Is a picture worth more or less than a thousand words if it’s Photoshopped?  Tis tis on BP!

John Aravosis of AMERICAblog made an interesting find Monday night: A high-resolution image on BP’s website of the troubled company’s Houston-based Deepwater Horizon response command center had been altered.

The altered image was later removed by BP and replaced with what they say is the original (the altered image is above and the original is below). You’ll notice that three underwater images were inserted onto screens to the right on a wall of video feeds in the altered image, where blank images exist on the screens in the original.

The photo flap inspired the usually staid Washington Post to quip, “Apparently BP is no more adept at doctoring photos than it is at plugging deep-sea oil leaks.”

BP spokesman Scott Dean told the Post’s Steven Mufson that there was no diabolical plot to photographically beef up the company’s command center. Rather, he said, a BP photographer with completely benign intentions just slipped the images in.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNLVGJ2PJ7c

1. The host is actually apologizing for not screening the calls correctly when the caller is oblisouly a ignorant fool.
2. My momma always taught me to treate ignorant fools like they should be treated.  The host should have torn him apart…where is Keith Olbermann when you need him!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YRQlUsdA3U

A major victory for President Obama and congressional Democrats, the House has approved a landmark measure that would expand healthcare to over 30 million uninsured Americans while forcing millions to purchase health insurance. The 219-to-212 vote late Sunday night came nearly three months after the Senate’s approval of the bill on Christmas Eve. No Republicans voted with the Democratic majority. The House later approved another package of changes that will now face a testy Senate vote before reaching Obama’s desk. Although the measure marks the largest expansion of health insurance since the founding of Medicare and Medicaid in the mid-1960s, it’s been criticized for further entrenching the for-profit healthcare system that rations care based on wealth. In a national address, Obama acknowledged the bill falls short of radical reform but said it marked a “victory” for the American people.

President Obama: “This legislation will not fix everything that ails our healthcare system, but it moves us decisively in the right direction. This is what change looks like. In the end, what this day represents is another stone laid firmly in the foundation of the American Dream. Tonight we answered the call of history as so many generations of Americans have before us. When faced with crisis, we did not shrink from our challenge; we overcame it.”

The passage followed weeks of intense negotiations to secure the needed votes. Democratic leaders obtained the backing of progressive lawmakers despite excluding a public option. And several anti-abortion lawmakers signed on after President Obama agreed to issue an executive order reasserting that no federal money in the bill would be used to fund abortions. In a statement, Terry O’Neill of the National Organization for Women said, “The message we have received today is that it is acceptable to negotiate healthcare on the backs of women, and we couldn’t disagree more.”

1. Dental
2. Medical
3. Vision
4. Cosmetic
5. Mental Health
6. Weight Loss

How does it work?

Go to PriceDoc.com and click on the procedure you want.  Enter you city/zip code and look at/compare what comes up in the search results.   What you can do next is:

1. Get a coupon for the procedure
2. Request price to get a “cash price” for the procedure
3. Make an offer which you can use to pay less sort of like an auction, what will you be willing to pay

So don’t go to a doctor’s office directly.  It’s sort of like why you should never book a hotel directly from the hotel!  Why, because you can always find a cheaper rate online or through a travel agent!

Facts about healthcare in America

1. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without a universal health insurance system.
2. There are four times as many health care lobbyists in Washington as there are members of Congress.
3. Eighteen thousand people die each year because they are uninsured.
4. Half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. Three-quarters of those filings are people with health insurance.

So if you used this service, write a comment or heard about it, write a comment!  I have not used the service but I have heard good things about it.  If I should lose my job or if I want something that isn’t covered by my insurance company, my first option will mostly likely be PriceDoc.com.

Hundreds of students rallied at the University of Florida yesterday over the shooting of Kofi Adu-Brempong an African graduate student by campus police.  Kofi Adu-Brempong, has been hospitalized in critical condition after he was shot in the face by an officer in a raid on his home earlier this month. Police say they were called to the home after neighbors reported the student to be visibly distraught. According to police, Adu-Brempong tried to attack officers with a knife and a metal rod. But supporters and family members have rejected the allegations and say the rod was actually a walking cane used by Abu-Brempong as a result of a childhood bout with polio. On Tuesday, a crowd of over 300 students marched on the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees.

UF Student Fernando Figueroa: “We’re demanding that all charges be dropped against Kofi, because they’re trying to do, you know, kind of something what’s called extortion. Like they’re saying, ‘Oh, we’ll drop the charges if you don’t file a lawsuit.’ And so, we’re demanding that all the charges be dropped and that more severe action be taken against the offending officer, Keith Smith.”

The officer who shot Kofi Adu-Brempong has been identified as Keith Smith. He has previously been reprimanded for an incident in which he allegedly harassed and threw eggs at African Americans while off-duty.

What do you guys think of all this?  Do we have another racist cop trying to kill African Americans or do we have a mistake gone horribly wrong?

Do you find  this surprising?  Interesting topic to think about.  The rich and the powerful…they are intertwined.

Clearly, Chile is a more prosperous country, with economic output per head of the population more than 10 times greater than Haiti. That has meant that buildings in general are better built, but Chile was also better prepared. And the fact that there were different roles of involvement of the U.S. in Haiti vs. in Chile!

Also people in Chile knew the safest places to go to when the earthquake struck.

Also, since an even stronger earthquake in 1960, Chile has developed a seismic design code for new buildings, which has made them better able to stay standing in an earthquake.

One system that helps buildings stay up is called the “strong columns weak beams” system.

The idea is that buildings are held up by reinforced concrete columns, which are strengthened by a steel frame.

Reinforced concrete beams are joined onto the columns to make floors and the roof.

If there is an earthquake, the idea is that the concrete on the beams should break near the end, which dissipates a lot of the energy of the earthquake, but that the steel reinforcement should survive and the columns should stay standing, which means the building will stay upright.

The problem is that an 8.8 magnitude earthquake is “towards the top end of what you’re designing for”, according to Professor Colin Taylor, professor of earthquake engineering at Bristol University.

A mitigating factor in the Chilean quake was that its epicenter was 21 miles underground, off-shore and 70 miles (115km) from the nearest big city, Concepcion.

The energy from earthquakes falls the further away you are from the center.

The Haitian quake on the other hand was only 8 miles  underground and right on the edge of Port-au-Prince.