouts
ice cream
ghirradelli cocoa powder
potato chips
not having a stomach ache
my hermit crabs
my friends
music
my downstairs neighbour
money
art supplies
supplies
katydids
swallowtail chrysalises.

The #6, the #12, and Wendy's frosties in front of the tv.

A fedora and ice cream?

I also think eyes are cool
I love eyes. Single ldded asian eyes, big brown black people eyes, light eyes. EYES are nice
and babies
and moths
I love moths and butterflies, especially MOTHS because they need more love.

Leftovers.

The puppy is home and happy-ish (we have to restrict his movement and interactions a bit, he's not supposed to be near the dog for a week but that was blown after about 30 seconds).

Have I said this before? I think so but it bears repeating: my coworker. She is the most fun person I know here, even if she is a one-time over retiree. I definitely enjoy people my mom's age more than people my age for talking.

My new dolls and puppets of various ethnicities. And also my table. And also my baskets that I have the puppets and dolls in.

Figuring things out. That it will have been 3 months as of tomorrow morning.

Rice mixed with tomato sauce, with Ketchup on top of it all. One of my favorite dishes, that I can make (almost) completely by myself!

MONEY! In the form of a check that I did not know I had coming to me! Apparently I lost a check last January and never cashed it, and so I have been issued a new one! It almost covers the cost of the new brakes!

I love my new laptop!!! my old one must have been really old, and I can't hardly believe how fast it is, and the wireless broadband is great too!

Soccer in the mud, my fishy Gill, and this song my religion teacher plays in his class.

I love being from Alaska and having my rent covered for four months (give or take). =]

Odometer palindromes. And driving a manual again.

I love Alan Grayson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ery7RZ4t ... r_embedded

(quotes are not exact)
"Democrats have spent the last six months trying to solve one major problem--how to get Olympia Snowe to vote for health care reform. Olympia Snowe was not elected president last November"

"America doesn't care if health care reform passes with fifty votes, fifty one votes, sixty votes or eighty six votes, they just want health care reform."

"I'm not going to apologize [for pointing out that republicans don't care that 44,780 people die every year from a lack of health insurance] because America doesn't care about [Republicans'] hurt feelings"

"If Barack Obama ended world hunger tomorrow, Republicans would blame him for overpopulation."

"If Barack Obama brought about world peace tomorrow, Republicans would attack him for destroying the defense industry."

and my new sig:
"If Barack Obama wanted a BLT for lunch tomorrow, Republicans would try to find a way to ban bacon."

"America doesn't care if health care reform passes with fifty votes, fifty one votes, sixty votes or eighty six votes, they just want health care reform."

Which explains why less than half of Americans favor the plan put forward (and haven't since June). Yeah, Americans want reform, but they want (on a margin of 2:1) smaller reforms that address specific problems, not a complete overhaul.

It's one thing to ram something through Congress; it's quite another to do so while pretending the people agree with it.

depends on the poll you're looking at, and how the question is phrased.

Nineties music.

The house in which I am cat-sitting.

Chardonnay as a means of loosening my inhibitions about my dissertation.

I haven't seen any poll results that support the proposition that a majority of Americans support the current health care reform proposals, let alone enough of a majority to use the phrase "Americans want," unless, of course, you preface it with "a minority of."

Pew: "As of right now, do you generally favor or generally oppose the health care proposals being discussed in Congress?"
Generally favor: 34%.

Rassmussen: "Generally speaking, do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and the congressional Democrats?"
Strongly favor and somewhat favor (combined): 46%.

GfK Roper: "In general, do you support, oppose or neither support nor oppose the health care reform plans being discussed in Congress?"
Total Support (combined): 40%.

Quinnipiac University National Poll: "Do you support or oppose President Obama's health care reform plan?"
Support: 40%.

NBC / Wall Street Journal: "From what you have heard about Barack Obama's health care plan, do you think his plan is a good idea or a bad idea?"
Good idea: 39%.

My trusty old Super Cub and the splendid freedom she unselfishly gives for so little gas and repair.

Having been here darn close to a year.

Slippers! My feet may escape from getting frozen now.

I love dell. My computer stopped working after I shut it down earlier wouldn't turn on. So I called customer service and a few minutes later a part is shipped next day air and a tech will call me to set up an appt to install the new board. Cost? Nada.

Syphon
Generic polls like those are what I was talking about in terms of phrasing being important. When reform polls ask if people want a public option to compete support rises to two thirds. Although the baucus plan got agoodscore from the cbo its obvios why he didn't include a public option--hes received 1.5 mil from the healthcare industry in the last year and the plan he presented is a sop to them giving them forty million new customers while sacrificng little in return (well the preexixting concession is great, but not enough).

I do ike the idea of states being able to opt out of the public option that is currently being floated. I hope that makes it into the final plan via conferencem

Ugh, excuse the typos I'm on my blackberry.

I would like it more if there weren't extra garbage in it that will negatively affect my colleagues.

I don't like the clauses about not allowing veterinary practitioners to prescribe antibiotics to food animals because people are worried about the residues creating antibiotic resistant bacteria. Well, human doctors, I put that onus on you for over perscribing antibiotics for viral illnesses and for your poor patient compliance and people not finishing their drugs. (And maybe small animal practitioners for the same compliance issues. If there's anyone that's compliant with antibiotics, it's large animal owners! For the most part, antibiotics are 1-2 injections that are carefully monitored and then a withdrawal time followed to make sure the residue is out of the tissue before it can go to market!)

Hey Locke, you think you could make a separate thread for you and Syphon's posts on health care and polls, etc? Just a thought.

By golly, you're right: phrasing matters.

When the polls ask if people want a public option to compete "like Medicare" does, the support rises. Leave out that simple phrase: it stays the same. This is probably because most people have warm fuzzies about Medicare for any number of reasons.

But when you ask neutrally: "Would you favor or oppose the creation of a government-sponsored non-profit health insurance option that people could choose instead of a private health insurance plan?" Support drops to 46%.

Oh, and when asked about a single-payer system (which both sides see a public option as a trojan horse for, anyway), they overwhelmingly oppose it.

Getting a 12k a year raise. Can't wait for the first paycheck with that extra cash in there.

^ posting

Old books. The smell, the look, the feel--I love it all!

old books do smell good
I love Florida navel oranges

But they attract FRUIT FLIES
I also love death head hawk moths and western conifer seed bugs
They are so cute.

.. And driving a manual again.

I never understood why people like driving a manual more than driving an automatic. It's so much easier- no need for that annoying clutch.

For me, it makes driving more interesting. The only time it's annoying is if I'm in traffic which is very rare where I live.

Maybe this should be a confession, but I feel inferior to those who know how to drive manual. That's right, I have stick envy.