Friday Hodgepodge

Four Things

1. Yes: You read that subtitle right. As you may recall, when I decided a while back to make room for non-blogging writing projects, I changed my posting schedule. Now that I've had some time to see how that works for me, I am once again changing the format of my Friday posts. From now on, Fridays will normally feature short roundups of four items, usually positive or interesting, which may or may not be related by a common theme. (In other words, this is basically my old "Friday Four" type of post.) For Objectivist commentary that appears in mainstream outlets, I will no longer have a separate "Weekend Reading" section every week. Instead, on some Fridays, I will present a list of four (or more) such articles in the order I learn about them, sometimes with my commentary about one of them afterwards.

2. My son has it in his head that doors are supposed to be shut. That's why, one night, when I woke to the sound of little footsteps, I knew exactly who it was without looking. He wanted his Mommie, but since she wasn't in bed, he turned around and left, shutting the door, of course.

3. Motherboard reports on recent research findings to the effect that VLF transmissions (such as those used to contact submarines) may be improving our protection from "space weather".

4. The American Enterprise Institute describes two instances of cash-only medical practices:

How does Clinica Mi Pueblo offer these medial services at the "most affordable prices possible"? Here's how: the clinic operates on a cash-only basis, with transparent prices that are listed both on the clinic's website and on the wall at each clinic. Further, the clinic accepts no insurance, and it will not submit insurance claims on patients' behalf. If patients have insurance, they can easily take the paperwork the clinic provides and file an insurance claim on their own. Reducing the costly, time-consuming mountain of paperwork associated with insurance, Medicare and Medicaid is one of the main reasons that cash-only medical clinics can keep their costs down and prices so low and affordable. That's the same business model that keeps surgery costs so low/affordable at the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, the "free market-loving, price-displaying, state-of-the-art, AAAHC accredited, doctor owned, multi-specialty surgical facility in central OK" that has been featured on [Carpe Diem] many times over the years. [format edits]

Oddly enough, this business model compares favorably to ObamaCare for routine medical expenses.

-- CAV