By MamaLiberty
I’ve been told since 1949 that my hearing loss was permanent, and that nothing could be done for it. Each time my hearing has been tested since then, the message was the same: hearing aids will not help you hear better. Live with it.
I had speech therapy as a child, learned to read lips and have become very practiced at every form of situational awareness. I could hear sound fairly well at times, but could not differentiate between sounds much, especially the human voice.
As I’ve gotten older, my hearing got worse and worse, to the point where I have not been able to understand what was being said in videos, TV and so forth for a long time. About three years ago I quit trying to listen to my classical music, since it was fuzzy and strange, regardless of the volume. More recently, I have not been able to use the telephone much at all.
So, I had a new test and the audiologist insisted that the new digital hearing aids WOULD help me hear better, even if not perfectly. The problem was that he wanted $6,000. for the new hearing aids. YIKES And they would only be “good” for five or six years! YIKES again! Oh, and all the consumer reports comments indicate that this is not “settled science,” and these aides have some real problems yet… But OK, we have dealt with that with our computers and other devices for a long time. Nothing starts out perfect. And, wonderfully, new technology comes along frequently. Continue reading →
The arrogance and overreach of human government
By Nathan Barton
How much power do human governments have? And specifically, how much power do SOME human governments have? I think that it is clear that too many people, not just those IN these various governments, think that government has a lot more power than it really does, and even more than any government should have.
Consider this article in Raw Story. It seems that a private company, Moon Express, wants clearance by the FedGov to fly to the moon in 2017. “U.S. government agencies are working on temporary rules to allow Moon Express to land a spacecraft on the moon next year, while Congress weighs a more permanent legal framework to govern future commercial missions to the moon, Mars and other destinations beyond Earth’s orbit, officials said. Plans by private companies to land spacecraft on the moon or launch them out of Earth’s orbit face legal obstacles because the United States has not put in place regulations to govern space activities, industry and government officials said. … The issue is coming to a head in part because of a request by Florida-based Moon Express for permission from the U.S. government to land a spacecraft on the moon in 2017. So far, only government agencies have flown satellites beyond Earth’s orbit.” Continue reading →