spaghettiwestern

joined 1 year ago
[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Health Net is one of Centene's companies and they pull this crap and worse every single day.

Health Net's provider lists includes a huge number of ghost providers. In my case even the ones that were real were the wrong kind of specialists. Heath Net insisted I go to these providers despite the fact they couldn't help me and refused to see me.

I ended up having to regularly make a 220 mile trip to get the healthcare I needed.

It gets worse. Health Net regularly refused payment for services that were covered under their policy. I easily spent 10 hours a week on the phone trying to get legitimate claims paid by this horrible company. The first 45 minutes of the calls were spent trying to get past their first line "customer service" people to someone who could actually deal with the problem. Health Net repeatedly refused coverage on DME that they had previously paid for and said the previous approvals were a mistake. They weren't.

Health Net even refused payment for a visit to specialist after they had provided pre-approval for the visit in writing. It took seven months and probably 20 hours on the phone before the crooks paid the bill.

Centene and their subsidiaries should be shut down and their executives should be in prison.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I just checked and Reddit did the same with my account. I spent hours editing and ultimately deleting my posts and comments, and the Spez Gestapo just undeleted years worth of content. I'm going to go through them again and this time I'll leave the gibberish.

Not the first time. I thought a Windows 10 update wiped grub, but Microsoft actually deleted my entire Linux partition. Others have experienced the same thing.

Windows is required for a couple of apps I need with no alternatives, but the only way it runs on any of my computers is in a VM.

I have mine behind a Pihole too. It blocked all the ads at first but Roku seems to actively varying the ad servers and they've started showing up again. I haven't had a chance to see if I can block them again.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Could be a bad board. I have a Pi 3B+ that is intermittently crashes and shows insufficient voltage no matter what power supply is used.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Roku is chocked full of ads too, and regularly sets the default for the "Select" button to open those ad sites or apps. Roku used to be great. It has now been completely enshittified.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 119 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Susceptible to intrusive ads and viruses.

My Windows computer was infected more than once by virus spreading ads on legitimate websites. The site owners denied any responsibility for the viruses saying it was the fault and responsibility of the ad companies. Never again.

I have a convertible laptop with a MicroSD slot. A 4TB card would be great for backups.

Likewise Trader Joe's prices have shot up tremendously, like 50% on many items in less than a year. This while Aldi's prices have not risen nearly as much. Meanwhile corporations are celebrating the highest profits in more than 70 years while simultaneously working overtime to convince us those runaway profits have nothing to do with inflation.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

So we're supposed to believe that the highest corporate profits in more than 70 years are not a primary driver of inflation? I don't buy it and neither do all economists.

It is unlikely that either the extent of corporate greed or even the power of corporations generally has increased during the past two years. Instead, the already-excessive power of corporations has been channeled into raising prices rather than the more traditional form it has taken in recent decades: suppressing wages.

Corporations have such excessive power that they can even push the narrative that their historic profits don't have anything to do with inflation. Some people actually believe the propaganda.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

It's obvious that my point is Brookings is deliberately ignoring the elephant in in the room. They are turning a blind eye to extreme corporate price gouging and record profits, in fact Brookings didn't mention those things at all.

Thinking and critical analysis requires awareness of what is deliberately being omitted by a media source as well as what is being said. It has nothing to do with "somehow reading" the article wrong.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)
 

In the sanctions portion of the proceeding, disciplinary counsel Hamilton Fox III pointed to the seriousness of aggravating factors in Clark's violations.

"Because of the stakes, because of the effect on the fundamental fabric of the democracy, which Mr. Clark had to know about, you throw out those cases and look at the effect of what he did," Fox said.

The counsel pointed to Clark's own character witness, who said he was an excellent lawyer, "who had to know what he was doing, who had to know the effect of what he was doing on our country, who had to know that he was participating in an existential threat to our constitutional democracy, and no lawyer who engages in such misconduct, whatever his motives may be, no lawyer ought to be permitted to hold a license to practice law in the District of Columbia."

"And I would submit to you that in the context of what he did, the only sanction is disbarment," he concluded.

The disciplinary panel said it would decide on Clark's sanctions later.

 

From Cannon's "ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT TRUMP’S MOTION TO DISMISS SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT BASED ON PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT"

Separately, to the extent the Special Counsel demands an anticipatory finalization of jury instructions prior to trial, prior to a charge conference, and prior to the presentation of trial defenses and evidence, the Court declines that demand as unprecedented and unjust [see ECF No. 428]. The Court’s Order soliciting preliminary draft instructions on certain counts should not be misconstrued as declaring a final definition on any essential element or asserted defense in this case. Nor should it be interpreted as anything other than what it was: a genuine attempt, in the context of the upcoming trial, to better understand the parties’ competing positions and the questions to be submitted to the jury in this complex case of first impression. As always, any party remains free to avail itself of whatever appellate options it sees fit to invoke, as permitted by law.

 

I'm not sure this is allowed here. Apologies and please delete if it is not.

I was looking for decent, inexpensive hardware for a semi-dedicated Home Assistant supervised server and found something that is working better than expected.

What I wanted:

  • Debian 12 supported hardware.
  • Fast processor.
  • SSD.
  • 8GB ram.
  • Integrated battery - no UPS needed.
  • Built in display and keyboard if possible to make management easier so a laptop is fine.
  • Advanced BIOS options.

I took a risk on a Dell 3140 small laptop from Woot. I just finished moving my HA installation to it and am pleased enough to post here. It's $170 (refurbished) right now and the one I received looks brand new. While this is just an OK laptop, for a HA server it's terrific.

Positives:

  • Debian 12 supports the hardware without any additional drivers. Everything just works after install.
  • The N200 processor is more than 2x faster than a Raspberry Pi 5's CPU.
  • Built in BIOS battery management. A charge limit can be set to preserve the battery since it will be plugged in all the time. 6+ hours indicated battery life with a limited 75% charge.
  • Low power usage. Powertop says it's drawing about 6 watts with several USB devices plugged in.
  • BIOS Option to automatically power on upon power restoration.
  • 128GB SSD is more than big enough to support Debian 12, HA plus some additional apps. My installation uses less than 25GB leaving plenty to spare for Timeshift and some file sharing. Replacement 2230 NVMe SSDs are cheap.
  • Fanless & completely silent.
  • Built like a tank.

Negatives:

  • Built like a tank. Chunky for a small laptop.
  • No integrated Ethernet port.
  • Mediocre screen.

This is commercial grade product that will hopefully last a long time and might be worth considering if you're looking for Home Assistant hardware.


 

The incident occurred when the man, a robotics company employee in his 40s, was inspecting the robot.

The robotic arm, confusing the man for a box of vegetables, grabbed him and pushed his body against the conveyer belt, crushing his face and chest, South Korean news agency Yonhap said.

He was sent to hospital but later died.

view more: next ›