Catching Up -- Monday Midday News -- Odds And Ends -- Nothing About The Bakken

Earlier I asked if you could spot the "spin" or misinformation in this story --

A new study by Bankrate.com shows that about one third of uninsured Americans are going to remain without coverage and opt to pay the penalty.

I asked my wife what "one-third" was. She said 33%.

I then asked what if I mentioned "something was about one-third," what would she think? She said 25%. And that's about right. Most folks when they hear about one-third would think less than one-third, otherwise the story would have said more than one-third.

So, in the linked story, exactly what percent is about one-third? Forty-one percent. LOL. Technically, by one percentage point, 41% is closer to one-third than to one-half, but in "most" people's minds, 41% is most closely associated with almost half, as opposed to about one-third. Common sense tells me about half of all uninsured Americans are going to remain without coverage.

But it's actually worse. Human nature is such that if an unknown individual phoned you, and out of the blue, asked if you planned to buy health insurance, most thinking folks would automatically say "yes" if only not to sound stupid. Not having health insurance is considered pretty risky by most folks. So, the bias is towards saying "yes, I plan to buy health insurance." My hunch is that it will be well over half (i.e., well over 50% of uninsured folks) who will not enroll or will not pay their first premium.

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In that linked article above:

Through February, young people made up about 27 percent of total enrollees--well below the White House’s 40 percent benchmark. Still, administration officials have repeatedly said they expect a crush of young people to sign up ahead of the March 31 deadline.

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At Least They're Using Renewable Energy

The DailyCaller is reporting:

Americans living in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic U.S. are increasingly turning to a source of heat favored by humans for thousands of years: wood.

More and more people are using wood as their main source of heat as opposed to heating oil and kerosene.

The Energy Information Administration reports that, “All nine states in the New England and the Middle Atlantic Census divisions saw at least a 50% jump from 2005 to 2012 in the number of households that rely on wood as the main heating source.”
Those who switched to wood burning were spared high fuel oil and kerosene prices during this year’s harsh winter.

The Turks completed deforested their country doing the same thing centuries ago. There is a rumor that the governor of New York is not going to allow diesel trains to traverse his state; he wants the railroad to return to wood-burning steam engines. Just a rumor.

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The Algore Solar Cortex Revisited

The TimesHerald is reporting that US Coast Guard cutters are having trouble cutting through the ice on Lake Superior:

Cutting through ice 30 inches thick in places, the Adler's crew took 21 hours to go three miles.

"I had never seen anything like this before," said Boatswain Mate Second Class Jacob Nielsen, who arrived on the ship last summer from Maine.

Even Lake Superior veterans understand this polar vortex inspired winter is unique.
"They're saying this is the worst ice season since the mid-90s," says Tony Maffia, the Alder's captain. He calls it "a once in a generation-type of thing."

Others call it a result of an Algore solar cortex event.

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Has the deadline passed? Game, set, match?

If I remember correctly, John Kerry drew a "red line" in the "Black Sea" last Friday saying Russia had until Monday to reverse course. I haven't heard a thing from Kerry so far today (although, to be fair, I have not seen/listened to CNN, MSNBC, or CBS). It's possible, the Russians walked backwards into the Crimean, satisfying Kerry's definition of "reversing course."

Something tells me the Europeans consider this "game, set, match." Both gold and oil are down about one percent. All things being equal, one would assume both oil and gold would be surging. I still say Putin is a better community organizer than our own Nobel-peace-prize-winning president. Putin has organized the entire western community against his moves, and he still presses on.

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From The ObamaCare Files

From an article on ObamaCare:

When is the media going to point out how big of a joke this is? I just received my first invoice for the silver plan in the mail today for about half of my husband's take home pay. It's higher than a rent payment, car payment, and car insurance combined.

We were offered no subsidies because my husband is offered even more expensive insurance through work. They based it on the $150 2x a month that he can spend to insure himself, not the almost $900 a month it would cost to get the #$%$ health care coverage (60/40) offered for our family.

It was also solely based on my husband's income since I just graduated and just very recently took a temp job to gain experience. We are being forced to choose insurance or a roof/food/etc. Well, I do have to say, my invoice, as I'm sure thousands of others, went right into the shredder.

But hey, I can name a few dozen working adults with no family and no bills that were enrolled in "medicaid"; some of whom make just as much as we do. And I don't want free insurance; just affordable, decent coverage.

But, for now it's more affordable to pay cash. Keep on reporting these numbers, I can't wait to see what the numbers show for people who actually made their payments.