I think we can dispense with the caption, just this once...
A defense attorney friend of mine called me up yesterday to say (I’m paraphrasing here), “You jackass. Thanks to your Ogilvie proof every Applicant’s attorney I know is calling me up, gloating, and asking for 18 points on top of the whole person impairment on every case! Why the hell did you do that???” ((Photo courtesy of giuliomarziale)) My first thought was of my favorite quote from Swingers. ((Just for you Ray!)) What I actually said was something along the lines of:
It’s not like CAAA wouldn’t have found out about Ogilvie if it wasn’t for Jay Shergill mentioning it in a blog post.
Nothing has changed except that now anyone can perform an Ogilvie adjustment calculation in their head. ((And save $129.99 in the process))
For the moment, let’s set aside the issue of whether California’s injured workers have gotten a raw deal since SB899. Suppose there’s an injured worker with a finger injury, stays on temporary disability for two years, and is immediately made permanent and stationary. If instead they get a 0% WPI, they get nothing. If they gets a 1% WPI, Ogilvie tells us this person gets a DFEC adjusted WPI of 19%.
Nearly every litigated case involves an extended period of temporary disability and a whole person impairment less than 45. ((Hell, a permanent irreversible coma is only a WPI of 80.)) Ogilvie effectively removes the first 18% permanent partial disability levels.
I really don’t think the WCAB intended this consequence. Don’t get upset with me – as long as Ogilvie is the law I might as well make Ogilvie calculations easy for you, right? ((Remember, just add 18 to the WPI!))
SPOILER warning: This post discusses every big reveal from series finale
Battlestar Galactica: The Finale
If you’re a fan of Battlestar Galactica like myself, you may have watched the finale on Friday night and thought, “What the hell?” This show has introduced so much character development, conflict, and drama over four years that it is honestly difficult to tell whether I’m disappointed the series is ending or disappointed with the series’ ending. ((Photo by way of “diverse distinctive dave’s” blog)) They wrapped up most of the big questions and left a lot unanswered. Without further ado, I present you with the answers to all the outstanding questions gleaned from the post-finale press conference:
What’s the deal with the Battlestar Galactica “Final Supper” picture? Red Herringe?
Its an unintentional red herring. ((Photo courtesy of stridli. Editing, all me!)) basically has nothing to do with the show’s plot. It was a photo op someone thought would be cool. ((And, they were right.)) The writers had nothing to do with the photo setup, so don’t read anything into it.
What’s the deal with the “Cylon god”?
We don’t know. The “Cylon god” is not necessarily the same “god” referred to by the imaginary Baltar and Six. We probably won’t know for sure about the “Cylon god” until “Battlestar Galactica: The Plan” comes out in Fall 2009.
What’s the deal with imaginary Baltar and Six and the real Baltar and Caprica Six?
The imaginary Baltar and Six are agents of “god” that apparently only manifest to the real Baltar and Caprica Six. They are neither good nor bad, neither angels nor demons. The “god” the imaginary Baltar and Caprica Six serve is something akin to the collective unconscious underlying the universe. Their sole mission was to ensure the real Baltar and Caprica Six survive to deliver Hera to the CIC on the Galactica. The real Baltar and Caprica Six come to believe in the god described by their imaginary counterparts. This belief enables Baltar (a true cynic) to deliver his speach to Cavil and almost broker peace between the Cylons and humans and break the cycle of violence.
What’s the deal with the opera house dreams?
Four people (9Sharon “Athena” Agathon – a Cylon 8 model, President Laura Roslin, Dr. Gaius Baltar, and Caprica Six)) shared the opera house dream. This dream was meant to guide each of these people to the CIC on the Galactica at the end of the confrontation between the humans and Cylons.
What’s the deal with Kara Thrace/Starbuck?
Who the frak knows. While we don’t know how she was brought back to life, we do know why she was brought back. We also have no idea where she went or how she just disappeared. She was brought back from the dead for the purpose of entering the numeric equivalent of “All Along the Watchtower” into the FTL drive. Starbuck, her father, and Hera all tapped into something eternal and fundamental underlying the entire universe in order to hear/play this song.
What’s the deal with Daniel? Was Daniel the father of Kara Thrace/Starbuck?
Red Herring
He was an unintentional red herring. He was meant to be a “Cain and Abel” back story for Cavil to show he was a right bastard – nothing more. While there are certain pieces which support this theory, he was never meant to be Starbuck’s dad. The “Daniel” model Cylon would have been permanently destroyed long before Starbuck was ever born.
What happened to the Cylons in the base near the black hole?
After Racetrack’s Viper was knocked around, it accidentally nuked the Cylon baseship. After the battle and after the Galactica jumped away, it lost its stable orbit at the edge of the black hole and was pulled in.
What’s the deal with the various prophecies, the mandala/nebula/nova in Starbuck’s drawings, and “All Along the Watchtower”?
“Everything has happened before and will happen again.” The cycle of humans, humans building Cylons, Cylons evolving, human-Cylon violence, has occurred for thousands of years and will occur again. During these cycles certain people (Starbuck, Starbuck’s father, prophets, those who see the opera house dreams, etc) all tap into the collective unconscious underlying the universe. This allows Starbuck’s father to compose “All Along the Watchtower,” Hera to paint the musical notes for it, the song to be the key to unlock the final five, and the song to be the numerical equivalent of the way to our Earth. 150,000 years after everything in this series, humankind has again evolved to the point of embracing technology. This would allow the new BSG series to serve as a background and origin story for the original BSG series.
Obama: Way way too many “uh’s”. It makes you look unprepared.
McCain: Don’t wander around in the background. At best it is disrespectful, at worst it makes you look befuddled and lost.
By any of the polling numbers, Obama went into last night’s debate so far ahead in the polls that the only way for McCain to really come back would be for Obama to commit some terrible blunder. ((Photo courtesy of DaveHogg. Photo editing, all me!)) I imagine it would have taken something like this:
My impressions from the debate:
McCain said last night he wants to purchase all the bad loans in the United States and renegotiate them? He’s suggesting resetting these loans to the present value of these homes.
First of all, where the hell was this guy before we spent $700,000,000,000.00???
Second, this sounds like a really tragically flawed idea. If you buying loans high and then forgive hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, you’re basically giving hundreds of thousands of dollars per bad loans to those banks who had poor judgment in the first place.
Third, if you’re going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per bad loan, why not just give them to the people who purchased the homes rather than the bank?
Fourth, if you’re going to buy the loans and then forgive a large chunk of them, why do you need to buy them? Just tell the bank to adjust those loans.
Obama thinks the government invented computers so our defense department could communicate over long distances. The defense project DARPA was invented that way, not computers. I’m wondering if Obama lost the nerd vote there.
McCain wants to put medical records on the internet. We can NOT put medical records online.
Government and business websites get hacked every day. The last thing we need are our records posted on Craigslist.
As it stands, medical records enjoy a special protection in our system. If that information is all online, it would be a simple task for our government to tap into that information. This may sound paranoid until you recall that the NSA under the Bush administrationhas already donesomething far more invasive.
Tom Brokaw is a terrible, terrible moderator. When someone is over their time, you cut them off. Better yet, shut off their mike. Don’t whine about it after they stop – that just invites apologies and “witty” comments.
McCain says he’ll double the tax exemption for each child. Yay! More babies!
