Der_Missionar

Der_Missionar t1_j9fev9n wrote

USA's place on the top of the economic pyramid isn't a given. Nor should it be. There are other much more populous countries, who should grow, to be able to have very high standards of living. If the USA keeps on top for the next 50 years, our standard of living will far outpace most other places in Asia / Africa / Central South America. I'm not sure that's a good thing. Even if China's economy surpasses that of the USA, that economic strength is watered down over a much larger population. 1.35 Billion vs. 340 million. China's economy would need to be almost 4x greater than the states, to have economic parity, according to population.

Will China be on top though? That's hard to say. China is great at copying technology but has been challenged with creating high quality patents - innovation is still a struggle for them. They have a ton of huge issues from environmental challenges, to a rapidly declining population, to an emerging generation that is not as driven as the previous generation. If they can figure out how to innovate, on the scale that the USA innovates, they'll do well.

The USA has a ton of issues as well, including emerging class conflicts and extreme class income disparity. America is politically and ideologically polarized, and drugs and crime are spiraling out of control. Unless the USA figures out how to address some of these issues, the USA is in for a world of hurt. Our most progressive cities are a mess - San Francisco, etc. - and those are the policies toward where the rest of our cities are moving. America still has much more going for it, but in 50 years, it'll be interesting to see how all this shakes out. There were huge changes in the 50 years from 1920-1970, then tremendous changes in the 50 years from 1970-2020, who knows what'll happen from 2020-2070.

1

Der_Missionar t1_j4jd954 wrote

Generally vote republican. OZ, especially, was simply unelectable. Zero charisma. Snake oil salesman, same league as George Santos, in my opinion. GOP has completely gone freaking insane. I went independent because of Trump and other Trump supporting elected officials. Liz Cheny, Adam Kinzinger were fine individuals who lost their jobs standing up for what's right.

62

Der_Missionar OP t1_iya9asx wrote

It's actually VERY NEW to have an insurance company OWN the hospitals and the doctors offices. Up until a few years ago, this never happened.
Insurance was insurance, hospitals and doctors were hospitals and doctors. Now it's all intermingled. So... That's an ongoing discussion in the government. Don't you remember the BIG TODO with UPMC refusing to cover anything in Allegheny Health Network?

This is the stuff of anti-trust lawsuits going on right now.

So, yeah, insurance never owned the doctors offices and hospitals before.

1

Der_Missionar OP t1_iy0a0p0 wrote

My friend is a doctor, and had his own practice, the problem he faced was that UPMC insurance wouldn't cover his practice, and essentially forced him into joining UPMC.

He was going under BECAUSE UPMC insurance wouldn't cover his practice. After it was clear he had no way of staying in business UPMC "graciously" offered to buy him out.

Several friends in this situation.

22

Der_Missionar t1_ixcnejm wrote

>Was it that it was set in 1750 and is still correct today, or had the clock ever needed to be adjusted to correct the time?

This is exactly what I'm referring to... NOWHERE in the articles I've seen mention how accurate the clock is. I don't know a single mechanical clock that's ever been made that doesn't need to be adjusted from time to time. The post title leaves you thinking, this clock is accurate till 9999... and it's never been adjusted... that's not what this says at all.

Clocks of the day (1700's) often kept time to 1 second per day, and new mechanisms were coming out that could keep time to 1 second per month... John Harrison proposed a time-piece that could keep time to an astonishing 1 second per 100 days... His design, however, was never finished... until someone tried it out in 2009, and finished in 2012... proving you COULD keep time with his design, in a purely mechanical clock, (without crystals, like many of today's clocks), to within 1 second per 100 days.

33

Der_Missionar t1_ixcly0b wrote

The clock is extraordinary... It does not say it will be accurate till 9999, rather, it says the date can "show" to 9999.... It does show "Approximate" moon phase, planetary positions, and accounts for leap years.

The glass globe that crowns the clock houses the planetary system as seen by Copernicus. We can see the planets’ orbit around the sun – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn – their relative positions in the zodiac, and the Moon’s orbit around the Earth. It indicates the two equinoxes, the two solstices and the solar and lunar eclipses, also the solar second.

By all accounts extraordinary... I would like to see something on it's accuracy - as that is the one thing we are not told - and is to what the post title seems to refer.

100

Der_Missionar t1_ixccvw0 wrote

"Today, though, it is largely encrusted with dust and grime. The bronzes have taken on a uniform brown hue, masking the relief effects produced by the matt and burnished tones."

"The clock’s mechanism is so worn and grimy that many of its indications are malfunctioning and risk causing a gradual deterioration of the whole. The Passemant clock is also the only clock in the Palace whose chime no longer works. For the first time in the modern age, the mechanism will be entirely dismounted, cleaned, analysed and then restored."

315