Testing Chat V: The Final Mysterious Island: Miami Beach

[Bounty]

Whatever happened to the AOL chat channel we had? That was fun. Like the forums, but easier to just spew bullshit and watch the he-who-must-not-be-named show.

[Agent Bert Macklin]

I think we all moved on, Bounty. It was fun, indeed.

[Flagg]

I miss calling Voldemort names nonstop for hours at a time.

[Infinity Biscuit]

Not too surprising there

[Losonti Tokash]

... $128 a month? Is this because of some special requirements?

These prices are based off of questions I answered, including a "yes" for a disability that limits work ability (my hand). I have $0 income this year and that may remain the same for next. Yet, for some reason, I can't get Medicaid or something cheaper than what's there. $128 isnt bad, but the deductible is where you're fucked. A routine visit to the doctor will cost me over $100 every time I visit. If I need some form of scan, blood test, colonoscopy, surgery, etc, I'm fucked even more.

complain to the people who are at fault: your governor and state legislature

[Oxymoron]

Just noticed the name change. Noice.

[Infinity Biscuit]

Oh ha I thought los just changed it in the quote box for some reason

[Agent Bert Macklin]

complain to the people who are at fault: your governor and state legislature

I'll look into that. But will I just get a form response or something from a genuinely concerned official, which I doubt Nathan Deal is?

[adr]

AIM is pretty much on life support at this point.

aye. i only know like 4 ppl who still chat on it, but i still kinda like it. certainly better than FB chat which is where most the peeps have moved to

i was going to write my own im client tho. maybe even w/ fb support, and irc as well, but aim was my first stop because i had written a little TOC2 library a couple years ago

alas, time to start phasing aim out. i think the people on it can be convinced to move to email (the work folks, yes sometimes i do business on aim) or a custom protocol (the tech enthusiast)

he can ssh into my computer here and talk to me via a unix socket lol

no seriously that's my plan

[evilsoup]

that's a great plan

[Agent Bert Macklin]

complain to the people who are at fault: your governor and state legislature

I'll look into that. But will I just get a form response or something from a genuinely concerned official, which I doubt Nathan Deal is?

I sent him the following:

Mr. Deal,

I have been struggling with Crohn's Disease for a little over four years. This rare disease (less than one percent of Americans have it) has been a hindrance to many aspects of my life. I also have a physical deformity (deformed right hand) that has been present since birth. This has prevented me from many types of work, especially manual labor.

I'm currently enrolled at university to become a public mathematics school teacher. I've been working toward this for three years and because of my health issues, I have been delayed quite a bit. That is manageable, but what isn't is the amount of stress caused by my medical bills and worrying if I will be refused treatment because I can't afford it. This almost happened in 2011.

In 2011, I was in serious pain and because I had not paid a bill my gastroenterologist sent me, I was not going to be seen by the doctor. After much persistence on my part, I did and after some medical procedures, it was determined that I needed surgery. Had I not been able to see the doctor because I could not afford my bills, my ileum could have ruptured and I'd be forced to go the ER.

I have been uninsured for almost a year now and I cannot see a doctor because I don't have steady income because I'm a student and decent work is hard to come by. I lacked health insurance in 2010 as well and when I almost died as a result of my disease, I racked up a $26,000 hospital bill. Luckily, I was able to get financial assistance, but this will not always be the case when I face a tragic circumstance.

I recently looked into the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and according to it, I can get health insurance as an individual not part of an employer. The problem, however, is that the lowest premium has a high deductible that I simply can't afford. I also do not apply for Medicaid according to the ACA, which is unfortunate because I think my disease and my physical deformity really make it difficult to find work so I can purchase insurance.

What are my options? I am at a dead end and I have no idea where to proceed. Why did Georgia not expand Medicaid? People like myself are out of the loop and are hurting because we have no options for affordable health care. I need some relief before I become a public school teacher.

Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,

Jeff Tucker

[adr]

so i just tried the new york one again

finally was able to log in with my tax info and then it asked for my address and ssn (though i know the state already knows that shit, i pay my taxes on this too!) [edit: oh i get it, this is to check against their records to make sure someone didn't steal my password]

....then it brings me to a screen where the "next" button doesn't actually do anything and the "links" on the side are just an image that can't actually be clicked

what is this, a fucking mockup?

[adr]

oh oops i typed 1896 for date of birth instead of 1986

i guess that page was supposed to be an error screen, so kinda my fault. that's ok, i cut corners on error screens too when behind schedule

and now it moves on to the next page, and get this

I was born within a year or on the year of the date below.
1980 1983 1986 1989 NONE OF THE ABOVE

you just asked me for my date of birth on the previous screen, and apparently doing it wrong means you can't advance

so what's the point of this question?

[Agent Bert Macklin]

To verify your identity. I got a question that said I bought vet insurance for a pet. nah uh. No, I didn't.

[adr]

finally got everything filled in and.....

The Marketplace is experiencing technical difficulties and cannot verify the information that you have told us at this time. The Marketplace will reach out to you if additional information is needed to process your application.

AAAAAAaaAAaaAAaAAaAAAaAAARRRRRRRrrRRrRRrrRGGGGGGGGGGgGGggGGGHHHHHHhHHhhHH

[Agent Bert Macklin]

When I created an account and confirmed it, I tried logging in. It said "We don't have any info on this profile" or something similar. 10 minutes later it worked.

[Losonti Tokash]

That's a good start. I suggest sending similar emails to your state representative and senator. And also calling them. And get anyone else you know to do it. And be as public about it as you can.

Unrelated:

Exactly. You want to prove that you're not one of them. It's not that you want to make sure your actions do not further ongoing injustices; you just want to be able to live with yourself and not be labeled a Bad Man. That's exactly the wrong way to go about, well, anything.

[zhaktronz]

Sigh.

So I see this today

I am not a motorbike rider, and I don't particularly care for motorbike riders (always clogging up the twisty roads )

But lets just trample on more civil liberties in the name of LEURZGH AND ORDAH and TERF ON CRYYYME.

[Civil War Man]

I'm just going to leave this here.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=wIkZEOQPDZ4

[Losonti Tokash]

Sigh.

So I see this today

I am not a motorbike rider, and I don't particularly care for motorbike riders (always clogging up the twisty roads )

But lets just trample on more civil liberties in the name of LEURZGH AND ORDAH and TERF ON CRYYYME.

hahaha what the hell

[Flagg]

Gee, three or more self identified members of a criminal organization are riding formation, I bet they aren't up to no good.

[Bakustra]

Sigh.

So I see this today

I am not a motorbike rider, and I don't particularly care for motorbike riders (always clogging up the twisty roads )

But lets just trample on more civil liberties in the name of LEURZGH AND ORDAH and TERF ON CRYYYME.

So what I'm getting from this is that the Queensland government regularly makes legal decisions by sharing a couple joints and settling in to watch some old exploitation films. I'm guessing that part 2 of this will involve hiring Pam Grier to clean up the mean streets of Brisbane and Mackay.

[Agent Bert Macklin]

Gee, three or more self identified members of a criminal organization are riding formation, I bet they aren't up to no good.

It's like that episode of the Shield (maybe the Wire?) where they considered a group of three or more people as being in a gang.

[zhaktronz]

The sad thing is this is exactly like in the 1980s in Queensland.

PS our police commissioner at the time was so corrupt that he was literally the only person in 100 years to lose their Knighthood.


Its just another in quite a long line of expansion of police powers with no oversight or public feedback, or regard for effectiveness

[Bakustra]

The sad thing is this is exactly like in the 1980s in Queensland.

PS our police commissioner at the time was so corrupt that he was literally the only person in 100 years to lose their Knighthood.


Its just another in quite a long line of expansion of police powers with no oversight or public feedback, or regard for effectiveness

You also had Bjelke-Petersen then, right?