News and Views

Devon, his girlfriend Xiang-Xiang, Gisele and I are taking a few days to visit a few scenic areas around the island.

Here are Xiang-Xiang and Devon.

We found a local restaurant that provides authentic Thanksgiving Day dinners, so Gisele, Devon and I got our ration of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries and pie. No silky chocolate pie, of course, but apple and pumpkin. Everything was really quite good. Devon said it was his first Thanksgiving dinner in three years.

It still wasn’t quite the same as being home with the extended family, but a lot better than nothing.

When the food came we dug in so enthusiastically that it was half gone before anyone thought to take a picture. I won’t ruin your appetite with the pictures we then took of half eaten plates.

Here’s a picture of the keypad in the elevator in my hotel. What’s wrong? Why?

We arrived safely and on time after a pleasant trip across the wide Pacific Ocean, but Gisele’s suitcase did not. My bag was one of the first ones on the carousel, but in place of Gisele’s bag was a big sign asking us to contact airport personnel.

It turned out that the bag hadn’t made it on to the plane out of Tokyo, for unknown reasons. It would not arrive for another 24 hours.

I always pack a change of clothes in my carry on bag, and Gisele usually does too, but she neglected to this trip. After arriving at our hotel she went out to the night market and bought something clean to wear.

Otherwise everything is fine. Devon is doing fine, and we met his girlfriend of a year for the first time. Devon is off on the high speed train to the southern town of Tainan for a modeling job today, while Gisele and I are continuing to fight jet lag and rest.

Gisele and I are leaving Tuesday to spend three weeks in Taiwan with Devon. Since he can’t come home for Thanksgiving, we will celebrate it there with him. I doubt that we will find any turkey, but a chicken dish in a restaurant will have to do.

We wish Derek could come with us, but he’s in the middle of job hunting. It would be a shame to miss an opportunity because he was out of the country.

We always fly coach to Asia. Round trip coach tickets can be bought for around $1000, while business class costs closer to $5000 and first class is nearly $10,000. So we can tolerate a cramped seat for the 15 or so hours of flying it takes to get there.

But over the years we have accumulated enough miles on United that we were able to do a round-trip upgrade. Not all the way to first class, and not all the way to Taiwan, but we have business class tickets to and from Tokyo. That’s the longest 11-hour stretch, so the extra comfort will be very welcome. And best of all, United has just installed lie-flat beds on these flights in business, so we will be able to stretch out and really sleep! The bad part is that we will get spoiled and it will be hard to fly coach again, but we just can’t justify an extra $8000 between us every time we travel. This upgrade is a once-in-a-decade treat!

I have traveled in Muslim countries before and I’m used to seeing women covering their hair as a matter of modesty. But sometimes when I see a women here with her hair all covered up in typical Muslim head covering, the thought passes through my mind, “Why don’t they just go with the local custom so they don’t stand out?”

But I think a good analogy is to imagine my wife, mother or sister traveling to, or being forced to live in, a country where it is customary for women to bare their breasts in public. Would I expect the women in my life to just “go along with the local custom”? No, I don’t think I would. The idea is deeply ingrained that it would be shameful, even if the locals wouldn’t care or notice.

I know that many women from Muslim countries feel the same shame and modesty about uncovering their hair, and I need to respect that, as long as they are doing it voluntarily. But I can’t push that tolerance to the point of accepting the full body covers that leave just a mesh to look through. That’s just inhumane, and I can’t believe any intelligent woman would voluntarily submit to it.

I’ve been trying to apply for health insurance on the Federal Exchange (which Arizona uses) since it went online. It’s been a struggle!

The website is buggy and not ready for the usage it has been seeing. My big problem was that I started an application for just myself, and then after getting part way through I tried to use the option to “Add another applicant”. It went nowhere. The link/button did absolutely nothing.

So for two weeks I’ve been periodically logging in to see if the ability to add another user has been fixed, without success. And then just yesterday I started having another problem. Before I could even get to the page to add Gisele, I started getting a popup that my immigration status documentation was invalid (Huh?). I tried calling, but they couldn’t help me. They just suggested I either buy over the phone (no way; I want to see details and compare options), or just keep trying and hopefully that bug will get fixed.

So finally today, brilliant brainstorm! I started a new application in Gisele’s name. This time I included both of us in the initial application and things went pretty well. Slow, but I was able to complete the application. So my half-finished app is still sitting there in limbo, but I don’t think that matters.

Having applied for insurance about 10 years ago, I really appreciated the simplicity of the new application. The only health-related questions you have to answer are your age and whether or not you smoke. The last time I applied I had to submit a complete health history of every organ and system in my body, listing any visits to see a doctor about any specific problems over that past 10 years.

So OK, now I am signed up and can view the available insurance options. There were 111 plans available for us, with the cheapest about $750 for the two of us and going up to over $2000. Obviously I want in on the lower end.

I’ve narrowed it down to two plans, one from Aetna and one from BCBS. We already have BCBS and have been happy with them so we’re leaning that way, but we’ll sleep on it a few days.

The plans I am looking at are about the same monthly premium as my current plan. They have a higher deductible, but on the other hand there is no lifetime maximum and my pre-existing condition is completely covered, unlike before. Copays are in the same ballpark. So all in all it’s a reasonable upgrade. I do have the option to keep my old grandfathered plan, but I think getting complete coverage and no lifetime maximum is worthwhile.

One thing I would point out if you are curious about the plans but unable or unwilling to apply to the exchanges, you can go directly to the insurance companies’ webpages and view all their eligible plans there. Just be sure to select a plan that goes into effect Jan 1, 2014 to be sure you are looking at the new ACA-approved plans.

Take a look at this elaborate hoax of psychic powers. Very cool.

I like to think I’m rational and don’t believe in the supernatural, but I would be feeling some doubts if I had been there.

Turns out it’s a commercial for the new remake of “Carrie”.

And check out the cool optical illusions in this:

There was a good Frontline program on last night with the same title as this post about brain damage in NFL players.

The evidence seems very conclusive that playing football at any level (NFL, college, high school, and even younger) can and will cause brain damage in almost every player. The damage seems to be worse if the player has multiple concussions, but even without a concussion the stresses of the head jerking around with every hit take an accumulated toll.

The NFL, just like the historical tobacco companies and cancer, refuses to accept the data and insists that the verdict is still out and that more research needs to be done. Considering the multi-billion dollars they rake in every year, it’s not surprising that they are desperate to protect their product.

It’s a quandary. The game is fun to watch and fun to play. I don’t see any way to successfully protect the players without fatally modifying the game. At a minimum, the NFL should admit the problem, and players should be made completely aware of the risk they are taking. Then the NFL should compensate and pay for health care for any player found to have suffered typical football-related cerebral damage, even if it shows up 20 years after playing.

Of course improved helmets might help too, and changing the rules e.g. against “leading with your head” (as has been done to some extent) makes sense. In any other industry the company would be forced to protect its workers from occupational hazards. But it’s hard to imagine how to eliminate the problem and preserve football as we know it.

I think a very important and relevant point that isn’t being discussed enough is that the House simply refuses to even bring to a vote a simple “clean” continuing resolution on the budget.

The House sent a few bills to the Senate that included defunding or delaying Obamacare. The Senate stripped out the Obamacare parts, passed the resulting budget bills and sent them back to the House. But the House wouldn’t even vote on the returned bills.

Why? Because if they had voted they likely would have passed. Enough moderate Republicans would have joined with all Democrats and passed one of the budget bills.

But if Boehner allowed it to come to a vote, and especially if it passed, the majority of the Republicans in the House would have been unhappy, and he would probably lose his job as Speaker. The Speaker of the House is chosen by his own party only.

This whole thing would be settled quickly and easily if the House would just let Democracy function and simply vote on a clear budget.

It’s a crazy situation when a minority can prevent the majority from acting.