CHDK, with its built-in LUA scripting, is incredible. I've used it to outfit cheap (<$30 USD) point and shoot Canon cameras for time-lapse.
56 karma · joined August 2, 2017
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/0...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_turbine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrnul6ixX90
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_valve
Also see: Viktor Schauberger (caution: will take you down quite a rabbit hole).
These webrings with graphical designs most accurately capture my memories of them (possibly at their height) from the late 90s.
How Americans obtain health insurance is largely dependent on their age/occupation (retired, coverage thru employer, etc) and income/assets. There is strong incentive to be insured to avoid a yearly tax penalty. People with low income qualify for partial or full subsidy of their insurance cost, largely footed by more fortunate tax- and insurance-paying Americans. But unless they are poor, they are still expected to pay for services rendered out of their deductible, a fixed ceiling in USD that they agreed upon with their insurer (a higher deductible tends to lower insurance cost). Having insurance also significantly reduces the "retail" cost of services and medicine (an uninsured billionaire may happily pay $250,000 cash for an ER visit, while an insured student may struggle to pay their $2,500 deductible for the same thing). One upside to Obamacare is that it has taken a lot of stress away from people, as they historically could have become destitute from massive healthcare bills that overran obscenely high deductibles (now capped under Obamacare). Pre-Obamacare, insurers had a deductible of their own sort, one which allowed them to deem an overrun so high, or a health condition so dire, that they could cut a person off (sort of like a bandwidth cap, but for human life, a lifewidth cap if you will). One (primarily financial) downside to Obamacare is that insurance costs have increased to pay into the subsidy and sky-high bill bucket (and the leftovers into for-profit insurance companies' pockets). So Obamacare, i.e. American healthcare today, is largely an effort to not only insure every American, but also protect them from financial ruin in a health crisis. And to accomplish that, the money must be flowing.
We certainly have a lot of amazing selfless people doing their best to heal the sick, but as the players in this article, people like Shkreli, and some of our congress members make so clear, follow the money trail to its darkest depths and you will find the true face of American healthcare. It's being stymied at every turn and will continue to be until it's either rescued by reform or decimated by profiteers.
This barely touches on your questions and leaves out some critical details but I hope it's of some use.
Those who have the ability and power to change the city are its citizens. Always stand up for what you believe in and contribute wherever you can. Engage with or become a civil servant. Vote. Democratic progress is slow but inevitable if we stay focused.
Perhaps the city in its current form is beyond saving. At the very least it may serve as a giant remediation laboratory should technology to reverse humanity's assault on nature and all its inhabitants be developed. Ironically, the solution will likely come from nature.
Take warning: download and archive a copy of every digital asset you care about. I highly recommend the excellent utility youtube-dl[3]. I rely on it daily for copying obscure youtube videos that could disappear at any moment. Fool me twice...
[0] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/12/03/mp3_com_archive_is_...
[1] https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/04/04/19/2318226/mp...