I was worried I might have another heart complication, and there’s still a possibility something is amiss there. I see the cardiologist again on Thursday for more tests. But, as it turns out, the symptoms may be due to over activity: I’ve now lost a full 50 pounds since last Dec, plus gained probably five or six pounds of good lean muscle in the bargain. That didn’t happen by accident; at age 51, post heart surgery and suffering from a disabling form of rheumatoid arthritis, it’s a thin line to walk between healthy exercise and repetitive injury. [Read more…]

 

That’s not a bad political ad. It’s dishonest as hell, the people who really seem to dream about getting their version of government all up in your vaginas are the social conservatives. So I wish the Pro-choice folks had used something like that. But it makes a deeper point that I actually agree with: if you don’t want medical care, you probably shouldn’t worry much about health insurance. Policies offered under Obamacare do have to offer basic preventative care and that includes the option for physical exams of all kinds. Of course you can have the health insurance, for things like car wrecks or lightning strikes, without having to take advantage of the preventative care offered, if that’s what you want. It’s hard to see how that would be getting your money’s worth, but it’s your call.

The idea of scaring young people into not signing up also puts the Teaparty squarely opposed to the big insurance biz. Now make no mistake, enough young people will sign up that it will do fine, the rest comes out of the insurance company’s bottom line, and if they decide there’s no market there and pull out, we default to universal healthcare in most states and more will join suit over time. I’m all for the universal default and could care less about insurance company bottom lines — of course, insurance companies might want to think twice about funding a candidate that wants them to take a bath in the process of locking them out of the biggest windfall since the bailouts.

I attended an interesting talk given by someone who has been a recruiter for several large firms, both temp agency and principal, for all level of jobs, focusing on the application process. I’ve been to a few of these deals and they tend to always follow a predictable pattern, the gist of which the person running the class is just telling you his or her pet peeves about resumes and applicants. But this one was better than most, the main speaker verified a number of things I had inferred, was at times brutally honest about existing biases, and added some fascinating details. I’ve posted a few tidbits from memory below. Apologies if I got something wrong. [Read more…]

There are some tangible advantages in two adults enjoying government recognition as a legit and legal union. Chief among them are the tax benefits. If you thought the intolerant wing of the GOP hated the IRS before, they’re gonna go ballistic over this: [Read more…]

The I Have a Dream speech has never been shown in its entirety on TV, until a few minutes ago when it aired on MSNBC. It is said the King family guards the rights to it closely. It can be found on the Internet, although it may not play in your country or region. I hope you get a chance to watch it, that guy could speak.

It is a weekly ritual for millions of us now. Scan all the boards for newly posted openings on Monday mornings. I usually start at about 6 AM and apply for anything I haven’t already hit — and I have hit anything more than a few days old. Today’s pickings were slim though. After filtering out scams and other crap, maybe half a dozen legit new job postings remained in total, probably because of a looming holiday weekend ironically called Labor Day. Half those remaining probably paid $14/hr or less.

One of the few new jobs posted that looked better than average was content provider for a rapidly growing, local start-up. [Read more…]

… that could have occurred, if this disturbed young man had not come into contact with this brave, compassionate lady.

In a weird almost trance-like state, what writers or athletes alike call The Flow, I knocked out a sci-fi short a few days ago and submitted it. It was as though the narrative was dictated to me by angels, and I received some praise from otherwise critical first readers for it. The odds of a good story being chosen from the over flowing queues of this org is probably, literally one in a hundred. Plus this is raw, hard SF from an unknown author, with plenty of controversial political themes sure to turn off the average conservative reader embedded in it — none of that wussy fantasy soft sci-fi with unicorns or other magic baby! Which is, sad to say, not always real marketable.

If it does sell, I will have made about $300 USD for a few hours of fun, easy work. In the strong likelihood they pass, and I can’t get traction anywhere else, maybe I’ll have an artist friend cook up some images and publish it here. It’s not terrible and it’s short, about 3000 words.

 

I can’t believe I never saw this before now. It is the most awesome thing I have seen all day. Aren’t some of you guys supposed to be scouring the web, doing my work for me day and night, and sending me this stuff?