A Modest Proposal - Healthcare

[AdSense turned down this blog for a second time for "not having enough content."  Very well.  Given some of the other AdSense blogs out there, it's clear that Google wants nothing to do with my thoughts.  Shopping for new platforms.]

This post is brought to you by the search for Universal Healthcare.

Once upon a time, I napkin sketched a three tiered system for health care and spent some time trying to push it.  Crickets.  

This is the 0.02 version:

1) we have two decades of case law defining minimum health care for prisoners.  Give this to everyone, at government expense, period.  It would literally pay for itself in preventing emergency care, continuity of care for criminals and homeless and veterans and elderly and disabled ...  

2) The government is the largest purchaser of health care in the world.  Use that buying power to establish a standardized manual of rates (like your auto shop uses) for emergency care and common medical conditions.  Any US person or insurer or other provider can then buy care at the USG negotiated rate from their provider of their own choice, or use their USG coverage (Tricare! VA! Medicare!) to buy from their provider of choice rather than being stuck with a single provider.  The idea is that some people have their health care paid for by the government, and the USG should be paying a standard rate for that care, instead of all over the place.  Then anyone else who wants to buy that care should be able to tag along at the USG prices.  

3)  Additional health care beyond the legally mandatory minimum and the government negotiated rates, is free market ... allowing for innovation, adding it someday to the rate book in 2), and a robust private network to keep the public networks honest.  This also cushions the shock to our present health care bureaucracy and gives them new frontiers to pursue in actual patient care rather than creative billing.

Anyone have an opinion?  Bueller?

Appropriate Technology: Grabber Tools

Today's post is dedicated to the lowly arm extender, or grabber tool.



We bought two good ones from Costco for $4.50 each. Details here:
http://costcocouple.com/birdrock-home-grabber-tool-set/

One of them broke today.

On close inspection, the small cable was held to the grabber claws by a tiny plastic part one-quarter the size of my smallest thumbnail.

Design. Fail.

This is where I normally get them, Harbor Freight Tools, for the low low price of $2.99

Unless you use a 20% off coupon, or a free item coupon (*current expiration 6/3/2019*).

Our friends at Daiso, the wonderful Japanese more-than-a-dollar ($1.50) but worth it store, actually carry two.

One is their $1.50 version (shown in bulk on their Web site).

The other one is $6

Dollar Tree, of course, has one for their signature price of $1.

Why does any of this matter?

Appropriate Technology is useful and grabber tools are very, very useful for:

• short people picking up things out of reach, especially up high (carefully)
  
• tall people picking up things on the ground
  
• picking up garbage without touching it - and sometimes, the appearance of an area directly affects both retail sales and actual physical security
  
• really helpful for people with limited mobility
  

Wouldn't live without several.

Disclosure: at this time 4-3-2019, I am not signed up for affiliate programs for any of these links and make no money from any of them.

Appropriate Technology: Shovels

Today's Appropriate Technology post is brought to you by one of the oldest human tools.

First produced in the US in 1774, the Ames shovel is still being made today.

Notice there are a LOT of different kinds of shovels out there, and each one is for a specific purpose.

What does a shovel do?

It moves dirt.

"But even tools like shovels are different now. A shovel used to be like this. Shovels have gotten bigger and every year they get more powerful." - Al Gore

Size matters.

So does appropriate use.

How do you use a shovel? I mean, it's easy, just dig, right? Nothing complicated about it.

Or is there?



Each of these parts has a name and a purpose, for a reason.

Our friends in Canada have a detailed guide to shovel use. It's worth a read.

A round point long handled shovel is one of the best possible firefighting tools. It is classified as a 'scraping tool' but can be used for scraping, smothering, beating (tamping), cutting light fuels and throwing dirt.

Remember that the fire triangle is made up of oxygen (air is 21% O2), heat and fuel.



Most of what you can do with a shovel involves separating fuel from the fire. Digging a "fire line" down to "mineral soil" is a great example.



You can also keep the air away from the fire by shoveling soil on top of it. You can literally beat embers or flame out with the flat of the shovel, or cut or lift a flaming bit of vegetation away from the rest.

Our friends at CalFire (in 4205.4.tlp.doc) had this to say:


2. Grip: Firm enough to prevent slippage
b) Strong hand at end of handle
c) Weak hand down handle for leverage
3. Stance
a) Firm, balanced footing
b) Strong side foot back, weak side foot forward
4. Digging
a) Use thighs for leverage
b) Use weak side foot on heel of shovel for digging
5. Smothering
a) With dirt
b) With shovel
6. Scraping
a) Use thighs for leverage
b) Tilt shovel onto cutting edge
7. Cutting
a) Cut small limbs and stems
b) Use forward half of cutting edge
c) Short chopping motion
8. Throwing dirt
a) Over the shoulder
1) For hitting distant or high targets
b) Side arm
1) For scattering dirt as when extinguishing a grass fire
c) Underhand
1) For moving dirt, as to a pile for someone to throw


While you're thinking about it, sharpen that shovel! "Sharpen starting 1 in. (25 mm) from heel on each side of blade until subtle point is formed at blade tip."

The heavy equipment equivalent of a shovel in firefighting is a bulldozer. Dozer operators are crazy.


(picture courtesy San Bernardino Fire)

There's a few lessons here.

1) Just because it looks simple, doesn't mean it is.

2) Just because it looks easy, doesn't mean it is.

3) Some simple things are very useful, if you know how to use them.

References:

• https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/ergonomics/shovel.html
  
• https://training.nwcg.gov/classes/s130/508%20Files/071231_s130_m6_508.pdf (also how to sharpen a shovel, pp. 10)
  
• https://www.coloradofirecamp.com/suppression-tactics/fireline-construction.html
  
• http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/for/for67/bmp12.pdf
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Inconvenient_Truth (bring a grain of salt)
  
• https://www.nps.gov/articles/wildland-fire-fireline-construction.htm
  

Appropriate Technology? - Angry Heat Engines

Today's appropriate technology post has a huge question mark on it.

The reason why will shock you!

OK, OK, enough memetic trolling.

This post is devoted to Angry Heat Engines or AHE. Click the link if you prefer to find out in visual form what I am talking about.

For the other two of us, an angry heat engine is a specialized type of internal combustion piston engine that does not operate in a cycle, but comes apart (by design) during its expansion process.

The piston is flung away from the rest of the engine at considerable and dangerous velocities. More details here.

I find it extremely useful at times to separate my discussion of concepts from the often fraught baggage carried by terms and phrases in more common usage.

It might help if I were to say that angry heat engines are protected by one of the pieces of the Bill of Rights, after the 1st and before the 3rd.

Oh my.

Notice your own emotional reaction at the point where you figured this out!

I am not interested (here) in discussing the politics of angry heat engines. I am confining myself to two technological discussions.

Technology discussion #1: how people feel about angry heat engines

I loaded my dice by selecting the term 'angry' to describe them. That's a deliberate tactic.

I am much more interested in having you notice how you feel, rather than discussing any particular feeling. They run the gamut, based on education, training, life experience, exposure to mass media and entertainment (if you can tell the two apart, let me know!) ... but my goal is just to get you to notice.

Technology discussion #2: what angry heat engines are good for.

This is a much more interesting discussion, but I'm going to link to someone else instead.

My friends over at Backwoods Home ("practical ideas for self reliant living") have been digging in the spot marked 'appropriate technology' for over twenty years now. Here's their long version.

Same thoughts, summarized in visual form:



At a much more interesting level, remembering that Appropriate Technology must always be USEFUL:

• small caliber angry heat engines are useful for pest control, including small animals when appropriate and legal
  
• larger angry heat engines can be useful for self defense, which is a complex subject in any remote area
  
• the longer ranged ones can be used for hunting
  

Three significant uses, two of which apply more to rural areas and one that applies anywhere two legged predators can be found. Note that crime is at an all time low but that is cold comfort if you join the statistics. (Note: neither sport nor target practice are technological uses in this sense. Hang gliding is a fun means of transportation, not a terribly useful one.) However, angry heat engines are a complex and dangerous tool, and as such pose certain serious safety hazards:

• Negligent discharges can be prevented by STRICT adherence to four safety rules. They are: 1. All AHE are always loaded. 2. Never point a AHE at anything you are not willing to destroy. 3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target. 4. Be sure of your target.
  
• Suicide with an AHE is a risk that can be minimized through realistic education.
  
• Violent crimes committed with an AHE ... including domestic violence ... are best prevented by not living with abusive people. The presence of an AHE is a significant risk factor for homicide. My personal opinion is that you should separate others from the dangerous person (you know, where the bars are open all night), but if you are stuck with a dangerous person, you need to keep them from laying hands on an AHE.
  
• Safe storage of AHEs can prevent many harms, including theft when you are not home (a main way in which criminals obtain AHEs) and use against you by an intruder when you are home. This also reduces the potential misuse of AHEs by children. Specific technology includes cable locks (which can be obtained free!), locking cabinets and safes.
  

Wow, that's a lot of risks. Each can be reduced by training and technology.

Hopefully, my use of the AHE language has made this subject more accessible to those who have a visceral reaction to the term Golf Uniform November. (phonetic)

Now you know why my Appropriate Technology header had a big fat Question Mark ? next to it.

This is a decision that everyone has to make for themselves.

There are times when the AHE is the absolutely right technology for the situation.

There are times when you really, really don't want an AHE present. Even if you are the one carrying it.

Be safe out there. Because even where they are totally illegal, AHEs are a technology that is here to stay.