I had an out of network emergency room visit with a kidney stone once while covered by a $1,000/month UHC platinum plan. When the bills arrived I stupidly paid them thinking it’d be easier to just file the claim for reimbursement from UHC on my own. After two years of
submitting forms, exchanging letters, and hours of phone calls, I just gave up. It’s hard for me to consider their business as anything but an outright scam.
I get mild carpal tunnel symptoms when working straight on my Macbook, so I bought a Kinesis Freestyle Pro. The split and tenting are great and do the trick for my wrists but it's got a different layout than the MacBook. And a lot more keys than I need. It's large and a hassle to pack up and take with me.
Why does no one build a split keyboard that has the exact same layout as a MacBook? I feel like that would be my holy grail. I don't even care about mechanical switches (I know, blasphemy!)
I have a good friend who is a hygienist for two dentists. One is completely inept and the other an outright scammer.
The inept guy generates business by doing such a poor job with fillings that crowns and root canals are always eventually needed. And he does such a poor job with those that bridges and implants are then needed. He's a master bullshitter and most patients trust him (a few catch on, and a few have sued). My friend keeps records for the lawsuits, covers her own butt, and discreetly encourages some patients to go elsewhere.
The fraudster puts everyone on "perio" schedules (cleanings every 3 months instead of 6) whether they need it or not. And also bills insurance for treatment he didn't do. His actual dental skills are decent, however.
We laypeople assume we can trust these "experts" with degrees and white coats when we really have no clue if what they're doing is legit.
Next time you get your teeth cleaned, ask the hygienist if they themselves (or their family -- kids, parents) use the dentist you're about to see. My friends says that this is the question with the most valuable answer. She wouldn't let either guy within 100 miles of her teeth or her kids' and will happily tell people where she goes if they ask.
This is assuming the hygienist isn't crooked too. In the US, hygienists are typically paid hourly but with "production" bonuses, meaning they get a cut of the dentists fees for treatment beyond cleaning. So beware that they're incentivized to do more treatment than necessary too. In my friend's case, the bonuses are a small %, so it's not a huge incentive.
She stays because they pay well, give her the hours she needs as a single mom, and likes her co-workers. But the patient care and outcomes do take moral toll on her.
Damn. I haven’t read much of The Athletic (don’t have that subscription level) but I’ve enjoyed NYT sports coverage for forever.
They always seemed to have interesting, subtle, and original takes on whatever they were covering. More “literary” than your typical ESPN or other major network coverage.
Love the service and it's been rock solid for over a decade for me.
I do understand the concern with the lack communication with this outage, however. It's a bit of an organizational/leadership red flag when a crucial service business like this doesn't communicate with its customers when things go south.
Yes. While it’s less common, I’ve seen orgs struggle because they didn’t have enough imagination.
Every feature is done quick’n’dirty and eventually you have people whose full time job is to respond to customer complaints and fix data straight in the production database.
But pretty creative game. Thanks for sharing!