visual rhythm

Visual rhythm follows the intonation and beat of speech.  Understanding this rhythm occurs through the eyes not the ears.  So today for your eyes i've decided to do a bit of a world wide wrap and tap.

China... another earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter scale and so far 400 dead and 10,000 injured, how many have been displaced and how much destruction took place will unfold over the coming days.

Thailand...rioting in the streets has abated and the sides are regrouping.

Australia...the captain and watch officer of the Chinese ship blamed for causing unprecedented damage on the Great Barrier Reef will face court today.

Russia... U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have signed a $3 billion deal to dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium by burning it in nuclear reactors.

Gaza...Hamas has ordered the shut down of tunnels used to transport food, fuel, construction materials and animals from Egypt following a security alert warning Israelis of abduction.

Iceland...a volcano buried under a glacier came back to life today and 800 people were evacuated from their homes.

Saudi Arabia...Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority issued a fatwa (edict) denouncing all acts of terrorism and criminalising its financing, Asharq al-Awsat daily reported today.

Iraq... A bomb ripped through a busy central Baghdad commercial district on Wednesday, wounding at least three people, an official and witnesses said.

From AP:

USA...Republican backlash over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul had little effect in the nation's first U.S. House race of 2010.

Florida Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch handily won Tuesday's special election to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler after his underdog GOP opponent attempted to make the contest a referendum on the massive health care bill.

And as the visual rhythm progresses a little riff on some more aspects of the health care bill flow
below.

Text is quoted from the Kaiser Family Foundations summary of the health care reform that was passed recently.  Most don't understand what is in the bill so here are seven more aspects.

   1. Multi-State Plans
          * "Require the Office of Personnel Management to contract with insurers to offer at least two multi-state plans in each Exchange. At least one plan must be offered by a non-profit entity"

   2. Health Care Choice Compacts
          * "Permit states to form health care choice compacts and allow insurers to sell policies in any state participating in the compact."  (A Republican plan to sell across state lines)
          * Compacts may not start until Jan 1, 2016.

   3. State Demonstration Programs To Evaluate Alternatives To Current Medical Tort Litigation
          * "Award five-year demonstration grants to states to develop, implement, and evaluate alternatives to current tort litigations." (Republicans wanted to reduce tort litigation, here it is, but it attacks malpractice instead of stripping consumer rights)
          * Starts in 2011, 5 year grant

   4. Grants For Small Businesses To Provide Comprehensive Workplace Wellness Programs
          * "Provide grants for up to five years to small employers that establish wellness programs."
          * Starts in 2011, 5 year grant

   5. Nutrition Labeling Of Standard Menu Items At Chain Restaurants
          * "Require chain restaurants and food sold from vending machines to disclose the nutritional content of each item." (More information and transparency, always a plus for the consumer)
          * Go into effect 1 year after enactment

   6. Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement: Required Disclosure Of Ownership And Additional Disclosable Parties Information
          * "Require skilled nursing facilities under Medicare and nursing facilities under Medicaid to disclose information regarding ownership, accountability requirements, and expenditures."

   7. Increasing the Supply of the Health Care Workforce
          * Involves loan programs, recruitment and retention programs.

In Haiti the response of the nations of the world to earthquake victims is an example of "morally guided collective action."   The world wide giving happened not as a result of religion and its teachings but because humans naturally want to help. 

Ta da...da visual rhydum is done.