My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on May 31, 2026

Ignore this, it’s yet another RANT about health care and billing after losing a long battle with hospital billing and insurance companies from a few years ago. We once thought an appearance of extra bills from Brenda’s hospital stay back in early 2023 were “negotiated,” but unfortunately they found their way to court in 2026. 

We have learned (from our own and our parents experiences) to wait about 6 months before  paying “our part” after insurance claims are settled so we know exactly how much out of pocket to either pay or dispute. For Brenda’s 2023 very successful hip replacement surgery  (“Praise the Lord” as MomH would say), we did exactly that … knowing that it takes a while for all billing to work its way through the system. Eventually Brenda made the call and negotiated “our” finally out-of-pocket payment (still significant) and washed our hands of the shockingly high over charges. Well at least we thought it was behind us.  

In 2025 she started to get recurring calls from the hospital’s collection people and forcefully tells them this was fully paid. They “claimed” that some additional bills came in after our payment and that we still owed another $3500. Eventually Brenda butted heads with these collection annoyances and received only letters. Fast forward to the spring of 2026 (likely while we were in Florida) – an lawfirm took over the collections and filed with the local courts. So … we were now either going to be faced with going to court (and those costs) … or be done with it by settling with the law firm and have the case dismissed. 

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Category: Audio, Financial, Health, Human Interest, Medical, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: amazon polly, aws, bills, courts, frustration, Health, health care, hip replacement, insurance, lawyers, legal, medical, text to speech

Posted By RichC on May 30, 2026

This article could have been saved for Music Monday … BUT, since I’m highlighting the Covid Era social media musician Lanie Gardner in a couple days, this AP Business article on “Why your co-worker might be listening to music tuned to 432 hertz” had me wondering what “tuning” music to 432 hertz was all about? 

According to the article, it is “taking off on social media platforms.”

Many proponents assert that 432 hertz is aligned with nature. Others assign the frequency healing properties or the power to reduce blood pressure. So far, there’s no robust scientific evidence to support those claims.

For the fun of it, I gave a George Strait song a 432 hertz tweak.
 

You be the judge and just “check yes or no” if you’ll be listening to music at 432 hertz anytime soon. 😉 
 

Category: Human Interest, Music, News | No Comments »
Tags: 432 hertz, associated press, encoding, george strait, Music, youtube

Posted By RichC on May 29, 2026

After updating my workbench shop lights to LED “tubes” 10 years ago, I can say unequivocally that it was a worthwhile $22 “low tech” upgrade (the cost in 2016). They have performed flawlessly and work without a flicker in warm or cold weather. I really don’t even think about them anymore. As for power savings, I’ll assume there was some over the florescent bulbs.

BUT … not all LEDs have been as long lasting. Over the years, I replace the lower wattage bulbs over and over (especially the ones in outdoor garage light fixtures). standard Yes, I purchased the inexpensive ones made in China on Amazon, but there really isn’t a guarantee that the ones sold locally carrying a premium name (Sylvania, GE, Phillips, etc) are all that much better.

That said, I wish I would have converted my larger garage fluorescent 8ft fixtures ($$$) to LED at the same time that I did my basement workshop and workbench lights. Maybe it is time to rethink converting them … especially if they will last the rest of my life? 

Category: Advice, Misc, Technology, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: garage, led bulbs, lighting, tech friday, techfriday, workbench, workshop

Posted By RichC on May 28, 2026

The my local Libby app digital library notified me that a book by Lawrence G. McDonald I’ve hand on hold for a while now became available. I didn’t want to lose my place in line so quickly grabbed “How to Listen When Markets Speak” and started reading. I quickly had me hooked as I put down one that was reading (more on Daniel Yergi’s “The Quest” later). 

Since I pay attention to Larry McDonald’s “Bear Trap Report” commentary on business media shows, I knew he was someone I wanted to hear more from. He has been around a long time and wrote the definitive book on the collapse of Lehman Brothers back in 2009. 

Lawrence G. McDonald, founder of the economic research platform The Bear Traps Report, got a real-world education in market risk when, as a Lehman Brothers VP, he watched the firm ignore flashing warning signs before its collapse. His analysis led him to identify twenty-one indicators for gauging the health of an economy and detecting early signals of opportunity and danger.

In How to Listen When Markets Speak, McDonald unveils his unique predictive models, connecting surprising dots between past, present, and future and outlining actionable trading ideas for staying a beat ahead of the markets. Readers will learn: (more…)

Category: Books, Financial | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, book, how to listen when markets speak, inflation, investing, kindle, larry mcdonald, libby app, library, reading, trading

Posted By RichC on May 27, 2026

My Tech Friday post for the last week of May 2026 has already been written and saved, so today’s Tesla Model 3 “techy” addition will be a mid-week “gadget” post instead.

We no longer pay for the Tesla “Premium” Connectivity since our older 2019 car is primarily used by Brenda for “around town” errands and not for road trips and travel (if it were my everyday and travel car, a “yes” paying the subscription would be an easy call). Unfortunately, with diesel prices now at $5.69/gallon, I’m not enthusiastic about taking our 2010 BMW X5 35d on road trips either. So … in order to have a few of the features without the added subscription, I’ve added a new magnetic charging puck to the side of the center display. I did this in a couple of steps.

First, I added the suction back hook system add-on sold on Amazon ($12.99 – seemed too cheap). After using it for a recent drive, running the ABRP app and SiriusXM app, this inexpensive tweak surpassed my expectations. The non-marring hook/suction cup system doesn’t look OEM, BUT it held my phone firmly and offered adjustability. My only issue was having to manually plug in a USB cord in order to keep the iPhone charged.

Second was to order a 17mm charging puck that would fit this setup … and not over-heat, or too slowly charge, my iPhone 16 Pro Max. So I ordered a COOLHOOD 17mm magnetic charging puck from overseas (recommended online) and waited 2-weeks for it to arrive. After spending and additional $17, I was really hoping this “cooling” charging puck would work … and it does. After routing the wires under the center console, it is reasonable out of the way and unless you’re looking too close, everything looks fine. 

Next up a longer test trip running SiriiusXM and the ABRP apps live and see if the iPhone 16 Pro Max maintains charge and improves navigating to non-Supercharger DC-Fast CCS EV charging stations … which might be critically important for a couple possible trips we have planned if the fuel prices don’t come down – although I’m thankful we’re not in California. ☹️ 

Category: Automotive, Energy, Gadget, Productivity, Technology, Tesla | No Comments »
Tags: abrp, apps, charging, iphone, Navigation, puck, siriusxm, Software, tesla model 3

Posted By RichC on May 26, 2026

We’ve spent decades focused on cholesterol and millions of dollars in treating it … but should that be the biggest concern? A Women’s Health Study (JAMA Cardiology) highlights diabetes and other high risk issues and compares them to what doctors seem to focus on.

This might be an eye-opening chart for those who monitor the heart health. Maybe the treatment priorities in the U.S. … or at least the amount of attention and dollars spent treating “cholesterol” aren’t where they should be?

Category: Health, Medical | No Comments »
Tags: cholesterol, diabeties, doctors, heart health, jama, medicine, women

Posted By RichC on May 25, 2026

Since we are in the middle of May’s graduation season, it seemed appropriate to post the commencement speech to the University of North Carolina graduates by Eric Church. For those unfamiliar with his “outlaw country music” (at least influenced by it), he does a great job of bringing together the struggle of living in today’s America and remaining grounded by his Christian faith. Even more than in previous generations, there seem to be more twists and turns to navigate in growing up being tugged by today’s culture – much of it counter to Christianity.

His music continues to reflect Christian themes; for example, his song “Old Testament Me” (2017) centers on the Bible’s “turn the other cheek” teaching. In 2025, he stated, “Faith’s a big part of my life and it’s always been a part of my life.”

I think his unique and impactful speech will be remembered by these Tarheel graduates … and perhaps others graduates in 2026?

Category: Advice, Human Interest, Music | No Comments »
Tags: commencement, country music, eric church, guitar, music monday, musicmonday, north carolina, outlaw country, speech, wikipedia, youtube