Madagascar has the most fascinating fauna, as does Australia, being as they have in common a lot of the reasons they have those fauna.
Update on my cat, Kitt...it was an ingrown toenail of all things. didn't know cats get those...they removed them and told us it wasn't that bad, they have seen them come out the other side in some cats...we need to take him every 4 to 6 weeks to get his trimmed.
The bad news is the blood work, they say he has some neuropathy and kidney injury..sigh, please I don't want to lose another cat to kidney disease issues. So they wanted to do some more bloodwork for another $114 ( that makes it a little over $500 now...sigh)...they also after that want to check his blood pressure as they want to see if he has high BP, which can be treated, the other things we have to see what they are. ( that's another $55...)
It is freezing here and has been for two weeks now...today we might get a heat wave of 26 degrees...but, then back to the teens, with possible below zero temps at times. Luckily ( hope I am not jinxing myself ) we haven't had any more snow for a while now and hope it stays that way....I haven't seen a January like this, since I was a kid....
I won't mention the other stressors going on...lol..( aside from politics, which is hard to get away from, even on here.
Thanks Opt, I am trying to stay positive...the vet was supposed to call me Thursday or yesterday with results and hasn't yet, not sure if that is good or bad
The local TV weather people say this is the most and longest snow we’ve had since 2016–which sounds about right to me. There hasn’t been bare lawn/ground in at least three weeks, it seems to me.
Sorry about your cat. Pet vet care has become very expensive. And the Hill’s Science Diet food is, too, if that becomes part of the prescription.
Thanks on the cat sympathy...Yeah, same here, they say we have broken some records on the amount of snow still on the ground...I can't remember the last time, I am bad at years, but, it has been a while...
Yeah, and actually my vet is pretty reasonable, and they tell me how to save money and they don't sell expensive stuff...the blood work is done elsewhere, so can't blame them...I have been with her for like 22 years, and three cats...lol
They told me that any indoor cat food is good, I get Iams, which isn't cheap, but not outrageous...thanks, I hope whatever it is, he can be treated...he seems to be feeling better even was sleeping with his brother which he hadn't for a while now.
Construction physics substack looking at a good number of factors to understand why homeowners insurance is rising so fast.
He doesn't think its climate change, but there is some evidence. Or insurance profits. But, Ms. Pinki, who had lives long ago as a major insurer Automotive senior claims adjuster, agent, and paralegal says:
It's the deductibles rising. The higher deductible is a forcing function. If your deductible is $2500 and your claim is $2560, you would not like a claim. Because you go from claim free to a risk adjusted rate. You may get a new underwriting and a higher premium. So this pushes the threshold for making a claim up, raising the monetary value of claims. Because ones you handle yourself are never counted or reported.
The other issue is that most of the P/C Insurers are not profitable. All of them, or nearly all, have COMBINED RATIOS (claims paid divided by premiums received) over 1.0. The scale of the recent claim events has been really large for a large time. This is true of even the high end insurors, such as Chubb and Ace.
But many insurance companies are "Mutual" companies. They distribute dividends. NOT owned by shareholders but by policy holders.
Chubb serves business, wealthy people and is a reinsurer backstop to other insurers. Insurance for insurance companies. Also US founded in the Ben Franklin era!
Chubb is more into Property and Casualty. And very darn profitable and growing
.
chubb insurance revenue by segment 2023
In 2023, Chubb's revenue came from a number of segments, including property and casualty (P&C), life insurance, and investment income.
P&C: Chubb's P&C underwriting income was $5.5 billion in 2023, with a combined ratio of 86.5%.
Life insurance: Chubb's life insurance net premiums written were over $1 billion in 2023.
Investment income: Chubb's investment income was $5.3 billion in 2023.
Details
Chubb's total revenue in 2023 was $49.7 billion, a 16% increase from 2022.
Chubb's net income in 2023 was $9.03 billion, a 72% increase from 2022.
Chubb's profit margin in 2023 was 18%, an increase from 12% in 2022.
Chubb's return on equity (ROE) in 2023 was 16.4%, an increase from 9.6% in 2022.
Chubb Reports Record Fourth Quarter Per Share Net Income ...
Jan 30, 2024 — P&C underwriting income was $5.46 billion, up 19.9%, leading to a P&C combined ratio of 86.5% compared with 87.6% prior year. P&C current accident y...
underwriting profitability with $5.5 billion in underwriting income and a record combined ratio of 86.5%, which ...
Oct 29, 2024 — Life Insurance net premiums written were $1.55 billion, up 6.8%, or 10.6% in constant dollars, and segment income was $284 million, up 2.3% in
"The fossa looks like a puma crossed with a weasel or mongoose."
IDK. To me it sorta' looks like a ring-tailed lemur that's made a jail break and chucked its prison stripes.
The flora and fossa of Madagascar are nothing if not interesting. Apparently, males get all *up in the air* about their women folk. Just like some earth bound guys are prone to do.
I love our twin propane very fast in demand water heaters. We hace a deep well and have plenty for long hot showers.
To run our fantastic Bosch (lowes) dishwasher you just run the hot water tap. As you know, the on demand little tank water heat tech required a certain water flow to activate the propane heater
Yes...and no. The standard 40 gal. jobs suck too. One, they have a lousy 8-10 year life nowadays. I don't have access to all my notes and files right now, but there's a few mfg's. making 20-30 gallon units with highly advanced heat exchangers, better insulation, draft closure so you're not drafting cool air up the middle of the tank (like on standard 40 gal. jobs) and like 150,000-200,000 btu input so they'll keep up. The 20-30 gal. reserve gets you going and keeps it so you don't have the cold water gaps and the 150,000 btu keeps your recovered. The advantages of on demand with none of the drawbacks....which, btw, if I haven't already said it, on demand types suck. We all hate 'em.
I put in a commercial unit of this type with a 80 gallon reserve, glass lined heat exchanger for long life...6 unit apartment building needs more reserve...got max hot water with no gaps for every apartment and knocked $80-100 a month off the gas bill. They're worth it.
Get a better one. Don't go for the standard 40-50 gallon jobs. They're all benefit on the front end (low cost) but they don't last and they don't keep up.
One of my revelations on life in China is the civil service. We're taking care of some business stuff, which requires us to go out to the provincial administrative complex in Wuchang District. Just the size of this building, if seen in America, would strike dread into the hearts of an American used to dealing with the government on any level. Imagine a DMV office that's approximately 60 acres and 5 stories FULL of people. The difference between here and America is, in America this would be an all day project, and likely you'd have to come back 3 or 4 times because of sloth on the part of the employees. Here, it's like a bureaucratic military drill team operation. Giant computer screens direct you where to go. Complex sets of administrative operations happen in minutes, the computers all work and appear brilliantly networked, the paperwork gets rubber stamped, and you're out of there. Getting a government job is highly sought after, and if you don't crank out the work, there's only about 17 million other applicants standing waiting to take the job and ready to kick ass.
So, a bunch of Fed employees getting upset because they no longer get to work from home doesn't bother me at all. The DEI departments never should have been there in the first place. Anyone complaining, take a hike. I am sure there will be sad tales of mistreatment which will not make me happy, but the bureaucracy is one area where the work force needs to be slashed. Every other workforce in the world has to deal with reality. It's time for the Fed workforce to deal with it too.
In my experience, German bureaucracy is a lot more efficient and quicker in most things than American bureaucracy. The place where you had to spend a lot more time was in the residency registration office, where you have to go to register any change of address. Even they are quick considering the number of people they process.
The local administrative offices for the tax authorities were in a large modern building. I would do my taxes and take them in person to the bureaucrat in charge (most people mail them in). He’d look the forms over and thank me, saying he’d send the final tally along soon. Then there’d be some small talk.
And none of the forms include a declaration that you are forced to sign your rights away with like the confounded IRS forms. No one in their right minds should sign the statements under such forms the US federal government comes up with. Well, maybe sadists who think intercourse with a fossa sounds like fun…
Anyway. I don’t quite understand how it is that America manages to have a bureaucratic state that is slow, incompetent, and hateful all at once.
While the people who think the we don't have to pay income tax are nuts, whenever I have to deal with the IRS (I have been fussing with them over getting the refund for my late mother's last tax return), I sympathize with them. Or with the proposals to go to a "flat tax' or "national sales tax".
Of course most other countries like Germany have BOTH an income tax AND a national "value added" sales tax, or VAT.
Yes. German taxation is for spare-no-expense government. And the rules and regs are hostile to free enterprise for the most part. They seem to assume people who want to operate businesses should be held in contempt and subjected to onerous oversight.
As it turns out, an efficient bureaucracy is very effective at restraining growth and retarding entrepreneurial innovation.
No civil service protections or public sector union: an impossible dream. We went so wrong so far back that I,m not sure it's fixable. Phil is right to worry about unintended consequences. On the other hand, I've not seen alternatives.
Don't get me started about the public sector unions. The federal ones like AFSCME and NTEU intensely contribute to the campaigns of MD and VA Congress members to protect their members, who make up many of their constituents.
From what you are telling me, Big Brother in the People's Republic is highly efficient. Talk about mixed emotions!
About the Federal workforce, exactly right. But those DEI employees have legal rights to take open positions elsewhere in the federal workforce. It's hard to fire a civil servant.
More broadly, my concern about many of Trump's Executive Orders is that they are not well drafted, are simplistic responses to highly regulated and complex areas, and take a "bull in the china shop" approach, rife with unintended consequences.
I gave him some credit for being the only one with the guts to try to force change, knowing the resistance and hate he’ll be subjected to. There are many reasons why we have a $35T debt but a big one is gutlessness.
RE: credit for forcing change "knowing the resistance and hate he’ll be subjected to."
Well, Brian, I really expect the very last thing Donald Trump is concerned about is being subjected to resistance and hate. As long as the basic MAGA crowd are on board with and supporting him, his ego will be adequately massaged and shielded from the slings and arrows of political resistance and even outright hate from the very people he considers his enemies in the first place.
That ego feeds on those things as long as there's a sufficient counterbalance of praise to keep him thinking he's looked up to by - and that he holds sway over - a sufficient number of people to soothe his id.
Agree that gutlessness on the part of politicians writ large of every stripe - and for a very long time now - is how we got to where we are vis a vie unconscionable and unsustainable deficits, along with almost every other untoward aspect of our broken politics. But I'm not prepared to give Donald Trump credit for having "guts" about doing what he's doing regarding how he might change anything regarding our government.
It doesn't take guts for a prey animal to hunt its prey. It does it simply because of its nature and nothing more. And I don't think Trump functions at a very much higher level than that, metaphorically speaking.
I hope as they’re rolled out the people doing so will recognize the complexity and adjust their approaches accordingly. That these are broad directional orders that could look different when implemented. As with all things associated with Trump (he brings it on himself), everyone reacts to it without waiting for details. He won and he has the right to put his plans in place. We’ll see what’s successful and what’s not. But I try to take a wait and see attitude, not letting my head explode over things that haven’t even begun.
But, he has started them all, and most of them are bad. period..especially his methods, which is what I disapprove of...even on the few things I might agree are needed, the way he is trying to fix it is just awful and inhumane in many ways.
I'd have to agree that Trump can be personally repulsive, but I think much of what he wants to do is good, not bad. It constantly amazes me how so many smart, kind people have polar opposite political views. Why do you suppose?
It,s the best thing about this site - that people know each other as people, the same in most ways, different in others, and that's a good thing. I love how Cynthia starts us off every morning with something universally fascinating, and from there the weather, children, family news, stories, jokes. Sometimes mildly contentious issues surface, but the discussion is always courteous and straightforward, i think mostly because we've come to like and appreciate each other in other ways. Politics are important, but they come and go over time and are hardly the sum total of life on earth.
I have been thinking of you and wondering how you are. It's nice to see you here.
"It constantly amazes me how so many smart, kind people have polar opposite political views. Why do you suppose?"
Because our species has a very large brain with room for lots of stuff, but most of what we think actually comes from our pre-rational functions. "It's just his bowels," I often think, when someone is truly obnoxious.
Could you explain how political leanings are pre-rational? I do think the way and the place you were raised establish your base line. I'd hope most adults use their large brains to think these things through, but maybe they don't.
I can certainly see that brain chemistry (speaking of bowels) could determine whether you think the glass is half full or half empty - and that's probably harder to think your way out of!
Yeah, I know. I have to choke back the gorge in my throat just thinking about the moron in charge. But, someone had to do something, and now it's happening.
And yes, Big Brother in the PRC is highly efficient. Every contact I've had with any level of the bureaucracy...and I've had a lot of contact for a foreigner what with the quarantine and all... is courteous, fast, efficient, and actually pleasant because they know their job and they make it happen.
The DMV here....When I went in to take my drivers test, there were hundreds of people. I panicked. But, it went off like military drill team precision. I passed, and the whole office clapped in support for the foreigner. They're not just efficient. They're actually nice people that smile.
Good morning. A little warmer this morning — 13 degrees.
The mothership reports on a lesser known subset of Trump;s Day One actions — his “energy emergency” to increase US drilling, energy production and exports (all already at all-time highs).
The FP is headlining :”The End of DEI?” That’s another of Trump’s EO’s, putting all DEI specialists in the federal government on paid leave pending the abolishment of their offices.
I volunteer at one of Houston’s performing arts venues, on an accessibility team that helps disabled and elderly patrons, and anyone with mobility issues, navigate the building. I push wheelchairs a fair amount and it’s always appreciated. About a month ago we had a training session led by consultants hired to help us learn more about how to support and interact with this specific clientele. In their prepared material and Q&A I heard some of the standard DEI terms like microaggression, misgendering, and others you’re probably familiar with. My reaction when hearing them was that I wonder if they feel that their business will likely change under the new admin. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I do feel they went overboard in the last few years, and now the pendulum is swinging the other way. I also wondered if that consultancy might take a big hit to their business.
More importantly, TMD paid brief homage to Garth Hudson the last surviving member of The Band. Both Matt Labash and I have them as one of our all-time favorite bands.
I was driving somewhere with my four-year-old grandson when “The Weight” came on the radio. I started to change the station, but the kid yelled “Leave it on! It’s my favorite!” He then proceeded to sing all the words. Who knew?
Seems to me that if you let the weeds take over the garden, or the suckers take over the trees, reclaiming will do some damage. Some of this stuff is so deeply entrenched that I don't know how else to do it. It,s not a right to work for the federal government, so "downsizing" by executive directive doesn't seem to me an outrageous effort. I think of whistleblowers rather than tattletales.
Long ago in the 70's, I briefly took a job in the CDBG HUD program. It made me want to burn down Federal bureaucracies. There's so much dead weight in all those departments, I honestly don't care if people are distressed. They need cleaning out, and if tattletales/whistleblowers/snitches/weasels help in clearing them out, I'm for it.
I find the first part of the order - chucking the concept of DEI and its administrative apparatus - to be reasonable. Surely agencies already had EEOC offices, before they added on. However, "directing other employees to report any sub rosa DEI activities within 10 days or risk being fired" is misguided. I understand that it's supposed to prevent efforts to sabotage the administration's goal, but GAH.
The principle of establishing a snitch culture in an organization and fear mongering the snitches to secure their cooperation is found in Chapter 1 on page 37 of the latest edition of The Authoritarian's Best Business Practices Guide.
Yep. We can condemn and complain about politicians and bureaucrats all we want, but ultimately it is we, the voters, who are responsible for those people being in the positions to mess things up that they are. We didn't appoint the bureaucrats in the upper levels of the government, true, but we elected the people who did the appointing, and those are the people running the show and hiring the people who did the hiring farther on down the line, etc.
No one likes bureaucracy, me especially. But this is a big, diverse country, diversity being its basic nature geographically, socially and culturally, whether the anti-diversity crowd likes it or not. And with one hell of a lot of people it requires a large enough government to govern for the good of the country effectively. Which probably means a larger government than any of us would likely say we want, if left strictly up to us. But too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing, and now the pendulum is swinging wildly in the opposite direction without apparent regard for unintended consequences, which is constantly a problem in most anything politicians of any stripe do when it comes to large scale "projects". They only see the forest, not the dangers lurking therein.
The concept of incrementalism is long dead, as well as the notion that good and effective government actually happens in the "middle" and not out on the flanks or extremes in either direction on the political spectrum. With compromise and bipartisanship having become not just dirty words but downright obscenities in both parties for years now, I hold little hope at present for anything more than the unmitigated wild swing of the political pendulum and what might otherwise be good reforms happening with more harm than good being done in the end.
Sorry for the rant. Never having been a partisan or ideologue in any way beyond believing liberal democracy is the worst form of government except for every other form of government, and eschewing political tribalism in favor of straightforward Americanism, it's quite easy for me to be pissed off at everybody in every direction all at one time.
"good and effective government actually happens in the "middle" and not out on the flanks or extremes"
I agree with this, but I don't believe in "the political spectrum." When we talk about "the middle," I think we need to see it more as a vibe or a disposition than as something with a content-based existence.
Take, for example, "far right." As Jonah likes to point out, libertarians used to be the "far right": Free Minds, Free Markets, Free Society. Now, journalism persons use "far right" to mean "super duper hyper enthusiastic about whatever Donald Trump blurted two seconds ago."
I have my doubts that those employees are actually in danger of being fired (which is not to say they don't deserve it). It's hard to fire a Federal civil servant.
It’s 11 here with a feels like -4. Last night we went out to our local watering hole for cheese sandwiches and euchre with some friends. When we left there was the most beautiful fluffy snowfall against the backdrop of the historic courthouse. It was a lovely sight to behold.
Good morning, Phil. North-facing roof sections are still covered with snow, here, as are sections of grass that are in the shade all day. If the temperature really reaches 38, a lot of it will melt.
Yes, I think the hardest-hit areas of Greater Charlotte had less than 2". Slippery roads caused havoc yesterday morning, though. I talked to Brenda midday-ish, and she said her husband had a 360-degree spin experience, but fortunately didn't leave the road or hit anything.
I've had a few winter skids out on the open road, but fortunately never a full 360*, partially because, I suspect, of the numerous 360s I experienced in a different setting. Which were for want of a better description...
Fun!! Fun!! Fun!!
This happened at "The Pad", AKA The Vehicle Dynamics Test Area: nearly 70 acres of perfectly flat blacktop, also referred to as "Black Lake" at the GM Proving Grounds in Milford Michigan.
(scroll down past DPG Yuma to Milford Proving Grounds)
I went there back in my ambulance driving days for a two-day advanced defensive driving course GM provided for those driving emergency vehicles... and even fire trucks and school buses, since the techniques taught were applicable to any "straight" or single vehicle, the only difference being the speeds at which the maneuvers could be successfully executed, the larger the vehicle the lower the speed.
They taught a lot more maneuvers than just skid control, but that far and away was probably the most useful. And it sure as heck was the most fun.
One portion about the size of a football field near one edge of The Pad was coated and sealed with something called Jennite, which when wet down by a water tanker produced a pretty low friction surface.
So, for this part of the training you hop in a four-door full size Chevy Impala with the instructor in the passenger seat and two other students in the back seat. The instructor picks up a pushbutton electrical thumb switch, the wire from which disappears under the floor.
Fasten your seat belts.
Starting on dry pavement away from the "skid pad" portion of Black Lake, one is directed to drive at 10 MPH in a slight arc across the middle of the now wet Jennite surface. At some point, and with no warning, the instructor pushes the thumb button he's kept at his right side so you cannot see him push it, which electrically locks up both the brakes on the rear wheels, producing a low-speed skid which you are now expected to steer into to steer out of. Brakes may or may not remain locked by the instructor until vehicle control is regained, *if* it is regained.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
At ever higher speeds as the maneuver is successfully negotiated at lower speeds, and under differing parameters... right arc, left arc ... sneaky instructor applying brake intermittently at different points in the skid to mess with your newly acquired confidence after a few successes. All until an individual student's "max" speed for a successful maneuver is reached.
Which for me was about 50 MPH, much higher than one hopes to find oneself traveling on any road as slick as that pad was. Attempts above 50 MPH were fun but ultimately resulted in the car skidding out of control off the Jennite surface onto the dry surface and coming to a rather noggin' rattling stop for all the occupants. So those attempts were limited to two.
Now repeat for each student over the course of about 2 or 3 hours without a break except to stretch your legs for a minute or two in between changing out drivers.
Fun!! Fun!! Fun!!
However, I'll never understand how that instructor, for whom this was a good portion of his weekly employee duties at the Proving Grounds, managed to escape a permanent case of vertigo.
I don't recall where, but I do remember having seen that and LMAO!!
Don't know why it seems that I end up responding to you about something just about the time the nags are ringing the room service bell. You've probably initiated some kind of diabolical conspiracy with them, no doubt. But maybe later I'll tell you about a couple of other maneuvers they taught. The "off-road recovery" one was quite simple and effective, and followed the same pattern of more success, more speed.
Ended up doing that one at nearly 70+ MPH in the end. Which was about the top speed that could be achieved in the area in which it was conducted and not run completely out of asphalt. Which could happen at that speed had you done it "wrong".
From JohnM at the mothership:
Worth Your Time II: 'Donald Trump Is Running Riot' --David French
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/opinion/trump-pardons-bolton-jan-6.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rU4.XTgV.c95iv6APrGIj&smid=url-share
Hello everyone.
Madagascar has the most fascinating fauna, as does Australia, being as they have in common a lot of the reasons they have those fauna.
Update on my cat, Kitt...it was an ingrown toenail of all things. didn't know cats get those...they removed them and told us it wasn't that bad, they have seen them come out the other side in some cats...we need to take him every 4 to 6 weeks to get his trimmed.
The bad news is the blood work, they say he has some neuropathy and kidney injury..sigh, please I don't want to lose another cat to kidney disease issues. So they wanted to do some more bloodwork for another $114 ( that makes it a little over $500 now...sigh)...they also after that want to check his blood pressure as they want to see if he has high BP, which can be treated, the other things we have to see what they are. ( that's another $55...)
It is freezing here and has been for two weeks now...today we might get a heat wave of 26 degrees...but, then back to the teens, with possible below zero temps at times. Luckily ( hope I am not jinxing myself ) we haven't had any more snow for a while now and hope it stays that way....I haven't seen a January like this, since I was a kid....
I won't mention the other stressors going on...lol..( aside from politics, which is hard to get away from, even on here.
I'll email re some thoughts on Kitty. From my veterinarian industry experience
OK, thanks
Hang tough, Angie! You too, cat!
Thanks Opt, I am trying to stay positive...the vet was supposed to call me Thursday or yesterday with results and hasn't yet, not sure if that is good or bad
Stay hopeful.
I am , he isn't acting like he is sick, so it is weird
Sorry to hear about your cat. Hoping for the best for you. Hang in there!
Thanks Lucy, I am hoping too....he is my favorite for one thing. And he isn't acting abnormally at all, the vet told me cats are good at hiding it....
The local TV weather people say this is the most and longest snow we’ve had since 2016–which sounds about right to me. There hasn’t been bare lawn/ground in at least three weeks, it seems to me.
Sorry about your cat. Pet vet care has become very expensive. And the Hill’s Science Diet food is, too, if that becomes part of the prescription.
Thanks on the cat sympathy...Yeah, same here, they say we have broken some records on the amount of snow still on the ground...I can't remember the last time, I am bad at years, but, it has been a while...
Yeah, and actually my vet is pretty reasonable, and they tell me how to save money and they don't sell expensive stuff...the blood work is done elsewhere, so can't blame them...I have been with her for like 22 years, and three cats...lol
They told me that any indoor cat food is good, I get Iams, which isn't cheap, but not outrageous...thanks, I hope whatever it is, he can be treated...he seems to be feeling better even was sleeping with his brother which he hadn't for a while now.
Construction physics substack looking at a good number of factors to understand why homeowners insurance is rising so fast.
He doesn't think its climate change, but there is some evidence. Or insurance profits. But, Ms. Pinki, who had lives long ago as a major insurer Automotive senior claims adjuster, agent, and paralegal says:
It's the deductibles rising. The higher deductible is a forcing function. If your deductible is $2500 and your claim is $2560, you would not like a claim. Because you go from claim free to a risk adjusted rate. You may get a new underwriting and a higher premium. So this pushes the threshold for making a claim up, raising the monetary value of claims. Because ones you handle yourself are never counted or reported.
https://open.substack.com/pub/constructionphysics/p/why-is-homeowners-insurance-getting
The other issue is that most of the P/C Insurers are not profitable. All of them, or nearly all, have COMBINED RATIOS (claims paid divided by premiums received) over 1.0. The scale of the recent claim events has been really large for a large time. This is true of even the high end insurors, such as Chubb and Ace.
But many insurance companies are "Mutual" companies. They distribute dividends. NOT owned by shareholders but by policy holders.
Chubb serves business, wealthy people and is a reinsurer backstop to other insurers. Insurance for insurance companies. Also US founded in the Ben Franklin era!
Most of the mutual companies are in the life business, not property and casualty.
Chubb is more into Property and Casualty. And very darn profitable and growing
.
chubb insurance revenue by segment 2023
In 2023, Chubb's revenue came from a number of segments, including property and casualty (P&C), life insurance, and investment income.
P&C: Chubb's P&C underwriting income was $5.5 billion in 2023, with a combined ratio of 86.5%.
Life insurance: Chubb's life insurance net premiums written were over $1 billion in 2023.
Investment income: Chubb's investment income was $5.3 billion in 2023.
Details
Chubb's total revenue in 2023 was $49.7 billion, a 16% increase from 2022.
Chubb's net income in 2023 was $9.03 billion, a 72% increase from 2022.
Chubb's profit margin in 2023 was 18%, an increase from 12% in 2022.
Chubb's return on equity (ROE) in 2023 was 16.4%, an increase from 9.6% in 2022.
Chubb Reports Record Fourth Quarter Per Share Net Income ...
Jan 30, 2024 — P&C underwriting income was $5.46 billion, up 19.9%, leading to a P&C combined ratio of 86.5% compared with 87.6% prior year. P&C current accident y...
underwriting profitability with $5.5 billion in underwriting income and a record combined ratio of 86.5%, which ...
Oct 29, 2024 — Life Insurance net premiums written were $1.55 billion, up 6.8%, or 10.6% in constant dollars, and segment income was $284 million, up 2.3% in
They are the most profitable. Many are not.
"The fossa looks like a puma crossed with a weasel or mongoose."
IDK. To me it sorta' looks like a ring-tailed lemur that's made a jail break and chucked its prison stripes.
The flora and fossa of Madagascar are nothing if not interesting. Apparently, males get all *up in the air* about their women folk. Just like some earth bound guys are prone to do.
Today’s post should have had an R rating. I sure didn’t expect to be exposed to animal genitalia at this early hour.
Maybe Cynthia should have posted a trigger warning that she'd be shooting the breeze about animal genetalia.
Be warned about the next animal.
You keep this kind of thing up and someone's gonna' report you to... well, I donno', but to *somebody*!
Sorry about that. Nature can be a little raw sometimes.
New meaning for the term "rawdoggin'"..... eeeewww....I can't believe I said that, but hey, you started it....
You've obviously have been up longer than you should be. Go to bed. 😴
Ick
Rawcattin’?
Fossa’s feliform, after all.
No worries, I’ll recover.
Someone used most of the hot water, leaving me a slightly warm shower. Unnngh.
There are new water heaters...not the on demand type which I hate...which have wildly fast recovery times. Highly recommended.
I love our twin propane very fast in demand water heaters. We hace a deep well and have plenty for long hot showers.
To run our fantastic Bosch (lowes) dishwasher you just run the hot water tap. As you know, the on demand little tank water heat tech required a certain water flow to activate the propane heater
Replaced our water heater last year. Looked into the "on demand" type.
No. Nope. Nopety nope nope.
The idea was to prevent problems from an old water heater going bad, not open the door to a whole new set of problems with a new one.
Hot water's not rocket surgery. Just put in another standard 40gal unit and called it good.
Yes...and no. The standard 40 gal. jobs suck too. One, they have a lousy 8-10 year life nowadays. I don't have access to all my notes and files right now, but there's a few mfg's. making 20-30 gallon units with highly advanced heat exchangers, better insulation, draft closure so you're not drafting cool air up the middle of the tank (like on standard 40 gal. jobs) and like 150,000-200,000 btu input so they'll keep up. The 20-30 gal. reserve gets you going and keeps it so you don't have the cold water gaps and the 150,000 btu keeps your recovered. The advantages of on demand with none of the drawbacks....which, btw, if I haven't already said it, on demand types suck. We all hate 'em.
I put in a commercial unit of this type with a 80 gallon reserve, glass lined heat exchanger for long life...6 unit apartment building needs more reserve...got max hot water with no gaps for every apartment and knocked $80-100 a month off the gas bill. They're worth it.
If we have to replace the current one someday, we might get a better one.
Get a better one. Don't go for the standard 40-50 gallon jobs. They're all benefit on the front end (low cost) but they don't last and they don't keep up.
How many people under your roof, again?
Six
If you have room in your yard maybe you should get one of these. A little creative plumbing and voila'!
https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/1745pii/i_saw_this_small_narrow_gauge_locomotive_in_a/#lightbox
I know you have plumbing experience. 🚂🤔😉
I've decided I don't like the Fossa. The enemy of the Lemur is my enemy.
If that was an attempt at a pun (uncharacteristic of you, Kurt) it is such a lame attempt not even to rate a misfire.
No pun...I don't even see where there's a sniff of a pun....(?) That doesn't mean I want you to tell me where it is... :-)
The punsters here have me constantly on alert. 🙂
A lert? What's a lert? Some strange critter you use to ride herd on us with?
Cynthia? Any insights?
Be alert. We need more lerts.
👀
The strange smell is from the Madagascan animals.
Uh, Phil, you have been charged with punning over on TMD and a door has been issued by none other than Aylene Wright.
I think there is good reason to plead "typo", but you need to check it out. Your reputation and the honor of your office are at stake.
That's a reasonable point of view.
One of my revelations on life in China is the civil service. We're taking care of some business stuff, which requires us to go out to the provincial administrative complex in Wuchang District. Just the size of this building, if seen in America, would strike dread into the hearts of an American used to dealing with the government on any level. Imagine a DMV office that's approximately 60 acres and 5 stories FULL of people. The difference between here and America is, in America this would be an all day project, and likely you'd have to come back 3 or 4 times because of sloth on the part of the employees. Here, it's like a bureaucratic military drill team operation. Giant computer screens direct you where to go. Complex sets of administrative operations happen in minutes, the computers all work and appear brilliantly networked, the paperwork gets rubber stamped, and you're out of there. Getting a government job is highly sought after, and if you don't crank out the work, there's only about 17 million other applicants standing waiting to take the job and ready to kick ass.
So, a bunch of Fed employees getting upset because they no longer get to work from home doesn't bother me at all. The DEI departments never should have been there in the first place. Anyone complaining, take a hike. I am sure there will be sad tales of mistreatment which will not make me happy, but the bureaucracy is one area where the work force needs to be slashed. Every other workforce in the world has to deal with reality. It's time for the Fed workforce to deal with it too.
RE: Imagine a DMV office that's approximately 60 acres and 5 stories FULL of people.
OK... 🤔🤔🤔...
😵😲😨😰😱😱😱😱🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
In my experience, German bureaucracy is a lot more efficient and quicker in most things than American bureaucracy. The place where you had to spend a lot more time was in the residency registration office, where you have to go to register any change of address. Even they are quick considering the number of people they process.
The local administrative offices for the tax authorities were in a large modern building. I would do my taxes and take them in person to the bureaucrat in charge (most people mail them in). He’d look the forms over and thank me, saying he’d send the final tally along soon. Then there’d be some small talk.
And none of the forms include a declaration that you are forced to sign your rights away with like the confounded IRS forms. No one in their right minds should sign the statements under such forms the US federal government comes up with. Well, maybe sadists who think intercourse with a fossa sounds like fun…
Anyway. I don’t quite understand how it is that America manages to have a bureaucratic state that is slow, incompetent, and hateful all at once.
While the people who think the we don't have to pay income tax are nuts, whenever I have to deal with the IRS (I have been fussing with them over getting the refund for my late mother's last tax return), I sympathize with them. Or with the proposals to go to a "flat tax' or "national sales tax".
Of course most other countries like Germany have BOTH an income tax AND a national "value added" sales tax, or VAT.
If govt wants to restrict consumer spending, VAT is the way to do it.
I agree.
Yes. German taxation is for spare-no-expense government. And the rules and regs are hostile to free enterprise for the most part. They seem to assume people who want to operate businesses should be held in contempt and subjected to onerous oversight.
As it turns out, an efficient bureaucracy is very effective at restraining growth and retarding entrepreneurial innovation.
An expert on business talking about Europe once quipped: "Germany hasn't had 300 IPOs since Charlemagne".
American Exceptionalism.
Also expensive!
No civil service protections or public sector union: an impossible dream. We went so wrong so far back that I,m not sure it's fixable. Phil is right to worry about unintended consequences. On the other hand, I've not seen alternatives.
Don't get me started about the public sector unions. The federal ones like AFSCME and NTEU intensely contribute to the campaigns of MD and VA Congress members to protect their members, who make up many of their constituents.
yeah, I know. A Fed public sector union makes me boil.
From what you are telling me, Big Brother in the People's Republic is highly efficient. Talk about mixed emotions!
About the Federal workforce, exactly right. But those DEI employees have legal rights to take open positions elsewhere in the federal workforce. It's hard to fire a civil servant.
More broadly, my concern about many of Trump's Executive Orders is that they are not well drafted, are simplistic responses to highly regulated and complex areas, and take a "bull in the china shop" approach, rife with unintended consequences.
I gave him some credit for being the only one with the guts to try to force change, knowing the resistance and hate he’ll be subjected to. There are many reasons why we have a $35T debt but a big one is gutlessness.
RE: credit for forcing change "knowing the resistance and hate he’ll be subjected to."
Well, Brian, I really expect the very last thing Donald Trump is concerned about is being subjected to resistance and hate. As long as the basic MAGA crowd are on board with and supporting him, his ego will be adequately massaged and shielded from the slings and arrows of political resistance and even outright hate from the very people he considers his enemies in the first place.
That ego feeds on those things as long as there's a sufficient counterbalance of praise to keep him thinking he's looked up to by - and that he holds sway over - a sufficient number of people to soothe his id.
Agree that gutlessness on the part of politicians writ large of every stripe - and for a very long time now - is how we got to where we are vis a vie unconscionable and unsustainable deficits, along with almost every other untoward aspect of our broken politics. But I'm not prepared to give Donald Trump credit for having "guts" about doing what he's doing regarding how he might change anything regarding our government.
It doesn't take guts for a prey animal to hunt its prey. It does it simply because of its nature and nothing more. And I don't think Trump functions at a very much higher level than that, metaphorically speaking.
Sometimes a cat is the best way to deal with an infestation of rodents.
A pity the pendulum never stops in the middle, but swings from one extreme to the other.
Plus the giddy pleasure of spending other people's money. “Free" virtue, handing out the spoils, must be delightful.
I hope as they’re rolled out the people doing so will recognize the complexity and adjust their approaches accordingly. That these are broad directional orders that could look different when implemented. As with all things associated with Trump (he brings it on himself), everyone reacts to it without waiting for details. He won and he has the right to put his plans in place. We’ll see what’s successful and what’s not. But I try to take a wait and see attitude, not letting my head explode over things that haven’t even begun.
But, he has started them all, and most of them are bad. period..especially his methods, which is what I disapprove of...even on the few things I might agree are needed, the way he is trying to fix it is just awful and inhumane in many ways.
I'd have to agree that Trump can be personally repulsive, but I think much of what he wants to do is good, not bad. It constantly amazes me how so many smart, kind people have polar opposite political views. Why do you suppose?
It,s the best thing about this site - that people know each other as people, the same in most ways, different in others, and that's a good thing. I love how Cynthia starts us off every morning with something universally fascinating, and from there the weather, children, family news, stories, jokes. Sometimes mildly contentious issues surface, but the discussion is always courteous and straightforward, i think mostly because we've come to like and appreciate each other in other ways. Politics are important, but they come and go over time and are hardly the sum total of life on earth.
I have been thinking of you and wondering how you are. It's nice to see you here.
"It constantly amazes me how so many smart, kind people have polar opposite political views. Why do you suppose?"
Because our species has a very large brain with room for lots of stuff, but most of what we think actually comes from our pre-rational functions. "It's just his bowels," I often think, when someone is truly obnoxious.
Could you explain how political leanings are pre-rational? I do think the way and the place you were raised establish your base line. I'd hope most adults use their large brains to think these things through, but maybe they don't.
I can certainly see that brain chemistry (speaking of bowels) could determine whether you think the glass is half full or half empty - and that's probably harder to think your way out of!
Agree. I tune most of it out.
It,s a concern
Yeah, I know. I have to choke back the gorge in my throat just thinking about the moron in charge. But, someone had to do something, and now it's happening.
And yes, Big Brother in the PRC is highly efficient. Every contact I've had with any level of the bureaucracy...and I've had a lot of contact for a foreigner what with the quarantine and all... is courteous, fast, efficient, and actually pleasant because they know their job and they make it happen.
" ... there's only about 17 million other applicants standing waiting to take the job and ready to kick ass."
Please sent a few hundred thousand to NC to run the DMV.
The DMV here....When I went in to take my drivers test, there were hundreds of people. I panicked. But, it went off like military drill team precision. I passed, and the whole office clapped in support for the foreigner. They're not just efficient. They're actually nice people that smile.
Love the clapping!
I've said it before. We can only dream of having civil servants like they have here. Most of them even smile.
And some more to run Ohio's BMV as well!
I asked first!
🤣
Good morning. A little warmer this morning — 13 degrees.
The mothership reports on a lesser known subset of Trump;s Day One actions — his “energy emergency” to increase US drilling, energy production and exports (all already at all-time highs).
The FP is headlining :”The End of DEI?” That’s another of Trump’s EO’s, putting all DEI specialists in the federal government on paid leave pending the abolishment of their offices.
These aren’t slow news days, folks.
I volunteer at one of Houston’s performing arts venues, on an accessibility team that helps disabled and elderly patrons, and anyone with mobility issues, navigate the building. I push wheelchairs a fair amount and it’s always appreciated. About a month ago we had a training session led by consultants hired to help us learn more about how to support and interact with this specific clientele. In their prepared material and Q&A I heard some of the standard DEI terms like microaggression, misgendering, and others you’re probably familiar with. My reaction when hearing them was that I wonder if they feel that their business will likely change under the new admin. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I do feel they went overboard in the last few years, and now the pendulum is swinging the other way. I also wondered if that consultancy might take a big hit to their business.
(Brian) This all strikes me as a big and silly waste of time, money, energy spent on dressing up common sense and basic courtesy.
The danger is Trump's "bull in the china shop" EOs is their unintended consequences, like ending accessibility assistance as well as DEI.
More importantly, TMD paid brief homage to Garth Hudson the last surviving member of The Band. Both Matt Labash and I have them as one of our all-time favorite bands.
👍
I was driving somewhere with my four-year-old grandson when “The Weight” came on the radio. I started to change the station, but the kid yelled “Leave it on! It’s my favorite!” He then proceeded to sing all the words. Who knew?
My kids and grandkids like it too
The kid is righteous.
I'm not a big fan of the, "What are they even talking about?" school of songwriting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weight
Like I said.
I've heard that song for years, but never knew its title or the band's name.
Dylan said it was the greatest song ever written.
Listening to most any tune from The Band is a pleasure worth Weighting for.
At least there's no mondegreens.
Unlike the famous misheard line from "Bad Moon Rising":
"There's a bathroom on the right."
As a child of the '70s, I'm a little surprised I never heard of The Band before (although I might have heard some of their music).
🚪
You’re thinking Phil might like the Doors? 🤔🤔🤔
Haha.
I used to listen to the Doors, back in the day. (No, I didn't do drugs).
You listened to the Doors back in the day?
Hmmm...
Does that make you a Back Door Man?
Yeah. That's what I was thinking. 🙄
I think there's a generation gap. I don't find The Band disagreeable, but it has no emotional valence for me.
Me three.
Me four,
I KNEW I liked you.
I still, on occasion, pull up and watch "The Last Waltz". When they walk off after the final encore, I get emotional.
Yup
Not only putting them on leave, but directing other employees to report any sub rosa DEI activities within 10 days or risk being fired.
Per Axios: https://www.axios.com/2025/01/23/trump-dei-snitches-government?
Seems to me that if you let the weeds take over the garden, or the suckers take over the trees, reclaiming will do some damage. Some of this stuff is so deeply entrenched that I don't know how else to do it. It,s not a right to work for the federal government, so "downsizing" by executive directive doesn't seem to me an outrageous effort. I think of whistleblowers rather than tattletales.
No, they’re tattletales
I'm with Kurt. i don't much care what you call them either.
Long ago in the 70's, I briefly took a job in the CDBG HUD program. It made me want to burn down Federal bureaucracies. There's so much dead weight in all those departments, I honestly don't care if people are distressed. They need cleaning out, and if tattletales/whistleblowers/snitches/weasels help in clearing them out, I'm for it.
Years ago my SOL did a short stint with the DOT - still don't know whether to laugh or cry at some of his stories
I find the first part of the order - chucking the concept of DEI and its administrative apparatus - to be reasonable. Surely agencies already had EEOC offices, before they added on. However, "directing other employees to report any sub rosa DEI activities within 10 days or risk being fired" is misguided. I understand that it's supposed to prevent efforts to sabotage the administration's goal, but GAH.
The principle of establishing a snitch culture in an organization and fear mongering the snitches to secure their cooperation is found in Chapter 1 on page 37 of the latest edition of The Authoritarian's Best Business Practices Guide.
I know. that's its own problem. We've made ourselves a real mess.
Yep. We can condemn and complain about politicians and bureaucrats all we want, but ultimately it is we, the voters, who are responsible for those people being in the positions to mess things up that they are. We didn't appoint the bureaucrats in the upper levels of the government, true, but we elected the people who did the appointing, and those are the people running the show and hiring the people who did the hiring farther on down the line, etc.
No one likes bureaucracy, me especially. But this is a big, diverse country, diversity being its basic nature geographically, socially and culturally, whether the anti-diversity crowd likes it or not. And with one hell of a lot of people it requires a large enough government to govern for the good of the country effectively. Which probably means a larger government than any of us would likely say we want, if left strictly up to us. But too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing, and now the pendulum is swinging wildly in the opposite direction without apparent regard for unintended consequences, which is constantly a problem in most anything politicians of any stripe do when it comes to large scale "projects". They only see the forest, not the dangers lurking therein.
The concept of incrementalism is long dead, as well as the notion that good and effective government actually happens in the "middle" and not out on the flanks or extremes in either direction on the political spectrum. With compromise and bipartisanship having become not just dirty words but downright obscenities in both parties for years now, I hold little hope at present for anything more than the unmitigated wild swing of the political pendulum and what might otherwise be good reforms happening with more harm than good being done in the end.
Sorry for the rant. Never having been a partisan or ideologue in any way beyond believing liberal democracy is the worst form of government except for every other form of government, and eschewing political tribalism in favor of straightforward Americanism, it's quite easy for me to be pissed off at everybody in every direction all at one time.
"good and effective government actually happens in the "middle" and not out on the flanks or extremes"
I agree with this, but I don't believe in "the political spectrum." When we talk about "the middle," I think we need to see it more as a vibe or a disposition than as something with a content-based existence.
Take, for example, "far right." As Jonah likes to point out, libertarians used to be the "far right": Free Minds, Free Markets, Free Society. Now, journalism persons use "far right" to mean "super duper hyper enthusiastic about whatever Donald Trump blurted two seconds ago."
I have my doubts that those employees are actually in danger of being fired (which is not to say they don't deserve it). It's hard to fire a Federal civil servant.
That's a huge part of the problem. I am rabidly against public sector unions.
That may well be true. I still feel very negatively about the concept.
Yeah, it's foul, but I'm finding some low level epicaricacy in the idea that Fed office functionaries are getting their chains rattled.
Agee wholheartedly.
New word for the day... Epicaricacy...Rejoicing at or deriving pleasure from the misfortunes of others.
Isn't that the same as schadenfreude?
A rose by any other name...
Yes, but as part of my push to Make America Great Again, I'm forgoing cultural appropriation and using an English word.
*Strengthening What It Means To Be A Good American One Word At A Time*
Good morning. Cold again, by local standards. 18Fs, forecast high of 38.
It’s 11 here with a feels like -4. Last night we went out to our local watering hole for cheese sandwiches and euchre with some friends. When we left there was the most beautiful fluffy snowfall against the backdrop of the historic courthouse. It was a lovely sight to behold.
And cold by my standards as well.
Good morning, Phil. North-facing roof sections are still covered with snow, here, as are sections of grass that are in the shade all day. If the temperature really reaches 38, a lot of it will melt.
Morning. I’ve got -0.2º F on my back porch, my highly calibrated thermometer claims…
Did your locale escape the snowpocalypse?
RE: -0.2F
1. Open a north facing window.
2. Stand perpendicular to the opening.
3.Cup hand to ear.
4. Wait approximately...
Hold on a sec... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound ... calculating...
Oh, to hell with it!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
https://youtu.be/mRjHJcHLzXI?si=iX0x2804_V_4FiR-
🤣🤣🤣
We did not down in southern FL, though Tallahassee, Pensacola and the northern tier got snow.
Yes, I think the hardest-hit areas of Greater Charlotte had less than 2". Slippery roads caused havoc yesterday morning, though. I talked to Brenda midday-ish, and she said her husband had a 360-degree spin experience, but fortunately didn't leave the road or hit anything.
I've had a few winter skids out on the open road, but fortunately never a full 360*, partially because, I suspect, of the numerous 360s I experienced in a different setting. Which were for want of a better description...
Fun!! Fun!! Fun!!
This happened at "The Pad", AKA The Vehicle Dynamics Test Area: nearly 70 acres of perfectly flat blacktop, also referred to as "Black Lake" at the GM Proving Grounds in Milford Michigan.
Here's the picture, literally:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_proving_grounds
(scroll down past DPG Yuma to Milford Proving Grounds)
I went there back in my ambulance driving days for a two-day advanced defensive driving course GM provided for those driving emergency vehicles... and even fire trucks and school buses, since the techniques taught were applicable to any "straight" or single vehicle, the only difference being the speeds at which the maneuvers could be successfully executed, the larger the vehicle the lower the speed.
They taught a lot more maneuvers than just skid control, but that far and away was probably the most useful. And it sure as heck was the most fun.
One portion about the size of a football field near one edge of The Pad was coated and sealed with something called Jennite, which when wet down by a water tanker produced a pretty low friction surface.
So, for this part of the training you hop in a four-door full size Chevy Impala with the instructor in the passenger seat and two other students in the back seat. The instructor picks up a pushbutton electrical thumb switch, the wire from which disappears under the floor.
Fasten your seat belts.
Starting on dry pavement away from the "skid pad" portion of Black Lake, one is directed to drive at 10 MPH in a slight arc across the middle of the now wet Jennite surface. At some point, and with no warning, the instructor pushes the thumb button he's kept at his right side so you cannot see him push it, which electrically locks up both the brakes on the rear wheels, producing a low-speed skid which you are now expected to steer into to steer out of. Brakes may or may not remain locked by the instructor until vehicle control is regained, *if* it is regained.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
At ever higher speeds as the maneuver is successfully negotiated at lower speeds, and under differing parameters... right arc, left arc ... sneaky instructor applying brake intermittently at different points in the skid to mess with your newly acquired confidence after a few successes. All until an individual student's "max" speed for a successful maneuver is reached.
Which for me was about 50 MPH, much higher than one hopes to find oneself traveling on any road as slick as that pad was. Attempts above 50 MPH were fun but ultimately resulted in the car skidding out of control off the Jennite surface onto the dry surface and coming to a rather noggin' rattling stop for all the occupants. So those attempts were limited to two.
Now repeat for each student over the course of about 2 or 3 hours without a break except to stretch your legs for a minute or two in between changing out drivers.
Fun!! Fun!! Fun!!
However, I'll never understand how that instructor, for whom this was a good portion of his weekly employee duties at the Proving Grounds, managed to escape a permanent case of vertigo.
That’s great! 😃
Only thing more fun would be that race car driver shanghaiing the car salesman…uh…here it is: Jeff Gordon test drive:
https://youtu.be/Mo5flQNZLqA?si=rcIuLDF1dnPWsK0n
I don't recall where, but I do remember having seen that and LMAO!!
Don't know why it seems that I end up responding to you about something just about the time the nags are ringing the room service bell. You've probably initiated some kind of diabolical conspiracy with them, no doubt. But maybe later I'll tell you about a couple of other maneuvers they taught. The "off-road recovery" one was quite simple and effective, and followed the same pattern of more success, more speed.
Ended up doing that one at nearly 70+ MPH in the end. Which was about the top speed that could be achieved in the area in which it was conducted and not run completely out of asphalt. Which could happen at that speed had you done it "wrong".
Hot Damn!!