Category: Uncategorized

Amazon Prime Subscribers Can Buy OneMedical Base Plan For $99/Year: Good Deal, Or Not?

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Amazon is (at least in select US cities) offering a $9 per month health plan — bare bones.

Regular readers will recall we’ve covered the OneMedical business model (and Amazon’s acquisition of it) here before.

It may well be that in order to reach critical mass, the Amazon version plan will have to be a “loss leader” for a while at the behemoth. In any event, here’s the Chicago Tribune on it:

…Amazon has discounted the price of a One Medical membership for users of its Prime subscription program, a move that could further integrate the retail giant’s healthcare ambitions with its core e-commerce business….

Amazon acquired One Medical for $3.9 billion last summer. At the time, experts said the company could weave One Medical deeper into Amazon’s existing businesses through a Prime-specific subscription model….

One Medical operates a network of hundreds of primary care clinics across the U.S. Along with in-person care, the provider offers virtual care, including video calls with providers or care triage in its app. Memberships run $199 a year for non-Prime members….

Amazon also operates a pharmacy — and had uneven success in the provider space over the last decade, seeing its early 2018 “Haven” foray with JP Morgan/Chase and Berkshire Hathaway largely mothballed — by late 2020. That’s my second Amazon item for the month of November — one more to go… grinning.

नमस्ते

The Fallacy Of Composition: Hinderaker’s Stock In Trade.

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Late night tonight (perhaps because Gal Godot didn’t invite him to her glitterati screening?), John selects a couple of anecdotes — while ignoring the contra ones… to label all “progressives” as antisemitic.

What a loser.

Of course his cherry picked examples are deplorable. And… we all are complicit, in varying degrees — for the depth of the tragedies that have reigned in the region, literally for thousands of years. [In fairness, it’s all been lately wildly reignited, in the last 60 or so years. But it has been… six decades of policy failures there as well, minimum — on all sides.]

That’s reality, John. The history of the world did not begin on October 7. And does Ms. Gadot truly believe that the millionaires and billionaires she invited are not aware of both sides of these events, now? [What precisely, John, do you claim she’s added to informed debate, here really? I submit this is largely outrage porn, as she apparently included no footage of civilian deaths from IDF bombings / missiles.]

Spare us your simplistic, collapsible myth-making machines. No one is 100% in the right here. And yes war… is hell, without a doubt.

We all — each of us — thus owe a duty: we each must seek… peace.

Now. Not in a few months, after we get our licks in. That seems to be the current IDF thinking.

Out.

All Hinderaker Or Johnson Writes About GOP Debates… Is… Beyond Meaningless.

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Tonight… we learn that Scott Johnson’s daughter will be one of the far right moderators hand picked for the next GOP / RNC led debate (No. 4).

And that there will only be… far right moderators.

But the central reason these debates are meaningless is… that the GOP’s actual nominee is nowhere in evidence, at them. And, even if he’s not the ultimate nominee (though based on copious experience over the prior six years, no one in the current iteration GOP has enough spine to stand up to him — for long)… so, none of these can prevent his third party run — even from the slam should he not be the nominee.

Probably for the first time in the nation’s history… all the primary debates are utterly meaningless.

There is no GOP candidate for 1600 Penn that will not go down to defeat — no matter whom the Democratic Party ends up with, as their nominee. [It is highly likely to be Mr. Biden, unless he decides for himself to step aside.] And still… the GOP will be a dead letter.

[Tuesday’s nationwide results strongly suggest that the GOP’s war — on US women’s uteruses has crushed them on the nationwide scene. “Excellent work there, boys….”]

Now you know. Grin.

The Way Solar Systems Form: Icy Shards Move From The Outside Of The Disk, Inward — Due To Friction… And They Coalesce, Around Rocky Worlds…

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This is a very clear benefit of / payoff from the latest $10 billion spent on our cutting edge space telescope. We are proving — as fact, long held theories, about how the typical proto-planetary disks move ice and ultimately water from the deep outer edges, in to the warmer close in rocky worlds… spurring atmosphere formation.

And this proof comes from our hard dollar investments in what, at the outset, may seem more like science fiction than anything else. But that is where the mantra “to dare mighty things” rises, in the luminous dawn. Here’s all the latest, to explain the graphic at right, from NASA / JPL / ESA

…The researchers used [the ‘scope’s] MIRI (the Mid-Infrared Instrument) to study four disks — two compact and two extended — around Sun-like stars. All four of these stars are estimated to be between 2 and 3 million years old, just newborns in cosmic time.

The two compact disks are expected to experience efficient pebble drift, delivering pebbles to well within a distance equivalent to Neptune’s orbit. In contrast, the extended disks are expected to have their pebbles retained in multiple rings as far out as six times the orbit of Neptune.

[These] observations were designed to determine whether compact disks have a higher water abundance in their inner, rocky planet region, as expected if pebble drift is more efficient and is delivering lots of solid mass and water to inner planets. The team chose to use MIRI’s MRS (the Medium-Resolution Spectrometer) because it is sensitive to water vapor in disks.

The results confirmed expectations by revealing excess cool water in the compact disks, compared with the large disks….

So… one more small, dark corner of space, pushed a lil’ toward the back — as it is seen receding under the bright lights of… real space science. And… I love it. Onward!

नमस्ते

As I Hoped — They Are Now Eating Their Own…

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Paul Mirengoff has been more critical than most of his fellow hard right travellers — of Tangerine’s nationalist agendas.

He was kicked out of Powerline for it. That led to his creation of “Ringside at the Reckoning” — on Substack. The effort to dump him was led by Hayward.

I strongly suspect Steve Hayward wrote him (another) rather scorching email about his mild criticism of Trump last week.

So today, he authors a more complete run-down of why a second Tangerine term would be bad for the nation — and even bad, for real conservatism (whatever little that notion may now hold).

The critique is under-stated, but correct — in a directional sense.

It will likely mean a decrease in his paid subscribers, and maybe even some new shunning at CPAC and elsewhere.

It is all well… with my soul.

Let them eat their own.

Out.

So… Selling Consensual Sex Videos… Is WORSE Than Forcible Sexual Assault, John?! Scott?!

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I don’t really care what consenting adults might pay other consenting adults for, in the way of remote access videoed “shows”.

I don’t. It’s not my jam, but really… who cares? John and Scott, it seems.

They both cluck ever so self-righteously about a woman who lost her bid for office yesterday — apparently because they are so much holier than she is (in their lumber strewn eyes).

But these same boys were silent as the grave when (this past summer) Tangerine was essentially found liable for lying about a forcible sexual assault in NYC.

Of a woman, in a department store dressing room.

Again, what CONSENTING adults do — to, or for — one another, in private, is mostly none of my concern.

But yes — I think a large, sweaty 300 pound man forcing himself on a 110 pound woman as she protests… should be disqualifying, for public office.

These boys… impliedly… don’t.

How… utterly unsurprising.

Out.

USDC Judge Chutkan Just Ruled That Tangerine Must Disclose ALL Docs He Might Rely On, For An “Advice Of Counsel” Defense — In DC.

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Not only that, he must do so immediately after asserting that defense.

His lawyers are arguing, without a single thread of authority, that he should be allowed to keep hiding these “reliance” / advice documents until the eve of trial, in March 2024.

The able USDC Judge Chutkan is having none of that, as it is a transparent attempt to knock the trial date off the rails, by dumping thousands of documents on Jack Smith, right on the eve of trial.

If such documents are out there — in order to win (as the able judge notes, near the top of her first page) Tangerine will have to show that he disclosed ALL relevant facts to counsel. The reason she mentions that on the first page of her opinion tonight… is to (not so) subtly remind these lawyers that they will have to say they were aware that he was lying about whether the election had in fact been “stolen“, when he tried to order Mike Pence not to certify the results on the morning of January 6, 2021.

And… any lawyer who is willing to say they told Tangerine his actions were lawful, even though they KNEW that HE knew he didn’t have the votes in various states to overturn (Georgia most notably, as he is separately charged with felonies there now — on that score)… would themselves be putting their law license in danger by saying that was the advice they gave him. [Eastman is already in that pickle, and this might implicate several others.]

So she is broadly hinting… that Trump will attempt to drag lawyers into the dock with him, if they sign on for this (his) nonsense.

And, most of all — she doesn’t want to spend time (potentially delaying the trial date) while Jack Smith forcibly drags the “reliance” documents from the lawyers’ hands. They must turn them over very shortly — if he’s going to try that gambit.

Cool. Cool.

Billings-puss And Mirengoff: Now Both Are Trashing Mr. Obama… For Truth-Telling.

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Yes, this is about… Israel/Gaza/Hamas.

Yes, Mr. Obama — and Mr. Biden — understand that this very same land and culture and religion dispute… stretches back well-over 2,300 years in this same anciently occupied, and yet generally very arid few thousand miles. Thus land disputes were and are… inevitable. And culture wars — and religious ones — hot ones.

That said, Mr. Obama sums up the complexity nicely:

…If there’s any chance of us being able to act constructively to do something, it will require an admission of complexity, and maintaining what on the surface may seem contradictory ideas that what Hamas did was horrific, and there’s no justification for it. And what is also true is that the occupation and what’s happening to Palestinians must also be unbearable….

For Mirengoff, Hayward and Billingspuss (who sees fit to recall a 1984 failed Presidential bid, to make a lame point) — and as we have amply shown, Hinderaker, hisself — all of human history began on October 7 in the region. It is silly. It is sad. But that is their position.

For Messrs. Obama — and Biden — instead, the goal is not to cluck-cluck, but to try to do better. To lead. To solve, humanely as possible, mens’ grievances against their fellow men.

In sum, to seek to change the situation — so that less bloodshed ensues. But to be clear, we should all accept that no matter what anyone does, there will likely be more blood spilt in the sand.

But an ultimately non-occupied Gaza is a step toward some stability. And the US has now very directly told Israel this, as of today. That is leadership.

And that too, is a warning. These churlish ideologues above should accept that.

After last night’s nationwide election results, it is safe to say that the GOP is going to lose the US House in 2024 — and the Democratic Party will run the table. Tangerine and Trumpism will be in the rear view mirror — and/or he’ll convicted, and maybe even jailed, by then.

And THEN, in the end, without extensive US aid… Israel cannot hold out, alone. Not for very long — not decades, to be certain. So… in all likelihood by 2025 (and as of right now, in most of the EU), the deal will be tabled as follows: diminished arms and aid to Tel Aviv, henceforth, unless and until a plan for a self-governing Gaza is on the ground in Israel.

That’s tough leadership — and it is certainly imperfect (for those of us with skin in the game) but it might increase the odds of less blood in the sand.

Pretending the world started when slavery ended in the US, or when Ron Reagan took office, or when Trump did… OR when Hamas committed this terrorism… serves no legitimate interest.

It leads (as we’ve said) solely to a nation of the blind — with every man woman and child missing at least one eye — and perhaps… both of them.

So sit down, boys.

BONUS!: Testing A “Photo Shoot” Cam, NASA/SWRI’s Lucy Captures First Ever “Contact Binary” Orbiting An Asteroid — At Dinkinesh…

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This is a truly fortuitous discovery — and what comes of deciding to “test” one’s equipment, in advance of the actual main science mission. Lucy whizzed by a small object called Dinkinesh on the inner edge of the asteroid belt last week (as we mentioned) — to test its high speed cameras. The craft had detected oscillating brightness with long range cams, as it sped toward the asteroid, and so a satellite was posited.

But no one expected to see two small rocky world-lettes, essentially grinding against one another, and being held in a tight orbit around Dinkinesh. Here it all is, at right — and the story below, from Boulder’s SWRI and NASA:

…In the first downlinked images of Dinkinesh and its satellite, which were taken at closest approach, the two lobes of the contact binary happened to lie one behind the other from Lucy’s point of view. Only when the team downlinked additional images, captured in the minutes around the encounter, was the true nature of this object revealed.

“Contact binaries seem to be fairly common in the solar system,” said John Spencer, Lucy deputy project scientist, of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of the San-Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute. “We haven’t seen many up-close, and we’ve never seen one orbiting another asteroid. We’d been puzzling over odd variations in Dinkinesh’s brightness that we saw on approach, which gave us a hint that Dinkinesh might have a moon of some sort, but we never suspected anything so bizarre!”

Lucy’s primary goal is to survey the never-before-visited Jupiter Trojan asteroids….

Now you know. Lucy will now loop back toward Earth for a gravity assist speed boost — then back out to the center of the Jovian “Trojan” asteroid belt, to capture perhaps several, if not dozens, of larger objects — and beam the data back to us — in about three years. Onward, but a great bit of bonus deep space science!

नमस्ते