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[Rolan7]

This is concerning me because I drink city tap water close to exclusively here in central NC.  It doesn't taste as good as the spring water where I grew up, but IIRC that's because of *how* they clean it.  Not a sign of it being unclean.

There are advisories to boil the tap water before drinking but only very rarely, it's a natural disaster thing for affected areas.

[Frumple]

Tap water in multiple cities in north florida and the town I live in all started making me sick when I was in my early twenties. Little bit is usually okay, but if I drink much it'll cause the dangly-whatsit in my throat to swell up and obtain a sensation state roughly equivalent to gargling razor blades.

... it is unpleasant, and I don't drink the tap water anymore.

Heat exhaustion's fine to avoid healthcare, though. Long as you get some rest and some water you should be okay. Heat stroke isn't even that bad, so long as it's mild and you don't fully black out from it. I've finally managed to start avoiding them in the last few years, but for something like half my life I'd stroke out partially or fully at least once a year. florida fucking sucks and no one should live here

[Dunamisdeos]

I've scheduled a doctor's appointment, I'm lucky enough to have good medical insurance. I'm finding that I'm having mild headaches and wooziness today, so I'm scheduled for this Thursday.

Just want to make sure I haven't developed an involuntary interest in ministrokes, or something.

[McTraveller]

But you also live in the US and medical treatment is a privilege, not a right, unlike the right to gun down school kids.

This confusion of ideas makes me mildly upset.  Universal access does not mean universal unlimited access.  The only thing to which you could possibly have a right when it comes to health care is that you cannot be denied health care due to race, religion, sex, favorite color, etc.

When people say they want "right to health care" I suspect what they really mean is they want "you cannot be denied health care due to inability to pay for it."

Which is an odd thing, because we almost universally don't have this "right" to anything else.  The closest we get is housing and food assistance programs, but that's limited and not universal; restaurants don't have to accept WIC for instance.  Any arbitrary apartment doesn't have to accept a government assistance program.

I don't even think there is any codified guarantee that there will be a store within X miles of your location that accepts WIC...

[Kagus]

The "you cannot be denied healthcare due to inability to pay for it" aspect does also get loomed over by the "receiving basic healthcare shouldn't have an effectively unpayable price tag" situation, as it is for many Americans.


Also, RE: Water. I, too, live in Yurp. The tap water's better than the bottled stuff, thanks to the bottled water suffering from plastic leaching that makes it taste a bit meh. And I even live in what passes for an urban center here. Drinking from taps (any taps) is such a universal thing here that people get a bit confused by the concept of other countries, such as the US, being perhaps a bit less tasty (let alone safe) in that department.

...but, of course, that's my little corner of Yurp. We do a lot of silly things here. ...like healthcare

[None]

Does your little corner of Yurp need a software tester? I find I'm rather fond of water and healthcare.

Got my car back today, which is great, except that the insurance never got the other guy's insurance, because they didn't get the police report, because they're required to call the police department to get the police report, and somehow it was my responsibility to liaise this information between PD and adjuster. I thought they did this sort of thing for a living and would know this. That leaves me out five hundred bucks for a little while, which I'm hoping will be easier to get back from the other guy's insurance than the chunk of cash I'm supposed to have back by now from the rent deposit at my last apartment. Said he'd send it about a month ago...

Also, the trunk no longer opens when I push the button on my keyfob, and I have to slam it so it latches shut. Hooray for possibly permanent damage through no fault of my own. On the bright side, my car isn't totaled, and I got to do laundry today, having automotion again.

[Vector]

Most places in the US have just fine tapwater. Where I was born the water came out... colorfully. As in it had evident rust. Drank it anyway and obviously I'm totally ok! Lead paint that was bouncing off the walls too, no problemo~

(There are some cities in the US where the water is not fine. Locally we filter for taste but that's just because the water is hard. There are other places like Flint that may truly have unsafe water, like the tap water in most of Russia.)

[MaxTheFox]

Most places in the US have just fine tapwater. Where I was born the water came out... colorfully. As in it had evident rust. Drank it anyway and obviously I'm totally ok! Lead paint that was bouncing off the walls too, no problemo~

(There are some cities in the US where the water is not fine. Locally we filter for taste but that's just because the water is hard. There are other places like Flint that may truly have unsafe water, like the tap water in most of Russia.)

Russian tap water varies. Where I live it's good and even tasty. But elsewhere... yea.

[da_nang]

Today, I cleaned out the PC, and got a new rear case fan. The old one finally gave up on maintaining torque. The lubricant probably failed from years of tiny dust particles seeping into the ball bearing housing.

In any case, Noctua quality yay! Colors boo.

At the same time, I figured I could use this opportunity to try reseating my dying GPU to see if it would fix the graphics issues (artifacting, black screen, and driver crashes) I've been plagued with prior to switching to GPU life support (AKA no GPU drivers) a few years back. After removing the GPU I noticed, to my horror, that the GPU heatsink was choking with dust. Prior cleaning must have been ineffective at reaching in there. Fan was visually confirmed to still be functional. The card had maaaaybe a tiny bit of sagging, but it was hard to tell.

After cleaning out the GPU and putting it back in, the PC POSTed and started up like usual. Cleaning introduced no failures.

Then I installed the GPU drivers, rebooted, POSTed, Windows startup logo, aaaand no login screen. Just pure backlight black, not even a sound. Both PS/2 keyboard and USB mouse lost power. Gave it a few minutes, but nope.

First hard reboot, keyboard had power but attempts to select safe mode was not registering.

Second hard reboot, keyboard worked normally and safe mode was entered. Everything appeared fine and working, so proceeded to uninstall the drivers.

Back to GPU life support.

*sigh*

Failure hypothesis: Years of dust had clogged the GPU heatsink to the point that a stressed out GPU overheated and the heat damaged (burnt out?) a part of the GPU chip or memory. The overheating may also have been exacerbated by a failing rear case fan. The GPU, for all intents and purposes, is basically dead, but still has enough functionality to function as a video pass-through.

Alternative hypothesis: GPU is fine, but the PCI-e slot is fucked from sagging. (Possible, but unlikely given how little sag was visible. Also not in the mood to set everything up for PC surgery again.)

Alternative hypothesis: GPU and PCI-e slot are fine, but the RAM or motherboard are fucked. (Highly unlikely without constant BSOD)

At least there are a few silver linings. For one, GPU prices are beginning to come down. Just gotta save some cash and wait for a reasonably priced mid or mid-high card. Web browsing, video watching, drawing, writing etc. still works, and I do have a few games that don't require drivers.

[Vector]

Sitting at a coffee shop near a mom's group while one of them bounces her baby daughter and says: "I wanted a boy. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but I really wanted a boy."

[Loud Whispers]

"I love her, but"
SO IT BEGINS

A LIFETIME OF CONDITIONAL LOVE, ANTAGONISM, DISAPPOINTMENT AND DESPAIR

[Vector]

yeah, it was just one entry on the laundry list of expressed desires, such as for Nice Men Who Are Over Six Foot Tall and a King Size Bed.

I guess that was what bothered me most about it. People have their disappointments in life and plenty of them aren't politically correct, but I just sat there and thought: "I hope to god for baby's sake that she isn't gay or actually a boy, cuz Momma sure has some strong opinions and feels like she's entitled to getting everything she feels she needs to be happy."

[Loud Whispers]

The world would be a much better place if parents were taught to view children as people and not extensions of their desires

[Il Palazzo]

The world would be a much better place if parents were taught to view children as people and not extensions of their desires

But why would anyone want to bear people?

[Il Palazzo]

You meant bear paws, surely.