Random Comments/Stream of Consciousness Thread

[Tito_Villa]

I'm hoping to release a collection of my short stories through Create Space later this year. I've got some talented artists working on some illustrations at the moment. Quite exciting, especially the feedback from a professional editor

[Bad Penny]

I'm hoping to release a collection of my short stories through Create Space later this year. I've got some talented artists working on some illustrations at the moment. Quite exciting, especially the feedback from a professional editor

I'll certainly look forward to that Tom - great stuff mate !!!

[Ben Staad]

Best of luck and enjoy the moment(s).

I'm hoping to release a collection of my short stories through Create Space later this year. I've got some talented artists working on some illustrations at the moment. Quite exciting, especially the feedback from a professional editor

[Shannon]

Tomorrow is my "last duty day" in the US Air Force. Then I am on "terminal leave" until 29 Sep 2013, which is my "day of separation". Lots of terms, I know. Let's just make it easy and say that after tomorrow, I will happily never put on the damn uniform again. Yay!

[Ben Staad]

Best of luck, Mr. Shannon!

Tomorrow is my "last duty day" in the US Air Force. Then I am on "terminal leave" until 29 Sep 2013, which is my "day of separation". Lots of terms, I know. Let's just make it easy and say that after tomorrow, I will happily never put on the damn uniform again. Yay!

[herbertwest]

I'm hoping to release a collection of my short stories through Create Space later this year. I've got some talented artists working on some illustrations at the moment. Quite exciting, especially the feedback from a professional editor

Congratulations to you & Shannon!

[herbertwest]

Seven Things You Need to Know about the New Obamacare Individual Mandate

Last Tuesday, the administration released the final regulations governing the individual health care mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. This mandate requires most Americans to purchase health insurance by January 1, 2014 or pay a fine. Here's seven things you need to know:

Pretty much any employer-sponsored plan meets the mandate’s requirements

Under the terms of the mandate, you must have “minimum essential coverage”, which can be provided by your employer or the government. Medicare and Medicaid count as minimum essential coverage, as do plans purchased through the Obamacare exchanges. Also, most employer plans will meet the requirements.

Under the terms of Internal Revenue Code Section 5000A(f), pretty much any health insurance plan which is legally sold within a state's boundaries counts as minimum essential coverage. In many states, insurers can sell inexpensive plans which cover a limited range of services. Under Obamacare, employers can offer these “skinny” plans to employees and avoid penalties under the employer mandate. In fact, many employers will have an incentive to abandon their existing plan and offer these inexpensive plans instead.

You have to pay a fine if your spouse or kids are uninsured

If you claim any dependents on your tax return, you are responsible for paying the mandate's fines if they are not covered by health insurance. Larger employers are required to offer health coverage to employees and their dependents under the age of 26. However, the employers are not required to offer coverage for any employees' spouse. So, an employee who gets coverage through their job could be forced to purchase separate insurance for their spouse. Also, any employees who do not get health coverage through their jobs will be forced to purchase coverage for dependents, along with coverage for themselves.

The mandate's fines are small

In 2014, the fine for not having acceptable health coverage is $95 per person or 1% of taxable income, whichever is more. In 2015, the fine is the higher of $325 per person or 2% of taxable income. In 2016, it's $695 per person or 2.5% of taxable income. You are liable for fines on as many as two uninsured dependents, too.

It seems obvious to many that these fines are small compared to the cost of health coverage. After 2016, the fines will be adjusted upward to reflect cost-of-living increases. However, the cost of health insurance will probably be going up too, probably even faster.
Over time, the gap between the cost of insurance and the fines for being uninsured will probably widen, providing an incentive for more people to go without health insurance.

The IRS can't do much to collect the fine

The law states that IRS cannot subject taxpayers to “any criminal prosecution or penalty” for not paying the fines given above. Also, unlike other taxes, IRS cannot file tax liens on unpaid mandate fines.

About the only way IRS can collect the fine is if you pay it voluntarily, or by withholding it from a refund you may be due. If there's no refund due, there's not much they can do to collect the fine.

Many older individuals will be exempt from the mandate to buy insurance

You can be exempt from the mandate to buy insurance on your own if the cost of your coverage is more than 8% of your household income. This will have the effect of making many older people exempt from the mandate because of their higher premiums.

In one example, if you're 55 years old and paying $7,800 annually for health insurance, you could be exempt from the mandate if your income is between about $46,000 (actually, 400% of the federal poverty level) and $97,500. However, if you make less than $46,000, you will qualify for at least a partial subsidy of your insurance costs, at which point the mandate would then apply to you. Here's a table which shows the federal poverty levels for 2013 for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia:

Persons in Family/Household

Poverty Guideline

1

$11,490.00

2

$15,510.00

3

$19,530.00

4

$23,550.00

5

$27,570.00

6

$31,590.00

7

$35,610.00

8

$39,630.00

A younger person with premiums of $3,500 per year would almost certainly be subject to the mandate, because $3,500 divided by 8% is $43,750, which is lower than 400% of the federal poverty level.

If you are not required to file a tax return, you're exempt

You're also exempt if your income is below the poverty line, or if you are not required to file a federal income tax return. It's been estimated that, given these exemptions, as many as 40% of uninsured individuals will be exempt from the individual mandate.

Members of “recognized religious sects” and American Indians are also exempt

Members of federally-recognized Indian tribes are exempt from the individual mandate. If this is the case for you, get out your tribal ID card and look into getting your health care from the Indian Health Service.

Members of a “ recognized religious sect or division”, as specified in Internal Revenue Code Section 1402(g)(1) are also exempt. Of course, this exemption is limited. For example, your “sect” has to have been in continuous existence since 1950 and the Commissioner of Social Security must agree that your sect “has the established tenets or teachings” consistent with opposition to medical benefits. As a practical matter, this exemption is intended for groups like the Amish.

Gosh.
It's one of the things that makes me happy living in France.

Here : most of the medical bills, are freely reimbursed by the french NHS, up to 60%.
In order to get the remaining 40% back (and sometimes simply not having to pay ANYTHING at all up front), you have to have what is called a "complémentaire".

Some employers will pay it for you (up to january it was free for me), and since january, i pay 10€ per month... so 120€ a year.

My girlfriend, working at H&M gets it for free. Last year, she went for a back surgery because of a very strong scoliosis (~70%), and we didnt even have to pay any medical bill for it. Not for the surgery itself (who must have cost about 30-40k), nor the stay at the hospital (1 week before + weeks after in a recovery center). Only had to pay for phone at the center :p
On top of that, she has a paper that supposedly makes that she doesnt have to pay most of things that are related to this scoliosis, for the next 5 years.
For instance, she had numerous "physio" sessions : she had to pay forward, but got all of the money back.

Another great thing about France, is that during this surgery & the recovery months afterwards, she was obviously off work. But, during those, she had an income. I may be wrong, but i think that it was like 75% of her wage for the first 3 months, then 50% for the next 3 months (half of it being paid by her employer, the other half being paid by the NHS).

It's complicated as there is always loads of paperwork... but hé, cant complain with all those advantages

[Ben Staad]

I do not like the facts that RF posted.

[Tito_Villa]

I think the NHS is great but it does get abused

[Rachel Readman]

We're very lucky in the UK but the system is under immense pressure and it is looking like the Tories are wanting to privatise as much as they can, typical of their ilk.

Mind you I don't think any of the parties are worth voting for as they are all pretty much the same these days and do not represent the people, only themselves. All corrupt as hell and lining their own pockets.

Congrats Shannon, seen Mick have to go through the exit malarky when leaving the RAF so I know what you've gone through. Mick had to do 6 years reserve service after leaving too but thankfully he wasn't called back to duty.

"I'm hoping to release a collection of my short stories through Create Space later this year. I've got some talented artists working on some illustrations at the moment. Quite exciting, especially the feedback from a professional editor"

Sounds interesting, let us know when we can get hold of it!

[Iwritecode]

Health insurance is an over-priced joke. I went for almost 10 years with no insurance simply because it was a choice between having insurance and paying my mortgage every month. At the time I was able to get insurance for my kids through a state program but they changed that a few years ago so now we make too much money to qualify for it.

We have insurance through my wife's employer right now but it doesn't cover much. I went to the doctor last year and was diagnosed with bronchitis. That visit cost me over $300 after the insurance. Add the 2 days I missed from work and I was out almost $1000 that week.

[George at C-Springs]

Tomorrow is my "last duty day" in the US Air Force. Then I am on "terminal leave" until 29 Sep 2013, which is my "day of separation". Lots of terms, I know. Let's just make it easy and say that after tomorrow, I will happily never put on the damn uniform again. Yay!

Did you already final out? If not, you'll need to put that 'damn uniform' on one last time. Funny, I don't feel the same way about my old uniform ... Service and Mess Dress are still hanging nicely in a suit bag in the closet.

[Shannon]

Tomorrow is my "last duty day" in the US Air Force. Then I am on "terminal leave" until 29 Sep 2013, which is my "day of separation". Lots of terms, I know. Let's just make it easy and say that after tomorrow, I will happily never put on the damn uniform again. Yay!

Did you already final out? If not, you'll need to put that 'damn uniform' on one last time. Funny, I don't feel the same way about my old uniform ... Service and Mess Dress are still hanging nicely in a suit bag in the closet.

My Final Out is today. Everything's ready to go, just gotta show up with the fifty or so pieces of paper with other people's signatures on them, lol.

[CRinVA]

Congrats Shannon as you transiiton to the next phase in your professional career! I vividly remember going on Terminal Leave. It was nice getting the paycheck from the USMC for a month while I was already collecting a paycheck for my new job. That was back in 1985, after 12 years in the USMC. Miraculously, I am still with the same company today. Coming up on 28 years!

[fearless-freak]

beware the ghost shark

[jhanic]

In my collections thread I noticed that the last three images of The Dark Man proofs didn't show up. I went to Photobucket and they were there. I copied the IRL for them (which was different from that I had originally) and now they're back in the post. I don't know why Photobucket would have changed just those three images. Strange. Has anyone else noticed this?

John

[cit74]

Tomorrow is my "last duty day" in the US Air Force. Then I am on "terminal leave" until 29 Sep 2013, which is my "day of separation". Lots of terms, I know. Let's just make it easy and say that after tomorrow, I will happily never put on the damn uniform again. Yay!

Congrats Shannon - I know how that it - after separating back in 2007.

[cit74]

I've got to blow off some steam. I had my pediatric recert board exam this morning - have to take the test every 10 yrs. so lots to cover. Test was at 0900. The center was 70 minutes away. I left at 0645 to give myself a good 45 minutes leeway. For those in Cali or familiar with NorCal - I had to go from Vacaville (in between SF and Sacramento) over to Santa Rosa. A quick drive down i80 over through napa/Sonoma and then on to Santa Rosa (101 north). So on i80 they have the big signs with traffic alerts, as well as my gps - which did not show any delays (also plugged into local traffic alerts). Big traffic sign says route 12 ramp blocked - that was going to be my exit. As I near this - all 4 lanes on i80 are nearing a crawl. So I say okay I'll go past this and take one of the alternate exits - there are 3 more I can take. I'm still projected to get there before 0900, no worries. As I pass route 12 - there's a fucking bus jackknifed on the off ramp at 12 - the single lane off ramp - that no one can get around because a bus is across the entire road - wtf was the driver doing. Okay no one can get off and the next exit - red top - is backed to high heaven - okay I got 2 more. Next is American canyon - forget it - on to the next one. I've already been on phone with my wife to look at traffic and start calling testing center. Now onto last exit - 37 - moving okay at first - so I get off at 29 to take back way through napa - the road that the first 3 exits would intersect and where all those people want to go. After 10 minutes in traffic and unable to get through the first green light - I turn around and try 37 again - only to find that both lanes are completely stopped - and if I take 37 it would be about 30 miles before I reach 101 - holy fuck - I've never seen traffic this bad in the 13 years I've lived here. So I get off and go back to 29 - at least it was moving. Finally at 0810 I get through to the testing center and they were awesome. My test was a 5 hour block. Fortunately they were able to sit me at 1330 and stay open late for me. I eventually got there after 1000 - over 3 hours for a 70 minute drive. They sat me at 1230 and I finished around 1630 and got home in about 80 minutes. The day is over, the test is done, now I just have to wait a few weeks for the results.

[carlosdetweiller]

In 1978 I was nearly 2 hours late for my Internal Medicine Board Certification exam in San Antonio. A friend was in town for the exam and we drove together from my house. Torrential rains flooded most of the city and freeways were impassable for the most part. Most of the exam takers were from out of town and were staying in a nearby hotel. They were on time and the exam started on time. My friend and I finally arrived 2 hours late and the exam was, of course, already underway. We were soaking wet having had to park quite a ways from the exam site and walk. All of the promised breakfast, coffee, etc. were already gone. So we were given our exams and we sat down in our wet clothes and hungry for the most important exam of our lives. We both did OK but your story brought back that day very clearly. I hope your scores are good. I'll bet that they will be.

[cit74]

In 1978 I was nearly 2 hours late for my Internal Medicine Board Certification exam in San Antonio. A friend was in town for the exam and we drove together from my house. Torrential rains flooded most of the city and freeways were impassable for the most part. Most of the exam takers were from out of town and were staying in a nearby hotel. They were on time and the exam started on time. My friend and I finally arrived 2 hours late and the exam was, of course, already underway. We were soaking wet having had to park quite a ways from the exam site and walk. All of the promised breakfast, coffee, etc. were already gone. So we were given our exams and we sat down in our wet clothes and hungry for the most important exam of our lives. We both did OK but your story brought back that day very clearly. I hope your scores are good. I'll bet that they will be.

Yeah - never the ideal way to take an exam. At least I was a able to take a couple of hours to relax, get a bite to eat and I wasn't soaked.

[Iwritecode]

I've got to blow off some steam. I had my pediatric recert board exam this morning - have to take the test every 10 yrs. so lots to cover. Test was at 0900. The center was 70 minutes away. I left at 0645 to give myself a good 45 minutes leeway. For those in Cali or familiar with NorCal - I had to go from Vacaville (in between SF and Sacramento) over to Santa Rosa. A quick drive down i80 over through napa/Sonoma and then on to Santa Rosa (101 north). So on i80 they have the big signs with traffic alerts, as well as my gps - which did not show any delays (also plugged into local traffic alerts). Big traffic sign says route 12 ramp blocked - that was going to be my exit. As I near this - all 4 lanes on i80 are nearing a crawl. So I say okay I'll go past this and take one of the alternate exits - there are 3 more I can take. I'm still projected to get there before 0900, no worries. As I pass route 12 - there's a fucking bus jackknifed on the off ramp at 12 - the single lane off ramp - that no one can get around because a bus is across the entire road - wtf was the driver doing. Okay no one can get off and the next exit - red top - is backed to high heaven - okay I got 2 more. Next is American canyon - forget it - on to the next one. I've already been on phone with my wife to look at traffic and start calling testing center. Now onto last exit - 37 - moving okay at first - so I get off at 29 to take back way through napa - the road that the first 3 exits would intersect and where all those people want to go. After 10 minutes in traffic and unable to get through the first green light - I turn around and try 37 again - only to find that both lanes are completely stopped - and if I take 37 it would be about 30 miles before I reach 101 - holy fuck - I've never seen traffic this bad in the 13 years I've lived here. So I get off and go back to 29 - at least it was moving. Finally at 0810 I get through to the testing center and they were awesome. My test was a 5 hour block. Fortunately they were able to sit me at 1330 and stay open late for me. I eventually got there after 1000 - over 3 hours for a 70 minute drive. They sat me at 1230 and I finished around 1630 and got home in about 80 minutes. The day is over, the test is done, now I just have to wait a few weeks for the results.

That sounds like my typical daily commute. I'm up to 2.5 hours now.

[George at C-Springs]

I watched a really great Dutch movie last night (subtitled in English) about the Dutch resistance in WWII called Black Book (Zwartboek). It was made in 2006, and though I'm a big WWII history buff I'd never heard of it before; just happened upon it while channel surfing. Really great movie ... interesting, engaging characters, action, constantly evolving plot with twists ... breasts, very nice breasts ... I was reeled in from the beginning. Stayed up until 2 am watching it, so working on 4 hours sleep now (yawn).

It's well worth seeing, definitely not your typical war movie. The lead actress, Carice van Houten, is fantastic (and very pleasant on the eyes). Plus it's in Dutch which I understand a bit, so that added to the subtitles for me (I know some people hate subtitles, but I don't mind). I googled it afterwards to find out a little more, turns out (according to Wiki and Cinema.nl Niuews), that the Dutch public voted "Zwartboek beste filme aller tijden" (Best film of all time). Don't know how I missed it for 7 years, but glad I came across it last night. Liked it enough that I felt compelled to write about it and spread the word here ... see it!

[fearless-freak]

this guy is good, doing tv shows and movies if they were cartoons, there's even some King in there

http://www.jublin.com/projects/ratedg/

[Stockerlone]

Zwartboek-Das schwarze Buch-Black Book
The Paul Verhoeven movie with Sebastian Koch and Carice van Houten. I remember several debates that Paul Verhoeven´s evil German perpetrators use the same torture as the Americans now in Guantanamo.

[George at C-Springs]

Spoiler

Similiar technique. While the gestapo is interrogating a "terrorist" (Dutch Resistance fighter), he is beaten and then his head is shoved into a deepwell sink of water and held there. When they notice he is holding his breath, they go behind him and kick him beween the legs/in the balls ... very hard ... to make him inhale. I imagine this would have been a fairly common and effective technique; it hurt to watch.