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Chewbacca Defense

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Posts posted by Chewbacca Defense

  1. 45 minutes ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

    Wish me luck guys. My most important medication, lamotrigene, has still not been approved this time by the insurance company. I have taken this medication since late 2016 and haven't gone without it since a lengthy observation when I was at OHSU back in 2017. Needless to say, I was into status epilepticus when I was there for extended observation without the medication (it's different than clobazam, which is also important but not as much as lamotrigene). Once I took the medication it was a lot better. I still have lots of seizures but most of them are small and manageable. Some are shittier and I have to get down on the floor when I feel them coming on but those are rare.

    Without this medication, there is a pretty decent possibility of me slipping into status epilepticus and ending up in the hospital soon. My neurologist said that once it gets bad enough that I need to go into the hospital and they can maybe make it urgent enough to get a temporary supply. I'll try to have y'all stay updated but for now me and my family are worried.

    In the meantime, it's 50F and cloudy. If this is the last day where I have proper focus then I'm grateful it was a cool and pleasant one without excessive heat.

    I'm sorry to hear that, I am also fighting a losing battle over a prescription right now, and while its not for something as critical as seizures, I still need my medication to function.  The crappy thing is that they approved it last year, but they switched pharmacy managers and now the new pharmacy manager won't approve it. 

    My daughter is on lamotrigene for her epilepsy (along with one or 2 other drugs) and the combined out of pocket if she didn't have insurance would be ~$2,000 per month.  You can live in a really nice house in a good chunk of the country for that kind of money.

    I hope you  can get it figured out.  From my own personal experience, there should be a way to fast track the reviews/approvals.  For my insurance company, it was for the doctor to mark the request as "urgent"  Unfortunately, for me it just meant them telling me "NO" that much quicker. 

    My prescription is $5k per year out of pocket, not something I can really afford to do.

    • Sad 3
  2. 4 hours ago, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

    D*mn, that'd be really cool seeing it from a plane, would also have an awesome view of the line of the eclipse below you. If it ends up being cloudy there, hopefully they'll stay below 15k feet, because I know that often times their clouds can be pretty high up.

    I wonder how it is to pilot a plane and view an eclipse at the same time, I'd assume it isn't too bad but you might not be able to give 100% of your attention to the eclipse 

    Just need to fire up the otto pilot

     

    image.jpeg.481bde54774a5b679606ae44d00cddd4.jpeg

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  3. 5 hours ago, Chewbacca Defense said:

    Quite possible the "full steam" as evidenced by the large black smoke plume was them throwing it into full reverse to try to get slowed down if not stopped.  Those big ships absolutely do not stop or turn on a dime.

     

    Also, they probably lost rudder control if they lost power.  I think those ships are single screw ships, but if it was a twin screw, then if they only got one of the engines back on line, that would have caused the hard turn assuming they went full power reverse.

     

     

    Just watched a video by someone in the shipping industry, and he pointed out that when you throw a single screw ship hard in reverse, the stern will walk sideways and turn the ship (I had forgotten about that.)   That also takes water water flow off the rudder, so it loses its effectiveness.  He said in all likelihood if they had left it in neutral and steered (assuming they had rudder control) they might have been able to avoid hitting the bridge.  There are pilings around the pier, and maybe they would have held up to a glancing blow.

    It almost sounds like a Titanic type situation.  I've read that if the Titanic had not turned, it would have hit the iceberg head on.   The forward 1-2 bulkheads would have been compromised but most likely the ship would have stayed afloat, or at a minimum stayed afloat long enough to evacuate to another ship

     

    Also, it looks like the crew in Baltimore dropped the port anchor in an effort to get stopped, which is a common practice.

    • Like 3
  4. Just watching a discussion on all of the issues/resignations within the Republican Party right now, and one of the people said "the Republican Party is so dysfunctional right now they wouldn't even be able to name a Post Office after Donald Trump"

     

    So true....

    I think if the republicans could grow some stones and kick MTG to the curb, they would be a lot better off.  Goetz has enough problems on his own, I don't see him rocking the boat too much if MTG is gone.

  5. 35 minutes ago, Andie said:

    Your “guvmint” in action. 
    I could use a cool $1.2 mil for a few improvements. Sure. Gotta check out that DEI zoo  


    ———

    Joe Biden just signed the $1.2 trillion spending bill that Congress sent his way. What’s in it?
    - Schumer’s spending $1.5 million to encourage kids to play video games
    - Tammy Baldwin’s spending $2 million to give migrants therapy
    - Liz Warren’s spending $1 million to amplify Latinx small businesses
    - Fetterman’s giving nearly $400k of your money to podcasters
    - This is on top of what Primetime found in the bill last week: cash for gay retirement homes, Egyptian tuition, tuckems for kids, a DEI zoo and trans elementary school curriculum

    You could go through ANY spending bill going back at least the last 30+ years and find stupid stuff in there.

    Pork Barrel spending at it finest

  6. 2 hours ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

    That ship steered right into the support beam power was flickering then it just goes full steam head on into it. Looks like a terrorist attack.

    Quite possible the "full steam" as evidenced by the large black smoke plume was them throwing it into full reverse to try to get slowed down if not stopped.  Those big ships absolutely do not stop or turn on a dime.

     

    Also, they probably lost rudder control if they lost power.  I think those ships are single screw ships, but if it was a twin screw, then if they only got one of the engines back on line, that would have caused the hard turn assuming they went full power reverse.

     

     

    • Like 3
  7. 8 hours ago, GHweatherChris said:

    I had no idea I have pneumonia, but my body did and has been fighting it for weeks, they got me on so much antibiotics it's ridiculous.

    That's crazy you had pneumonia and didn't know it.  Glad you were able to get to the hospital and get things taken care of. 

    When I was in college I didn't have insurance so I ignored the case of bronchitis I had until I woke up one morning and could not breath.  I felt like I was drowning.  My girlfriend at the time had asthma, so I managed to get a quick phone call to her asking her to come over with her inhaler.  Luckily she had a key because I could not get out of bed.  My vision was starting to grey out as I heard her pull into the driveway.  I did a double or triple dose of her inhaler, and it opened up my lungs....and got my heart racing.  In hindsight, I'm lucky I didn't do more harm than good with all those inhaler hits.  She took me to urgent care and a chest x-ray confirmed pneumonia, and that was after the inhaler opened things up.  I coughed up stuff I did not know could come from a human body.

    It took me a while to bounce back from that. 

    Take care of yourself and get lots of rest.

     

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  8. 9 hours ago, BLI snowman said:

    The Mt. St. Helens eruption, although obviously on a much bigger scale, created a similar effect with the sound waves traveling outward and was even heard hundreds of miles away in ID and BC and broke windows in Oak Harbor. But the topography and temperature changes closer to the mountain may have limited the sound wave propagation for nearby places where the eruption produced no sound. A little before my time but I don't think we were able to hear it in Clark County.

    https://stylusradio.org/post/80549530367/the-sound-or-silence-of-an-erupting-volcano-on

    My wife grew up in Corvallis at the time and said they could hear it and see the top of the ash plume.  She said they got a dusting of ash from it at some point as well.

    • Like 3
  9. 8 hours ago, Sunriver Snow Zone said:

     

    Same here, I'm a Coug dad. Me, my wife and my son went to OSU, daughter/other son to Washington state, both my parents went to Montana ST, so those are all the teams I root for.

    Go CATS Go!  My son graduated from MSU, 4th generation (or maybe 5th) on my wife's side of the family.  His Great Grandfather got a Civil Engineering degree after serving as a B17 pilot in WW2 then went on to take over the family ranch.  His bail stacks were always very precise LOL.  His brother was a Rhodes Scholar from there. 

    My wife grew up in Corvallis and her mom did all her post grad work at OSU, and growing up in Georgia, I am a big UGA fan.  My brother graduated from Clemson, so I like to root for them as well.

    I don't have any skin in the game in Washington, but following my tendency to align with the ag oriented school, I prefer WSU over UW.

    • Like 2
  10. 1 hour ago, SnarkyGoblin said:

    will Trump file for bankruptcy a seventh time in his life?

    Only time will tell.

    https://wapo.st/4cqzXeL

    Why would he need to do that?  He's worth BILLYUNS!!!!!

     

    It's interesting (or maybe not....funny...that's the word I am looking for) that 30 different companies rejected his inquiry about them covering his bond.  Why oh WHY would they be concerned about doing business with him?  They could stand to make a cool $10M off the deal.

     

    I guess they could also be out almost half a billion dollars, so there's that.

  11. 19 minutes ago, the_convergence_zone said:

    Too early to worry about wildfire smoke IMO. The smoke from last year's Canadian fires didn't bother us much. The sources were too far NE of us. 

    How neighbourly of you to be so dismissive.  Folks who have family and/or property in the area of concern are probably worried, and rightly so.  I think @ShawniganLake checks both of those boxes, but f*ck him, he's just a Canadian right?   He's too far north to count.

    The situation he is describing is still not good for the region as a whole, where we usually count on winter snow/moisture to snuff out summer wildfires.  This year, that did not happen up there.  What does that say about the vegetation up in that area that has not yet burned? 

    Unfortunately the Border Patrol failed to stop the crappy snow pack conditions at the border.  It's pretty bad up here in the North Cascades of Washington too, and while I haven't look at data lately, my telltale on the snowpack conditions (parking/carpool area for the ski area is about 200 yds from my house) shows that it is an absolute dumpster fire up there, especially after this past weekend.  I can count on 1 hand the number of days the parking area was absolutely packed. 

    Where I live, which is on the edge of the urban expansion for my little corner of Bellingham, I've never been concerned about fire.  This year, I'm starting to get a little concerned especially with how dry it has been. 

     

     

     

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  12. 1 hour ago, HuskyMaestro said:

    Been recharging my batteries after finals. Completely done with my CS degree and Math minor! … Assuming I passed!

    Absolutely gorgeous day at Dash Point earlier at low tide. Still hanging onto 70F imby. 

    Couldn’t get to hike last summer cause of classes, so I look forward to hitting up Rainier and around Lake Crescent for the first time sooner or later. 😊

    IMG_9208.jpeg

    IMG_9204.jpeg

    Congrats!  I didn't finish my degree until I was 47, which was in 2019 and I remember the incredible sense of satisfaction when I turned in that final project and got the grade back.

    I also remember that for about 2-3 weeks afterwards I would be chilling on the couch watching TV, and have these sudden panic attacks "Oh crap! What am I doing I need to be studying right now!!!!" 

     

    • Like 2
  13. On 3/16/2024 at 4:38 PM, SilverFallsAndrew said:

    I really hope she is sleeping and the heat hasn’t killed her! 

    76B00291-D22C-4870-B0AC-1B33350A381C.jpeg

    We sometimes have people confuse our English Cream Golden Retriever with a Great Pyrenees.  Sometimes my phone even gets confused.

    IMG_7691.thumb.PNG.6f79c6d7d6db2df5a0b8156afd5e7d94.PNG

     

     

     

    My wife was down on the waterfront with the dog and actually had a couple argue with her that we actually had a Great Pyrenees and NOT a Golden Retriever.  Our dog is AKC registered, and we know the breeder very well.  We know what we have.

    Our doggo is not a fan of the heat either.  She can handle 70-80 in small doses, above 80 its not happening unless we stay in the shade.  On the flip side, it can be 10-20 degrees and dumping snow, and she will grab a bone and go out in the yard, lay in the snow, and chew on her bone like it is a sunny 70 degree day

     

     

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  14. 6 hours ago, Andie said:

    Presidents past and Present have always drawn attention to the innocents of tragedies, be they 1 person or hundreds.  If they do nothing they’re callous. It’s a no win situation.  
    I was in a prominent leadership position in a company.  I was always on half of the employees bad side.  You could bank on that. 😉

    Yes but....this was nothing but a photo-op for him, and autographing that poster of her?  It's just....strange.  Not to mention, it was one person, which is no doubt a tragedy for the families, but Trump showing up with them is nothing but political pandering.  He really didn't need to do anything at all, and nobody would have thought anything of it.

    My nephew was a victim of a "mass shooting."  He, along with 4 other kids in their late teens to early 20's were shot and killed, then their house torched by a "friend" who had been asked to leave because he was picking a lot of fights and causing a lot of problems with the group.  So he left, came back and killed them.  The M-F'er even shot their dogs.  It made the national news for a news cycle, and of course dominated the regional news headlines for a long time.

    There were no Presidents, Governors, Senators or Representatives at the funerals.   And that suited me just fine.  We might have gotten some flowers from the state representative for the area, but I can't remember for certain. 

    The family of one of the victims is very prominent in the area.  Heck, my nephew (his dad was my half brother) came from a very prominent family.

     

    All of our Presidents, certainly in our lifetimes, have had to deal with mass tragedy.  The most common response is at a minimum a private meeting with the family, and if there are any pictures (though I don't think there ever was), they are candid and from a distance.  The President may also do a public speech on the tragedy.  I've never felt that they (Democrat or Republican) were doing it for their own personal gain, until this little stunt.

     

     

    • Like 3
  15. 1 hour ago, iFred said:

    I've got to do a PHP and MySQL upgrade in the coming days. Forum might be up and down for a bit this weekend.

    One of these days I'll containerize the place and put it on top of postgres, and these instance downtimes will be a thing of the past, but I dont make enough money to do that.

    Probably a good time to do it.  98% of members will be out basking in the beautiful weather, and it will force a break for the remaining 2% who do nothing but complain about nice weather, or the timing of said nice weather.

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