08:44 – It was 54.5F (12.5C) when I took Colin out around 0715 this morning. More rain intermittently over the next couple days, with highs around 68F (20C). Barbara is off to the dentist this morning and then has meetings, so she’ll be gone most of the day. We got another dozen biology kits built yesterday, so for now we’re in good shape on science kits.
The ongoing sage of my most recent Walmart order continues. I placed the original order on March 15th, with a promised delivery date of March 17th. UPS damaged that order and returned it to Walmart. Walmart finally got around to shipping the replacement last Thursday, the 23rd, with promised delivery today. So this morning I checked to see if it was “out for delivery”, only to find this:
Mar 24 9:17 PM
YOUR PACKAGE WAS DAMAGED IN TRANSIT. WE WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH DETAILS. / ALL MERCHANDISE DISCARDED. UPS WILL ATTEMPT TO NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH DETAILS OF THE DAMAGE RALEIGH, NC
Maybe the third time will be a charm. Maybe Walmart will get tired of replacing damaged shipments and decide to pack things better. The shipment comprised several gallons of ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce, so it probably made a real mess.
Barbara has Vivaldi set up the way she wants it, and so far she much prefers it to Firefox. About the only thing I did was install Adblock Plus for her. Vivaldi is based on the Chrome/Chromium browser, so I’m not too concerned about them keeping up with security fixes.
I’m also running Vivaldi as my main browser now. There are a couple things I don’t like about it, mainly that it doesn’t remember font size settings for each web site I visit, but I can tolerate that.
* * * * *
Walmart online is a mess. My wife attempted to purchase a copy of H&R Block Tax Cut from them last night. She entered in all her information, placed the order and in a few minutes received a notice that the order had been cancelled. No reason was given. She assumed that she had mistyped her credit card information and gave it another try. Same thing. She called the credit card company to see if there was something wrong with the card and was told that everything was alright, but that Walmart had submitted the order twice and then immediately cancelled them. She waited about an hour, tried again, hoping that it was just a temporary glitch and once again received a notice that the order was cancelled.
She attempted an online chat with Walmart to find out what was going on, but the person on the other end was obviously following a script and had no clue how to fix things. She called the credit company again and found that Walmart had not only charged her card for the third attempt, but had gone back and recharged for the other two attempts. She now has paid for three copies of TaxCut with no ability to download a single instance of the product. The rest of her morning will probably be spent trying to clean up this mess.
If Walmart really wants to compete with Amazon, they better get their act together before they chase away all of their potential customers.
Yeah and their search engine is next to useless and they haven’t got anything like amazon’s “also viewed” “ultimately bought” or “recommended based on” suggestions.
I look at the “ultimately bought” every time, and I find the recommendations to be spot on and helpful most of the time.
n
36 here today and up to the 40s for the rest of the week, looks like. Overcast with a slight breeze.
We have a Wall-Mutt “superstore” up on the Swanton line just off I-89 so I can just buy chit right there and haul it home, but I rarely visit.
As for credit cards and suchlike, I am once again encountering an issue with one of mine; they have an “express” payment option, for which you pay ten bucks to get it credited to your account within 24 hours. I did that Wednesday night last week and it’s still not there. i.e., the same result as if I had not selected that option and not paid the extra. By contrast, another cc company DID credit my account the very next day with no surcharge. And the first company has zero options for contacting them via their web site other than phone trees and snail mail. You will not get to speak to a human bean. So I’ll be paying off that card and closing the account accordingly.
Yeah. I said long ago that Walmart needed to hire some top people away from Amazon to get their website and fulfillment running properly. As things go, it’s hit or miss. I hope Walmart gets its act together, because it’s the best candidate for keeping Amazon reasonable. Without Walmart, Amazon is going to end up owning e-commerce and putting local vendors out of business. Kind of like Sears was around 1900, but to the third or fourth power.
Speaking of which our local Lowes Food just announced that they’re closing the Sparta supermarket. Lowes originated in NC. They closed the first store they’d opened, in North Wilkesboro, last September. Sparta was Store #2, and it closes in the next month or so. That leaves us with only a Food Lion (hawk, spit), small local markets, Walgreens, and the two or three dollar stores. Still, about all Barbara buys at the supermarket nowadays is fresh milk, eggs, bread, etc., so that won’t really be a problem for us. No way we’re going to shop at Food Lion, though.
Interestingly, Food Lion also originated in North Carolina, as Food Town. I remember when they made the change, back in the 80’s. They were at that time the fastest growing supermarket chain in the world, opening 100+ new stores a year. They eventually got up to something like 1,100 or 1,200 supermarkets (versus around 100 for Lowes Foods), but then they got caught selling bad meat back 25 years ago. After that, they were *closing* 100 stores a year. Nowadays, they cater to the poorest people because even lower middle-class people avoid the places.
So I’ll be paying off that card and closing the account accordingly
Don’t close the account as that will affect your credit score. Leave it open, destroy the cards, and don’t use the account. I have credit card accounts that I have not used in 20 years still active. They send me a new card, I destroy it.
I have had excellent service from Discover and Citi (the card I use for Costco). Payments done online one day will post that night, maybe the next day. With the Costco Citi card payments made online immediately affect the balance even though the payment is pending.
Store closings: up here the local Radio Shack is finally biting the dust, after missing an earlier possibility of doing so; the local Staples is already gone, as is the J.C. Penney store. If we wish to buy anything from any of those places, we have to drive 30 miles south to Burlap. There are still two local Sears stores but I don’t see how they’ve stayed open this long, and ditto, really, the Wall-Mutt “superstore.” I don’t see them having the volume they ought to have for a store that size just off the interstate between Montreal and Burlap.
Finally got a human voice, ESL naturally, on that credit card problem; I was advised that only the first $100 is available the very next day; they hold the rest until they’re sure “it won’t bounce.” Which is bullshit because it’s all electronic; it’s not like I’m writing a check. So that extra ten bucks was for nothing. Bastards.
(edited) posted before I saw Mr. Ray’s advice; copy that, and roger, thanks!
Well that was weird. Sometime between when I posted and an hour (approx) later, windows on this machine forgot how to access the wired network.
Everything else stayed up (~6 or more other things connected to the network, not counting cams.)
When I rebooted, I got the “would you like to join this network” message. It completely forgot.
Spooky.
n
added- still had the workgroup and pc name
The local Radio Shack is closing here. I long ago decided if I really need something that Radio Shack has and can’t wait for Amazon to deliver it, go somewhere else. You’re going to laugh, but my go to place for things I really need is Walgreens. They have all the USB cables, flash memory devices and other computer and electronic stuff grouped in one spot. If they don’t have it, then I have to go to Walmart, Staples or Lowes. But they are the closest place, and they never close. If you need something at 5AM, they’re there and much more convenient than Walmart. Amazon has a better price and better selection, but that’s only if you can wait two days.
We have a couple of Fry’s stores, and a MicroCenter, as well as a couple of wholesale to the trade, and a great retail/pro store AllTex Electronics. And a store called EPO that’s like an Army Navy Surplus store for electronics, and ACE Electronics which does retail but hates people.
One of our RS stores closed in the first round, and I got a bunch of stuff for pennies on the dollar, including ham and scanner antennas, adapters, and tech chemicals like DeOxIt Gold… Also antistatic mat kits for $5!
Our remaining store is currently 20-60% off, with most closer to the 20 side. They had arduino kits at 40% off, but they were still cheaper online.
RS real mistake was deciding to focus on cell phone sales. There is NO WAY to compete on price with a kiosk in the mall or carriers giving away phones. And RS has no way to compete on service with the endless revolving door of dope fiends they employ. (Except the female associates, who seem to stick around a bit longer, and actually bothered to learn some stuff. I had one that was really enthusiastic about electronics and selling the stuff was ‘like her dream job’.)
Passing of an era, but that’s what’s supposed to happen when you make serious management mistakes.
n
WRT SEARS or walmart as competition to Amazon…
Sears’ dominance in the 1900’s was quickly contested by JC Penney’s, Montgomery Ward’s, and I’m sure there were other regionals too. Monkey Wards held out for a long time, and JCP is still bleeding money, but here.
I think that b&m stores will eventually be partly or wholly subsidized showrooms, doing a small walkin business, and act as regional distribution points. There are still some things you want to see and or touch before buying, and just going to the store and then buying online is kinda cheating…
n
There’s a Walgreen’s but it’s also 30 miles south of here in Burlap, though close to where I turn off for my weekly vet group meetings. I’ll recon it this coming Thursday.
And yeah, the RS stores up here had a continuing turnover of staff, some really oddball characters, too. But the store up here had for a short time, a really stacked young woman who wore quite enticing outfits; I’m guessing she sold a lotta Arduino kits. I agree that their probable worst mistake was the cell phone biz.
And let’s face it; brick-and-mortar is sliding down the tubes for retail stuff like that; you can get just about anything online. But that’s so long as the net stays up and the juice keeps running. While they continue their elimination of cash.
Yeah. I said long ago that Walmart needed to hire some top people away from Amazon to get their website and fulfillment running properly. As things go, it’s hit or miss. I hope Walmart gets its act together, because it’s the best candidate for keeping Amazon reasonable. Without Walmart, Amazon is going to end up owning e-commerce and putting local vendors out of business. Kind of like Sears was around 1900, but to the third or fourth power.
Unless Amazon gets the Fresh fee covered by food stamps (not impossible, but Trump certainly won’t do it), I don’t see them being a big player in groceries. Everything else is, unfortunately, up for grabs since Wall Street expects the other retailers to make money while they give favorite son Bezos a pass.
And yeah, the RS stores up here had a continuing turnover of staff, some really oddball characters, too. But the store up here had for a short time, a really stacked young woman who wore quite enticing outfits; I’m guessing she sold a lotta Arduino kits. I agree that their probable worst mistake was the cell phone biz.
Radio Shack’s Arduino and Raspberry Pi kits were hideously overpriced. No one shopped Adafruit or SparkFun before generating those shelf tags?
I worked for Egghead Software back in the day, and the local management in Tampa was poached from Radio Shack stores (this was circa 1989). I picked up a lot of insight about Radio Shack’s hiring practices, and, from what I understand, starting in the mid-80s, the goal of hiring at the company was to make PC sales numbers over hiring someone with expertise who would take the time to actually understand the customer’s needs.
“Wall Street expects the other retailers to make money while they give favorite son Bezos a pass.”
last time I paid any attention, I thought that Bezos could make money but he keeps pouring potential profit into new things, like drones, kindles, alexa, same day delivery, delivery fleets, etc.
n
last time I paid any attention, I thought that Bezos could make money but he keeps pouring potential profit into new things, like drones, kindles, alexa, same day delivery, delivery fleets, etc.
I think Bezos has been given a pass on making money because his friends on Wall Street who know him believe that he has the flexible morality which will be required to acquire and maintain control of enough retail to justify that stock price.
I’d believe the reinvestment story if the stock were at a P/E of 50, but, pushing a P/E of 200, the share price is pure speculation.
I pay my cc bill in full each month. I did make a mistake on several occasions with some cards – I forgot to pay. Then paid full store charges for both months, but withheld interest and late payment fee from check.
Called them and said I had no intention of financing so cancel interest and no intention of paying late so cancel that also.
I did not have to pay those charges nor did I cancel those accounts with unpaid charges.
I will not tolerate nonsense from those services.
And isn’t it interesting that Gates, Bezos, Zuckerberg, and other “giants” of tech are all wet libtards. They’re not stupid; they’ve seen that the libtard zeitgeist has been in the ascendant since before they were born and is solidly in place in the West, though starting to show a few significant cracks.
And isn’t it interesting that Gates, Bezos, Zuckerberg, and other “giants” of tech are all wet libtards.
Gates and Zuckerberg are true believers, but Bezos is an opportunist sticking his finger in the wind IMHO.
Speaking of Gates, the most interesting aspect of the Warren Buffet biopic airing on HBO was how bad Bill Gates looked in the interviews. My wife’s professional opinion was that something is seriously wrong with BillG, and she is rarely incorrect.
Maybe Gates will abandon libturdism and find religion soon. Praise be to Jesus (say with at least four syllables).
Hiding from the heat. It’s 93F with 50% RH in my driveway. I’m unloading all the stuff I took to the hamfest and getting rid of some. Some I’m sorting to put on ebay. Some is going back into storage, some is going to the scrapper.
It’s hot and sunny out there.
Soon as I get cooled off, I’m going to costco. Wife green-lighted a new TV! Costco has a good one on sale. Happy day! And this is one of their sale periods with a bunch of stuff we use, so it will be a big day at Costco.
n
85 F with 58% humidity here in the Land of Sugar. I am so glad that we do not live in the heat island with @nick. I am also very glad for air conditioning and cheap electricity to run it with.
“Thousands Of Americans Are Fleeing The Big Cities
Why are so many people suddenly moving away from major U.S. cities?”
https://www.infowars.com/thousands-of-americans-are-fleeing-the-big-cities/
“Why are so many people suddenly moving away from major U.S. cities? Recently, I wrote about the mass exodus that is happening out of the state of California, but the truth is that what is happening there is just part of a national phenomenon.”
“The populations of some of our largest cities are steadily shrinking, and many experts are completely mystified by the seismic demographic shifts that we are now witnessing. Of course there are a whole host of reasons why people would want to move away from huge cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore and Cleveland. For some families, it simply comes down to wanting a better life for their children. But as you will see below, there are others that believe that things in this country are about to take an apocalyptic turn, and the big cities will not be a place that you want to be when economic collapse, rioting, looting, civil unrest and crime are all spiraling out of control.”
@RBT, here you go.
But, the Houston metropolitan area is still rapidly growing. And so is Dallas – Fort Worth.
I have credit card accounts that I have not used in 20 years still active.
I’ve had a USAA credit card for 36 years that always keep paid off. A Pentagon FCU card and accounts for 26 years. The PFCU has lent us $$ innumerable times to float our company.
The local Radio Shack is closing here.
We still have one close to me that carries all the hobby electronics stuff and all the cabinets with parts. I haven’t been there since late last year. I wonder if it is still open. Then this is Fry’s nearby that carries a lot of parts.
Wife green-lighted a new TV! Costco has a good one on sale.
I have a 70″ Vizio M series that I’m very happy with. They have come a long way since they first started. Crap TVs then. I got mine at Sam’s last year.
I read the Dumbocrats are trying to gear up a filibuster of SCOTUS nominee Gorsuch. They started with a forced one week delay. What, oh what, will the Redumblicans do? It would be amazing if they just sat there and let the libturds filibuster the illegitimate tRump nominee. Only Obuttwad’s nominee should be considered. We are about to see if the pussy Redumb’s have any backbone at all. They should have immediately went nuclear at the delay.
I got my 2016 federal taxes efiled last night and the IRS accepted them this morning. They say that they may have my refund in my bank account in three weeks. One thing a little weird was that the efiling required both of the wife and my driver license numbers, issue dates, and end dates. Turbo Tax said it was to prevent tax filing fraud.
“efiling required both of the wife and my driver license numbers, issue dates, and end dates”
Last year, when I filed with Turbo Tax, it requested this same information from me also. I did not provide it and it did not impact delivery time of our refund. I don’t know how the Feds would be able to readily verify this data.
Where is my Heathkit store when I want to do some soldering?
“Thousands Of Americans Are Fleeing The Big Cities
Why are so many people suddenly moving away from major U.S. cities?”
Why are they waiting so long? I fled Chicago 55 years ago.
“efiling required both of the wife and my driver license numbers, issue dates, and end dates”
Last year, when I filed with Turbo Tax, it requested this same information from me also. I did not provide it and it did not impact delivery time of our refund. I don’t know how the Feds would be able to readily verify this data.
Either the IRS is collecting data or else they have access to the REAL ID databases.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2017/01/04/drivers-license-real-id-tsa-compliant/96162418/#
“My wife’s professional opinion was that something is seriously wrong with BillG, and she is rarely incorrect.”
I’ve noticed that for many years now, but I’m often wrong. What does she think of Field Marshal Rodham? And Larry?
“Either the IRS is collecting data or else they have access to the REAL ID databases.”
Maybe. I wouldn’t be surprised. I will file in the next week or so and see what happens this year. I also file for a handicapped relative who has not had a driver’s license for at least 10 years.
I guess there will be no illegals flying the friendly skies anymore, having read the link you posted. Maybe we should only use planes for voting locations.
I’ve noticed that for many years now, but I’m often wrong. What does she think of Field Marshal Rodham? And Larry?
Larry definitely.
The scuttlebutt out there is that he is dealing with HIV and possibly a late stage of an STD.
Other scuttlebutt is that she has Parkinson’s, also late stage.
But their money (mostly stolen) and their handlers, being paid stooges and lackeys, keep them rolling for some reason. I’d sooner dig up Nixon or Ike and roll them around.
I fucking hate Adobe. Trying to print a 1098 with every pdf program I have. Had to install Acrobat Reader to print. It would just sit in the printer queue until I used Reader.
Fuck Adobe!
Dang Mr. Atoz, I use Libre Office to export PDFs all the time. Scan the form, fill it in and export or print.
Oh, and fuck Adobe anyway.
I used:
PDFpenPro
Word
Chrome
Safari
etc
Even resaved flattened etc. Probably created with Acrobat on the bank website and filled with malicious code.
Such hate! Such vicious violent hate! Against Adobe products!!
I APPROVE!!!
As an aside, when I get the “Homeland Security” Cert updates on software vulnerabilities of current note, Adobe often heads the list.
And I also use LibreOffice for all kinds of chit like that. How much does it cost? lol.
“And I also use LibreOffice for all kinds of chit like that. How much does it cost? lol.”
I succumbed to their suggestion for a voluntary contribution. It was far less than the cost of MS Office.
I have done similar for a number of small, free, useful apps (donationware, actually).
IIRC, I attempted such 15 years ago for a site called HardwareGuys, but it was rejected!!
Oh,….but wait, there’s more. Most of the suites of MS Office that I see advertised now, do not include Access. So, if you want to do many-to-one, relational data base stuff, LibreOffice does include it.
They say that they may have my refund in my bank account in three weeks
I filed my return on a Sunday, had the money the next Friday morning. I suspect you may get it much sooner than three weeks.
One thing a little weird was that the efiling required both of the wife and my driver license numbers, issue dates, and end dates. Turbo Tax said it was to prevent tax filing fraud.
I also had to provide the information. If it prevents fraud I really don’t have a problem with providing the information. After all they have your SSN, all your income, your bank accounts, so what’s a piddling driver’s license.
I had my license changed recently to include the veteran designation. Many places will provide a senior or veteran discount of about 10%. Home Depot will on Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and one other day that escapes. But I also got my VA healthcare card which will get me a 10% off from Home Depot every day.
The scuttlebutt out there is that he is dealing with HIV and possibly a late stage of an STD.
Some form of Parkinsons is my wife’s guess with Larry. It seemed like he suddenly went downhill getting close to the election.
Oh,….but wait, there’s more. Most of the suites of MS Office that I see advertised now, do not include Access. So, if you want to do many-to-one, relational data base stuff, LibreOffice does include it.
Microsoft probably sees the writing on the wall. Access is in a weird position of being overkill for most users but not adequate for serious IT work.
If you’re looking at Access for a small project, consider SQLite. An ODBC bridge exists, and the standard install of Python can query the database files. Plus, the core library builds just about anywhere a C compiler is available.
http://sqlitebrowser.org
If you outgrow SQLite, PostgreSQL uses very similar SQL syntax for table creation and queries. I speak from experience when I say that migration is simple.
http://postgresql.org
I use Foxit Reader for pdf reading and filling. It’s been my choice for years.
CutePDF for a free creator if a lightweight but capable creator is needed (as a printer for a CAD program for example.)
n
(filled my DL renewal no problem, once I clicked to change from the hand to the pointer…)
Eh? I thought your kids were well out of college.
Oh, and fuck Adobe.
“Either the IRS is collecting data or else they have access to the REAL ID databases.”
Maybe. I wouldn’t be surprised. I will file in the next week or so and see what happens this year. I also file for a handicapped relative who has not had a driver’s license for at least 10 years.
Ugh. I may be doing the filing for my father-in-law. I highly suspect that his driver’s license is long gone. We moved him into rehab nursing three years ago and he is still there. And he had not driven for a year before that since I yelled at him for driving 60 mph thru an active school zone. I was scared that we were going to kill several munchkins but I guess that the crossing guard saw us coming. FIL told me that seniors did not have to slow down for school zones, we had a long talk after that.
“…But I also got my VA healthcare card which will get me a 10% off from Home Depot every day.”
Thanks, good to know; I have that card, too. My picture on it is from when I had my beard down to my chest and looked like a psychotic War Between the States veteran.
And incidentally, fuck Adobe.
We are having a sucky day today. Had a PC start rebooting every 10 seconds. Routed around the UPS. Replaced the power supply. Just replaced the case, motherboard, cpu, and ram (suspect the old motherboard fried itself intermittently). Reloading Windows 7 x64.
Sigh. I hate hardware problems.
And two guys just parked a very heavy duty 18 wheeler (10 wheel drive tractor) on my gravel road. In front of the dumpsters. Then they walked into the office (no knocking) to ask permission to leave it there for the night. I told them to move it away from the dumpsters and then it was ok.
” Reloading Windows 7 x64.”
Well there’s yer problem right there! (just kidding; it does sound like the mobo got hosed).
” Then they walked into the office (no knocking) to ask permission to leave it there for the night.”
IIRC, this ain’t the first time that peeps have just walked on in on ya. Ain’t you kinda outta the mainstream there somewhat? How close and how fast is help if something needs being helped? Anyone there heeled during the workday?
If you outgrow SQLite
Download SQL Server Express. Free and has almost all the features of full blown SQL Server. Biggest limitation is that the size of a database is limited to 10 gig, which is a whole lot of data.
FIL told me that seniors did not have to slow down for school zones
When I moved my Mom to Nevada (may she RIP), the first thing I did was get her an ID Card and told her she wasn’t driving anymore. She gave me a FoD look but said OK.
”Reloading Windows 7 x64.”
It is a different motherboard (still my favorite, Gigabyte) but a 68X model instead of a 77X model. So all new device drivers. Windows could not even get up without locking up.
”Then they walked into the office (no knocking) to ask permission to leave it there for the night.”
IIRC, this ain’t the first time that peeps have just walked on in on ya. Ain’t you kinda outta the mainstream there somewhat? How close and how fast is help if something needs being helped? Anyone there heeled during the workday?
We ALWAYS keep the front door locked and I don’t understand why the front door was unlocked. The new landscaper / pool lifeguard dude renting the warehouse is hiring 300 new lifeguards for summer and they are coming to the office first about half the time. And some of my guys might be carrying. I don’t ask and they don’t tell.
“Biggest limitation is that the size of a database is limited to 10 gig, which is a whole lot of data.”
LOL; reminds me of my days as an IT Specialist II for state gummint here, a four-year sentence to a matriarchal gulag. They had me working as a DBA but with Access, and moving data from that to friggin’ Excel spreadsheets, because that’s the only thing they knew how to do. And they were very proud of themselves for that ability, too. It was healthcare data, and soon it grew beyond any capabilities of Access, (which they refused to acknowledge for the longest time) so they had me evaluate M$ SQL Server and Oracle, which I duly performed and gave them the results and my recommendation for Oracle. The new biz manager galloped in with her own picked twosome of her family friends, made them the IT team, pushed me completely out of the loop there, and sent one of them to Oracle school down in NC for a couple of weeks. Then they put me to work on data entry for Excel spreadsheets and moved me out of my office to the cube farm.
A few months after that I simply walked out at 5PM, left a note and never looked back. Another couple of days there and I was likely to kill somebody. This was well before I quit boozing and got treatment for that and “severe and chronic” PTSD. They don’t know how lucky they are. The whole department has long since been broken up and scattered to the four noxious winds of the state gummint gulag. Mrs. OFD lasted ten years, and by the end of her sentence, had been moved twice, and then finally to a desk by the exit door with no phone and no computer.
Our crimes? Integrity. Honesty. Reliability. Dedication. Expertise.
“Rep. Mo Brooks files bill to repeal Obamacare”
http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2017/03/rep_mo_brooks_files_bill_to_re.html
Not a single other sponsor. Does that tell you that the fix is in ?
My insurance guy told me today that he quoted Obolacare insurance for a family (did not say how many kids) at $2,000/month. For some reason, they did not just jump on his quote.
It was a racket from the very beginning and also designed to fail eventually with major disruptions to the economy and the country’s citizens. Meanwhile that POS sits two blocks from the WH in his bunkered and fortified mansion directing, with his Iranian-communist consort, his 30,000-strong “army.” In conjunction with various factions within the Deep State.
And various hard-left wannabe troops prance around in brown shirts and masks and carrying rifles on their “antifa” escapades. Those who’ve read some European history may recall similar capers in German streets a few years after the Great War.
This looks more and more like a “banana republic” every day. Or Weimar.
The wonders of modern technology.
“Alexa, detonate Claymores.”
Literal brown shirts!
The irony, it burns.
n
If I was Mr. Lynn I would have claymores deployed outside that building; his son could also set up mortars. Fire away and fall back.
“The irony, it burns.”
No shit, doesn’t it, though? Actual fucking brown shirts and masks. At least the original brownshirts didn’t wear masks. And they used to have rolling street battles with the fucking commies. Now the commies wear brown shirts.
“It burns, it burns…” lol.
Here’s an image for late night: 20-30 of these creeps block an urban intersection with their rifles, stopping cars, beating and robbing people, etc. Shouting commie slogans. Then three pickup trucks arrive on the outskirts…at three points…triangulating…two guys with rifles in the bed of each one…the tailgates flop down…oh wait…I think I’ve seen this movie…
….paging Matt Bracken…
From the Department of Healthcare Chaos:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/03/charles-hugh-smith/forget-obamacare-ryancare-future-reformocare/
And what has yer old pal OFD always been saying about our sub forces?
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/03/no_author/dont-expect-live-much-longer/
Maybe we won’t have a slow slide into dystopia after all. Uh-oh….
And someone earlier ventured a questioning attitude about just what it is that the Repubs (Stupid Half of the Party) will do, WRT health care, taxes, etc. IIRC, it was our Lost Wages correspondent.
Here’s some food for thought:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/03/laurence-m-vance/what-are-the-republicans-waiting-for/
Spoiler alert: They will do nothing. They’re part of the problem. i.e., utterly worthless.
And from the Department of Orwellian Eavesdropping:
http://www.garynorth.com/public/16363.cfm
Again, this is all only feasible if the Grid stays up, i.e., both innernet and juice. If they go down, the masters have nothing. Including command-and-control once their generators and batteries wind down.
And every time I look out out my front windows to the street, I think about seeing horses and carriages rolling by instead of W.B. Mason and Budweiser trucks and snowmobiles. Back to the year 1900….only with modern weapons…half a billion of them, at least…an armed society is a polite society…???
Hey kidz, Pax vobiscum et tempus fugit…
Lynn wrote:
” Just replaced the case, motherboard, cpu, and ram (suspect the old motherboard fried itself intermittently). Reloading Windows 7 x64.”
Did you have to ring Bangalore to get a new code?
Lynn wrote:
“My insurance guy told me today that he quoted Obolacare insurance for a family (did not say how many kids) at $2,000/month.”
I pay that much per year. Yeah, no family, but if you doubled my bill I’d still be better off. And I’ll bet my deductable is a lot better.
” Just replaced the case, motherboard, cpu, and ram (suspect the old motherboard fried itself intermittently). Reloading Windows 7 x64.”
Did you have to ring Bangalore to get a new code?
Nope. It activated just fine. I buy the retail version of Windows, no upgrade versions. MS tends to be looser on these.
“My insurance guy told me today that he quoted Obolacare insurance for a family (did not say how many kids) at $2,000/month.”
I pay that much per year. Yeah, no family, but if you doubled my bill I’d still be better off. And I’ll bet my deductable is a lot better.
This is why the USA is headed to Single Payer. And according to SteveF, shortly followed by Single Provider. Ugh.
I have yet to see a cogent disproof of my reasoning.
I don’t know the details because the wife handles it but we lost her “cadillac plan” from work, our payments went up, our “out of pocket” [in quotes because only an insurer wouldn’t count all you payments in “oop”, whose pocket do those deductibles come out of anyway?] went up, our caps came down, and we NEVER pay enough to actually get any use out of if (THANK GOD.)
We get the ‘negotiated rate’ for services. That and what amounts to catastrophic coverage are the only benefit for us. We used to have high deductible by choice, and a free market would set rates, so again, no benefit.
And my taxes went up to pay for all the subsidies.
n
WRT hacking, I spent a bit of time last night bypassing the LogIn on a win7 pro machine I bought at auction. I’m reminded that “If they have physical access to the machine, they own it.” Trivially easy to bypass login if you can touch the machine.
n
(and someone at the county IT dept needs a spanking. Disk was not only present, but hadn’t been sanitized in any way. I didn’t try to connect to any county systems, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if I was able to automatically connect using the accounts on the box. If nothing else, I would have a dozen user names.)
What @Nick says, in spades. I had a “Cadillac” plan – I paid for office visits, copays for most things, and OOP was reasonable. I paid every time we went to the doctor, and generally knew when we walked in what it would cost.
Now everything is negotiated rates, OOP is out of sight, and I have no idea what anything will cost. I can’t even pay at the desk – they’ll bill me. Sheesh.
Tonsils (outpatient) last year cost more than cancer surgery the year before. I’m disgusted.
Repeal. Just repeal. And get the hell out of my health care.
Because those of us who normally pay must pay more for those who don’t. Look at all the people that would lose insurance coverage. (of course no one, especially poor people, was without medical care before).
Somebody has to pay for all the poor, crimmigrants, lazy millenials, etc. We don’t have health insurance anymore thanks to ObuttWadCare. Libturdians think single payer/single provider will just scale up like the rest of the World. Right. When medical school costs drop so we can have more doctors, when liability insurance is not needed, then it “might” work.
Goodbye health insurance, we knew ye well.
Just today I heard a report by the head of Britain’s NHS (or maybe the head of one of the sections). He admitted that cancer patients in Britain have a much lower life expectancy than similar patients in France, Netherlands, or several other nearby countries, because the NHS wasn’t up to the challenge. (My phrasing, not his; I don’t remember his exact words.)
Huh. Fancy that. Socialized medicine failing in Britain just as it fails everywhere else. Maybe… maybe they just need some more Other People’s Money.
Isn’t medicine also sosiclized in France, Netherlands, etc?
It is here in Oz, and I think it does fairly well. I’ve been in a public hospital for a week in 2014, when I had a bad fall. Zero charge. Last year I went to the outpatients clinic to have my foot looked at. It was exuding blood and pus. I was admitted straight away. My only cost was an antibiotic, which I had to pay for because it would not be used inside the hospital.
“In June 2016 New Zealand has an estimated population of 4,693,000”
“Population of Australia: current, … 2016, 24,309,330”
“Population in households in California. Total Population: 36,434,140”
“Greater Los Angeles Area/Population — 18.68 million”
” Los Angeles poverty rate greater than California, nation … or country as a whole, with 18 percent of individuals falling below the poverty line. … Of those residents who were born in another country, 20 percent live in poverty” OR roughly the population of NZ lives below the poverty line JUST in LA.
Healthcare doesn’t scale. AT LEAST one worker per patient at a time.
n
http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Health/Physicians/Per-1,000-people
Major western nations are all roughly equal at around 2.3 / 1000 (around 50 of 200 listed).
To get to a Cuba level, ie. double, we’d need 760 THOUSAND more doctors, or equivalent, and to keep the current DR to other ratio in healthcare, we’d need another 11.7 MILLION staff. Even if the current staff could be enough to support 760,000 more Drs., how do you get 760,000 ADDITIONAL high IQ (120average) people to undertake a decade of hard and expensive study for years of debt and low actual pay? (It’s much lower for years than most other professions, and takes more time and risk than most.)
Anyone traveling to Cuba, Belarus, or Turkmenistan for medical care?
n
As usual, Mr. Nick lays out the facts and analysis on health care.
Thank you, Mr. Nick.
But doncha know, amigo, that like the anti-gun arguments, we’re just like Japan and Switzerland and Cuba. Same-same. Thus, in our polyglot gorgeous mosaic of 330 million, things should simply work out the same way they do in Oz or Sweden.
There’s an old saying: “When all you have is a doctor, everything looks like a patient.”
Given the relatively tiny contribution that medical care provides toward general health and well-being, we need to be spending literally 1% of what we’re now spending on it. We’d be better off if we had 2.3 doctors per 10,000 population rather than 2.3/thousand.
And according to SteveF, shortly followed by Single Provider. Ugh.
I have yet to see a cogent disproof of my reasoning.
From me, no way.
Now everything is negotiated rates, OOP is out of sight, and I have no idea what anything will cost. I can’t even pay at the desk – they’ll bill me. Sheesh.
Yes, “Out of Pocket” is skyrocketing. And I am seeing the “reasonable and customary” payment limits from the insurance company again.
Something has got to give here.
BTW, we do not have a healthcare crisis, we have a healthcare payment crisis. It is important to keep those two in perspective.
BTW2, When I see the acronym OOP, that means to me, “Object Oriented Programming”.
Given the relatively tiny contribution that medical care provides toward general health and well-being, we need to be spending literally 1% of what we’re now spending on it. We’d be better off if we had 2.3 doctors per 10,000 population rather than 2.3/thousand.
No, we need more doctors. We need a doctor on every corner screaming out, “I can remove your appendix for $500”.
With 760,000 more doctors, an appendectomy would probably cost more like $50 than $500.
OTOH, we also have literally about 100 times more lawyers than we need, and look where that’s gotten us.
I don’t know the details because the wife handles it but we lost her “cadillac plan” from work, our payments went up, our “out of pocket” [in quotes because only an insurer wouldn’t count all you payments in “oop”, whose pocket do those deductibles come out of anyway?] went up, our caps came down, and we NEVER pay enough to actually get any use out of if (THANK GOD.)
Did your wife become a 2+% owner in her company ? Welcome to the federal government tax laws.
My lawyer is charging me $275/hour. I have spent almost $10K with him since the beginning of the year. I am looking for one of those $50/hour lawyers and cannot find one.
You’ll find a bunch of them on street corners, holding signs that say “Will work for food.”
You’ll find a bunch of them on street corners, holding signs that say “Will work for food.”
Maybe that is who all the crazy people are in Houston standing on corners.
A business partner of mine lives in Piney Point Village. He was waiting on a left turn at Westheimer and Voss the other day and some guy came up and started beating on his hood and windshield. In his 2016 corvette. Then the guy moved to his driver side window. The dude was beating so hard on the window that he scratched the glass.
My friend was trying to decide whether to shoot the guy or flee. He decided to flee and drove his corvette into traffic. On Westheimer. Eight lanes of very busy traffic.
Reminds me of that shooting in Broken Arrow, OK that was reported yesterday. Three armed scumbags broke into an occupied dwelling and encountered the owner’s 15-year-old son, who was holding an AR-15. When the smoke cleared, two of the scumbags were dead on the kitchen floor and a third just outside the house.
The update today says the getaway driver gave herself up. She’s 21 years old, and looks like a toad.
Nick wrote:
“… high IQ (120average) people to undertake a decade of hard and expensive study for years of debt and low actual pay?”
120 isn’t high IQ. Hell, that’s roughly my IQ, and I sure as hell want someone smarter than me treating me.
Lynn wrote:
“My lawyer is charging me $275/hour. I have spent almost $10K with him since the beginning of the year. I am looking for one of those $50/hour lawyers and cannot find one.”
My younger nephew married a lawyer. She’s the smartest member of our extended family. She got a tertiary entrance rank of 99.5 – about as high as you can go. Got law and arts degrees, worked as a lawyer for a big Adelaide firm for pathetic pay for a couple of years, then chucked it in and became a teacher. Mucho better pay. We have three law schools in Adelaide, pumping out way way too many law grads. I bet she wishes she’d done medicine.
We’ve got too many lawyers too. average salary is $30K. My sibling was head of recruitment and retention for a major international law firm. Where you go to law school and where you do your summer internship will determine your financial success as a lawyer for 90% of law students. Possibly higher.
120 IQ was the number I found for Drs. They actually mostly report a range from 105 to 135 and say “see IQ doesn’t matter” and won’t say what the average is. 120 was the consensus of a couple of different sites/surveys.
you don’t need a brilliant Dr for most stuff. you need one that pays attention, has a good memory, and isn’t too influenced by the drug reps that visit every day.
We need a few brilliant Drs to move the state of the art along.
n
@OFD said: “And what has yer old pal OFD always been saying about our sub forces?”
Since the very first submarines we submariners have had a saying: “There are only two type of ships, submarines and targets”.
Today the saying is a bit broader: “There are only submarines and targets”.
There is not a corner left on earth that our submarines cannot utterly destroy.
Bird Farms (aircraft carriers for you land-lubbers) can only deliver a pin prick. Plus they cost A LOT more and fall into that “target” class.
An AI, or even an expert system, not even a full AI, can handle the screening, diagnosis, and even some of the treatment recommendation for most cases. And it won’t be influenced by pharma reps.
But people lie, they mis-describe their symptoms, they fake illness and injury, they joke (or say something semi-seriously that should be taken seriously.)
AI has a long way to go before it gets good enough to recognize all that.
n
No lawyers or doctors in my family.
Ex-wife is a lawyer in NJ, and handles medical malpractice stuff.
Current wife’s extended family has one very well-known orthopedic surgeon (worked for the Olympics team), one chiropractor, one recently retired lawyer, a Vampire State judge, and several nurses.
In my immediate family the three oldest brothers have all been in law enforcement, security and IT; only one of us is still working (in IT). Our sister doesn’t work and hasn’t for a very long time. Youngest baby brother is a hotshot real estate insurance guy, with the same company for over 20 years; he seems to have done the best of all of us. All five siblings are right-wingers, with the two oldest probably being classified by previous methods as “reactionaries.”