h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Didn't Obama just more or less copy the health plan that GOP-Romney had introduced as governor of Massachusets" [Pierce]

If you peel away the deep layers of complexity, that's basically it, Pierce. My father, who's been republican all his life, says that having a single payer would be the most practical approach, because it might save a lot of money* on the insanely complex systems of paperwork and incompatible interfaces in the health care industry.

*There's a chance that any money saved would be applied to actual health care, benefiting the patients.

Tea anyone?!

Got any

Might have

Think I'll have eggses for dinner
And bacon
And onions
And butter
And toast

Oh, and

I just had a bridge inserted into my mouth at the dentist. I'll be eating cheap frozen dinners for six months, to save enough money to pay for it. Oh, well. No more restaurants for a while.

Suspension Bridge???? thank god for british teeth, how the hell can one deal with a Suspension Bridge in your mouth

Did someone mention British Teeth?

http://www.google.dk/search?q=british+teeth&biw=1502&bih=1099&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj91_OigM_RAhUDWSwKHQoFDw8Q_AUIBigB

Fine examples of the great british nashers

I've only 8 teeth left, all on bottom deck, I'm ace at sucking chipsand pork crackling with added hammer works a treat

Until last summer, I hadn't been to a dentist in nearly 30 years. I know, right!?

It wasn't that I was afraid of the dentist. It was that I didn't trust them. (Well that and for the first decade I didn't have any insurance.)

About 30 years ago, I saw a investigative report (on 60 Minutes or 20/20, one of those prime time news shows) about the vagaries of dentistry diagnoses. The reporter went to his personal dentist and requested the most thorough exam he could get. His dentist found a small cavity and a minor crack or some similar issues. He then went to 50 dentists in 50 states. He got many different diagnoses. They ranged from no issues to $50,000 worth of root canals and bridges (while missing the actual cracked tooth).

So, since no one gets comparative exams, how do you trust your dentist.


Anyway, even though I didn't have any complaints, no toothaches or such, just some staining, I knew that 3 decades was way too long between check-ups. So, I took a friend's recommendation and visited his dentist.

He found multiple cavities in every quadrant of my mouth. He filled those on one side on my next visit and one half of the other on my next and requested I come back for the final quadrant later.

The fillings he put in needed follow-up visits to "adjust" (more drilling) because they were causing me a lot of sensitivity causing me pain when I chew on crunchy or hard foods, also increased cold sensitivity.

Then my insurance changed and this dentist was no longer covered so I had to find a new one.

I just went to the nearest dentist this time.

Guess what she found...

No cavities needing attention!

I had her make yet more "adjustments" to my those fillings the previous dentist put in but I'm STILL having trouble chewing on my right side.

I need to make another appointment soon and see if I can ever get my mouth back to the condition it was in BEFORE I went to that first dentist.

A big filling fell out of my mouth on Christmas Eve. This complicated my efforts to eat. That's why I needed the bridge, or anything else that might have restored some chewing power.

I swear to tell the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth

This morning me and the missus are at John Lewis (dept store in Britain) The missus needs some kitchen equipment and stuff, so were wandering around and I'm looking at coffee machines, The sales person comes over and she looks and says "do you need any help choosing one of these coffee machines?!" so I replied "DO any of these come with staff?" points at the large collection of coffee machines.......

I get grumpy about the trend toward packaging coffee in little plastic cups that are supposed to be inserted into Keurig machines and similar appliances. The coffee is apt to be stale in those little cups.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-instant-coffee-machines-taste-gross-2016-3/#violation-2-tricky-packaging-2

Indeed! We may not be able to grow coffee here, but the least we can do is treat those god given beans with respect!

And that goes for the rest of planet as well. All this plastic is killing us. But what's worse is it's also killing a lot of other species

Oh and

will do nicely

I'm trying my hardest to introduce or reintroduce native plant species in my neighborhood. Foreign stuff like the grass in our lawns doesn't cut it!

What native plants would they be