The Monster USCC Off-Topic Thread

[droobie]

I haven't been but a lot of places should be less expensive than they normally would be. The opportunity to go visit Vegas is pretty good at the moment as result.

--Droo, @Network

Hey, not to derail the health care topic...but has anyone been to Vegas recently?

[0siris]

Hey, not to derail the health care topic...but has anyone been to Vegas recently? The fiance and I are thinking about going out there a couple of months before the wedding (pre-bachelor/ette, stress relief type of thing if you will) and I want to stay on The Strip in a gaming hotel, but I need recommendations on where to stay.

Yes, I have Googled, I promise. But there are so many knowledgeable people on here....so yeah.

I got married in Vegas, going on 14 years ago now. Stayed at the Luxor. In the pyramid. I understand they've built sort of a "normal hotel" add-on since then. I loved the "inclinators" in the pyramid. They don't go straight up. And food in their top-tier restaurant was AWESOME. We won *just* enough money to pay for that.

As far as I'm concerned, all the "primary" casinos on The Strip are win-win.

EDIT: if you're there for more than a couple of days, and don't feel like the whole-day trips to the Grand Canyon, consider a morning or afternoon drive out into the desert. That was gorgeous.

[0siris]

The problem with things like this is there's the concept that 'some people can't afford to spare any money for it'. Those people are capable of buying new vehicles, of course, but when it comes to their own health, course not.

I am in favor of HSAs and I do think if you offered the hospital cash up front from one, they'd probably rake some off the bill purely because cash is incredibly convenient for them paperwork-wise.

--Droo, @Network

I did some very simplified number-crunching once, and the Clinton boondoggle was about twice as expensive as just paying everyone that first-year MSA balance.

Maybe for all individuals and families at some arbitrary level above poverty?

I've also thought about giving corporations and businesses tax credit for paying in that amount, and making the credit equal to the POST tax pay it would take to put the same amount into a general savings account. i.e. $5000 pre tax is something like $8000 before all the tax deductions. The business would get tax credit for $8000.

REMINDER: I'm WAY simplifying the math here. So if the realistic numbers are different, I'm willing to go with that.

EDIT: I recognize that not everyone would take advantage of this. Hey, freedom can be inconvenient like that. I'm not looking to flat-out cover everyone. I'm looking to create a system that gives them the option.

[BigE]

I got married in Vegas, going on 14 years ago now. Stayed at the Luxor. In the pyramid. I understand they've built sort of a "normal hotel" add-on since then. I loved the "inclinators" in the pyramid. They don't go straight up. And food in their top-tier restaurant was AWESOME. We won *just* enough money to pay for that.

As far as I'm concerned, all the "primary" casinos on The Strip are win-win.

EDIT: if you're there for more than a couple of days, and don't feel like the whole-day trips to the Grand Canyon, consider a morning or afternoon drive out into the desert. That was gorgeous.

I did a Hoover Dam tour while I was out there. It only took a few hours and was pretty cool, especially since the suspension bridge right next to it is almost done and is almost more impressive than the damn dam.

[0siris]

I did a Hoover Dam tour while I was out there. It only took a few hours and was pretty cool, especially since the suspension bridge right next to it is almost done and is almost more impressive than the damn dam.

TV doesn't do the desert justice. It's worth the drive, IMO. And that saying about dry heat? It's real. It was 112 degrees the day we drove out to the desert, and 95 when we got back to Dallas. I was fine with 112 dry, and suffering with 95 humid. You HAVE to hydrate at 112, but it felt better to me than the weather back in Dallas (my home at the time we went to Vegas).

Those trips, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and so on, they are great trips. I think Grand Canyon is all day using some of the services out of Vegas. I seem to recall the itinerary included lunch before you even got to the canyon.

[BigE]

TV doesn't do the desert justice. It's worth the drive, IMO. And that saying about dry heat? It's real. It was 112 degrees the day we drove out to the desert, and 95 when we got back to Dallas. I was fine with 112 dry, and suffering with 95 humid. You HAVE to hydrate at 112, but it felt better to me than the weather back in Dallas (my home at the time we went to Vegas).

Those trips, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and so on, they are great trips. I think Grand Canyon is all day using some of the services out of Vegas. I seem to recall the itinerary included lunch before you even got to the canyon.

Please forgive my ignorance...but what's so impressive about the desert?

[droobie]

Maybe for all individuals and families at some arbitrary level above poverty?

Could be. In this state many people live below the poverty line but they're not necessarily impoverished. The cost to exist here can be low if you do certain things.

In this state if they just opened up the doors to buying plans elsewhere, we would see a flood of plans that would allow us to pay a few hundred or less a month for great coverage. All insurers currently have to cover anyone, pre-existing conditions or not, which jacks up the rates.

There should be coverage options for both, much like rates are lower for people who don't get into car accidents.

--Droo, @Network

[Nicholas]

Please forgive my ignorance...but what's so impressive about the desert?

IMO, potentially everything. The textures of the sands, the random paterns strewn about, the vivid and drastic changes in colors and contrasts, etc.

We need to get you into photography. It'll change how you look at things

[hawaiisun21]

Please forgive my ignorance...but what's so impressive about the desert?

I kind of have to agree with you... I did the Grand Canyon, did the Hoover Dam...not a big fan of all of the sand in the desert. Plus sand gets everywhere.

Our Vegas trip is strictly for the casinos...and the enternainment...and Coca-Cola World, provided that still exists.

[BigE]

IMO, potentially everything. The textures of the sands, the random paterns strewn about, the vivid and drastic changes in colors and contrasts, etc.

We need to get you into photography. It'll change how you look at things

Fair enough...let me borrow your 7D for a while and I'll see if a trip to the desert would be to my liking.

[0siris]

Please forgive my ignorance...but what's so impressive about the desert?

What Nicholas said. And more... well... less. I no longer recall the route we took, but we drove for about an hour and wound up at a trail. The day we went there were maybe 15 people. We walked until no one was visible.

There's this... stillness... to the desert. To me, that wasn't a dead stillness. I saw a hawk up high, a coyote up on top of a ridge, a couple of chipmunks skittering from bush to bush, and yet... not one sound. I'm sure a large part of that was my citified ears. Grass in a prairie, trees in the woods, I've never encountered this in those places.

The sand in the desert tells stories, too, if you'll look. A history told not minute to minute, but millenium to millenium. The colors aren't *just* colors. They are ages past. And there's no book I've ever read, no film I've ever seen taken, that does it justice.

I guess I'm just a romantic like that.

[BigE]

I kind of have to agree with you... I did the Grand Canyon, did the Hoover Dam...not a big fan of all of the sand in the desert. Plus sand gets everywhere.

Our Vegas trip is strictly for the casinos...and the enternainment...and Coca-Cola World, provided that still exists.

Our Vegas trip was for shopping and food...there are some outstanding restaurants in Vegas.

We hit up David Burke's Modern American...pretzel crusted crab cakes are a must, and Tom Colicchio's craftsteak...simply amazing.

[0siris]

Our Vegas trip is strictly for the casinos...and the enternainment...and Coca-Cola World, provided that still exists.

Fair 'nuff. There's stuff in Vegas to fill days worth of entertainment. That, too, is a worthy pursuit.

As long as you're spending money you can afford to lose.

[BigE]

A little light reading for everyone...the Supreme Court handed down a significant ruling today regarding campaign finance laws (with some Free Speech principles involved too).
http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/01/an...ns/#more-15341
Opinion (pdf) http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf

[0siris]

A 5-4 decision. Lots of those of late, and another reminder of how important even an unpopular President can be. They nominate prospective justices.

It's going to cast a VERY interesting shadow on the next couple of elections.

A thought occurred to me, though. A kind of "end run" around the decision. Instead of making it *campaign* finance, make it *corporate* finance, and restrict political spending in general?

That, to me, is a scary prospect.