appalachian_fox

Yeah, that just happens to be the natural progression of life for many of us. It's a bit weird to get used to, but it shouldn't cause you too much distress.

First, I REALLY didnt like the fact that there are practically no penalties for dieing. No matter HOW HARD a part in the game was you could always keep going back. It seemed like it never really changed anything if you died.

Woohoo! No penalties for dying! People like me can play this game without fear of our own gaming incompetence!

Snape...Snape...Severus Snape....

Ich's got a good point with the weights, so if there's some money to invest that would be a good basic buy allowing you to do a wide variety of resistance training. Something I might suggest, though, is to hold off a bit to see if you really stick with a training program. If you're by yourself, not going to a gym, not running with people, etc., motivation will probably be your biggest enemy. Also, since you're starting off slow, this will give you a chance to get used to exercising, stretching*, and how your body responds to exercise. That's a big plus, since you don't seem to indicate much familiarity with exercise. As with any other exercise, if you go this route (I'd suggest it, if it's an option) make sure you know how to perform the routines properly to avoid injury.

Another option is to look in the want ads. You never know what you will find, and weight sets are uncommon. You may (probably will) walk in to weight sets with screws or other odd fastening devices, which can be a pain, so buyer beware, but it's a good way to save some bank, especially if the weights are a standard size -- Then you can just replace the bar / fastening devices.

It occurred to me that you mentioned being flat-footed as well. I suppose this means you don't like to run. I don't blame you, but you should throw a good aerobic workout into the mix as well. Check online for ideas of where your heart rate should be based on age and desired result (weight loss, etc.). Running works well, but also consider anything you have around - ride a bike, calisthenics (jumping jacks and those bend-and-thrusts are great) and boxing are all great and keep you moving. Don't forget footwork, though again, being flatfooted might make that more trouble than it's worth. Also, look around for other activities. Near me, for example, there's a place that lets you rent a kayak to go down a local river. Paddling upstream is a great exercise, no running involved. Variety is great, because it works muscles differently and it keeps motivation up. Plus, who wants to go for a boring run when they can go over a waterfall and claim it as exercise?

Good luck, and remember, motivation.

* Always stretch. I don't think I even mentioned that earlier. Very important to stretch before and after, especially if you're just starting out, to avoid injury. Nothing kills motivation like overworking a joint and having a sore whatever for a few days, plus it puts you at a bigger risk for injury.

There is an answer and we do have socialized health care, its called medicaid. For low-income families, it may help. Unfortunately, it takes about 90 days to process, so I doubt that will do any good considering the extent of his injury

You can look into other assistance programs, too, some private, some loan-based, etc. Yes, Medicaid certainly exists, but you get to one of the "problems" with Medicaid -- It is, by its nature, very reactionary. Immediately life-threatening issues will always* be taken care of. Issues that may shorten one's lifespan or reduce one's quality of life, however, are going to continue to be a sticky wicket. Sure, it's not immediately life-threatening, so the assumption is it shouldn't be provided for "free", or rather, at the cost of other paying customers. Insurers and Medicaid may feel that it's not a good assignment of money to treat these issues. However, that could raise the cost of future health care for that individual, so it comes back to bite us later. But that's tomorrow's money, we can just jack up rates / raise taxes / deny more treatments.

It's not really fair to place all the blame for such reactionary policy at the foot of capitalist health care, however. Indeed, Medicaid has this problem and it's the exact program whose lack of availability many here have been lamenting. The rabbit hole goes far deeper. I encourage you and your family to become more familiar with the systems in place, so hopefully if there has to be a next time you will be better armed, but it's can be almost as tough as dealing with private insurers, so best of luck and I hope everything gets sorted out in the end.

*short of the occasional accident, of course

Later, Preach. I guess that will force me to be more active on the VI forums -- I like your deals.

UPDATE

 

I went home to visit my parents this weekend and I got the latest info.

...

So now the doctor told him to go to the baptist hospital in winston salem, NC. He has no money and no ride down there and he cannot drive. I hope someone takes him this week.

I am sorry for what your family is going through, and my prayers are with you and your family. I know you may not think that means much, since I'm playing the opposite side of the debate here, but regardless of how health care is meted out, I really don't like to see people hurting, either physically or emotionally. I truly hope everything turns out alright and encourage you and your family to seek any assistance that is available. It's out there, just not easy to find.

Meh, I'm wrong about the gunshot thing--though it's interesting to say that the hospital gets to decide what is classified as an emergency. For instance, if you were shot in the foot, and not bleeding too badly, the hospital could conceivably say "Oh, you'll be alright, the hospital 20 miles from here will take you without insurance, but we can't."

Yes, the hospital gets to decide. Actually, it's kind of a hazy thing from what I understand, but I wasn't much on the ER side, but suffice it to say an ER doctor decides. And if he or she decides incorrectly, they could lose their ability to practice medicine.

To flip it around, who would you have decide? The patient? Most patients wouldn't know a true medical emergency, and those that would could get carried away by emotion. A third party? Who's going to pay to staff these hospitals with unbiased "deciders"? Surely not the hospital, we'd be in the same position. In general, the doctors do a fine job of determining emergencies. Unfortunately, sometimes they make mistakes. Mistakes are made in every field, unfortunately the consequences are much more dire in this one.

Mmm, beer...Where was that?

All over the floor after it broke.

Shame on you!

I'd look in to pre-entry fitness programs for such organizations as the USMC. The USMC has a program that is freely available and includes running, pushups, sit-ups and bend-and-thrusts, which will give you a good all-round workout with a minimal number of exercises and no equipment investment besides your running shoes. It's a bit aggressive if you aren't currently in shape, but you can always work up to it. Don't be afraid to walk when going out for a run, either.

Also, there are plenty of exercises available that don't use equipment (a personal favorite is the 8-count bodybuilders). There was a book, something like the Navy SEAL's physical fitness guide, that I have repeatedly seen at Barnes and Nobles on the discount rack in the past for something like $7-$8. The back of it has a bunch of calisthenics and strengthening exercises, most of which can be done without equipment. If it's good enough for the SEALs, who often have to keep on top of things in really cramped quarters, it's more than good enough for a civvie who just wants to get in shape and have some tone.

This may sound hardcore, but the beauty of it is you can dial the intensity down as much as you need to. I picked these examples just because they had goals, and setting goals is probably equally as important as a good exercise regimen. A bad regimen could get you hurt, a lack of goals will surely find you on the couch quickly. The FBI has a pretty cool scoring system for new agents: I might pick a target score and want to hit it in, say, six months.

Best of luck!

In any case, the medical system prices aren't ridiculously high because the hospital has to foot a bill from time to time. The prices are dumb, from what I've been able to glean, because of the insurance companies. I'll put it simply.

 

 

How do we make people get insurance so we can make money?

Simple: we hike the prices on medical services so high that the average person can't afford to pay the bill.

Ah, but will the doctors and hospitals stand for that?

Of course they will, because we'll be paying them all that money.

I didn't mean to imply there was one simple cause for the high cost of health care. Just the opposite -- They are legion, for they are many. To assume that hospitals giving away services for free doesn't raise the cost of health care is ludicrous, just as assuming it is the only reason. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, emergency care represents less than 5% of the nation's $1.5 trillion in health care expenditures. Yet, as much as half of all emergency services are uncompensated, and a May 2003 study of the AMA found that physicians lost $4.2 billion in revenue in 2001 providing care mandated by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (http://www.acep.org/webportal/PatientsConsumers/critissues/costemergcare.htm). That money has to come from somewhere, and it's sure not coming from the insurance companies. Add to that the fact that hospital ERs are approaching capacity in many places (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193883,00.html), and you have some major problems. Translation: Cost of emergency services has to go up.

Also, I know people who are training to work on those fancy-pants machines that are called in for every diagnosis. I don't know where to get numbers from right now, but I'll ask -- Those machines are not only expensive, they are expensive to operate. VERY expensive. The hospital has to recover that money, as well, in order to buy bigger, better machines, and more of them. Of course, we use expensive tests to check for just about everything nowadays. If we forewent expensive screenings in favor of more mundane methods, that would lower the cost of treatment, and if we got away from using those machines regularly that might help, but now we have an expensive machine that can't generate any money, so there'll be minimal incentive to develop and sell such machines, which will limit the technical progression of the field. Also, you can catch some other potentially life-threatening conditions early: Considering we're talking about human life, how much is that worth?

There are plenty other factors, too (malpractice insurance and lawsuits?), and I don't mean to minimize the fact that insurance practices are at best bordering on unethical, but to lay the blame of a "broken" health care system at the feet of the insurance companies alone is crazy. Nothing will get better if we string them up without fixing the other problems. And frankly, the system can only get so good -- People will get sick, people will do stupid things, people will die of things that we might have been able to cure if we had caught it earlier, if we had x treatment, if something cost this much less. People die, people die painful, terrible deaths. That's not going to change even if we "fix" all the problems in health care.

The problem is a fundamental problem in human engineering -- Lack of invulnerability to everything.

Maybe we should consider this:

Who here is truly happy about their job? Who's willing to put in 10 hrs of OT because they love it, not because they have to? Urk?!?? Probably. Centerfold photographer? Probably.

 

Not too many others, I'm guessing.

 

I'd rather be playing CS, playing with the kids or playing chicken with a charging rhino than working.

Man, I'm sorry to hear about this, Playaa. I can back up MrDuke here, though, and say he's pretty spot-on. I enjoy my field, but I don't particularly enjoy working. It's not that I think there's a field that I'd be a perfect fit for -- It's more that I'd rather be doing whatever I choose all day. Working for myself, even if I had the next big idea, wouldn't work either. I'd probably never get anything done, honestly.

Some anxiety is normal, but even though the thought causes more anxiety you may want to consult a professional. Heck, the fact that you sabotaged a job at WotC should be evidence enough Whatever you decide, know that we're here for you, and work is indeed one of those unpleasant parts of life that, even if we enjoy our field, most of the time we do because we have to.

Oh, and if your friend hits it really big, maybe you could, you know, set up some kind of mooching list for your old "buds"

Mmm, beer...Where was that?

I'm glad you guys had fun, but I hope you all treated the staff at the hotel well. They put up with a lot of our crap and have been willing to take us back two or three years in a row now. The first time they didn't know what they were getting in to, obviously, but they knew from then on. I'd really like to get to another Fragfest, and I know how hard the crew works to set everything up. I'd hate to see the hotel decide they didn't want us back -- That's a lot of extra work.

Go crazy while in the LAN rooms (and the bar), but make sure you're considerate of the hotel employees and other guests when elsewhere. Have fun, of course, but consideration first.

Man, give us an inch, eh ZD?

My father got remarried after I went to college. My step-mothers son(my step-brother) got in a car wreck a week or so ago. He went to the emergency room and they made him leave because he didn't have insurance. Last I heard his head was swelled about 50%. Lets hope he is ok.

That sucks, but if it was a bona fide medical emergency, I'd press charges. That is against the law. End of story.

Now, this points out one of the problems -- Those that fall through the cracks. Let's put aside the "whys" of no insurance at this point, we have someone who had physical trauma and, being a layman, didn't understand the extent of his own injuries. Any reasonable person would not be out of line going to the ER. If the ER determines it's not an emergency, they don't have to give away anything for free. Now, you have a step-brother whose original problem, if treated at that point, would undoubtedly have been cheaper to treat, and he could potentially end up in the ER with a bona fide emergency soon. Then, the hospital has to pick up the bill for the original treatment they didn't administer plus the treatment for the complications (remember, that's THE LAW). It would have been cheaper for them to do the original treatment, but now they have this relatively large freebie on their books. That raises the rates they charge the rest of us, so that bandages cost per strip what they would cost per box at the gas station across the street (which is more expensive than, say, the local pharmacy).

That kinda sucks.

Now I also agree with you about the Katrina mismanagement. That was done very poorly, and we can all agree that there was a large level of mismanagement. I think many people agree that several other government-run programs are cluster-bombs as well. If the government can be so inept at running those other programs, why would anyone want to put something as important as health care in their hands? Kids can read books at home, their parents can get them decent meals through food programs if necessary, they can be clothed and sheltered...But most parents can't perform surgery on their kids. I'd think letting the government risk mismanagement would be nothing short of criminal. And no, we can't have it both ways: Either they're bad at it and we don't need state-run health care, or they can manage it, and they just choose to mismanage other programs or the circumstances for other programs are that much different.

Health care may be drastically different than, say, education or emergency response. In fact, I'd be willing to bet it's significantly different than emergency response, with very different hurdles, and that maybe they are capable of running one and not the other. But with the track record recently, I doubt it.

If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.

Cardinal Richelieu, paraphrased. Of course, that's not the right context from what I remember reading, but still, it's easy to make anyone look like a fool if you hang around long enough and highlight all their slip-ups.

You rock.

Of course, even most of the public colleges and universities these days are wannabe private schools...I...oh, heck, who's going to start the new thread?

What if I was in the Air Force, and I was a Bombardier? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb ba-bomb.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnough...12?feedType=RSS

Something's wrong with me. I've never felt this way about a man before, but...but I think I...love you.

I use Ghost relatively frequently and Ethereal (Wireshark) is very useful for troubleshooting. I don't imagine you would have use for a debugger as well? That would be nice, but I don't know if that would be useful in your work.

Hospitals won't treat a gunshot victim if they have the wrong insurance, for example, and that's just ridiculous. Don't even get me started on insurance companies though.

Really? That's news to me. I've had the fortune of never having to bus someone in to a hospital for a gunshot wound, but I've brought several other emergency patients in and if it's a bona fide emergency, they ALWAYS get service. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's the law.

Perhaps if it's a non-emergency, but that's different. I'm sure the person who was shot didn't feel it was a nonemergency, but so does the parent of the kid who just swallowed a penny. Could it be fatal? Potentially. But if the kid's not choking, it's in his stomach, then there's not much they can do except some non-emergency imaging, and even that might do more harm than good (X-Rays, for example, are not exactly dangerous if used infrequently but won't add much if there's no reason to think the coin is causing problems down South).

Of course this does show a gap -- people who are sick and don't get treated until it's an emergency. Then the next time one of us goes to the hospital, the bill gets padded to pay for them (the hospital, after all, is stuck with the majority of the bill). We pass that off to the insurance companies, and most of the time get the bulk of the charges gets sent back to us.

But as to wrong insurance refusing service? In a bona fide emergency, that's either bunk or something that is going to get a hospital shut down and put people in jail.

*edit* If you have a link for that, I'd really like to see what prompted that statement. I'm sure things do happen, but that's gotta be the exception, not the rule.

The real question would be to ask a person who doesn't have health care where they think the US ranks vs the modern world among healthcare systems.

Isn't that a bit like asking a person without a car what they think about the U.S. Interstate system? Or like asking someone who never plays games what they think about the state of console gaming on the next-gen systems?

I would like to see a better system, but the problem is there are always trade-offs. Someone can just as easily die of illness in, say, England, because the state says the treatment will cost too much to justify. My mother is a hospice nurse, and she routinely treats patients from several countries, Canada and England being the leading two. Their stories are always the same -- They can't get treatment at home, so they come here to pay for it. Sometimes they get treatment soon enough and actually get out of hospice, move to home care, and sometimes they even recover, from something curable.

This sounds cruel, but there are only so many resources in the world. Even if health care wasn't a capitalist system, we can only provide a certain level of support to everyone, and people are going to die or live with illnesses that can't fully be treated.

It is the way of our capitalist system. You want better health coverage; pay for it. By way the way, if anyone needs emergency medical services, they can still get it no matter what. Even those in this country illegally are getting the coverage.

I think providing emergency care is important, but it really makes me wonder about the cracks we're letting people slip into. The flip side is, while I like that our system inspires innovation, it does leave some people out in the cold. I think that healthcare in America is a bit flawed, but the flaw is in its execution, not its non-coverage areas. Perhaps if cut-rate companies would provide "last-gen" policies, we could see a much cheaper bargain health insurance buy-ins for those of lesser means. Also, I'm not against having, say, county or even statewide groups where any resident can buy in to the group plan. Instead of offering a tax deduction for insurance premiums, they could offer a state buy-in tacked on to the taxes of those who elect to take it, or perhaps some way to credit part of your refund toward health insurance for the next year on the state group plan.

Also, I think it's atrocious that employed people have to hit 7.5% of medical expenses first, and they're only eligible if they itemize. If health care is so important in America, and we're going to have such a convoluted tax system, shouldn't that be encouraged as being a nontaxable portion of income?

Several spouses will be in attendance.

 

I'm not sure about access though.

Access? Who's worried about that? It's time to play GAMES, foo!

Access skillz are very useful in certain sectors of the business world, but honestly, I agree with ZD because you can now download SQL Server Express and get a good education (for free) in SQL Server 2005 (it's almost identical with some major limits on DB size and hardware scaling). Plus, you can use that T-SQL experience in Access without losing much in the transition. Ten minutes with Access at that point will get you familiar with the layout and save you a lot of time and frustration.

Of course, if Access is big in your workplace (it doesn't really sound like it would be) then familiarity would definitely be worth the time invested.

I also got a older version of RH Fedora Core 4 and book for $7 bucks. It's one of those Bible ones. I wonder if there is huge differences between 4 and 6?

Seriously, it should be alright, worth the money spent at least, but there are probably going to be some significant differences in some places.

Especially since FC 7 is out now.

Though I guess nothing's stopping you from installing FC4, working with the book, and upgrading later once you have a handle on the basics. As I recall, they issue a new core number every 6 months, so it's not like you'd be really "far behind".