It was 21 degrees, partly cloudy, and calm when I took Colin out at 7:45.
Tuesday December 26, 2017
23 Comments and discussion on "Tuesday December 26, 2017"
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It was 21 degrees, partly cloudy, and calm when I took Colin out at 7:45.
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Hope you’re managing to get some down time, Barbara.
Continued best wishes to you both.
Almost 50F and clear here this AM. Wife has to go to work so I’ve got the kids at home. Stay away from the mall!
Hopefully only good news from OFD and RBT from now on. You can do it guys!
n
A Merry Boxing Day to you all. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day)
Continuing prayers for Bob, Barbara, and OFD. Hoping that the New Year brings word of a return to normal, for all of us.
We got about 6-inches of White Christmas yesterday. The road crews loved it, double overtime for the holiday. Too bad they did not do a competent job, maybe too much eggnog. The weather is supposed to get above freezing later this week so soon all the ugliness will again reveal itself as the snow melts.
Got the new Kindle Fire HD 8s for the wife and “kids”, they really like the larger screen (old ones were 7-inches) and better screen resolution. My Wife is particularly happy that she can now see her favorite crossword puzzle app and binge watching Netflix is a lot clearer/sharper and better sounding. And she says she might just might like it better than her Kindle eReader too. Scored well with the “kids” too.
Best wishes to you all.
Peace, Strength, Hope, and Love
What is a mall? Oh, the place I used to hang out with my friends when I was a teenager. I have actually only stepped foot inside the mall once this shopping season. I ate lunch at the food court and left. If God intended men to shop in malls, he wouldn’t have created the Internet or Amazon.
We got about 6-inches of White Christmas yesterday. The road crews loved it, double overtime for the holiday. Too bad they did not do a competent job, maybe too much eggnog.
You’re lucky. I never saw a snow plow in our neighborhood in Vancouver, WA, even when we would get the occasional “lake effect” 8-12 inches.
My wife’s trek on 14 out to her office in the rural area was always fun after a storm. If she was lucky, WDOT salted prior to the snow/freezing rain.
Of course, you can’t call it “salt” within 100 miles of Portland.
A Merry Boxing Day to you all.
“It’s Box Day !”
http://www.gocomics.com/breaking-cat-news/2017/12/26
“Woman accuses United of giving her seat to Houston’s Sheila Jackson Lee”
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Woman-accuses-United-of-giving-her-seat-to-Rep-12452258.php
Ah, what is the end of the year without another Sheila Jackson Lee story ? After all, she is better than the rest of us.
“Nvidia Is Done Releasing Drivers for 32-Bit Operating Systems”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/358139/nvidia-is-done-releasing-drivers-for-32-bit-operating-system
Are there any gamers not running x64 systems ?
I’d bet that somewhere in my Houston (former) customers, there is still a pc running 32bit OS with an nvidia graphics card…. but certainly nothing that you’d put a NEW card into.
Nvidia had/s horrible drivers for cards with 3d support. Every update was a crap shoot. Would it break 3d in some way? Would the overlapped dual screen mode be fubar’d again? or some combination? Would the acceleration or whatever it used to be called when 2 cards were tied together break?
Their developers never had dual screen overlapped displays running in 3d and so we’d get their broken shite every time.
nick
Nvidia had/s horrible drivers for cards with 3d support. Every update was a crap shoot. Would it break 3d in some way?
I had the new driver for my GT 730 card crash this week. I wasn’t playing a game or even using the browser — just using File Explorer to clean out junk in my Downloads.
A *lot* of GT 240 cards are still out there that will run well on older 32 bit systems, but I don’t believe Nvidia sees their future in graphics cards even on 64 bit platforms. They think their chips will run the autonomous car future.
Maybe, but I wonder if the electric/autonomous car people are overestimating the short term with a recession looming in the near future.
They’ll follow the ‘prog’ progression. First tolerated, then celebrated, then mandated. NO WAY will people voluntarily ride in self driving cars after the first time one kills the occupants to save someone else. EVERY ONE believes there is always some other choice and they’ll (car manfs) have to prove there wasn’t in court. Not possible, so that is the end of self driving.
Unless it’s mandated.
n
https://waymo.com/ontheroad/
How much real-world testing has been done on snow or ice covered roads?
How much real-world testing has been done on snow or ice covered roads?
Uber is testing in Pittsburgh, PA. I expect snow and ice there on occasion.
“Federal workers poised to overtake salaries of senators, DC gets highest pay raise”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/federal-workers-poised-to-overtake-salaries-of-senators-dc-gets-highest-pay-raise/article/2644368
“The average federal worker in 2016 earned $86,365. With benefits, the total compensation was $123,160.”
“The average nonfederal pay in the nation was $58,726, with total compensation at $69,901.”
Something is really wrong here.
Hat tip to:
http://drudgereport.com/
Well, it’s not like the “company” they work for ever turns a profit. Just tax and steal more from us or print more.
self driving cars after the first time one kills the occupants
Wife just had her third procedure to get rid of some kidney stones. The first two times were the lithotripsy method. A stubborn stone remained. This time she had Holmium Laser Stone procedure. Recovery has been a bitch. Spent 5 hours in recovery with 4 hours of that in significant pain. In her words, 10 on the scale of 1 to 10. Doctor finally ordered a couple of doses of morphine and Tylenol liquid in her IV. In about 15 minutes the pain was pretty much subsided. Waited another 45 minutes before she was released.
Doctor provided several prescriptions, bladder spasm control, anti-nausea stuff, antibiotics, some other stuff, and surprisingly some oxycodone. We chose to not fill that oxycodone prescription and just get by with Tylenol. Probably could get it filled and sell the stuff on the street for a few bucks. But I am the type that would get caught first time I tried.
According to the doctor there was a lot of moving organs around internally with the laser and probes. The doctor also used a (in his words) a high pressure water spray to move things around and get any fragments moving. A stint was left in as before and that really annoys my wife and will remain in for a week.
The doctor was able to extract one stone, the one that was evading the lithotripsy he thinks. There were also several small fragments left which he thinks will discharge on their own.
And while the wife was still under the effects of the anesthesia, but sort of awake, she proceeded to tell me to leave her the hell alone as this was all my fault.
Medical bills this year have exceed $15K. We are supposed to have a maximum out of pocket of $8K but somehow seemed to have exceeded that by a significant amount. Damn insurance company finds ways to not pay for a lot of stuff.
“CO2 Emissions Equals Wealth”
https://realclimatescience.com/2017/12/co2-emissions-equals-wealth/
“Under the deal China made with Obama, China’s CO2 emissions will continue to grow until “around the year 2030” – as US emissions decline. In other words – increasing CO2 emissions corresponds with increasing wealth.”
China’s emissions of CO2 are now more than 40% higher than the USA according to the graph on the page.
We are all going to die.
Medical bills this year have exceed $15K. We are supposed to have a maximum out of pocket of $8K but somehow seemed to have exceeded that by a significant amount. Damn insurance company finds ways to not pay for a lot of stuff.
“Reasonable and customary” is rearing its ugly head again.
And while the wife was still under the effects of the anesthesia, but sort of awake, she proceeded to tell me to leave her the hell alone as this was all my fault.
They say that kidney stone pain is the same as birthing pain …
Good to hear that she is doing better. My son has this problem also and is not happy about it either.
Has nothing to do with customary and reasonable. Insurance just says a procedure or test is not covered. I get stuck with paying the full amount. And the other gotcha is the notorious out of network. Suck it up buttercup, we’re not paying.
@ray that is terrifying news for me, as I’m facing the same thing. Well, as soon as I actually book the Dr and so forth. Didn’t get it into this year with the out of pocket already met. Didn’t really think about that costing us thousands to meet it again in ’18. It’s a case of my dread and procrastinating costing us, big time.
Hopefully your wife will finally be able to recover and you guys will be able to NOT meet your deductible next year….
n
I’ve had kidney stones. Not nearly as bad as I imagine childbirth would be, but I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Medication eventually broke up the stones and I still take it to try to keep them from reforming.
I’ve read that people in the southern US are susceptible because they drink a lot of apple juice.
Not nearly as bad as I imagine childbirth would be
Spousal unit said the pain from this last procedure was worse then child birth. They administered two vials of morphine through the IV tube before they were able to get the pain under control. Doctor said that there was a lot of movement of internal organs in the process and it will cause discomfort. Understated indeed.
I’ve read that people in the southern US are susceptible because they drink a lot of apple juice.
And Dr. Pepper or very sweet iced tea.
that is terrifying news for me, as I’m facing the same thing
The lithotripsy may do the job. No real side effects from that procedure. You are sedated and groggy from that process but that is about it. This last procedure the wife had involved a probe through the bladder into the kidney. Probe had a camera and a laser and will give you grief afterwards. Lot of organ movement which results in significant discomfort.
It’s a case of my dread and procrastinating costing us, big time.
I convinced the doctor to do this earlier than he normally would so I could get this all done in this calendar year for the deductible. He understood my issues with the insurance company and actually came one day from his vacation to do the procedure. He also scheduled a couple of other procedures the same day as I think he saw this as a way to make some extra money.
You have to play the game with the insurance companies. Especially this year as next year I doubt I will exceed the new standard deduction with medical deductions. Thus medical will no longer be deductible.
My medical deductible this year was within $1.5K of my income. Rest of my money comes from savings and thus is not income. None of my SS income was taxable this year. Total tax owed this year is $0.00. But I still owe the IRS $2.5K because they say I was paid too much in subsidy.
My income was exactly what I stated it would be when I signed the wife up for the ACA. Yet those numbers are apparently poor estimates on the part of the website. Designed to put people in debt to the IRS, to let people know who is in charge.
My subsidy this year was over $500.00 on a premium of around $900.00. For 2018 I used exactly the same numbers. Premiums are $1,200.00 for second level silver program. Yet my subsidy this year is $1,197.00 leaving my premium at $3.00. Nothing has changed other than spouse’s age. Why so much difference from last year?
I can get the subsidy lower by lying about my income and stating it will be higher than what I expect to earn. But lying on a federal form is against the law and would put me in a position to be nabbed by the feds. Thus I suspect that at the end of 2018 I will owe the IRS $6,000.00 or more. Of course that will incur penalties and require quarterly tax payments. Such payments being an amount that cannot be determined.
The system sucks.
But just think how bad it would be if Obamacare weren’t saving you $2500/month or whatever the promise was.