Author Archives: Jean-Paul

One Year

My one year blogging anniversary passed me by without even noticing.  My first post was on November 5th of last year.  For your reading pleasure, here are some useless Google Analytics statistics:

Unique Visitors: 1835 
Visits: 4548 
Page Views: 7015

Every state except North Dakota has visited this site.  I can only assume that North Dakotans are too busy fracking to bother reading blogs.  Every European country except Portugal has also visited this site.  I’m just going to say that they’re too busy fracking too, what with their gorgeous beaches and all.

Chrome and Firefox account for 63% of the web traffic.  40% of the traffic is from cell phones and tablets.  Facebook is by far the largest referral site followed by Google+ and, surprisingly, the New England Skeptics Society.  Do I have a fan there? The top ten most viewed pages are:

  1. The main page – 954 hits
  2. Kristin The Hero – 156 hits – a true story about a woman who defeated fire
  3. Why Does It Feel Good When Someone Touches You – 113 hits – people search for this a lot apparently
  4. Whenever I Was Sad My Grandmother Gave Me Karate Chops – 106 hits – another popular search and hilarious video about bullying
  5. Respectability Politics – 69 hits – a term I’d never heard of and neither had others, given the number of hits
  6. What Part Of Well Regulated Don’t We Understand – 65 hits – ah, the 2nd Amendment…
  7. But The City Is So Unsafe – 64 hits – I make fun of people who don’t understand statistics
  8. Why The American Disdain For The Poor – 63 hits – we hates us some poor people
  9. The Book Thief Book Review – 58 hits – due to the upcoming movie, no doubt
  10. Teach For America Is Evil – 52 hits – the path to hell is paved with good intentions

 

What Should I Play Next?

Ok, dorks, I recently finished playing Bioshock Infinite and found it a great big barrel of meh after really liking the first two.  I currently have a large catalog of games that were on sale on Steam that I need to get through.  They include:

  • Assassin’s Creed
  • Assassin’s Creed 2
  • Fallout 3
  • Fallout: New Vegas
  • L.A. Noire
  • Mass Effect
  • Mass Effect 2
  • The Witcher 2

Sound off and let me know which is most worthy of my time.  I paid for all of those slightly more than what I would normally pay for one game.  This reflects both my lack of game playing initiative and my cheapness.

A Virginia Squeaker

What was supposed to be a fairly easy victory for Terry McAuliffe over Ken Cuccinelli for the gubernatorial race in Virginia turned into a much closer than expected win for Terry McAuliffe.  Results aren’t final yet, but the most recent results show McAulliffe at 48.0% to Cuccinelli’s 45.5% with Libertarian Robert Sarvis claiming 6.6% of the vote.

It’s been all Obamacare all the time in Virginia the past few weeks.  Cuccinelli’s been heavily touting the website troubles and reports of individuals losing their insurance as ammunition against McAuliffe.  Despite McAuliffe’s win, it certainly looks like Obamacare hurt him some if the polls leading up to the election were accurate.

If Democrats were smart, they’d be doing some heavy internal polling of Sarvis voters to determine who they would have voted for if Sarvis wasn’t in the race.  Generally, a Libertarian candidate would be expected to pull votes away from the Republican candidate, but Cuccinelli’s a special kind of crazy that I don’t think would resonate with Libertarians.  It would be really bad news for Democrats if this election showed people leaning Democrat voting Libertarian.  Obamacare is a Libertarian’s second worse nightmare next to sharing one’s toys in a sandbox so this could actually be the case.

In other Virginia election news, Democrat Ralph Northam beat uber crazy E.W. Jackson to become Lieutenant Governor.  This is important because the Virginia Senate is currently even and the Lieutenant Governor casts the deciding vote in ties.  The Attorney General job looks like it’s going to Republican Mark Obenshain who is currently in the lead by less than 300 votes out of over two million cast, so no clean sweep in Virginia for the Democrats.

Around the nation, complete dick and likely Republican Presidential candidate Chris Christie won handily in New Jersey, the only state where being a dick is considered a distinguished mark of character.  The most progressive candidate on the ballot anywhere, Bill de Blasio won in a landslide and will be the first Democratic mayor of New York in 20 years.  Tea Party favorite Dean Young lost to Republican (and former Democrat) Bradley Byrne for Alabama’s 1st Congressional District.  Perhaps some sort of sanity is returning to the Republican party.  And finally, Generic Democratic Candidate A beat Generic Democratic Candidate B for Mayor of Boston.

Marriage Equality Comes To Illinois

A same-sex marriage bill passed both houses of the Illinois legislature yesterday and Governor Pat Quinn has promised to sign the bill.  This means that gay couples will be able to marry each other as of June 1st, 2014.  Bam!  I wonder what it was like in Boystown last night.  Probably a bit crazy.

This makes Illinois the 15th state to recognize same-sex marriage.  The tide is really turning.  There was a recent poll out of South Carolina that showed only 52% of residents are against same-sex marriage.  You might think, “well that’s still a majority”, and you’d be right, but this is South Carolina!  For a bit of perspective, in 2006, South Carolina passed an amendment banning same-sex marriage with 78% voting in favor of the amendment.  South Carolina, you’ve come a long way, baby.

And the beat goes on.

 

Adventures In Obamacare 5: Weekend At Eric’s

I am still in the bureaucratic limbo of trying to prove that I am an actual person, but my friend Eric has gotten past that step because he has a perfectly normal name.  He was gracious enough to let me peruse the options that healthcare.gov offers for Illinoisans.

The first thing that struck me was how counterintuitive the website was even at this point.  In order to get a list of plans, you had to click this innocent looking green box that simply says “SET”.  That’s all it is is a green box.  There is no indication that you’re supposed to click it to get to the plans.  There’s no cursor change over the box except when you hover over the word “SET” and the cursor changes to the familiar word processor capital ‘I’ cursor.  I would think that there would be bells and whistles and pointers and perhaps a marching band playing informing you to CLICK HERE FOR PLANS!  But no.  I wonder how many people have signed up on the website and think they can’t get to the plans because they don’t know to click the green box.

Once you get to the actual list of plans, things are much nicer.  You can look only at certain levels of plans or view them all.  The layout for each plan takes up a bit more real estate than it should, but each plan has links to the plan’s provider networks and coverage options from the offering company’s website which is really nice.  I didn’t go any further into the process than looking for the plans because Eric would probably be upset if I signed him up for something.

The thing that sticks out the most is how much of a disparity in price there is between the various providers.  When you get to this granular level, it becomes really difficult to actually compare the products to each other.  Two products with the same deductible and copays and coinsurance can be $100/month different and a useful comparison of provider networks is impossible so there is really no meaningful way to judge if that extra $100/month is worth it.

The good news for me is that my current provider, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, offers the cheapest plans pretty much across the board.  The strange thing is that the prices quoted on the healthcare.gov site are slightly different than the prices quoted on the Blue Cross site.  For instance, Blue Cross quoted me $152.24 for the cheapest plan, but healthcare.gove quotes the same plan at $157.84.  I’m not sure why there’s a discrepancy.  I can only guess that there’s a surcharge that the federal government places on insurance orders placed through healthcare.gov.  If anyone knows anything about this, I’d be interested in knowing.

Movie Review: The Counselor

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 2/5 Stars

Bottom Line: Great acting and some incredible dialogue will not prevent you from asking yourself what the heck it was you just watched.

Subtitled Bottom Line:  Warning!  Cormac McCarthy movie ahead!

One thing I am certain of after watching “The Counselor” is that things definitely happened in it.  I am not sure what happened or how things were connected but, yep, things happened.  The plot, as far as I could follow it is such: This lawyer guy who is distractingly only called Counselor throughout the entire movie needs a lot of money because of…something.  In order to get that money, the Counselor decides to broker a drug deal using his drug dealing friends (clients?) that will net him millions of dollars.  A series of events that I am sure must be related to the drug deal because they bothered to put them in the movie then occur leading the Cartel to believe that the Counselor has stolen their drugs.  A lot of deaths follow which may or may not have been related to the previous series of events.

The first half of the movie really allows all the top talent actors to flex their A-list muscles.  This is certainly helped by Cormac McCarthy’s ability to write cerebral dialogue that can somehow come off as both deep and aloof at the same time.  If I were of a mind to watch this movie over and over again, which I am not, there are many gems of dialogue that would be certain to make it into my vernacular.

The second half of the movie is kind of a mess.  I was never really certain what was going on and how things were connected.  Everyone seemed to have a preternatural ability to know where the individual they want will be.  I was also never quite sure of who was on what side or how many double crosses were going on at any given time.  It would have been nice if the movie credits featured a Venn diagram of whose side everyone was on or maybe a flow chart of events to clarify some of the murkiness.

This movie is proof that a well written, well acted movie can still be pretty crappy.  My advice would be this:  If you’re going to see this movie, ignore the plot completely.  Look at it as a series of vingettes with some incredibly clever and witty dialogue.  Also, leave half way through the movie.

Adventures In Obamacare 4: Wrath Against Obama

There has been some somewhat warranted righteous indignation against President Obama for his repeated comments that you will be able to keep your insurance if you like it.  Obama really pulled a Obi Wan Kenobi on this one.  What he said was true from a certain point of view.  Plans were grandfathered in when the Affordable Care Act went live.  All insurance companies had to do was not materially change the coverage during that time.  In the real world, insurance companies materially change their coverage all the time.  People don’t even recognize that this happens.  They get a lengthy legalese notice from the insurance company and quickly check to see if they owe money and then recycle it.

Another part of the story is that insurance companies are just choosing to not continue certain plans even though they are grandfathered in.  There are no statistics that I can find, but I would guess that a majority of the individuals receiving cancellation notices (including myself) fall into this category.  Look at it from the insurance company’s perspective.  They can either choose to keep a plan which they can no longer sign up new customers or they can drop the plan and force customers to choose a new Obamacare approved plan.  Which would you choose if you were an insurance company?

We have to also keep in mind that this is just the individual insurance market we’re talking about here.  And while potentially 15 million individuals (including myself) fall into this pool, it’s still only 5% of the entire population.  We get inundated with horror stories of people’s rates going way up, but they’re all just anecdotes.  Me?  Similar coverage from my cancelled plan to my new plan will actually save me money.  Without a bigger picture, it’s all just rage over nothing.  Not to mention we have no proof that the anecdotes are actually true.  One told of an individual whose rates were going way up and he was saying that he’ll just cancel his insurance and wait to get insurance when he gets sick.  Um, insurance doesn’t work like that.  I certainly hope the reporter told the guy so.

The worst thing is that the information that comes from the insurance companies is basically crap.  My notice doesn’t mention any concrete reasons why my individual policy was being cancelled.  It does make mention of pediatric dental coverage being necessary under Obamacare, but it doesn’t really say that my current plan doesn’t cover it.

This was really a shoot yourself in the foot moment for Obama.  Even though a vast majority of the population is going to be able to keep their insurance, he should have really nuanced his bold claim that you would be able to keep your insurance a lot more than he did.  With all the blanks being fired at Obamacare based on complete unreality, he’s gone and given the crazies actual ammunition.

Movie Review: 12 Years A Slave

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 5/5 Stars

Bottom line:  Dark.  Depressing.  Brilliant.

It is hard to admit that you liked a film such as “12 Years a Slave”.  It is a brutal and honest recounting of the darkest part of American history.  It is based on the autobiography of the same name which recounts the twelve years that free man Solomon Northup spent in slavery after being kidnapped and sold in the South.  Free Blacks being kidnapped and sold into slavery was a common occurrence.  The uncommon occurrence was Solomon Northrup being rescued from slavery and being able to write about it for the world to hear.  I do not feel that I am spoiling the ending by telling you this because it may make you feel a lot better to know that the movie has a happy ending.  If you can call that happy.  The many unhappy endings throughout make even this small victory bitter.

The injustices perpetrated upon Solomon Northup are legion, but the one that sticks in my mind the most is the one done at the hands of Ford, the “good” slave owner.  There is little doubt that Ford knew all along that Northup was once free and, despite his decent treatment of his slaves, he did nothing to help Northup and ends up selling Northup the minute he becomes inconvenient.  To some extent, one must accept the evil in the world, but putting on a facade of good to cover the rot in your soul gets to me more than the actions of the cruellest of dictators.

Despite it’s dark content, there is a lot of beauty in this movie as well.  The dire circumstances are interspersed with hauntingly beautiful landscapes that only the South can provide.  Director Steve McQueen (not THAT Steve McQueen) does a remarkable job of not only bringing to life the daily cruelties but also the daily pleasures that slaves try to bring to their lives.

This is certainly not a feel good movie and the violence is often quite graphic.  That makes it very hard to recommend this movie to a general audience.  But neither life nor history is all rainbows and lollipops.  Sometimes you need to look into the dark maw of the past to see our not so sparkly past.  Only then can we create a slightly less muddy future.

Russell Brand Should Vote

This video of Russell Brand talking about being a political editor is making the rounds.  There’s a lot of stuff that he says that is quite true.  He nails the biggest societal problems and berates the current political systems for completely ignoring them quite effectively.  I don’t agree with all his revolutionary conclusions, but he and I agree about the things that need to change.

The one thing that I vehemently disagree with him on is his decision to not take part in voting.  His reasons for not voting are mostly valid, but there is still something to be said about the gesture of voting.  Get out there, get a ballot and turn it in blank.  Show your disdain for the system that way at the very least.  Really, though, if you can’t find even one person worth voting for (or at least against in terms of judges), you really are part of the problem.  The national political stage does suck.  It’s filled with prima donnas and sociopaths.  Someone may come around once in a while worth voting for, but that is not the norm.  Local elections, however, are arguably more important and can easily become a source of candidates worth voting for.  There’s your revolution.

Book Review: Peter Pan by James M. Barrie

Jean-Paul’s Review: 5/5 stars

Continuing my effort to read children’s books I somehow missed as a child, now comes “Peter Pan”.  Sadly, most children’s experience with Peter Pan is from the Disney movie.  I don’t remember much about the movie, but I do know one thing for sure:  Peter Pan was not a complete ass in it.  In the book?  Peter Pan is a complete ass.  This was both shocking and delightful.

There is a mantra that gets repeated in the book that only people who are “gay and innocent and heartless” can see Peter Pan.  In otherwords, children.  That was another big surprise about the book.  Barrie describes children as sociopaths.  It’s beautiful.  There is a line in the book that I can’t remember exactly, but it basically says that as long as there are mothers to come rescue their children, the children will take advantage of that and be complete dicks about it.

As is becoming a theme with the old children’s books that I read, “Peter Pan” is both racist and sexist.  Gender stereotypes are strictly enforced throughout.  The sole purpose of both Wendy and Tinker Bell is to be mother and/or pining female.  Wendy doesn’t take part in the fighting and the killing and adventures like the Lost Boys do, she just takes care of them.  Oh, and you read that right, the killing.  Peter and the Lost Boys do quite a bit of killing of pirates and Indians and, though it’s not explicit in the book, it is implied that the Lost Boys suffer quite a few deaths as well and Peter just refills the ranks.  The racism is mostly in the description of the Indians.  Yeah, Indians.  It’s funny how bad that sounds when I read it now.  It’s your usual stereotypical nonsense about them being savages, etc.  It should be pointed out that Tiger Lily, the daughter of a chieftan, despite pining over Peter the way every female in the book does, is the person in charge of the Indians.  I’m not sure if that was progressive of Barrie or just a recognition of the different roles that women played in Indian culture.

Another delightful thing about the book that I have not seen repeated elsewhere is the use of vocabulary.  Barrie is not against using more complex words, but when he does so he then brackets an easier synonym of the word immediately after it.  He also does this with idioms.  What a wonderful way to expand children’s vocabularies.  How has this not caught on in every children’s book known to man?  I almost want to start doing it in my blog posts just for giggles.

Once you get past how much Barrie thinks children are horrible little monster, he captures the sense of freedom and wonder that is being a child like very few people ever have.  Dare I compare him to Bill Waterson and “Calvin and Hobbes”?  Yes, yes I dare.  I would not be at all surprised if Watterson’s inspiration for Calvin was in part due to Peter Pan.

In conclusion, “Peter Pan” should be required to be read to every parent’s sociopathic gay and innocent and heartless children.  It should also be read by non-spawning adults so they can relive the wonderment that was being a child.