Obligatory, 3.4.17

Today was rainy weather.  I belatedly setup some rainfall catchment, and there's plenty of extra water to play around with now.

Some additional work was done on the passive solar.  However, the leak is not fixed.  Fixing it should be no problem, though.

Besides that, an idea I had was to plug the exposures in the water "tank".  Instead of drilling holes in it, and ruining it for any other purpose, I decided to ruin a cheaper ice chest instead.  It is made of Styrofoam, and is easy to cut up into pieces that will fill the gaps.  This is partly done.  I can finish at my leisure.

Finally, I began work on a sliding door.  This door will close off the bedroom from the rest of the trailer.  The purpose of that is to facilitate climate control of this smaller area.  It is a variation upon the coffin concept.

The work is going to have to stop if I go to Dallas.  There was a positive step in that direction on Friday.  If confirmed, treatment will finally begin.

The "health insurance" issue

There has been some chatter about the issue of Obamacare, and what is to become of it.

The reason my interest in the issue was piqued is that I am a big beneficiary of it now.  My stay at the hospital cost the insurer nearly 20k.  If my cancer treatment is approved, one estimate that I heard of was that it would cost a quarter million for the treatment.  No way I could ever even begin to pay for this.

Not that I endorse Obamacare.  No sir.  I think it is bad policy.  However, the bad policy may work out as a very good thing for yours truly.

I discussed my idea of the car insurance model with number one.  He didn't like it because he didn't think it would be good enough, I gathered.  But what is "good enough"?  What is the goal?

The goal should be that if you need a certain kind of healthcare, you should be able to get it, even if you cannot afford it.  After all, that is what insurance is for.  Taxpayers shouldn't be paying for abortions, nor should they be paying for routine medical bills.  But it may not be a bad idea to have a way to fund a healthcare system that would allow you to get the treatment you need if you don't have the money.

So, at the moment I am studying the issue a bit.  It has not tended to be an issue that interested me much, but with my condition, as I said, I am now interested.

The Sessions thing is no big deal

Democrats have to have some sort of opposition.  Evidently, this is what they have chosen.  Whether it works for them or not, I can't say.

But what I can say is that I think they really can't do much to stop a lot of damage to what they believe in.  All of that is going to take a "yuge" hit, and it will go on for at least four years.

Sessions is not likely to go anywhere.  In reality, things are very bad for the Dems.  Time will tell if this helps them, it might hurt them.

You need an opposition strategy if you are the out party.  You shouldn't call your own credibility into question when you make stupid allegations like this Russian thing.  It looks to me like it is being easily parried.  A real waste of time and energy.  Not that I care all that much about Democrats.  The people following them should deserve better than what they are getting.

For example, if poor people are the ones the Dems care about, then how does making false allegations against Trump going to help the poor?  How are they going to stop the GOP from gutting Obamacare if they waste time and energy on a stupid thing like this Russian business?

The GOP is acting pretty outraged over this Sessions thing, but actually they are getting the better of it.  The Dems are in disarray.  None of this is helping them and it may destroy them if it keeps up.

Just saying that we live in an age of falseness

...and such a condition cannot sustain itself.

Just had a conversation with one of my brothers.  He has been in the homebuilding business for the last thirty years or so.  He said that people have changed.  It used to be that he could make money, but nowadays it is difficult to make money because everybody is trying to screw you.

People try to screw others just screw themselves in the long run.  No society can long endure if it is going to tolerate an absence of integrity.  If too many people become dishonest, then a decent society is no longer possible.

It is not that he disagreed with me.  He was just saying that the situation has changed.  There really are too many people who think that the way to deal with other people is to screw them every chance they get.  He was just saying that it hasn't always been that way.

There are those who may shrug and say human nature hasn't changed, and that people have always been dishonest.  True enough that there have always been dishonest people.  The thing that may be different now is that so many people are that way now.

Yet we  get polls that say we are on the wrong track.  If you want thinghs to get on the right track, you may want to look in the mirror.  If you want things to improve you are going to have to get others to improve their behavior.

That just might mean a war.  We have a cultural divide.  Part of that divide may include a mindset that it is okay to lie, cheat, and steal.   Such thinking gives you the troublesome societal indicators, like homosexual marriage and abortions.  Those who push these agendas are the same people who won't respect truth.  Eventually, the respect for truth ends up as basic morality.  If you dig deeper, then you get Christianity, I believe.

Along with everything else, America is losing its soul.  One cannot exist without the other.

How many people believe the fake news?

Obviously, the "deep state", or whatever you want to call it, wants to get rid of Trump.  But we knew that all along.  That isn't news, but what is news to me is how these people are going about it.

I figured a more direct approach---assassination.  Instead, it appears that they are going to try to stir up the population with the fake news, and then try to take him out via impeachment, or a defeat at the polls when he runs for reelection.

I think Trump can win the PR war.  For that is what it is.  He may not win reelection that way, but he needs only to hang on to one third of the House or Senate, and he is okay.  They have to prove that he broke the law, and if he hasn't, they won't be able to move that many against him.

David Stockman says that there will be a government shutdown.  That tactic worked before, but  those times were with different presidents made of different stuff.  If Trump is truly made of different stuff; and if  he rides it out long enough, he will have put to the lie that a government shutdown will result in a government default.  In fact,, it is the opposite.  The government's finances will improve with a shutdown.  They will forced to live within their means, and that will cause the budget to come into balance.

Basically, the "deep state" is counting on the supporters of Trump to cave in.  Also, for Trump to cave in.  We will see how that works out.

Eventually, I believe the falseness of these people will be seen for what it is.  When that happens, their defeat will be total.

Passive solar testing results

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This post will go into the Power and electricity sub-series of the off-the-grid main series of posts.  These posts can be accessed from a table of contents and watched individually or in series from beginning to end.

It has been a long time since I have updated this series of posts.  Since the last update, I have acquired all the hardware needed to run tests of the system.  Yesterday was such a test.  As usual, it was a mixed bag of success and failure.

For the success part, the water heated up nicely, but not real hot.  Wish I had a thermometer in order to get precise readings.  It was fairly warm, but not hot.  Probably over 100 degrees.   I don't think there were any leaks in this part of the experiment.

But when I wanted to see how much warmth I could get by diverting the water flow through the heater core, it did begin to leak, and no water got into the core at all.

So now I have a problem to solve.  I had to clean up the mess that the leak made, as it dumped maybe a gallon of water in the storage department under my bed.

Upgrades can be made in order to improve performance.  But these may have to wait.  Time may not permit a continuation  of the experiment. 

Update:

Did not fix the leak, but found a way to capture the water so that it doesn't make a mess.  In fact, it didn't, as I ran another test today.  It is now running, with water flowing into the repaired core.  Again, I wish I had a thermometer to measure the temperature of the water.  Instead, I will note how long I won't need to run the furnace or a heater for warmth.  After all, that's what it is for.

Update:

Looks like upgrades will be needed.  It just doesn't put out enough heat.  Last night was not that cold.  By the time to get up, temperatures were down below 60 degrees.  Gotta do better than this.

Why Western Civilization is doomed

Simple as pie.  If there is no agreement on fundamentals, then you have
no basis to organize.  There has to be organizing principles, so  then
there can be a useful interaction between the parties.  For a
civilization is a group of people who have organized upon commonly
accepted principles and standards.  If they cannot agree upon those
standards and principles, then upon what basis can they have a civilization?

But that would draw an argument, of course.  But it shouldn't.  How
can what I have just written be wrong?

From there, everything else falls into place.
 
Example:  In the United States of America, there was an election---
the election was based upon laws agreed upon well in advance.  The laws
were followed, a result occurred, but certain people did not accept it.

There are many such examples.  In fact, all of our society seems to be
breaking down based upon a basic disagreement upon what the principles
are.

Examples:  What is marriage?  Who is the Pope?  What is Christianity?
What is Islam?  In my own case, what is insurance?  What is health
care?

It isn't a mere pedantic discussion based upon semantics.  A thing is
what it is.  A civilization requires that people be civilized, and come
to agreements, and to live with them.

Duh.

Update:

Trump's reviews seem to be more positive than negative.  But that has nothing
to do with this.

This is very, very fundamental.  It goes to the core of a matter.  For instance,
if you cannot agree that grass is green, and the sky is blue, then what can you
agree upon?

So, some folks say Trump is great.  Means nothing if the words don't mean what
they mean.  The words have to mean something.

Doctor's appointment today

Those who read this blog may note that there was some optimism recently.  It seemed for awhile that I may get treatment.  Now, I am not so sure.  In fact, I am getting downright pessimistic about that.

I don't know what is hanging it up.  Perhaps they don't have a doctor in the network, or if they do, it is only a surgeon.  From what I heard from the previous people is that there aren't too many who are willing to do this type of surgery.  It is very tricky.

So, it would seem that radiation is the only way.  But if they don't have one of these in the network, then what?

It is all speculation, for I have heard nothing.  Maybe the PCP could tell me something.  I could call the radiation oncologist that I spoke with before, only trouble is that he has some people between himself and others.  In other words, he is screened off.

So, here I am. Waiting.

This "insurance" business is all fake, like everything else.  It should be straightforward, but it seems to me to mired in a lot of gobbely gook of terminology.  I don't have much patience with  that stuff.  I don't read it and try to understand it.

Bills are coming in from my hospital stay.  Not only that, but the people who did my MRI's back in Houston have decided that I still owe them money.  How that happened, who knows?

The medical business is strange.  It is the only business I know in which they seem to find ways of billing you long after you thought you paid for it all.

As I write this, I am rather sleepy.  I am rather medicated at the moment.  Anyway, maybe this doctor can tell me something.  I just don't get it.

Passive solar test

Tested for leaks, and there are some.  Those are outside, though.   I might be able to get those taken care of. 

The little bilge pump seem to work.  It works off a 12 volt battery though.  It would seem prudent not to keep it running all day.  That means it needs to cycle on and off in order to save the battery.

As for specifics of my system now:  It is a 30 gallon mammoth ice chest that will be filled with water.  It will recirculate via the bilge pump, which is inside of the ice chest.   The ice chest is insulated, which is to help maintain the heat in the water. 

Once the day is over, I can switch the pump to pump through a heater core.  I haven't tested that yet, so I don't know if it will leak or not.

Battery capacity might be improved.  This will take a lot more energy than I figured on.  Unless I can trap a hellacious amount of heat, it might well be something of a white elephant.

We'll see.

Internet of Things? No thanks.

It looks to me that the internet has gone too far already.

A problem with the net is that it is inherently risky security wise.  Everybody is there, including the bad guys.  If your refrigerator can be connected to the web, then what kind of mischief would be possible then?

Keep as much off the net as possible.  The net has its uses, but it should not be everywhere all the time.

As I said, the media sucks

Now they are trying to use Bush, who did nothing to defend himself against the kind of crap that they are slinging at Trump.  And to make matters worse, Bush is helping them do it.

It should be no surprise then, that the Donald is doing a lot better than these jerks say he is.  Bush isn't going to help them by what he does. Besides that, if they are so desperate that they have to depend on Bush to help them, then what do they have?

If Trump won't hang 'em, then the best thing to do is to keep them out of the way.

When insurance isn't insurance

A short exchange of text messages with my sister revealed something something obvious, or should be.

This Obamacare isn't insurance, it is health care.  How?  She wrote about the delay in getting treatment started may have been due to it being a one in a million event.  But you see, I tried to explain, it is exactly what insurance is for.

Insurance is supposed to be set up on the law of averages.  A large number of people can share the risk of an event for a small price, which the insurance company sets up the underwriting of the risk based upon probabilities.  If you are a one in a million risk, then for every million people, one person will be affected.  You can have a really small premium that could be very generous to people who are affected.   For example, if you have one million policy holders, and each was charged ten bucks a year for coverage for  chordomas, then each patient could get a multi million payout, and the insurance company could still make plenty of money.

But Obamacare isn't set up that way.  For that reason, it shouldn't be called insurance.  It is health care.

Nice to keep things in proper perspective.  Liberals have this tendency to want to bend the facts in order to fit their worldview.