Hot and humid. For a while yet too. Because “summer in Houston’. The rest of you might have some reason to complain with your unseasonably warm temps, but not us. Not really. Hot yesterday, hot today, hot tamale’.
Spent most of yesterday doing other things. Did pickup some stuff. Did get the girls from their day camp leadership thing…
Today I’ve got more of the same, and some prep to do to head back to the BOL for another weekend.
Interesting that the Brits are changing their leadership, and now Italy looks about ready to change theirs. We certainly wouldn’t mind changing ours. Germany came pretty close to it in the last month or so too, didn’t they? No coalition at the moment if I understand it. Sri Lanka and soon Pakistan and maybe the Philippines too….
Sometimes, everything changes.
Stack up some insurance against the upheaval and uncertainty.
nick
II just give my fingers the “raspberry” to wet them.
Only the vegetables Mr. Nick doesn’t like.
I don’t discount the possibility of a change in the Governor’s Mansion in Texas. Even before the freeze last year, Abbott was timid in countering the media line about lockdowns and mask mandates, and, along with the Republicans in the Legislature, he has an obsession about abortion which has resulted in political capital being spent poorly when he should have squished the Prog city governments around the state.
If the lights go out, the party is over in Austin.
84F and 88%RH this am. Kinda sticky out.
n
It’s warmer than that up here. Humidity feels a bit lower but I don’t have a gauge. True, our day is an hour more advanced than yours, but something seems wrong about the temperature differential.
Good headline choice for today…
Nope, nothing to see…
Cat stuck in a tree.
Also seems Uncle Joe has come down with the Crud.
Details, if any, on the 6 PM faux news.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
WH says he is fatigued…how can they tell the difference?
I remember reading that Zoomers (Gen-Z) and younger Millennials don’t want a mortgage. A mortgage ties them down and limits their choices and mobility. They also don’t want long-term leases for the same reason. They prefer to rent and pay month-to-month or sign short-term leases (<12 months). That way if they suddenly decide, for example, they’re bored with the Bay Area they can up and transplant themselves to Austin. No need to put a house on the market or wait for the lease to be up. They also don’t want grandma’s fine china, grandpa’s Victrola, or even a driver’s license if they live in a major metro area.
I coughed this morning. Should I take a COVID test?
Will plugs send me 365 free COVID tests so I can check every day? Gotta be sure.
Heck, I’m GenX and I didn’t want grandma’s china. It was cheap stuff anyways, so I tossed it. I don’t want my mom’s either when the time comes.
Observing that young people don’t want mortgages is not new. Nor is the idea that they want to be “free” from responsibility or long term commitments. They’re young. I wouldn’t even get a multi year magazine subscription when I was that age.
They won’t want the old stuff they remember from grandma until later either. THEN I’ll step in and sell it to them at a premium. Childhood toys and the comforting things you remember come with nostalgia, and you need some years on ya to be nostalgic.
Heck, ‘kids’ these days are nostalgic for Tomagachis. They sing about it in pop songs.
The gen whatever kids are no different than kids from whenever. They are always a mystery to the old folks, and their stuff never makes sense. I say that because people in general are still people. Humans do things that humans have been doing forever. Some specifics are different of course, and when some stuff happens changes because of physical and cultural differences.
Did the hippy kids at woodstock want mortgages and retirement packages? IIRC they weren’t going to become their parents…. and yet they did. They might fight it more, but they did.
Unless today’s kids are physically different from exposure to chemicals, etc. they will follow the same arc their parents and grandparents, and other humans have taken throughout history.
n
I don’t want my mom’s either when the time comes.
– maybe not, but corelle dishes are consistently in demand, as are Revereware pots and pans… or Faberware, or alumilyte. “Glampers” want the full ‘camp’ experience and that means blue speckled enamelware. There are lots of things from the “domestic” experience that are in demand as people get older and want a piece of what they had.
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11035699/Trucker-strike-Port-Oakland-15-container-ships-waiting-dock-four-day-closure.html
silly rabbits, “protests” and “demands” do nothing. Anyone here remember any law other than Prohibition that was repealed? And even then, who still has strict control over liquor taxing, sale, and consumption? Once that crap is passed, the only hope is judicial review, and since no one ever cares which judges get elected, you’re hooped on that front too.
Nancy’s nephew won’t back down, he’ll just wait until you lose the truck and the house to the bank.
n
I was so excited last month: I found several pieces of Revere ware for $10 each. I got a 10″ skillet, a 2 quart saucepan and a 3 quart saucepan. I already had another 2 quart saucepan and lid, a small saucepan, and an 8″ skillet. So I’ve got a good usable assortment now.
I have seen some junkers/antique shop owners on YT lamenting the fact that china isn’t worth crap anymore. The market is flooded with it. Formal dinners around large tables is something that has been fading for decades now. So, as the last generations to really embrace that stuff (G.I. Generation, Silent Generation, Baby Boomers) are passing away it’s flooding the market. There are much more practical and/or desired keepsakes of your parents and grandparents you can hold onto that make more sense than a set of china you’ll put in a cupboard and never use.
I would say they have better tools for living that “free” lifestyle than previous generations. Widespread and cheap high-speed internet, more willingness from employers to let people work remotely, MaaS, and so forth.
@Chad, I agree that actual china, ie a set that never gets used except at holidays for big family gatherings has negative value. I like it, but don’t own any. At 56yo, we actually have a set of “good” dishes, not actual china, but good quality Mikasa. And we rarely use it.
There is an interesting sub culture that might be developing that likes LARPing with a sort of neo-victorian style, and that involves dressing up, dinner parties, straight razors, hats, and even pipe smoking. Seems that hoo-mons like structure, and the manners and mannerisms of certain ages appeal to some people as they provide a structure that current culture lacks.
It may be that Rose Garden china comes back at some point…
n
If you have any concerns about nuclear detonation/fallout, I strongly recommend downloading a copy of Cresson Kearny’s fine book Nuclear War Survival Skills, which is the result of serious research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Even better, purchase a hardcopy. And include some form of iodine in your preps.
I would say they have better tools for living that “free” lifestyle than previous generations. Widespread and cheap high-speed internet, more willingness from employers to let people work remotely, MaaS, and so forth.
–as a lifelong member of a tribe of workers that does this and has for 30 years, yes absolutely the tools are better. BUT I observed in the mid-90s that the ability to work anywhere just meant we’d have to work EVERYWHERE, and I think the observation has held up. Further, if you live that life, you have to be willing work any time, and all the time too. How many people check their email all the time? How many of the new generation of workers have sharing and documenting their entire life as a first or second job? (when chinese factories crank out lighting, grip gear, and audio gear targeted to “influencers”, podcasters, and other “creators” there is something big going on. Those activities are no longer ‘niche’.)
Gig workers are just trading one set of constraints for another, it’s just that many or most of them don’t realize it yet.
n
Plugs probably gets tested every hour. Serves two purposes. Makes certain he is still alive. Makes certain that he gets his meds.
Next year the camel will be administering the tests in eager anticipation.
>> Did the hippy kids at woodstock want mortgages and retirement packages? IIRC they weren’t going to become their parents…. and yet they did. They might fight it more, but they did.
One thing that’s changed at many companies that provide 401k plans is to make the default ‘opt-out’ instead of ‘opt-in.’ Set the employee contribution to max out the employer match and invest in the S&P 500. They just need to keep track of all their plans as they jump from company to company.
>> Will plugs send me 365 free COVID tests so I can check every day? Gotta be sure.
Don’t forget that 2024 is a leap year.
Hmm, what culture can’t seem to keep from fighting in public?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11035197/Not-Magic-Kingdom-Two-families-scrap-massive-brawl-Floridas-Disney-World-resort.html
I wonder if WDW management will come to regret targeting different demographic groups, instead of sticking with middle and upper middle class families with kids.
n
>> They also don’t want grandma’s fine china, grandpa’s Victrola,
For @nick’s sake, hopefully they also don’t want grandma’s sterling silver flatware.
“Unless today’s kids are physically different from exposure to chemicals, etc. they will follow the same arc their parents and grandparents, and other humans have taken throughout history…”
if they manage to escape the Chinese forced labor caps that their woke b.s. has them pointed toward.
Biden tests positive for Kungflu, has mild symptoms.
Speech improves as he quits moving his lips as he speaks. Walks better with hardly a stumble or a wire showing. Dr Jill says “Massive injections of NZ fish lip oil have loosened his joints” Follow link to Hunter,s Miracle below.
After gutting Downtown Orlando’s nightlife over 25 years starting in the early 90s, management at The Mouse decided that they didn’t like the “urban” vibe which resulted at Pleasure Island and shuttered the whole thing.
I have no doubt that the new replacements for Fast Pass are intended to remove the demo in the video except on certain days when the parks would otherwise be empty.
No. It’s solely about the money now. The Disney experience is eroding.
Last time I was there, I didn’t like the ‘urban’ vibe either. Nor the constant outbreaks of violence that comes with the ‘urban’ vibrance.
n
100 year old cast iron cookware is still in use and still going strong.
60-70 year old Faberware, and Revereware cookware is still in use, and still going strong.
60-70 year old corelle and other pyrex and corningware is still in use and still going strong.
2-5 year old non-stick, even good stuff, needs to be replaced.
1 year old dinnerware from any of the big box retailers has chips, is cracked, or otherwise needs to be replaced.
Hmmm, not only will you own less, what you do own fails early, and needs to be replaced often.
n
Hah, SiliconGreybeard was thinking along the same lines this morning.
https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2022/07/on-broken-toothbrushes-and-great-reset.html
n
Got and using the Revereware from mother-in-law, Farberware from early in our marriage, and scads of Corelle from both mothers and some of our own – but finding one every now and then inexplicitly broken when we go to take it from the cupboard. Plus the old cast iron of course, and all in everyday use.
Well the corelle is under enormous internal strain. Drop one, and if it breaks you’ll see how much energy is released. It’s a LOT of flying glass.
I’ve never had any break that wasn’t dramatic, but maybe the middle plate in the stack can fail and not fly everywhere. If they get scratched by metal utensils I’ve heard that can contribute to failure.
Pyrex can fail too, usually from temp extremes which is funny, as that is one of the selling points.
Over all though, I’ll take something that already lasted 50 years in use over something failing after a year.
Same is true for other things. Metal knobs instead of plastic or worse, the soft not-rubber that crumbles. Wood over plastic. Leather over plastic. So many of the things I touch in my daily life have failed or will fail because the materials have no longevity.
n
Disney will cut a deal with DeSantis after the first of the year to avoid dissolution of Reedy Creek. The Mouse doesnt’ want to be subject to the whims of the Dem political machine that has done so much for Orange County.
Did I mention this?
and despite that they STILL want to inject kids with the experimental shots. And before I hear from the “it’s approved” crowd, you might want to read PFIZER’s own page
https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-omicron-adapted-covid-19
n
Modern Pyrex is not made from the same kind of glass that old Pyrex was. I won’t buy new Pyrex, after a casserole exploded when I took it out of the oven. It was the first time I’d used the new casserole. I baked sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving, took it out and set it on the glass stovetop, turned my back and it exploded. Glass shards went 10 feet all over the room. Thank God I had turned my back and was about 4 ft away, so I was not injured.
Old vs New :
https://www.wideopencountry.com/pyrex-isnt-thermal-shock-proof-anymore-and-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
The early Corningware was called Pyroceram.
As noted above, Pyrex changed the type of glass. The FTC should have disallowed the change, based on the potential fir consumer confusion and injury.
That just happened to me about 3 days ago. Put a room temperature Pyrex 11×7 baking dish in a 425° oven. Opened the oven 15 minutes later to give it a peak and the Pyrex was broken in half. First time that’s ever happened to me and I do stuff like that with it all the time.
I would love a full set of Copper Core All-Clad cookware. I would never spend my money on it, but if someone on here wants to gift me a set, then let me know and I’ll send you my shipping address.
The question is what Disney can offer to DeSantis. Disney WAY over-estimated their support in Florida.
Disney goes back to staying out of Florida politics and they get to keep the tax incentives to move Imagineering to the state from California.
People in Florida have a love-hate relationship with The Mouse. Go back just 20 years and a Prog favorite book was Carl Hiaasen’s non-fiction “Team Rodent”.
@Nick
”despite that they STILL want to inject kids with the experimental shots.”
old Gahan Wilson cartoon. Children have lemonade stand for 10-cents. Around the corner the lemonade buyer is crawling in pain, and the next stand is “lemonade antidote, $1”
Yep. Had to buy some sauce pans for a relative into making candy. They wanted the “old stuff” after a couple of unpleasant experiences with the modern glass, finally found what I needed on Ebay.
They went on to do very well at the County Fair competition in the fall that year.
Pyrex™ used to be a trade name for borosilicate glass. Don’t understand how they can use the same name to sell a different glass…
unless it’s now “pyrex BRAND” whatever. and not Pryex™ glass.
n
“Texas is the second worst state to live in, new ranking says”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/texas-worst-state-to-live-in-17320229.php
There is a bunch of jealous people out there.
Also seems Uncle Joe has come down with the Crud.
Ah, he has the sniffle and the Koof.
xkcd: Chemicals
https://xkcd.com/2648/
Big Molecule !
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2648:_Chemicals
On 7/21/2022 11:05 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five Feel-Good Comfort Reads
> https://www.tor.com/2022/07/21/five-feel-good-comfort-reads/
>
> What it says on the tin.
Zero for five here and gonna stay that way.
My comfort reads are (in no order after the first):
1. Mutineer’s Moon by David Weber
2. Red Thunder by John Varley
3. Jumper by Steven Gould
4. Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling
5. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
6. The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster
7. Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein
8. The Star Beast by Robert Heinlein
9. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
10. Live Free or Die by John Ringo
11. Emergence by David R. Palmer
12. Going Home by A. American
xkcd: Chemicals
Wait until they figure out that they are ALL just Protons, Electrons, Neutrons, and Morons.
Dilbert: Only One Choice
https://dilbert.com/strip/2022-07-21
Dilbert saved the world with his giant space laser by killing the alien space armada. So now there is only one choice.
The cookware I use the most is Salad Master. Originally bought in 1968 or 1969. Long time ago. The Bakelite or whatever handles are not shiny and slick like new. Running them though the dishwasher with too much detergent will do that. Like glassware being etched. I don’t mind and sort of like the extra texture.
When I got my grubby hands on it almost 20 years ago, the outside of most of the pans looked like cast iron. No one else wanted the stuff. Hey, the outside just needs a soapy rinse, not scrubbing like the inside. So out on the patio, on spread out kitchen bags for scratch protection and I soaked that stuff (not the handles!) with oven cleaner. Looks almost new. Handles…
The stuff cooks great and that’s the point.
I have some older SM. Aluminum, not stainless steel. It cooks differently than the stainless steel stuff. That cooks well, too. The stuff looks a lot like my Mom’s old Wearever cook pots… and SURPRISE!!! Wearever makes Salad Master and Renaware and a few other brands.
Corningware? I have a decent assortment. Corn Flower Blue only. “snobby sniff” 🙂
Pyrex is just a set of mixing bowls of unknown glass type and several measuring cups and a few casserole dishes.
Corelle Natural Elements for dishes. Man, when Corelle breaks, duck. The plus side is that I can get almost all of 12 place settings in the dishwasher at once. The bowls mess me up. The old stoneware, no way.
We started with my wife’s grandmother’s corelle (from the attic) when all the target plates broke or chipped. The pattern is “Butterfly Meadow” and I see it often, maybe because it’s so ugly no one wants it… What won my wife over was how many dishes we can fit in the cabinet vs the other fat plates.
I have been picking up the classic pattern – “Butterfly Gold” because it’s the most common, or maybe second most common… but also very dated.
There are a couple of more modern patterns that I’ve been picking up too… “Country Violets” which is just a single blue stripe, and “Memphis” which is blocks of color, and “Garden Sketch” which is green and black stripes. I’ve got most of a set in the Country Violets pattern. The Garden Sketch is a close second for my favorite.
Quality is affordable in the secondary market, and worth seeking out.
n
Pyrex® was used for the 200″ mirror blank…but they annealed it for a year to make sure no stress was baked in.
https://nyheritage.org/collections/pouring-200-inch-disk-corning-glass-works
I’m just guessing, but they probably didn’t anneal the cookware for anywhere near that long.
Corningware, pyrex, both great examples of research being turned into consumer product, and both companies still innovating and still around when so many others from that golden age have gone away.
THAT’S how you do it.
n
I may be a simpleton.
With Medicare approaching Real Soon, I can do the default Part A and Part B. That’s like $174 outta the SS check. I don’t have to do anything, I’m all set up. So says SS.
Or I can do Medicare Advantage, like what’s constantly advertised on TV like some shopping channel is selling junk like air fryers and non-stick pans one can scrub with steel wool pads. So, sketchy stuff right there.
All the junk mail I’m getting pushing the stuff makes it all seem even more sketchy. No numbers at all. And how do these companies have my address anyway?
But that’s me and my basic feeling that anything that “they” (for any value of) are pushing is a way to take my money with little return for me. Like buying an extended warranty.
Can I swap back and forth if my needs change? Or is what I choose now carved in stone for the rest of my life?
The little I can figure out is Part C Medicare Advantage seems to be some kind of HMO with a list of doctors and out of area stuff. Cost? Don’t know. Is the $174 Medicare takes included in the cost? Don’t know.
I seem to be lacking a bit of reading comprehension.
And then today, from SSA no less, oh, I should sign up for Part D. For drugs. I dunno… there’s the usual “sign up later and pay extra” routine. But first I need my Medicare card for the account number? I’m not on any drugs. A couple of aspirin once in a while. Do Tums count? How about Ivermection?
Excuse me whilst I look for a drool rag.
@lynn
On 7/21/2022 11:05 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five Feel-Good Comfort Reads
> https://www.tor.com/2022/07/21/five-feel-good-comfort-reads/
Mirabile by Janet Kagan is a good read. It’s a collection of stories about the same world that were published over time in anthologies and magazines.
Her novel Hellspark is my favorite, I’ve worn out several copies. If you like Trek, she wrote a gem that captures the relationship of Spock and Jim well, gives a bit more umph to lesser character, and is a great romp. Uhuru’s Song. Very enjoyable. I think it was her first published novel.
I wish Janet Kagan had lived longer. Three books is too few for her imagination, wit, and word craft.
I find myself returning to many of the books you listed as well. Heinlein and Foster are favorites.
Give Hellspark a try if you’ve a mind and can find a copy. Her husband also has a few of her pieces on her website, free, if you want to check her style.
http://janetkagan.com/index.htm
(Her website is a train wreck of broken links and dead ends. There’s good stuff if you’ve the patience. She’s dead these 14 years, so.)
I went to the “Explained at” site for grins and it’s been defaced by anti-Semitic and racist content (N word is everywhere). 😲 The downside to using a community-editable wiki I suppose.
@lynn
Saw a raving review for Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio. Might be worth adding to your “to read” stack if you haven’t already.
I’d never heard of the five books that guy picked.
Certainly not my comfort reading, that is the Pern books. Cryptonomicon. Ringo’s maple syrup and graveyard skys books. It’s been a while since I re-read anything, but those all count.
n
Check out Medicare on Video on You Tube for explanations on Medicare stuff. What to never get, etc.
I get Tricare For Life as a retired Veteran. That’s my supplement/drug plan. Free for life, so an actual valuable benefit for Vets.
I went to a SS/Medicare seminar before I hit 65 and got an earful. Tricare For Life was mentioned up front as a valuable freebie for Vets. Also how SS and benefits have changed over the years.
With Medicare approaching Real Soon, I can do the default Part A and Part B. That’s like $174 outta the SS check. I don’t have to do anything, I’m all set up. So says SS.
Or I can do Medicare Advantage, like what’s constantly advertised on TV like some shopping channel is selling junk like air fryers and non-stick pans one can scrub with steel wool pads. So, sketchy stuff right there.
I don’t do HMOs anymore. No primary care doctor acting as a gateway for me.
HMOs aren’t the same as they were decades ago, at least not those I’ve seen at recent jobs. A lot of the plans are like PPOs with stiffer penalties for out-of-network care.
I usually carry whatever allows us to fund an HSA, but the current place seems to be anti-HSA and structures the plans in such a way that my wife’s Federal BCBS deductibles disqualify us.
Part D is not very expensive, and well worth it down the road when you may need expensive medicines. Thanks to the annual out-of-pocket max, Paul’s has more than paid for itself. The Area Agency on Aging helped me find one for him that only cost about $5 a month, so you might call them and see what they advise.
I am going to take Part D, and am going to buy a Medicare Supplement policy from a local insurance agent who sent me a letter with actual premiums in it. I need to talk to her soon to decide which. The extra $90 a month will be worth it down the road.
My husband does not have a Medicare Supplement, and most of the time has been ok without it due to the hospitals and providers he’s used. However, we had one hospital , in Hamilton, that tried to collect nearly $9,000 from us after Medicare. We’ll not use them again. On the other hand, Hendrick in Abilene only billed us $1,600 total after Medicare for an event that included ER, emergency femoral artery bypass, and two weeks in the hospital in Sept 2020. So where you go makes a huge difference.
If you don’t buy a supplement now, the option goes away, as we tried to find one for Paul later, and the insurance companies laughed at us. What’s interesting is that the cheapest one offered him originally was $250 a month, which we could not afford. But now, 10 years later, I can get one for $90. Not sure what brought them down but something did.
I have an IRA and throw legacy 401(k) money in there. The exceptions are GTE and the Death Star, which I’ve left at Fidelity but cashed out all ESOPs in the plans which provided matching.
I strongly recommend dealing with an insurance agent who specializes in Medicare. They get commissions from the insurance companies, so there’s no added expense to you.
Mine carefully explained all the options and expenses. It’s complicated with Medicare premiums, Supplemental premiums, copays, and deductibles.
Based on what I learned, I skipped the Advantage plans, and went with supplemental (Medigap) instead. Partly because I want to travel out of state, and even the Advantage PPOs have large disincentives for that. YMMV, of course. For my brother, I got him a free Advantage HMO, but that’s all he could afford.
If you’re in Southeast Texas, I’ll give you the name of my agent.
I also second the recommendation to check out YouTube. There’s a ton of information out there.
Finally, got the 2005 Honda Civic up for sale on Craigslist:
https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/d/richmond-2005-honda-civic-ex-special/7511766231.html
Craigslist now charges $5 per posting for 30 days ! That is new.
Now on to https://www.autotrader.com .
Medicare part A is automatic and is basically hospitalization. That becomes automatic coverage when a person reaches 65. Private insurance will drop a person at 65.
Medicare part B covers doctors and tests. Medicare only pays 80%. A supplemental is a really good thing to have as that pays the rest, minus about a $450 deductible per year. You have to pay a premium, generally every three months. If you are on SS the premiums are deducted from the SS payments.
Medicare part C is a HMO. Limited to certain doctors and facilities. There is no cost for the plan. The limitations on participating facilities, referrals, etc. are significant.
Prescription drug coverage is about $20.00 a month, deducted from monthly SS payments, or pay every three months if not on SS. The drugs covered sucks. And what is covered is not much. Generally only good for generics. Top tier drugs are costly, even with insurance. It does save some money as top tier drugs without insurance are really costly. My wife’s drugs cost us $20.00 a day, with insurance.
If you don’t get coverage when you first qualify, then apply later, SS will go back and get the missing payments from the time you were first eligible. Changing plans may also cost back payments. Changing from part B to part C, I really don’t know.
I get health care from the VA, sort of like Tricare, but probably not as good. I have not been impressed with the VA. I maintain both the VA and Medicare for my healthcare. I could save $180.00 a month by dropping Medicare entirely and relying on the VA. I need to explore further the ramifications of doing so but based on my experience with VA care, and the distance of the closest facilities, I am not so sure leaving Medicare would be a good choice. Things have changed since my disability rating is now at 60%.
Supposedly if I go to a private physician for an emergency, I have to notify the VA within 72 hours, or someone from my family. I cannot just make an appointment at my primary care physician as I have to go to a VA clinic. Calling and trying to get an appointment is difficult. Calls are never returned, no one answers, or appointments are three months in the future.
Best advice is to find someone that specializes in Medicare and can help with the decisions. Unfortunately, many of these “experts” are affiliated with an insurance company that wants your premium money. Like most, if not all, insurance companies they do not have your best interests as a priority. So talk with more than one “expert”.
“Biden boosts offshore wind, resilience program, but balks at climate emergency declaration”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/biden-climate-offshore-wind-resilience-emergency/627781/
Biden knows that he would be laughed out of court if he declared a climate emergency and shut down all existing hydrocarbon wells on public lands and seas. Yes, he wants to do that and throw another million plus people out of jobs.
At the lower ranks, the VA has been hurt by the jab and mask mandates. Compounding the insult is a pending return to face shields.
At the physician level, family doctors are generally back in the office three weeks out of every month, but a lot of specialists are still on televisits from home exclusively, including some hands-on expertise such as urology and OB/gyn.
Yes, but it creates two million more jobs for halfwits and illegal aliens cleaning dust of solar panels and picking up dead eagles under windmills.
“Man and Monster (Perry Rhodan #36)” by K. H. Scheer, translated by Wendayne Ackerman
https://www.amazon.com/Man-Monster-Perry-Rhodan-36/dp/B0006W25C8?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number thirty-six of a series of one hundred and twenty-six space opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets, number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated German stories per book and transitioned to one story per book with the sixth book. The German books were written from 1961 to present time, having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1973 that I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of 1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #103, plus the Atlan books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan
BTW, this is actually book number 44 of the German Pamphlets. There is a very good explanation of the plot in German on this website of all of the PR books. There is automatic Google translation available for English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Der_Mensch_und_das_Monster
In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of 500. It has been over ten years since then and the New Power has flourished with millions of people and many spaceships headquartered in the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania.
Perry Rhodan and his 5,000 foot spherical spaceship with the Ganymede travel back to Arkon to see if the great positronic regent of the empire can help with the 700 infected crewmen. It cannot, but it sends Perry Rhodan and his space ships to the planet of the Moofs, Mooff VI. Perry Rhodan arrives and tells the 200 ship force destroying the planet to leave, courtesy of the positronic regent. Then Perry and his crew set about investigating the planet to find a cure for the 700 infected in his crew.
One has to remember that this book was written in German in 1962 and translated to English in 1973. Many items that came about in the 1970s and beyond such as cell phones are not reflected in the book. However, commercial aircraft commonly traveling at Mach 3 are not available to the public as talked about in the book. Niels Bohr’s saying “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future” comes to mind.
Two observations:
1. The publisher should have put two to four of the translated stories in each book. Having two stories in the first five books worked out well. Just having one story in the book is too short and would never allow the translated books to catch up to the German originals.
2. Anyone liking Perry Rhodan and wanting a more up to date story should read the totally awesome “Mutineer’s Moon” Dahak series of three books by David Weber.
https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856?tag=ttgnet-20/
My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (3 reviews)
I get health care from the VA, sort of like Tricare, but probably not as good. I have not been impressed with the VA. I maintain both the VA and Medicare for my healthcare. I could save $180.00 a month by dropping Medicare entirely and relying on the VA. I need to explore further the ramifications of doing so but based on my experience with VA care, and the distance of the closest facilities, I am not so sure leaving Medicare would be a good choice. Things have changed since my disability rating is now at 60%.
My father-in-law was a disabled veteran. Broke his back while in the service three times according to him. He took medical disability at age 36 after joining the Army at age 19. He was a medical x-ray tech most of his career but even was an O/R nurse in Japan, etc.
Anyway, he was on VA care in Dallas but had his gall bladder get gangrenous when he was 81 in 2014. So the emergency ambulance took him to the nearest hospital ER, one block away from his house. They resuscitated him twice, once at his house and once in the ER. After 4 or 5 days of IV antibiotics, they removed his gall bladder. They came back in a couple of days and got a piece that they missed with an endoscope. After another 3 or 4 days, they gave him a heart ablation to fix his constant arrhythmia. After another 3 or 4 days, they gave him a pacemaker since his restng heartbeat was in the middle 30s. Then after a month in ICU, they transferred him to rehab next door.
So the hospital tried to get the VA to pay for ambulance, 20+ days in ICU, and the four surgeries. The VA told them no way. So they activated his Medicare at age 81 which he had never signed up for. Medicare proceeded to pay the minimal amount and my father-in-law had to pay $80,000 out of pocket. Which, he had and grudgingly paid in after a year or so. Plus he had to pay $8,000 to Medicare for back payments into Part B, etc. He still got his drugs from the VA so he did not need part D.
It was a mess and I am not convinced that he could have done a better job of getting the VA to pay but that was what came about of the entire mess. My wife tried to stay out of it but got caught up in his finances two years later. He refused to take care of himself, and could not walk, so he stayed in the rehab / nursing home until his passing in 2020. What a mess !
Yes, but it creates two million more jobs for halfwits and illegal aliens cleaning dust of solar panels and picking up dead eagles under windmills.
So those million people are making $75/hour average and the two million dusters will be making $15/hour. Those numbers do not equate.
I wonder how often those solar panels have to be dusted and windexed ? Daily ? Weekly ?
I have seen the big wind turbine field outside of Palm Springs, CA. They do not pick up the dead birds. Or the dead wind turbines.
I get my medicines from the VA. Mail order. No part D for me. Supposedly if I need something immediately, I can give the prescription the VA clinic and they will overnight the drugs. Does no good if it is on a weekend but that would probably be an ER visit. I would deal with the VA on the following Monday.
I used to have to pay $15.00 copay for a three-month supply. A fairly good deal. Once my rating got to 50% or higher the VA pays 100% of the cost. I pay nothing. The stuff comes from Murfreesboro and generally arrives within four days from the time of presenting the prescription to the staff at the clinic in Harriman.
When I had my knee replaced there were a couple of drugs that the VA would not cover. Cost me $22.00. I was given a coverage number when I left the hospital where the VA paid the local pharmacy just like an insurance company.
Spousal unit is on part D. Not expensive. The coverage sucks. I suspect it is the same as regular prescription coverage. Only generics are really covered. Drugs in the other tiers very little coverage. The topmost tier, the real expensive stuff, the stuff where people really need coverage, has low coverage.
Some stuff my wife takes for her heart I am paying $700.00+ for three months. Without insurance it would cost $3,000.00 for three months. $30+ per pill. Little wonder people have to choose between eating (dog food) and their medicines. Or they move to Mexico or Canada.
Or a border area. You can bring back a three month supply of most standard pharmaceuticals without any hassle.
OTOH, that part of Texas is depressing.
Yeah, but San Diego is nice.
n
Another sucker on the goobermint teet
I grew fond of Yuma, AZ when I was doing contract work there. Los Algodones is very close, and you don’t have to live in CA to jaunt over to get dental work or prescriptions. I made the trip to get an extra 90 day supply of my maintenance meds, plus Colchicine as a last resort for gout flare ups, which, thankfully, I haven’t had. I also used my passport for the first time.
In fact, a lot of snowbirds overwinter in Yuma and pick up their drugs while there.
The Colchicine is significant because it used to be a cheap generic drug, proven to be effective, but the FDA decided to license it to a single exclusive supplier for 100x the price. That doesn’t affect the Mexican pharmacies.
>”Or I can do Medicare Advantage, like what’s constantly advertised on TV like some shopping channel is selling junk like air fryers and non-stick pans one can scrub with steel wool pads. So, sketchy stuff right there. ”
My wife is a health insurance broker specializing in Medicare. Out of about 1200 clients, she has only written one Medicare (dis)Advantage policy, even though the commissions for those are much higher than for standard Medicare supplement policies. The client was over 100 but quite healthy, didn’t travel, had done her own analysis, and was trying to leave more to her heirs in exchange for risking having to pay out more for a catastrophic event. My wife just describes the issues with the (dis)Advantage plans and most customers decide to get something else. One key issue is that the amount you pay is likely to be thousands of dollars higher if you are hospitalized for a serious illness. There are more issues, but the details depend on your state and the policies available to you. If you do start out with a (dis)Advantage plan, you can change your mind in the first year without much consequence. After that, changing requires fessing up to any pre-existing conditions which may result in standard Med-supp plans declining to accept you.
Note that the cost to you for whatever you choose is the same whether you use a broker or sign up on your own. You would do well to find an ethical, knowledgeable, local (knows your state program and the doctors in your area) broker to help you out. Don’t bother calling the 1-800-WeOnlyWantYourMoney number. The company my wife works for does not advertise, all of their Medicare clients are referred by friends and acquaintances. She has more business than she can handle. Don’t put it off; it will take time to process everything. Don’t wait for them to mail your Medicare card – open your Medicare account online and get your number as soon as they have approved your application. Then your broker can sign you up for what else you want. The Medicare supplements are not sold by Medicare. Note that if you had too much income in 2020, you may be subject to IRMAA. If they claim that you are, you may appeal the ruling and if your income for 2020 was unusually high compared to later, they may waive IRMAA. That takes time, too, so if there is any risk of that, start even earlier. It can take five weeks to get it all worked out.
Hardly. I spent 10.5 years in the service of the country, was injured in that process, trained to shot at someone and be shot at by someone, willing to give my life for the country, lived off miserable pay for years, endured moves at the whim of someone else, obeyed orders handed down by fools, had a strict dress code, spent hours on lonely guard duty, dealt with less than desirable food, watched a couple of friends heads disappear, watched dozens of coffins a day shipped home, been spit on and yelled at in airports.
The real suckers on the government teet are members of congress and senate. Most who have contributed nothing except hot air.
What have you contributed? Or am I just feeding another troll. Perhaps a nefarious individual who posted by an anonymous name and now feels the need to continue to hide their identity?
Those crying babies from January 6 who claim they feared for their lives. Male Cow Droppings!
Those cretins have never experienced true fear. Sit in a mud filled hole, in the dark, with bullets hitting brush surrounding the pit. Listen to the screams of others. Listen to a splat and thud as a bullet finds its mark. People rushing through a building with most holding cell phones is not a life fearing situation.
>> Is there some trick to otherwise getting those produce bags to open?
– in the produce aisle… wait for the mister to run
@nick, perfect, thanks.
I can also take handwritten prescriptions to Fort Sam Houston and get them filled at the pharmacy. I believe I can use the VA program also. Or Tricare For Life at most civilian pharmacies.
In short, it is so confusing that, yes:
Also, when you use a Medicare provider, make sure you know exactly what “the doctor orders.” Not all tests and drugs are covered.
And to end the day on a depressing note:
Check out the three featured biographies at the National Women’s History Museum website
Apparently, the best women in the FUSA are men.
>> The only technology for long term storage is coal and a steam boiler or diesel and a gas turbine. Storing hydrogen long term is dangerous and cannot be done with today’s technology. Of course, if the powers that be legislate it, the storage technology will magically happen, right ?
@lynn, is there something of value with this or just somebody’s science fair project?
https://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/storage/first-commercial-sandbased-thermal-energy-storage-is-20220707
>> The only technology for long term storage is coal and a steam boiler or diesel and a gas turbine. Storing hydrogen long term is dangerous and cannot be done with today’s technology. Of course, if the powers that be legislate it, the storage technology will magically happen, right ?
@lynn, is there something of value with this or just somebody’s science fair project?
https://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/storage/first-commercial-sandbased-thermal-energy-storage-is-20220707
Sure if they can keep it running. This is apparently used for district heating which is usually low temperature steam or high temperature water.
I could not tell if the transport medium was water, air, or a thermal fluid such as a high temperature oil (heavy). But some of those numbers did not match. “As a material, sand is durable and inexpensive and can store a lot of heat in a small volume at a temperature of about 500–600 degrees Celsius.”
500 C is HOT. But then he says “Depending on the season, the temperature of the 60-degree waste heat from the servers must be raised to 75–100 degrees before it is fed into the district heating network.” So the air coming out of the servers is 60 C. And they must use supplemental heating to 100 C or 600 C, not sure.
Typically, these systems run for a year or two and then the unforeseen maintenance issues start and the system gets abandoned. It is tough to keep this stuff working without a dedicated staff and a budget for new parts.
@Alan
Willis posted about that technology last week on WUWT.
He was encouraging, but didn’t do any analysis.
I was involved in a project 30 years ago that looked at recovery of industrial heat, and the situation is similar enough (high-temperature mineral processing) that I recognize a non-starter. Sand has a low heat capacity and poor thermal conductivity, so you need lot’s of it (and large equipment) and have to move it around to get the heat in and out, making the economics impossible.
It is very difficult to store heat economically. Systems that use a phase-changing material such as Glauber’s salt have been researched for years with very little practical application. There have been some industrial HVAC applications that chill or freeze water using off-peak power, but they don’t seem to last more than a few years, in large part because the numbers seem to change.
ADDED:
As Lynn points out, maintenance is always higher than expected, and you need the equivalent of a licensed boiler operator 24/7, which pretty much kills it right there.
If it was economical or feasible to do all these alt energy schemes, lots of someones would be doing them. Maybe like thermal conversion of biomass, it only makes sense at a specific cost, and we haven’t reached that cost level yet, but even those plants seem to be either VERY specific in their application and location, or heavily subsidized ‘demonstration’ projects.
I want people to keep looking, after all, fracking!, but the easy stuff has been done.
n
New York gubernatorial candidate attacked on stage:
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2022/07/21/someone-tried-to-kill-lee-zeldin-during-campaign-event-n2610651
The unhinged left and another hate crime.
Somebody wake Garland. Or take his pulse.
Study finds the common explanation for how anti-depressants work is false
Serotonin is bunk.
Medical establishment mumbles and goes back to reading entrails.
“I want people to keep looking, after all, fracking!, but the easy stuff has been done.”
Yeah, but the problem with RAH, RAH BS like this is that the economics wouldn’t pass for a freshman engineering project ca. 1970, but people who don’t know BTU from buttwipe read it and think that it means squat.
Watt improved the thermal efficiency of the steam engine before modern thermo was developed. WTF is these “researchers” excuse?
I missed that the Israelis had a government change too.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/italian-pm-mario-draghi-officially-resigns-becomes-fifth-leader-abandon-ship-governments-around-world-begin-collapse-weight-great-reset/
n
My partner that passed away in 2020 had a house in Colorado north of Denver at 8,500 feet altitude. He had a special brick furnace that used cheap electricity from midnight to 6 am (nuclear for 3 cents/kwh) to heat the bricks to 3,000 F. Then the house passed air through the furnace to heat the house. If he ran out of hot bricks then he used direct electric heating. If he still had hot bricks at the end of the day then it heated the bricks less. The utility sold him and many others the furnace to increase their night time loads.
Worked well for the 20 years he owned the house. But he and his wife got old and had to use supplemental oxygen to sleep at night. So they sold it in 2019, right before he had heart surgery and passed away. They would stay up there for 5 months and 20+ days each year (any more and you become subject to the state tax laws). I miss him a lot.
Watt improved the thermal efficiency of the steam engine before modern thermo was developed.
Yeah, that steam engine was about 5 or 6 % efficient on a good day. But it was a HUGE force multiplier and you could use just about anything in the firebox to create steam with. Including pound notes in “The Quiet Man”.
re: the article on antidepressants
When I had my trauma that led to my divorce, I went to a counselor, and she suggested getting on antidepressants temporarily. She said they won’t cure depression, but I was too deep for her therapy to reach me and they may help.
So I did. Wellbutrin.
I don’t know how it worked, or if it was only placebo effect, but they did work, and the therapy did help me a lot, and I did stop the Wellbutrin after 18 months or so.
Some people call them “happy pills”. They did not make me happy. I was walking naked in a thunderstorm, and the drugs gave me an umbrella. My counselor showed me the path to shelter.
My favorite SF Books:
1. On Basilisk Station by David Weber
2. The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
3. Jumper by Steven Gould
4. The General by S. M. Stirling
5. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
6. 1632 by Eric Flint
7. Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein
8. The Star Beast by Robert Heinlein
9. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
10. Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
11. Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
12. Camouflage by Joe Haldeman
13. Anything Box by Zenna Henderson
14. Loose Cannon by Dean Ing
15. Not This August by C. M. Kornbluth
16. The Girl, Gold Watch and Everything by John D, MacDonald
17. Imager by L. E. Modesitt
18. High Justice by Jerry Pournelle
19. The Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
20. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
21. Armageddon Inheritance by David Weber
When I worked at TXU, we paid all of the tall buildings in downtown Dallas to put huge ice making machines in their basements which they ran from midnight to 6 am. They then ran their chilled water systems through the ice, melting it as the day went on. It cut their daytime power usage in HALF.
You can buy the same type of system for your house but I have no idea how well it works. I cannot find them on the intertubes at the moment. They put an ice making system into a a huge horizontal chest freezer and make ice all night, then blow air through it during the day for cooling.
@lpdbw
No doubt that some drugs work for some people. Maybe now they can do research to find out why, and help more.
re: energy storage.
I took a solar energy class at a university in 1977. They had a demo house set up with solar collectors, both air and water. They stored the captured heat in a gravel box, basically a septic tank filled with gravel and blowers. All day heating the gravel, all night drawing heat from the gravel into the house.
Big, bulky, noisy, requiring lots of moving parts that all have to work right. Heating air and water was the obvious choice in those days because of the expense of solar panels; solar electricity was just not affordable. The gravel box size and placement is an issue, and needs to be balanced with insolation, collector area, house square footage and R values.
Such a system would work as well today as it did then, that is to say: marginally. It is better than nothing at all but is very finicky and high maintenance. The upside today is better electricity generation and control systems. In those days, you had to worry about nighttime backflow in the air collectors, and freezing in the water collectors. A single Arduino today could handle all the controls for that that would, at the time, have required a lot of discrete transistors and logic.
@Robert “Bob” Sprowl
Another good list.
The Girl, Gold Watch and Everything by John D, MacDonald was his best sf. Reminds me I need to hunt up the movie sometime–I only saw it once on tv.
I enjoyed Imager* and have reread it several times, but I prefer the prequels. I revisit Recluse once in a while, too.
I could merge the two lists (Lynn and Robert) and be pretty happy, but I tossed Bujold after her blowup. I’d add Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet and Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International, and add Glory Road and the original Number of the Beast to the Heinlein column. Michael Z. Williamson’s Freehold series–pick one would be Weapon.
Andre Norton: The Time Traders and Solar Queen series. And excellent two-book series The Zero Stone/Uncharted Stars
Add Leo Frankowski’s Conrad Stargard series 1-5 and the prequel Conrad’s Time Machine. #6 and the posthumously published stories, not so much.
And Lee and Miller’s Liaden Universe, starting with Agent of Change in publication order.
Bunch of recent (<10 years old) contenders, too. Murderbot, Bobiverse, among others
*Is Imager sf, fantasy, or a straddler? Seems like there are a lot of the latter, in the vein of Asimov’s “sufficiently advanced technology” as yet unrevealed. In the Recluce series “Fall of Angels” Modessit makes it clear that the origins are a technological people that cross into a universe that does not work quite the same. Lee and Miller’s Liaden Universe has some similar elements.
Writing this, I am reminded that I really need to get a bunch of these in ebook form.
re: energy storage.
Freeman Dyson (RIP) talked about it in one of his books. Bulky and inefficient was his conclusion, as I recall. Been a couple of decades since I read it.
Used to be the pressure would build in me to re-read the Dune books…. but it’s been a while.
I read so much Poul Anderson, JEP, Niven, that I don’t think I have a favorite, with the possible exception of Ringworld. I’ve had re-reading that in the back of my mind for a while.
Early william gibson is poking at me too.
n
>> Finally, got the 2005 Honda Civic up for sale on Craigslist:
Hmm, is the case of water in the trunk included? 😉
Or there’s this Civic to consider:
https://www.thedrive.com/news/33908/this-20-year-old-honda-civic-si-sold-for-50000-more-than-a-new-fully-loaded-type-r
“What is Paxlovid? COVID medication prescribed to Biden is specifically for older people with heart disease and was only approved by the FDA for pharmacists two weeks ago”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11036239/What-Paxlovid-COVID-medication-prescribed-Biden-specifically-high-risk-people.html
“The anti-viral drug is intended for use by patients who are considered likely to become seriously ill from the deadly virus”
“Trials showed the drug reduced both hospitalizations and deaths from COVID by almost 90 per cent in unvaccinated patients”
Special people get special stuff.
>> Finally, got the 2005 Honda Civic up for sale on Craigslist:
Hmm, is the case of water in the trunk included?
Yes. I put a case of water in all of my vehicles. Don’t you ?
Or there’s this Civic to consider:
https://www.thedrive.com/news/33908/this-20-year-old-honda-civic-si-sold-for-50000-more-than-a-new-fully-loaded-type-r
The House of VTEC. I do have to admit, running that VTEC engine through the gears at 6,800 rpm is fun. When that second set of valves opens at 4,500 rpm, it is just like gentle push in the chest. I will miss the car.
I carry my S&W Airlite PD (5 shot .357 revolver with a 1 inch barrel) in a MD-5 Sticky Holster. Works great !
https://www.amazon.com/Sticky-Holsters-858426004078-MD-5-Medium/dp/B007MQC6MU?tag=ttgnet-20/
Now I want a Sticky Holster for my Ruger GP-100 with a 2.5 inch barrel and a 7 shot cylinder. I managed to drop it in my truck console today and ended up with the barrel pointing at me. That was a bad feeling. I was pulling out a USB cable and did not realize the cable was wrapped around my gun barrel. Flipped my gun right up into the air.
Does anyone know if they make an appropriate Sticky Holder for my big shorty ? I emailed them too.
https://ruger.com/products/gp100/specSheets/1774.html
I dunno if it’s age and decrepitude, or times have changed, or what. I tried to start the first Dune book a couple of months ago, and just could not get into it. Possible because the books are really a political struggle, granted one with assassinations and other fun stuff, and I get my fill of stupid politics from the real world.
@drwilliams:
Wasn’t that Arthur Clarke?
G.