Tough Crowd: Forecasting In North Korea

kimmetoffice

Blown forecasts are the bane of a meteorologist’s existence. Painful! I’d bow my head in shame and speak in a softer than normal shout after a miss.

I’ve apologized for blown forecasts more than once. Everyone knew.

Some of you have personally made sure I understood your anger. Not easy to deal with.

However, I’ve never had Kim Jong-un as my boss&#185. In North Korea he’s the last word in everything.

Quoting the BBC:

Kim Jong-un says there have been “many incorrect forecasts” because the Hydro-meteorological Service’s methods aren’t “modern or scientific”, state newspaper Rodong Sinmun reports.

Ooh. Bad employee review.

The North Korean leader says weather service staff must “fundamentally improve their work”, because good forecasts are needed to “protect the lives and properties of the people from disasters caused by abnormal climatic phenomenon”

Must I explain how downsizing works in North Korea?

After a bad forecast I’d try not to go out in public too much. Seriously. No one wants to subject themselves to that!

But North Korea. Tough crowd.

&#185 – The lovely and talented Ann Nyberg often called his late father, Kim Jung-“Mentally”-Il.

I Didn’t Bring The Envelope!

voting machine

It’s voting day in California.

We have open primaries here. I can vote for candidates from either party. We also have California’s election laws which add complexity… and lots of words. It was a long ballot.

I am a beneficiary of California’s motor voter law. My driver license came with voter registration.

Our polling place is in the clubhouse at a nearby apartment complex. I walked in with my mail-in ballot and puppy dog look! In front of me was a table with forms in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean.

“This is my first time voting in California. I’m going to need some help.”

Four poll watchers looked up and smiled. One asked, “Do you have the envelope?”

Do I have the envelope? Of course not. That would be too easy.

He was referring to the envelope for mailing my ballot in. An extra form to fill. I had to surrender the papers I brought in. My ballot is officially ‘provisional.’

Another poll watcher escorted me to the voting machine and gave me a quick lesson. “It’s not touchscreen.”

Glad she told me. It looks like a touchscreen, but there’s a wheel with thumb hole used to select everything. In 2014 this is a bad human/machine interface.

I spun my way through all the candidates and three ballot questions. One authorized money for subsidized housing for vets. Isn’t that a no brainer, especially after what we’ve seen the last few months?

A few more clicks and a printed ballot with bar code moved through a window. My last chance to check my work.

“Here’s your receipt.”

Really. You get a receipt for voting? I think it had to do with my provisional status.

“Can I return it in 30 days if I don’t like who got elected,” I asked?

The poll watchers smiled. Slow day.

I don’t believe I’ve missed an election day since 1972.

On Buying Health Insurance

There are more choices than there are distinctions. It’s impossible to see what’s different between various policies without being a statistician and actuary. I’m pretty math savvy and my head is swimming!

In the past we depended on insurance to help beginning with dollar one. Now, I’m wondering how important ‘dollar one’ really is.

obamacareSince I left FoxCT I have been insured through COBRA, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. All that means is no employer subsidy. I’m paying 100%.

Insurance is expensive. You probably already knew that.

Eighteen months have passed. I’m forced to get coverage on my own. This is among the most confusing things I’ve ever done!

First the good news. Under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, I can buy insurance! How that would have worked out before, considering my back surgery two summers ago and my age? All I know is, I’m insurable.

My beef with Obamacare is it doesn’t go far enough. Why do we bother with private insurance? Why must we confuse everyone? The rest of the world seems to prefer a single payer system. Seniors seem happy with Medicare.

There are too many choices.

Let me refine that. There are more choices than there are distinctions. It’s impossible to see what’s different between various policies without being a statistician or actuary. I’m pretty math savvy and my head is swimming!

In the past we depended on insurance to help beginning with dollar one. Now, I’m wondering how important ‘dollar one’ really is. Are we better off ‘self insuring’ for common medical problems and letting insurance kick in at big dollar amounts? How much out-of-pocket can I take?

Within the next day or two we will reach a decision. I wish it was a more educated decision.