Re: [CGUYS] Why not the US?
Orphan drug availability. In the EU, Finland,France, Germany and Sweden supply the most orphan drugs (20-21 out of 22) affordably. The UK supplies only 15 and makes patients pay for up to 94% per cent of the cost. --- Paul Meyer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am sorry to hear about your health situation. I think you are drawing exactly the wrong conclusions about the conclusions for the health care system. First of all, I agree that the UK, Canada, Australia are all unnecessarily stingy health care system. The reason for that (as far as I can tell) is because their political system tend to unduly favor conservatives who in turn try to keep Health Service funds low (compared to the other health systems in the First World - all of them except the US, government run) Do you know how, for instance, what the situation in Germany is like for orphan drugs? (I don't, I should look it up). Anyway, orphan drugs is actually an example of market failure and a good case could be made that the government should have a nationalized pharmaceutical company to manufacturing them and the RD expense of developing should come out of the government RD budgets - which, IIRC, is where most of the expense of orphan drugs comes from. It also occurs to me, that jacking up the price on a drug for which there is no market allows the drug companies to get bigger tax breaks when they give it away. Even so, medical resources are expensive, involving both material and labor inputs that can be exceedingly scarce. If it were in principle possible to allocate all the money needed to avoid tough, who lives, who dies, rationing dilemmas, it would still takes year to put such a system into place (assuming it is possible). My brother-in-law died in his early 30's because he had decided to pay for a crappy insurance policy and it delayed him from getting to doctor in a timely way (it wasn't cancer but DVT, a doctor's visit days before his death literally might have saved his life). As many as 200,000 people in the US die from it each year. That's my health care story. --- Admiral Harris [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I like your in-depth analysis: The healthcare guys. Do they carry around a big bag of healthcare to dole out skimpily to the poor and needy? Lemme tell you a REAL healthcare story. I have whatcha call one of those orphan diseases. It's incurable, it's progressive, but it's treatable, to slow down my imminent demise. My pharmacy bill ran over $300k last year, because most of the drugs I take are only taken by the few of us who have this disease (you DO remember the economy of scale, don't you?). It will likely cost that much annually for the rest of my life. If I had no insurance, the companies would give it to me. If I had lousy insurance, there are foundations which will help with the costs. However, in the UK, that paragon of the National Health Service, they've just decided not to carry five of the six medications for my disease. If that one that's left doesn't treat you, then you're sunk. Canada? One of my pals died there last year because the health board fiddled around too long to get her proper treatment. Australia? One of my pals died there because not only would the government not buy the drug from overseas because of the cost, they wouldn't let him buy any with his own money and import it. Yeah, it's not great here, but like Churchill said, it's better than the alternatives. Ellen H. - Original Message - From: Tom Piwowar [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: COMPUTERGUYS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 8:35 PM Subject: Re: [CGUYS] Why not the US? The healthcare guys are doing it too. They make the cost so high that people will inevitably die. And they skim lots of money off the top to support their own lavish lifestyles. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** * Checkout One Laptop Per Child project laptop.org * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** * Checkout One Laptop Per Child project laptop.org * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ **
Re: [CGUYS] Why not the US?
It is interesting that many of the drug companies we are most familiar with have European connections. (Bayer aspirin) Part of the availability is FDA refusal to OK these drugs. The EU equivalent allows drugs on the market quicker. There are many drugs on the market over there that have not and cannot be marketed here. Stewart At 07:15 AM 3/31/2008, you wrote: Orphan drug availability. In the EU, Finland,France, Germany and Sweden supply the most orphan drugs (20-21 out of 22) affordably. The UK supplies only 15 and makes patients pay for up to 94% per cent of the cost. Rev. Stewart A. Marshall mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Prince of Peace Ozark, AL SL 82 * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Piracy causes terrorism
At 11:22 PM 3/30/2008, b_s-wilk wrote: No, the pirates/terrorists are the RIAA and MPAA who sue the customers and steal from the artists. Some day we can have the ultra fast broadband that people in other countries enjoy, and our economy will improve partly as a result of the expansion. The new model will succeed and they will fade away. If only the death throes didn't hurt the rest of us so much. I think you've got it! The reason we don't have ultra-fast broadband here in the U.S. is because the RIAA and MPAA are paying under the table to keep bandwidth down so as to throttle, to a little degree, piracy. Makes sense, doesn't it? Fred Holmes * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Why not the US?
If you don't think (fresh) water is a scarce resource I really don't know what to say. The US water table is steadily dropping due to over use from inefficient agriculture and domestic use made possible by governments not charging what the water is worth. You contradict yourself. You claim it is scarce and then describe how it is so cheap that it is wasted. Anything scarce is going to be expensive. The market is currently clearing at that price. That is the price. Not expensive. You then use that as a lead in to an assertion that water is being sold cheap. That is step one to a corportae-induced price run up. This is already happening in Brazil where water sources are being bought by large US corporations and then being shut down. My reply to your post is Q.E.D. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Why not the US?
Talk to the states of Alabama, Georgia and Florida about this subject. it is not pretty. Pointing out a few, short-term exceptions does not disprove the general rule. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Why not the US?
The EU equivalent allows drugs on the market quicker. There are many drugs on the market over there that have not and cannot be marketed here. European doctors are also more conservative in treatment. Once while traveling in Holland one person in my party had a severe case of kidney stones. The Dutch doctor prescribed herbal tea. The American patient was outraged. He expected drugs. We were also amused at their profuse apologies about having to charge for service because he was a foreigner. The bill came to $2, I think the American patient was also unnerved by the low cost. Wasn't expensive so it could not be good. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Why not the US?
Tom; Remember the old adage whiskey is for drinking, water for fighting about? Governments largely control access to water in the US. They charge some customers a service fee for delivering that water via municipal infrastructure, charge some others for general access. To my knowledge no government has ever restricted water draw to sustainable levels (defined as keeps the water table and / or river flow in balance) and then charged a market price to those who want the water. On Mar 31, 2008, at 9:21 AM, Tom Piwowar wrote: If you don't think (fresh) water is a scarce resource I really don't know what to say. The US water table is steadily dropping due to over use from inefficient agriculture and domestic use made possible by governments not charging what the water is worth. You contradict yourself. You claim it is scarce and then describe how it is so cheap that it is wasted. Anything scarce is going to be expensive. The market is currently clearing at that price. That is the price. Not expensive. You then use that as a lead in to an assertion that water is being sold cheap. That is step one to a corportae-induced price run up. This is already happening in Brazil where water sources are being bought by large US corporations and then being shut down. My reply to your post is Q.E.D. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http:// www.cguys.org/ ** * * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
[CGUYS] Water [RE: [CGUYS] Why not the US?]
Many local governments run the water / waste water utilities, including mine. The utility is difficult for us (small size with high per-user costs) and I would agree that potable water is becoming threatened. State and federal requirements add to our costs, for example requiring us to treat well water to remove radio-nuclides, which most other countries ignore. Infrastructure needs (maintain, replace or increase throughput) went ignored for decades. I struggle with fellow members of my town council to address these needs. Our town has only about 650 residents and a couple hundred businesses. When it became obvious that we needed to start planning to replace our waste water treatment plant, we discovered a $5m cost. We allowed a business to build a large inn, annexing land into town, because they agreed to pay for it. Water is going to become an ever more pressing issue, not just out west where over-building is making it increasingly scarce, but any where local, state and federal governments don't take actions to protect potable sources of water. People already complain about costs and we are just charging our costs and trying to keep our small utility infrastructure viable. We are always looking for ways to control our costs, but our infrastructure needs are high. Thank you, Mark Snyder -Original Message- If you don't think (fresh) water is a scarce resource I really don't know what to say. The US water table is steadily dropping due to over use from inefficient agriculture and domestic use made possible by governments not charging what the water is worth. You contradict yourself. You claim it is scarce and then describe how it is so cheap that it is wasted. Anything scarce is going to be expensive. The market is currently clearing at that price. That is the price. Not expensive. You then use that as a lead in to an assertion that water is being sold cheap. That is step one to a corportae-induced price run up. This is already happening in Brazil where water sources are being bought by large US corporations and then being shut down. My reply to your post is Q.E.D. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
[CGUYS] In the market for a mouse
My new (2-year old) MacBook Pro touchpad is driving me crazy. It had been my intention to work with it until I got it down-cold, but I'm ready to hang it up. I have to do a lot of right-clicking while working with Win-XP and when I do the three-finger click, the cursor sometimes jumps to another part of the screen. I doubt there's any work-around - I think the answer is to just get a windows compatible mouse. Any suggestions? Ralph * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] In the market for a mouse
Don't get a mouse - get a trackball, specifically this one: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/166cl=us,en Or in cordless if you prefer: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/159cl=us,en They work great (caveat - I only use corded ones, because I hate batteries) with my Macbook Pro, and every other system I have used them on (including Sun Sparcs as an aside). They are particularly useful for portables as there often is not much space to deploy a mouse, but you can hold a trackball on your thigh or chair armrest, floor, etc. HTH Matthew On Mar 31, 2008, at 2:18 PM, Ralph wrote: My new (2-year old) MacBook Pro touchpad is driving me crazy. It had been my intention to work with it until I got it down-cold, but I'm ready to hang it up. I have to do a lot of right-clicking while working with Win-XP and when I do the three-finger click, the cursor sometimes jumps to another part of the screen. I doubt there's any work-around - I think the answer is to just get a windows compatible mouse. Any suggestions? Ralph * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Piracy causes terrorism, was:bittorrent with Opera
There was an interesting interview piece on NPR today interviewing Loretta Napoleoni who has written “Rogue Economics: Capitalism’s New Reality. It gives an interesting take on international copyright infringement Here's the archive: http://www.kuow.org/programs/weekday.asp db Jim wrote: Very interesting the stated correlation between Attorney General Michael Mukasey saying the economy and national security of the United States are increasingly threatened by violations involving copyrighted software code, patented inventions and trademarked properties. and his meetings before the speech including entertainment industry executives. I also liked this one: Terror groups are taking their cues from organized crime and increasingly funding their operations from counterfeiting and piracy, he said. Does this mean for every illegal song download the entertainment industry will not be able to contribute a bullet for the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan? 01/20/09 I can't wait. On Mar 30, 2008, at 4:50 PM, mike wrote: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080328/ap_on_hi_te/mukasey_intellectual_property I almost feel like I'm sputtering in frustration with this one. The MPAA/RIAA and software companies have completely hosed/bought off members of congress and other members of the government on both sides. The article concerns AG Mukasey believing that fighting thirteen year old girls who are downloading the newest Madonna album (yeah Hard Candy comes out in a few weeks, I don't admit why I know that), is fighting terrorism. The entertainment and software companies would have you believe that every copy of Adobe Photoshop downloaded by some pimply faced artist is one for lost sales, a ridiculous premise. That is how they reach their millions in lost sales figures, each copy downloaded was a sure sale if not for BT or Kazaa. I have a friend with so much music he can't possibly listen to it all...why? Cause he's like an old lady with cats. He never would have bought any of it. No it's not right he just downloaded it, but it sure isn't 'lost sales' to the RIAA. And to believe it somehow funds terrorism isn't even laughable, it's just sad that someone believes that. Most hardcore piracy occurs over seas in countries where copyright laws do not exist, in China etc. These are the places they are losing money. Not P2P servers running in Manchester. I'd like to make sure artists and programmers get paid like anyone else, sure I'd like to fight terrorism...but they aren't even in the same ballpark. As a side story, Patrick Wilson from Weezer was on macbreak weekly this week and at one point said he really didn't care if someone downloaded his songs for free. This was part of a larger conversation and I think work listening to from the perspective of an artist. Mike * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** * * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** * * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] XP SP3 RC2 Refresh
what is RC2??? Roger D. Parish wrote: About a month ago, I reported how XP SP3 RC2 caused my AMD-based PC to blue screen on startup. Yesterday, I learned that MicroSoft had released a refresh for SP3 RC2, so (ever a glutton for punishment :-) I gave it a try. Long story short, it works just fine! And now back to the McLaughlin Group. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] In the market for a mouse
Thanks, Matthew, that's a possibility I hadn't thought of. On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 3:11 PM, Matthew Taylor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Don't get a mouse - get a trackball, specifically this one: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/166cl=us,en * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] XP SP3 RC2 Refresh
At 4:37 PM -0500 3/31/08, Judy Cosler wrote: what is RC2??? Release Candidate 2. That means they're getting close to RTM (Release To Manufacture or Release to Master). In other words, RSN (Real Soon Now). -- Roger Lovettsville, VA * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] In the market for a mouse
I'll second this. I have had this very Logitech trackball and it cured my carpal tunnel pain. - Original Message - From: Ralph [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: COMPUTERGUYS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 5:26 PM Subject: Re: [CGUYS] In the market for a mouse Thanks, Matthew, that's a possibility I hadn't thought of. On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 3:11 PM, Matthew Taylor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Don't get a mouse - get a trackball, specifically this one: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/166cl=us,en * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** * * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] In the market for a mouse
At 02:18 PM 03/31/2008 -0400, Ralph wrote My new (2-year old) MacBook Pro touchpad is driving me crazy. It had been my intention to work with it until I got it down-cold, but I'm ready to hang it up. I have to do a lot of right-clicking while working with Win-XP and when I do the three-finger click, the cursor sometimes jumps to another part of the screen. I doubt there's any work-around - I think the answer is to just get a windows compatible mouse. Any suggestions? Ralph I LOVE my Logitech Trak Ball. Have one for all of my machines, and have replaced one already as I wore it out (over about 3 yrs). Sue * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] In the market for a mouse
If you are thinking about a trackball, take a look at: http://us.kensington.com/html/2200.html I have used an earlier version (doesn't have the scroll ring) of this for years, and i absolutely love it. Ralph [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: My new (2-year old) MacBook Pro touchpad is driving me crazy. It had been my intention to work with it until I got it down-cold, but I'm ready to hang it up. I have to do a lot of right-clicking while working with Win-XP and when I do the three-finger click, the cursor sometimes jumps to another part of the screen. I doubt there's any work-around - I think the answer is to just get a windows compatible mouse. Any suggestions? Ralph * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** * * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] In the market for a mouse
At 03:11 PM 03/31/2008 -0400, Matthew Taylor wrote Don't get a mouse - get a trackball, specifically this one: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/166cl=u s,en That's the one I have also. I'd had trouble with hands/fingers until I got this one. It's also quite controllable for doing graphics. Sue * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
[CGUYS] Vista home premium disk management query: is unallocated space recoverable for use ??
-This is a new Dell machine that shipped with two internal hard drives and arrived in a RAID 1 configuration. -I removed the RAID, some default recovery partitions and associated drive letters with no issues. Well, *almost* no issues. On what is now a non-RAID, 500 GB C drive, there are 15 GB showing up as unallocated (this used to be a Dell recovery partition of some kind...but I manage my data backups separately on an external drive, so don't need internal data redundancy. Is there any way to have those 15 GB returned to the OS/primary partition (without formattting or adding a drive letter)? Under disk management, the only function being offered is new simple volume. The 15 GB is negligible given the two large internal drives available... not a big deal if this can't be done... * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Vista home premium disk management query: is unallocated space recoverable for use ??
Sure. Boot from a Linux bootable disk that has GParted or QTParted on it and run the disk partitioning software. Expand the OS/primary partition to include the 15 GB unallocated space. Done. On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 7:58 PM, D.L.H. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: -This is a new Dell machine that shipped with two internal hard drives and arrived in a RAID 1 configuration. -I removed the RAID, some default recovery partitions and associated drive letters with no issues. Well, *almost* no issues. On what is now a non-RAID, 500 GB C drive, there are 15 GB showing up as unallocated (this used to be a Dell recovery partition of some kind...but I manage my data backups separately on an external drive, so don't need internal data redundancy. Is there any way to have those 15 GB returned to the OS/primary partition (without formattting or adding a drive letter)? Under disk management, the only function being offered is new simple volume. The 15 GB is negligible given the two large internal drives available... not a big deal if this can't be done... -- John DeCarlo, My Views Are My Own * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Vista home premium disk management query: is unallocated space recoverable for use ??
http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/ On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 8:53 PM, John DeCarlo [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sure. Boot from a Linux bootable disk that has GParted or QTParted on it and run the disk partitioning software. Expand the OS/primary partition to include the 15 GB unallocated space. Done. -- John DeCarlo, My Views Are My Own * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Vista home premium disk management query: is unallocated space recoverable for use ??
Doesn't Vista do disk partitioning operations? Regardless, I wouldn't wish gparted on my worst enemy until it gets a decent GUI. http://vistarewired.com/2007/02/16/how-to-resize-a-partition-in-windows-vista/ On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 11:32 PM, John DeCarlo [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/ On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 8:53 PM, John DeCarlo [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sure. Boot from a Linux bootable disk that has GParted or QTParted on it and run the disk partitioning software. Expand the OS/primary partition to include the 15 GB unallocated space. Done. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
