thanatos

Hey Scrivener, You can come back now.

quote:The Mayo clinic is the exception to the rule. They are probably the best medical facility in the world. There are several dozen medical centers in the U.S. that rival the Mayo; it is not really that unique. Most states have a medical school with adjacent medical center which give high quality tertiary/quaternary medical care. I think your own Buckeye Cleveland Clinic rivals the Mayo. quote: When I say US healthcare, I refer to standard hospitals and doctor's offices, as well as those "Urgent care" facilities. Hospitals, I give a 4.5, urgent care, 4.4, doctor's offices, 4, maybe 3.5...out of 5. If we ignore the possible 3.5, these look like pretty high scores. Is the expectation that generalist Dr. Jones down the street has the same quality in every field as a hyperspecialist at the Mayo Clinic a realistic one? The perception frequently follows that the greater the degree of specialization a physician has, the greater his skill. The generalist, however, actually has the hardest task of separating the "worried well" and self-resolving illnesses from those needing primary or secondary care. Your comments seem to suggest a feeling that a significant number of U.S doctors are little more than money grubbers. These people are typically the brightest in our schools, and there are easier ways for smart people to make money than spending 8-10 years at no or low pay to go through med school, residency, and fellowship training. Which country do you think has better medical quality? Do you think Cuba actually has a higher quality of medicine, or just a better delivery system. A socialist system can typically deliver a service better in a mandated system, but the quality fails. This includes any social service. [ 06-08-2001: Message edited by: thanatos ]

quote:As to quality of doctors outside of hospitals... I can't say they are the best. I can say it: "They are the best". The US health care system is unequalled in the world. When a rich or powerful world leader gets ill, do they go to the Mayo Clinic, or Havana Medical University? quote:I think a LOT of doctors are more inclined to give a patient drugs, because it makes them money. A lot of doctor's offices have pharmacies in them now, and they prescribe drugs to the patient with hopes that the patient will buy their drugs in the office. Which means more money for the doctor. Other than the "a LOT", you may be correct on this. As sad as it is, every profession, be it clergy or physicians have BAD examples. People are still people, despite their education. A M.D. degree does not annoint any sainthood. quote:Even in the case of doctors with no pharmacy, they seem to do this. Which leads me to believe they get some sort of kickback from the pharmacy. This would be highly illegal (see above in reference to BAD doctors). quote:A prime example of this kind of behaviour, is when someone goes to the doctor for a cold. The doctor prescribes penecillin (or a variant). Penecillin is an antibiotic. It kills bacteria. The common cold is a virus. It has nothing to do with bacteria. This is a very big problem related to the patients wanting their doctor to do something, and in America, people generally will get what they want; whether it's "feel good" ineffective government policy or uneeded medication. If you go to your doc feeling like lukewarm canine excrement, and you compassionate physician tells you to just go home, do you know how the average Joe/Jane "feel" about the quality of care? This contributes to more wasted therapy, followed closely by a doc covering his derriere due to possible legal liabilty. quote:Worse yet, penecillin kills not just bad bacteria, but GOOD bacteria that your body needs. Few significant side effects related to an individual taken uneeded meds; the bigger problem is the emergence of antibiotic resistent bacterial strains due to over-utilization of these antimicrobials. Just wanted to get into the act. [ 06-08-2001: Message edited by: thanatos ]

Menchise, What has made you so anti-America? Your post seems to be over the top. Your points are without merit. You are pouring gasoline on a smouldering fire. Jaguar and Aramike: He's all yours..

Great voice acting. "Next time you feel like dropping by,........... "

So much passion in these posts. It's difficult to disagree with friends, but it always happens when talking about politics (and religion, and sports teams, and fashion, and computer games,....and.....) Hey! Who started this thread?

I can't believe anyone would choose wanton destruction of human life (Option #1) over a spreading of prosperity and humanity (Option #2), at the cost of some national humiliation. I , however, doubt that allowing the U.S. to be humiliated, and condoning state-sponsored terrorism will lead to closer ties with China. What if we have chosen to go down an Option #3 route: a scenario where we back down, only to have China continue its military expansion, obtain accurate ICBMs in the several hundreds targeted at all our major cities (civilian not military targets as China knows our weakness of the threat of loss of human life), obtains a submarine force, and a limited blue water navy, and then invades Taiwan/Tibet/Eastern Russia/Japan? We need to address their disregard for International law, and their own human rights. I don't think history shows good results with nations that back down to rogue/terrorist states in order to avoid conflict. Perhaps these truly are different times, and we'll see an situation similar to Option #1 unfold. I hope so, but I'm suspicious human nature has changed little, and the person/nation with the least to lose with take the greatest risks to get their way. [ 04-11-2001: Message edited by: thanatos ]

It does my heart, and my patriotic spirit, good to see I'm in a community of outraged/irratated/frustrated citizens. Is this feeling just arrogant American nationalism, or righteous indignation? Why are we so afraid of creating a response where the reckless Chinese "lose face"? I have got to be missing something. I remember we shot down jets that violated what we considered International Airspace off the coast of Libya, with our old nemesis Kadafi, a while back. Now we are worried about embarrassing the ChiComs? Have we changed that much as a country; what else is at work here that I'm missing? I suppose we either play the tough, but sincere, diplomacy route, or begin a true saber rattle. I don't think our modern-day society of soft-hearted Americans are ready for the latter, even if the military is capable of backing up our bluster. It doesn't feel right to their sensitivities. I'm still in shock at the lack of total condemnation of this overtly hostile action by other nations, the U.N., and especially our "allies" (other than the Brits, on whom loyalty to friends never stops shining). Did appeasement of A. Hitler, or more recently S. Hussein effectively disengage them from their path. I especially liked hearing multiple liberal politicians, eg.-Diane Feinstine (?sp), D-CALIF, saying how she was so sorry. She was very sorry because of the threat this is to the multimillion dollar business her husband has going with the PRC. It's probably a good thing I'm not the President; the first time they demanded an apology I would've said, "Yea,...I'm sorry. I'm sorry the other interceptor pilot in that p.o.s. junk-jet didn't crash, and that you guys are such pr*cks! You want a piece of this country, then let's dance." That's me,........good old compassionate, Doc Hoover.

quote:"You can only love or hate something you truly understand." its kinda catchy, no? I don't know how accurate it is,........ I hate the I.R.S. tax code, and I don't understand it at all. Doc Hoover

I've got to break the silence; I know there are many out there that are past and present U.S. Servicemen/woman, and we have several members that are non-U.S. citizens. Am I alone in my frustration with the Chinese and their demand for an apology after their interceptor jet collided with our "Big Look" EP-3? I am more insensed by the number of people in polls and "media presentations" that agree we should apologize - say the U.S. is sorry. Other than G. Britain, our allies seem pretty quiet. The U.S.-Chinese HOSTAGE situation is a mess, but for the U.S. to apologize would be about as poor a foreign policy as I can imagine; what ever happened to Internation law? Are all the other countries, and even some Americans, biting their tongues and saying nothing in hope that someday soon they can sell their goods to the 1 billion Chinese to make themselves rich? At what cost? The good of our nation? The further allowance of an aggressive Chinese stance? I'd be very interested in your opinions, especially you Army/Navy/Marine/AirForce types, and non-U.S. commanders. Doc Hoover

Echo says: quote:I suppose he'll be off to college soon.... til then I just love every minute of it!! As the father of an son approaching 15 years of age, and a daughter of 13, I can predict that you won't love EVERY MINUTE, just the overwhelming majority of them. It sometimes aint dat easy being a good parent. Remember there are five things that make a great parent: 1) LOVE 2) LOVE 3) LOVE 4) HUMOR 5) DISCIPLINE (This is very profound, may I have another rating star? ) [ 04-10-2001: Message edited by: thanatos ]

Don't know about that PINK bar at the top of the Active Forum page, though.

E5 and Jag, LOL! And now I'm a Sneech with 4.5 stars on thars. I don't care what they say about you over at the Insurgent Fleet, you guys do be kind, thoughtful, trustworth, and loyal, ect., ect.,...................... Doc Hoover [ 04-09-2001: Message edited by: thanatos ]

In reviewing the new forum format, I now see an evil creeping into this modern world of political correctness, being manifested right here on this board. There are now two kinds of forum posters; those with stars, and those (like me, sniff) with no stars. In other words, Sneeches without stars, and sneeches with stars on thars.. (My apologies to Dr. Seuss.) Doc Hoover [ 04-09-2001: Message edited by: thanatos ]

Looks like I stumbled onto the answer, and it's not one I really wanted to learn. It would appear screen flicker is a common problem with the GeForce2 ULTRA videocards. Now I find out, $500 later. Everyone in the process of wanting to know more, go to the posts at the nV News forum: http://www.nvnews.net/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000156.html Thanks for your ideas and support on this flicker saga. Now I install the BCM Demo and see if that doesn't bolster my bruised spirits. Doc Hoover [This message has been edited by thanatos (edited 04-07-2001).]

quote:Quick video fix: Mail me that crappy vid card, i'll make a sacrfice and give you my voodoo 3 2000AGP which does work. Tac, I'd send you that bad ol' GeForce card, but then I'd feel bad about myself for dumping my video problem on a pal. Doc Hoover [This message has been edited by thanatos (edited 04-07-2001).]

Video Problems: Made the recommended BIOS changes; updated ASUS driver from v5.33 to 6.31; made peace with my Inner Self, and still the horizontal flicker lines appear. They may not be as frequent(?) as they were, but that could be my projection and not reality. Will DirectX 8.0 to 8.0a be of any value? Are NVidia 6.50 reference drivers likely to be better than ASUS 6.31 commercial drivers? Can God make a rock so big he can't lift it? I'll smuggle my OptiQuest flat panel monitor home from work tomorrow, and give it a go, if I can slip it by Security without taking too much lead. Thanks for all your help. Any medical questions posted on this forum will be promptly responded to, however, remember I'm a forensic pathologist, and don't know nothing about computers or birthing babies. By the way, what are mobos? My continued gratitude, and thanks to the Moderators and SC for allowing this forum to support such nonsense as an ignorant boy and his new computer. Doc Hoover

Gallion, Prob.#1: My monitor only supports a refresh rate max of 85hz. Is this possibly the problem - too old a monitor for the new GeForce2 Ultra card? ASUS site lists v5.33 as their latest driver. NVidia has the more recent official v6.50 driver for this card. Is that worth a shot? I'll try your other suggestions. Prob. #2: Eureka! You fixed it. The problem I was having wasn't with the BCM Demo so I didn't think to look there on the info provided with the BCM FAQs. Thanks so much. This is why I posted a non-BCM/non-BC3K new PC problem here. I knew you guys would come through. Now to find a video fix. Doc Hoover

Thanks! You're right, I'm looking for some help with the PC before I attempt the BCM Demo install. Present system: Win 98 SE 4.10222A DirectX 8.0 SB LIVE (suppose to SB16 emulate) Old System (USAF worked): Win 98 SE DirectX 7.0 SB16 Old system was stock Falcon NW Mach V with SLI VooDoo 2 cards. I have not tried a different monitor - I have 2 monitors but they are both Sony Trintron Multiscan 200ES, (not 700ES) as I originally wrote. [This message has been edited by thanatos (edited 04-06-2001).]

In an effort to be able to play the BCM Demo, after failed attempts on my other 2 PCs (one with the old Error 2355, the other impossible with VooDoo 2 SLI vcards), I decided to purchase a new PC. The specs are as follows: Motherboard - ASUS CUSL-c PC133 AGP4X, Intel 815EP Chipset, 256 MB DDR memory Processor - Intel 1000MHZVideocard - ASUS GeForce2 Ultra, 64 MB memory, ASUS AGP-V7700 Ultra v5.33e, Driver 4.12.01.0533 dated 11-10-2000SoundCard - Creative SoundBlaster Live! X-Gamer 5.1, Driver 4.12.01.0905 dated 8-25-2000EIDE 75GB hardrive, 50X CD-ROMDirectX 8.0Win98 4.10.2222 AMonitor - Sony Trinitron 700ES Problem #1: I have frequent, but random screen flicker, flutter, fibrillation with horizontal white interference lines lasting fractions of seconds to full second or so. The frequency can vary randomly from 2-3 times per minute, to once every 2-3 minutes. This occurs on the Windows desktop screen, on Windows game such as "Solitaire", and with all 3 games (JF4, Nascar4, and USAF) I've loaded which use D3D. The PC, hookup lines/cables and monitor are in the exact spot the past 3 newest PCs have set, so I think I can rule-out electrical anomalies. I'm using an UPS as well, so as to rule out electrical line flux/variations as an explanation. Any ideas? Before I hold my breath on installing THE DEMO, I want a system that is working. Problem #2: When I load Jane's USAF I have problems with proper executions of sound wav. files. This game plays almost all wav. files from the hardrive, not off the cd-rom. I frequently have no sound effects, partial sounds or only occasional, patchy sounds. When I load a mission I will frequently have a constant "whup-whup-whup" sound similar to a helicopter in the background. Running the game with full install and patched to v1.02. I never saw this as a problem on the forums when this game came out. I posted on USAF forums, but they're mostly "ghosted" or frequented rarely at best. Related to this, the wav. sound files are defaulted to play with "PlayCenter 2.0 Media", but they won't play from the desktop stating "Program Not Found". I changed them to play with MPLAYER and they will not work off the desktop, but are still dysfunctional in the game. Any ideas, speculations, expletives, and demands will be appreciated. GeForce ASUS drivers versus NVIDIA reference drivers. Different drivers for the soundcard? Throw the whole system in the river? I'm going to be contacting the local PC people who slapped the box together, but hoped any info any of the gurus who post here would allow me to be forearmed. Guess I should've suspected I'd run into problems buying my new PC from a company called "Jeff's Auto Repair, Septic System Maintenance, and Fast Kumpooturs', eh? Moderators: If this request for help is inappropriate to post on this forum, please delete without prejudice, and accept my apologies. I have nowhere else to go where I can trust the replies I might receive. Cryptic message to Aramike: "Thanks again for your words of wisdom." Doc Hoover Another Computer Illiterate In exile somewhere in the Sol System SpellChecker, and I still have to edit! [This message has been edited by thanatos (edited 04-06-2001).]

Advil and Amadeus, Thanks for the ideas/suggestions. I'll give them a try. Interesting Internal Error 2355 hasn't shown up before in any earlier discussions that I could find in other Demo posts/threads. I see Echo had some problems with this in the Beta version. Appears to be a local PC-OS thingie, unrelated to BCM. Rick Hoover [This message has been edited by thanatos (edited 03-21-2001).]

SC, Is the "WTF" directed at me and my "Installation Problem" post? I am sorry if I have violated posting rules. I posted here as Aramike's initial thread states to post here for Non-Video/Non-Sound, Misc. issues. I posted through topics showing up on "Today's Active Topics", and for some reason your "Installation Issue" topic thread doesn't show up. And I thought I was being so good by not starting still another related thread. Sorry in South Bend, Doc Hoover Addendum at 21:16 hours, 3/20/01, to previous message: Whoops, it does show up, but the heading states "help!", and I missed it as a "Installation Thread". Don't know if missing the new hidden thread deserves the reply. [This message has been edited by thanatos (edited 03-20-2001).]

Installation Problems - Internal Error 2355 Downloaded the demo three different times from three different sites over the past four days from DSL Internet connection at work; downloaded to a Zip 100 disk and then installed on PC at home from the disk. Always the same problem: once the Windows Installer gets about 20% into "Copying new files,.." I receive the fatal message "BATTLECRUISER MILLENIUM Demo Installer Information" indicating "Internal Error 2355". Installation stops, and when I click "OK" on the error box, what installation has occurred is undone. I have tried to install on Low, Medium and High Skybox settings, with no success. Download on the Zip disk indicates download size/properties of "91.7MB, (96,245,273 bytes), 96,245,760 bytes used". POS System: Micron Milleniun PII 450 Win 98 OS 64MB RAM DirectX 8.0 VooDoo 3 PCI; drivers v1.07 Desktop set to HighColor - 16bit 800MB free diskspace Norton AntiVirus disabled (my other PC is a Porsche) If I am guilty of not reading the FAQs properly, or if this problem has been asked and answered, I will run, not walk, to the nearest airlock and self-impose a read only exile. Thanks for any light that can be shared in my installer-challenged dark cave. Maybe I need that new TetraHertz PC with 2gig videocard, huh? Sleepless and sad in South Bend, Doc Hoover [This message has been edited by thanatos (edited 03-20-2001).]

Welcome Pioneer, You're going to like it here. And remember,ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US. Doc Hoover

That might not only be mean, but it has to be illegal, as well. Doc Hoover