i came accross an article on a mens magizine that qoutes that people who have other people in their reltionships tend to have happier marriges or relationships tend to stay together longer than people that don't experiment. what do you think.

Bedroom Golf Rules

1. Each player shall furnish his own equipment Normally one club and two balls.

2. Play on a course must be approved by the owner of the hole.

3. Unlike outdoor golf, the object is to get the CLUB in the hole and keep the balls out.

4. For most effective play, the club should have a firm shaft. Course owners are permitted to check shaft stiffness before play begins.

5. Course owners reserve the right to restrict shaft length so not to damage the hole(s).

6. The object of the game is to take as many strokes as necessary until the course owner is satisfied that the play is complete. Failure to do so may result in being denied permission to play the course again.

7. It is considered bad form to begin playing the hole immediately upon arrival at the course. The experienced player will take time to admire the entire course with special attention to the well-formed bunkers.

8. Players are cautioned not to mention other courses they have played or are currently playing to the owner of the course being played. Upset course owners have been known to damage a player's equipment for this reason.

9. Players are encouraged to bring proper rain gear for their own protection.

10. Players should assure themselves that their match has been properly scheduled, particularly when a new course is being played. Previous players have been known to become irate if they discover someone else playing on what they consider to be their private course.

11. Players should not assume a course is in shape for play at all times.

12. Players are advised to be extremely tactful in this situation. More advanced players will find an alternate means of play when this occurs.

13. Players are strongly encouraged to obtain permission before playing the Back Nine.

14. Slow play is encouraged. However, players should be prepared to proceed at a faster pace, at least temporarily, at the owners request.

15. It is considered outstanding performance; time permitting, to play the same hole several times in one match.

 I have yet to go to Miami Velvet but would like to attend soon. I kind of have an idea what to expect but I'm sure it will be different once I get there. Would anyone like to share their experience at Miami Velvet?

can anyone give us the scoop on the Ft Myers club that meets in the Cigar and Wine bar????

Healthcare Reform

 

       No subject has had more economic and social impact on more Americans than healthcare. This

 

subject has been debated for decades by lawmakers, healthcare professionals and regular Americans for

 

the latter part of this century. The US healthcare system is fiscally the largest in the world. As such, it

 

offers the world's most cutting edge medical research and development. From new forms of

 

medication to life saving technology, no other healthcare systems is as advanced. There have, however,

 

been a growing number of trends that have brought into question the US healthcare systems

 

sustainability and accessibility to the general population. In response to this, new legislation has been

 

enacted in the hopes that healthcare may not only maintain its competitive edge in research and

 

development but also become more accessible to all. Although healthcare as a whole is an extremely

 

complex subject, its discussion will be broken down into manageable sections and analyzed.

 

New Legislation and its Impact on Healthcare Reform

 

       In March of this year, the U.S passed its first and largest universal healthcare initiative. This bill

 

was meant to address many of the problems identified in our current healthcare system. Although

 

heralded as a sweeping and permanent reform, the bill itself was enacted through a process called

 

budget reconciliation. This form of legislation is intended for budgetary purposes and disallows

 

legislation not directly affected by revenue. Due to heavy opposition to healthcare reform in its early

 

stages, congressional leaders were prompted to enact healthcare legislation that fell within the

 

perimeters of budgetary reconciliation. The benefits of this maneuver were that congress only required

 

a simple 51 vote majority in order to pass the bill rather than the 60 vote majority needed without

 

                                                                                                                            Waters 2

 

reconciliation. The drawback of passing legislation through a budgetary vehicle is that budgets are

 

subject to finite time frames. As such healthcare reform is subject to the same finality that its

 

corresponding budget is, making it a less permanent form of legislation. This finality may play a part

 

in the systemic effects of reform over time.

                                                                                                                                             

 

Our Healthcare System's World Standing

 

       Many of the critics of the US system of healthcare do so by comparing disparities between our

 

system of healthcare and those of other developed nations. According to the World Health

 

Organization, the US ranks 37^th in the administration of healthcare in the world. Conversely, other

 

developed countries are at the very top of the list of providers of healthcare. (WHO 2010). France for

 

example is ranked as the WHO's top provider of healthcare, and boasts some of the best longevity and

 

live birth statistics. In fact the US's live birth and other key statistics are some of the worst in the

 

developed world. This has been a troubling trend for a country with such vast medical resources. This

 

significant gap between research and development versus accessibility of care has caused many to

 

examine the viability of utilizing other systems of health administration. The French system of

 

healthcare, one very similar to our newly enacted system, relies on an eclectic mix of private insurers,

 

cooperatives or insurance exchanges and tax funded government subsidies. As a result of this

 

combination of systems, the French enjoy healthcare coverage for  most of its citizens, and boasts

 

some of the world's best longevity and birth rate statistics. This mix of insurers was designed to

 

augment private sector insurance through subsidies meant to bridge the gap between the insured and

 

uninsured as well as disperse the risk of insuring the gravely ill and elderly. In addition to subsidies,

 

French legislators have regulated their market with cost restrictions and mandates for the availability

 

of healthcare providers. Although a top system, French healthcare has been riddled by growing

 

inflation as the demands of a rapidly aging population takes its toll. This has been due in no small

 

                                                                                                                                           Waters 3

 

part to the overuse of clinics and hospitals and a growing culture of fee for service treatment. The latter

 

gives incentive to healthcare professionals to provide sometimes unnecessary treatment in order to

 

increase profits. Systemically this can balloon healthcare costs and artificially drain insurance and tax

 

revenues. Another point of reference on healthcare administration is the Netherlands. Dutch healthcare

 

has been highly regarded as spear heading efficiency for its dual system of insurance. In it there is a

 

robust private sector subsidized by a single payer system. According to the European Observatory on

 

Healthcare Systems the Dutch make this system more efficient by having primary caregivers act as

 

“gatekeepers”, both practicing preventative medicine and referring patients to specialists on a need

 

need basis, thus avoiding possible wasteful spending. Ironically, the Dutch model has had mixed

 

reviews, as many underprivileged sectors remain without access to proper healthcare.

 

Economics of Healthcare

 

       Although healthcare represents a sizable part of our economy, understanding its economics can be

 

very tricky. An example of this on a legislative level is Medicare. It has been said many times that

 

Medicare is an entitlement on the verge of bankruptcy, and an example of a failed public healthcare

 

scheme. Its solvency and future, however are in some ways subjective. Although current projections

 

predict near future insolvency, Medicare like many other government programs is subject to an

 

adjustable budget and cost cutting measures. Claiming its structure is flawed in perpetuity is akin to

 

saying that budgetary shortfalls have doomed the Department of Defense to future insolvency. It is

 

inconceivable that we would not adjust the D.O.D's budget to ensure its future viability in a dynamic

 

economic climate. So too is it questionable that we lack the ability to adjust medicare's and other

 

budgets to ensure long term viability. As a whole, the US spends more per capita than any other nation

 

on earth on healthcare. (W.H.O 2010). Given its abysmal live birth rate and the inaccessibility of many

 

to healthcare, this this can be quite confusing. Healthcare in this country, as with most other economic

 

sectors, is based on a free market system. In it consumers are empowered to make purchasing decisions

                                                                                                                                          Waters 4

 

based on  several options. Consumers are empowered to make purchasing decisions with

 

the expectation that the open market will foster competitiveness and fair pricing. Strangely, domestic

 

healthcare cost has outpaced GDP by +2.5% and continues on an inflammatory track far wider than the

 

economy. (Mckinsey 2008). In addition, US patients pay out of pocket costs at a rate of 17% of

 

medical expenditures. This compared to Britain which has a 3% rate of out of pocket payment. (Reid

 

2008). With a free market system and the most cutting edge medical research and development, this is

 

puzzling. Some of the answers to this quandary lie in the nature of healthcare. In the US, it has been

 

estimated that 1/3 of patients recommended for heart bypass do not need it and that 17%  of actual

 

bypass patients either saw no benefit to the surgery or were exposed to unnecessary risk.(Gibson 2010).

 

Such insight is helpful in understanding our free market's ability to perform well in the healthcare

 

arena. A closer look at domestic healthcare shows a blaring problem in the customer mentality. The

 

average American pays about 10% of their medical bills out of pocket. This causes an insensitivity to

 

price and dulls the motivation to shop for the best value. In addition, 50% of Americans have

 

health insurance through their employer. These plans almost never offer a choice of insurers, and if

 

they do, the choices are extremely limited. This is due to the fact that insurance companies conduct

 

localized monopolies in specific markets. As such a resident of one state cannot seek insurance from

 

another state, as their options are limited to their home state only. These restrictions in options mixed

 

with a dulling of price sensitivity has led the healthcare consumer away from moderating prices and

 

toward complacency. The effects of this have been the unchecked rising of the cost of healthcare.

 

According to the Mckinsey Institute,  healthcare prices are most inflated by the use of outpatient

 

services. Mirroring advances in non invasive medical treatments, patients have been treated on an out

 

patient basis with more regularity than ever. This form of of treatment represents a cost saving measure

 

in the short term, but long term effects of empty hospital beds is a higher cost per patient ratio for in

 

patient services. The result of this higher cost of admission and convalescence is a commensurate

                                                                                                                                                Waters 5

 

increase in the cost of giving birth and treatment of serious illness. Without less cost effective

 

healthcare options, many patients who cannot manage their medical burdens simply file for bankruptcy

 

protection. As with all parts of the private sector, losses of this kind are recouped by higher hospital

 

costs and insurance premiums, driving up the overall cost of healthcare.

 

Possible Solutions

 

       The US is the only developed nation that has no set manner of healthcare management. (Reid

 

2009). For this reason, capitalism and its inherent aversion to social prerogative have left millions

 

without proper care. Add to this out of control medical inflation, and our new healthcare bill was

 

formed. This bill, although not without flaws, may very well rein in some of the wastefulness and

 

misuse in our system, while protecting and even enhancing individuals choice. One of the bill's

 

main ways of doing this is the inclusion of people of all medical conditions into the system; the cost

 

offset by mandatory health coverage for all. This maneuver is meant to preempt the escalation of

 

costly serious illness while supplying a diffuse enough premium base to handle a higher claims. In

 

addition, the healthcare bill handles the perennial problem of waste and fraud by more strictly

 

overseeing and funding entitlements such as Medicare. In doing so, the bill helps to curtail the

 

dangerous practice of fee for service, and guides medical care towards illness prevention and

 

adequate care giving. In all, a healthcare system as rich as ours in innovation and talent should not

 

be diluted but allowed to flourish in a responsible fashion. It is clear that we cannot use a strictly

 

“laissez faire” capitalist model when dealing with healthcare, as the management of health

 

intrinsically carries heavy social ramifications. We also must recognize that healthcare delivery in

 

the private sector fosters innovation that cumbersome bureaucracies simply cannot. Healthcare reform

 

promises to apply serious budgetary oversight in order to control cost and availability, while still

 

allowing ingenuity to grow.

 

 

                                                                                                                                         Waters 6

                                                                                                                                          

Outline

 

I.       introduction

 

ii.      Background information

 

a. Importance of healthcare Reform

 

            b. Dominance of Our System of Innovation

           

             c. Accessibility

              

               1. Legislation dealing with accesability

 

     iii. New Legislation and its Impact on Healthcare Reform

              a. How the bill was enacted

             

                1. Temporary nature of the bill

              

              b. Drawbacks of the legisation

 

                1. Budgetary reconciliation

 

      iv. Our Healthcare System's World Standing

 

               a. Other developed nations

 

                1. Our ranking in health delivery

         

               b. France     

               

                1. France's systemic performance

       

                2. France's systemic drawbacks

 

                c. The Netherlands

 

                 1. Dutch systemic performance                

 

                 2. Dutch systemic drawbacks

 

v.      Economics of Healthcare

 

                 a. Portion of our economy

 

                  1. Analogy of Medicare's sustainability

 

                                                                                                                                               Waters 7

 

                 b. The free market and Healthcare

 

                  1. Medical inflation

 

                  2. Insensitivity to pricing

 

                 c. Outpatient treatment

                  

                   1. Higher per patient cost

 

     vi. Possible Solutions

 

                  a. Larger premium pool

 

                  b. Cost controls

 

                  c. Allowance of preexisting conditions

 

Diary of a lonely stoner

              The strange things we sometimes  do. I find myself high as a kite, swaying to the melodious beat of “sweet sensation” by Stephanie mills as I bastardize a classic Trinidadian recipe (I’m not telling which). Weed is the most interesting of catalysts. A most precious and lauded flower that affects us all differently giving rise to its iconic popular societal value. (wholly shit how did I get that out, I can’t even stand up right now). I find myself when high having a wide kaleidoscope (yes I spell checked it) of thoughts. Thoughts upon which I quickly deliberate and resolve rather than ponder. Lets add to the fragrant bouquet’s seduction, self absorbance. Now this is not the typical enamored know it all’s slobbering love affair with “the man in the mirror”, this is the washing away of self loathing and deprivation that we all feel in varied amounts. Endorphins pop and fire effervescently giving rise to a Pavlovian reward for every problem pondered and solved. Pretty soon, you’ve convinced yourself that you are modern day orator- warrior capable of smiting any unworthy yet fortunate ear, and mesmerizing it with a whit it may not understand, but with which it will comply! No wonder it’s illegal. The truth is you’r e high as shit and thinking creatively, not logically. But the conversation, so much fun!

               Strangely enough, getting up early is actually becoming a habit. I guess that once you’ve breached the sophomoric hatred for all things pre noon, you have a decidedly more productive view of the day. Add feeling generally yet cautiously more fit to the equation and you’ve got a great day.

               Agenda:

1.       Clean kitchen and do dishes

2.       Mop the house with mistolin. (This is where it gets good. Free day, things that smell glorious then all of a sudden you want to be high)

3.       Replace nozzles for hand sink

4.       Repair  toilet diaphragm

5.       START FREAKIN LAUNDRY AT 20 POUNDS rather than 120

6.       Have car washed and detailed.

7.       15 minute run

8.       Smoke

Ok so once I was up before a certain amber eyed brunette, I felt good. Really good. Great day, no work…. Ok so number 8 became numero uno. Are you surprised? Next, dishes. After doing the unthinkable and ‘planning’ my flatware and crockery attack, I purposefully lathered and examined each piece, found myself interlacing my fingers with the perfectly warm water, gazing idiotically, I mean idyllically at the soapy bubbles produced ( this one took a while). After this, things picked up. The bathroom nozzles were assembled fairly quickly. The frustrations attributed to handling parts slightly bigger than those in a watch makers tool chest don’t seem to exist when you’re high. Scrubbing bubbles were next, and before long anything tile or porcelain was blanketed with  white foam. Stopping to marvel at the sheets of downward falling foam, I realized that I needed to focus. A few paper towels and a bucket later, Mr. Clean would have been proud. Repairing the toilets diaphragm while high was…hmmm…unproductive at best. Attempting to manipulate slippery intricate rubber parts that are under water is not smart. But when high, you’re freakin Bob Villa. So far so good. Before starting the next project, I walk into the kitchen, look around and start sampling. Remembering my commitment to health, I start with nuts. Before long, I’m on to a pineapple and banana. “God damn it, I’m hungry.”Peeling myself away from the impending doom of gorging, I start frantically sweeping up, then dusting. There is nothing more pleasing than seeing a dusty dull slab of wood transform into a glossy display of ambers and deep chocolate right before your eyes. (still hungry) About then, my phone rings. Speaking to the object of my current blathering, I simultaneously plot and make conversation while giving cosmic importance to my wickedly cool plan. Just in time, Stephanie Mills is back with “Never knew love like this before”, invigorating me once again. As I bob my head and dip clumsily to the melodic syncopations that fall on me like drapes of velvet, I have flashbacks of afros, bell bottoms and great dancing that aid me in sliding along the floor soapy water and sponge under foot. Floors cleaned and apartment perfumed by the mistolin soaped tiles, laundry was the next of my victims. Thirty seconds and a changed mind later, I started to cook. (still hungry) The recipe in mind was definitely comfort food and a Trinidadian staple which should not be tampered with. But I so wanted peas and carrots. What the hell, who will know. Two helpings and one carnal sin later, I decide on a beer. Finding an exciting Belgian wheat, I pretentiously grab the appropriate beer glass, cut a sliver of an orange which will now undoubtedly go to waste, and drank up.

 

Quiet isn’t she, but always gazing curiously;

Dispensing conversation when earned, yet quick to discern;

The untraveled with no knowledge beware, “You are an idiot” she will declare;

Completely intolerant she may seem;

But loyalty and plainness she holds in high esteem;

Look closely and a high standard she maintains;

Although the unappreciative view these as pains;

               Thoughtful and principled she remains;

               Whether shown appreciation or disdain;

               Careful though I will advise, not every challenge leads to demise;

               Don’t take too seriously challenges faced;

           Life gives only that which we can embrace.

 

To be continued for sure……….

 

          

 

 )

 

Confidence In capitalism

 

       The recent global economic crisis was a somber reminder of the dangers of unregulated capitalism.

 

In its wake, the values of currencies have fallen, governments been dissolved and unemployment is

 

high world wide. In this economic pressure cooker, one can easily envision capitalist detractors longing

 

for change. In the aftermath of any catastrophe systems are second guessed and “what ifs” abound.

 

It is in this environment that we realize that a smart global economy requires aspects of both capitalism

 

and temporary social intervention.

 

 A Smart Global Economy

 

       Capitalism in its purest form is represented by the transfer of goods and services with little

 

interference by government entities. This is a hap hazard yet effective economic system, as it  allows

 

for a market to impartially determine prices and rewards innovation and discipline. Unfortunately if

 

an entity or person engages in unfair or illegal business practices, the mechanism of capitalism slowly

 

begins to fail. It is for this reason that government must exercise strong economic oversight. Such

 

policing must involve the disbanding of monopolies, and assuring that fiduciary responsibility is being

 

met where applicable. It is during these difficult periods of adjustment that state actors stabilizing

 

markets and creating government works projects may represent a pale shadow of socialism. This

 

however represents the dynamic and multi faceted nature of Capitalism. In reality every economy has

 

capitalist and socialist aspect to it. In socialist economies, there is usually a thriving black market for

 

difficult to acquire products. I capitalist economies, there are usually a great number of social services

 

geared toward ensuring that the lower economic classes have the necessities of life. This is not to say

 

that prevalent voices harken for socialist rule, as this has been proven to cause economic stagnation. In

 

modern history, no purely socialist or communist state has survived the ravages of major economic

 

havoc. 

Single guys.....Many of you put down that you know your boundries when playing with couples. I would like to know single guys opinion of what the boundries are when playing with couples.

Couples.....I would like to know what boundries are expected when you play with single guys.

Thanks

Hi...

I am looking for a lady or a couple for a break in Thaniland or Goa for 3 some or 4... any one wants to join ??