10:16 – Barbara announced this morning that she’s reasonably happy with the state of the house. We still have a few major projects to do, notably putting up shelves in the garage. We’ll work on that today. That’ll give Barbara somewhere to store the stuff that’s currently sitting around in boxes on the garage floor. As a librarian, Barbara prizes organization and despises clutter.
The door guy came yesterday and installed a storm door on the front door, so Colin can again lie in the foyer and look out the door. Getting this done was a pretty high priority for Barbara (and Colin).
I’ll work on the garage shelves today and then start on some computer projects and kit projects.
We enjoy having a storm door for the same reason. Our current storm door was a $10 find at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore that I installed.
We’ve been researching replacing our front door (and storm door) with something a bit more secure. There are several doors that offer multi point dead bolts. That with a properly reinforced door jamb is attractive to us as there has been a slow but steady rise in petty thefts in our neighborhood and a city wide increase in break ins.
We have no illusions about stopping a determined individual, but rather make it inconvenient / difficult enough that they move on, and buy ourselves a few extra moments to respond if we happen to be home during an entry attempt.
Stayed home with our feverish kiddo yesterday. Took advantage of her nap to install a full motion wall mount and hang out TV. Feeling mighty.
Sanus VuePoint model F215c full motion mount
Sony model KDL-40XBR6 tv
I was looking at our back door again yesterday; I wanna replace it with a steel door and reinforced frame, plus deadbolt lockset and strike plate. And I intend to replace the hinge screws with longer ones and also put a storm door on there. Mrs. OFD doesn’t want a storm door on the front of the house but we have to at least do something about the security in that area. If not a new door to replace the old one, a beefed-up frame, deadbolt lock and longer hinge screws, and safety/security film on all the ground-floor windows.
Same deal here; looking to prevent or at least stall break-ins from local druggies and other scum, mainly. If things in this AO start getting sporty, I’ll have to do some other stuff around the outside of the house; we don’t have much room to work with out front.
High fotties today and tomorrow but very windy with some rain squalls; back to normal cold again tomorrow night, and wife off to Manchester, NH for a gig, and staying with my little brother and his wife in beeyooteeful Billerica, MA. Another witchcraft town investigated by the very late Reverend Cotton Mather back in the day; brother also commutes several days a week to his job in Salem, which the local ass-hats call “Witch City;” the actual witch events took place in what is now Danvers, MA, the neighboring town to the north of Salem.
Next time y’all are in the Salem area, visit Rebecca Nurse’s house in Danvers (hanged witch) and the little cemetery out to the rear, where three more accused witches are buried. Try for a late October or early November afternoon. Then slide up a little further north and check out Ipswich, MA, home to the largest concentration of 17th-C houses in the U.S. Along with the river/wildlife refuge, Crane’s Beach and Plum Island, nice to visit off-season when pesky homo sapiens sapiens are few and fah between.
Do any of y’all read Vox Day’s blog? I’ve look at it occasionally since the Sad Puppy / Rabid Puppy kerfuffle at last year’s Hugo Awards. He’s a bit extreme on some issues, interesting on others.
Strangely, I cannot leave a comment; no obvious error message, but it just doesn’t work. I’m wondering if that’s some odd geographical filtering, a browser problem or what.
EDIT: Now that’s odd. The link doesn’t work, but that’s exactly the link I follow to get there. I’m sure he’s not in .ch, but that’s the URL that I am sent to for his blog. Very possibly some mucked up forwarding code is the source of the posting problem. Anyhow, here is the .com link given by Google – see if this works.
You folks might want to rethink how much you are investing reinforcing your front entrance.
Around here the modus operandi for break-ins (as well as SWAT entries) is at the back of the house, usually dark and has the weakest entry points.
Think about it.
Oh, absolutely, Mr. DadCooks; the major security effort and expense is for the rear of the house; the enclosed porch, back door and frame and locks, solar motion-detector floods, IR webcams, fencing, trip wires, mines, etc. But I’m concerned for the front because it’s so dahn close to the street, about eight feet of lawn from front door to the former horse-and-carriage road, if that. Ye Olde carriage road connects to the lakeside state highway which curves around the rear of our back yard, between us and the town park and wildlife refuge. The other end of the front street curves out between the town hall and the 1857 Congo church, to that same state road, Vermont Route 36.
So right now the most I anticipate doing on the front is reinforcing the door and frame, changing to deadbolt lockset and strike plate, sinking the door hinge screws in deeper with longer screws, and eventually security film on the ground-floor windows. Thorny bushes like the roses we have now underneath all the windows, and if things get real sporty, other obstacles and booby traps.
As usual @OFD you are doing it right.
My point was to just serve as a reminder to not put all effort in to the front of the house and of course YMMV.
An ideal situation is being able to do it all at once, but that is beyond the budget for most of us here. So you work in stages, evenly distributing your efforts so that one weak point is not substantially weaker than the other.
Not much talk about Cankles on here for the last couple of days. Her recent comment that she “tries to tell the truth” is very telling. For someone who is not a habitual liar and grifter telling the truth is easy, no need to try. Cankles does not realize that continually lying gets harder and harder, she has been showing for a long time now that she can’t remember what “tried truth” she told to whom (who?) and when.
Cankles tag line: “What difference – at this point, what difference does it make?”
The crocus are blooming and the squirrels are getting busy with things other than burying peanuts.
“So you work in stages, evenly distributing your efforts so that one weak point is not substantially weaker than the other.”
There it is; no choice, really, financially speaking.
“For someone who is not a habitual liar and grifter telling the truth is easy, no need to try.”
But that’s what she is, pure and simple; her and her big lovable lug of a husband have been habitual liars and grifters since at least Yale, but we know from you in her case, high skool. Like the guy Mr. SteveF was taking about, I find it incandescently infuriating that she has not been arrested, indicted and awaiting trial for humongous national security violations; far from it, in fact; she’s working like a demoness from Hell to get the Principal Sock Puppet job at the White House. And no one thinks it odd or appears to care, despite the publicity concerning the email server and her determined bungling, at the very least, of the Benghazi episode, and at worst, her deliberate, in connivance with Obola, abandonment, maybe even a planned hit, on our diplomat there and his staff. I don’t think either she or Larry Klinton are particularly averse to murdering their opponents or anyone who gets in their way. And Obola has proven himself fully capable of murdering people around the world if it suits him and he revels in it.
These are the types of criminal turds running the country and you bring this up to the average Murkan derp and they think you’re a tinfoil loony-tune wack job. To be expected, when their main source of information and intel is the boob-tube for many hours per day and night, the MSM in general, and the other criminally stupid derps they associate with. I don’t have much in the way of hope for them in the coming years.
looking to prevent or at least stall break-ins from local druggies and other scum
Lots of security lights. Two lights on each corner of the house, three lights over the garage, two lights on the mower shed. When all lights are on (LED of course) the place is well lit and not an attractive target. There are easier opportunities.
Cankles takes NV thanks to the union goons and illegals.
“When all lights are on (LED of course) the place is well lit and not an attractive target. There are easier opportunities.”
I like the solar motion-detector floods for this, rather than leaving lights on all night all over the property; we’ve got a couple of streetlights on all night out there already. Of course if there’s a power outage, my lights will still work.
“Cankles takes NV thanks to the union goons and illegals.”
Doesn’t matter; she was crushed in NH by Sanders but took away more delegates, thanks to the DNC’s running scam. The rulers appear to have made their decision; which is one reason, probably, the Repubs have backed off slamming Trump and are just along for the ride again. It’s gonna be Cankles, total fucking bag job. This ought to speed things up quite a bit, especially if she does two terms, packs the SCOTUS and starts negating the Bill of Rights totally.
Things will indeed get very sporty here.
It’s gonna be Cankles, total fucking bag job …
… … only if she’s still shiny-side up come election time.
I like the solar motion-detector floods for this, rather than leaving lights on all night all over the property
The lights are motion activated and are not on all the time. We get enough animals and wind activation (tree movement) in the area that solar powered would run down and may not recharge on storm ridden days. AC powered is a better option. I have the ability to trip all the lights on for the night until sunrise the next morning if I want. I do this occasionally just so people know I have the lights. Costs less than a dollar for all the lights for the night.
It’s gonna be Cankles, total fucking bag job …
She could have obuttwad as her VP. Then die (good outcome), or leave office because of health issues. Best outcome is for Cankles to die before the convention. Wonder what would happen if she gets her party nomination but dies before election? Other than most intelligent people rejoicing.
Cankles has a bunch of chit wrong with her, in addition to being a psycho war criminal piece of chit. If she don’t get indicted but croaks during the campaign we’ll get our Bolshevik-for-real Bernie. If she croaks during her Sock Puppetry, we’ll get whoever the VP is, I reckon.
“I do this occasionally just so people know I have the lights. Costs less than a dollar for all the lights for the night.”
Good point, Mr. Ray.
“Other than most intelligent people rejoicing.”
Hater.
And here’s some more mean-spirited, unadulterated hate for y’all:
http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/new-black-panthers-purge-transracial-members-cause-outcry-t17579.html
Oh, I’d say that fucking Hillary Bitch Clinton is at least a two-bag job, plus a bottle of whiskey to preemptively kill the pain. (And I don’t drink, so that much alcohol would likely kill me. The less painful alternative by far.)
Coyote-fugly; you wake up in the mew-nin with both bags having slid off overnight and see that your arm is trapped under her head.
You chew it off.
Oh, I’d say that fucking Hillary Bitch Clinton is at least a two-bag job,
Plus a 2×4 strapped to your ass to keep from falling in.
Hater.
And your point? Damn straight I hate her.
Whoa, my eyesight must be going…for a second there I thought I was reading “Damn straight I’d date her.” Whew.
A possible sportiness scenario:
http://zerogov.com/?p=4675
And current potential sportiness, worldwide:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/political-theatre/scary-us-syria/
Yeah, Syria is a mystery, even more than Iraq was. Just why did the US decide it wanted to topple Assad? I mean, sure, he’s a slimeball – and sure, the US likes to meddle. But why him and why now, after the US has already destabilized the whole region?
There was lots of reason not to mess with Syria. It was one of the few reasonable stable countries. It had a real middle class; a functioning educational system. By all accounts, citizens had more rights than in places like Saudia Arabia. Plus, Assad is an ally of Russia, so Russian intervention was pretty much guaranteed. Finally, the whole issue of the Kurds, supposedly US friends – and Turkey is taking advantage of the chaos to attack them instead of ISIS.
The whole thing was just a total brain fart on the part of the US. Everyone involved in planning and approving the whole operation really ought to be covered in honey and left in a field of fire ants.
Ray wrote:
“Lots of security lights. Two lights on each corner of the house, three lights over the garage, two lights on the mower shed. When all lights are on (LED of course) the place is well lit and not an attractive target.”
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (John 3:20)
Thoughts on a socialist pope. Yiannopoulos’s take is amusing and accurate, but I still think Scott Adams’s is the funniest of all: Pope attacks Trump, loses popularity. And the followup: Pope backs down.
I’m not following the US elections too closely, but I came across a funny video today. Whoever this guy is, he apparently dislikes Cruz. However, as the blogger points out, Cruz couldn’t have made a better campaign video if he tried.
I particularly enjoyed the criticism that Cruz is an idealogue. Meaning, apparently, that he actually believes what he says – as opposed to most other politicians.
“I particularly enjoyed the criticism that Cruz is an idealogue. Meaning, apparently, that he actually believes what he says…”
What is a virtue in a Democrat is a vice in a Republican.
“What is a virtue in a Democrat is a vice in a Republican.”
A few decades ago I would have posted “+1” but not anymore; a virtue in a Dumbocrat is a virtue in a Redumblican, both halves of the same War Party. That’s been going on a real long time. So Redumblicans who spent much of their time in office washing Dumbocrat ballz, were said to have “grown.”
Is it just me or is Trump losing steam? Are we now being set up for Rubio or Cruz? Versus Cankles? If so, get ready for eight years of the latter, unless she croaks or goes to prison, the former being far more likely, apparently.
Just back from the Latin mass; our priest reminded us that bishops and popes are only trustworthy so long as their statements adhere to Scripture and the words of Christ. I would have added that we also need to pay heed to how those words get reported in our libturd and commie media, usually cherry-picked to fit their own hard-Left agendas. So during the Francis honeymoon everything he says is manna from Heaven; while back during Benedict’s tenure, he was God’s Nazi rottweiler. Screw all that bullshit.
“…so long as their statements adhere to Scripture…”
And you can find just about anything you want in scripture.
“…the words of Christ.
And therein lies the key. But who was around to write down Christ’s actual words as he spoke them? A person has to read a variety of the Holy Texts and put in perspective who is doing the writing and what was going on in history at the time.
“And you can find just about anything you want in scripture.”
True, that; known as cherry-picking. Which is why we have the other two legs of the stool to guide us, reason and tradition.
“But who was around to write down Christ’s actual words as he spoke them?”
There was a severe shortage of stenographers at the time, but within a generation or two, eyewitness testimony was recorded in the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles. We have more evidence for His spoken words than we do for the man known as Shakespeare.
Eh? There were probably ten or more times as many stenographers per capita as there are now.
Yeah, but they were all needed to count the grain crops and gummint stats and endless litigation in Rome, Athens and Jerusalem. Lawyers were a plague then, but mysteriously not mentioned as being among those that struck Egypt.
Lawyers then weren’t allowed to charge for their services.
That was true when the republic was healthy. It was not true during the late empire. I don’t know about during the dying days of the republic or the early empire.
Even if early empire lawyers could not charge, the proscription on fees would have been for Rome and its core provinces. The governors of the remote provinces had great leeway in making laws. Again, though, this changed over the centuries and across the provinces and I don’t have any particular knowledge about the governance of Judea at the time of the alleged events.
The governance of Judea? Largely left by Rome to administer their own political and legal affairs; I also do not have much intel on specific legal practices then. And as regards the most famous events, neither Pilate nor Herod Antipas wanted to execute Jesus, so that so-called “blood libel” is kinda still out there, ain’t it? The Jewish mob got its way, with the connivance and instigation of the political/religious leadership: “His blood be upon us and our children!” While Pilate washed his hands of it.
I believe money talks, and did back then, too; like the thirty pieces of silver, guys providing legal assistance and advice got PAID. Maybe on contingency basis, I dunno.
http://lawyerhistory.blogspot.com/
There was a severe shortage of stenographers at the time, but within a generation or two, eyewitness testimony was recorded in the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles.
The Gospels date from 25 to 35 years after the crucifixion (earliest likely for Mark) to as much as 55 years later (John). It’s believed that there were some source documents that were used to compile them, one is the hypothetical “Q” document which is believed to be a “sayings of Jesus” that circulated. Acts is a “sequel” to Luke, and may have been revised up until 200 AD or so.
Lawyers then weren’t allowed to charge for their services.
True, but it was considered a necessary step for someone trying to climb the ladder into the Senate and higher. It helped establish your reputation. brought people into your clientele, and added IOUs from the rich and powerful to cash later. As many of the writers about the time have said, there was no prohibition for a grateful client to give his advocate a non-cash “gift” after a successful court battle.
That snapshot history of lawyers during Roman times still doesn’t tell us what the shysters got in Roman Judea, though. If anything; maybe just goods or some kind of other barter. I believe they can lay legitimate claim to being the oldest “profession,” however, rather than prostitutes. The Serpent in the Garden was acting in that slimy role as Eve’s advocate. Prior to that, he was fomenting insurrection in Heaven.
I believe Mr. ech is mostly correct on NT dating; earliest seems to be mid- to late-50s AD. Among which, we might presume, are eyewitness accounts and second- and third-hand testimonies. (several Epistles earlier than the earliest Gospel, however)
There were probably ten or more times as many stenographers per capita as there are now.
That’s changing. Hospitals are hiring “scribes” to follow doctors around to record what’s being done in electronic medical records systems, particularly in ERs.
WRT “Hospitals are hiring “scribes” to follow doctors…
Just mentioned this comment to my Wife (Surgical RN) and she said “oh yes, for sure in the ER and even in their offices now because the supposedly more efficient electronic systems (i.e. typing everything into the computer) are taking away from the doctor providing proper patient care.”
While on the subject of doctors, yes @RBT we are well aware of you unfondness for doctors, but if you do not subject yourself to the “required” periodic exams of ObolaNoCare you will find that no doctor will accept you as a patient. You will only get stabilizing care in an ER and then out the door. Don’t believe me, fine, but just remember you heard it here first.
It has been more than 10-years since my last colonoscopy and my doctor MUST by law now give me a lecture every time I see him, which is every 3-months for my Diabetes (also a requirement to keep getting meds and glucose monitoring supplies, and don’t forget the hassles with my hydrocodone). It is a standing joke with him and me each visit, he has to fill in the proper blanks on the forms that he has told me a whole litany of the gooberments health care “requirements”. BTW I have never smoked, own no firearms, participate in risky behaviors, etc., etc., etc., … 😉
Hospitals are hiring “scribes” to follow doctors around to record what’s being done in electronic medical records systems, particularly in ERs.
Lawyers are making hospitals hire“scribes” to follow doctors around to record what’s being done in electronic medical records systems, particularly in ERs.
Fixed it for you. And I am certain hospitals are charging for the scribe.
When my wife had some surgery at the hospital I asked for a detailed bill that showed how the $24K+ bill was computed. One line item caught my eye, $250 for video. I asked for a copy of the video since I had been charged for the video. The hospital stated that was not possible as the video was for their protection. I told that hospital in that case they pay for the video, not I, unless I was given the video. The hospital removed the charge from the bill.
The other charge from the surgery that pissed me off was from a doctor that had not been involved at all. He popped into my wife’s room, asked how she was doing, then left. Total time about 30 seconds. Got a bill from the doctor for $900 for consulting. I called and told them I did not ask for the doctor, nor did my wife, nor did the primary surgeon. I was not paying the bill. His office cancelled the bill.
WRT: video during surgery:
Videos during surgery are becoming more and more common (“training” and ass covering) and the hospitals here are not charging for it, yet. It is actually not an allowed charge by ICD 10 (International Classification of Diseases 10th-revision) so insurance will not pay for it (nor will ObolaNoCare). BTW, a good lawyer will get you those videos.
So now, in effect, we need to have a lawyer on retainer or actually with us when we are receiving any kind of medical care. Between them and the medicos, some of us are clearly in the wrong racket.
“…BTW I have never smoked, own no firearms, participate in risky behaviors, etc.”
I’ve smoked, been an LSD adventurer, heroin junkie, hardcore drunk, heavy-foot-on-the-gas motorist, firearms and explosives galore, jumping out of or rappelling outta helicopters, riding a ten-speed bicycle down Indian Head Hill in Framingham, MA at 16 with a head full of acid and doing 70MPH through two intersections with no helmet, fallen through the ice at Walden Pond and almost drowned at 14, four combat deployments to SEA for Uncle and then years of street cop gigs after that. Here I am, hale and hearty, while two brothers and my sister are cancer survivors and one of those brothers who’s been a vegan and jogged like I drank now also has heart trouble.
Wife has been a little goody-two-shoes her whole life and has a baker’s dozen of ailments and medical issues.
I must conclude that evil and criminal negligence are rewarded in this life…or, I’m being saved for something truly horrible.
It is actually not an allowed charge by ICD 10 (International Classification of Diseases 10th-revision) so insurance will not pay for it
My insurance did not pay for it thus it was on the bill I got from the hospital. It may not be a chargeable item but that does not stop the hospital from billing for it anyway. If 25% of the people pay it without checking their bill the hospital is a few thousand dollars ahead.
Most annoying are the doctors and medical technicians that show up uninvited and charge their consulting fees or assistant fees for basically doing nothing. Last surgery for my wife there were three doctors involved, the primary surgeon and a couple of his buddies that billed me. I suspect they are in adjoining surgery theaters and just check on each other to increase their billings.
Latest surgery was a hip replacement. Total cost is about $35K. Insurance will pay part of it and I am stuck with $8K, my maximum out of pocket.
Of course insurance disallowed her private room because that is not covered. The Orthopaedic ward of the hospital only has private rooms, no semi-private. Insurance company says it is not their problem, they are not going to pay the difference in cost regardless of the facilities in the hospital.
Hospitals and doctors bill the maximum they can by any way they can find. Insurance companies pay the minimum they can by finding ways to not pay that are, shall we say, creative.
I have informed the insurance company that if they do not cover the private room I want arbitration. And I want the name and position of every person that had access to the medical records and/or took part in the decision as I expect them to be at the arbitration hearing if it is required. It is my right under HIPAA rules. We will see how that goes.
@Ray – you are entirely correct and also entirely within your rights to contest every penny. The reimbursement rates are abysmal and getting worse so the hospitals try to pad the bills of those who they think may have the money. A good credit score, a full time job, and not being in a “protected class” make you a target for creative billing. Only a small percentage of folks pay their hospital bills not covered by insurance and an even smaller percentage ask for a bill review and contest the charges. If you are assertive you can get the “pad” removed and also negotiate the remainder down 50% to 75%, YMMV.
OFD’s litany is similar enough to my own, except for the chemical additives to the bloodstream part. On the other hand, I used to hunt muggers as a hobby, unarmed, by myself. There’s no reasonable explanation for why I haven’t died abruptly, nor any reasonable explanation why the exciting times haven’t killed me with an aneurysm or another stress-related pathology. And yet I seem to be healthier than any other adult in the family, I’m the only one past his 20s who’s not, shall we say, a bit squishier than really needed, and people usually think my younger siblings and cousins are older than I. (Strangers also think my wife is several years older than I rather than several years younger, which really pisses her off.)
I think there’s something to the old saying “too cussed mean to die”.
re creative billing, it will continue because there’s no incentive for them not to pad the bill. If the patient pays, the hospital gets more money. If the patient objects to a bogus line item, the hospital is out about two minutes of a clerk’s time.
This will continue until there’s a penalty for bogus charges. Deducting the bogus amount from the actual amount should do the trick.
“(Strangers also think my wife is several years older than I rather than several years younger, which really pisses her off.)”
Ditto, to a point, but we both apparently look younger than our years.
“I think there’s something to the old saying “too cussed mean to die”.
And the other bromide, set to song by Billy Joel, “Only the Good Die Young.”
Only a small percentage of folks pay their hospital bills
About four years ago when my wife had her first hip replacement the amount I had to pay to the hospital was about $3K. I could not pay that all at once because I also had to pay the surgeon, anesthesiologist, x-ray outfit, and labs. So I called the hospital to arrange a payment plan. The hospital immediately said no problem “How about $100 a month?” I said no, how about $500 a month. The hospital clerk was almost excited. From that I got the impression that many don’t pay or pay such a little amount that it takes a dozen years to pay the entire bill.
I will pay all the bills for this recent surgery over time, doctor and hospital. Arrange it for about a six month pay off plan. My understanding is that as long as you are paying on the account they cannot get collections involved or charge late fees. At least it used be that way until obuttwadcare got involved.
I remember when that track was released and some high muckety-muck in the RC church called for Joel to be excommunicated. Must’ve terrified a nice Jewish atheist boy like him.
I think there’s something to the old saying “too cussed mean to die”.
“Born to be hanged” is the phrase you’re looking for. 🙂
He popped into my wife’s room, asked how she was doing, then left. Total time about 30 seconds.
He also probably was a hospitalist, and spent a while checking the chart.
“I remember when that track was released…”
I personally don’t care for that song, but he’s had a bunch of others that I liked/like still. And his earlier song “Captain Jack” is largely about the not-so-good dying young.
“…it used be that way until obuttwadcare got involved.”
Which is designed and guaranteed to make our healthcare in this country become a total clusterfuck, with malice aforethought. We’ll experience this firsthand among the group here, if we haven’t already, as we get older and watch our surviving parents and siblings get older likewise, and deal with kids and grandkids and their issues. As it stands right now, if both my wife and me were on ObolaCARE, we’d be paying more for the premiums each month than our mortgage, and with high-ass deductibles, too. While we watch new crimigrants and invading musloids get taken care of por nada. Bitch about it and the future sez we’ll be prosecuted and imprisoned for doing so. You can see the opening stages of this escalation of SJW warfare against us in the colleges and universities. I saw the beta version back in grad skool a quarter-century ago, when the new kidz on the block were making the older libturd Dem types cry, literally. I had zero sympathy then and zero sympathy now; they let it happen.
Hi Bob,
Did you see the Linux Mint website was hacked and the hackers not only stole their entire Forum data, including users’ logins, they substituted the Distribution downloads with bot-infected files…
http://www.zdnet.com/article/hacker-hundreds-were-tricked-into-installing-linux-mint-backdoor/
Be Careful Out There
Cheers,
Rod