Be careful...you never know who is monitoring
Barry Friendly had amassed a fortune in excess of $50 million before his 25th birthday. So when he met Suzy and fell in love, his people insisted that there be an ironclad prenuptial agreement. He gave her money to hire a lawyer of her own and allowed that person to draw up the agreement. His own lawyers worked with her guy and eventually an agreement was worked out that satisfied all. If they divorced before their tenth anniversary, she would get $30,000 a year for five years. After ten years, the figure went up to $50,000 a year for the rest of her life.
But there was one catch. If it could be proven that Barry had engaged in marital infidelity, Suzy would be entitled to the greater of 25% of Barry's net worth, or 50% of what he'd earned during their marriage. Barry never worried about that. He travelled, was very discrete and his bodyguards ensured no sleazy private detectives were following him.
Barry's last mistress, Angelique, was ready, willing and able at any moment. Not only would she go anywhere in the world at the drop of a hat to please her man, she also did something for him none of his prior mistresses would do. She would sext with him via cellphone. Barry made sure that they had the latest in iPhones, and also instructed Angelique to always delete their sexting conversations after they had finished. Something he did himself.
So when Barry finally filed for divorce a few months ago, he was convinced his spousal support to Suzy would be limited to $150,000. He was wrong. Why? Because it turns out that Apple collects data from every iPhone out there, including copies of texts, numbers dialed and more. At least that's the assertion of one IT professional. Worse yet, apparently users cannot disable the data collection.
That's frightening. It would be far more intrusive than anything the National Security Agency has been accused of thus far. Every number dialed. Every text sent and received. We need to know more about this accusation.
Just in case it wasn't clear, Barry and Suzy aren't real.
* * *
The House and Senate say they are close to an agreement on a bill to reform the VA healthcare system. In the long run, it probably won't address the underlying issues at VA facilities all over the nation.
While veterans of WWII, Korea and now Vietnam are dying off in ever-increasing numbers, the veterans who served in the two wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan raised the patient pool at the VA, significantly. The change to a space-available basis for providing care for military retirees at military hospitals on bases all over the U. S. also added to the burden of the VA.
I got a card from the VA on Thursday. It said to call and make an appointment with my primary care physician. I don't have one at the moment. The resident in the primary care clinic (PCC) who was following my care finished her residency in June. A replacement doesn't start until late next month. In the interim I've been seen by the walk-in-basis primary care doctor.
So I called on Friday, July 25th. The earliest appointment available was for September 2nd. Now if I needed to be seen, I could walk in and they'd get me in at some point that day. But it wouldn't be my primary care doctor. The whole notion of having a PCC doctor is so that one doctor is managing the care provided to you by all of the specialists you see. Not being able to see the same doctor consistently is one of the problems of the VA system.
I had an appointment week before last at the Allergy clinic. My appointment was for 2:00 p.m. But there's a catch. The Allergy clinic only operates this particular type of appointment one afternoon each week. There were a bunch of people scheduled at 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30 and so on. I got my vital signs taken by a nurse at 2:05 and it was nearly 3:30 before one of the Allergy clinic fellows, along with her resident and a med school student took me back to examine me. The system is simply overloaded.
Waiting an hour for care that is essentially free wouldn't bother me, except that the VA Medical Center is a major concentration of infections. There were several people coughing in that clinic waiting room incessantly. I've been through one MRSA infection hospitalization that I'm sure was caused by treatment at the VA, I don't want another.
Solving the waiting list problem is important. So is solving the VA's other problems. One way to prevent this kind of thing from happening in government is offering financial incentives to people to outperform expectations.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I doubt that cosmetics companies are supportive of a female Indiana University student's experiment of going a year without makeup.
Joe Torre shouldn't be so hard on himself for leaving George Steinbrenner out of his Hall of Fame acceptance speech.
Making a 120 point word in Words With Friends is usually satisfying, but if I'd noticed I was already ahead in that game by 200+ points, I'd have made a lower point word.
Sarah Palin has launched her own online TV network. Great, more crap online that I won't bother with.
Reading the polls that claim more Americans wish Mitt Romney were President than President Obama may be interesting, but it isn't helpful or informative.
I used to enjoy watching "Shark Tank" but the more I read and hear about how the deals actually do go down, the less I'm interesting in seeing any more of it.
Still can't believe the National Football League gives out longer suspensions for performance enhancing drug use than it does for domestic violence. I will get to that topic eventually.
Chick Fil-A is probably guilty of religious discrimination in how it hires franchise operators. Since they aren't owners, just operators, they seem to me to be employees.
I'd love to ask Kendra Wilkinson if she's more upset by the fact her husband was unfaithful in and of itself, or if it's the fact that he was unfaithful with a transgender woman.
Maybe while Governor Moonbeam is in Mexico on his trade mission, he could get that Marine Sergeant released from prison.
The members of Congress who are asking the Federal Communications Commission to step in and resolve the dispute involving Time-Warner Cable and other outlets who don't have access to the new Dodgers network need to shut up.
* * *
July 28th in History:
1364 – Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina.
1540 – Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.
1571 – La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines is founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomienda/province in the country.
1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France.
1809 – Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera – Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte.
1821 – José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.
1854 – USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy, is commissioned.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church – Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia.
1866 – At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln).
1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.
1896 – The city of Miami, Florida is incorporated.
1914 – World War I: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after Serbia rejects the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
1932 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.
1933 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Spain are established.
1935 – First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.
1938 – Hawaii Clipper disappears between Guam and Manila as the first loss of an airliner in trans-Pacific China Clipper service.
1942 – World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into the Soviet Union. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be tried in a military court, with punishments including duty in a penal battalion, imprisonment in a gulag, or execution.
1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah – The Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg, Germany causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.
1945 – A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.
1948 – The Metropolitan Police Flying Squad foils a bullion robbery in the "Battle of London Airport".
1955 – The Union Mundial pro Interlingua is founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France.
1957 – Heavy rain and a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, kills 992.
1965 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
1973 – Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: 600,000 people attend a rock festival at the Watkins Glen International Raceway.
1974 – Spetsgruppa A, Russia's elite special force, was formed.
1976 – The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.
1993 – Andorra joins the United Nations.
1996 – The remains of a prehistoric man are discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains will be known as the Kennewick Man.
2001 – Australian Ian Thorpe becomes the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championships.
2002 – Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground.
2005 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
2005 – Tornadoes touch down in residential areas in south Birmingham and Coventry, England, causing £4,000,000 worth of damages and injuring 39 people.
2008 – The historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burns down for the second time in 80 years.
2010 – Airblue Flight 202 crashes into the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad, Pakistan, killing all 152 people aboard. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Pakistan history and the first involving an Airbus A321.
Famous Folk Born on July 28th:
Ballington Booth
Beatrix Potter
Lucy Burns
Marcel Duchamp
Barbara La Marr
Carmen Dragon
Baruch Samuel Blumberg
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Alberto Fujimori
Bill Bradley
Jim Davis
Jonathan Edwards
Sally Struthers
Georgia Engel
Vida Blue
Peter Doyle
Bruce Abbott
Hugo Chavez
Rachel Sweet
Lori Loughlin
Alexis Arquette
Elizabeth Berkley
But there was one catch. If it could be proven that Barry had engaged in marital infidelity, Suzy would be entitled to the greater of 25% of Barry's net worth, or 50% of what he'd earned during their marriage. Barry never worried about that. He travelled, was very discrete and his bodyguards ensured no sleazy private detectives were following him.
Barry's last mistress, Angelique, was ready, willing and able at any moment. Not only would she go anywhere in the world at the drop of a hat to please her man, she also did something for him none of his prior mistresses would do. She would sext with him via cellphone. Barry made sure that they had the latest in iPhones, and also instructed Angelique to always delete their sexting conversations after they had finished. Something he did himself.
So when Barry finally filed for divorce a few months ago, he was convinced his spousal support to Suzy would be limited to $150,000. He was wrong. Why? Because it turns out that Apple collects data from every iPhone out there, including copies of texts, numbers dialed and more. At least that's the assertion of one IT professional. Worse yet, apparently users cannot disable the data collection.
That's frightening. It would be far more intrusive than anything the National Security Agency has been accused of thus far. Every number dialed. Every text sent and received. We need to know more about this accusation.
Just in case it wasn't clear, Barry and Suzy aren't real.
* * *
The House and Senate say they are close to an agreement on a bill to reform the VA healthcare system. In the long run, it probably won't address the underlying issues at VA facilities all over the nation.
While veterans of WWII, Korea and now Vietnam are dying off in ever-increasing numbers, the veterans who served in the two wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan raised the patient pool at the VA, significantly. The change to a space-available basis for providing care for military retirees at military hospitals on bases all over the U. S. also added to the burden of the VA.
I got a card from the VA on Thursday. It said to call and make an appointment with my primary care physician. I don't have one at the moment. The resident in the primary care clinic (PCC) who was following my care finished her residency in June. A replacement doesn't start until late next month. In the interim I've been seen by the walk-in-basis primary care doctor.
So I called on Friday, July 25th. The earliest appointment available was for September 2nd. Now if I needed to be seen, I could walk in and they'd get me in at some point that day. But it wouldn't be my primary care doctor. The whole notion of having a PCC doctor is so that one doctor is managing the care provided to you by all of the specialists you see. Not being able to see the same doctor consistently is one of the problems of the VA system.
I had an appointment week before last at the Allergy clinic. My appointment was for 2:00 p.m. But there's a catch. The Allergy clinic only operates this particular type of appointment one afternoon each week. There were a bunch of people scheduled at 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30 and so on. I got my vital signs taken by a nurse at 2:05 and it was nearly 3:30 before one of the Allergy clinic fellows, along with her resident and a med school student took me back to examine me. The system is simply overloaded.
Waiting an hour for care that is essentially free wouldn't bother me, except that the VA Medical Center is a major concentration of infections. There were several people coughing in that clinic waiting room incessantly. I've been through one MRSA infection hospitalization that I'm sure was caused by treatment at the VA, I don't want another.
Solving the waiting list problem is important. So is solving the VA's other problems. One way to prevent this kind of thing from happening in government is offering financial incentives to people to outperform expectations.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I doubt that cosmetics companies are supportive of a female Indiana University student's experiment of going a year without makeup.
Joe Torre shouldn't be so hard on himself for leaving George Steinbrenner out of his Hall of Fame acceptance speech.
Making a 120 point word in Words With Friends is usually satisfying, but if I'd noticed I was already ahead in that game by 200+ points, I'd have made a lower point word.
Sarah Palin has launched her own online TV network. Great, more crap online that I won't bother with.
Reading the polls that claim more Americans wish Mitt Romney were President than President Obama may be interesting, but it isn't helpful or informative.
I used to enjoy watching "Shark Tank" but the more I read and hear about how the deals actually do go down, the less I'm interesting in seeing any more of it.
Still can't believe the National Football League gives out longer suspensions for performance enhancing drug use than it does for domestic violence. I will get to that topic eventually.
Chick Fil-A is probably guilty of religious discrimination in how it hires franchise operators. Since they aren't owners, just operators, they seem to me to be employees.
I'd love to ask Kendra Wilkinson if she's more upset by the fact her husband was unfaithful in and of itself, or if it's the fact that he was unfaithful with a transgender woman.
Maybe while Governor Moonbeam is in Mexico on his trade mission, he could get that Marine Sergeant released from prison.
The members of Congress who are asking the Federal Communications Commission to step in and resolve the dispute involving Time-Warner Cable and other outlets who don't have access to the new Dodgers network need to shut up.
* * *
July 28th in History:
1364 – Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina.
1540 – Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.
1571 – La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines is founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomienda/province in the country.
1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France.
1809 – Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera – Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte.
1821 – José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.
1854 – USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy, is commissioned.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church – Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia.
1866 – At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln).
1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.
1896 – The city of Miami, Florida is incorporated.
1914 – World War I: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after Serbia rejects the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
1932 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.
1933 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Spain are established.
1935 – First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.
1938 – Hawaii Clipper disappears between Guam and Manila as the first loss of an airliner in trans-Pacific China Clipper service.
1942 – World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into the Soviet Union. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be tried in a military court, with punishments including duty in a penal battalion, imprisonment in a gulag, or execution.
1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah – The Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg, Germany causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.
1945 – A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.
1948 – The Metropolitan Police Flying Squad foils a bullion robbery in the "Battle of London Airport".
1955 – The Union Mundial pro Interlingua is founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France.
1957 – Heavy rain and a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, kills 992.
1965 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
1973 – Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: 600,000 people attend a rock festival at the Watkins Glen International Raceway.
1974 – Spetsgruppa A, Russia's elite special force, was formed.
1976 – The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.
1993 – Andorra joins the United Nations.
1996 – The remains of a prehistoric man are discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains will be known as the Kennewick Man.
2001 – Australian Ian Thorpe becomes the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championships.
2002 – Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground.
2005 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
2005 – Tornadoes touch down in residential areas in south Birmingham and Coventry, England, causing £4,000,000 worth of damages and injuring 39 people.
2008 – The historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burns down for the second time in 80 years.
2010 – Airblue Flight 202 crashes into the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad, Pakistan, killing all 152 people aboard. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Pakistan history and the first involving an Airbus A321.
Famous Folk Born on July 28th:
Ballington Booth
Beatrix Potter
Lucy Burns
Marcel Duchamp
Barbara La Marr
Carmen Dragon
Baruch Samuel Blumberg
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Alberto Fujimori
Bill Bradley
Jim Davis
Jonathan Edwards
Sally Struthers
Georgia Engel
Vida Blue
Peter Doyle
Bruce Abbott
Hugo Chavez
Rachel Sweet
Lori Loughlin
Alexis Arquette
Elizabeth Berkley
posted by me at 7:35 AM
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