Screwball

3 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

My mom had advanced dementia for 9 years and my dad had heart failure for 17 years (although he did remarkably well and didn't suffer a lot).  I was in charge of their health care, especially for the last 9 years.  My mom was in a rehab place for a few months and was mostly neglected, so I pulled her out of there and took her home and vowed to never ley her go to another home.  The agency home health aides were ridiculously expensive (and the aides were not getting much of that money! It was all "administrative cots"), so I decided I would handle their health care privately and cheaply and at home where my parents would feel comfortable.  Since I was still working full-time, I hired live-in home health aides from Africa and Haiti for about 65k per year which is actually dirt cheap for dementia care where I live.  Dealing with aides was annoying and stressful, but they took better care of my mom than she would have gotten in a home.  I took care of my dad as best as I could.  This whole experience was the most stressful thing I have ever been through, but I am so glad I kept them out of homes and let them live their final years with some dignity.  It's also really good that I can live the rest of my life without guilt (at least not from that!) and know that I did my best.  

Good for you. We can only do what we can do with what we have to work with. Pretty much tells you how it all works.

1 hour ago, CMRivdogs said:

I had a conversation about 15 years ago with a hospice nurse shortly after we placed my dad in hospice care. He had end stage COPD. He was then given a "button" to control his own morphine. During his first drug coma, I commented that we seem to treat our pets better than our humans at times.

I was diagnosed with ILD/IPF about 5 years ago. Still functioning fairly normally, though I get out of breath with exertion. Most of the stats are still close to what they were after the original diagnoses. That conversation still stays with me when I think about the future and my options

Hospice...the memories... They do great work around here, but when you are dealing with them it's not pretty.

Another bad part of this. I hate to hijack the thread and this is off topic anyway, but I feel like this is a public service thing, and a warning to other people, so I will.

I will use my mom. She had a terminal disease. She was on oxygen but could get around and do some things, but that eventually went away. I moved in with her for her last two years to help take care of her. I was in the position to do that at the time (dad was already gone) so it was a good thing. She was in and out of the hospital more than once. After one trip they put her in a nursing home for a period of time because she needed that much help. Covered by insurance (100 days) as long as it was a "skilled care" facility. 

She was in there for 32 days. I went everyday after work. On day 32 when I went in her room she was crying and clearly highly upset. What's wrong? Somebody from the rest home came in her room and told her the bill hasn't been paid, and if it wasn't paid right now they were going to kick her out. WHAT?

I told her that was a bunch of BS, and if they did that I would friken own the damn place. She was mad at me, and told me to go straight home and write a check (over 3 grand). OK, I'll take care of it. I took the next day off work and first thing called the insurance people. The guy said "don't you dare pay that bill." This was her supplemental insurance company. They said they get the data right from Medicare and do their part - and they did - this was paid. The guy said they are trying to double dip you. They were. To make a long story short, I went after the home and got the second in command fired over this. Good, **** you! She spent the rest of her time there with no incident, and they treated her like a Queen. Good, they got the point.

They weren't the only one. Maybe a year later she was back in the hospital. At this point nothing they could do for her. She knew it. As usual, when I stopped after work she said the doctor will be here at 6 and you are going take him out in the hall and tell him I want to go to (a particular nursing home) because they can't do anything for me and I'm ready to die. Just the conversation you want to have.

So the doc shows up and mom says "he wants to talk to you." I had POA so I was in charge. I took the doc in the hall and explained. He said no, we can help her. No, you can't. This is obvious and she knows it. He was on the board of the nursing home so all she needed was his signature. I finally told him this is what mom wants and if you don't do this, I will find someone that will. He agreed, but it pissed me off because all he wanted to do was soak her for more money like he had been doing. Bad experience #2.

Then there was the final rest home experience. Over 3000 a month for a room, while they pumped another 1200 dollars worth of drugs through this 90 pound women - for quite some time - before they brought in Hospice to help with her final days. I had said to my friends a few years before, they are going to string her along until she runs out of money and then they will let her die. That's exactly what they did. It was so obvious. That's our ****ing system.

She was always sharp mentally and still had a handle on her money, until she didn't have any. On her deathbed a few days before she passed she started crying and told me how sorry she was that there was no money to leave me. I didn't care, and that was OK, but she felt that way anyway.

Sorry for the rant but that stuff still pisses me off to this day. Horrible places, many not ran very well. I know people who work in the homes and the horror stories are off the charts. Understaffed, underpaid and over worked. The way our seniors are treated is criminal. 

9 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

My father fell the week after he went on blood thinners and his doctor specifically told him "no more climbing ladders".  He didn't listen.  That is when I took away his ladders.  He thought he was invincible until the end.    

It is hard getting old and you find out you can't do things you once did. We don't want to face the truth so we keep trying. It's even tougher on the families who have to deal with this. They are trying to keep them safe for their own good, but they don't want to listen. At some point there are tough decisions that have to be made - taking away the car keys - time to get them into assisted living or a rest home. We will all face these things as we get older and those who have to care for us - if one is lucky enough to have someone care for them.

That's if you have all your mental capabilities. For those who are dealing with someone with dementia or similar - it gets a lot more difficult and complicated. One of my bartenders who is 60 has a mom like that. She calls her in the middle of the night scared out of her mind because there is a strange guy in the house - it's her husband.

Getting old is no fun for anyone. But it's part of life - and death. Wait until you have conversations with other old people about the various ways to commit suicide because they are going to do it "their way."

Jack Kevorkian had a point. When your quality of life becomes bad enough, what's the point?

10 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

My dad was climbing ladders into his 80s even with a couple of bad falls.  I had to take away all his ladders which really irritated him.  It was easier to get him to stop driving.    He did live to 99 though.  

I know guys that age who do as well. It only takes one opps. Buddy of mine was trimming trees into his late 70s. One day fell. 6 months later he was in a box.

13 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

The most important part of today’s report were the 2025 revisions.   

584,000 jobs gained were reported for the year.   The revisions today has it at 181,000.  403,00 jobs that were reported but never existed

That is a misstatement by 69%

What’s scarier is that sinceI don’t trust these numbers, it’s probably much, much worse.  

Either way, why does our financial system continue to put trust in these numbers.   Who would put trust and use an indicator that had only 30% accuracy?  This is insane but then again these markets have always been rigged.  This is yet another tool meant to confuse and deceive.  

Wall Street knows the numbers. There are other ways to figure them out. This guy touches on it in his article today; BLS Revises Nonfarm Payrolls for 2025 Lower by 1 Million Jobs

FTA:

Quote

 

For January 2026, the BLS did report a gain of 130,000. That’s highly likely to be revised lower a year from now in the next annual revision.

The BLS needs to look at actual tax data instead of flawed sampling coupled with an even more flawed Birth Death model. I have been meaning to write up a specific proposal and will do so.

 

A big Wall Street bank analyst makes more money than the CEO's of the companies he covers, or sector. The ARE the smartest guys in the room and have data we don't. They don't get fooled.

The rest is up for debate for us serfs. It's been like this since forever.  

And the crowd would go wild! 🙂

This is like super cool. JV is the guy with the golden arm. He's back home where it all began. They have to give him the opening day start, they just do. He can clinch the WS down the road a few months later.

When people don't have a means and/or can't afford pain meds, they turn to other things. Eventually this feeds the heroin problem. Black market, cheaper than doctors and proscription meds. Other drugs as well. It's all they have. Sad ****.

14 minutes ago, slothfacekilla said:

I am currently reading a book on the Sackler family called Empire of Pain and it is heavily reinforcing my desire to stay away from opiates.  Sad stuff.

There was a documentary on Netflix a few years ago called "The Pharmacist" that is a must watch.

1 hour ago, slothfacekilla said:

I am very happy to have legal marijuana to help with constant pain management instead of having to turn to something like opiates.  

If you are old, like I am, you will hear the horror stories about health and old people (they go together). Getting hooked on opiates is not at all uncommon, and a concern for many my age. And they love to push the stuff. Cha-ching!

This seems nuts, but when you read a bit further;

Alphabet Plans Tech’s First 100-Year Bond Since Dot-Com Era - Bloomberg News

FTA:

Quote

 

Still, given the sheer volume of debt that tech firms need to raise to stay ahead in the race to build artificial intelligence capabilities, even ultra-rare deals are making a comeback.

“They want to tap every kind of investor possible from the structured finance investor to the super long-dated investor,” said Gordon Kerr, European macro strategist at KBRA. The main buyer of the 100-year bond would be insurance companies and pension funds, and “the guy who underwrites it is probably not going to be the guy who’s there when it gets repaid,” he said.

 

Back 30-40 years ago I suppose, there were a lot of people around here who had ties to the hills of Kentucky, Tennessee, WVA, and beyond. They would go visit family and bring back moonshine. That stuff was like drinking pure alcohol, which it mostly was. Awful rot gut stuff. No wonder the billhillys were a mean bunch. 🙂

Thomas Massie didn't kill himself. 

I will add; on the medical benefits of pot.

In the last year my DIL was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went through 20 weeks of chemo treatments which just knock the living **** out of you. She then had a double mastectomy. Thankfully, she is now cancer free. The only thing that helped her with the pain and nausea was pot.

It was the same with one of my best buddies a few years ago after he developed prostrate cancer. He wasn't so lucky. The chemo didn't work, but the pot made him as comfortable as possible before he left us.

Pot is not addictive, period. I quit reading any article on pot when they say that. I don't care what some over educated dickhead sitting in a ivory tower who never smoked a doobie in his life has to say (and probably getting paid to say exactly that).

I will go with the dozens upon dozens of test dummies who I know who have smoked the herb for the last 60 years and proven it's not.

Duct tape is one of the greatest inventions - ever.

3 hours ago, oblong said:

My family is from the holler in TN. By the time I came along most moved out into regular houses.  As a kid we had one uncle still down there with no electricity or indoor plumbing.  Obviously I hated going there.  Just like you saw in Coal Miner's Daughter.  Now when I go down there I think "that sounds pretty sweet.  Nobody's around".  Later on in the 90's this uncle finally got all of that but he also had a huge satellite dish.  Found out he was a pot grower. Big time.  Once my dad showed me a pot plant he had grown just to see if he could do it.  The FBI got involved with my uncle and I made fun of my folks telling them they probably have a file now given all the trips they made down there.

My mom grew up in the hills of West Virginia, born in 1918. My grampa was into moonshining. As time went on in them thar hills, moonshine and pot were huge cash crops. 🙂

And you didn't want to FAFO with those hillbillies.

28 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Yep. I got rid of my big extension ladders. Anything needing those gets hired out now.

Back in 1984 I lived in the country. We were almost off the grid. Only electric. But I had a TV tower when I bought the house, no antenna. So I put one up. No rotor, we were dirt poor. I could aim it toward Detroit and the Tiger games. The wind would move it and I would have to climb 30 foot up this thing and adjust it while my kids yelled at me from the window by the TV - a little more that way, no, too far. 

I wouldn't trade it for the world.

84... Great year was it not? Had number 3 son born that year (in October no less). His middle name is Allen, after Mr. Trammell. 

Another nice things about the cameras; plan your property to cover the 4 corners, then an extra. You can move it around. I named mine - Rover. If I'm out of town for a day to see the kids, I can put the camera somewhere in the house, usually to watch my crazy cat.

Not that you can do anything about it, but at least you see it hasn't burnt down.

Don't get on a ladder. 🙂

For those not old enough, once you get to a certain point in life, the first thing you want to think about; how can I do this without getting hurt.

Whoever wrote that article is an idiot.

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

SB - how did you power your set up (other than the solar one)?

Mine all run on battery. They record (my choice how long) only when tripped (l can set the sensitivity as well). So when triggered my motion, they kick on for a particular amount of time (like 8 seconds to 30). They work in day or night as they are night vision.

All can be powered by a solar panel but I only use one that way - the one on the garage. This one I can also turn to look any direction if I want. The rest are static. It has a setting to go back to "home" after I move it to see something else. I have not touched it in over a year and it's usually at full power, which you can see from the app on the phone or computer. Other than the last 3 weeks in the winter from hell.

The others are placed where I just take it inside and charge the battery when needed. Depending on how much activity, the time between charges varies. The one I have pointing at the street in front of the house, and my sidewalk, gets the most exposure, so I have to charge it maybe once a month in the summer. Only takes a couple of hours. They have a built in battery that slips off the camera so easy to do.

I love them and have come to feel uncomfortable when one is not working because I'm charging it. They also send a notification to the phone when something triggers it so you know. I live in town and was shocked to see all the animals that go through here. From cats, to rabbits, chipmunks, skunks, possum, raccoons, and even deer. 

For real fun, put one close to the ground somewhere and sit out a dish with food. Entertainment is off the charts. I caught a cat and a racoon who were not in agreement about who's food it was. Or three deer walking through the back yard. Fun stuff.

Also caught a guy one night looking in a vehicle. You can have it trigger an alarm but I don't set it. I can hear the notification on my phone.

I designed and made my own mount for the one on the garage, and the other ones I used some 3D printed mounts so the wind doesn't blow them, instead of screws. Works great. I probably have around 500 bucks in everything. Worth every penny, even though we don't have much crime here in Cornhole.

12 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

The one I'm seeing people talk about today is the commercial for the Ring Doorball Cam.  If you lose your dog/pet, upload a picture of it in the app, then it scans all of your neighbors Ring Cams looking for your dog.  I'm sure you have to opt in to let them use your camera, but **** that.  

Yea, for sure. I have 5 security cameras. None are ring, all off the cloud, and use internal SD card for storage. I can see them from my computer or phone. I would never own a ring. I don't trust them. Then again, I don't trust too much these days.

I have one on the top of my garage that watches my driveway and alley behind the house. It runs on a little solar panel so it is always charged. Well, kind of... It quit working a few days ago. Turns out the winter from hell - with all the snow, ice, and lack of sunshine - didn't keep enough light on the solar panel to keep it charged. This has been a really really ****ty winter. Spit! It froze before it hit the ground.

11 hours ago, Deleterious said:

I didn't watch the game.  But this seems accurate.

When I watch Pistons games, it's ambulance chasing lawyers, gambling, and weight loss.

 

I didn't care about the game but had it on. Kept forgetting to watch the adds so I missed quite a few.  One in particular I remember, I thought was quite creepy. It was a bunch of words on the screen as it changed colors. I kept thinking what the hell is this about. Turns out it was some sort of crypto add. WTF.

36 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I don't know that Trump wants the Post to shut down, necessarily. I think he just wants to make sure that the local paper is on board with him. He can't have a major journalistic institution taking potshots at him from his own backyard.

As for serious reform of media ownership, the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine was the "Big Bang" of media deregulation ("television is just another appliance—it’s a toaster with pictures"), which led to The Telecommunications Act of 1996, the most significant ownership loosening in history. We had those rules for a reason. Now we can clearly see what those reasons were.

Strange, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was signed into law on this very date in 1996. Exactly 30 years ago by pedo Slick Willy Clinton.