joann at 875: If you have XP's restore function running you could turn everything back to just before the Windows patch was installed and see if Firefox starts behaving again.
Michael Roberts, re mystery recommendations.
I'm quite fond of British police proceduals. My favorite series at the moment is by Peter Robinson. There's a romantic element and the series is best read in publication order so as to follow developments. (I believe all the books are in print as mass market paperbacks.)
Other authors in that genre that I read: John Harvey, Deborah Crombie (an American so be forewarned: there may be bloopers), Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill, and P.D. James.
Jen B at 284. Thanks for the link that clarifies my clarification. I missed that section.
Earning 20 credits--currently four credits are accumulated after earning around $4000 in a year--in the ten years before qualifying for SS disability would not be possible if the person didn't work for six of those years.
fidelio at 280: SSD is based on earnings--if you are unemployed for around five years before you file the claim, your coverage is likely to have lasped...
As someone who started receiving regular Social Security earlier this year, I'd like to clarify this statement: To qualify for Social Security you need 40 lifetime credits. If you work fulltime for a year and pay into the system (as required by law), you earn four credits, so it's unlikely your coverage has lapsed if you didn't work for the past five years but have a stable work history previously. (If you are young when you become disabled, the number of credits needed is decreased.)
I didn't realize there was a two-year wait for Medicare coverage after someone is approved for SSD.
Janet L and Mark. I was just mentioning that such a safety net theoretically exists. I too have heard how difficult it is to be approved for Social Security Disability.
Nevertheless I do know two people who have recently started receiving SSD. In both cases the initial application was approved. I think the process took about six months.
Raphael at 250 : The stories I've heard make it sound as if you could make, say, 800,000 dollars a year, and then you get some serious (illness where the treatment is relatively expensive, you can't continue to work in your job because of the illness, your insurance company rescinds your policy...
I can see a couple of possible mitagations of this worse-case scenerio. A company valuing someone that much is unlikely to fire them if they have to stop working because of illness. The company may shift them to a special lower-paid disability status (the company may have insurance coverage for such situations). The health insurance coverage under the company's group plan will remain in effect.
In the long term, if someone is disabled seriously by illness and cannot resume work they may qualify for Social Security Disability and government health coverage under Medicare.
My memories of early childhood are hazy and unreliable, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't reading before first grade. But I caught on really quickly and was soon reading far above my grade level. By fifth grade I was reading adult books, chiefly science fiction because that's what appealed to me. The public library (at my father's request) gave me special permission to check out books from the general collection.
When I was in third grade (I think) I realized that I'd somehow missed learning the order of the letters in the alphabet. (This was in the dark ages before Sesame Street.) So I taught myself the alphabet and that's proved useful over the years.
C. Wingate @61. I spent a lot of time and money at Hechinger's after I bought my condo in the mid-80s--a trip every weekend for years. I was doing some simple woodworking then, too.
That chain (even in decline) was so much better than Home Depot is now, especially in the variety and quality of stock.
I avoid HD these days unless I know I can get something (such as halogen bulbs) at a real savings there. I generally love hardware stores but HD does nothing for me. What I want is often out of stock and the store is dismal (some of the ones in really upscale suburbs may be better).
These days I get my routine hardware fix at Ace or Strosnider's.
I'm unsure what my visibility quotient would be at HD. I rarely ask for help in a store. I just keep looking. It's a failing.
fidelio at 833...yes exceedingly shiny and wonderful news to come across first thing in the morning.
I felt a slight twinge of regret that I don't live in a country with a "Portable Antiquities Scheme" where I could possibly find a treasure trove buried in my backyard.
Jo Walton writes about the Mike Ford panel at the Worldcon.
For an interesting look at health care systems in countries other than the U.S. I recommend the PBS Frontline documentary "Sick Around the World."
I've been a member of a group-practice HMO (Health Maintanence Organization) for 35 years (first Group Health Association and now Kaiser). What the medical lobby denigrated as "socialized medince" back in the 70s during a prior attempt to reform our health non-system.
Kaiser isn't perfect, of course, and taking an informed role in my own care is important. But I prefer being under their centralized system--I don't want to put my medical care in the hands of a random private practice doctor, who may be overworked and not up on the latest of medical best practice.
At Kaiser I've had the same primary doc for ten years. There's round the clock medical advice availbale. Just this week I stopped by the Kaiser lab Monday for routine blood tests (results viewable on the Web) and Friday I'll return to the health center on for a routine doctor's appointment and then down to the radiology department for my annual mammogram.
There are other viable alternatives to employee-group-based traditional health insurance. I hope the final health reform plan includes a community-based public option or at least something along the lines of a co-op (which is how GHA began).
Driving home from Montreal in May, I pulled off the interstate in far upstate New York to gas up. For the first time in years I was confronted by a pump that didn't have a credit card slot. I stared at it for a moment (what now?) before realizing (duh!) that I could pump my gas before going inside to pay.
And then there are the gas stations in New Jersey where by state law you aren't allowed to pump your own. The attendant may even wash your windshield. And the gas is usually cheaper than anywhere else along the way.
As mentioned above, the DC City Council has voted 12-1 to recognize same sex marriages performed elsewhere and I hope they'll soon take the next step and legalize SSM in the District of Columbia.
Congress, with its power to overturn DC laws, may not be the problem this time. Influential ministers of the black community are organizing opposition to legalizing gay marriage.
The Washington Post's DC Wire blog had this interesting tidbit:
"Attorney Mark Levine said his analysis of District law found that the same-sex marriage question cannot be put before voters. He noted that local election law forbids a vote on a matter that violates the District's Human Rights Act. The act states that the government cannot 'limit or refuse to provide any facility, service, program, or benefit' to any individual on the basis of sexual orientation."
Has there been a terminology slippage here? Some discussion above of splitting checks seems to me to be about separate checks.
To me, "let's split the check": Get a single check, add 20% tip, divide amount evenly by the number of diners, throw money on the table. Fast and simple.
Asking for separate checks: Ask the waitperson in advance to provide each person (or couple) with a check. I understand that some restaurants don't like to do this. Lots of people paying their bill at the end of the meal can be a slow process.
Or do some of you also mean by "splitting the check" to figure out the cost of each individual's order from the information on the single check.
There's a good book, published in 2004, about the New Madrid earthquakes: The Big One: The Earthquake That Rocked Early America and Helped Create a Science by Jake Page and Charles Officer.
Fascinating stuff.
As Serge at #464 says: Remember that today is Marilee's birthday.
I was pleased to see the 80 birthday/get well wishes that folks posted to the special thread on the Marilee health forum. Thanks to all of you that contributed. Steve will print them out and deliver them to Marilee.
I hope to visit her again tomorrow afternoon.
Marilee's birthday is Tuesday.
There's a thread on the Marilee medical update forum where you can post a birthday and get well messages for Marilee. They'll be printed out by Steve and delivered to her in the hospital.
About Marilee--
A place for updates about Marilee's condition has been created by Steve, her friend from bookgroup.
He visited her at Fairfax hospital last night. She's alert but is having great trouble with words.
Steve retrieved her keys from the hospital and passed them to her neighbor who will care for the cats.
I'll try to visit her in hospital. Unfortunately not during the day--he says visiting hours for non-family is resticted to 8-9 pm.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 28 |
| 2008 | 20 |
| 2007 | 15 |
| 2006 | 7 |
| 2005 | 1 |
| 2003 | 1 |
Total: 72 comments. View all these comments on a single page.
The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Janet Kegg:
Show all comments by Janet Kegg.