The Unclear Origins of Oil Crude oil is almost $140 per barrel. By now you'd think we would know where it comes from. No one really knows. The conventional wisdom is that oil descends from algae from eons ago. Lots and lots of algae. Unimaginable mounds of dead algae in quantities no longer found on this planet, pressed, and cooked into hydrocarbon liquids. Thus: fossil fuel. Others, notably the Russians, have an alternative theory that oil comes from non-biological carbon compounds deep in this planet, like the methane oceans we find on other planets. In this scenario oil is a planetary phenomenon. Indeed this abiogenic oil could still be forming in the earth. Thousands of Russian papers supporting this view have still not been translated.
The Rise of Medical Tourism: Shopping the World for Medical Procedure Bargains I hear about this more and more. I wonder when the horror stories will start to surface in the mainstream? Did I miss something? There is an organization known as the Medical Tourism Association that aims to promote, raise awareness and keep an eye on things. I have a feeling that this is only going to become more popular as the farce that is the American medical/insurance apparatus continues to fail to meet the needs of a substantial portion of the population.
Beautiful Messes: A Travel Guide to Man-made Disasters Whether you want to cruise by the floating pile of plastic in the Pacific or throw some trash into the nation’s largest landfill, GOOD has the dirt on where to go to get a close-up look at the most spectacular disasters man has wrought on the environment. Plus: What to do when you visit. Feel GOOD about yourself while you visit god-awful nasty places.
Also, the CIA's latest Studies in Intelligence has a few interesting articles (via); Earth to Aliens: We're a Bunch of Dorks (via); Exaggeration with Maps (via); Michel Gondry Wants You To Watch These 25 Music Videos
Lagniappe - AMNH Picturing the Museum (via); Flickr: The Commons (via); Mr. Picassohead (thx)
Friday, June 27, 2008
stray bullets
4 comments:
Ginormous savings are definitely a lure to travel for medical care, but so too is the quality of medical care and state of the art facilities. Accreditation is very important. So too is having a Medical tourism
facilitator like WorldMed Assist to help get you through what can be a daunting process of finding the right destination, the best hospital, the most skilled surgeon. Another reason people travel for medical care is they need a procedure where surgeons abroad are more experienced, like hip resurfacing, which was approved in the U.S. only in 2006 (http://www.worldmedassist.com/Hip_Resurfacing_Surgery_India.htm)
Hi Robbie,
Thanks for the thoughtful words...
I have heard that much of the medical care abroad, most notably in the Philippines and India, is top drawer these days. So I have heard, anyway, I can't emphasize that enough.
If I were in a position to, I would advise anyone to do their homework before jumping into something like this.
Thanks for the info. I might be in a situation where I would have to consider this option sometime in the not-too-distant-future. tick tick tick...
I'm an uninsured U.S. senior citizen and had to seek affordable medical care for my severely injured rotator cuff. My search and it's result in using a medical concierge service is too long to post here, but is described in this link to my testimonial:
Rotator Cuff Repair.
Please be aware that I'm not an employee of, or being compensated in any way by the organization that assisted me so well; I only want to inform those hapless uninsured citizens like myself that there's hope for finding quality, affordable medical care.
Sincerely,
Jack Brooks
Hi Mr. Jack,
Good to hear from you. I hope that rotator cuff is serving you well.
Thanks for the info. This is good stuff and exactly the kind of dialog I'd like to see going on here.
I'm going to take a closer look as this is inspiring another post in the near future. I might look you up for a quote or two. I think this is a very important topic.
Thanks again and feel free to stop by and chime in anytime.
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