Cold again. And damp. [[41jF and 99%RH at 8am]
Spent yesterday morning doing a couple of pickups. Then an hour of tech support for my mom (unsuccessful- anyone know why quicken2017 wouldn’t install on a D drive from a cd in a USB external drive labeled E?) followed by a trip to the theatre downtown for a modern adaptation of A Christmas Carol.
Venue is posted 30.06 and 30.07, so no carry there. Felt naked but at least we parked in the adjacent structure. No pat down or wanding, but it was properly marked. Had an armed off=duty HPD officer in the lobby. Getting out of the venue in a hurry would be a nightmare.
Since I couldn’t carry I doubled up on med supplies, and added a TQ to my booboo kit. It all seems like crazy overkill until it doesn’t…
I’m going to try to get some stuff done today. The week of volunteering has put me behind in my normal shopping. I should have picked up dog food, and made a Costco run last week. I did add 24 cans of beans and 8 cans of greens… and learned that you can improve the texture and flavor of expired waffle mix by adding baking powder, but it still isn’t right. Tastes ok if you’re hungry but it isn’t the light and delicious normal result. Fortunately it is very cheap.
I’m definitely coming down with something. Scratchy throat, stuffy head, sore eyes… headache on Wed and Thur. Started in on the Airborne…
and now, stuff to do. No rest for the wicked.
n
unsuccessful- anyone know why quicken2017 wouldn’t install on a D drive from a cd in a USB external drive labeled E?
Do you have the latest installer? Check the website and contact tech support if the available download isn’t recent (last year or two).
Is 2017 still supported? Intuit has been really aggressive about cutting off support and moving everyone to their new subscription model. Unfortunately, right now, I don’t have the time to really get into moving to Gnucash so I have a subscription to keep data downloads working.
quicken is one of those programs you try to move off of and come back to because despite 20 years of cruft, it is the only one that does what it does.
I”m going to try copying the install cd to the d drive, then installing from there. I’m pretty sure a poorly written install routine is getting stuck looking for files on C or on the CD which is E in this case.
n
quicken is one of those programs you try to move off of and come back to because despite 20 years of cruft, it is the only one that does what it does.
The subscription model is really irritating. I’d be okay with it if the software actually got better, but it seems to be getting worse. Blame lack of true competition.
My killer feature is seamless data downloads, but, increasingly Intuit isn’t keeping up with the banks diverse access schemes, forcing manual download of *.QFX files through a browser which I can process with Gnucash for free.
Back in the DOS days, everybody had a money management application on the shelves. I remember at least three we stocked at the Egghead Ponzi, including one written by a subsidiary of the Church of Scientology.
MS killed them all by giving Money away for free.
All except quicken, which did import better than anything, and autocomplete when that wasn’t even a word yet.
Too many weird things in quicken that are holdeovers from dos for new users to be comfortable. Like simply printing an invoice. NOT simple at all.
n
MS killed them all by giving Money away for free.
MS had the advantage of being able to write and leak check Windows 3.1 C code with the insane stack limitations and weird GUI API. MECA never got past that with Managing Your Money, but Andrew Tobias *still* fields questions about getting the last version of MYM running in Windows.
And, as usual, MS took 3-4 iterations to really get Money right. Even with the advantages of knowing the “secret” Windows API calls, I remember Office languishing on the shelf of the Ponzi in the Win 2.0 days right after they ported Excel from Mac … well, except for pirates buying/returning the package.
One guess who got to re-shrinkwrap the big Office boxes. I was an artist.
TV broadcast went badly at the church. Live picture on the TV channel was distorted, shadows, dropping out, basically unwatchable. The SD signal out of the switcher goes to a distribution amplifier that feeds three destinations. One is a monitor to show the signal. That was fine as was the signal to the DVD recorder. Something was really wrong.
I suspected the amplifier as I had moved some connections around. I eliminated the amplifier by jumpering the cable from the switcher directly into the cable for the broadcast. Still really horrible signal. Power cycled the modulator did not improve anything. I was stumped, figured maybe one of the RF cables that go to Comcast was having an issue.
Out of desperation I decided to replace the cable termination into the modulator. One end is a BNC connection, the one into the modulator is F-type (screw in with central copper core). Removed the connector, cut the cable, and installed a new F-Type connector, hooked back up to the modulator.
Boom, signal is now good. Even the slight ghosting I had before is now gone. Took about 20 minutes into the broadcast to fix the issue. I was sweating bullets, and extremely frustrated.
This connection has not been touched in six months. The cable end into the the modulator has not been moved in six months. The other end was moved but that movement was isolated as the cable is strapped down a couple places in the rack. No way the connection into the modulator had any movement. But somehow the connection went bad.
I got lucky and was able to fix the problem. I don’t think I found the problem by actually figuring out the issue as I was making a desperation move. All the signals in the rack were good, only from the modulator out was bad. A last ditch possible fix that turned out to the be the problem.
Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
But somehow the connection went bad.
Moisture? Dissimilar metals?
We’ve had a lot of lightning arrestors on Ethernet go bad just sitting there lately. Too much Made in China.
I really liked MSMoney. An easy to use program that did what I needed. If only the downloads had worked better. Given time MS would have solved the issue. I don’t know why MS terminated the product.
I was also a better tester for Quicken during that time. Found a major bug where a 16 bit counter was overflowing trashing the amounts on some reports. I was awarded a significant prize for being the top beta tester, both in the number of bugs I found and the severity of the bugs. This was in 1998. Shortly after MSMoney stopped their product and gave it away for free.
I had information in Quicken from 1992, the DOS days. About a year ago I decided to eliminate all transactions before January 1, 2010. The process did not go well and required me to enter adjusting transactions for January 1, 2010 to get the balances back where they belongs. I also lost *ALL* my price history information for all my investments. Even the prices after January 1, 2010. I was not a happy camper.
I have Quicken 2017 and I don’t think I will upgrade. I don’t like the subscription model of Quicken. Even though only the downloads are the only part that is supposed to expire at the end of the subscription I don’t trust Quicken to just stop working, trapping all my financial information. I will start doing my own entries of investment activities.
I did buy TurboTax as I have every year. At one time Intuit locked the program with an activation scheme that really pissed everyone off, myself included. TaxAct began to look really promising. The next years Intuit removed the copy protection. But this year they have an activation code that must be used. I am OK with that. I shared the software with my son and it activated fine. I have activated on my home computer and laptop without issues. Thus three activation’s with no issues.
I think most people that use the product consider it valuable enough to just pay for a copy. It is still overpriced for my needs, perhaps not for others with really complicated returns. I pay because I want E-File for my return which is normally about $20.00 so the software adds another $45.00 to that cost.
I personally think E-File should be covered by the IRS. It saved them much time, improves accuracy and reduces fraud. Reducing the fraud by 25% would be enough to pay the cost of all the E-Filing that is done each year.
I still don’t know which/who was incorrect on my 2016 taxes. TurboTax says I am correct. The IRS originally said I owed them $1,100.00. Much back and forth, a threat demanding a full audit, and suddenly the IRS owes me $200+. Never have figured that one out. I think the IRS is incorrect. I have a letter stating the amount, that the IRS is correct, so I should be OK.
I have no idea. The A/C did got out two months ago and it got really warm in the studio. Broadcast was fine during, and after the event. Had some really code days but the studio is on a heat pump system separate from the church system and is always operating.
Visual inspection of the connected (after being cut off the cable) does not show anything visibly out of whack. Center conductor looks good, shield termination looks good, no cuts in the center conductor. I cut the cable 1/4″ from the end of the old connector.
Fortunately I had some compression connectors for RG-59 and the tool to properly strip and compress the connections. I don’t use crimp connections or screw on connections. We have both RG-6 and RG-59 cable thus both types of connectors. This connection used to be a BNC cable hooked into a BNC to F-Type connector. I removed the adapter and crimped on the F-Type connector about a year ago. Worked like a champ until today.
@Ray: reminds my of our internet problems on one connection. It took years, and a lucky tech who happened to wiggle a wire just as he was looking at his signal analyzer. Not intentional at all.
To his credit, he noticed and immediately understood that the fluctuations meant a broken wire in the cable. Bam, years of annoyance fixed.
@ray, I would suspect that something else moved then. Maybe a power cord (barrel style) or another connection…
It could be corrosion though. I had a whole analog 5 wire matrix switch become unreliable. I had to remove every bnc connection, spray with deoxit, and reinstall. Some connector ends I just replaced if the clean and wiggle technique didn’t work. It was a huge hassle on a 16×8 matrix. Most of the cable was Extron mini-RGBHV with Extron crimp on terminations. I hate those mini crimp on connectors.
n
I really liked MSMoney. An easy to use program that did what I needed. If only the downloads had worked better. Given time MS would have solved the issue. I don’t know why MS terminated the product.
The point of Money was to hurt Intuit. IIRC, one of the Intuit founders sat on the Apple board in the 90s.
BillG nearly acquired Intuit at one point, but anti trust concerns put the kibosh on that acquisition. Around that time, TurboTax started generating enough income that Intuit could survive without Quicken if the worst happened, and Microsoft lost interest in Money.
I’ve also heard legends about working for Microsoft that applications like Office were dead ends to careers. I imagine that Money would have been worse. If it was still around, Money would have a development team in Bangalore.
All my inputs, and outputs, (the HD anyway) go through a 40×40 matrix switch. Any input can be switched to any output, or multiple outputs, from an application on a computer. I needed to order a tool to allow me to get access to those BNC connections for removal or installation. I am currently using 15 inputs and 24 outputs. A little room for growth. Next size down was 12×12 which was not large enough.
From @paul yesterday:
So they kept all the pictures with them in them ?
Yes. Perhaps as an insult?
Women are weird about their appearance in pictures.
My wife has threatened extreme bodily harm should I ever take her picture again.
Of course, my son is paranoid about the NSA lifting his picture from Facebook.
Since I couldn’t carry I doubled up on med supplies, and added a TQ to my booboo kit. It all seems like crazy overkill until it doesn’t…
TQ = tourniquet ?
Sounds crazy overkill unless something bad happens.
I dislike crowded places now too.
“Trump has “every opportunity to present his case” on impeachment, Pelosi says”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nancy-pelosi-face-the-nation-trump-has-every-opportunity-to-present-his-case-in-impeachment-inquiry/
Said the spider to the fly.
Not that Trump is a fly. But Pelosi can be characterized as a spider.
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
Feinstein can more accurately be described as a spy, dur.
TQ = tourniquet You write it and the time on the patient where it will be seen.
It’s small, I have it in an old phone or flashlight clip on pouch, and it weighs nothing. I left it in my jacket pocket. I carry a pen, paper, and a spare pair of reading glasses in the other pocket. So not really a big deal to add it.
I don’t like being in crowds at all. Or near them. Fortunately, the theatre was only about a third full, and the matinee was over at 430, still daylight downtown. I’m not going to let my wife take the kids alone though, so I went. Not a great show by the way. Free, ok, $120 a ticket, no. $40-80 a ticket, what else do you have to spend money on? Anything? well, I’d spend it on anything.
n
BTW, it’s getting pretty sporty in Hong Kong…
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hong-kong-police-officier-shot-arrow-fiery-university-standoff-rages
n
Looks like even millionaires get tired of paying the bills…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7695625/Massive-fire-destroys-two-lavish-yachts-estimated-20-MILLION-Fort-Lauderdale-marina.html
n
I believe the law in this country is that a person must be proven guilty by the prosecution. The accused does not have to prove innocence. I think when this over the democrats will look like fools, or rather bigger fools.
“Trump has “every opportunity to present his case” on impeachment, Pelosi says”
I believe the law in this country is that a person must be proven guilty by the prosecution. The accused does not have to prove innocence. I think when this over the democrats will look like fools, or rather bigger fools.
I believe that the People’s House will impeach Trump, no matter what. Because, he is Trump and should not be President. Then the People’s House will demand that Hillary assume the Presidency, before the show trial in the Senate.
Well, the new used house has a broken water pipe from the water meter to under the house foundation. The break seems to be about 6 to 8 inches away from the foundation. I knew that it had broken before but the seller did not give me the receipt showing who the plumber was. And the house warranty people (came with house bought by seller for $500) do not cover plumbing problems outside the foundation or the walls.
So, my plumber is going to dig the pipe up and fix it tomorrow. Not budgeted.
Ya know, if I lived in one of the hive cities, and was a Master of the Universe ™ and I saw clearly that all the social engineering was coming to fruition and that CivilWarII was about to unfold, and if I was worried about the bible clinging rednecks who made poor life decisions and thus stayed in the countryside and not coincidentally control farms and food transportation, and I wanted to continue to eat, I’d arrange things so that giant agribusiness firms, hedge funds, and other MOUs could buy up all the bankrupt family farmers, who would be most likely to try to starve out the hive cities. . .
Not that that could ever happen, right?
n
(and I might fund development of robot heavy trucks to carry that food too…. just sayin’.)
I believe that the People’s House will impeach Trump, no matter what. Because, he is Trump and should not be President. Then the People’s House will demand that Hillary assume the Presidency, before the show trial in the Senate.
Every President will be impeached at least once from now on, during their first term following the midterm which puts the opposition in control of the House.
The problem the Progs face is that the President who signs Medicaid For All (lets be real) will face the possibility of a Senate going 2/3 Republican at the next midterm once reality sets in across the land.
One night after Medicaid for All passes, we may well turn on the news to see what looks like the President being burned in effigy … but a really lively effigy … Say, that’s not really … is it?
Every President will be impeached at least once from now on, during their first term following the midterm which puts the opposition in control of the House.
Do you really think that the Repuglicans will ever impeach another Dumbo president ever again after the Clinton debacle ?
The problem the Progs face is that the President who signs Medicaid For All (lets be real) will face the possibility of a Senate going 2/3 Republican at the next midterm once reality sets in across the land.
I fully expect Trump to enact a limited Medicare For All ™ in the beginning of his second term. Trump is not a conservative.
“When It All Comes Apart” by Sarah Hoyt
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2019/11/12/when-it-all-comes-apart/
“Between the “human wave” of illegals, which they credit with flipping Virginia (no, seriously. The left is saying this. Which makes you wonder if they’re even AWARE of the difference between residence and citizenship. They seem to be convinced if you cross the border, you can vote. Perhaps that’s why they think our opposition to this stuff is “racist” since they’ve lost the concept of citizenship.) and the fact felons now vote in FL (which means we’ll never win it again. Not until after the troubles.) and btw the same for another state, though I can’t remember which right now, I’d think they’d be sure of victory.”
Those legal citizen kids will vote to protect their families. They’ve been bringing them in for decades, and they are surely voting already. If they think the dems will protect their families, that’s how they’ll vote. Family is the most important unit in those communities.
n
Ok, Christmas for my brothers and dad (tote and screwdrivers each):
A Dewalt open tool tote for $19 (not avail until Dec 22 !!!):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NA7V3X0/?tag=ttgnet-20
And a Craftsman set of Extreme Grip Screwdrivers for $19 for failing to grip hands:
https://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Extreme-6-piece-Diamond-Screwdriver/dp/B00WTN4T9O/?tag=ttgnet-20
Those legal citizen kids will vote to protect their families. They’ve been bringing them in for decades, and they are surely voting already. If they think the dems will protect their families, that’s how they’ll vote. Family is the most important unit in those communities.
Yes. The lady who cleans our home and office is a legal refugee from El Salvador for over 30 years. She and her husband have five kids that were all born here. The oldest kid (their son who is a concrete plant foreman) is sponsoring her for a resident visa (green card). They have spent over $5,000 in legal fees and application fees so far.
Her husband got a green card sponsored by his boss. She and her husband work hard and own a home less than a mile from my home. I am ok with this.
The kids either work hard or have kids or are still in school (just one). No slackards in this bunch. The oldest daughter has three kids and bought a home with her husband last year. But I bet they all vote democrat, not realizing what the D’s are going to do to the economy that is enriching them all.
Medicaid-for-all? Thankfully I was out of the US before Obamacare hit, but from what I hear from y’all, Medicaid-for-all would be better than what you have now. Obamacare seems to be the worst of both worlds: All the bureaucracy and scamming inherent in insurance companies that have turned into parasites. Plus paying for the care of all the people who cannot afford to pay themselves.
Unpopular opinion: Since there seems to be zero chance of going back to a free market system, maybe free government health care is the best you can do. Certainly better than what you have now. It at least gets rid of the crazy insurance bureaucracy.
In the UK, precisely because everyone is covered by the NHS, the government is pretty hands-off with private insurance. There’s a pretty healthy, competitive private marketplace at work. Which means, in a sense, the best of both worlds. You can pay your taxes and take your chances – mostly long waiting times. Or you can pay for better service, through private insurance and private clinics. In my (admittedly limited) experience, it’s not a bad compromise.
@brad, this is exactly the model of the public schools in the US and the direction we’re heading. Anyone with any money will be paying for all the rest to get {poor} care, and paying to send their family to good private care. Like the schools system, you get hit with double the bill.
And the rich avoid the consequences entirely.
n
@brad, @nick
As a UK citizen, lifetime taxpayer, and gentleman of leisure, I have recent and extensive experience of the NHS. 13 months ago, I attended my doctor to report internal plumbing problems. After an ultrasound scan, which led to an abdominal CT scan and colonoscopy, I was booked in for surgery for bowel cancer, in early December last year, Dec. 7th to be precise. 6 weeks after initial presentation.
Since then, I’ve had a course of chemotherapy to kill off any nasties they missed. All seems well to date. Follow-up appointments will be in the New Year. This was all under NHS auspices, so no money changed hands after treatment.
The chemo ran £500 or so ($650, approx.) from research I’ve done. How much the surgery and subsequent hospital stay came to, I have no idea. I suspect that, in America, I’d be on the hook for $50,000, at least, and/or $500 a month insurance premiums.
Just as an example.
G
Rats.
I forgot to say “£500 or so, per course” of chemo. There were 7 such.
G
and the fact felons now vote in FL (which means we’ll never win it again. Not until after the troubles.)
Despair is a sin. The Republicans in Florida hold all three branches of government going into redistricting, and the state stands to gain seats in the House, including, possibly, that belonging to the Cocktail Waitress.
Maybe in a generation the Dems could challenge in the state, but they will have to shed the kind of stupidity that says it is better to run Andrew Gillum for Governor than return the Graham family to Tallahassee.
Do you really think that the Repuglicans will ever impeach another Dumbo president ever again after the Clinton debacle ?
Yes. It cost Newt Gingrich his speakership and gave us Dennis Hastert, but Republican control of the House continued for another eight years. Plus, Bush got elected and who knows what would have happened absent the asinine “wars” we’ve conducted since 9/11.
Beyond “making the rubble bounce” (as Dr. Pournelle put it) in Afganistan, we had no business doing much of what we’ve done over the last 20 years in the Middle East.
I fully expect Trump to enact a limited Medicare For All ™ in the beginning of his second term. Trump is not a conservative.
Medicaid for All is slavery for doctors. My wife got a taste of it this weekend being staff doctor for the marching band.
When the cost is free, the demand for healthcare is infinite. All kinds of problems came out of the woodwork, kids and chaperones. My wife *begged* for four hours of sleep a night, looking forward to returning to her regular VA job this morning. Imagine! Middle to Upper-middle class families at a minimum — nice houses, Teslas (including the assistant band director), and fancy schools for the kids. It was if the families hadn’t seen the inside of a doctor’s office in a decade.
Trump won’t want his name on it.
And my wife really works for the VA. She spends a couple of hours every night clearing paperwork online in addition to the regular hours.
@Geoff, thanks for the info.
Your out of pocket in the US would depend primarily on your age and income.
If you were over 65, your costs would be minimal (although PCB_Duffer is the one with actual knowledge on this). If under 65 with employer provided health insurance, your cost out of pocket and in the form of monthly premiums would depend on income (due to the obamacare mandate and wealth transfers.)
The real question of cost vs National Health is if the premiums and diverted wages (the employer’s part) are more or less than the taxes paid to provide the “free” care.
When I last had the discussion with actual numbers, I was in Canada talking with construction contractors. He was paying effectively 65% of his salary in tax (iirc) but got “free” healthcare, while I was paying 9% of my salary (and some to an accountant to make that number possible) and paying a couple of hundred bucks a month for my coverage. He was a young guy, and didn’t actually use his free care, but paid exactly the same as a cancerous geriatric, or possibly a lot more if the old fogie was retired and paying little in taxes…..
My options for health insurance are a lot more limited and expensive now that obamacare punishes earners….
n
added- rereading this it sounds unfortunately like I was specifically talking about Geoff, that is not the case. Please forgive me for any offence.
If you are interested in maps, this is cool–
https://www.deftsystems.us/2019/11/17/how-to-make-your-own-mgrs-usng-maps/
H/T WRSA
n
This report/interview/AAR on evacuating a whole hospital in the face of wildfire is good reading….
https://files.asprtracie.hhs.gov/documents/aspr-tracie-the-last-stand-evacuating-a-hospital-in-the-middle-of-a-wildfire.pdf
n
I’ll add that when you wake up and fire glow is visible from your house, get you wife and kids up and start getting ready to leave….
One thing I like about Daily Mail, they follow up on stories until the very end.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7697887/Dramatic-moment-police-rescue-girl-hidden-hotel-room-snatched-Texas-street.html
Life in prison.
n
I wouldn’t say “shocking” but it is pretty depressing… and guys like him have the same vote as you and I do.
A man punched two firefighters because he thought they were taking too long to extinguish his car which was on fire in Missouri
n
@Nick
“Gentleman of leisure” is another way of saying “retired from full-time work”. When this started, I was 70, so it sounds, from your comment, that I wouldn’t have paid much, if anything, in the US for similar treatment.
My post was also intended to refute @Brad’s comments about “wait or pay” for urgent treatment. From my experience, and that of my late mother-in-law, things like this are dealt with quickly, less life-threatening ailments, not so much. That’s where the waiting lists kick in.
G
Impeachment doesn’t have to follow any procedure besides what the House decides on voting articles, and the Senate can follow whatever they want – however, they must get 2/3rd to remove from office and the same on barring from future office. That is in the Constitution and has been upheld by the Supreme Court. It’s a political act and not judicial.