Anyone here (still) using TcL/TK?

Two unrelated toots referencing "glomar" in my feed in the last half hour.

I've just discovered by accident that the chilies they give you at a burger place are fluorescent

A little more about the helmets and geopolitics here:

https://www.olympedia.org/editions/40/sports/LUG

Lots of fun, old winter Olympic photos here. I stumbled across them while trying to find images of the crazy West German luge helmets from 1976.

I was stuck in bed with flu or something during those Olympics. I have very vivid memories of seeing the sci-fi aero gear - all in lurid colors, despite watching it all on a 10" B&W TV. Seems the Internet has preserved almost zero memory of these events.

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/02/looking-back-photos-from-the-first-12-winter-olympics/100679/

For reasons I won't go into here, I'd like to find a version of this photo where the name of the boat ("HYAK") is more visible. I swear such a photo exists and I saw it at some point in the past.

All leads appreciated.

Earlier this evening, I singed my hair when igniting the brandy in my peppercorn sauce.

I have an electric stove, so used a lighter - flick, whoooosh, crackle. Should've tilted the pan more to put my face out of the line of fire. Specs spared my lashes and brows.

...so I was able to log in and reinstate autopay on my account.

At some point (a point we sailed past ages ago) the incompetence begins to feel deliberate.

...

(b) ensure that my policy was not canceled, and
(c) bring my account balance back to zero

The rep unhelpfully repeated that I had overpaid by $5.00, causing my billing problems.

After much more back and forth, I discovered that Anthem had canceled autopay on my account, meaning that my August premium had, in fact, NOT been paid.

After much more unhelpful back and forth, I paid the outstanding premium by credit card.

In the mean time, Anthem's SSL cert had been updated...

So, I called their customer support number. After rejecting many prompts to use their AI assistant or to download and install their app, I was able to speak to a person.

The person, unhelpfully, "explained" that the issue was a $5.00 overpayment on my part. I replied that Anthem was responsible for debiting my account for the proper amount each month, and that I had nothing to do with this.

I then asked if she could confirm that whatever action she had taken would (a) make the letters stop

Anthem is my health insurance provider. My account was set up to automatically debit my bank account for the amount of my premium every month. Starting sometime early this year, I began receiving a letter each month complaining that my premium had not been paid, when, in fact, it had.

In August, the letter warned that my premium payment had not been received, and my insurance would be canceled if not paid by November. The amount owed was also, curiously, $1.00 more than my usual premium.

This afternoon, for how long I'm not sure, the SSL certificate for anthem.com was invalid. Anthem Blue Cross is one of several health insurance subsidiaries of Elevance Health, a gargantuan, for profit US health insurance conglomerate.

What follows is a long rant about my experience trying to fix an Anthem billing error.

Turns out it's not a sore core from being out of shape, but something with my kidneys instead? One more thing to consider before choosing life in the sticks - very poor and sparse healthcare. Likewise, retiring before are 65 means either crippling health insurance cost, or potential bankruptcy.

This is intriguing.

A couple of days ago, I mowed tall/tough weeds from around the garage/shop I'm building. It involved lots of manipulating the mower around/under bushes, raising and lowering the front to eat away at the tallest/toughest weeds, etc. I also mowed the lawn at the house.

I am embarrassed to admit my abs, up into my ribs, are so sore I can't even take sharp, deep breaths wo considerable discomfort.

I knew I'd let myself get out of shape, but, man, this is humbling.

An old .sig of mine used to read something like "Whatever the network or the newspaper shows you, flip the camera and consider that scene". I guess that was my less poetic way of saying The Revolution Will Not be Televised.

Way back, a lot of us were invested in this Internet thing as a means of commandeering the broadcast. Then, the people voluntarily handed the camera back to The Man.

It might feel like a small thing, but the fedi is a good step.

https://archive.org/details/TheRevolutionWillNotBeTelevised

Seems like only yesterday when every other YouTube channel was hawking mail order mattresses. What happened to all those mattress companies? Was any of this stuff any good?

@MLE_online

Also in the LA area. Feels like you two could do some cool stuff together.

https://youtu.be/9E92IVBzpyQ

My parents retrieved my grandma's old Schwinn from Oregon. My grandpa paid $89.95 for this in December of 1960. For some reason both her and his bikes have City of Los Angeles license tags even though they didn't live in the city itself. Her license expired in December 1969.

Other than a few minor loose ends I need to take care of, i think my homemade ebike is, as they say, d-u-n-n, done