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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 20th, 2023

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  • Apple has very explicitly stated in very clear terms that the health app does not share data with other apps or devices unless you give permission. And as someone who has given that permission (twice, once to give a meal tracker write permission and once to link to my doctors office’s application for read and write) it’s for every application. It’s not a “hey you need to let everyone have access or no one”. You can get fairly granular.

    There’s always the possibility of lying but usually when a company goes that hard on saying the same thing is so many different ways it’s legit. They don’t commit like that unless they know they won’t get in trouble. Those kinds of statements could open them to false advertising claims if it got out they were taking your health data.

    Here’s a link to their privacy document which reviewed a good bit of info: https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/Health_Privacy_White_Paper_May_2023.pdf





  • This is why I buy my grandmother her electronics. I can set it up so she has it ready when she gets it and doesn’t need to do anything.

    Of course it’s also super easy to get her phone. Just tell her I need to do updates and then take it to another room to transfer everything.

    My mom bought her an iPad 2 years ago. “I got a good deal. It was only $200” made me gag. Ya, my grandma uses apple cause it’s easiest but buying the cheapest apple product will not be a good time. She likes the iPad but it’s a 16g base iPad and the keyboard case she bought her is not a good fit. It requires a key combination to pair EVERY time since it doesn’t maintain a list of paired devices. And my grandma can only have 3 apps on her tablet before it’s full. So this year I’m getting her a new iPad with a decent chunk of storage which should last her a decade since she only emails and plays card games.


  • Idk where your coming from but as someone who had $12k in an HSA and employer medical that’s bs.

    I went to the eye doctor and needed glasses. Tried using my HSA. Nope. Not an approved medical expense. Tried paying a copay at the er. Nope not an approved medical expense. Wife got a kidney stone removed via surgery. Wanted to pay coinsurance. Nope not an approved medical expense. I needed a cpap for my sleep apnea. Nope not an approved medical expense. Year rolled over and all that money disappeared. I asked where it went and was told I either used it or lost it. So I got rid of it. Fucking garbage.

    As for the employer coverage, we had a zero dollar deductible plan. My wife gave birth last year. Ambulance ride from her work? Nope, not necessary. All the gyno visits? Nope, not necessary. The ER visit when she slipped and fell at 6 months? Nope, not necessary. The 2 week hospital stay when she went preeclamptic? Nope, not necessary. The delivery? Nope, not necessary. The NICU stay for our premature daughter? Nope, not necessary.

    I payed $1700 per PAY for my health insurance and they didn’t cover a cent from our entire family last year. We racked up over $70k in medical debt. Our MOOP was $5k/$10k and they said none of it applied.

    Hospital sent it to collections because we couldn’t fit their minimum payment of $9k/mth (fuck duke lifepoint but this is an insurance rant). We complained to the pa board of health insurance and were advised to get a lawyer but no lawyer would take it. They said it would be years to get anything back, let alone the full amount.

    We ended up proving that my employer doesn’t offer comprehensive insurance. The main component is covering pre and post natal care which they claim to, but they deny every time. So now we have insurance through penni for $60/mth with government help. Oh and we went through bankruptcy to get rid of the collections debt.

    Fuck Cigna, fuck duke lifepoint, fuck insurance, fuck for profit healthcare, fuck the American healthcare system.





  • I’m redoing a lot of the lighting so that’s not a project I’m afraid to tackle. Last owner loved florescent lights so we’re removing them from the bedrooms and bathrooms currently.

    Inside looks pretty much the same. My biggest fear is breaking it apart and not being able to reassemble it because it leaves a pretty big hole to get inside the house. If I can get in without breaking it I can fix whatever is in there.

    Not sure when the door was installed but the house is 1880’s so it has quite a span to be from. I doubt it’s original but it can be quite old.


  • I don’t think so. We found a mysterious wire in the basement that goes outside to nowhere directly below it. Either way that doesn’t work and I’m just trying to find the best/least damaging way to remove it.

    But it did cross my mind and I tested it with the switch on and off and it worked with neither. That being said I don’t think it’s an outdoor rated plug so it could just be bad either way.





  • You can file bankruptcy independently. It’s a bit more complicated but possible.

    I just went through it and honestly, I’m so relieved. It’s not something you want to go through, but sometimes people fuck up and can’t unfuck their finances. It helped me and my wife unfuck our finances. We declared bankruptcy in March and were debt free by May. We now own a house and are actually able to live our lives how we want. Our daughter turned a year and we decided to throw her a massive bday. We put 2 grand into her party. Something we couldn’t have done with our debt. We’re going to a couple USL playoff games this season as well.

    On top of that we got new flooring in our house, something we desperately needed. We just had a new furnace installed. I have a quote coming for replacing our stairs that are falling apart. The loans are a pain to get but it’s doable and we’re paying them off before the interest gets too bad. Again, something we wouldn’t be able to do in debt.

    Bankruptcy shouldn’t be something anyone wants to do, but also don’t be afraid of it.





  • Some very important notes for your son:

    Caves are cold so not many insects go down there.
    If he got bit by a tick check for tick diseases. I know the big one around here is Lyme Disease. If he has a bullseye shape around the bite that’s a sign of an infection. I don’t know if other tick diseases are prevalent in your area.

    If he was in close contact with bats and may have been bitten get him checked for rabies. While very rare, there are still occasional cases across the US. It can remain dormant for a very long time but once it crosses the blood brain barrier and infects the brain there is no help. It’s better to get him checked and vaccinated early than wait and see.

    Just some numbers on the rabies, there are about 5k animal cases reported yearly nationwide, mostly wild animals. Only 1-3 yearly reports in humans. So it’s rare and unlikely, but it’s just not something you fuck around with and risk.


  • It’s been about 15 years since I’ve been spelunking. I did it a lot in the scouts. Started with Bear Caves in Blairsville, PA (just a name, not actual bear caves). Those were fairly easy and well explored. Nearby there is Lemon Hole cave which involved rappelling 80ft into the cave. That was a lot of fun.

    But probably my favorite cave would be the loyalhanna creek cave in Ligonier, PA. If you ever travelled from Ligonier to Latrobe via US-30 you’ve passed this cave. I passed this cave weekly growing up but I never knew it was there until I was 16 years old. It’s right off the side of the road but there’s a ditch hiding the entrance and even that doesn’t look like an entrance. You get to squeeze under the hillside into a 1’ gap and the wiggle your way for a few yards on your back to get into the actual cave itself. Then after you get in, it starts to sink in that you have to do it again to get back out. Probably the tightest spot I’ve been in. I’m laying on my back and my stomach is scraping the ceiling. I was a skinny little fuck back the too. Couldn’t wear a hard hat because it wouldn’t fit. Had to slide it beside me.

    Totally unrelated website to that story has some pictures of the cave but it’s a really unknown cave so there’s not too much info on it. Definitely a fun cave though for anyone in the area.

    https://mountaincatgeology.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/loyalhanna-creek-cave/


  • A quick fun fact that makes it really easy to figure out. I saw this and thought it felt familiar. But to confirm, the state road sign has the state road number in black letters over a white “keystone” shape. That’s the square with a trapezoid upside down over it. That’s only used on PA state roads which lets you look up this intersection pretty easily.