A story of how Charles Schulz got it past CBS.
I remember watching it as a kid, and being annoyed that the kids voices weren’t what I’d imagined them reading the comic strip.
Healthcare Insanity
I just got the doctor’s bill for my back problems. The doctor’s visit was $900, which seems crazy high to me for five minutes with her, but the insurance paid for it. The X-ray was a couple hundred bucks, but the insurance covered that, too.
But the insurance didn’t cover all of the back brace (which I only wore for a day or two, after deciding it wasn’t doing me much good). It only covered $4350 dollars, and I got stuck with the bill for the other $644. Yes, that’s right; they charged five effing grand for a lumbar-support brace.
After Christmas, I’m going to raise hell. There has to be some kind of mistake. If not, I’m going into the back-brace business.
[Update a while later]
Note: I haven’t been billed for the MRI yet. I can’t wait.
Climate “Science”
The FBI
Howie Carr doesn’t pull any punches.
[Sunday-morning update]
A reckoning will come for these political hacks.
I hope so.
[Bumped]
[Monday-afternoon update]
The FBI’s darkest hour. There may be good people working there, but it’s a corrupt culture.
[Bumped]
Die Hard
The New Vette
It looks like a very interesting car, but I would miss the manual gearbox, too.
Hair Loss
It may become optional. This doesn’t sound like it would help people who have already lost hair, though.
Boeing’s Annus Horribilis
…continues with today’s failure of Starliner to get to the ISS. Stories from Eric Berger , Marina Koren, and Tim Fernholz.
The question is whether or not they’ll insist on another uncrewed test flight before putting in crew. Given the cost of an Atlas V, I’d be inclined to say no, given that this failure wouldn’t have resulted in loss of crew. Worst case for a crewed flight would be failure to dock, which would just mean a mission abort back to White Sands. But as we all know, SAFETY IS THE HIGHEST PRIORITY.
[Late-morning update]
Loren Grush has another take.
[Update mid-afternoon]
Here’s a story from Emilee Speck in Orlando.
The GAO On Artemis
A nice Christmas present from them to those of us who have to analyze this stuff. Not sure when I’ll actually get around to reading it, but it can’t be pretty.
Sex Robots
…with coding errors could cause them to engage in violence and strangle people.
Hey, sex is always risky. At least it’s not like a black widow spider.