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You know you are getting old when:

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17,198
Location
New York City
From some of the marketing meetings I've sat through, I also think part of the 18-34 thing with advertisers has to do with (1) they are viewed as "trend setters" / the ones that "shape the zeitgeist" / etc., and (2) the belief that if "you get them young, you get them for life." At least that's what the high-priced marketing consultants told us "dumb" business people.
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,780
Location
New Forest
Hmm. I'm over 55 and deeper in debt than I've ever been in my life thanks to medical crises that just keep happening. The latest is a hole in my right retina that needs to be fixed. I find myself wondering if I can get by with one good eye, but the eye that's damaged *is* my one good eye, so I'm pretty much stuck spending more money I don't have, since my ridiculous so-called "insurance" doesn't consider vision an essential expense. My post-55 leisure activites increasingly consist of sitting in waiting rooms reading eight-week-old copies of the New Yorker while squinting like Popeye.
I am sorry to hear that Lizzie, in previous decades the US was the land sought out by most refugees, whether it was those escaping persecution, or any sort of intolerance, or just economic migrants, but nowadays the queue to get in the UK seems to go right around the globe and it confirms what HanauMan suggests. Health care that's free at the point of delivery is a huge magnet.
 

TimeWarpWife

One of the Regulars
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279
Location
In My House
If I qualified for Canadian citizenship you can bet I'd take it in a Nova Scotia minute.

And most likely you'd go blind because you'd be on a waiting list a mile long for surgery. I know a few Canadians who come to the U.S. for any kind of serious health issues they have. According to one of my aunts-in-law who's British, it's the same thing in England. At one time in GB there was a 4 year waiting list for women needing to have surgery for ovarian cancer. :eek: Say what you will about healthcare in the U.S. but it's better than most other places.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,732
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
From some of the marketing meetings I've sat through, I also think part of the 18-34 thing with advertisers has to do with (1) they are viewed as "trend setters" / the ones that "shape the zeitgeist" / etc., and (2) the belief that if "you get them young, you get them for life." At least that's what the high-priced marketing consultants told us "dumb" business people.

Indeed. The entire goal of modern psychological marketing is to turn the individual into an unthinking mass consumer. "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved [The Boys.]"
 
Messages
17,198
Location
New York City
Indeed. The entire goal of modern psychological marketing is to turn the individual into an unthinking mass consumer. "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved [The Boys.]"

Everybody sees into a work what he or she want. In "1984," I see a condemnation of communism and you see a condemnation of "The Boys" (and I'm sure more).

I have no interest - sincerely - to argue about our views, just noting that we both took out of that book a support for our existing world view. I'm certainly guilty of that; although, when I read it for the first time, forty-plus years ago, it was probably helping to form my views, but on subsequent readings, it was confirming them.
 
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17,198
Location
New York City
"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a tasseled loafer stomping on a human face, forever."

The beauty of Orwell is that he's open to many interpretations, as the CIA found when it rewrote "Animal Farm" for a movie.

As I believe you noted in an earlier post (I think it was you, might not have been), his views were complex, didn't fit into an easily labeled box and were constantly evolving, so it makes sense that his work reflects that.
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,780
Location
New Forest
As I believe you noted in an earlier post (I think it was you, might not have been), his views were complex, didn't fit into an easily labeled box and were constantly evolving, so it makes sense that his work reflects that.
It's curious how you & Lizzie extract different appraisals from the same book, curious because, when Eric Arthur Blair, was getting ready to publish his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London, he decided to use a pen name so his family wouldn't be embarrassed by his time in poverty. He chose the name George Orwell to reflect his love of English tradition and landscape.
 

MisterCairo

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,005
Location
Gads Hill, Ontario
If I qualified for Canadian citizenship you can bet I'd take it in a Nova Scotia minute.

There is an "irregular" border crossing into Quebec that sees "arrivals" every day, and the Mounties will carry your luggage into Canada for you. You will need to claim asylum or refugee status, but as that takes about three years to resolve, your eyes should be fine in no time!


RCMP.png
 
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MisterCairo

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,005
Location
Gads Hill, Ontario
And most likely you'd go blind because you'd be on a waiting list a mile long for surgery. I know a few Canadians who come to the U.S. for any kind of serious health issues they have. According to one of my aunts-in-law who's British, it's the same thing in England. At one time in GB there was a 4 year waiting list for women needing to have surgery for ovarian cancer. :eek: Say what you will about healthcare in the U.S. but it's better than most other places.

Going blind from a waiting list, or going blind from lack of money. Either way - you are blind.
 

HanauMan

Practically Family
Messages
809
Location
Inverness, Scotland
I was an RN in the UK for the past 25 years and I can tell you there isn't a 4 year waiting list for ovarian cancer surgery!

Some less serious conditions warrant a longer waiting time, plus there is added demand due to an aging population but for cancer like symptoms it is about 2 weeks from seeing your MD to seeing a specialist and then about a month from seeing a specialist to treatment. Survival times for cancer patients have drastically improved since I moved to this country.
 

ChiTownScion

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,247
Location
The Great Pacific Northwest
And most likely you'd go blind because you'd be on a waiting list a mile long for surgery. I know a few Canadians who come to the U.S. for any kind of serious health issues they have. According to one of my aunts-in-law who's British, it's the same thing in England. At one time in GB there was a 4 year waiting list for women needing to have surgery for ovarian cancer. :eek: Say what you will about healthcare in the U.S. but it's better than most other places.

I've heard the anecdotes and Cousin Mary stories before, but the data shows that more Canadians and Britons are satisfied with the availability of affordable health care than Americans.


upload_2018-7-31_19-39-18.png



Source:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/8056/healthcare-system-ratings-us-great-britain-canada.aspx
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,780
Location
New Forest
I've heard the anecdotes and Cousin Mary stories before, but the data shows that more Canadians and Britons are satisfied with the availability of affordable health care than Americans.
View attachment 129139
Source:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/8056/healthcare-system-ratings-us-great-britain-canada.aspx
The frustration that we have with our health service is that free at the point of delivery causes abuse of the system and therefore additional cost. There's waste that could easily be avoided such as the aids a patient needs after surgery. Things like crutches, long handle shoe horns, raised toilet seats that fit over the existing one and so on, none of which seem to get returned. It adds up to millions and there's waste in our hospitals and doctor's surgeries that need addressing, but the biggest cost to our health budget is the fact that up to 25% of patients fail to attend their appointments. A classic case was that of a woman who didn't arrive for her operation because she thought that an ambulance would collect her. When the ambulance failed to turn up she thought that her operation had been cancelled. When pressed, she admitted that she only read the appointment part of the letter that they had sent her, all the do's and dont's she had ignored.

The press will make headlines whenever they can but as far as long waits for surgery goes, it's down to interpretation. My surgeon told me that over ten percent of hip replacement patients respond to anti inflammatory drugs, he suggested that I take a course of these drugs. They didn't work and I had the replacement surgery. The newspapers would have said that I was kept waiting for months but I didn't see it like that. So despite all that is wrong with our NHS, one thing that Lizzie wouldn't have to worry about is funding her treatment, and there's a lot to said about that.

For those unaware of how NHS funding works, a percentage of earnings is deducted from wages, or for the self employed, billed to be paid upfront. The employer also contributes, the current employer rate is a shade over one eighth of the person's salary.
 

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