«« « « » » » »
MY FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS
HELP WANTED: Candidate must be able to read ‘insurance language’ AND be able to translate it into Standard English. Employment will continue until employer stops receiving ‘Explanation of Benefits’ for two recent surgeries. Salary is commensurate with employee’s ability to perform task. Employer may or may not have USD to pay for this service…it depends on what the EOB means. Employer does have paper and coin money from England, Scotland, Egypt, South Africa, Namibia, Malaysia, and Borneo. Send resume along with letters of recommendation to employer. Only serious applicants need apply.
It seems that I am one of many Americans who is helping destroy the nation’s forests. Thank goodness I am not really sick, or infirm, or out of my mind—yet. The stack of paperwork has begun. I get that I have to pay all my deductible right away—since both my surgeries were done in early January. What I don’t get is how I am going to be billed. One column says “You Owe the Provider;” then under that it says “…you are not responsible for the difference between the submitted charges and our allowable charges.” If I am not responsible then why does it say ‘you owe the provider’? One of the pathologist and the friggen hospital sent me a bill. Both clearly stated that “You owe this amount”, then said “As a courtesy, we have sent the charges to the insurance provider you provided” and then “the insurance company has not yet paid and YOU are responsible for these charges.” I have a master’s degree in ESL. I learned many ways to make English more comprehensible to non-English speakers. I learned that many languages do not have the passive voice so students have a really hard time understanding sentences in the passive voice. No one teaching classes ever talked about ‘insurance speak’ and how to make it understandable. No classes were offered on the subject. My case is not that serious, and I know it will all work itself out in time. It is no wonder that less educated insurance holders are mystified. We are told that ‘early detection’ is the key to good health. The scare that doctors give you when they find something that is ‘a-typical’ must take a few days off the patient’s biological clock. The insurance paperwork must be taking a few months off the clock. Oh well, I will just sit it out and wait until I get a bill that says ‘final request—unless this is paid within 10 seconds after opening, your account will be turned over to a collection agency.”
My brother had an interesting story today. His wife had to fly from Miami to NYC this morning. Last night she got a txt that the flight was cancelled and she had been re-booked. She got that, weather in NYC and most of the east coast is not favorable for any travel right now. So she called the airline, punched all the right keys and got to a human. She asked if there were any flights from Ft Lauderdale that were going. Yes and Delta would be happy to rebook her on that flight. It is a 40 minutes drive—in Florida to the airport, where the weather is good. They headed out. Upon arrival the desk agent said that there was a flight but that she couldn’t fly on that flight. She and the agent did a little back and forth and finally a supervisor was called. That person finally agreed to let her on the flight. When the plane took off it was only 1/3 full. Laura never got an answer as to why she had all the problems. She made it to her meetings, on time. She is still wondering why she had all the problems.
We had a good lunch today. We started out by going to the new Chipolte that just opened in Flagstaff. It was very crowded so we went somewhere else. I doubt we will go back. One stands in line to watch your food made, then sit at long tables with strangers. It is nice for those who want a quick meal and don’t want to have any conversation with the people you came with. There were lots of college students there and they didn’t have any problem with the seating. We caught up on the week’s news. Mary had a great time in Vegas. She said the Cher concert was amazing with lots of costume changes and great music. She also left Vegas with a few hundred more than she went with. Cheryl is doing well with her healing, still losing weight—over 50lbs—and feels good. She had the handy man fix a bunch of little stuff around her house and is happy with the finished product. So nice to have this weekly lunch.
«« « « » » » »
DID YOU KNOW THAT…
○ Keep your plants straight! For even growth, give your plant a turn every day or two. It keeps their growth even since the foliage automatically bends toward the light.
SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION…
○ The world’s largest disco was held at the Buffalo Convention Center in New York, 1979. Thirteen thousand folks danced a place into the Guinness Book of World Records.
○ The Carpenters signature song, We’ve Only Just Begun, was originally part of a television commercial for a California bank.
○ The LP (long-playing) record was invented by Paul Goldmark in 1948. More than 10 million LPs are sold every year.
¤… Who Wants to be a Millionaire PUZZLE
…answers at bottom…
1. Which of these is not a country in Africa?
Burkina Faso Saudi Arabia Cote D'Ivoire Botswana
2. What is the last name of the family depicted in the movie 'The Sound of Music'?
Von Plummer Von Trapp Von Vanderberg Von Furstenburg
3. Crazy Horse was a celebrated leader among what people:
Eskimos Vikings Maoris Native Americans
4. The game of Mah-Jong originated in what country?
China Japan England Russia
5. According to Lesley Gore's hit song, 'It's my party and I'll' what 'if I want to'?
Yell Kiss Dance Cry
6. What nationality is celebrated on St. Patrick's Day?
Mexican Welsh American Indian Irish
7. What chemical is added to the water in swimming pools?
Salt Ammonia Sulfur Chlorine
8. The aircraft called the 'Spruce Goose' was built by which American millionaire?
Howard Hughes William Randolph Hearst John D. Rockefeller David O. Selznick
9. Who wrote the novels that introduced the characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple?
Agatha Christie H. G. Wells Ellery Queen Ruth Rendell
10. What is the Italian word for a square or marketplace?
Pisa Piazza Plaza Presto
11. Which team won the first two Super Bowls?
Minnesota Vikings Kansas City Chiefs Green Bay Packers Chicago Bears
12. What is singer Diana Ross's middle name?
Josephine Maybelline Libertine Ernestine
13. What is the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger called?
Liger Tiglon Tigon Ligron
14. Between which two planets are asteroids chiefly found?
Mars and Jupiter Neptune and Pluto Jupiter and Saturn Saturn and Uranus
15. How many different combinations of dots are possible in Braille?
49 63 75 87
UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM… FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AP)
-- A convicted killer who escaped from an Arizona prison said after his capture that he had planned to overdose on heroin at Yellowstone National Park and let bears eat him to end the fear and panic he was experiencing while on the run.
Tracy Province told Mohave County sheriff's Detective Larry Matthews that he had wanted to go up on a mountain, inject a gram of heroin and "be bear food." As he was preparing the drug, a voice told him not to go through with the plan, and he changed course in favor of trying to hitchhike to Indiana to see family.
"He called it divine intervention," Matthews wrote in an August report.
Al Nash, a spokesman at Yellowstone National Park, said it's certainly possible that Province's plan would have worked, but it struck him as improbable.
"We have a fair number of bears in the ecosystem," Nash said. "They eat about anything. A bear would rather get an easy meal than a difficult meal, but human-bear encounters are very infrequent."
Authorities say Province asked fellow convict John McCluskey and their alleged accomplice, Casslyn Mae Welch, to take him to Yellowstone, so they drove him to the Wyoming park from New Mexico. Province doesn't name anyone else in the interview with Matthews, but it's clear whom he's with.
A LITTLE LAUGH…
A Kentucky State Trooper was patrolling late at night off the main highway.
He sees a couple in a car, with the interior light brightly glowing.
He carefully approaches the car to get a closer look.
Then he sees a young man behind the wheel, reading a computer magazine.
He immediately notices a young woman in the rear seat, filing her fingernails.
Puzzled by this surprising situation, the trooper walks to the car and gently raps on the driver's window.
The young man lowers his window. 'Uh, yes, Officer?'
The trooper asks: 'What are you doing?'
The young man says: 'Well, Officer, I'm reading a magazine.'
Pointing towards the young woman in the back seat the trooper says: 'And her, what is she doing?'
The young man shrugs: 'Sir, I believe she's filing her fingernails.'
Now, the trooper is totally confused.
A young couple, alone, in a car, at night in a lover's lane ... And nothing obscene is happening!
The trooper asks: 'What's your age, young man?'
The young man says: 'I'm 22, sir.'
The trooper asks: 'And her .... what's her age?'
The young man looks at his watch and replies: 'She'll be 18 in 11 minutes..
¤…CLOSEUP PICTURE
Can you identify this close up picture
FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’
It is Nuclear Science Week: How much Ahmadinejad knows about Nuclear Science
♫ Rock Anthems ♫
Click on Song Title to see and hear
«« « « » » » »
DAYBOOK INFORMATION
¤…THIS WEEK…¤
20-30
Sundance Film Festival
23-29
National Handwriting Analysis Week ◘ National Nurse Anesthetists Week ◘ World Leprosy Week
24-Feb 4
Clean Out Your Inbox Week
24-28
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week ◘ National Medical Group Practice Week ◘ No Name Calling Week ◘ National Nuclear Science Week ◘ National Take Back Your Time Week
¤…TODAY IS…¤
Clash Day
Data Privacy
Fun at Work Day
National Kazoo Day
Rattle Snake Round-Up Day
Thank A Plugin Developer Day
Armenia: Army Day
Rwanda: Democracy Day (1961)
Today’s Births
○ AUTHORS..Artists
1582 John Barclay Scottish satirist/poet (Euphormio's Satyricon, Argenis)
Acker (Bernard) Bilk, 82, clarinetist, composer: Stranger on the Shore
1912 Jackson Pollock abstract artist (Lavender Mist)
1933 Susan Sontag essayist/novelist/film director (The Benefactor)
○ ATHLETES
Jessica Ennis, 25, British track athlete
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1855 William Seward Burroughs New York, inventor (recording adding machine)
○ ENTERTAINERS (ACTORS/SINGERS/…)
Alan Alda (Alphonso D’Abruzzo), 75, actor (Paper Lion, The Four Seasons, “M*A*S*H”), director
1909 Lionel KP "Buster" Crabb British diver (WWII-George Medal), actor
1887 Artur Rubinstein American pianist: played solo for the Berlin Symphony at the age of 12
Elijah Wood, 30, actor (the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Ice Storm)
○ POLITICIANS
1822 Alexander MacKenzie (L) 2nd PM of Canada (1873-78)
Nicolas Sarkozy, 56, President of France
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1884 Lucien H d'Azambuja French astronomer (chromospheres of sun)
¤…Today’s Obituaries…¤
1973 John Banner actor (Schultz-Hogan's Heroes), Hemorrhage on 62nd birthday
0814 Charlemagne German emperor/Roman Emperor (800-814), pleurisy @ 71
1595 Sir Francis Drake English navigator/pirate (Porto Bello West Indies), dysentery @ about 50
1980 Jimmy Durante comedian (Jimmy Durante Show), @ 86
1725 Peter I "the Great" Romanov czar of Russia, gangrene @ 52
1939 William Butler Yeats Irish poet (Nobel), @ 73
¤…Today’s Events…¤
○ ARTS
1973 "Barnaby Jones" premieres on CBS TV
1978 "Fantasy Island" starring Ricardo Montalban premieres on ABC TV
○ ATHLETICS
1904 1st college sports letters given to Seniors who played on University of Chicago's football team are awarded blankets with letter "C" on them
1934 Robert Royce’s famous invention--ski tow rope--was used for the first time in Woodstock, VT
1990 Super Bowl XXIV San Francisco 49ers beat Denver Broncos, 55-10 in New Orleans
1996 Super Bowl XXX Dallas Cowboys beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-17 in Tempe
○ BUSINESS & EDUCATION
1851 Northwestern University (Chicago) chartered
1902 The Carnegie Institution was established in Washington DC
1914 Beverly Hills, California, is incorporated
1932 1st US state unemployment insurance act enacted-Wisconsin
○ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1854 In Oregon, 30 miners attack a peaceful Indian village on the Coquille River. Sixteen Indians are killed.
○ POLITICS (US)
1787 Philadelphia's Free Africa Society organizes
○ POLITICS (International)
1099 1st Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria
1945 General "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell & truck convoy reopen Burma Road to China
○ SCIENCE & RELIGION
1613 Galileo may have unknowingly viewed undiscovered planet Neptune
1899 American Social Science Association incorporated by Congress
1935 Iceland becomes 1st country to legalize abortion
1960 1st photograph bounced off Moon, Washington DC
1986 Challenger blew up, 1st teacher in space and others lost.
1986 Challenger blew up, 1st teacher in space and others lost.
«« « « » » » »
ANSWERS
¤…Millionaire ANSWERS…¤
1. Which of these is not a country in Africa Saudi Arabia
2. What is the last name of the family depicted in the movie 'The Sound of Music'? Von Trapp
3. Crazy Horse was a celebrated leader among what people: Native Americans
4. The game of Mah-Jong originated in what country? China
5. According to Lesley Gore's hit song, 'It's my party and I'll' what 'if I want to'? Cry
6. What nationality is celebrated on St. Patrick's Day? Irish
7. What chemical is added to the water in swimming pools? Chlorine
8. The aircraft called the 'Spruce Goose' was built by which American millionaire? Howard Hughes
9. Who wrote the novels that introduced the characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple?
Agatha Christie
10. What is the Italian word for a square or marketplace? Piazza
11. Which team won the first two Super Bowls? Green Bay Packers
12. What is singer Diana Ross's middle name? Ernestine
13. What is the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger called? Liger
14. Between which two planets are asteroids chiefly found? Mars and Jupiter
15. How many different combinations of dots are possible in Braille? 63 There are 6 dots in each Braille 'cell'. Each can be raised or flat, and an all-flat cell does not count. That makes (2*2*2*2*2*2) - 1, or 63 dot combinations.
¤…Close up Picture…¤
Battery
« AND THAT’S ALL FOR NOW »
