Naive Thoughts on Health Care Reform

I'm no expert, but I think:

Health insurance needs to separate from employment. "A public plan takes away our right to choose our coverage." Bull. If you're like me, you don't have any choice about your coverage now--you get the plan selected by your employer. Your job doesn't provide your auto insurance or your homeowners/renter's coverage, why should health coverage be any different? Employers benefit not only from not having to provide coverage, but from eliminating the people needed to administer and shop for their programs. Less money needed for benefits means more money for salaries.

A public plan doesn't eliminate private coverage. Take Medicare for example; you still need supplemental coverage for what Medicare does and doesn't pay.

How about this? Use Medicare as a model, and cover all citizens with a limited, basic plan. Allow individuals to purchase their own supplemental health coverage, just as they now do for anything else they insure. Competition results in improved plans

Can't afford the supplemental insurance? You can still see a doctor without going to the ER (probably the most expensive way to see a doctor now). The doc still gets something from your basic plan. And if you set up a method for doctors having medical school loans reduced in exchange for treating those patients, I bet you'd not have much trouble recruiting young docs.

Surely there are problems with this. So what am I not taking into account?

Back From New Mexico

Trip highlights: Having relatives in Cloudcroft to visit. Much praise for a fine Saturday night astronomy presentation, despite cloudy skies. Visiting the New Mexico Space History Museum and the model train museum in Alamogordo. Playing in the dunes at White Sands. Visiting the Sunspot Solar Observatory and getting a private tour of the Sloan and 3.5 meter telescopes at Apache Point Observatory. Cool days and cooler nights.

Descartes and Tycho

Repairing the LX200 Classic Hand Controller Keypad

My instructions for repairing the LX200 Classic keypad are here.

Maybe I Already Have One Of Those Government Jobs and Don't Know It

Came across this lovely nugget while formatting a set of instructions:
"Located under the Software section, the 2550-Series software is titled 2500-Series Locator PC Tool..."

I Gotta Get One Of Those Government Jobs

"The vehicle will ship at the conclusion of the pre-ship activities."
-- U.S. Air Force Captain Elizabeth Aptekar, spokesperson for the X34B project referring to the shipment date of the X34B.

Story here.

Another Modest Proposal

Forgive the divergence, but I'm still reeling from hours and hours of Deadliest Catch last weekend, and I have an idea.

The guys working these boats use, forgive me, salty language, and Discovery channel does a lot of bleeping. Fair enough, it is a family channel after all, even if it is on cable. But I am an adult not offended by hearing grown men saying they're "not catching shit." In other words, I'd like my reality programming to more accurately reflect reality.

For quite a while now, we've had a technology available called Second Audio Program (SAP), which allows a second audio track for a television program. You've probably seen "En Espanol on SAP" or something like that before. Why not have Discovery broadcast an uncensored version of the audio via SAP, and let me choose whether I want to hear the bleeps or not?

M100, A Galaxy in Coma Berenices

As promised, here is a larger shot of M100 (right) and NGC 4312 (left). I didn't label them, but you can also see NGC 4328, 4323, 4322 and 4427 around M100. The 5-minute subs might have been ambitious--there was a little drift from, I'm assuming, mirror shift in the LX200.

Heritage Park Observatory, Cedar Park, TX
Exposure: 24 x 5 minutes
Camera: Modified Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D)
Scope: Meade 10" LX200, Meade f/6.3 focal reducer
Mount: Meade LX200
Guider: Short Tube 80, Meade DSI
Filter: Astronomik CLS
Software: PHD Guiding, Nebulosity, Photoshop

Only 10 Galaxies

Not quite as rich in galaxies, but still pretty good. First time I've shot 10-minute subs, and they came out OK. A very nice night on the back side of a cool front. M99 and M100 are the two big ones here, and each deserves a closer look in the big scope soon.

Heritage Park Observatory, Cedar Park, TX
Exposure: 12 x 10 minutes
Camera: Modified Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D)
Scope: Astro-Tech AT80ED 80mm APO refractor, AT field flattener (new!)
Mount: Meade LX200
Guider: Meade LX200 @ f/5, Meade DSI
Filter: Astronomik CLS
Software: PHD Guiding, Nebulosity, Photoshop

At Least 19 Galaxies

Trying out my new Astro-Tech field flattener in the AT80EDT. Look! Round stars out to the corners! I only got about an hour before the clouds rolled back in, so here's an abbreviated look at Markarian's Chain.

Heritage Park Observatory, Cedar Park, TX
Exposure: 7 x 6 minutes
Camera: Modified Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D)
Scope: Astro-Tech AT80ED 80mm APO refractor, AT field flattener (new!)
Mount: Meade LX200
Guider: Meade LX200 @ f/5, Meade DSI
Filter: Astronomik CLS
Software: PHD Guiding, Nebulosity, Photoshop

Tilt-Shift

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

100% real--not miniatures. Very cool.

Central Texas Air Show

Photos from the Central Texas Air Show in Temple are here.

Why It's A Bad Idea To Fuck With The President

White House Photo/Pete Souza

See that dude on the left? That's Reggie Love, personal assistant to the president. Also known as The Guy Who Gets Stuff Done, if you know what I mean.

Priceless

I finally found the picture I was looking for.

This is the Perfect Time to Panic!

Looking at photos of people wearing surgical masks to avoid catching swine flu I wonder, how many regularly wear their seat belts?

The picture I still want to see is of someone with a mask around their neck smoking a cigarette.

Venus and the Moon-We Mean It This Time

Watch the full-size animation here.

Venus slides behind the Moon just after sunrise Wednesday morning in this series of photos from the Heritage Park Observatory in Cedar Park, Texas.

Heritage Park Observatory, Cedar Park, TX
Exposure: 39 frames
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel XT
Scope: Meade LX200 10"
Mount: Meade LX200
Guider: none
Filter: None
Software: Nebulosity, Photoshop

LKY Ranch BBQ and Spring Frolic

The 24th Annual LKY Ranch BBQ & Spring Frolic is now history. For the first time ever, the day was marked by rain. Between midnight last night and this morning, the rain gauge went up nearly five inches, with another inch still to come during the day. The turnout was lower than usual, but not the enthusiasm. As Linda explained to a person on the phone this morning, "Haven't you ever heard of a hurricane party?"

The good news is it quit raining for good about 1:30, and it was actually pretty pleasant on the porches.

Photos here.