Can John Rawls' Theory of Justice be applied to U.S. healthcare reform without violating HIPAA laws?

John Rawls highlights two central principles about equality in his book A Theory of Justice:

One, that each person should have equal rights to the most extensive liberties consistent with other people enjoying the same liberties; and two, that inequalities should be arranged so that they would be to everyone’s advantage and arranged so that no one person would be blocked from occupying any position. 

If legislatures adapted them as part of U.S. healthcare reform, it does not seem like these principles would violate personal HIPAA laws. The reform would most likely result in a universal healthcare model and truly affordable healthcare for every individual. It could even create a “pay what you can” model, entrusting citizens to intuitively and fairly create their own pricing for doctor’s visits, surgeries, or other emergencies. What an individual decides to pay in this model and what care is provided is still private and upheld under HIPPA. Rawls’ Theory of Justice would definitely be a complicated puzzle to apply to healthcare reform, but its core tenants do not seem to violate individual freedoms and the right to privacy.

Which places did the three men visit and what did they do there?

The three friends – George, Harris, and narrator J. – go on a boating trip along the River Thames in England. Heading upriver, they pass every town between Kingston and Oxford, and leave the boat on occasion. Heading back downriver, they leave the boat at Pangbourne, which lies between Streatley and Maple-durham, and take the train back to London.

J. and Harris begin the expedition at Kingston, then have lunch at Kempton Park. They pick up George at Weybridge. They spend the first night tied up at “Picnic Point,” somewhere past Staines. The second day, they go to Magna Carta Island, have lunch below Monkey Island, and spend the night in Marlow at the “Crown.” In Marlow, on the third day, Montmorency has an encounter with a cat. The men also go grocery shopping here. They get back in the boat and have lunch near Wargrave. At Sonning, they get out and walk around the village. They spend the night on one of the Shiplake islands. George and J. go to Henley after supper. On the fourth day, they pass Reading. They spend two days in Streatley and get their clothes washed here. George and J. go to an inn and hear the stories about a mounted trout on display. The next night has them in Culham. Then they proceed on to Oxford, where they spend two days. They begin their return trip downriver, but it rains for two days, and everything is wet. They leave the Thames at Pangbourne.

A link below provides a general map of the river and its larger towns. You can see Kingston and Oxford, and some of the other points mentioned in the book. Not all of them are large enough to be shown on this map.

What are the properties of language?

In form and function, language varies widely across space and throughout time. That being said, six key properties of language have been described by linguists. These six features are arbitrariness, cultural transmission, discreteness, displacement, duality, and productivity.

Arbitrariness of language is the fact that the symbols we use to communicate meaning to not have any natural form or meaning in and of themselves. For example, all of the words you are reading right now do not have a natural essence to them, but we have assigned these words to their particular meanings. The word table is not a table itself; rather, it is a word we have agreed means or signals for the idea of a table. Onomatopoeia differ somewhat in their arbitrariness, because these are words which replicate the sounds they describe. The word "plop" is intended to replicate the sound plop.

Language is both acquired by and continues the process of cultural transmission. Humans are not born with an innate understanding of communication in the way that birds or lions are. We must learn, along with other elements of culture, how to communicate with others using language.

Discreteness in language describes the fact that human language is composed of sets of distinct sounds. One sound on its own may convey one meaning, multiple sounds combined in a particular order convey a different meaning. Even repeated sounds have a particular meaning! 

Displacement of language refers to the ability of human language to communicate throughout time and across space. In animals, language is primarily an exchange between stimulus and response — the meaning conveyed by animal language only works in context. When a dog barks, it is in response to whatever prompted the barking, and that bark can't really be used to express its meaning before or after the event. In human language, however, we are able to talk about things that happened a long time ago or have not yet happened. We might even read books produced hundreds of years ago and be able to make sense of them.

Duality describes the human ability to produce language in multiple forms. We can both write the word table and say it out loud, with both evoking the same idea of a table. 

Productivity is a feature of human language which enables us to combine symbols (words, sounds, phrases) in new ways to express particular ideas. In my studies of the evolution of language, I heard an example that I think really expresses the nature of productivity. The form of language for our closest evolutionary cousin, the chimpanzee, is very fixed. Only one meaning can be conveyed at a time and it is in response to stimuli. If a chimpanzee were to come across a very tasty-looking bunch of bananas that were unfortunately on fire, instinct would determine how the chimp would call to its troop. The chimpanzee would either have to produce the call which implies food is available for eating, or the call to warn others of danger. The chimp might be able to create the "food" call immediately before or after the "danger" call, but they cannot combine them to express the idea that food is on fire. If we, as humans, came across the same flaming bunch of bananas, we would be using productive language in telling our friends that there are some flaming but otherwise tasty-looking bananas nearby.

In Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, what kind of career does Grayson have in the Minor Leagues? How does Grayson appear different when he tells...

Grayson had experienced a fairly long career as a Minor League Baseball player.  He had played as a pitcher on several different baseball teams.  He had once had a chance to impress a scout for a team that was "one short step from the Majors" (Maniac Magee, Chapter 25).  Instead of impressing the scout, Grayson had pitched a horrible game.  His chances of someday playing Major League Baseball were over.  He continued to play on Minor League teams until he was about forty.  His last team was in Mexico.  The years had left him unable to play with the necessary skill.  He retired from baseball, and became a janitor.

When Grayson told Maniac Magee that he had been a pitcher in his younger years, the boy was shocked.  Maniac had never expected Grayson to reveal such a secret.  Grayson was not a "rickety, whiskered worm chow" (Chapter 25).  Instead, he had been a baseball pitcher for many years.  Maniac was in awe.  He begged Grayson to tell stories from his baseball days.

Can a child's blood type be B+ if the mother has an O- blood type and the father has an O+ blood type?

There are two parts to how we commonly type blood: the part that deals with antigens (the part of blood type that is A, B, AB, or O) and Rh factor (the positive or negative after the letters). The antigen portion of the blood type says what antigens the blood cells have or don't have. A has A antigens, B has B antigens, AB has both A and B antigens, and O has neither antigen. For the Rh factor, it is either present (positive) or not (negative). A parent can only pass down an antigen and Rh factor they possess. Parents with AB blood can pass down either the A or the B marker.

In this specific case, neither parent has either antigen, so a child would have to have an O blood type. For the child to have a B blood type, one parent would have to have either AB or B as their blood type. The Rh factor is similarly passed down. For the child to be Rh positive, there would have to be an Rh positive parent. It would be impossible for an O- mother and an O+ father to have a child with B+ blood. The only possible blood types for these parents would be O- (only possible if the father had an Rh negative gene) or O+.

A line passes through the point `(10,-2)` and forms with the axes a triangle of area of 9 sq units. Find the equation of the line.

Hello!

Denote the slope of this line as `m.` The vertical line (which has an undefined slope) doesn't suit us, so we'll not miss a solution. Horizontal line with `m=0` doesn't suit also, so we can divide by `m.`

The equation of such a line is `y = m*(x-10) - 2.` The triangle formed with this line and the axes is a right one (because the axes are perpendicular to each other). So its area is `1/2 * |OX| * |OY|,` where `O` is the origin, `X` is the x-intercept of the line and `Y` is the y-intercept.

The y-intercept is `y(0) = -10m-2.` The x-intercept is the `x` for which `y= m*(x-10) - 2=0,` so it is `2/m+10.`

Thus our equation for m becomes

`1/2 |(-10m-2)*(2/m+10)| = 9.`

It is the same as `|(5m+1)*(1/m+5)| = 9/2,` or `|1/m (5m+1)^2| = 9/2.`

If we suppose `m` is positive, then it becomes

`(5m+1)^2 = 9/2 m,` or `25m^2+10m+1=9/2 m,` or `25m^2+11/2 m +1=0,` or `50m^2+11m+2=0.` This equation has no solutions.

Well, what about negative m's? The equation becomes `(5m+1)^2 = -9/2 m,` or `25m^2+10m+1=-9/2 m,` or `25m^2+29/2 m +1=0,` or `50m^2+29m+2=0.`

The discriminant is `D = 29^2-4*50*2 = 29^2 - 20^2 = 9*49,` so `sqrt(D)=3*7=21.` The solutions are `(-29+-21)/100,` `m_1 = -50/100=-1/2,` `m_2 = -8/100 = -2/25.` And both are negative as supposed.

Uff. There are two possible equations, `y=-1/2(x-10)-2=-1/2x+3` and `y=-2/25(x-10)-2=-2/25 x-6/5.`

What is the main idea of Silent Spring?

The main idea of Silent Spring, written by Rachel Carson, in 1962, was that pesticides were harming the environment and wildlife, particularly birds. She focused on the pesticide DDT, which was first made in 1874 but was used extensively during World War II as a way to control diseases such as typhus and malaria where troops were stationed. Carson presented research that pesticides can accumulate in animals' bodies through a process called bioaccumulation and can cause cancers and other ill effects. She also presented research about the ways pesticides harm the environment and stated that overly relying on pesticides would be ineffective, as it would lead to the development of resistance on the part of the insects, resulting in even larger populations. Carson claimed that the industry that manufactured pesticides had tried to cover up the harmful effects of their products. Her book led to the birth of the modern environmental movement and a ban on DDT for use in agriculture.