From Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) online release (12/17/19):
Category Archives: News
Healthcare: U.S. “Total Hip Replacement” Costs Were $32.5K In 2017, Up To 4 Times The Cost In Europe (Chart)
From a Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) release (12/17/19):
- Holland had the lowest prices for hip and knee replacements with prices less than 25% of the US price. Prices for hip and knee replacements in the United Arab Emeritus (UAE) were the closest to the US at 71% of the price.
Politics: Mark Shields And David Brooks On The Latest In Washington (PBS)
Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week’s political news, including the battle between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over rules for a Senate impeachment trial, how the presidential primary race is shaping up among 2020 Democrats and the year’s most surprising political developments.
Art: “Bassins de Lumières” Opens As Largest Digital Art Center In World, Bordeaux (April 17, 2020)
Located in Bordeaux’s former submarine base, the BASSINS DE LUMIÈRES will present monumental immersive digital exhibitions devoted to the major artists in the history of art and contemporary art. The submarine base’s surface area is three times the size of that of the Carrières de Lumières in Les Baux-de-Provence and five times that of the Atelier des Lumières in Paris.
The digital exhibitions will be perfectly adapted to the monumental architecture of the submarine base and will be reflected in the water of the four enormous basins, thereby adding a new dimension to the immersive experience. Visits will be conducted on gangways above the water and along the quays of the enormous basins.
On 17 April 2020, Culturespaces will open the largest digital art centre in the world: the Bassins de Lumières. France’s leading private operator in the management and promotion of monuments, museums, and art centres, Culturespaces is pursuing the creation of digital art centres and immersive exhibitions.
Medical Research Video: “Synthesizing Speech From Brain Signals” (JAMA)
Imagine you’re paralyzed and can’t move or speak. How would you communicate with the world? This video describes the principles of early brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) designed to read electrical brain signals, analyze how brain activity patterns contribute to vocal tract movements, and reproduce the sound patterns as speech. The model is a first step toward one day restoring paralyzed individuals’ natural rate of communication and quality of life.
For more information see https://ja.ma/37dfVSx and https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158….
Technology: VW’s New “Mobile Charging Robot” Turns Every Carpark Into EV Charging Stations
From a VW media online news release December 26, 2019:
“The mobile charging robot will spark a revolution when it comes to charging in different parking facilities, such as multistorey car parks, parking spaces and underground car parks because we bring the charging infrastructure to the car 
and not the other way around. With this, we are making almost every car park electric, without any complex individual infrastructural measures”, summarises Mark Möller, Head of Development at Volkswagen Group Components.
“It’s a visionary prototype, which can be made into reality quite quickly, if the general conditions are right”, Möller continues. Volkswagen Group Components is researching different approaches to the assembly of charging infrastructure and has already developed several successful products. The flexible quick charging station and DC wall boxes are already part of a future charging family. Customer-oriented, intelligent and flexible approaches to charging are at the centre of the research. Other innovative products such as the charging robot are currently being developed.
- Volkswagen Group Components presents a new and visionary charging concept
- Mobile robots will charge electric vehicles completely autonomously in future
- Every parking space can become a charging point
Volkswagen provides a glimpse into the future in which the search for charging stations for electric cars comes to an end. Volkswagen Group Components’ mobile charging robot takes over this task – and drives to the electric car completely autonomously.
1930’S Racing Cars: Amazing “Bugatti Type 59” Reunion (Classic Driver)
From a Classic Driver Magazine online article:
During this year’s Monterey Car Week, all four of Bugatti’s hallowed Type 59s were reunited for the first time since 1935. We spoke to the man who pulled off arguably the most historically significant automotive rendezvous of the decade…
In the fabled legend of Bugatti’s racing cars, there is one model that is so beautiful and so elusive that is stands at the top of every enthusiast of the great French marque’s wish list: the Type 59. Along with the input of Jean Bugatti, who had been one of the 
driving forces behind the introduction of the twin-cam engine, Ettore Bugatti created the ultimate expression of his jewel-like Grand Prix car.
Urban Trends: “Avant2Go” Electric Car Sharing In Slovenia (Podcast)
From the Avant2Go.com website:
Avant2Go car sharing is an effective way to cut and manage your mobility expenses. Find an available car and reserve it using the Avant2Go mobile app. The first reservation (15 min) is free. Use the app to end your rental and settle the final cost. The rental price includes car registration, insurance, fuel*, running costs, vignette, loss of value, free parking at Avant2Go spots and more.
- Pay only for when you actually use the vehicle.
- Electricity and insurance are already included.
- In your neighbourhood and city, driving to the airport …
- State-of-the-art electric vehicles for any rental period.
- No vehicle ownership or running costs.
- A mobile app for using the service.
History & Culture: Heard Museum Of American Indian Art In Phoenix Celebrates 90 Years
90 years ago today, Maie Bartlett Heard, curator Allie Walling BraMé along with a small group of friends and volunteers spent Christmas Day making final preparations for the opening of the Heard Museum. The next day, December 26, 1929, the Heard Museum began our now nine decade long and ongoing legacy of advancing American Indian Art.
This short video poem written, recorded and edited by longtime artist and friend of the Heard Museum, Steven J. Yazzie (Diné) is our very sincere thank you to you.
Heard Museum 90th Celebration Poem, December 2019
“Home” By Steven J. Yazzie (Diné)
Voiced by: Jenn Henry
Music: Better Now, Phillip Daniel Zach
Why do we come here to these walls painted shades of off white
In search of beauty
or memory
or place
Where the sounds of children can be heard echoing in these vast
and intimate spaces
And where everyone has just arrived here from a journey
What brings us to the feet of stone
or textile
or dried paint
In the galleries of our hearts and truths
Our histories are revealed
and our humanity ensured
This place of my youth and older age
This place of beauty
stewardship
and celebration
Is home
Political News: Tamara Keith And Amy Walter On Politics Monday (NPR)
NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest political news, including the state of the 2020 presidential race as the Iowa caucuses approach, an impasse over a Senate trial for President Trump and the “policy victories” Trump is claiming as he readies for a reelection campaign.
Boomers Daily 