Travis In Austin

They were great in the snow too. All the weight of the engine and transmission sitting on those skinny tires in back. I prefer ALL rear wheel drive cars to front wheel drive cars in snow. You can drive the front wheel drive a little faster because of the engine sitting over the tires, but the rear wheel drive has a large window of speed wear it feels squirrely before it goes out of control. Front wheel drive cars feel pretty safe, then they let go, and try correcting a sideways skid in a front wheel drive compared to rear wheel drive! Roger I always wondered about that. Do you correct for oversteer the same way in a front wheel drive car as you do with a rear wheel drive? Counter-turn into the direction of the skid? I have never owned a front wheel drive, but always seem to get a rental with front wheel drive when there is snow on the ground but fortunately never had to find out. I had an all wheel drive car, a couple of them now that I think of it, and they both had fantastic grip, and as the real wheels started to break traction the front wheels would bite more. One was rear engine, one front engine.

Schu, Where is that? Out by Blue Diamond? Very nice panoramic photo, I like it. I think it only snowed one time the entire 11 years I lived there. We had an entire week of sub-freezing weather, broken pipes all over town. Nobody knew what to do or how to deal with it.

How is it you figure they'll have any say in it? As I mentioned, the first calls aren't coming for them to be equipped with collision avoidance, it's a call for a MANDATE. It's that first one that's the big leap. The rest of the way to total autonomy is easy. Granted, I do wonder if the unions may be able to force a "driver" to sit there as uselessly as the firemen did on diesel engines in the 50s and 60s. It's easy to see how dumb that was today...and how dumb it will be to have a superfluous "driver" in the cab who can do nothing but possibly cause an accident. As to those receiving the deliveries, getting a big cut in price and them always arriving precisely on time will outweigh any other considerations. This is one of the disruptive technologies that is part of the gradually elimination of human labor over the next century. If you think there is going to be issues with this, consider that it isn't that far off that shopping will be done in virtual stores via augmented reality and the product is delivered via autonomous vehicle. Where will all those working for Walmart, UPS, and the like find jobs? Do we pass laws forbidding applied science and technology? Travis, I don't have the answers...but I know what a lot of the questions are and fear the answers may not be so pleasant. Remember the good old days when autonomous cars weren't such a pressing issue? Last year about this time, wasn't ? The speed of change is breathtaking and accelerating all the time. The "good old days" may be months ago in a couple of years. Dave Why will they have a say in it, because they have in the past, they still do, and will in the future. On passenger vehicles I can see the public being behind a mandate. It is going to depend on the model and it is going to take a LOT of time. Google and UBER asking for a mandate means nothing, getting 50.1% of a City, County, State or a nation to require a mandate is a completely different matter. It is all going to depend on the COST. If you offer people transportation at the same cost per mile they are operating now they are going to keep their cars out of convenience. If it is less, either through tax credits, other incentives you will see a flood go there. The tax credit for hybrid vehicles is what fueled their demand, not a sense of doing a great thing. With regard to trucking/transportation, I am just trying to bring you into reality with respect to technology. Transportation technology is not free from regulation, unions, and politics. In the old days technology came first and regulations later. Aviation, planes came first, people started getting killed, and the Civil Aeronautics Board was created. Radio came first and competitors signals started stepping on each other and the FCC came about. Technology has always been subject to the laws of supply and demand which is determined by price, but in today's world technology develops within a regulatory and public policy framework as well. Globalization doesn't really apply with transportation in the US. Truck drivers in US are going to be paid either under a collective bargaining model, or plain ole supply and demand. Driver's were getting $50 an hour in the oil patch a few months ago, I don't know what they are getting now. It doesn't matter what drivers are getting in Malaysia, England, France, China or anywhere else. Whether we never build another thing in the country or grown another crop, you still need to get in where it needs to go. You cannot outsource drivers, they kind of need to be here. What matters is what drivers are getting in LA, NY, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, the oil patch, this state or that state. Simple economics says that if drivers are making more in another state, city or town, drivers will go there to meet the demand. A couple of examples of automation in transportation not being implemented. Freight trains could be completely automated, much more easily than vehicles, and they are not. Why is that? We have a very limited amount of Level 4 automated trains with no operator, short distances in airports from terminal to terminal for example is about all I have ever seen. We have way more Level 3s which require an operator. BART in San Francisco is a Level 2. The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 is mandating some Positive Train Control (PTC) in certain commuter train locations around the country designated as a priority which has cost 2 billion, and the entire system is supposed to be updated by the end of 2015 at a cost of 10 to 20 billion. PTC has been available for over 20 years but is only being implemented now because it literally took an Act of Congress, and congress agreeing to fund the 10 to 20 billion it will require train companies to invest. Why didn't train operators implement PTC in the 90s? Cost. Congress was looking at having to extend the deadline for PTC systemwide due to a delay in the technology, equipment and other issues. It does not like they are going to meet the seven year target to phase in PTC. There has been no discussion about the elimination of engineers or operators. There are too many variables in shutting down a train apparently to make that a reality at this point. At this point they are simply trying to set up a "safe zone" around the train. The number of algorithms necessary to keep a safe distance and shut things down is apparently manageable. So trains, technology has been available since the 90s, an Act of Congress was passed to implement a partial automation plan of PTC, gave an 8 year window to do it at a TAXPAYER cost of 10 to 20 billion and the deadline is going to need to be extended. I'm a pilot and when I was learning to fly there was all kinds of news and discussion about the L-1011 could take off and land by itself and the FAA came up with a new set of IFR minimums that were only approved for planes with that level of automation (CAT IIIa). That technology was approved and implemented by the FAA. That was the early 70s. The last time I looked there have been two people upfront in every flight I have ever taken. Why is that forty years later we still have, at least, two people in the cockpit? First, while you can easily automate takeoff, level flight, and landing, there are an almost infinite numbers of things that can go wrong that can go wrong between applying takeoff power and coming to a complete stop after landing. You need an algorithm for each and every one of those possibilities. Plus there is a pretty strong pilot's union. It will probably never be fully automated in this century. Not because the technology isn't available, it is and has been for over 40 years. The reason is because technology doesn't have an answer yet if something goes wrong. We don't generally pass laws that that forbid applied science and technology, we do pass laws relating to safety and economics in the transportation sector. DDT, cyclamates, nuclear power, and a million other things were developed with applied science and are either regulated or outlawed, but they were determined to be harmful. The other law, the law of economics, has always determined the rate of technology, especially in transportation. Look at something as basic as flat panel displays. Given the choice between those old 19" CRT monitors and a flat panel who wouldn't want a flat panel. Price determined the speed of implementation of that technology. Just as it did with cell phones. Those things didn't happen overnight. Price had to meet demand before they took off and became the norm rather than a luxury. Cell phones took what, twenty years? Flat panels, 10 years? With either of those you didn't need to give up something, it was a direct replacement. So with truck drivers you have the union aspect of it (UPS and the teamsters, for example), and the business side of it, Federal Express, UPS, J.B. Hunt, etc. The Teamsters have over 1.5 million members (voters), and they are the 10th largest campaign contributor in the U.S. That is in 2014, not in the good ole days, not in the golden age of labor, that is now, today. They most definitely have a say has to how freight gets handled and moves in this country, that is why we have collective bargaining here. But when you start talking about a model requiring every truck that moves freight is going to be government owned, or operated by a utility company, and you pay a rate to ship, or a model like trains where you are going to require every freight truck to be automated, you are going to see a major push back. You might see relatively quick change on passenger vehicles, something like 10 to 20 years, but you are not going to see a swift change to requiring freight trucks being required to be automated. Why? Well, first it is going to require an Act of Congress, just like trains. When that bill comes up you are going to see truck makers, unions, truck drivers and freight companies lined up together in opposition to it. You have to get a bill doing that through the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Transportation Committee where the CEO's of UPS, FedEx, and on and on will testify they cannot afford it, and then the unions and drivers will testify against it, etc. Ford, Peterbilt, White, and all the manufacturers of trucks will be the last panel and give their thoughts on it, if they get to participate in making the trucks they will be for it, if it cuts into their business they will be against it. You will have to get the cost of an automated truck down below that of what it costs now to get UPS and FedEx on board, that is when it makes economic sense. That is the timetable for change. That can come sooner with legislation, tax credits, etc. UPS is going to go out an buy automated trucks until the cost is less than what it is costing them now. The technology may certainly be here now, today, but that doesn't drive the implementation or usage of technology. Cost/Price does, or legislation. WIth trains the taxpayers had to pay for it to get a limited form. Here is the other issue on trucks, long haul you probably don't need an operator and if you get the cost right it could happen. Local, you still need the guy to take the package and drop it on the front door, you still need the guy to unload and stock the store with bread, and most importantly, the guy to deliver your Jubilees (free shipping by the way). They are not really being paid as a "driver" per se, they are a driver/delivery person and they are always going to be part of the equation. I would say we are on a ten to twenty year time frame for passenger vehicles to be a majority of vehicles on the road, and double that for trucks assuming there is a public policy shift that implements incentives to go in that direction. Like I said earlier, I would like to see passenger cars go that way in a hurry, however, based on the way that technology gets implemented in transportation, in a hurry is a relative thing. Travis

Joe, I am so sorry to hear that news. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I have sent you a personal email. Travis

"Duh. And you KNOW the trucking companies are drooling at the prospect of getting rid of those sleep-deprived, amphetamine-crazed drivers." That might be, but I suspect that is WAY further down the road than autonomous passenger vehicles down the road. The Teamsters will have something to say about that, and the Longshoremen, and the people who receive the deliveries. There is also an issue of common carrier liability that would have to get straightened out before that happens. They first need to implement a local model, get it working and without accidents or incidents. As I stated in an earlier post, DOT has already issued regulations and standards for autonomous vehicles with 4 or 5 levels. The first level is active cruise control, all the way up to a truly autonomous vehicle. I am sure the regulations will become more and more detailed as things get closer to a reality. There is going to be a difficult balance with that as well, the right amount of regulation. Travis

I think the best music documentary I have ever seen is still "Tom Dowd and the Language of Music." It is about ten years old now but it still hold up very well. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend this if you liked Sound City and Muscle Shoals. Travis

+1 My favorite "concert" films are Woodstock, Monterey Pop and Give Me Shelter. There is great footage of Muscle Shoals Sound Studio's original building in GMS. Travis

I really liked this one as well. It didn't come off as an authorized biography as so many of them do. It was very balanced in my opinion. Dissenting views were there and there was a good amount about the music business which I really enjoy. I watched it on Netflix and didn't realize that part 1 and Part 2 are strung together back to back, you just let the credits roll to the end of Part 1 and Part 2 begins. Travis

Have a very Happy Birthday

D, How are things at All Souls? What have you read lately you can recommend? Travis

Cool, it is on Kindle, I will pick it up. Thanks for the tip Larry. Travis

I first learned of the bastardization of records in 1975 when I was reading "Recording Engineer Magazine." It was obvious even then, that the engineers and the audiophiles were on different paths. But what I read then is mild compared to what Milner writes about in the book with today's methods. I wonder if buyers of today's pop music know that most singers can't hold a tune and need Auto-Tune to create a vocal track? Or that groups can no longer sing harmony? Or that most of the drums you hear are sampled? The entire production is a synthetic confection made on computers (Pro Tools) and once all the life has been sucked out, there is just nothing but spectacular noise remaining. A quote from Bruce Botnik: Sound since the 1960s has gone backwards instead of forwards, in my estimation. In the recordings that I do today for motion pictures, I use tube microphones, tube microphone pre-amps, and I try to bypass the solid-state consoles as much as possible. It's more open, it's rounder, it has more depth. I can give you an example. If you take a room that has some reverberation not a chamber, just good clear liveness and you put an earphone in the middle of the room with a click going through it, so you hear the “tick, tick, tick.” Plug up a good microphone, maybe a (Neumann) U-67 or something like that, split the signal so it goes into a tube microphone pre-amp, and then the solid-state pre-amp, bring them both up on the console, and switch back and forth, and listen. With the tube, you'll hear all the reverberation in the room; the solid-state will close down. Ten times out of 10. So that's somewhat what you're hearing. Even the equalizers back then were tube; we had Pultech EQ-P1A's.

I don't think, as an American, I could agree to pay restitution to the descendants of slaves anymore than I could expect to receive a check from England for the abuses of King George to my ancestors. Me neither. One of the troubles with this is that no one is guilty. You can't find a guilty person anywhere in the country. Not in business, not in politics, not in the population. Everyone's innocent! Indeed, this is the way perception works. We have no sense of "class guilt" that anyone is willing to accept. And yet, we do have the crime. No one is going to wear Nixon's guilt, for instance. The source for any form of restitution has to be from the Federal Reserve. If they can use $3T to bail out bankers, both foreign and domestic, we can also use $3T to bail out the injured parties of the historical racism. I can't say it is cash payments, or land, or infrastructure, or what it really looks like. But, it can't be ZERO simply because no person will accept guilt. And, I am not speaking as the injured party, I am only speaking as the observer. You can't have massive crime and no restitution, and expect a good result. As we speak, and as I am trying to explain the existing racism, there are political activists all over the South (primarily) trying to dream up new clever ways to disenfranchise blacks. So, we can't even begin to find solutions when so many people are still creating new problems. As we speak, 1200 AM radio stations across the nation are blurting out a non-stop propaganda campaign designed to denigrate blacks and lift whites to new levels of Guilt Free Virtue. As we speak, cops all over the country are looking for more opportunities today, right now, to harass blacks, deny their rights, embarrass them with their families, beat them, and if needed, shoot them. As we speak, businessmen all over the country are dreaming new schemes to lower their wages, prey on their lack of financial sophistication, and further reduce their wealth in ways they wouldn't apply to whites. So, really, any kind of restitution talk is just hot air. We haven't ended the racism yet. Do you assign no blame to the black community for their current plight? Is it all the white conservatives fault? I doubt this country will outgrow its racial bias within the next 50 years on its own and it is near impossible to legislate the issue. Because you can't legislate how someone should feel about someone else. When crimes are committed, why should the victims take any blame? I don't think I have put all the blame on "white conservatives." I have said they are responsible for the propaganda, but the blame for the 500 years of exploitation belongs to the ruling class. And that class has only mild interest retail politics, their interest is money, property and wealth. They plot the strategies of economic oppression, racism and the like. They are not "conservatives" or "liberals" as such, just the establishment owners and decision makers. The barriers you speak of, I believe, do exist, in the form of institutional and environmental racism. Below, at the bottom, I have quoted an excerpt of an article on institutional racism by a professor at the University of Indiana School of Education, the full article can be found here: http://diverseeducation.com/article/64583/ She indicates the research confirms what Mark indicated about hiring practices. She asks questions in a way that most people don't think about. The reason we don't think about them, according to her, and many others, is because of institutional racism, whether intentional or not. We just don't pay attention to it because we are in the minority, at least I think that is the reason why. But in looking at the questions she poses, and answering them honestly, it does highlight some areas of concern where maybe none was in our mindset's before. She is careful to say it "may" be in indication of institutional racism, not that it exists. Redistricting is one form of institutional racism, it has occurred recently, and continues to occur. The Supreme Court found that Texas had violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in and they were forced to redraw the lines. A portion of that Act was invalidated last year and the Voting Rights Act is in a state of flux. The Court continues to rule on a 5-4 idealogical split. That everything is equal and hunky dory in the United States, even on an issue as fundamental as voting, simply isn't the case, it is pure fantasy. There is a racial divide, disconnect, or whatever you want to call it. Here is a FACT that everyone is going to have to come to grips with, liberal, conservative, Democrat or Republican. Whites will become the minority of the population during the lifetime of most everyone here (estimates range from 2040 to 2044). In Texas whites are already the minority, 45%. It is effectively a Tea Party state currently (fact, not a political comment), however, at least one Hispanic congressional district was created after the last census, and by 2020 they are predicting major and fundamental shifts. The other states where whites are in currently in the minority are California, New Mexico, and Hawaii. States where the white population has fallen below 60% are Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Mississippi and Louisiana. Minority children are now the majority in the following ten states: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, and Maryland. FACT: Minority children will be the MAJORITY in the ENTIRE US by 2019. My solution to the "problem," what ever that may be, is to invest in our children, of whatever color, religion, or economic background. Your children, and most certainly your grandchildren, will be governed by by the majority (which will be non-white). If it means cutting defense, cutting social security, cutting the pensions of senators and congress, raising taxes on estates, individuals and corporations I don't care what it is. WIth two wars to pay for it is going to be extremely difficult, but it can be done if it is a priority. If today's minorities perceive there is discrimination, racism, or injustice, it better get dealt with now because what "goes around, comes around." There is a solution to all of this and that is simply to just deal with, NOW, instead of saying it doesn't exist, or it was caused by prior generation(s), or ignoring it. Global warming may, or may not, happen, but the eventual transition of whites out of the majority, and eventually out of political control, will happen. It is matter of simple demographics. "They" will also ultimately control on the issues of immigration, citizenship requirements, pathway to citizenship, whether there is a free and open border to the North and South. The "we" and "them" and "those" can either start to evaporate now with a shift to WE are all in it together as "US." Or not, and eventually instead of being on the outside like "them" today, your children and your grandchildren will be on the outside. "We The People" BEGIN QUOTE Interestingly, there is a large body of research that clearly suggests that folks tend to hire and rehire folks who tend to act and look exactly themselves. So, exactly what do those organizations mean when they report embracing, celebrating and hiring a racially diverse pool of applicants? Given the statistics about who is typically hired at most organizations — let’s say Fortune 500 companies — I would say that it does not mean much, other than those organizations might just have a structural racism problem, given their hiring practices. How are the roots of structural and institutionalized racism formed? It’s subtle. It seems normal. It seems innocent. That is the way that institutionalized racism works; it is rooted in the core of one’s everyday existence yet it is easy to detect if we just look and assess. If you live in the United States and you have never been around anyone or very few people of color, you may just be a part of a structurally racist system. [You might also claim that some of your best friends are, but if you have to count, then there is still a problem] When buildings are erected in the name of someone and the someone is never a person of color, then you might be sending messages to everyone about folks who are powerful, smart and valued. That is how institutionalized racism works. When pictures of presidents, board members, award-winning whomevers are hung, and they do not depict a demography that matches that of the state, city or the country, then your organization might have an institutional racism problem. Look at the organizational structure to which you belong. If the organization is disproportionately White in all upper levels positions, and all of the folks in lower level positions are folks of color, then your organization may have an institutionalized racism problem. Take a look at the hires in your own department. If it is all White, then you may just have an institutional racism problem. In addition, if the department has hired one person of color, and claims or believes that diversity goals have been met, you still have a problem. When you and the administration can name the one or two folks of color who are routinely asked to reside on every committee in your organization, then you might have an institutionalized racism problem. [bTW, folks of color can name the one or two “usual suspects” in their organization.] If those same folks who serve are always the same ones — the “usual suspects” — you might ask why? Often times, the “usual suspects” are chosen to serve because there are few folks of color in the organization, yet sometimes, the “usual suspects” are chosen because administrators are most comfortable with some people of color. Everyone has a unique biography, consciousness and reaction to oppression. In fact, those “biographies,” one’s consciousness, and or dispositionality, can resonate with those in power. In other words, the “usual suspects” will often receive nominal gratuitous rewards — appointments to menial positions, important hiring committees and some even receive “awards” for keeping their mouths shut. So yes, you may have still have an institutional racism problem. Take a look at who receives highly honored awards in your organizations … and ask why they receive them? [For instance, regarding institutions of higher education, look at endowed chairs, chancellor’s professors, even teaching awards]. You may have an institutionalized racism problem if there are few or no folks of color in the pool. Also note that if the award is granted for something diversity related, people of color tend to receive them. Again, see number 4 and ask whether the institution is rewarding the often accommodating “usual suspects.” Again, this may be an indication of a problem with institutionalized racism. When you are constantly looking for the “right fit,” and the “right fit” tends to always look like the rest of the folks that you have hired already, then you just might have an institutional racism problem. When given a chance to hire someone of color, but instead someone from your hiring committee or upper-level administration chooses to make a phone call to someone that they have known, and again, they tend to “fit” and look exactly like the majority of the institution, then your organization might have an institutionalized racism problem. Institutionalized racism occurs in a number of spaces and organizations. While I have made reference to employees, please know that students throughout the P-20 pipeline are the victims of institutionalized racism. Take a look at who is considered to be gifted and talented. Who is typically awarded advanced placement status? Who is most often referred to special education? Who is disproportionately expelled and suspended for minor infractions (if we must refer to an eye roll as an infraction. Sometimes I don’t know how I made it through high school given the number of eye rolls delivered on a daily basis.) Again, since racism is so deeply embedded in our culture, we cannot assume that those who benefit from a powerful system of privilege built on race will somehow learn to see or even want to see inequity and institutionalized systems of racism overnight. Yet, what messages do we send to younger human beings when everyone who resides in the neighborhood, attends school and other events, goes to the grocery store, or even attends worship service (which is by the way, the most segregated day of the week) is the same. Harrowing as it might seem (at least I think so), never exposing young folks to difference — any kind of difference — perpetuates the madness of institutionalized racism. However, if we think about it, and we truly want to end racism, then the first step is to recognize that we have a problem. Robin L. Hughes is an associate professor in higher education student affairs in the School of Education at Indiana University. She focuses on issues of race and sports in education and in society. END QUOTE

Ditto... Walter Murch, won Academy Award for that work, and he was part of the group that came up with 5.1.

Doc, how would you cross the 1802 over?

Nice to hear that bhenry is recovering from the flood. So is that likely to occur again in that area?

Quote from website below, so next year they will not send you a renewal notice like you got last year because they will not see a current inspection for you, they will send inspection renewal form. QUOTE Registration Renewal Process Here’s a more detailed overview of how renewing your vehicle’s registration will take place after March 1, 2015. Before issuing your registration renewal notice, TxDMV will check the state inspection records for your last inspection. If your inspection record cannot be found, is expired or failing, you will not receive a registration renewal notice. Instead, TxDMV will send you an Inspection and Registration Notice informing you that no record could be located. The notice will remind you that an inspection must be completed in order to renew your vehicle registration. END QUOTE Based on that I would say you are good. Congratulations, looks like you found a loophole.

That's not the way I understand it. You still have to have your annual inspection but will not receive a sticker. The information will be sent electronically to Austin so they can verify that you have had an inspection prior to issuing your registration sticker when it's due. I agree but since I have been issued a registration sticker that is dated to expire in March 2016 I would only have to re-inspect prior to re-newal in 2016. According to some of the articles I have read the inspection cycle for a lot of folks will indeed be in excess of one year...the first year only (discounting the new vehicle rule with two years registration) Did they issue you a Feb 2016 sticker or a March 2016 sticker? March right?

There is a calculator on that twostep site you can use. I entered March 2015 registration and February 2015 inspection sticker and it said you need to have a current inspection, however, I heard they don't start looking at inspection status until March 1st. That is consistent with what USNRET was able to do. I think technically you are supposed to have a current inspection with a March 2015 renewal date, but the system isn't checking yet. To me it seems like if they were able to check that for people who get stopped, like they can check the insurance status, they would issue a warning ticket. Of course, like you say, it is going to be a matter of who is stopping you. If you renew after March 1st, and have an inspection later in the year, September for example, you do not need to have an inspection until the following year. The calculator on the website confirms that, assuming the calculator is correct.

That law is confusing. They are combining the inspection sticker with the registration sticker, so instead of two it will only be one. But some people's annual inspection date is out of synch with their registration date. In order to make it so people will not be required to have two inspections in one year (to get back in synch) people are allowed to delay their inspection one year in order to get back in synch. The key date, is if your registration renewal is on or after March of 2015. If you renewed in Jan. or Feb. of this year I believe you need to get synched up this year. Next year 2016 you have to bring in proof of your inspection with you need to have proof of inspection to renew because it is now a condition of registration whereas before it was a separate requirement. In other words, you could get your vehicle registered whether you had your vehicle inspected or not. This was passed in the last session and became effective 1/01/15.

We should start a seperate thread on Quality of Health Care in US so that we might get Larry to chime in. He is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about medicine fron a policy perspective. I too read the Commonwealth Fund's rankings when they come out and hope for a change (at least I think that is the source of Mark's rankings). Here is a link to their site, and a breakdown of the factors used in the rankings and where the US is on every factor. We are much better is some factors, and the UK is clearly the model according to them. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror It is surprising that we are at the forefront of medical research and equipment, yet are so far behind in medical information technology. Travis

The law of supply and demand would cure that problem if only the AMA were not such an effective lobby. Increasing numbers of physicians equals better consumer prices. It is just that simple. More doctors = lower costs. The only problem with your Hypothesis is there still exists a shortage.... Roger Roger, Read the entire post. The AMA has been successful in restricting the number of physicians by limiting medical school enrollment. They argue tat hospitals can only accommodate so many students, hence the enrollment is artificially limited. I don't really like using Wikipedia as a source, but in this instance they seemed to have a well up to date matrix of the currently accredited medical and osteopathic schools in the U.S. They also have a list of schools that are awaiting accreditation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_schools_in_the_United_States The Liaison Committee on Medical Education is the entity that accredits medical schools, they are funded in part by the AMA. Here is a link to their website http://www.lcme.org/directory.htm There is a separate entity that accredits D.O. schools. It doesn't look like the number of medical schools are keeping up with with population increases. When I graduated in 1986 it was a pretty universal notion that the AMA had the largest and most influential lobby in Washington. I think that must have lessened slightly as osteopaths were able to go in and influence state legislatures to allow them to do anything that an M.D. could do, at least in the non-surgical context. My understanding is that they are now pretty much the same, you can go on and do whatever specialized training you want to do with a D.O. Also in the 1986 time frame, if I recall correctly, there was a major shortage of nurses in the U.S. Hospitals were bringing in nurses from other countries, specifically the Philippines. It does not seem like we do the same with physicians. What is the situation with nursing schools in the U.S.? It seems like we need to do more to get the number of doctors up. I have a sister in medicine, and a close cousin here in Texas in nursing (NP, Phd RN). My cousin was able to get advanced certifications and degrees with special programs that were sponsored by her hospital where a group of nurses studied together, while continuing to work. The UTMB is in Galveston and they live about 2 hours North of there. It seems like they drove down for one long weekend a month, or twice a month, and every six weeks they went down for a week. She of course did this after her kids were grown. Texas seems to be embracing the "tiered approach" fully. There are urgent care facilities inside our HEB grocery stores, staffed by an NP. They write scripts and I don't know what else. I don't know whether they have to have a physician as a medical director or not. I heard they were phasing into freestanding clinics that were going to be entirely NPs. I went to one for a really bad cold/flu, and I think she obtained a very detailed history and, what I considered, a through exam. I think it is entirely a case of supply and demand, and it appears that it is going to take a good long while for there to be the right number of doctors. I think this system of licensing nurses as NPs should be utilized more fully, if it isn't in the process already. Travis

I just remembered, Ty Longley, lead gutairist for Great White, died in fire started by pyrotechnics at night club while band was performing, along with 100 fans, at The Station in Rhode Island.

Lisa Loooooooooopner

More cowbell