Instead of doing something productive like working on my manuscript of faults between Long beach and San Diego, IW (Island Wife) and I are trying to figure out how to maintain health insurance. I need 50% funding through U of California to get "core" health insurance (which is not great). I had enough funding to be paid 50% July-Sept, so I was covered yesterday and could fill a prescription, but not today. IW lost her excellent medical coverage Aug 31, so we have a choice of paying $1575/month for COBRA for us and daughter, or maybe $1100 with large co-pays/deductible for the "Island State" system, which is likely linked to Obamacare in some way.

The Sequester made it far less likely that my pending proposal to US Geological Survey will be funded, because the amount of funds for that program was much reduced. But, I won't even find out the results because of the shutdown: USGS is no doubt closed for stuff like that (I would guess that quakes are being monitored, but not sure).

I don't know much about Obamacare but I do appreciate that our pre-existing conditions are covered and we can't just be tossed from coverage because we are older or sick.

But, I doubt it is anywhere near as good as universal government health care. And, I do know something about that: it is simple.

Found out yesterday I had high fever and likely tick disease or diseases.

People are just nuts in my opinion. I talked to my highly intelligent but rather clueless former college housemate and roommate this morning, who was a Geology major with some of the best grades that year. He thinks we did not land on the moon and that the 9-11 building collapses were not due to the plane impacts but were a demolition. I did not mince words with him.

The CBS national news last night included a story about Whooping Cough outbreak with fatalities because parents have opted out of vaccines. I mother was saying that the organic strawberries she fed her non-immunized children would protect them. Idiot!. This is not "intelligence": it is deliberate "ignorance". Whooping Cough, according to the CBS report, was the largest source of death for children in USA before the vaccine.

IMHO climate change denial, and rejection of evolution, is all part of the same sickness/ignorance.

Chris