Ten November.

The best thing about “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is that it doesn’t rhyme, which means you can plug any old lyrics in there and sing it loud in the shower: And we went to the drive-through, but they didn’t have Bud, so we took home two cases of Molson’s. If this takes a bit of the gravity out of what’s supposed to be a sad remembrance, well, I apologize. I’ve heard that damn song too many times to be moved by it anymore.

I believe Kayak Woman, who occasionally comments here, was listening to shipping radio traffic that night with her family, and remembers when the Fitz went silent. Maybe she’ll drop by and tell us.

But that’s all you’re getting from me on this anniversary, even if it is a nice round number.

Meanwhile, speaking of sadnesses, I suggest you set aside some time and read this long, but very fine, piece on Airbnb and the company’s simultaneously seductive and maddening DNA. Here’s the lead; it’s hard to stop from here:

The rope swing looked inviting. Photos of it on Airbnb brought my family to the cottage in Texas. Hanging from a tree as casually as baggy jeans, the swing was the essence of leisure, of Southern hospitality, of escape. When my father decided to give it a try on Thanksgiving morning, the trunk it was tied to broke in half and fell on his head, immediately ending most of his brain activity.

I was in bed when my mom found him. Her screams brought me down to the yard where I saw the tree snapped in two and his body on the ground. I knelt down and pulled him up by the shoulders. Blood sprayed my blue sweatshirt and a few crumpled autumn leaves. We were face-to-face, but his head hung limply, his right eye dislodged, his mouth full of blood, his tongue swirling around with each raspy breath.

…“Tell me each time he takes a breath,” the 911 dispatcher said in my ear.

…“It’s only a matter of time until something terrible happens,” The New York Times’s Ron Lieber wrote in a 2012 piece examining Airbnb’s liability issues. My family’s story — a private matter until now — is that terrible something.

Just a quick swing through the links today, because I have a lot to do, work-wise.

How often do you get asked to donate to GoFundMe, Kickstarter and other online money-raisers? I think the etiquette is still not established, and, like Airbnb and its liability issues, we’re figuring it out as we go. This piece reflected a lot of my feelings at the moment.

Something Jolene posted yesterday, but worth a boost: Kentucky, which has benefited more from Obamacare than any other state, just elected a governor who has pledged to wreck it. How’s that going to work?

Finally, because I work in the nonprofit sector now, nonprofit pickup lines.

Later, taters.

Posted at 8:57 am in Current events |
 

66 responses to “Ten November.”

  1. brian stouder said on November 10, 2015 at 10:22 am

    This fellow is the classic case, which will puzzle Jolene 9and the rest of us) and which encapsulates the dichotomy (kudos to the NYT journalist, for finding him)

    On Election Day, Blackburn voted for Bevin because he is tired of career politicians and thought a businessman would be more apt to create the jobs that Pike County so needs. Yet when it comes to the state’s expansion of health insurance, “it doesn’t look to me as if he understands,” Blackburn said. “Without this little bit of help these people are giving me, I could probably die. . . . It’s not right to not understand something but want to stamp it out.”

    I mean, wow.

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  2. Connie said on November 10, 2015 at 10:29 am

    Seems like every online death notice I see includes a GoFundMe for funeral expenses.

    As for the Edmund Fitzgerald song, as I’ve said before, it is my husband’s birthday song. We each have one (Mine is Papa was a Rolling stone, it was the third of september..) So I do listen to it at least once.

    One of my old college friends is now the captain of a Great Lakes ore boat 1,000 feet long. The pictures he posts from his wheelhouse are amazing. I would not want to be out there like he is, all year, all weathers.

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  3. brian stouder said on November 10, 2015 at 10:50 am

    I’m thinking of gutter-cleaner-guy pickup lines, like

    Very nice foliage you’ve got, there!

    or

    My my! aren’t you the rakish one!

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  4. Judybusy said on November 10, 2015 at 11:00 am

    Brian, you’re here all week, I hope!

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  5. brian stouder said on November 10, 2015 at 11:10 am

    Yes – and don’t forget to tip the waiter!

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  6. Bitter Scribe said on November 10, 2015 at 11:12 am

    I’m sorry but I have limited sympathy for that idiot who needs Kynect but voted for Bevin anyway “because he’s a businessman.” (Bevin worked in his family’s business.) He’s a textbook example of low-information voting. It’s just too bad he and his fellow idiots have probably wrecked healthcare for everyone else in the state.

    And I agree that it was great work for the reporter to find him, but credit where it’s due: The piece was WaPo, not NYT.

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  7. kayak woman said on November 10, 2015 at 11:58 am

    KW here and yes, it was my boat nerd little brother (10 years gone now) who was listening to a “multi-band” radio and could hear the Arthur Anderson calling the Fitz. Very spooky night & all of us baggy old yoopers now post about where we were & what we were doing (nod & grin to your previous post). I played a version of the song before work this morning just because.

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  8. Kirk said on November 10, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    That vessel also lives on in Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, one of the finest products of the very good Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland.

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  9. Sherri said on November 10, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    The liability issue is the one of the big problem I have with Uber et al. The companies have billion dollar valuations precisely because they have found a way to take all of the money out of a system without having to worry about silly little things like safety and protections for their workers and their customers. They present themselves as a neutral middle-man; well, they’re a neutral middle-man who is skimming a hell of a lot of money off the people doing the transaction. They make banks look like charitable institutions.

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  10. Bruce Fields said on November 10, 2015 at 2:37 pm

    “The liability issue is the one of the big problem I have with Uber et al.”

    Uber and Lyft both provide insurance that covers drivers while they have passengers (and in between passengers to a lesser extent). I believe the main remaining point of contention is that they want drivers to pay for insurance as they go, out of the company’s cut of the fares, instead of requiring a large up-front investment in commercial insurance. So they only cover people while they’re working. But there have been cases of people’s personal insurance refusing to cover them once they learned a car was used for commercial purposes, even if they didn’t have passengers at the moment. I suspect this is something that will get worked out. But I’ll admit to not understanding the situation.

    “they’re a neutral middle-man who is skimming a hell of a lot of money off the people doing the transaction.”

    Uber and Lyft are competing with each other and with cab companies for drivers. Here I definitely haven’t been following the arguments, but it’s not clear to me that the average cab driver is necessarily doing any better.

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  11. Sherri said on November 10, 2015 at 2:49 pm

    Uber added the insurance after being forced to, and weasels out of paying from it whenever possible. When a driver hit a pedestrian while using the app but not carrying a passenger, Uber disavowed responsibility. A cab company doesn’t get to do that. Uber still has problems screening its drivers; not screening drivers would cost a cab company its medallion. Uber has “god view”, whereby they can monitor every Uber rider everywhere in real time, and sloppy standards about who can access that data, and unclear standards about data retention.

    The average cab driver may not be making any more money, but they aren’t assuming nearly as much risk.

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  12. alex said on November 10, 2015 at 2:53 pm

    Love the nonprofit pickup lines. Sorry to be late to that party, as I’m sure there are clever things to be done with the terms “member renewals” and “dead wood.” Some wag already stole “Nice endowment.”

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  13. basset said on November 10, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    Got to ride an ore boat from the Soo down to Gary once, remember seeing another boat appear out of the freezing fog & hearing that it was the Fitz’s sister ship… quite a sight.

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  14. Icarus said on November 10, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    Guess I have to hurry up and get my GoFundMe et al campaign going before they change the rules again. Here’s an interesting read on Kickstarter programs (I found it on Scalzi.whatever.com) but am linking directly to it

    https://mariancall.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/kickstarter-math/

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  15. jcburns said on November 10, 2015 at 3:30 pm

    Atlanta’s Manuel’s Tavern, just up Highland Avenue from where I’m typing, has been studied and digitized and then will be remodeled basically over the winter. They want to get it back to pretty much just how it is today, but with working toilets and sewers. That’s a noble aspiration. And as a bonus, a virtual digital Manuel’s will be created. I’m suspecting the beer won’t be as cold.

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  16. Dorothy said on November 10, 2015 at 4:12 pm

    That Airbnb story was sobering to say the least. From the pictures I figure the man who died is probably around my age – maybe younger. Before I saw the pictures I was picturing someone in his 70’s or 80’s. It was just heartbreaking.

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  17. velvet goldmine said on November 10, 2015 at 6:03 pm

    Something that I don’t think was addressed in the crowdfunding article: A few of those annoying posts might be from young people who are literally required to do it. Sometimes if a student applies for a scholarship/grant to take a workshop or travel for an internship, or even for tuition, they are expected to participate in fundraising activities — as a way to show initiative, I guess. That’s been my experience. I hear this, too, from parents of athletes and band kids: It’s not just “pay to play,” but also “beg for pay to play.”

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  18. Jolene said on November 10, 2015 at 6:10 pm

    I has just finished reading the Airbnb story when I came to NN.com this AM. Great minds, or something like that.

    The death was awful, of course, but l’m not sure what to think about it. This particular incident seems a bit like being struck by lightning–something rare and unexpected, but that could happen anywhere. Of course, people should do what they can to insure safety, but I’m more troubled by some of the more predictable policy issues. The idea of people turning apartments into hotel rooms, for instance, could conceivably have quite an effect on quality of life for other people in the buildings.

    Have any of you either stayed in an Airbnb or used your place as one? I’m planning some travel early next year for which Airbnb might work, but haven’t decided yet whether I want to give up the predictability of a hotel.

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  19. Jolene said on November 10, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    Aaargh! I *had* just . . .

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  20. David C. said on November 10, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    Our niece had a GoFundMe to raise money to send her to be a missionary in Thailand. I don’t approve of that sort of thing anyway and doubly so for someone who seems to have no interest in learning to speak Thai. Just a hunch, but maybe there are Thai Christians already there who know the language and culture who could be a bit more effective than an exclusively English speaking woman from West Michigan. It seemed to work though, she’s there now.

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  21. Dexter said on November 10, 2015 at 6:28 pm

    An anniversary for me as well. 45 years ago today I landed in Vietnam.

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  22. Jolene said on November 10, 2015 at 6:40 pm

    Maybe she’s a teaching missionary, David C. Bringing both Jesus and the English language to Thailand.

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  23. Sherri said on November 10, 2015 at 7:04 pm

    The death in the Airbnb story is not something that could happen anywhere, because hotels and B and B’s have safety regulations that they must meet, which Airbnb avoid. That makes it a policy issue. These “sharing economy” companies (a term I hate) are building large valuations based on shunting risks off to other people. They’re trying to extend the telephony model of “common carrier” to areas far beyond what it was meant for. The idea was that you can’t sue the telephone company for what someone says on the the telephone, because the telephone company is just sending data along a wire, not distinguishing what that data is, therefore not responsible. These companies are claiming that they are merely software platforms to connect a service provider with a consumer, and therefore not responsible for anything else. By this argument, their risks are very limited, because those risks have been handed off to providers, consumers, and governments.

    That improves the stock price of the company, but most Americans are ill suited to handle increased risk. Over half the people in the US are so cash-strapped that they can’t come up with an extra $400 without borrowing money or selling something, according to a study from the Federal Reserve. Over half. (I’ve just started reading a book called How the Other Half Banks, where I got that frightening number.)

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  24. nancy said on November 10, 2015 at 7:17 pm

    A less tragic, but no less infuriating, Airbnb story is how many of them are rented as party houses. That link takes you to a story in the NYT a few weeks ago, about neighborhoods in Austin (which is apparently a “bachelor party destination” — who knew?) trying to get these jokers held to account for this shit. I recall a homicide at another Airbnb party pad, this one in Queens, I think, more recently.

    We’ve done it three times now. I realize the mere two days we spent listening to loud neighbors in New Orleans was a lucky break, because with NOLA being a classic party town, it could easily have been worse. Our two Toronto trips were both very nice, for which I credit the basic decency and hospitality of Canadians.

    I’m planning our next vacation now, and was counting on it as a way for us to visit a fairly exotic locale (TBA) on a reasonable budget. Now I’m wondering. But my younger friends rely on it the way they rely on Uber. It’s not going away.

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  25. David C. said on November 10, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    Jolene, it’s hard to imagine it’s very effective to teach someone a new language when you don’t have any interest in learning theirs. From her e-mail blasts, it sounds like she’s pretty much on an extended vacation.

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  26. Ann said on November 10, 2015 at 8:16 pm

    Just passed on a gofundme attempt to raise $30,000 so someone could go get treatment for their ALS in Mexico. Sorry, but no.

    Interesting gofundme story in Chicago in connection with the 7 year old who was shot. A bunch of money was raised for the funeral. Mom used some of it to pay for a new car. In this case, I think the car was probably a better use of the money than a gold-plated casket.

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  27. Sherri said on November 10, 2015 at 8:28 pm

    An acquaintance of mine complains that her downtown Seattle condo building has effectively become a hotel, thanks to Airbnb. She’s not pleased.

    Uber et al are not going away because they’re clearing meeting a need. However, we need to be clear about what they are, and I think that they need to be regulated and taxed. With billion dollar valuations and the ability to hire people like David Plouffe to lobby for them, though, it seems unlikely that it will happen legislatively.

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  28. Suzanne said on November 10, 2015 at 10:21 pm

    Was watching the GOP debate but I can’t stand it anymore. Fiorina wonders what kind of a country this is in which a woman she talked to fears for the future and her job. Probably, she works for the likes of Fiorina era HP. She’s also cutting the tax code to 3 pages. And making health care completely free market even though she admits it’s never really been tried. Everybody seems to want a flat tax. Ugh.

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  29. Minnie said on November 10, 2015 at 10:52 pm

    jc, thanks for the link on Manuel’s. Good times.

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  30. brian stouder said on November 10, 2015 at 10:57 pm

    Making healthcare completely free-market is a fancy way to say that healthcare should only be for people with money (or the ability to borrow money), and not for the mud-sills of society, who should just suffer through their God-forsaken existence, and then die.

    After all, if you get hit by a truck, or you then going to shop for the best deal in ER first aid? Or, if some chucklehead shoots you, are you supposed to compare pricing at the various hospitals before you choose one? Or, if your heart murmurs and then stutters, should you go online and seek out the best healthcare deals?

    There is no free market solution to healthcare, because the folks on the “demand side” have drastically less power than the people on the supply side.

    Anyway, I went to the University of Saint Francis (up the street from us) for a lively round-table discussion of the death penalty, amongst the bishop (Kevin Rhoades), Allen County Superior Court criminal judge Wendy Davis, and a philosophy professor and a law professor from Notre Dame. It was quite good, and after it, I could only give the R’s about 5 minutes before I clicked that off

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  31. basset said on November 10, 2015 at 11:32 pm

    http://www.planetizen.com/node/82085/where-candidates-live

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  32. Dexter said on November 11, 2015 at 3:10 am

    There was no debate on my TV because the Red Wings were on, playing Washington and they won 1-0 in as good a game as I have seen this year. I won’t be spouting off much anymore about Trump and Carson and the rest…I am about 98% disinterested. The very thought of watching a debate makes me want to hammer a woman over the head, and throw rocks at cars and out-run the police, store grain in Egyptian pyramids and and…oh wait…that’s Ben’s modus operandi…damn subliminal thought patterns.

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  33. David C. said on November 11, 2015 at 6:08 am

    I got drunk dialed at 2:30 this morning. My parents are in their mid-70s and my wife’s are in their mi-80s and nobody calls at that hour to chat. I don’t need to answer the phone at any time to hear a stupid Beavis and Butthead chortle (only female) and then the news that “I’m so fuckin’ drunk”. I never did get back to sleep. Errr.

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  34. coozledad said on November 11, 2015 at 8:53 am

    Jailhallah, they are coming.
    http://gawker.com/reports-white-power-pagans-charged-in-alleged-plot-to-1741854199

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  35. mouse said on November 11, 2015 at 9:17 am

    A happy Veteran’s Day to all!! I know there are some Vietnam era vets out here among the commentators.

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  36. susan said on November 11, 2015 at 9:26 am

    cooz @34 – I like some of the names associated with that lovely group. Halderman. Chaney, with the one off letter. Although I bet the latter creep would not like being related to the brave James Chaney.

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  37. Charlotte said on November 11, 2015 at 10:19 am

    Both Airbnb and Homeaway/VRBO have had a huge impact on the local rental market here in Livingston. During the last downturn, folks bought up foreclosed properties, and even in town turned many of them into short term vacation rentals. It’s been hell on the long-term rental market — prices have gone up, and a lot of local folks with low-paying jobs, as well as older people, can no longer find rental housing. Himself has one of each — the vacation property he’s run for 25 years (pro tip folks, when you leave a Montana vacation rental in November, close the damn windows! burned up a lot of propane on this last group), as well as a 3 bed/2 bath rental house in town. The long-term rental is by far the more problematic property — rent for a place that size bumps right up against what a mortgage payment would be, and what you wind up with are folks who are down on their luck, who have lost a house, or who are barely scraping by and who often have trouble making rent in the winter. A number of local landlords have decided it’s just not worth the trouble anymore, and have shifted their properties into short term vacation rentals, where they can make a years money in the summer, and you don’t have the hassle of renters who can’t pay. But as a town, we’ve now got folks who can’t find a place to rent.

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  38. coozledad said on November 11, 2015 at 12:04 pm

    Whoa.

    And in a particularly unnerving intercession, Carson asks God for help in dismissing his incompetent, alcoholic secretary without hurting her feelings. (“I’m softhearted,” the doctor assures, “and it is especially hard for me to fire somebody.”) Two weeks later, the secretary doesn’t show up for work. “We never did find out what happened to her,” Carson writes.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2015/11/05/ben-carson-the-humblebragging-instrument-of-god/

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  39. brian stouder said on November 11, 2015 at 12:28 pm

    Cooz – wow; a darkly funny article, indeed.

    So, Carson has a good God deal for himself; an exclusive, you might say.

    Our Lord is there for the doctor, but the doctor ‘ain’t in’ for the mortals around him who he (the doctor) could help.

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  40. coozledad said on November 11, 2015 at 12:33 pm

    He forgot he stabbed her.

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  41. ROGirl said on November 11, 2015 at 12:41 pm

    “If Carson wins the nomination, even the presidency, I suspect that in some future book he will deem the victory divinely ordained. If he doesn’t prevail, I’m sure the doctor’s postmortem will find someone to blame.”

    like the media

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  42. beb said on November 11, 2015 at 12:47 pm

    I didn’t watch the GOP debate last night but the reviews this morning makes it sound like a big nothing burger, which is not surprising when you pick and venue that won’t ask hard questions and then stipulates that they don’t ask hard questions. So no one was asked how they plan to cut taxes, increase military spending and end the federal deficit. No one was asked how they plan to simplify taxes when most of the tax law is spent defining income and profits for corporations? Personal income taxes for working stiffs are already pretty simple. It’s the likes of Ford or H-P, Donald Trump or Mitt Romney where taxes get squirrelly and where the laws have been written to shelter so much of it.

    So Fiorina wants free-market solutions to health care. This article explains why that’s an evil idea. (The shorter version is that when it comes to healthcare there is no market)
    http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2015/10/26/more-evidence-that-its-hard-to-be-an-expert-consumer-of-healthcare/

    That was via “Mikethemadbiologist” my new goto site for interesting reading. Here’s another article he limited to:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/26/homework-an-unnecessary-evil-surprising-findings-from-new-research/?postshare=6171446486213253
    As a former student (long removed!) I can assure you that homework was always hated.

    November 11th began as Armistice Day, celebrating the War to end all wars. That didn’t turn out so well. So instead of ignoring it as a bad idea we now celebrate veterans, just as we do on Memorial Day and the 4th of July. I know we’re suppose to honor our veterans, and I do but not by stopping some soldier in an airport hurrying to make a connecting flight to say “thank you for your service.” Rather, I am thrilled that Dexter was able to get into the VA system and get the medical treatment he deserves. There’s a lot of criticism of the VA — largely due to the lack of staff to get people enrolled and doctors to see patients. Both can be solved by better funding of the VA system. And you know who fights to cut funding to the VA– the same people who are the loudest about honoring our soldiers.

    So if you want to honor a vet — stop voting Republican.

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  43. Scout said on November 11, 2015 at 1:05 pm

    We usually use VRBO when going out of town; Airbnb seems less appealing because often the owners are also in residence while you’re staying there. I have two friends, both single women, who rent out an extra room in their houses, while they remain in residence. Several times they have rented to men traveling alone, which to me, sounds really dicey. I wouldn’t do it.

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  44. Sue said on November 11, 2015 at 1:53 pm

    I would so love to hear some of the surgical nurses’ stories about Dr. Ben. Nurses have the best stories and they know how to tell them.

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  45. Jolene said on November 11, 2015 at 2:15 pm

    I’ve been wishing, too, that someone would interview not only the nurses that Carson worked with but also his professional colleagues. As nutty as he is, I can’t believe there wouldn’t be a lot of amazing stories.

    And speaking of amazing stories, here is the story of Operation Wetback, the Eisenhower-era deportation program that Trump described last night. As always, to maintain your faith in your fellow Americans, avoid the comments.

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  46. Suzanne said on November 11, 2015 at 2:34 pm

    I have a friend who runs a physical & occupational therapy clinic. Don’t bring up calling in to a medical facility for a cost estimate-“I just can’t tell them that!! There are too many variables! It’s not possible!!” So much for Carly F’s free market healthcare. How can we consumers make a rational decision on purchasing healthcare when the providers don’t know or won’t say what the cost is? Add in a little blood, and, well, you get the idea.

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  47. Jolene said on November 11, 2015 at 2:38 pm

    Looking for something new on Netflix? I’ve been reading good reviews of Master of None. This article is more analysis than review, but suggests that the series offers both good performances and good things to think about.

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  48. Dexter said on November 11, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    beb: noted. Thank you sir. Nail, hammer…dead center.

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  49. Sherri said on November 11, 2015 at 3:16 pm

    beb, how will they cut taxes and increase spending and end the deficit? It’s simple, their magical presence in the White House will result in growing the economy 4% (Jeb!), no, 6% (Huckabee), no, a zillion percent!

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  50. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 11, 2015 at 3:16 pm

    Sue, I have to imagine there’s a full brigade of reporters trying to get a nurse to speak on the record about Dr. Carson; the fact that we’re not even hearing anyone saying “he was just the sweetest surgeon, remembered all the orderlies’ birthdays” is making me suspect they’ve already been comprehensively contacted and told what the consequences will be for saying bupkis to ’bout anyone as to the doctor’s personality profile.

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  51. brian stouder said on November 11, 2015 at 3:28 pm

    Probably not a stretch to think that a wily partisan could weave a HIPPAA* violation out of almost any story ‘Dr Carson story’ that can be corroborated

    *Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act(HIPAA)

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  52. Jolene said on November 11, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    You’re probably right, Jeff(tmmo), but there must be at least one surgeon who got tired of hearing about Ben’s greatness and godliness and would be willing to speak off the record.

    If, by the way, you want to know more about Ben’s godliness, check out this overview of five of his books.

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  53. MarkH said on November 11, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    Going back to last Friday’s toilet talk thread, where it went off temporarily to western commodes to holes for squatting. Out local paper happened upon a toilet crisis in the Yellowstone NP bathroom. There has been a proliferation of Asian tourists in the states and the national parks are the most poplar destinations. How they insist on using the all-western facilities has caused some problems.

    http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/when-east-meets-west-toilet-seats-take-a-beating/article_a64d8bb5-9455-5dd9-a420-65103167c2f8.html

    Hope this link opens.

    Happy Veterans Day to ALL who have served.

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  54. MarkH said on November 11, 2015 at 4:12 pm

    “…western commodes vs. holes for squatting…”

    “…Yellowstone bathrooms (plural)…”

    One more request for the edit button.

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  55. Brandon said on November 11, 2015 at 4:43 pm

    Just put the lid up, then squat. Problem solved.

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  56. MarkH said on November 11, 2015 at 4:50 pm

    One would think.

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  57. Charlotte said on November 11, 2015 at 5:30 pm

    Mark H — this was common when I was in Taiwan in the 1980s as well — was once at a very fancy wedding banquet with my cousin (American) and we couldn’t stop laughing at the high-heeled-shoe prints on the toilet seats. HOW on earth did they manage that?!? Tiny little women in tight tight tight dresses and VERY high heels and there was a lot of mandatory alcoholic toasting going on … we felt like galumphing Americans in comparison.

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  58. Suzanne said on November 11, 2015 at 6:06 pm

    A friend of mine visited Russia 10-15 years ago and said toilet squatting is common there as well. She found out when she asked someone about the dirty toilet seats. She, too, wondered how in the world women in high heels managed it.

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  59. Sherri said on November 11, 2015 at 7:31 pm

    I don’t watch the debates, but I’m curious, do any of the Republican candidates who are so eager to increase defense spending say where we should spend it? More soldiers? More drones? Increase operational spending, or capital spending?

    We already spend more than the next seven countries combined, but to what purpose? It keeps the coffers at Lockheed Martin nice and full (and the next conservative who says the government shouldn’t pick winners and losers should consider that $40 billion of Lockheed’s total $45 billion revenues came from defense contracts), but I think there are better ways for the government to spend money to employ people.

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  60. Deborah said on November 11, 2015 at 8:28 pm

    Amen Sherri, about how the government could employ people.

    We spent the day in Abiquiu getting ready for the arrival of the crane tomorrow. I keep having nightmares about the structural moment frames falling on the workers, they weigh about 600 lbs each. Which I have been assured is much less than many 1,000 lb overhead beams that they have installed, but if one of those falls on your head 600 lbs makes little difference between 1,000. I will be glad when this phase of construction is over.

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  61. Sue said on November 11, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    You don’t need to violate HIPPA laws to get to the basics of a doctor’s personality:
    There was once an unpleasant anesthesiologist who got her kicks out of annoying surgeons. She would make comments throughout a procedure intended to irritate them. She was mostly ignored.
    She was, unfortunately, an amputee. This is relevant only because of the surgeon who completely lost it one day during a procedure and was screaming at her that he was going to kill her and stuff her down her goddamn leg.
    Or as surgical nurses and technicians would say, another day at the office.

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  62. Joe K said on November 11, 2015 at 8:58 pm

    My daughter the movie critic/ librarian took me to see the peanuts movie today. Take your kids or grandkids and go see it, very well done, left me smiling, sends a great message and Snoopy is still the best Sopwith camel pilot there is.
    Pilot Joe

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  63. Bill said on November 11, 2015 at 9:16 pm

    Deborah. Can you show us some pictures of your new cabin in Abiqui?

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  64. Sherri said on November 11, 2015 at 9:38 pm

    More of the benefits of the unregulated paradise of the platform apps that match up providers and consumers: http://gawker.com/you-may-be-ordering-seamless-from-a-restaurant-that-doe-1742013043

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  65. Jolene said on November 11, 2015 at 10:01 pm

    Sherri, there was no discussion last night about what ought to be done with increased military spending, and, to be fair, not all the GOP candidates think it is needed. I believe I’ve heard some talk about increasing the size of the navy, but don’t quote me.

    Here’s Marco Rubio’s plan, which is estimated to cost a trillion dollars over ten years.

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  66. Sherri said on November 11, 2015 at 11:14 pm

    At least Rubio has a detailed plan, though he still doesn’t say why, for example, we need 12 rather than 10 aircraft carriers, or why we need to return the Air Force to “pre-Obama readiness levels”, etc. What purposes are we serving?

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