Why I didn't enroll in Obamacare...

I didn't enroll, bluntly, because I already have self pay health insurance. Mine was grandfathered in because it was real insurance.  You know, the type that actually pays for stuff? Which is unlike my old insurance, which most people who were thrown off probably had.  Mega Life and Health was an insurance that "renewed" every six months and went up in price every six months so you were not actually covered for any length of time.  You were only covered for six months. They also didn't pay for…oh, lets see…squat.

But my insurance now, is an actual insurance.  Do I love it, no.  Do I like it, yes. Is it affordable, relatively. In comparison to Obamacare…it comparable.  Did I find out all the ins and outs of what I would possibly get, no. But the website was not friendly.  And since I was in no rush, I didn't sign up.

However, that doesn't mean I don't support it and think it's a better deal for most people.  People on the higher end of the income ladder will pay more, so that people on the lower part of the income ladder will have similar health coverage to everyone else.  That people are now actually understanding what a deductible in health care is, and how much everything actually costs is a good thing.  Perhaps now, or in the near future, we can have real conversations about true health costs. Yea, I don't think that's gonna happen either...

I'm geeking & freaking out at the same time….

Ok, so the USA is building Iron Man…Really! It's not even classified.  It's real! Releasing the problematic issues of encasing multiple men in metal to go out into the world to "fight", I'm about as geeked out as I can possibly be. OMG! Can they paint it red and make sure that every single one of them has a slight dick-like personality as well?

While the Army's Iron Man suit—officially called Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS)—will not have flying capability, little missiles, or repulsors, the feature list is still extremely impressive. 

RDECOM wants TALOS to have ballistic and shock protection—using an armor that will get from flexible soft surface to hard metal solid, capable of repelling ammo when applying an electric current. Oh, and fire-retardant capability. The Army also wants the suit to "store and release energy to prevent injuries and increase performance." 

And as if that wasn't impressive enough, the suit will have integrated communications, body and external sensors, and a head-up display that will give battle information graphics in real time along with night vision. It will be more Google Glass than Jarvis in this generation, but you get the idea. 

Another feature for the suit is an optional attachable exoskeleton that will provide with hydraulic mechanisms to improve both strength and speed. Like the others, this technology exists already.

Entitlement vs. Dreams

So a young African American teenager has made it into eight ivy league schools! Yay for him. But as usual, people online have a problem. However, as a university professor myself, here is one exchange that sticks out to me:

Linda Jaffe Oliver • 2 days ago

I don't care what color a person is. This boy obviously has what it takes. What the schools are 

looking for are more than just scores. They are looking for someone who is driven, and this kid 

obviously. So those of you who would like to play the race card, you need to take a hard look into yourself and figure out how you can be more accepting of others' accomplishments, no matter what color they are.

12  

•

Reply

•

Share › 

• 

  
  

  jonbaek1  Linda Jaffe Oliver • a day ago

  
  

  Lol you are completely missing the point here. You need to realize that there 

  are people who have higher scores on every single category but still rejected 

  from ivy league schools. Maybe you just don't know how it feels to be rejected 

  from your dream school that you probably worked as hard (or harder) as that 

  african kid.

Here's the problem for me in jonbaek1's response. People seem to think that just because they worked hard for something, and dreamed about it, and put their all into it, that they are somehow entitled to get this thing they have worked hard for.  Musicians know all about hard work, study and practice and getting….mmmm….nothing. You can work hard for YEARS, DECADES even, and still be making less than a secretary. You can be at Lincoln Center one day, and playing on the street the next.  Working hard and dreaming doesn't entitle one to get anything.

I deal with this type of thinking all the time as a university professor. An "A" doesn't just magically happen, and I'm not changing your grade because you put your all into it. If you did not reach the standards set for an "A" grade, I don't care how hard you worked, how talented you are, and how much effort you put in.

The entitlement culture is not just a poor people's issue, it is a society-wide issue. No one is more entitled than anyone else to anything. That's not the way the universe works. This "african kid" did the work and got rewarded. Some people feel cheated by this. They feel their place has been usurped simply because this "african kid" got A PLACE.  Are his dreams less important than other's dreams? What makes others more entitled to get their dreams than this "african kid"?  

H-U-M-A-N. Who decides who is human…