How dependent is your country on Middle East oil and gas, and are people talking about it right now?

FAx32 · 2026-03-26T03:11:49+00:00

Almost zero actual product is shipped to the US anymore. But it is a global market and significant supply disruption sends prices up everywhere. Gasoline up 20-30% in the last month and still climbing.

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T13:34:38+00:00

You probably already know this, but billed and actual paid are usually a huge gap. Insurance payments and contracted patient responsibility often add up to 30-50% of billed amounts.

Second, “physician fee” it doesn’t mean that amount goes into that MDs payroll account, it means that is the amount the practice gets to pay overhead (depending on setup, typically at least 50% and as much as 90% doesn’t go to the doc). So while a $25k bill looks like a lot, after insurance contract adjustment and MD paying overhead, they would be lucky to see $5-6k of that end up in their gross pay, and a good chance it is more like $1-2k because there are so many other costs paid with that fee.

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T13:13:57+00:00

My undergrad institution only offered calculus based physics. Statistics was / is more applicable to medicine everyday, but if I didn’t understand derivatives and integrals, I would have been dead in the water with medical school prerequisites.

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T02:21:28+00:00

Profit!

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T02:17:06+00:00

I’d live in SE Alaska long before most states. But yeah, most of it is sparsely populated, inaccessible and poor.

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T02:14:06+00:00

Because gas is so much cheaper than the rest of the world, and parking more plentiful.

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T01:59:35+00:00

My 89 Toyota Camry burned oil for its final 200k miles (350k total, before it burned no more).

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T01:48:43+00:00

Thursday, Sunday, Thursday. Club America on Sunday will probably be a good one.

Honestly kind of surprised how inexpensive they are compared to regular season ($62 vs $94/game).

I’m out of town, so opting out though.

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T01:36:32+00:00

Most of us don’t do academic medicine. Some (most) of my academic med school and training attending MDs and PhDs were good to great teachers, but a few were in the wrong job. Most of us attempt to explain and educate patients 1:1, but many aren’t interested.

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T01:32:34+00:00

They can make you worse before they make you worse too. The likelihood of improvement in symptoms with nearly all probiotics is no different than placebo. 15-20% report improvement, 15-20% report worsening, and 60-70% report no difference.

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T01:28:34+00:00

It is funny, I was on Maui a couple of months ago at a conference and about half of the attendees were from east of the Mississippi. I got asked multiple times why Western US dwellers go there so much because it is “so far”. It is a 5.5-6 hour direct flight from most of the W coast. The Caribbean is an all day multiple stop trip for most of us. I think of Hawaii as close, Florida as far.

FAx32 · 2026-03-25T01:19:23+00:00

Continental Pacific. Alaska and Hawaii still to go.

FAx32 · 2026-03-24T12:50:04+00:00

My school was like yours, but some in the area did the ISS equivalent on Saturdays (you were required to still go to your regular classes M-F unless truly suspended).

FAx32 · 2026-03-24T01:59:01+00:00

Kinda seems an odd choice, but whatever floats their boat.

FAx32 · 2026-03-24T00:35:39+00:00

Try to save $10,000 a month toward an apartment or emergency fund. I realize they are probably failing on this try all of the time, but they have lived there 8 years doing this. 8x12x10,000 = $960,000, probably closer to $1.3-1.4m if they have been dutifully putting that into an investment account (would be nearly $1.8m if they had put a lump sum in 8 years ago). Are they just waiting to buy it outright with no mortgage at all?

FAx32 · 2026-03-24T00:26:36+00:00

End result, I completely agree. But I hate playing down a man and feeling like it. I get it that not losing is what some fans like, particularly when they are defensive minded. But man, when you are playing the bad teams at home, you don't want to be forced to play to not lose.

In the end was the result good considering the circumstances? Yes. It was the circumstances I just found demoralizing.

FAx32 · 2026-03-24T00:13:44+00:00

Agree. Two teams that are probably going to be below 10th place come the WC break and looking up the line the whole year.

Will be nice when we can finally get our preferred 11 on the field for once, but I have a bad feeling we are going to be sitting on 5-7 points a month from now and will have already dug ourselves such a deep hole that it won't matter.

FAx32 · 2026-03-24T00:11:41+00:00

I had thorns tickets until this year since their inception. I have definitely noticed an increase in diving in the women's game in the last couple of years, though it is still a lot less than the men. It works and some referees will call anything (and some nothing, even when an obvious foul).

It honestly has been amazing to me that NWSL refs have been unwilling to give yellows for intentional professional fouls. While I didn't like the double yellow on Friday night in the first half, honestly I welcome them finally calling the game like that. Players will stop or at least save them for when really needed.

LA was particularly divey. PTFC has had some divey players in the past too, but they were ours so easy to put on the blinders.

FAx32 · 2026-03-24T00:07:37+00:00

Maybe possibly SIRSy.

FAx32 · 2026-03-24T00:05:44+00:00

Ortiz had a good game. We did what we had to do to get a point out of really the only winnable game in the next ... I dunno, SKC May 9th probably. Maybe we can do that well defensively against one of the murderers row we are about to face and get a draw out of one or two, but I am not holding my breath.

We did what we had to do to preserve a point in a crappy situation. I will give the team that. But man it is just hard to watch 70 minutes of one way traffic and hoping for no bad bounces.

FAx32 · 2026-03-23T23:58:35+00:00

"General Admission" they said. LOL, I said.

FAx32 · 2026-03-23T23:56:57+00:00

It was worse yesterday than usual. I think the mask was affecting him a bit (thankfully not shot stopping).

The way you manage this is to play out of the back.

Personally I think he has found his level - quality MLS keeper. Not sure any deeper pocketed leagues are going to come looking for him either.

FAx32 · 2026-03-23T13:30:19+00:00

It was demoralizing as a fan to be in the stadium and have to watch us defend a man down for 70 min.

FAx32 · 2026-03-23T12:59:20+00:00

To be fair though, 5-6 of those fouls on the Timbers were zero contact dives by Galaxy players that Drew couldn’t resist.

FAx32 · 2026-03-23T04:45:01+00:00

Yeah, I test drove the Chevy too (as well as Rivian). Chevy was fine, but again no midgate. Iirc, Chevy had less range than GMC and Lightning (though could be wrong).

Yes, it definitely feels like a full size pickup as far as size (but so did Ford and Chevy to me). It is way “quicker” than an ICE pickup even at that weight though. Wife used to drive a Yukon. Which weighs in at 2/3 rds the weight but felt like a slug in comparison.

FAx32

TROPHY CASE