Friday, December 14, 2018
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Saturday, December 23, 2017
"Put it next to my drawing of the doggy"
He always looks like a slow-witted third grader showing off the cursive he's learning in school. And not learning very well, at that.
"Mommy, hang it on the refrigerator!"
Wednesday, March 08, 2017
Good luck, lady
There's a story in the Times today about how the proposed Republican health plan would affect millions. One of the people it spotlights is a woman in North Carolina. I guess I'm supposed to feel sympathy for her but I don't.
She "said she voted for President Trump in the hope he could make insurance more affordable. But on Tuesday, Ms. Brawley, 55, was feeling increasingly nervous based on what she had heard about the new plan from television news reports. She pays about $260 per month for a Blue Cross plan and receives a subsidy of $724 per month to cover the rest of her premium. Under the House plan, she would receive $3,500 a year in tax credits — $5,188 less than she gets under the Affordable Care Act. “This is my second year with the Obama insurance,” she continued, “but before then, I didn’t have any and didn’t go to the doctor.” She and her husband voted for Mr. Trump — the first time she had voted in her life — she said, because “I thought he would make it better.”
Oh, and "she underwent a liver biopsy on Monday after her doctor found that she has an autoimmune liver disease. “If I didn’t have insurance, these doctors wouldn’t see me.”
So to recap: she had never had insurance before, and was finally able to get it under Obamacare, which is providing generous subsidies, and likely saving her life. She had never voted before but decided to cast her first vote for Trump, in the hope he would "make it better."
Good luck, lady.
She "said she voted for President Trump in the hope he could make insurance more affordable. But on Tuesday, Ms. Brawley, 55, was feeling increasingly nervous based on what she had heard about the new plan from television news reports. She pays about $260 per month for a Blue Cross plan and receives a subsidy of $724 per month to cover the rest of her premium. Under the House plan, she would receive $3,500 a year in tax credits — $5,188 less than she gets under the Affordable Care Act. “This is my second year with the Obama insurance,” she continued, “but before then, I didn’t have any and didn’t go to the doctor.” She and her husband voted for Mr. Trump — the first time she had voted in her life — she said, because “I thought he would make it better.”
Oh, and "she underwent a liver biopsy on Monday after her doctor found that she has an autoimmune liver disease. “If I didn’t have insurance, these doctors wouldn’t see me.”
So to recap: she had never had insurance before, and was finally able to get it under Obamacare, which is providing generous subsidies, and likely saving her life. She had never voted before but decided to cast her first vote for Trump, in the hope he would "make it better."
Good luck, lady.
Tuesday, February 07, 2017
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Friday, May 20, 2016
Fucking with telemarketers
I'm on the Do Not Call list and somehow they keep coming. My favorite part is when the supervisor she transfers me to says, "You're wasting my time!"
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Amazon's famed help dept finally fails
I really like Amazon. I've been a member since 2003. (Oy, that's a long time and a lot of purchases.)
I am an Amazon Prime member. I have an Amazon Fire HD. I pay for Kindle Unlimited. I have an Amazon Echo.
I like the Amazon infrastructure.
Oh wait. What's that? Amazon Echo?
It may be the one that finally turns me off a system I really enjoyed.
I got my Echo back in December. Magical. Much more responsive to voice control than my Moto X Pure phone which uses the Google Now system.
Ok, the Echo's search and intuitive responses weren't quite as good as Google's - how could it be - but the way you could speak to it and have it respond was much better.
I got a kick out of showing guests how I could just casually say, "Alexa, what's the weather for tomorrow" without having to speak like a robot or shout, and it would respond immediately.
But mostly I used my Echo for music playbacks.
And it was never a problem until now.
It has developed a strange bug and, although it seems easily corrected, there seems to be no way to fix it, and - this is the frustrating part - apparently no way to make the people at Amazon understand what the issue is.
After seven emails to the help desk at the Echo app over the last week trying to explain the issue, I tried one more time. I got passed around to three reps this time. I especially enjoy the snark from the rep at 10:48 PT saying he didn't want to waste my "precious time."
Below is my last online chat with them. And, again, this is my eighth time trying to get help with this issue.
(Jeff Bezos, maybe take a break from the space shuttle stuff and take care of your main business?)
I am an Amazon Prime member. I have an Amazon Fire HD. I pay for Kindle Unlimited. I have an Amazon Echo.
I like the Amazon infrastructure.
Oh wait. What's that? Amazon Echo?
It may be the one that finally turns me off a system I really enjoyed.
I got my Echo back in December. Magical. Much more responsive to voice control than my Moto X Pure phone which uses the Google Now system.
Ok, the Echo's search and intuitive responses weren't quite as good as Google's - how could it be - but the way you could speak to it and have it respond was much better.
I got a kick out of showing guests how I could just casually say, "Alexa, what's the weather for tomorrow" without having to speak like a robot or shout, and it would respond immediately.
But mostly I used my Echo for music playbacks.
And it was never a problem until now.
It has developed a strange bug and, although it seems easily corrected, there seems to be no way to fix it, and - this is the frustrating part - apparently no way to make the people at Amazon understand what the issue is.
After seven emails to the help desk at the Echo app over the last week trying to explain the issue, I tried one more time. I got passed around to three reps this time. I especially enjoy the snark from the rep at 10:48 PT saying he didn't want to waste my "precious time."
Below is my last online chat with them. And, again, this is my eighth time trying to get help with this issue.
(Jeff Bezos, maybe take a break from the space shuttle stuff and take care of your main business?)
Your Chat Transcript from Amazon
Inbox
| x | ||||||||||||||||||
1:54 AM (29 minutes ago)
 | |||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Reality? We don't need no stinkin' reality
As we have seen in issues ranging from climate change to evolution, Republicans do not let reality interfere with their chosen political message.
Even with that Texas Grand Jury refusing to indict Planned Parenthood and instead indicting the perpetrators of the video "sting," even after countless Republican-led Congressional and state investigations of PP finding no wrong-doing by the organization, the GOP candidates running for president continue to lie - there is no other word for it - about PP "harvesting" and "selling body parts."
They will not admit their horror stories are wrong. They will not admit PP is legally providing fetal tissue for much needed research and charging small fees to cover their expenses.
Reality does not matter to these people.
At the next GOP debate, Carly Fiorina should be asked why she continues to lie through her teeth about the "gruesome" Planned Parenthood videos she supposedly saw. Videos that DO. NOT. EXIST.
Sadly, I doubt she will be asked.
Even with that Texas Grand Jury refusing to indict Planned Parenthood and instead indicting the perpetrators of the video "sting," even after countless Republican-led Congressional and state investigations of PP finding no wrong-doing by the organization, the GOP candidates running for president continue to lie - there is no other word for it - about PP "harvesting" and "selling body parts."
They will not admit their horror stories are wrong. They will not admit PP is legally providing fetal tissue for much needed research and charging small fees to cover their expenses.
Reality does not matter to these people.
At the next GOP debate, Carly Fiorina should be asked why she continues to lie through her teeth about the "gruesome" Planned Parenthood videos she supposedly saw. Videos that DO. NOT. EXIST.
Sadly, I doubt she will be asked.
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
The differences in the guest list
If you ever want to see an example of the stark difference between the two political parties, sometimes you can find it in little things: just look at some of the guests invited to President Obama's State of the Union address last night.
The Democrats invited a Syrian refugee who has been taken in by the U.S. as he fled the carnage in his homeland. The Republicans invited Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who tried to stigmatize gay couples and treat them as second class citizens when they sought a marriage license in her county.
One represents kindness and mercy. One hate and bigotry.
And not just hate and bigotry, but proudly willing to announce it to a national tv audience.
The Democrats invited a Syrian refugee who has been taken in by the U.S. as he fled the carnage in his homeland. The Republicans invited Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who tried to stigmatize gay couples and treat them as second class citizens when they sought a marriage license in her county.
And not just hate and bigotry, but proudly willing to announce it to a national tv audience.
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