Please don't hate Bitcoin

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Monday March 03, 2014 · 9:13 AM PST

2014/03/03 · 09:13

There have been a number of pronouncements from people I more often than not agree with, from Bill Mayer to Warren Buffett, trashing Bitcoin.

Some of it is just plain ignorance. I believe in science and evidence based thinking, so I usually advocate an open mind. Some of it I think is that there has been sort of a media narrative of Bitcoin being a “rich, white, young, and elite” speculative investment - in other words yet another way for those that already have lots of money to get more or move it cheaper.

The truth is Bitcoin is a tremendously novel and disruptive technology that may change the world - or not.

Please follow below the orange squiggly for a bit more...

TheSaint

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Monday November 18, 2013 · 3:43 AM PST

2013/11/18 · 03:43

I've been saying for a while that the website is much better, as long as you start with a new account and email address.
But since I don't actually need coverage myself and don't qualify for a subsidy, my exploration is limited.
Yesterday I visited my son and we sat down to enroll...

TheSaint

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Tuesday October 22, 2013 · 7:33 AM PDT

2013/10/22 · 07:33

In its first week, healthcare.gov was a disaster for sure. As a CIO of a technology company, I can confirm that a lot of the problem really was caused by high demand flooding the servers.

Since then, I have logged on (or tried to) daily and seen an amazing improvement. As I have previously written, just clearing the cache and cookies didn't do it for me. I had to start all over with new accounts and a new email address.

But since I did that, its been working more or less perfectly every day. A little clunky and slow here and there, but nothing to blog about. Is my experience unique?

Poll

78 votes Show Results

What is your (today not past) experience with healthcare.gov?

78 votes Vote Now!

What is your (today not past) experience with healthcare.gov?

Cruz is right - its run by Nigerian spammers

11 votes

Its bad but I got through

2 votes

Its barely OK

5 votes

Its adequate

15 votes

Its actually fairly decent now

32 votes

Its great!

11 votes

I love it so much I made wallpaper out of it

2 votes

Howto - actually sign up at healthcare.gov!

TheSaint

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Tuesday October 15, 2013 · 6:19 AM PDT

2013/10/15 · 06:19

As a software designer and the CIO of a technology company, I can see at once that there are many issues with healthcare.gov. Many of the user interface mistakes are classic ones that I see beginning programmers struggle with.

For example, making a mistake during the signup process may doom your application to eternal purgatory.

But wait - you actually can signup, and here is how...

TheSaint

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Thursday February 03, 2011 · 9:50 AM PST

2011/02/03 · 09:50

The so called mandate in health care reform should never have been included in the bill in the first place, and democrats should have seen that coming. It is ironic that an insignificant, one could say irrelevant item in the bill could be the undoing of the entire bill as a federal court recently ruled it wasn't severable. Should that stand, all of the bill is void.

I am incredibly dismayed that the democrats used so clumsy of a sledge hammer despite the warning on the wall that it would be appealed, and that ultimately people like Roberts and Scalia will decide.

Gee, guess how that ends up?

TheSaint

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Friday November 26, 2010 · 11:28 AM PST

2010/11/26 · 11:28

Seriously. Ever since 9/11, I have wondered why the TSA only used fake pat downs. By fake I mean that they avoided touching you all the areas that you would naturally used to conceal a weapon or explosives. One could conclude that the pat downs were only being done to reassure the public.

Of course one could similarly conclude that about a lot of security features, including the fact that the US has very weak identification of people in general, some luggage and cargo still flies un-scanned on passengers flights, etc.

Still, if you know anything about security, you know that its a multi-layered approach. Just because you have a weakness in one area doesn't mean you abandon the others...

TheSaint

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Saturday September 04, 2010 · 11:26 AM PDT

2010/09/04 · 11:26

In 1995 the government was twice shutdown by the republicans in at attempt to get Bill Clinton to capitulate on the budget.

A couple of unique circumstances intervened to save Clinton from what otherwise might have been an embarrassing and unmitigated disaster.

First, Newt Gingrich, always an egotist and blowhard, made some foolish comments that shifted public opinion. And Bob Dole, running for president in 1996, didn't want to be associated with the stain of revolution and urged a compromise. Gingrich blinked, Clinton won, and the rest, as they say, is history.

TheSaint

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Tuesday March 23, 2010 · 1:04 PM PDT

2010/03/23 · 13:04

Unfortunately, its impossible to have universal private health insurance without a strong insurance mandate, for hopefully obvious reasons. People opposed to a mandate generally fall into 2 categories.

First, people that claim to support universal care but oppose a mandate, generally fall into the liberal category if instead of a mandate they'd like to substitute single payer or at least a public option or perhaps simply a government funded system paid out of general revenue.

Conservatives who oppose a mandate by definition are opposed to universal access, because absent a federally funded system, you can't have one without the other.

Which leads us to the question, what is the likely outcome of the muti-state attorneys general lawsuit that targets the mandate?

TheSaint

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Friday March 19, 2010 · 7:02 AM PDT

2010/03/19 · 07:02

So, does anybody know what happens under the following likely scenario:

1.The House passes the sidecar reconciliation bill Sunday and “deems” the Senate Bill passed.

2.The senate as usual, implodes and doesn't do anything.

Can the president now sign the original bill? Has he promised Nancy not to in that scenario?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I don't like it but I am for it.

TheSaint

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Wednesday March 10, 2010 · 10:09 AM PST

2010/03/10 · 10:09

There are lots of things I don't like about “Obamacare”. I'd prefer single payer, or at least a Medicare buy-in. I'd like some real cost constraints instead of accounting gimmicks. And, <shudder> yes, Virginia, tort reform is desperately needed. Not because of the small overall amount of excessive lawsuits but the very real and huge distortion in wasted defensive care.

I'm supporting it grudgingly because I believe that once we go down the road of Universal Care, its inevitable and unstoppable. We'll spend the next two decades recasting this bill but at least the principle is established, once and for all, that everyone should have health care. (Even though not everyone will under this plan.)

Oddly enough though, here in Florida, I will be worse off potentially by far because we already have single payer, sort of...

TheSaint

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Wednesday December 30, 2009 · 6:28 AM PST

2009/12/30 · 06:28

No one should have any doubt. Once the next airliner comes down from a terrorist attack, killing everyone aboard, the US will start using body scanning for all passengers. It will happen by executive order the next day.

Until then, every time I fly, I carefully say goodbye to my wife, as I know there is an (albeit very small) chance I will die that day. This has been true every day since 9/11, despite the fact that we already have the technology to check every passenger for bombs.

We don't use the technology, because misguided so called privacy advocates (actually just common idiots) insist they somehow violate your rights.

TheSaint

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday December 24, 2009 · 8:30 AM PST

2009/12/24 · 08:30

Lately, the polls just keep getting worse and worse for Obama, prompting some to wonder if the sky is falling.

Actually though, his numbers are about where one would have predicted them to be. About the same as Clinton and Reagan at this stage, who both inherited a bad economy, albeit it much better than this one.

But there is something else in play in my view thats lowering the numbers a smudge...

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Please don't hate Bitcoin

Just signed up one kid at healthcare.gov

Healthcare.gov is fine what is the beef?

Howto - actually sign up at healthcare.gov!

Health reform - what works better than a mandate

I just love the new pat downs

A Call to (Political) Arms

Just what happens if the Republican states block the mandate?

More demon pass intrigue

I don't like it but I am for it.

Why are so called privacy advocates killing me?

Obama Poll Numbers are not as bad as they seem