Health care ... Coming soon

Just to give you a heads up as to what you can expect. If Obama-Care ever goes through...
%%%%%
84% of running program
UK Govt spending
-----
48% of running health care
US Govt costs
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10% UK GDP
17% US GDP
Healthcare expenditures
%%%%%
2.7 UK
2.4 US
Physicians per 1,000 people
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UK whas provided:
Free primary care (@ point of use)
Preventative
Mental
Hospital care
%%%%%
8.5 weeks UK
Avg wait-time for general SURGERY
(although in the UK this may mean a doctors appt and not getting an operation - their terminology doesn't always translate well)
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So why is this information coming out? Because they are talking about a pre-"Logans Run" situation over there.

While facing an increasingly elderly population, they are proposing to SHUT DOWN HOSPITALS which serve mostly the elderly.

They also purpose that NURSES take over patient care and not doctors ... Not nurse practioners (who should be allowed to treache)

They also purpose making more of the elderly Receive caring at home by family members instead of at care-facilities With trained personnale!

The main call for these cut backs are from the dr who was in charge of their system when the hospital boom took place ... Now the government is finding that they simply can NOT support the system they think was so good.

If you want a good idea of what the health care system is like over there - watch a few of the British sitcoms & dramas ... They may not be totally accurate but they are a big glimpse ....

High mortality rates for diseases we have lowered greatly (like breast cancer & diabetes - while we haven't cured them, your chances are better that you will live a long and happy life afterwards)

Less likely to have a private room unless you have private insurance anyways ... Awe aren't talking just one or two room mates here, while we aren't tLking about 20 to a room like pre-70s they still have 4-6 people in a room and they don't group them according to ailment either ... So you could be in for a broken leg and you neighbor could be in for typhoid ... Okay maybe not typhoid (they'd have to isolate for that) but you get the idea

But the thing that gets me is 8 1/2 WEEKS to see a doctor! This doesn't make sense ... They have more doctors for their population but they take longer? It has to be all the damned paperwork - that's the only thing I can think of.

An operation can be turned down if the GOVERNMENT paper-pusher thinks your chances of survival aren't worth the cost. Like a prostate operation if you are over 50 years of age.

I expect to see the UK go back to a private heLth system within the next 20 years

ugh

the more I see of the new movie "Thor" coming out, the less I have confidence in it ...

the muscular development of the main actor isn't near close enough
his hair is wrong
his accent is wrong
his size is wrong
he's just WRONG
the storyline seems to be out of sync with the comic storyline (totally out of sorts)
the costumes are too stylized, too "stereotyped"
the dialogue I've heard in the previews it is pretty lame

they don't seem to be putting the same effort behind this one that they did "Spiderman 1", "Batman", "Iron Man 1 & 2" ....

this feels like a "cookie cutter" production ... they test to see what sorts of things kids like and threw it all into one film.

I'm guessing the average screen shot for this one will be about 2.5 seconds ... so sad.

Its really a good storyline ... too bad it looks like they are going to ruin it.

Historical Fiction

Oh to think that this really wasn't that long ago ... not even 100 yrs:

Watch the full episode. See more Masterpiece.

The Saint - Movies & Books

(I had to post this here because my "OTR/OTF" blog has a 1000 character limit ... and this is coming up as 12,000 characters in html)


Wish I had thought to post this a tad sooner -- but TCM recently had a "Saint" marathon where they showed several of the old movies ... movies which starred - for the most part - George Sanders in the title role.

Don't think you remember George? He was in "The Picture of Dorian Grey" (the one who figures it out) ... he was in "Rebecca" ... he was in "Ghost & Mrs. Muir" (as the author who turned Mrs. Muir into 'the other woman' without her knowledge) ... but he was also in the movie series of "The Falcon" for the first few of that series. 

In fact The Falcon series of films resembled The Saint films so much so that the studio was sued by the Saint's author ... the paper work for the lawsuit has apparently disappeared so nowhere have I been able to find a reason as to the exact grounds of the suit, but one would certainly feel that Leslie Chartens felt that the studio was using the Falcon to get around with paying him royalties for the use of his character ... but that's a different story and been told many times already.

I am interested mostly in the books --

Interestingly enough the first Saint film made - the Saint in New York - was actually the 16th book in the series to be published:

1. Meet - The Tiger! (1928)
2. Enter the Saint (1930)
3. The Last Hero (1930)
4. Knight Templar (1930)
5. Featuring the Saint (UK only – 1931)
6. Alias the Saint (UK only – 1931)
7. Wanted for Murder (US only – 1931)
8. She Was a Lady (1931)
9. The Holy Terror (1932)
10. Getaway (1932)
11. Once More the Saint (1933)
12. The Brighter Buccaneer (1933)
13. The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal (1934)
14. Boodle (1934)
15. The Saint Goes On (1934)
16. The Saint in New York (1935)
17. Saint Overboard (1936)
18. The Ace of Knaves (1937)
19. Thieves' Picnic (1937)
20. Prelude for War (1938)
21. Follow the Saint (1938)
22. The Happy Highwayman (1939)
23. The Saint in Miami (1940)
24. The Saint Goes West (1942)
25. The Saint Steps In (1942)
26. The Saint on Guard (1944)
27. The Saint Sees it Through (1946)
28. Call for the Saint (1948)
29. Saint Errant (1948)
30. The Saint in Europe (1953)
31. The Saint on the Spanish Main (1955)
32. The Saint Around the World (1956)
33. Thanks to the Saint (1957)
34. Señor Saint (1958)
35. The Saint to the Rescue (1959)
36. Trust the Saint (1962)
37. The Saint in the Sun (1963)

Because the first book was published in 1928 they are not in the public domain yet ... if you are lucky enough to run across a copy of one of them, grab it, what I've been finding is $200 for a single bookIf you find a good source for this series - which is highly affordable (MAYBE ON KINDLE FORM?)

Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You ...

Happy Birthday Boy Scouts of America!!

No word as to how President Obama celebrated ... actually I haven't heard much about him and the BSA in the news, even though he is the Honorary Head of the Boy Scouts ....

it would have been totally cool if they had been given a free tour of the White House while they were there (I'm pretty sure it costs something) ... maybe even gotten to see Obama wave at them ...

How about a mention during the Weekly Presidential address? I will have to check -- but I'm guessing he hasn't said "Boo" about it so far this year ....

He was supposed to have been a Cub Scout - so it really surprises me that he doesn't seem to be making a bigger deal out of this ....

must be because he has girls instead of boys ....

of course ...

I don't think his girls are in Scouting either .... wonder why?

Movie Monday

I have permission from the owner to post this ...

Traveling Gnome goes in a Water Rocket.


The dolls are Sir Earl Grey & Jr from a traveling tea box from the "Anyone for tea?" group on Ravelry ... Earl & Jr travel all around Australia going to volunteers homes.

There is also a box for America as well ... but this was just an AWESOME video I had to share.

Things that make you go "COOL"!!!!!

Its not Monday - but here we go ...

Okay so I was checking out the Rav page - like I always seem to be doing when I don't have knitting needles or a crochet hook or a tatting shuttle in my hand (although its getting close enough to graduation to where I will soon have Scrapbooking stuff taking up every space in the house ... but probably not until after Easter so I can spread it out on the big dining tables and not move it until I've finished) ....

any how - on Rav i belong to a Tea group and one of the members was looking for 50's style items to make, but someone linked to a page which had a link to another page about a Hawiian Island hairstyle (all the rage in the 40's & 50's) and that page had a comment section, and when I went to leave a comment - and give some hints ma gave me way back when - I found a link to this video ....

The Vintage Bow Bun!!!

Now the video is in Japanese - they have a great love for all things 1950-s American there - but if you click on the triangle on the bottom video ribbon (looks like an up arrow) and then turn on the annotations - it will say 'turn off annotations' when its on - then along the top of the video will be the instructions in English ...

Have fun! I know my daughters and I will

Movie Monday

I came across some great knitting videos for doing socks/sleeves/necklines/hat bands/etc. that I don't want to lose -- so I'm "storing" them here .... feel free to check them out

Cat Bordhi teaches me something new again!

JSSBO (Jeny's Super Stretchy Bind-Off) + a new way to end in the round!



Jeny's Super Stretchy Cast-On (its just as stretchy as the bind-off) and Jeny teaches this herself!

If I made the movie ...

I have been watching the History Channels documentary of "Woodstock: Then & Now" and looking at images of the organizer of the event ... I kept thinking he reminded me of someone ....

take away that mop of long hair (the kind I would have drooled over as a teenager) he looked incredibly like Mark Walberg or Matt Damon ... but mostly like Mark Walberg.

very interesting stuff ...

not only did they come up with the benchmark concert ... but they had to totally landscape the are for the concert - there was poison ivy & downed trees ... by the time they jumped thru all the permit hoops they only had 27 days to get the area ready, and most of those days were in rain.

Things you may not know:

• many of the traffic problems were caused by people not wanting to wait in traffic, so they simply abandoned their cars in the road making the problem even worse.



• chain link fences weren't secured all the way to the top of the posts to save money, and many people just pushed them over and climbed in.



• band members were flown in by heliocopter because the roads were so jammed ... musicians at first thought the crowds were some strange crop, from the air.



• Cost of actually Woodstock ticket? $8.00! That's it, average price these days for concert ticket (for just one band +opening act)? $60.00



• Concert date & time? August 15, 1969 10A.M. EST



• Official Name: Woodstock Music and Art Fair



• approximently 550,000 people were at the concert at 10am day Opening day -- but they were running at least 3 hours late before it began (the opening band had not shown up).



• the man who went on first had 6 encores - not because the audience wanted him back, but more because the organizers didn't have any other bands ready to go on stage yet.



• the Hog Farm commune appointed themselves security ... and labelled themselves the Please Force (instead of police force) -- interesting bit, Police Officers were often called PIGs during that time.



• Hog Farm commune also began serving food to people for free ... feeding 10,000 people a seating ... but it still wasn't enough to feed everyone there.



• Carlos Santana was tripping on magic Mushroom during their performance ... he reported that his guitar was turning into a snake while playing, so shots of him with his eyes shut while playing wasn't so much that he was 'into his music' he was trying to keep from looking at his guitar so he would freak-out while on stage.



• At the time, Santana was relatively unknown - this was basically their national launch



• Many of the performers managers would not let the acts on stage until they got paid in cash - since there was no gate proceeds to pay them from, and they would not accept a check in case it bounced.



• Peter Townsend cracked Auby Haufman in the head with his guitar because Auby Haufman interrupted their set to protest.



• Exposed the masses to the food staple - Granola



• Joe Cochran's debut - before this producers thought he was black.



• one person died during the event - but it wasn't from violence, one from being ran over by the 'honey wagon' when someone had slept underneath it during the night (okay personal note here - ewwww)...



• Only Crosby, Stills, and Nash's second concert together as a group (don't know where Young was at this point, I think he came later)



• Jimmy Hendrix didn't go on stage until 9am Monday morning after 40,000 people went home - 21 hours after he arrived at the site. he played his version of America for the first time, against advise from the organizers.



• Someone made a giant peace symbol out of garbage bags which could be seen from the heliocopters as performers left.



• Kent State happened just 9 months after Woodstock



• there was no violence at Woodstock - the violence too place in Altamont, CA sparked when someone hired the Hell's Angels as 'security guards', but no one knows who it was who hired them.



• Joni Mitchell was supposed to be at Woodstock - but her 'handlers' decided she wouldn't make it out on time to appear on the Dick Cavett show so they pulled her from the bill

They have tried to re-create the magic of Woodstock several times, but it can never be again -- there was just something there at that time that worked ... not even the Obama inaugaration (despite what the press wants you to believe)

too bad too ...

I had just started school then ... and now I'm too old.

of course ...

I'd ....

never let my kids go to it.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO EVERYONE!!

From my family to yours!



I should mention that at the end there is a mention that the last two shots look like "feet" ... that's the code word for 'boobs' around here so we don't freak hubby out when us girls are talking about such things.

Movie Money - even though its Tuesday

lost track of time ... but I saw this and thought it was so funny I had to share ... for those who know me, you know how fairies are a part of my life, so I couldn't pass this up.

Wordless Wednesday -- CUTENESS ALERT

Not my video - but I'll count it anyways ....



Check out green-house.tv to see more videos (most with clips of the dogs :-)

Show N Tell: toe up sock bind offs

Okay -- didn't want to lose this video before I have a chance to cast off .... Cat from "LetsKnit2gether" shows several ways to bind off toe-up socks.

I like toe ups because you can try the sock on as you go so you know everything is coming out correctly... so you make the toe box the right width & angled proper ... also that the bottom of the foot is the correct length, that the heel has the correct rise ... and most importantly (the issue I've run into with my partners socks) that the leg can make it over the heel!



but unfortunately ... the last pair (and first pair) of toe ups brought me to tears because I didn't know how to cast off. I tried the 'bind off loosely" technique but it still didn't work.

Thank you Cat!! Now I know things will work out proper.

Recycling Characters

Okay my last post brought me to this one ---

You know what these cartoons of the 60's and 70's remind me of?

As a kid did you ever have one of those light tables where you put the master sheet on then covered it with another sheet of paper and traced characters on it? then you could color it in -- so that you could put .... say .... Cinderella in a Flintstone cartoon??

That is EXACTLY what I feel like with these old cartoons -- backgrounds are always the same (like they are on spindles with and endless loop around them) ... characters pop up from other shows with different colored hair, or clothes but you know they are the same .... everything, including the storylines, have that 2-dimensional feel - not just because they are cartoons, but because you know there just wasn't any effort put into it.

I was looking at a scene with the cartoon-kid from "Toll Booth" is sleeping in the car ... and I thought - hey that's from "All Dog's Go To Heaven" ... and it may have been.

Its so sad --- even Disney did it.

It was like there's a whole generation that never knew what 'cartoons' really are like

Phantom Tollbooth

So this week TCM had an evening of cartoons that all had the director in common (sorry off hand can't remember his name) .... did a bunch of bugs bunnies & marvin the martian & pepe le pew (I remember, its Chuck Jones) ....

Anyhow, I had always heard of but had never seen "The Phantom Toll Booth" so I was quite excited when I saw they were going to be showing it -- so I set the DVR to grab it .... and grab it it did ....

I didn't get to watch it until today -- and all I could think of was 'what a rip off' .... not that its a bad movie (it is done in that horrid late 60's style) but because I'm looking at it going -

Hey that looks like Max the dog from "Grinch Who Stole Christmas" -- hey it IS him, just fatter and bigger

Hey that kind of looks like the Grinch -- it IS him, just a different color and the weight shifted around a bit.

(sigh) I'm just glad I didn't see it as a kid .... I would have been so disappointed.

It was little more than a re-do of characters of Dr. Suess movies -- even the background had a very suesseque feel to it. Although the story line had that seussy feel --- could it be that this is based on a Suess tale that I didn't know of?

Could be.

Review: The Marine

well okay -- its not exactly a 'review' .... I caught the last bits on FX network and had to write about the stupidest scene I think I have ever seen in a movie ... and trust me I've seen many.

So this former Marine needs to rescue his wife from a group of bad guys -- there's the movie in a nutshell (main bad guy was the guy from Terminator 2, the Marine is some wrestler).

Apparently sometime before I got there he was caught by some drug dealers who think he's a cop so they have him bound to a chair ... meanwhile in the nearby woods/swamp the bad guys are trying to find a place to hide from the cops ....

In a totally unbelievable scene the Marine gets away from the drug dealers (reality check -- real dealers probably would have shot him before asking if he were a cop or not) .... but still this isn't the scene ....

Its after the Marine gets away and is going after his wife .... a police copter goes overhead and he starts to run headlong, full tilt thru the woods ....

he jumps over branches, downed trees, etc -- while carrying AN OPEN UNSHEATHED KNIFE!!! Big honking nasty thing that I thing even Rambo would have been afraid of .... oh yeah that's believable.

I'm sorry .... I think a Marine would know better than to run with an exposed blade.

BTW, his wife??? She played Kimber on "Nip/Tuck" - the former porn star who seduced, married, and bore the child of the son of the man she was going to marry but she got kidnapped on her wedding day and had all the plastic surgery reversed by her captor ....

yeah, this is her type of movie.

Smarter than the Average Bear

Darn it -- hubby outsmarted me .... he pointed out that I did, in fact, NOT have 'any movie startting Kevin Costner' on my list of "Movies Our Husbands Torture Us With" which I published in August ... dang it.

I've been allowed to update it once already ... I don't think he will allow it to happen again.

Dang.

How could I have missed that???
Now I will never be able to get out of such films as "The Postman", "Waterworld", "Bull Durham" or the even worse "Swing Vote"

.... rats ...

Getting the full picture...

Now I have seen a lot of play of the bickering when Ann was there -- but very little coverage of the sniping that started before she came onto the set.

Personally I don't blame her for getting really really upset -- they have NEVER treated anyone else this way that I can remember .... it was beyond rude .... and I am shocked and disappointed with all their behavior - especially that of Barbara Walters who should know better.

Here's the part of the show that offended Ann (can't blame her, it was rude)


And here's the rudeness continuing after she came on set --- agree or disagree with her, you have to admit they treated her very unfairly and badly.

I have to wonder if Whoopi feels that you have to experience everything before you are allowed an opinion on it -- there's a lot of stuff that we know is wrong without having to experience it.

And yes Barbara did read the book with quite a bit of emphasis ... don't know if she read it like she would Mein Kampf, but she certainly made her opinion of the writing known ... and yes then she did change the way she read it when Ann was actually on stage. chicken.

WTF?

Note to self: If you are going to write a Prequel ... you may wish to watch the actual series first so you know a few things about the characters first. such as ... Kirk did not have a fling with Uhura, this was addressed in the series with the telepathic Romanesque people ... Spock would not have attacked Kirk, it would be illogical, and he went thru his control issues as a kid - remember the whole scene in 'Search for Spock' when the vulcan chick teaches him to control himself? the real ... no the prototype Spock would have been taught all this as a child - coverd they the animated series ...

When did Kirk ever refer to himself by his full name where he wasn't do so for a court record?? In fact if anything he would have said 'James T. Kirk' not 'James Tiberius Kirk' (although there is controversy about that middle name too) ...
And why was he driving a car in the Grand Canyon? he grew up in Iowa and didn't get to see the world until he left for the academy (several TOS eps & movies)

This will be going down in the books as the worst sequel EVER when it comes out ... and that's just from the preview. From what I've seen, this could kill the series.

Movie Monday

YES it is back this week ...

Here are some holiday cooking hints from Jeff Dunham and his little friends ...



PLEASE remember that this is COMEDY and should not REALLY be tempted ... thank you to Comedy channel for the embed code.