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Saturday, December 24, 2016

Year 2016 in review - 11 years of blogging - Am I too blind to blog?

Selfie taken taken by Thomas Kraemer on Christmas Eve in 2016

PHOTO: Selfie taken taken by Thomas Kraemer on Christmas Eve in 2016. Please excuse me if my selfie is poorly lit and composed, but I have been slowly going low vision blind over the last few years and I can no longer recognize faces, even of people I have known for years, due to my brain's neurological disorder, called prosopagnosia (i.e. face blindness), related to an ischemic stroke in the posterior cerebral artery area of of brain that has caused a diffuse area of brain death typical of an impact injury and not due to the more typical reason of fat cells breaking off the walls of the arteries. I was barely able to take this picture and upload it to Google Blogger and Photos thanks to the accessibility features built-in to Microsoft's operating system and Internet Explorer Browser for people with various disabilities. Of course, it has been much easier to adapt to using these accessibility features given my previous familiarity with the software commands needed, but as my symptoms worsen over time, I have been forced to adapt more and more, with a tradeoff of not being able to read or do as many things fast as I did them before. For example, if I lose the ability of using a graphical window and mouse interface and I am forced to use a text and command line interface like what was the only computer interface available when I first used a computer in 1964, then even using a modern accessibility feature of a voice and speech interface will not be quick and easy to use as the decades old computer command line interface.

As I said last year, I don't know how long I will be able to continue blogging given my worsening low vision blindness and muscle paralysis, but I am grateful to still have the ability required for posting my favorite links and posts from last year 2016:

Also, my previous post HP 3-D printers praised by Jim Cramer CNBC Wall Street reporter (7/24/16) preceded two related newspaper articles of interest by Staff, "Future of 3-D printing is topic of forum," Gazette-Times, Nov. 1, 2016, p. A2 and a follow-up article by Anthony Rimel, "HP Plans 3-D printers for manufacturing," Gazette-Times, Nov. 3, 2016, p. A2, online as, "HP exec says company's 3-D printers will lead to new industrial revolution," posted Nov. 3, 2016 that mentions Tim Weber, global head of 3-D materials and advanced applications for HP Inc. talking about. Clearly, he has adopted the HP founder's strategy that avoided dependence on the retail market, like inkjet printers ended up in, by focusing on 3-D printers and materials for manufacturers. Tim's PhD in Mechanical Engineering makes this a perfect cap to his career.

. . . the company's new Multi Jet Fusion 3-D printers at a Chamber lunch, saying that while the printers were designed in Spain, they use printhead technology that was developed in Corvallis. . . . Weber said typically 3-D printers make things by extruding material from a single point, which he likened to a hot glue gun. According to Weber though, HP's 3-D printers use printheads based on their ink printers to spray a reacting agent from multiple points onto a nylon based powder and cause the two to fuse into a solid piece by using ultraviolet light to power the reaction.

Weber said this process is faster and allows for manufacturers to customize the material they work with and make parts that are comparable to what could be made through injection molding. Manufacturers interested in customizing the material used in their printer could work with HP in Corvallis to develop a powder that meets their needs. . . .

He said the machines will run from around $100,000 to $250,000, and are not intended as a consumer product. "Right now we're really going after manufacturing," he said. According to Weber, for runs of parts up to about 55,000 units, their 3-D printers would be cheaper than injection molding, which require expensive molds be cast.

(Quoted from Anthony Rimel, "HP Plans 3-D printers for manufacturing," Gazette-Times, Nov. 3, 2016, p. A2, online as, "HP exec says company's 3-D printers will lead to new industrial revolution," posted Nov. 3, 2016)

See my previous ten annual reviews of my blog posts:

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Friday, December 23, 2016

Why Trump is queer and loved by many men and women

VIDEO: (no longer available for free) U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is interviewed by Fox News Sunday," on Dec. 11, where he shows his true nature, in response to a question about his opinion on the quality of election night TV coverage, by bragging, "I know the folks at ESPN were saying that's one of the great things they've ever watched. You know, they watch all the great games and the fights and all of the things and they said, one of them said it's the single greatest event they've ever seen." (See text transcript of "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace," Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016 at approx. 59 min into show over the air and Fox News Channel at 2PM ET and 10PM ET)

After watching the above interview of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Fox news Sunday, I noticed that Trump has queer gender behavior, which is what prompted me to write the following letter to the editor of my local newspaper:

President-elect Donald Trump's popularity with many voters, including both men and women, appears to be based on his sexist facade, which includes the queer mixture of him acting like a masculine and tyrannical football coach intermixed with him also acting like a feminine and temperamental theatre arts director who has never come out of the closet to publically acknowledge his true nature.

Trump showed his true nature when Fox News Sunday" on Dec. 11 asked him about the election night TV coverage and he bragged, "I know the folks at ESPN were saying that's one of the great things they've ever watched. You know, they watch all the great games and the fights and all of the things and they said, one of them said it's the single greatest event they've ever seen."

Like a coach or a director, Trump will remain popular only long as he has a winning team or produces shows that voters want to watch.

I will confess to enjoying Trump's showmanship, but worry that Trump's lack of integrity and conservative principles will lead America to another Great Depression and world war.

(Quoted from Thomas Kraemer, "Letter: Musings about Trump's true nature," Gazette-Times, Dec. 23, p. A8)

Despite Republicans wining control of both Congress and the U.S. Presidency, instead of Trump's supporters acting and talking like winners, Trump supporters still whine about being victims of the "liberal media" or the so-called "political correctness" imposed by that "evil Democrat Party." I guess the rightwing media has been inciting the Republican base with the propaganda that "Republicans are victims of liberal Democrat Party politicians" for so long that the base doesn't know how to act like winners in the majority.

Yes, perhaps these were real issues for Republicans decades ago, but in my experience Republicans won't become good leaders if all they can do is blame everyone else for America's problems, instead of Republicans taking ownership for their own part. Yes, Republicans' stereotypical complaints have helped Fox News succeed over the last two decades, but Republicans are now clearly in charge and will stay popular long as they keep a winning team and produce shows that people want to watch.

In contrast to most Republicans acting like they are still victims, Trump's egotism and vanity has let him act like a winner, despite the fact he failed to win the popular vote, much less get a majority of American's to support him. Perhaps his supporters have less of an ego and that is why they are so defensive about his win because they can see Trump doesn't really have support from a majority of Americans.

I have also been surprised by how Trump has caused a realignment of the definitions of a Republican away from being an anti-gay Christian Theocrat, backward toward one of Repubilcans supporting the capitalist's ethics of every man for himself and let the weak die out naturally. I believe that Trump's queer politics has caused a realignment of traditional political groupings in a divisive way that has also led to the breakup of friendships, including some of mine. For example, see the excellent essay by the famous queer author, Michelangelo Signorile, "Why We Can't Be 'Friends' Any Longer After You Voted For Donald Trump," huffingtonpost.com posted Dec. 13, 2016. Signorile also points how Trump supporters are still claiming to be victims and he says, "I get that. But we are in a grave situation, with little time to spare. At this current moment, since you don't see that we're in a national emergency (to which you contributed), you may only be jarred if your comfortable life is affected -- such as by losing one or more friends and being forced to reflect on the magnitude of what you've done."

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Wednesday, December 21, 2016

PBS Minnesota LGBT history, Oregon Lt. Col. Pam Mindt donor to U of Minnesota Tretter Collection

Headline 'Tretter Collection makes purchase of Magnus Hirschfeld Li family estate' Jan. 2007 p. 1 cover

PHOTO: cover of newsletter story by Jean-Nickolaus Tretter, "Tretter Collection Makes Purchase of Magnus Hirschfeld Li Family Estate," Tretter Letter, Jan. 2007, p. 1,3 (PDF). See the home page of The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at the University of Minnesota Elmer L. Andersen Library. Also see The Magnus Hirschfeld Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany and the Schwules Museum, Germany. Also see previous post Magnus Hirschfeld, Jack Baker, University of Minnesota and Oregon State University gay connection (1/21/12)

"The "Tretter Letter," Newsletter for Friends of the Tretter Collection," University of Minnesota Library Archives is published two times a year by The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at the University of Minnesota Elmer L. Andersen Library. The latest issue includes several interesting stories. (See "The Tretter Letter," Jan. 2017, p. 4-5 (PDF) about a new PBS documentary being made about Minesota's LGBT history, including Jack Baker's gay marriage, p. 5-6, 8, plus donation of retired Colonel, Pam Mindt Papers, p. 7, and a list of archive donors including Pam Mindt and Thomas Kraemer.

See my previous posts and other links of interest:

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Monday, December 19, 2016

Oregon Obamacare final rates and Republican's Health Savings Accounts proposal is not insurance

In my previous post Obamacare rates in Oregon hurt many voters just in time for the Presidential election (10/8/16), I quoted a good letter to the editor by Kim Wilson, "Letter: The root problem with insurance," Gazette-Times, Oct. 11, 2016, p. A7 gazettetimes.com posted Oct. 8, 2016, which mentioned the proposed Obamacare rates and made the case that the demand for healthcare is inelastic, because everyone wants to live at all costs, and the supply of healthcare is limited, therefore basic economic theories predict the cost should go towards infinity.

Although I am covered by Medicare health insurance, a person close to me is still having to buy private health insurance until they reach 65 in a couple of years, therefore I was interested to talk to Kim Wilson, whose grandfathered health plan was cancelled when the health insurance company decided to leave the Oregon marketplace, and hear about her actual experience trying to buy Obamacare.

To make a long story short, Kim Wilson told me the final approved rates in Oregon for an Obamacare exchange plan is between $517 to $829 per month for a person who is the age of 60, lives in Benton County, Oregon, is not qualified for the charitable subsidy from taxpayers due to her income level, and who picks the cheapest Obamacare Bronze plans with the largest deductible and co-payments.

The original letter writer Kim Wilson sent me her follow-up letter about her decision of choosing to be uninsured next year based on the very high final approved $617 to $829 Obamacare premiums in Oregon and with an understanding of the law that a maximum penalty for not having insurance is much as 8 percent of a married couple's combined retirement income, even if only one of them is uninsured.

"Some readers didn't believe the proposed Obamacare health insurance premiums for 2017 mentioned in my Oct. 11 letter, "The root problem with insurance," until after I showed them my lowest approved rates of $517 to 829 per month that can be found on the official Oregon Division of Financial Regulation website using the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation "2017 Individual Health Plan Comparison Tool" accessed Dec. 19, 2017 that generates an Excel Spreadsheet listing all of the rates. (Tom's Note the old website OregonHealthRates.org went dead after the deadline passed for Obamacare registration in December. The Excel spreadsheet 2017-Oregon-Health-Pricing-Tool-v13.xlsm table generated by her with the tool is specific to to individual and small group Obamacare "Bronze" plans for persons who are age 60, live in Benton County, do not use Tobacco products, and do not yet qualify for Medicare, Medicaid, or a charitable low-income subsidy program.)

The Oct. 25 Gazette-Times' front page story, "'Obamacare' premiums to jump in 2017," reported "an estimated 5 million to 7 million people" share health insurance problems similar to mine, including those with annual incomes little as $30,000.

Until I qualify for Medicare in four years, the total sum of my health insurance premiums, co-pays, and annual deductible payments of $7500 could cost me more than $60,000 before insurance would pay for anything significant.

Even though my spouse is covered by Medicare, and if only I lacked health insurance, my Obamacare penalty could be great as 8 percent of both our retirement incomes, according to the complex IRS tax forms due next year.

Consequently, during the November open enrollment period I'm seriously considering choosing to be uninsured, despite the risk of bankruptcy due to unexpected medical bills, because even after paying the Obamacare penalty I could save an estimated $310 per month to pay for my actual medical care. "

(Quoted from Kim Wilson, "INSERT HEADLINE," Gazette-Times, INSERT DATE, PAGE)

NOTE: The above letter originally mentioned the official State of Oregon Division of Financial Regulation site OregonHealthRates.org that provided information on health insurance rates for individual and small group plans under Obamacare, but it now appears to be dead after the deadline passed for Obamacare registration. I was recently able to access on December. Dec, 19, 2016 the official Oregon Division of Financial Regulation website and I linked to the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation "2017 Individual Health Plan Comparison Tool" accessed Dec. 19, 2017 that generated for me an Excel Spreadsheet 2017-Oregon-Health-Pricing-Tool-v13.xlsm table listing all of the rates specific to individual and small group Obamacare "Bronze" plans for persons who are age 60, live in Benton County, do not use Tobacco products, and do not yet qualify for Medicare, Medicaid, or a charitable low-income subsidy program.

I am sure the letter writer Im Wilson has heard how the new President-elect Donald Trump promised during his campaign that he would "repeal and replace" Obamacare, but then Trump right after being elected and during Trump's "60 Minutes" TV interview reversed himself and said he would be keeping the ability to leave your older children on it and keep the feature of being able to sign up for it even if you have a pre-existing condition. I have no idea if Sen. Paul Ryan will still be creating a bill as he promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, or Republicans will at least eliminate the penalty for not having insurance.

As usual for Donald Trump, this flip-flop sounded insane because why would you buy health insurance if you could wait until you got sick? Likewise, on the surface, allowing pre-existing conditions would make it more expensive for health insurance and Trump still did not give any reasons why his plan could be done cheaper, other than he muttered the usual let the marketplace work mantra of Republicans.

The only solution proposed by Trump's Republican sycophants has been to propose using Health Savings Accounts, which are already part of Obamacare and are commonly used by many employers. I don't see how this would be used by people who are in the individual market to save because it is not insurance to prevent being wiped out by an unexpected illness or injury.

For example, I struggle to understand what HSA's would do and why Republicans like them, until I listened to former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn talk about how he and Sen. Orin Hatch had written legislation to control costs. Of course, his political spin on it was that it would be better to give people on Medicaid (the charity-based Government health coverage) a fixed sum of money in a Health Savings Account where they could choose how to spend for their own healthcare, instead of having the government pay for it and decide what should be paid. On the surface, he made this sound noble, but listening to him carefully it became clear to me that it was a polite way to ration healthcare without really providing any insurance that would protect an employee from going broke in the event of an unexpected injury or illness.

When Sen. Coburn was asked how you avoided people signing up when they get sick, he replied that the Trump plans would require you to sign up and stay covered, or else be barred for life from signing up for it. Essentially, it is the Obamacare penalty on steroids. Yes, he is right that this is common in many insurance plans, but it would work only if the costs are truly reasonable and affordable. However, I still do not see how this can be achieved with HSA accounts unless they ration healthcare.

Similarly, it is clear to me that Republicans also want to eliminate the Original Medicare, the standard medical coverage for the old and disabled Americans, by forcing everyone into the existing privatized Medicare plans called "Medicare Advantage" plans that are being heavily advertised during the open enrollment period this fall. The idea that the "marketplace" will drive costs down just has not been proven true by these plans.

So, enough ranting for now until the other shoe has dropped and healthcare in America is destroyed by both Democrats and Republicans.

Some links of interest and other letters to the editor of interest:

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