Just need to vent...

can you please rate the 'texture' of your new battery?

 

Buy a lithium jump pack. Those lead acids don’t last nearly as long.

 

Your points come down to, "I believe in supply side economics." An economic philosophy which has been shown to not work. The times a tax cut has actually lead to an increase tax revenue, like when the 90% top rate was dropped to 70%, it was because the wealthy had more free cash to spend on goods and services, which is a demand side pressure. Times since then, a tax cut the preceded an increase in revenue was not the cause of the increase. Reagon had to close deductions and close benefits for the middle and lower classes. like for credit card interest, in order to cover the revenue losses for the tax cuts. Trump installed tariffs, that increased revenue while the tax cuts reduced them.

Supply side, trickle down, voodoo economics is nothing more than propaganda from the upper classes to hide the reason they want tax cuts is just simple greed.

 

Three days ago found my heart was doing an IronMan 24X7 at 140 beats a minute. Doctors surprised I had no symptoms of "atrial flutter," which actually sounds like a ballet move.

Only reason it was found was after five years of dragging my a** I finally agreed to a colonoscopy and they found the racing heart as they prepped me. Off to the emergency room..


Last time I had heart rate checked was June and it was 51 with 90/60 blood pressure.

Apparently I was on the "Stroke" highway. Tried drugs and such but no luck. Finally threaded wire from the groin through a blood vessel up to the heart and "burnt" the interior area causing the problem.

Docs seemed amazed I had no symptoms and also amazed I did not wear a fitness "watch" which would had alerted me.

No idea how long heart had been going wacky. So lesson is at 66 get your colon scan and wear a fitness watch....so far I am zero to two on that....

 

Your wealth "Revelation" is not as revealing as one might think.
Example;
The early 1950s dollar bought 10x more than today's dollar. Put another way, with the fiat over printing money scheme we're indulge in now - the million dollars today was like $100k some 70+ yrs ago. So our dollars Ponzi scheme needs to have millions more millionaires just to keep up with a dollar that is worth virtually nothing nowadays.
Much of this is all about perspective.
It's like people lamenting nowadays about the 91% tax rate that the government devised many decades ago to make the wealthy pay their fair share. There were many ways to shield income back then from reaching that top bracket - & the 91% tax rate only applied to the remaining dollars that were over that amount.

is that Adriel fibrillation (a-fib)?
After having a-fib a few times - the MD prescribe something that keeps it from happening. The MD said the worst thing about hearts out of rhythm is that it causes blood to pool within the various heart chambers, which can lead to cloths that go to the brain causing stroke.
The MD said that if the prescription hadn't work that the ablation process (burning off excess nerves that cause a-fib) would do the trick.
Glad to hear they caught your condition in time!

 

True, but the tax laws would need volumes to find the history of when and what. Now there are probably more loopholes, like the steadily lengthening of the operating loss carryover. Combine that with lowering to top tax rates and it means debt, or printing money as some term it.
When some of trump’s tax returns were finally seen, one he claimed a billion dollars net operating loss, which then could be used for 15 years or something, whatever was the case then. NOL started as a way to carry a loss over two years, then steadily it kept going up. Now it’s twenty years I think. I know someone who had a small business that failed and she is essentially tax free for the rest of her life as she is older. NOL carryover isn’t on the news much.
The whole thing about little breaks for the average person has been lipstick on the goal of the richest don't want to pay tax. The little people are liking their $500 or whatever tax cut, not caring while the wolf raids the hen house.

 

Sorry, but rather than do a lather-rinse-repeat tax policy post, I think it's time to vent.

Hmmm....maybe we should have a whole thread JUST for THAT.....

If you're reading this and you're over 50 you REALLY NEED A PLAN for a couple of things and ONE of the bigger ones is colorectal cancer!!
Not everybody needs to do pentannual colonoscopies at 50, but everyone DOES need to talk to ANOTHER doctor (besides Dr Google) to assess.
Yes.
I know.
I really did NOT mean to use pentannual and assess in a sentence advocating colorectal cancer screening!

This is the year of our Lord 2024!
EVEN if you live in some horribly run "developing nation" where they have to ration health care because, like NPR, it's state funded and state controlled - YOU CAN GET A 'TURD' TEST for well under $100!

One of my outside techs is on medical leave doing radiation and chemo because of this and he might still be on the sunny side of 50!!
His best outcome will be maybe not having to ride a bag for the rest of his life!


@ Fitness Watch:
I've vented about this in the past, but it bears repeating.

One of the more prominent hazards in my job is slips, trips, and falls.
Deer strikes on a lonely highway at 0300 are also a 'thing.'
One of my OTHER co-workers is out on benefits because her (unfortunately, company) car was hit by a city bus at 0-dark-thirty.
I was on a ladder last night at 0200 and just got off of one a few minutes ago (Saturday PM) both in buildings that will stay empty until well into next week, so fall detection/crash detection might be two pretty good reasons to get one EVEN IF you're young and healthy.

If you're on the hamster wheel of planned obsolescence with overpriced stuff that is Apple?
They do make the best fitness watches, and you can get an SE one for about $200 that plays well with all of the other things in the walled garden.
Apple has done a MASTERFUL job of cosplaying medical devices without the innovation crushing regulation that comes with "medical devices"
If you have smart phones instead of iPhones?
There are some very good alternatives in that world so that you don't find yourself with phones, tablets, and buds to go with the $200 watch.


REALLY.
GET TESTED!!!!

 

Flutter is a different heart thing than a-fib, but don't remember details.

Nurse said even the cheap $15 watches on Amazon do an O.K. job tracking heart. Not that I am going to invest.

 

I just had a quick peek at Amazon, doubting that there was such a thing. Closest I found was one for $17.

I don't like wearing wristwatches, but I could see getting something for the extra health benefits. I just don't want a 'connected' one.

I do use a portable blood pressure meter, but I only put it on my wrist when I want a measurement. It shows me the data, and I go on my way.

 

"Is there a LiFePo4 alternative?" Yes and they are very satisfying. Price and availability in US are not known to me.

 

"Flutter is a different heart thing than a-fib" described here:

Comparing Atrial Flutter vs. Atrial Fibrillation

 

Learned more from this link than I did from the five cardiologists I saw at the hospital.
THANKS!!!

Found some wrist monitors from a couple of bucks (tamu) to $20 at ebay, walmart and Amazon. The ratings on them get better as you pass the nine USD mark. Several $14, $15 USD bands got decent reviews. Still not buying. But have a feeling one may show in my Christmas stocking.
.

 

Check home depot? I got lawn mower agm batteries from them. My daughter has the same mower I bought for her in 2009, still working well on the original three 12 v sla batteries. I expect they will go sometime but 15years is a good run. About $70 to replace all three. No fire hazard.

 

.

 

@ flutter-fibs:
Wearable tech will only get better and cheaper.
Blame capitalism.
I still have a G1 Applewatch c-2020 and it still serves. 4 watch years is...like 10 dog-years and my watch is getting to be pretty banged up.
When a replacement is warranted it will have BETTER cardio-oxygen-acceleration sensors for about the same price as the G1 watch.
I throw rocks at Apple for their 'planned obsolescence' but they DO REALLY evolve and they DO represent a no-brainer bang for the buck.
Yeah.
You have to wear a watch, but if you're over 60 you remember more or less having to do that anyway.

TL ; DR:
If you've made more than 50 trips around the sun (60 if you're in decent shape) then the juice is worth the squeeze.


@ LiFePO4 batteries:
I have wee one in me bedroom (12v, 6AH) for radios.
No worries about fire, unless you REALLY WANT ONE because the newer ones have 'battery management' chips.
I grew up in in submarines where we, LITERALLY, slept on top of SLA batteries.
LOTS of them.
There WAS a fire AND a CI hazard if there was water and salt around, which is pretty much why the USN has approximately ZERO non-nucular subs today.
We use BIG HONKIN NSLA's, and they 'can' get exiting if let them - but you train for that.

TL ; DR: SLA/AGM batteries......they're like camp showers. You use them if you HAVE to.
They work, but there's better stuff out there.

 

I hope I did something wrong, but this is crazy!

I just went to renew our health insurance. $1,177 per month for the cheapest plan and $15,000 deductible, 50% copays and $18,400 total out-of-pocket expenses with all government aid added to help bring that cost down! Mind you, after taxes and such, I'm pulling in some $3,200 per month, so this would be 36.5% of my income BEFORE ANY DEDUCTIBLE! And this whole year my wife went without medication that the doctor perscribed, that was going to be around $500 per month, because not only did we also have an extremenly high deductible, the drug was not approved by our health insurance provider in any form except one that not only caused her tremendous pain but also didn't seem to work.

I need to move to an area that has bigger companies that offer health insurance through the employer. In these small towns nobody offers health insurance. Of course if I move to a place like Denver, then my rent will likely be over $1,000 higher. I give up...

 

we were at 24k a year for the two of us before medicare kicked in. that was 5 years ago.

 

I'm going to go apply at Starbucks right now. I don't care if I make minimum wage. I've been at the same job for the past 15 years, it's time for a change.

 

I still got 13 years before I can get Medicare. On the other hand I have no house that's mine, and no savings for retirement. But hey! We got a roof over our heads and clothing on our bodies and food in our stomachs. So I guess we're doing well.

 

Our Humana Plan (it likely may turn on variables such as what State you're in & how much employers kicked in prior to retiring) coupled with Medicare has ZERO deductible meds, dental & (every other year) vision. First 2 years of retirement weren't that generous, but IRS cafeteria plans mean the higher up echelons wanted better plans when they went into retirement themselves.