Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Edward64

We know BMI is not accurate ... if you are an athlete/muscular

Agreed. Before I decided to take my body down to "muscular teenager" size, I was "overweight" according to the BMI scale at 5'9" 170 lbs. Ridiculous

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I could do without the honey but pimento cheese is amazing. The only time I had ever heard of it was that they serve it at the Masters. Is it like a big deal down South?

Relatively. I grew up with it in the house for sandwiches. It is great melted on fried green tomatoes, on a burger, or just cold out of the frig in a sandwich. Quality does matter. Some cheaper store brands aren't very good, and some restaurant made versions are just otherworldly. If you ever get to my home town, the Mystic Grill (yeah, the place from Vampire Diaries) has fantastic version. They use it a burgers, fried green tomatoes, or a dip with pita-like bread.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Chick Fil A spicy honey pimento cheese sandwich may be the best chicken sandwich out there. Why has the south hid this wonderful invention from me for so long?

I tried this several months ago and it was ... good, but way too much for me, IMO. I wouldn't eat it again.

[RainMaker]

Fuck dipping pita bread (or any bread) in it sounds delicious. I need to see if they sell it locally.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

So if anyone is curious to see if it rings a similar bell, give a listen to this, specifically the 13-15 seconds or so starting at 3:52. Curious if anyone else can place it. (It's not exact, but...similar enough for me. But then I hear weird things sometimes.)

I hear bits of a cover Wes did:



...and the first 13-15 seconds of that should remind you of something else entirely.

[Edward64]

Wife got a letter from United Healthcare saying some health info may have been compromised. Basically, saying sign up at X places to monitor lock/credit history. Same as the last several times this has happened (e.g. the site said wife had 9 breaches of data in her history).

I want to sue UH for this breach of data. I have to believe there was some sort/level of negligence somewhere.

The AI wording is below. How to prove harm is probably the get-out-of-jail-free card for their negligence?

While you cannot directly sue for a HIPAA violation because it does not provide a private right of action, you may still be able to sue a healthcare provider for a breach of health data by claiming negligence or breach of contract under state laws if your medical information was mishandled and you suffered harm as a result;

[flere-imsaho]

Good luck with that.

Penalties for data breaches need to be significantly more severe. I don't think companies even care at this point about reputational risk since it happens to everyone. But we're definitely not seeing any sort of regulation on this under a second Trump administration.

[Kodos]

Part of the solution is for everybody to start collecting a lot less data. Obviously, healthcare providers do need to know sensitive data about their clients. But for god's sake, protect the data.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Wife got a letter from United Healthcare saying some health info may have been compromised. Basically, saying sign up at X places to monitor lock/credit history. Same as the last several times this has happened (e.g. the site said wife had 9 breaches of data in her history).

I want to sue UH for this breach of data. I have to believe there was some sort/level of negligence somewhere.

The AI wording is below. How to prove harm is probably the get-out-of-jail-free card for their negligence?

I'm also having some annoyance with United (well technically Optum, but same company). I got a letter saying that some of the expenses that I submitted to my FSA can't be reimbursed, because the providers didn't provide an itemized receipt. Without that, they can't be sure that it's a medical expense -- even though they are coming from places that are clearly medical providers, and say things like "RUSH HOSPITAL" on the information that Optum does have. Optum has all the phone numbers of the providers, so they could just call and get that info, but instead they suspended my account until I get the providers to send it. I've had HSAs and FSAs for years, but never had something like this happen.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I'm also having some annoyance with United (well technically Optum, but same company). I got a letter saying that some of the expenses that I submitted to my FSA can't be reimbursed, because the providers didn't provide an itemized receipt. Without that, they can't be sure that it's a medical expense -- even though they are coming from places that are clearly medical providers, and say things like "RUSH HOSPITAL" on the information that Optum does have. Optum has all the phone numbers of the providers, so they could just call and get that info, but instead they suspended my account until I get the providers to send it. I've had HSAs and FSAs for years, but never had something like this happen.

That was standard practice whenever I used my wife's FSA in the past. We kept a folder of all of the itemized receipts even it was just a co-pay. We even re-sent emails with the receipt attached because they claimed to not have received the first one.

[Ben E Lou]

I have attended literally thousands of high school sporting events, so the sheer fact that I can make the claim I'm about to make with such definitiveness oughta tell you something. This week, I witnessed what was--by a GIANT margin--the most insane mismatch in any sporting event I've personally attended.

Caldwell Academy defeated Cristo Rey Research Triangle 103-11 on Tuesday night. It was 42-2 at the end of the first quarter. Caldwell's coach pulled all five starters with over 2 minutes to go in said quarter. There were probably over a dozen dunks in that short span the starters were in, including five by Senior and UNC Charlotte commit Jaylen Cross. Barring significant injury, six players on the Caldwell roster are shoo-ins to play at the college level, and at least two others have a solid shot. At least three will go D1, including the consensus #1 member of the class of 2026 in the state of NC. (He was UNC Chapel Hill's first scholarship offer for that class.) Those 42 points came with NO pressing, either. They were picking them up well past the half-court line. If they had chosen, Caldwell could have easily put up 200+ and quite possibly have kept them from scoring at all.

Cristo Rey is only in its third year of playing varsity basketball as far as I can tell, and they're based in Durham...a metro area roughly double the size of ours, so it's not like they don't have anyone nearby that they can play. And it's not like they got a bunch of money for coming over here. Caldwell's gym is absurdly tiny--bleachers on just one side of the gym, only like 10-12 rows, and they only span around 2/3 the length of the court. Any "percentage of gate" deal might not even be enough to pay for the gas for the vans to bring two squads to Greensboro to get slaughtered. (Their girls lost 71-11 to Caldwell as well.) Why travel an hour and a half for this? Further, they're also playing another potentially even MORE ridiculous non-conference mismatch: The Burlington School has won three of the last four state titles. Cristo Rey also has several other schools on the schedule whose names I recognize as teams that were at/near Caldwell's level last year.

I can't wrap my head around why they're doing this. Their schedule for last year looks nothing like this one, either. Just looking at the names of some of the schools they've played the last couple of years (Carolina School Of The Arts, Raleigh Home School, etc.) and the fact that they finished 8-9 and their biggest loss was by 25, this insane ramp-up this year certainly appears to be someone's intentional decision. I don't see how this is beneficial for their kids or their opponents.

[NobodyHere]

Just a PSA to FOFC

Don’t sit on the toilet for more than 10 minutes, doctors warn

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Why travel an hour and a half for this? Further, they're also playing another potentially even MORE ridiculous non-conference mismatch: The Burlington School has won three of the last four state titles. Cristo Rey also has several other schools on the schedule whose names I recognize as teams that were at/near Caldwell's level last year.

I have at least a partial answer: Burlington is in the same conference with Cristo Rey. Check the CCAC (Central Carolina Athletic Conference) . They have to play each other twice this year so that'll be double the fun.

Plus, with just a 4 team "conference" and a schedule that only has 14 games listed (per MaxPreps, which can sometimes be incomplete), maybe this is a case of finding games wherever they can find them period? Neither of those smaller teams you mentioned from last year's schedule appear to be members of the NCISAA, is there a prohibition on crossplay between organizations (the way there was in Georgia for decades)?

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Just a PSA to FOFC

Don’t sit on the toilet for more than 10 minutes, doctors warn

I've had a built-in alarm since my mid-to-late 30s in the form of one or both legs that go numb within about 10-15 minutes if I sit too long on the toilet. Of course, you might remember (but hopefully not ) that I had a hemorrhoidectomy 3 years ago (coming up on the anniversary, in fact!), so....

[Ghost Econ]

Do you recommend a hemorrhoidectomy? Uh... Asking for a friend, not as someone whose wife wants them to get one...

[Ksyrup]

I mean, it wasn't a purely elective surgery. And there was another related issue that needed fixing that I won't go into here, but yes, it was worth it. Although it absolutely sucked for about 5 weeks afterward.

I did it in early December since the end of the year is usually pretty quiet for me at work, which was good because I was pretty much unable to do much of anything for the first 2-3 weeks but shuffle from one place to another. By 5 weeks, I was able to walk around just fine and was cleared to start running and working out again, and I went back to normal pretty quickly after that. But it was bad enough for the first 10-14 days especially, that I couldn't even go to my daughter's basketball games (not just walking but of course sitting on bleachers).

I hope I never have to do it again. But if it's severe enough that it's the only option, you do it.

[Lathum]

I'm over my current laptop.

Whenever I type something my thumb brushes against the touchpad moving the cursor and screwing everything up.

OK, cool, just go in to settings and disable the touchpad. So I do that and it works for a bit before the touchpad becoming active again. The bitch of it is when I go back to setting to turn it off the tab is still turned to off. It is very annoying.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I have at least a partial answer: Burlington is in the same conference with Cristo Rey. Check the CCAC (Central Carolina Athletic Conference) . They have to play each other twice this year so that'll be double the fun.

LOL. When I made the post, which I already felt was too long, I considered, but decided not to get into clarifying that bit because I said to myself "nah...no one will look into it that deeply." I should've known you would. {tips cap} Here's the deal, Burlingon Christian Academy, which is in their conference, ain't the same as the Burlington School. (Caldwell has both of them on the schedule this year.) TBS played freaking Combine Academy on Friday and only lost by four. (Caldwell lost by 14 to Combine last night.) Burlington Christian Academy is also on Cristo Rey's schedule, but listed as BCA.

Cristo Rey is also playing Westchester Country Day, a school in our conference that is another good 30 minutes west of us, so probably close to a 2-hour drive for Cristo Rey. Westchester isn't at Caldwell's level, but based on history and what I saw on Tuesday, Westchester is fully capable of a 100-20 kinda score against them.

To be clear, though, the Caldwell game was downright uncomfortable to watch after just 3-4 minutes, and if this year is anything like last year, TBS's worst five is gonna be wayyyyy better than Caldwell's worst five. They'll need to do a running clock or it'll get significantly uglier than 103-11.

Plus, with just a 4 team "conference" and a schedule that only has 14 games listed (per MaxPreps, which can sometimes be incomplete), maybe this is a case of finding games wherever they can find them period? Neither of those smaller teams you mentioned from last year's schedule appear to be members of the NCISAA, is there a prohibition on crossplay between organizations (the way there was in Georgia for decades)?

With me not doing YL full-time here and my oldest just hitting HS last year, I'm a relative neophyte to NC rules, but last year we played Orange and Southern Guilford, both public schools. I don't know about private schools that aren't in the NCISAA, though. But again, it's not like Cristo Rey is in a remote area. While, yeah, it's technically possible that they couldn't find anyone else to play, that just doesn't seem all that likely, in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill metro area. And if they just really wanted to come to Greensboro/Winston/High Point, there are plenty of small regular-roster private schools to play here. ven after our starters sat, it looked like a Varsity team taking on a Middle School team. (I mean, maybe worse? We outscored them more than 61-9 after the starters sat. I didn't note the score, but I think it was around 36-2 when he took them out.) I really can't stress strongly enough how ludicrous this matchup was. By FAR the worst I've ever witnessed, and you're talking to a guy who witnessed my little private high school's JV team get stomped 89-7 by a big public school my senior year. (We'd gotten strong enough on Varsity that we played a home-and-home with one of the top public school teams in Columbus. We beat them by 3 or 4 at their place and they beat us by 3 or 4 at ours. Very even. But back then you pretty much always played a full four-game slate and, um, we weren't all that deep... )

[JonInMiddleGA]

But that link lists both Burlingtons as being in the same conference, with poor ol' Cristo Rey (and Carolina Friends)

Burlington Christian Academy CCAC 2A Burlington, NC
The Burlington School CCAC 2A Burlington, NC

Now whether that's right or not, beats me. But I did at least want my credit for noticing the two Burlingtons

Unless there's a third Burlington, in which case I punt lol

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

But that link lists both Burlingtons as being in the same conference, with poor ol' Cristo Rey


Now whether that's right or not, beats me. But I did at least want my credit for noticing the two Burlingtons

OK. Credit given, and I missed that. Pretty sure TBS wasn't in with that grouping last year. (Yeah, just checked, they were in the "Freelance Conference" last year.) Digging a little deeper, it appears that Cristo Rey moved from unaffiliated/no-conference into a conference this year and that's what's going on with being in the conference with the Burlingtons. (Burlington is roughly halfway between the Triad and Triangle, so the geography does make some sense. It's probably under 45 minutes from Cristo Rey.) Still doesn't make sense that they'd play Caldwell and Westchester, though...

[Ghost Econ]

So I have a Google TV box plugged into my Roku TV for times that I may want to watch something that might not be fully paid for. I've noticed that at least twice, I'll be watching something the Roku TV will pop up a banner asking if I'd rather watch it another way.

The first time was a college game last weekend that wasn't on ESPN+ and I was watching it on a stream through the Google box. Just now I turned on a 4k stream of Gladiator and it asked if I wanted to click a button for more ways to watch.

How does it know what I'm watching?

[sovereignstar v2]

Automatic Content Recognition (ACR)

[Ghost Econ]

That's too creepy

[Ksyrup]

Wait until you're having sex with the TV on and Roku suggests other positions.

[CrimsonFox]

I'm in Chicago this week. It is waaaaaay too warm and humid in chicgo in november than what I expected it to be.

oh yes there are cars

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Wait until you're having sex with the TV on and Roku suggests other positions.

You mean your tv doesn't?

[CrimsonFox]

fiere where are yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooou? Comiskey park?

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

You mean your tv doesn't?

My TV usually just plays a laugh track in the background.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by dubb93

My TV usually just plays a laugh track in the background.

[albionmoonlight]

It is a small victory against The Man, but I always feel so happy with myself when I take the time to go directly to the box office and avoid the extortionate Ticketmaster fees.

[Ksyrup]

I was just thinking about that. REO Speedwagon/Loverboy are playing here Saturday night, and my wife wants to go. I pulled up TM or Seatgeek and for some reason, even though my default is to include fees in the price they show, it was off. I saw some seats for $75ish and thought, not bad. Then I realized the fees were off, toggled the button, and suddenly they are $115.

Fuck that!

[thesloppy]

I once saw Loverboy for the $5 entry fee to a suburban fair. It was still too expensive.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I was just thinking about that. REO Speedwagon/Loverboy are playing here Saturday night, and my wife wants to go. I pulled up TM or Seatgeek and for some reason, even though my default is to include fees in the price they show, it was off. I saw some seats for $75ish and thought, not bad. Then I realized the fees were off, toggled the button, and suddenly they are $115.

Fuck that!

I would love to go to that concert as well, but more in the $50 level of love.

[Ksyrup]

I have fond memories of Loverboy from about 1981 until 1983. Then I found Judas Priest. I hung with them for another album or so, but of course all of those late 70s/early 80s rock bands sounded pathetically wimpy once hard rock/metal got popular. REO is in the same vein, although a longer-running, more successful band. But man, by the late 80s their sound was so paper thin weak-sounding.

[albionmoonlight]

I'll know that AI has really made it when it can predict the direction this thread will take on any given day

[Lathum]

Tickets have gotten out of control. Virtually the only time I will go to a concert is at the Stone Pony Summer stage ( yes, that Stone Pony). It's about 15 minutes from my house. They get mid level acts, Sum 41, Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, The Offspring, Rise against, et...and I can go directly to the box office and buy the tickets with no fees.

[Ksyrup]

Agreed. I'm going to see Unto Others next Monday at a small club in Louisville and Leprous next April at a place in Cincy, and both were easy purchases through the band or the club that were like $30-40, tops.

It's probably because I don't like many bands that would play bigger establishments that I'm so shocked by the extra fees when I rarely have to deal with Ticketmaster.

[Lathum]

Where in Cinci?

Bogarts?

[Ksyrup]

Yep

[Lathum]

Ever been?

[PilotMan]

I went to Bogarts for the first time this year. I think it's a place that 20 something me would have loved, but dirty club, coupled with the seedy neighborhood will give it a hard pass now. College me would have totally been down with no issues, especially if you're going there from UC.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

fiere where are yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooou? Comiskey park?

Haha, been offline for a couple of days, heading out for vacation tomorrow. Hope you had a good trip and enjoyed the snow!

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

I went to Bogarts for the first time this year. I think it's a place that 20 something me would have loved, but dirty club, coupled with the seedy neighborhood will give it a hard pass now. College me would have totally been down with no issues, especially if you're going there from UC.

We went a decent amount in 2006-7. Went back for a show in 2013 with wife 6 months pregnant and discovered the only seating was in VIP which was sold out.

[Ksyrup]

Never been. In Cincy, I've been to Brady Music Center and Memorial Hall in the past couple of years.

Oh yeah, and the big arena back around 2007-2009 timeframe to see High School Musical LIVE!

[Ksyrup]

Also, I'm taking my wife to see Leprous at Bogarts. Based on the description, this should go well!

Einar's magical voice will make up for it.

[Lathum]

Wear comfortable shoes.

[Ksyrup]

My wife had hip surgery in June, and when I dragged her to see Amigo the Devil in Asheville in September, the venue had seating so I called ahead and explained that my wife wouldn't be able to stand for the entire show, and they comped us 2 "disability" tickets for seats on one side of the stage. That was cool of them.

But I'm used to standing for long periods of time. Though, since my softball tournament days are long over, I'm not in quite the standing shape as I was 10 years ago when I'd stand/pace 10-14 hours a day when Caitlin was pitching.

[Lathum]

haha, I don't sit at all during Syds games either, yet I always bring a chair. I pace and endlessly chew sunflower seeds

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

My wife had hip surgery in June, and when I dragged her to see Amigo the Devil in Asheville in September, the venue had seating so I called ahead and explained that my wife wouldn't be able to stand for the entire show, and they comped us 2 "disability" tickets for seats on one side of the stage. That was cool of them.

Agreed, that was cool of 'em

I just can't do the sit down concert thing under normal circumstances*. With my taste in music, it just feels wrong, can't kick no ass (nor get your ass kicked) sitting down. I friggin haaaaaate "table venues".

If the band isn't going to keep me on my feet, honestly I really don't need to be seeing them in the first place.

*had a recent ABnormal circumstance that had me sitting literally stage edge for Fozzy, that one I did watch seated for part cause of the way the crowd kind of arranged itself. Just an unusual venue layout kinda deal, though it did make it harder to get into the show at times.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Lathum

haha, I don't sit at all during Syds games either, yet I always bring a chair. I pace and endlessly chew sunflower seeds

Going from a pitcher to an OF was amazing. For Caitlin's games I was a nervous wreck the entire time. For Mack's games, she'd get like 4-6 balls hit to her and hit 3or 4 times and I was able to actually enjoy myself most of the game.