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Chalkie

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Everything posted by Chalkie

  1. Speaking from a past life in the building trades and observation of the toyhauler ramps I am not sure you will be able to totally eliminate the problem. Aluminum windows used to sweat like crazy in cold weather until some bright person created a window with a thermal break. Basically it was a piece of vinyl that separated the inside and outside parts of the frame so cold could not transfer from out to in. That same idea was tried on metal framed doors that were required for fire doors. Two problems came with that, one, in a fire that vinyl will melt potentially allowing the door to fail, and two, where windows are not load bearing in the same way a door is, it did not make for a very strong door. I just don't see how you could achieve that thermal break on a ramp without compromising the strength of the ramp. I think, as Vern has suggested, your best bet is going to be to insulate as best you can and eliminate air infiltration around it. Then inspect it more often. Also, I am not sure if you could specify the ramp core material, but if you can, specify pressure treated plywood certified for ground contact.
  2. I am not quite ready to move from Windows 10 to Windows 11 but I did find this for those that are interested. It is a very good deal from the New York Post. Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
  3. Thanks for the links. They provided some interesting info and comparisons. I think we'll stick with the Firestick and Roku that we have.
  4. Palmeris, wow! There certainly is a lot there, 99% of which I would never watch. For others this might be a solution.
  5. That's pretty funny since a normal 3'x5' flag flapping around in a 15-20 mph breeze likely causes way more stresses on the flagpole than an antenna would.
  6. So I looked at this on the link you provided and I am still confused as to what exactly this device is. It has a keyboard and some local storage but don't you still have to get the apps to stream the various services like Netflix, Paramount +, etc.? And if this is the case, why should I consider one instead of a Roku or Firestick at a fraction of the price?
  7. Since we have Starlink and I was not worried about data usage I did some pretty comprehensive comparisons of YouTubeTV to other streaming services. We ended up dumping it as everything we watched there was available elsewhere and overall for less money per month.
  8. The state of registration is the only state that matters if you are only visiting California as far as the physical vehicle is concerned. Rules of the road, such as speed limits, for example, must be followed.
  9. Technically Chrome is a derivative itself of the open-source Chromium project. However, according to Statcounter the top Chromium based browsers that have a significant enough share to mention (Chrome, Edge, Opera) make 71.52% of the share, so I suspect you are totally correct in thinking that is why they push it.
  10. Depends on what the plug on your RV looks like. The yellow plug is 30 amp and the black is 50 amp.
  11. Other than the slightly tacky appearance, I have considered fashioning a bracket out of aluminum channel that would let me slide in a residential filter. The wife is not in favor of that, however.
  12. Those would be far too thick to fit in air vents on our AC, I have a hard enough time getting the 0.25" filter material in there,
  13. That alone probably makes it worth it. I have tried Edge, Chrome, Brave, Opera and not recently Firefox. I think it is more because I am used to Chrome than anything else. Perhaps I should download Firefox again and give it another look.
  14. Chrome, for me anyhow, normally updates automatically but it wouldn't hurt to check if you are a Chrome user. Article is from Malwarebytes. Update now! Chrome fixes actively exploited zero-day vulnerability
  15. Chalkie

    BLM app

    I looked at this app after you mentioned it and I don't see that it is a BLM specific app. It also is from a Russian company.
  16. That is exactly what this is, an HMO. However, our doctor is pretty easy. If we think we want or need a specialist he is more than willing to provide the referral.
  17. PCP and PCM I think are the same, although I think the PCM tag may fit slightly better. Our PCM is not only the general/family practice doctor that we see for routine or non-urgent visits, he also is the "collection" point for the data from the various specialists we see. He makes sure we are seeing the right ones with the right skills, he is also the one that manages medications even if the original Rx was written by a specialist. All the doctors are tied together with a computer system that lets them see all the post visit notes of each other. The group we are with is very good compared to what I have read about others. As to ranking of countries' quality of healthcare, I think it is all about the source of data. US News & World Report will have a different listing from the WHO which will have a different listing than the one that Kirk referenced.
  18. It is indeed a can of worms. I have two cousins that are doctors and a brother-in-law that is the CEO of a hospital. One cousin took the private practice route as a GP/Family doctor and still maintains that although they have grown to a group of 12 doctors. They are not affiliated with any particular hospital group, they do take most insurance and in some cases will still actually make house calls. He did quite taking OB patients several years ago as the malpractice insurance costs made it too costly. The other cousin started out as a temporary/traveling doctor. He would fill in for doctors taking vacations or sabbaticals all over the country for 6 months and then would travel the world for 6 months. When he got the traveling out of his system he went back to school and got board certified as a trauma doctor and now works ER in a big city hospital with side gigs as a prison doctor. Clearly their expenses are different but so is their income. The hospital CEO sees the side of medicine that has to balance all the salaries of doctors and staff against the income the hospital makes whether from private pay, insurance or Medicare/Medicaid and have money left over for everything else. At least he is not tasked with making a profit per se as it is a county owned and operated hospital in a rural area but the balance sheet has to stay mostly in the black. A poll would be interesting. If the definition of Primary Physician is the same PCM (Primary Care Manager) then yes, we have had one for a lot of years. It has not always been the same one as we were seen at a military facility for 30 years so obviously the doctors would rotate out. Now that we have moved we still have one in the medical organization that we patronize. In either case, we would not see that doctor if we were admitted to hospital as they had/have associated hospitalists that took over care in the hospital.
  19. OK, and.... what? To compare a doctor's salary to the general median wage is kind of an apples to oranges thing in my mind. The median wage accounts for wages across the entire spectrum of workers but how many of them require four years of college, preferably in a science heavy field, then have to pass a test to be considered for medical school, then spend four more years of college to earn a medical degree, and finally spend as many as seven years in a residency before you can go out on your own? Then when the doctor is out on his own he needs to rent office space, hire staff, pay insurance (this is a big one) all out of that salary. For what doctors do, I, personally, don't think they earn anywhere near enough.
  20. If you are partial to your old number you could have ported it to your new service, however, it appears you did not do that, but you could always port it to Google Voice (there is a $20 charge for that) and then you would retain the number and any calls going to it. You can then link you Google Voice number to your new cell number and be able to get calls from either number on the same device.
  21. I have used my cell phone lots of times for location without cell service but always in conjunction with paper maps. The GPS on the phone works just fine with no cell service. I use the lat/long/elevation with a USGS Topo or MVUM map when off-roading and have never gotten lost (yet, I suppose).
  22. And this is what I said about the plan we have - it has $0 cost to us and, in fact, pays $50/month to our Part B which takes our Part B cost to $114.90/month in 2023. Yes, there are co-pays, however, this is where Tricare comes into play as it covers all those. As said previously, it also covers things that regular Medicare does not, such as hearing, vision, fitness, home meals after a hospital discharge, transportation to medical appointments, OTC allowance, etc. Even without Tricare it is a pretty good deal and Tricare makes it all great IMO.
  23. You can sell or transfer a plan to someone else? I did not know this is possible.
  24. Not all advantage plans are created equal I think. In our case, we pay nothing for it and, in fact, get a rebate back to our Part B coverage costs. In turn, we deal with the provider, pretty much exclusively, for medical care and the plan covers many things that Medicare does not. My understanding is that because they act as a Medicare "aggregator" they are able to pass along the saving back to us as stipends for hearing aids, dental, vision, fitness programs and quarterly OTC medical purchases. We have no complaints about the quality and scope of our medical care.
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