But how did this defunct train station end up looking like a neighborhood on Google Maps? Sisson got lucky in his search—one site specified a Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) number for Haberman, part of a system used by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS maps had spaced neighborhood and train station names differently so they could be distinguished from one another, but somewhere along the line there had been some confusion, and Haberman was clearly listed as a populated place. Sisson speculates that a USGS employee made the simple mistake when the old maps were being digitized, and then those data got a second life then they were picked up by Google Maps’ algorithms.
It is a widely understood concept that all wildlife is in the public trust, that you don’t own the wildlife even on your own land. The state owns all wildlife, they set limits on when and how much you can take. In British commonwealth counties like Canada they say all wildlife belongs to the Queen but in America, we say it’s owned by government.
It turns out that all human life also falls under the public trust doctrine. Human life belongs to the state, as only the state can own it and destroy it. Slavery is a right reserved to the government by the constitution. The government has the sole power to judge what chemicals you can ingest, whether or not to end your life or that of others, what kind of sexual acts and even abortions are lawful in the privacy of your own home or doctors office.
This year, the federal government ordered hospitals to begin publishing a prized secret: a complete list of the prices they negotiate with private insurers.
The insurers’ trade association had called the rule unconstitutional and said it would “undermine competitive negotiations.” Four hospital associations jointly sued the government to block it, and appealed when they lost.
They lost again, and seven months later, many hospitals are simply ignoring the requirement and posting nothing.
But data from the hospitals that have complied hints at why the powerful industries wanted this information to remain hidden.
It shows hospitals are charging patients wildly different amounts for the same basic services: procedures as simple as an X-ray or a pregnancy test.
And it provides numerous examples of major health insurers — some of the world’s largest companies, with billions in annual profits — negotiating surprisingly unfavorable rates for their customers. In many cases, insured patients are getting prices that are higher than they would if they pretended to have no coverage at all.
Being shunned by a lover, a school or an employer hurts – but we’re only just beginning to understand how real this pain is and how we can administer a bit of emotional first aid to stop the hurt. Dr. Laurie Santos of The Happiness Lab podcast talks to leading experts in the science of rejection… and to actor Tim Colceri about one of the most extreme real life stories of humiliation and dashed hopes you’re ever likely to hear. You can hear more Happiness Lab episodes at http://podcasts.pushkin.fm/cautionaryhappinesslab,
One of my blog friends sent this video along a few weeks ago. Interesting lecture, something to think about when it comes to thoughts one finds repetitive or even disturbing. This year, I'm trying to learn more about my thought procesd, deal with my anxiety and generally try to be a more successful person at all parts of my life. Going to be forty in two years and now is the time to find changes and really figure out what is important in my life.
I am not really into spiritualism, I'm more a mud blood and manure type guy but there is a lot of value in hearing different things and graining new perspectives on why one might think the way they do. Information, especially when it's free should be observed carefully but not necessarily embraced.
