You may want to skip this entry if you have an aversion to TMI.

When my Mom had to choose a Medicare health plan, she picked Cariten because she didn't want to belong to Humana as she saw Humana being nothing but trouble. Soon after, Humana took over Cariten's business in Tennessee and it has proved to be just as troublesome as she imagined.

When she went through her terminal health emergency she was at a specialty clinic (covered by Humana) that had been prescribed by her surgeon (covered by Humana) who in turn had been referred by her Humana primary care doctor. The doctor in charge of the clinic determined that Mum's condition was so critical that either he or his staff arranged an ambulance to take her to the nearest hospital (also covered by Humana). Neither Dad, nor I, had anything to do with this choice.

Now Humana wants us to pay up for her ambulance ride, with their excuses being 1) the company operating the ambulance was "out of their network" (?!) and 2) her primary care doctor (who wasn't available!) had to approve or endorse the decision to transport her by ambulance.

No matter that Medicare should be covering this transportation, because the circumstances fit the Medicare rules and requirements on the matter.

We're looking at a bill in excess of $500, and paying it would hurt us. Dad's trying to challenge the charge, but the Humana lawyers are giving him the runaround.

Meanwhile, Humana's marketing division is still sending Mum junk mail asking her to expand her coverage to include dental care and other specialty services. What stupidity!

Some of my Dad's e-mail gets forwarded to me.

Mostly his junk. Got a piece the other day from the Warner Brothers video club, since we're sorta signed up with them, in spite of never actually buying anything from them. Header said "Cartoon classics..." Only it wasn't Looney Tunes they were pushing--it was old Hanna-Barbera stuff from the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. (And I don't mean THEIR really old stuff from the Sixties!)

All of a sudden I wonder if there might be a shotgun marriage in the works between Bugs Bunny and Yogi Bear. Ugh. Why is youth culture in America SO OLD?

The trojan spammer who has somehow hacked into my mail account struck again this week. I'm still trying to find ways to undo the damage.

In the meantime, I threw a new signature on my account. I repeat my "Dadah Means DEATH" line from my User Info here and go on to say that I don't approve of on-line medicine commerce. Messages that come from me with a sales pitch should be pitched.

I hope this irritates the spammer and he decides to move on to greener pastures.

But I want to counter-attack him more directly. Wish I knew how.

An LJ user comes on and comments on a post I made SIX MONTHS ago, and the comment is a "me too!" that also sounds very much like a sales pitch, with an embedded link. So I check the user out and see that 1) he's only used his identity one day; 2) all he does is comment on other people's posts; 3) hasn't filled out his userinfo page at all.

All of a sudden I feel no obligation to check the link to see if it's anything worthwhile, nor any obligation to keep the comment attached to my post.

Death to spammers!

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I don't know about "most likely", but what I want to see is a ban on advertising of prescription drugs on broadcast TV and via e-mail. The makers of Levitra and Cialis and Viagra make their products sound like recreational drugs. I think it's immoral and harmful to our society.

Anybody else getting physical mailings from on-line gambling outfits?

I got a pamphlet from "bet.us" detailing the NHS, NBA and NCAA wagering options.

Man, I hate these people. Who do I have to nuke to get rid of them once and for all? Don't think I can't get fissile material.

FP

Hey.

Anybody know how to "lock down" your IE's "Home" page so it can't be altered by a third party? This session started with it redirecting to a non-existant site.

*Shrug*

I reset it back to the one I normally use now:
http://flowersandhearts.com/janebierce.htm
--so it's okay. But it's a chore.

FP

Hey.

Found out (through process of elimination) what was a probable chink in the armor through which Winfixer's pop-ups were sneaking. One of my free anti-virus programs has a feature that automatically calls for an internet connection (for the purpose of making fast updates and such). By denying this feature, the Winfixer ads have been conspicuous by their absenses. My guess is that the ads were using a .dll file used by the anti-virus software as their way into my Internet Explorer.

* * *

I'm now firmly on the hunt for Bandai DVDs at the Dollar General stores. Today, I came to the halfway point of the task: to complete my sets of G-Gundam, The Big O II and the Gundam Wing TV series. 13 DVDs in the bag, 13 to go. There are about 30 stores in the area...I'm pretty optimistic that I'll find all the disks I seek.

FP

Hey.

If somebody showed up in your neighborhood and wanted to sell you drugs or porn or get-rich-quick schemes...or wanted to loan-shark you...you'd be in your rights to call the cops and have them hauled away. So why do these losers think they are welcome in your e-mail Inbox? As far as I'm concerned, they aren't.

I hate these spammers with an intensity I reserve for terrorists, genocidal regimes, hardcore political extremists, bubonic plague, toxic sludge, thermonuclear destructive devices and black holes. An "online pharmacy" is no better than a narcotics pusher. I don't need money so bad that I'm going to borrow from somebody who solicits me over the Web. This household already belongs to a consumer survey (a legit one) so we legally can't join another. The porn spammers' approaches are so tasteless that I want to see them all arrested. I see hundreds of these messages everyday in the SpamTrap and delete them unread. And I wish I could call an online cop to bash in their memory with a cyber nightstick.

I want people to e-mail me for me, not for the money they think I have or the needs I don't have.