FLIGHT 4352 - Cincinnati <=> Newark, Beware, if you ever fly this leg

ForeWarned is ForeArmed - this proverb is worth its weight in gold with what I have to say here.

The worst flight in America - UNITED FLIGHT 4352:

Count how many times there is a mention of "we are constantly trying to do a better job" and tally against the statistics.

Passengers interested in avoiding cursed flights should check the on-time performance for flights on airline websites and by independent services like FlightStats.com. The list of chronically delayed flights can be found on the Bureau of Transportation Statistics website.

Flight 4352 OFFICIALLY enters the hall of shame. I rarely fly and often book my tickets looking at the lowest price first. It never occured to me to check flight times (implicitly assumed they were mostly on time).

I am going to frame it here lest it is lost:

In 12 of the past 24 months ending in March, Flight 4352, which has changed flight numbers five times over the past two years to purge its bad history from airline reservation systems, was over 30 minutes late on at least half of its scheduled days, which is the DOT definition of "chronically late."

More depressing news - TB 117 and couches and carpets and cancers and thyroid disease and ...

An email from change.org landed in my inbox - I saved people from fire and now I have cancer (please sign the petition).

One lead to another and I read this horrifying and shocking article - the poisoning of michigan.

Some links:
Huffington post
National resource defense council


(sic)

Americans carry much higher levels of these chemicals in their bodies than anyone else in the world and California children contain some of the highest levels ever measured. During manufacturing, use and disposal, these chemicals are released into the environment where they can be found in air, water, and wildlife. They are carried on air currents as far away as the Arctic where they pollute native human populations, marine mammals, and even polar bears. Exposure to toxic flame retardants have been linked to real and measurable health impacts. Women with higher levels of flame retardants in their blood take longer to get pregnant and have smaller babies. Children exposed in the womb have lower IQs and attention problems. Other studies have linked flame retardants to cancer, male infertility, male birth defects, and early puberty in girls. A recent study in animals has linked

 Why is california singled out - because of TB 117. Read more here - TB 117.

TB-117 2013 is coming and it may not address all your fears. 
http://www.bhfti.ca.gov/about/laws/propregs.shtml. Debra Lynn Dadd explains why here

This is sad news - I didnt know that the air I breathe at home is contaminated with silent killers. A sudden spurt in some conditions and *my natural age* was always the common explanation. Thanks to Janette Neeves Rivera's petition, I understand how thoroughly fvcked I am to live in homes made of carcinogenic materials. No wonder that the generations past the 1950s suffer from untold and rare diseases - all the time I am asking why is that such conditions are not abound in third world? Cause the people are not rich enough to drink the modest concoctions of the western thinktank - eat, drink and breathe carcinogens.

The systematic reaming of middle class America - US health care

 A very riveting and interesting article that hits the nail on the head.

On being insured and the insurance company being the negotiator

“You keep thinking it’s free,” she said. “We call it free, but of course it’s not.”  (sic)

Yet, the sad story is,

1. The USA outpaces rest of world on a 7:1 ratio in terms of medical spending
2. The quality of care is most horrifyingly "average".
3. The total number of drugs/scans/tests/procedures ordered per patient is unnecessary (see it 'saving ass').
4. What more the drug/scan/procedures, USA is the most expensive in all 21 categories.
5. The list goes on and on...

Here is another gem,

The high price paid for colonoscopies mostly results not from top-notch patient care, according to interviews with health care experts and economists, but from business plans seeking to maximize revenue;

While several cheaper and less invasive tests to screen for colon cancer are recommended — colonoscopy has become the go-to procedure in the United States. “We’ve defaulted to by far the most expensive option, without much if any data to support it,” 

Latest NYT article on health care expenditures:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/health/colonoscopies-explain-why-us-leads-the-world-in-health-expenditures.html?_r=0

An article by the renowned Dr Atul Gawande on escalating costs and an explanation as to why?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/health/colonoscopies-explain-why-us-leads-the-world-in-health-expenditures.html?_r=0