Do you bike in the city?

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Good looking and environmentally friendly!

 

[Klaus Hergersheimer]

Guy supposedly had a Welrod (?!): World War 2 suppressed pistol which has to be manually re-cocked for each shot by pulling out a knob on the rear. This person knew what they were doing.

 

[bene_legionary]

Christchurch is almost as flat as Kansas, so we should have a lot more people biking. But the last time I biked (owing to my car starter breaking down), a person ran a red light and I biked right into the side of their car.

However, visitors to Christchurch do often complement us on our bike infrastructure if not our drivers.

 

[Arwon]

Canberra is quite good for cycling and has the country's highest share of people taking "active transport" ie walking and cycling to work... but I never learned to ride a bike so can't ride anywhere regardless

 

[danjuno]

Should the CEO getting shot be it's own thread?

 

[Kaitzilla]

Guy supposedly had a Welrod (?!): World War 2 suppressed pistol which has to be manually re-cocked for each shot by pulling out a knob on the rear. This person knew what they were doing.

They've narrowed down the suspects to 50 million people.

Apparently United Healthcare makes most of their money ripping off Medicare patients.

Manhattan Medicare Murder Mystery

Only about 50 million customers of America’s reigning medical monopoly might have a motive to exact revenge upon the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

prospect.org

Baker’s story was nothing approaching the most nightmarish “lack of coverage” stories I’d heard from UnitedHealth customers, many of which definitionally end in death via claim denial.
In September, I detailed some of those stories collected in a class action lawsuit against the company’s nursing home “algorithm” NaviHealth, which a few years back UnitedHealth acquired and tweaked to automatically kick Medicare Advantage patients recovering from surgery out of their rehab centers after a maximum of two weeks, even if they could not move.

...

Last year, the government spent more than $460 billion, or about $14,100 per patient, paying Medicare Advantage insurers; critics of the program estimate that overpayments comprise as much as $127 billion of that haul.

And what do seniors like Rita Baker get for all those tax dollars? Increasingly, not much. A Senate report published in October shows that denial rates at the big three corporate Medicare Advantage insurers for big-ticket expenditures like nursing home care have all risen dramatically over the past five years, as UnitedHealth and its peers outsourced those decisions to algorithms that have an easier time than humans denying vital care to patients in need.

They've started using AI to deny claims in microseconds.
Only a 90% error rate.

UnitedHealth faces class action lawsuit over algorithmic care denials in Medicare Advantage plans

A class action lawsuit was filed against UnitedHealth and a subsidiary alleging they use an algorithm to deny care to seriously ill patients

www.statnews.com

Coverage Denied
End of Line

 

[Arwon]

Should the CEO getting shot be it's own thread?

Maybe just covered in all threads

 

[Akka]

On totally unrelated news, by the way :

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/05/health/anthem-blue-cross-blue-shield-anesthesia-claim-limits/index.html

Some ghoul wanted to put reimbursement time limit on anesthesia during surgery (in other words : if your surgery last too long, they wouldn't reimburse the anesthesia). Somehow, they suddenly thought it wasn't a good idea. Go figure.
Not sure the NYPD will get a lot of of well-meaning answers about the guy - just a hunch.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

They've started using AI to deny claims in microseconds.
Only a 90% error rate.

In the Duniverse, all it took was an AI "doctor" to abort an at-term fetus to touch off the Butlerian Jihad.

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.

 

[bene_legionary]

Here is a picture of his face they got from a hotel.

I realised I was staying at that very hostel only a week before the assassin. Odd to think about.

 

[Zardnaar]

Used to but injury stopped it

 

[bene_legionary]

I'm currently in Toronto. It seems the most topical thing so far is the controversy around the bike lanes. It seems that most people I know in the city really do not like their implementation and find it both immensely confusing and disruptive to driving, parking, and emergency services. Not to mention, the weather does not seem to be the best for year-round cycling, unlike Christchurch.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm currently in Toronto. It seems the most topical thing so far is the controversy around the bike lanes. It seems that most people I know in the city really do not like their implementation and find it both immensely confusing and disruptive to driving, parking, and emergency services. Not to mention, the weather does not seem to be the best for year-round cycling, unlike Christchurch.

Nice and flat in Christchurch. Woukd probably live there after here.

 

[Quintillus]

I'm currently in Toronto. It seems the most topical thing so far is the controversy around the bike lanes. It seems that most people I know in the city really do not like their implementation and find it both immensely confusing and disruptive to driving, parking, and emergency services. Not to mention, the weather does not seem to be the best for year-round cycling, unlike Christchurch.

I saw an article in a British magazine I subscribe to (and read in the U.S.) that there's a huge controversy about bike lanes in Toronto, something about Rob Ford wants to rip them out? What's the main downside of their implementation? I haven't heard of another city where they're anywhere near as controversial as what the magazine suggests they are in Ontario.

 

[bene_legionary]

Severe traffic congestion and confusion over colour markings for bike lanes allegedly. Also, there’s less parking spaces and it’s harder to move out of the way for emergency vehicles to pass…