Uncle Walter's Rants

USPS Five-Day Delivery - It's about time

Take a look here: http://www.usps.com/communications/five-daydelivery/

The US Postal Service is struggling against a change in the way we communicate.  E-mails, faxes and on-line bill pay have replaced the traditional mail.  The Postal Service has seen their volume and revenue decline substantially. Because the USPS is a government agency they cannot legally complete with FedEx or other private carriers and as such cannot reach for the profitable sectors.  They are left with the daily, expensive, door to door business.  This has left them with a potential $238 billion shortfall over the next decade.  As a private company the USPS would be an epic failure.  As a government entity it is a drain on society.  It's services are still needed, but the need will continue to decline, while the cost will increase.  Removing Saturday delivery is a small step that will have a large impact.

It is the lowest volume day, it has the same cost as any other day, it isn't necessary, most companies are closed that day.  It is true that I will miss my Netflix coming on Saturday, but that is a small price to pay to see to USPS survive as they struggle to adapt to a new world.

-UW

The Toyota Problem

Recently Toyota has begun a massive recall of a huge number of cars so remove floor mats.  It appears that the gas petal design with the floor mat design can cause the accelerator to get stuck and when that happens people die.  The acutal recall reads as follows,

OCTOBER 2009 -- Toyota is recalling certain model year 2004-2010 passenger vehicles. The accelerator pedal can get stuck in the wide open position due to its being trapped by an unsecured or incompatible driver's floor mat. A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop the vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death. Toyota will notify owners of affected vehicles to remove any driver's floor mat and not replace it with any other floor mat pending the development of model-specific remedies. Toyota will mail a second notification to owners of affected vehicles notifying them of the free remedy when it is available. The first notice was mailed on October 30, 2009 and Toyota will advise NHTSA an estimate of the date when the remedy parts will be available.    09V-388

So now there has been an update where Toyota will install, at the customer's request, new gas petals.  Dealers have been told to cut the bottom off of existing pedals.  Toyota has a major problem on their hands and it is made worse by the slow reaction, on their part, to claims that it is the throttle, not the pedal that is the real problem.  Take a look here http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/money/times-toyota-throttle-acceleration-problems-20091128.

Now things get even worse for Toyota with a new recall involving Toyota Tundra for corrosion issues.  This was brought to light by spare tires falling off trucks while they have been traveling, often at highway speeds.  Check out http://www.marketwatch.com/story/toyota-to-recall-about-110000-tundra-vehicles-2009-11-24-1648550.

Next you get the new Toyota Venza, a super-sized station wagon much like the now defunct Chrysler Pacifica and Ford Taurus X.  Early reviews seem to state that they look nice, but have cheap plastic.  Take a look at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33605151/ns/business-autos/.  It appears that this entry to an unsuccessful market is lackluster at best.

So what is going on?  Is Toyota now going to fail in the way GM did because it is number one in sales?  No, I don't think so.  I think Toyota is making some bad choices in a bad market.  When things are good everyone is happy, even with recalls.  But in this market, room for failure, is much smaller and Toyota is hitting some pretty nasty spots.  This pedal recall reminds me of the Ford Explorer recalls for tires, very much in the way that Toyota is slowly looking at the problem.  The Tundra is even worse, with Toyota's lack of action.  I would expect more for the global auto leader.  The Venza is the really scary thing.  If Toyota doesn't clean up their act with quality, they have problems across the board, they really will be in a bad state.  Ah, to own a Toyota, oh what a feeling indeed.

-Uncle Walter

Thousands stand in line for Man-Bear-Pig Swine SARS Flu Vaccine

So the swine flu vaccine has been distributed and now people are showing up in droves to get the new shots.  People are scared by the news of the H1N1 virus as it spreads and they are trying to head it off.  Then I hear people say how stupid it is because more people die of regular flu every year, and there is no need to get vaccinated.  So what should everyone do?  Should we get vaccinated or not?  Well, here is my 23 cents on the topic.

There is one simple fact, people are going to get the flu, be it the new flu or flu classic.  People will miss work.  What is more scary about this new one is the fact, while we have some natural defense against classic flu, most of us have no core defense against the new flu.  We just don't have the anti-bodies.  Fortunately the mortality rate is pretty low, but the economic impact of the flu has yet to be seen.  If one in five people miss work because of the flu that has a huge impact, especially when children are involved.  And, there is where the real risk is, economic.  So far, we aren't all going to die, and we will not see a resurgence of something like the Spanish Flu, but there will be a real impact.  That's were the vaccine has to come in, especially since there isn't enough to spread around.  High risk groups need to be protected, just like always, but families need to look at it seriously as something they may need.  They have to accept that they won't die from it, but may miss weeks of work.  Depending on how fast it spreads it may mean more time off.  Can the family afford that?  Just looking at the probabilities, that decision has to come down to the individual person and family.  Then you look at those who will be treating the sick.  That's when things get different.  If you will be caring for a multitude of people who may have the flu, then yes, you should get it to protect yourself and your patients.  No I do not think we can force people to get the shot, but we should reassign those who refuse to other, less vulnerable, areas.  

So get the shot or not, you take the risk yourself, just don't put others at risk. If you are sick stay home.

But all that changes if the virus mutates into something more virulent, then you should run for the hills and emerge 28 days later to see what has survived.

-Uncle Walter

The American Healthcare System Needs Some Serious Help

Long long ago, in the 1920s our modern health care system began to take shape.  Plans were formed linking multiple hospitals together.  "Modern Medicine" was the wave of the future and it would save us all.  Well, not everyone (Uncle Walter would have had another Aunt if "Modern Medicine" hadn't give Grandma so many pain killers in the 1930s that the baby was stillborn).  Time marched on and around 1939 we had HMOs.  The health care insurance system evolved, we gained a bit of Medicare, which was, GOD FORBID, government run health care, yep Socialism!  How horrible, except for all the good it did for the people without insurance, but I am not going to debate medicare, today.

So our health care system evolved like a giant creature.  More and more people got insurance so they could go to the doctor.  Then more and more drug companies made better and better drugs, mostly for people's benefit.  Then the unthinkable happened.  People lived longer.  Strange as it is when people get check-ups and go to the doctor for simple things like cancer, they tend to live longer.  Combined with the baby boom there were more and more people in the health care system.  So doctors had more and more patients, so segmentation by specialty became more and more prominent.  The family doc will take care of you if you have the flu, but if you need to have blood drawn there is a flabotomist.  Yes, I misspelled it, I can't figure that one out. (phlebotomist -- edited to add by The Wife.  Sorry UW, couldn't let that one go).

Anyway there are docs for everything.  From simple to complex.  More and more people made sure that there would be mistakes.  Then you have big lawsuits, then big insurance to insure the doctors, who have to be protected from the insured, fueled by lawyers with lawsuits.  In turn the insurance companies, which keep in mind are for profit organizations, wanted to have less and less sick people.  Makes sense, less sick people, less to pay.  So, some plans say you can't go to a doctor outside of your plan or without talking to the on-call nurse to get pre-approval.  I kid you not, I know someone who had to get pre-approval for an emergency room visit and ended up waiting six hours for the on-call nurse to call back and authorize the visit for a real emergency.

Then you get to the absurdity of the plans themselves.  PacificCare is a good example.  They don't insure high risk professions, like policeman, or firefighter, or air traffic controller.  OK, I don't get the last one.  After that you have the fact that you may be declined for taking certain medications like Zyrtec.  I hope my allergies don't come back under that plan!  And of course the all mighty pre-existing condition!  God forbid you have AIDS, Cancer, Appendicitis (un-operated) - Good thing I didn't have their plan, obesity, acne, and more.  You can even be declined for being an expectant father.  You can read for yourself here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/PacifiCareUnderwriting.pdf.

The whole thing gets crazy and the prices go up while the coverage levels go down.  The insurance companies are at great risk of losing money, hospitals are going broke, general doctors become specialists so they can make more and we have a shortage of generalists.  Not to mention that it costs a bloody fortune to become a doc, and for that you only have to barely pass your classes.  I don't know my doctor's GPA, do you?

So, what the h*ll can we do?  Well, before we revise, change and alter the existing system, we need to know the history and realize the fact that the current system is a result of the natural growth of an economic entity reacting to the environment.  Next we look at the real question, does it work?  Yes, but not all that well.  So now what do we do to fix it?  Damned if I know.  I just complain about this stuff.  Lets hope the politicians are better at fixing this than I am.

-Uncle Walter

Seperate the artist from the art

So with Polanski in the news and other things like it we are once again faced with a dilemma.  Do we boycott the art, because the artist did bad things?  Well Polanski made alot of movies, that got lots of awards.  Should we dodge Rosemary's Baby because Polanski did bad stuff?  What about the Mommas and the Papas?  It just came out that John Phillips has an incestuous affair with his daughter for ten years.  Should I not enjoy Monday, Monday now?  Woody Allen has his own "unique" character flaws (too much of a headache to go into here), does that mean that I should never watch Sleeper again? 

No, it does not.  There is art, and there is the artist.  Hemingway committed suicide, but his books are considered great.  Just because the artist may be a nut job wacko child molester, doesn't mean that the art isn't beautiful.  Now I am not advocating we all go buy movies by perverts, but don't avoid them either.  The works they have created are part of the human experience now and they do allow someone who has hurt many to contribute, in a positive way, to the world.

So, I am still going to enjoy listening to my music from the Mamas and the Papas, and I will watch Bananas, and keep my mind open to enjoy the art that exists.  I will not support these nuts just because they make good art.  They need to pay for their crimes just like anyone else, but I will enjoy what they have made, I will just watch it when it is on cable, I don't think I will buy the DVDs (that does send a buck or two back to them).

-Uncle Walter

Roman Polanski did a bad bad thing

Ok, so I am sure you have all heard the news about Roman Polanski and the rape of a 13 year old and the potential miscarriage of justice, blah blah blah.  Well, I waited a few days before posting so I could read as much as I could about both sides of the story, and now I am ready to present my take on this mess.

1.  Roman Polanski raped a 13 year old girl.  He plied her with liquor and drugs, and then claimed that they were together consensually.  The girl was there as a result of the efforts of her mother trying to push her career.  Her mother should never have allowed that, and not allowed a 13 year old to go off alone in that situation.  Polanski, did a very bad thing, and no matter how old the girl may have looked, it isn't right.  He admitted guilt, he needs punishment.

2.  He setup a plea agreement where there would be no public trial, and he would be charged time served.  From what I have read this was done to protect the victim from a public trial, but it was also the keep him out of jail. 

3.  The judge did not like him and his actions, and wanted to make an example out of him, and indicated he would not honor the agreement.  The result could have been a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.  I can understand Polanski was concerned.  50 years is a long time, and who wants to be made an example of.  He did a very bad thing, and was at risk of long term incarceration for it.

4.  He ran, so far, far away.  To France, which didn't believe that it was a fair trial, because of the judge and basically granted asylum.  From there he continued his career, lived his life, made movies.  The whole time his lawyers were working in the US to try to get the case overturned because of the issues with the judge.  The appeals court said there was merit, and that they would hear the case, however, Polanski had to be present.  He would not come.

5.  In Switzerland he was picked up and should be extradited to the US, but France, Poland and a battery of random celebrities are against this.  Personally I don't know what Woody Allen's opinion has to do with anything in this case, but whatever.  I won't argue that point... for now.

6. What is clear is the following

• Roman Polanski broke the law and raped a little girl.
• The judge was not acting in an impartial way as a judge should and was out to make an example.
• Polanski is a fugitive from the law and has been on the run for 30 years.
• Polanski should go the US and face the courts.  If the case is dropped due to the judge mishandling it, so be it.
• Polanski has to face the punishment for running.  Regardless of what happened to the girl, he still broke the law when he fled the country.  There is a punishment for that, ironically, it may be deportation, so we would just send him back to where he was.

I'm just tired of this whole thing.  I know that it will vanish from the news in a week or two unless something more interesting happens, like Angelina adopting a gaggle of starving kids, or a tsunami, or a light frost.  The media is fickle like that.

-Uncle Walter

Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug died at age 95 - A Real Superhero

Do you know who Norman Borlaug is?  If you do the odds are you don't live in the US.  Outside the US he is quite popular where he saved millions or perhaps billions of lives by doing something that environmentalist often do not like.  He developed disease resistant crops and was an advocate of doing whatever was necessary to increase the crop production including the use of chemicals.  His efforts changed the world, but went against a commonly held belief that organic and "sustainable" is better.

"There has been great progress, and food is more equitably distributed. But hunger is a commonplace, and famine appears all too often." - Norman Borlaug

He was took a strong stance that the lives of the many who would die without the food was worth the risk of the few who may get sick being exposed to agricultural chemicals.  He traveled the world saving lives in Mexico, India, Africa and many other places.  In those places his efforts are remembered, but here in the world of fast food and easy lunches we do not celebrate his accomplishments as we should.  We are too easily swayed by the concept of organic and "sustainable" agriculture and feel that everyone should do it without realizing something he did back in the 1940s.  Those methods do not produce enough food to support our population, and if we keep growing as we are we will continue to have food shortages.

Borlaug "saved more lives than any man in human history," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.  

In 95 years this one man changed over one billion lives.  Who else can claim that, and yet very few know his name.

-Uncle Walter

CNET News on Google News for Apple TV Pricing is wrong

Here is another sample of a mistake in reporting technology...

Another Great Google News Image

I love it when Google News randomly grabs an image that has nothing to do with the article.

Yeah the drum playing monkeys at Cadbury don't want to be bought out by Kraft.

-Uncle Walter