Which rum will give me the strongest flavor in egg nog & cookies?

Call it what it is: Chained-CPI = Cat food CPI!

Advair 500, Baby!

The good news: my peak flow went from 300 yesterday to 470 today.

The bad news: my peak flow is 470; usually i can hit 750!

If it's OK to run a deficit during war time, why not during a

depression/recession?

Read your homeowner's policy - you don't have homeowner's insurance -

what you have is insurance on your dwelling for damage caused by specific sources - ie fire, wind, vandalism, broken pipes, etc. You may or may not have protection against flooding by salt water or fresh water. You may have protection against water that falls from the sky (leaky roof) but not water that has hit the ground already (rising creek) or that's too heavy (roof collapse from snow load). Read your policy, call your agent , and add the riders you need!

I saw a photo on Facebook complaining that Allstate paid only $186 for a house heavily damaged from a Sandi storm surge.


BTW - I'd love to know if that one company really does cover against damage from wild animals nesting in the attic!

If you could get only one thing through this Congress, what would be your Dream Bill?

I'd love to see the Minimum Wage raised to current Living Wage levels, which I think run about $12.50 - $13.00 an hour; with an automatic COL increase built in!

Wild ass speculation/discussion thread on autism - no connection to actual studies!

OK -

1. We know that some aspects of a person's inheritance are a result of multiple gene combinations - for example, inherit a gene for blue eyes, and you'll have blue eyes, except if you also inherit a gene for brown eyes, in which case the brown eye pigment covers the blue. But you could pass the gene for blue eyes and have blue eyed children. Blood types follow a similar pattern - you start out with so many empty boxes so to speak, and what gets expressed depends on how many boxes get filled.

2. I have long thought that I ans some of my children are somewhere on the autistic spectrum. I've also seen other kids like this. I always thought that they weren't recognized as being on the spectrum because they were functional. Who takes a functional kid to the doctor?

3. I recently found out that many of the characteristics I was thinking of as autism are also considered characteristics of introversion.

4. So, let's posit that there are a series of gene sites that may or may not be filled by genes A, B, C, D, E, F. Let's say the bulk of the population carries none of these genes; they're ****** and this is considered the baseline norm. So you could also have people who are A*CDE*, *BCD**, A*C*D** etc.

5. Maybe, what we call autism is what happens when someone has say at least 4 out of six of the genes, or A plus any two others, etc.

6. This would explain why some people seem to have some aspects of autism, but not others. It also explains why some autistics are functional , and others are not.

7. Let us also postulate that, for example, that people with ABC*** are very good at math and engineering. If you collect a lot of these people in one area, say Silicon Valley, maybe their kids end up as AABBCC*** and that is what causes autism.

Why people need health insurance: $240 for an Advair inhaler

Right now my health insurance is really, really screwed up. If I want to refill my script for Advair, it would cost me $240. Thank heavens my husband had one he wasn't using!

I have no idea what the mark-up on this is. The older inhalers went away when some of the propulsive gases were banned. (even if there was an exception for medical uses, the cost of making such a small amount of the gas would be outlandish). But I don't smoke, I get my flu shot faithfully each year, I wash my hands often, etc. I'm still dealing with some kind of asthma/bronchitis/pneumonia situation. Sometimes you do all the right things and still get sick.

Also, I am very glad my family doctor will see me Monday if I'm still sick and very glad he's willing to wait while my insurance gets squared away. I suspect he'll listen to my lungs, then send me home with some prednisone. No x-rays, no expensive tests. He's been our family doctor for over 25 years and he knows his patients. Until everyone can get that kind of care, we need to reform out health care system!

And by the way - all you jackasses who think we need co-pays so people won't abuse the system - I should have called my doctor Thursday, but I didn't because I try to deal with these things myself!

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!~

Happy St. Nicholas Day!