Bay Area Today

Well, I won’t give it away, exactly, but although I am SOOOO broke, I found where I can purchase SB coffee 12 Oz, 340 grams that is, for $4.99, either Breakfast Blend or AM (forget the title), for more luxurious gourmet, it is !$10.99, usu. price.

Well, even Folgers is coming out with a gourmet blend(er) in the aisles of discount shopping, and their price is somewhere closer to $7.00 (the packet packaging not the easy lid, no can-opener treats we’ve now outgrown). (more…)

If you are innovative, resourceful, and overall, broke you can find several deals to deal with the monthly bills accumulated by phone calls. Having a landline phone, cell phone and DSL (Internet access) which may or may not cover the aforementioned calling methods is increasingly cumbersome to the pocketbook.

There have been several companies whose interest is honest in attempting to save the consumer the time and consumption of funds for calling over the wires.

VOIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol is the new way of calling. Some persons consider it non-cost effective due to the accessory recommendations for a VOIP compatible phone and/or headset. It’s basic function is for the following:

1. For PC to phone or PC to PC operation - requirring-VOIP dialer plus headset).
2. For phone to phone operation requires SIP device - phone/adaptor - which connects to your router/modem.
3. Broadband or any high speed Internet
4. A just-VOIP Account or PIN

The alternative SIP account is usable with several phone cost saving features, like Gizmo calling. You can find out more at http://www.gizmocall.com  offering free call with a simple/small plug-in downloadable anywhere on your computer (possibly USB drive if you work on a public computer).

Cheap calls links online
Gizmocall is now Gizmo5.

You can easily make a free 5 minute phone call online without having to do anything but install an activeX file (easily done, most likely acceptable at public computers also)

http://sipphone.com/press/pr_may23_2007.html

https://www.gizmocall.com/index.php?call=error.html

SKYPE: Your first call is free. Skype briefly offered a portable version of their software, since discontinued but their download is easily manageable on computers, they offer a website widget (simple html coded addons that allow for single button activation from the skype dashboard on your desktop or blog)…for easy accessibility. Be sure to check out their free plugins that offer conference calling and much more online.  http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/callphones/

JAJAH
http://www.labnol.org/india/interesting/jajah-in-india-cheap-international-phone-calls-on-landline-or-mobile/889/

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Finally, if you are looking for free calls and know of someone who is willing to use the same website and conferencing online free software, there are the burgeoning new sites geared towards web conferencing that offer free inbound and outbound calling when you hook up with another participant account (these accounts are free and offer other features such as whiteboards, chat, uploading/sharing of documents and phone calls for conference calling).

Here are two reputable webconferencing sites:

Dimdim  located at http://www.dimdim.com and

Vyew  located at http://www.vyew.com

Gizmo, which also offers a download program (and mobile phone

accessibility for reputed cheap long distance international calling), is similarly geared to offer multi-user free calling, if your caller has a Gizmo account as well - it is free. Their system works using a SIP calling number or your account login for online use of gizmocall.com. Gizmo is not VOIP but their calling system requires purchase of money for time  just like Skype - however, Skype now has many plugin-ins called “tools” and located under the “tools” menu where you can install conferencing software to save your callers money in contacting you.

The variations on this same shared calling theme are becoming limitless. The trouble is with sorting out the options, and sticking with one provider so as not to waste your monthly calling features using multiple systems for a crosswired result. But it may be worth the time and $3.00/month (that’s the Skype charge for limitless local landlines monthly call rates), if you have a 2-5 pound computer you are lugging around and a monthly charge on a cell phone.

 Claire’s Blog

Image via Wikipedia

First Post - Today.com

There is a new post paid site that appears to be a valid means of earning money for blogging. There is the ever-more popular Google Adsense, but for bloggers like me whose tech-savvy forays tend to lead the stream of life into the estuary of daliance, there appears to be the Today.com alternative (no affiliation with the main TV morning show now on “off channels” in the Bay Area).

So, I am planning to continue the myraid conniverance of bloggers befuddling, with the assistance of the software “freeware” like Zoundry.com (for blog posting) and Mozilla’s online explorer posting (with scribe.com) unto the Today.com blog. Of course, this will occur as soon as I recover a means to FTP to their site as it appears the same as Wordpress.org for the backend setup controlled by their servers almost entirely - primarily for posting.

See me there?

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It was an undoubtedly momentous event in Congress, with the passing of protective legislation for the mentally ill in the United States

Photo David Wellstone, son of Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.1990-2002), whose name is attributed to the bill that approved by Congress last month to provide parity in health insurance coverage for mental illness.

The success of the Mental Health Parity Bill (short name for the “H.R. 6983: Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008“) is attributable to Sen. Wellstone’s son, David Wellstone, whose fight 12 years following initial attempt to receive congressional approval so that mental health treatment would be considered equally viable for designated coverage on insurance matters (hospitalization and outpatient treatments) as it is for the treatment of physical ailments.

Like Laura’s law whereby law makes assisted outpatient treatment available in California, This mental health parity bill is of landmark significance for the state of Minnesota directly related to Mr. Wellstone’s family – his daughter who committed suicide at age 21 years old was refused admittance by a major medical group insurer for her condition of anorexia nervosa. The question of who is responsible is considered moot for psychological and other mental related care when the cost of physical care is also equitable for insurance companies.

The bill is important in that it is directly tax related, amending prior legislation which explicitly denies equal coverage when an insurance company is to decide coverage on the basis of need for mental health. Similarly this bill will allow for “matching” coverage of care when the basis for general physical coverage is approved.

However, the legislation exempts businesses with fewer than 50 employees from benefiting from parity. On October 3, 2008 the House passed the bill which already had the approval of the President and was signed into law. That’s one of several compromises that won the bill broad support from the business community and the Bush administration. (http://www.benefitscounsel.com/archives/001873.html, 09-26-2008)

Interesting arguments against the bill were blogged online in commentary to the titled “bailout” blog article titled “Senate Folds Mental Health Parity Into Wall Street Bailout Bill” (Goldstein, Jacob, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 2, 2008).  Published the night before the bill was passed into law, several readers complained about the overriding costs for smaller business affording coverage of medical care when their premiums would be expected to offset the larger sums received for parity care by corporations.

However, a voice from a Medicare recipient brought up the continued interested argument whereby affordable care already instated by national consideration for care (with supported PPOs added to Medicare B coverage since about 2006, gaining premium benefits as well by Medicare payees); whereby currently this commenter receives NO standards of care for mental illness because it is “out of cost” personally whether this is a premium paid benefit or not.

The comment was appended to the same Wall Street Journal article, which according to the WSJ.com, the new mental health parity law will make a difference:

It applies to about 150 million people: 82 million in federally regulated plans funded by employers, 31 million in state-regulated plans and 36 million children and adults covered by managed-care Medicaid programs, the federal-state health insurance for the poor, a Senate aide said. (by Zhang, Jane “Mental-Health Bill on Tap”, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 25, 2008)

It is not clear whether a working person receiving corporate benefits would benefit more as an insured person than say, a Medicare recipient whose PPO determines the providers’ share in the cost of care. The reputable mental health magazine “TAC” Treatment Advocacy Center recognized the passing of this law in conjunction with 1996 and the Medicaid program rules to extend parity enacted by President Clinton. As TAC Notes:

New York has Kendra’s Law, California has Laura’s Law, Michigan has Kevin’s Law, and Louisiana has Nicola’s Law.  Those are just a handful of state that have passed assisted outpatient treatment laws to help people with severe mental illnesses after a tragedy sparked lawmakers into action.  (”How Many More Times Will It Take?” Sept 8, 2008)

It is commendable the ongoing fight against discriminatory actions by the lofty Senate members whose families suffered first hand personal losses. It is reminiscent of struggles like Kendra’s law in New York City when an anonymous subway commuter was murdered on the rails by a psychiatric patient, schizophrenic.

A Link to the Bill now signed into Law is available here (pdf format).

Technorati Tags: insurance,law,kendra,laura’s law,Senator Wellstone,Mental health law,parity

Recently, I was pursuing higher blogging methods for my wax over wane blog formulated from many “test” posts and not much else. I was so unenthusiastic about its progress that I found myself “crossing the line” between mirth and restitution when I once again proffered my blog to another blogger. Yikes, I knew this “_anon” friend would feel berated by my re-awakened interest in his postings online. What postings?

Well, much as I’d like his contact list to increase, and as much as I favour his blog name - genuinely original - now that I offered to RSS, yes, sorry, no ping, no twitter or smuggly (yet to come?), but proffering RSS feeds to him…As much as so, I received a return reply, following the general niceties, with further poetic links, interests and conundrums on the city streets of San Francisco…a ne’er do well warning arrived, post haste from “MSD” that will be my “_anon” acronym for HIM….telling me no, it was not ok to RSS his blogsite, even if 15 years of blogging on the same course, on blogger.com.

There, a clue, who else has 15 years on the same blog-line?

Well, post haste, I thought a retrospective look at my own diary would lessen the guilt. So, I was perusing, and came upon a quick ref. to LG15.

AND the Before & After affects are astounding!

I recalled my interest in 2006, when Lonelygirl15 was just burgeoning. I had mentioned her in my e-book “BlogBuilder” as a feature of interest to FAQ blogger “Finge Awareness Quota” the newbies who learned how to blog instantaneously from this e-book. In 2006, the article excerpt on LonelyGirl15 read as follows in the section titled, “Examples of Home Bloggers Making News”:

Individuals who have obtained notoriety with their “blog handle”

CNET a news reports on blogs, has noted one woman’s blog, known only as “Lonelygirl15″ has gained the attention of the United Nations. The CNET article, titled, ’”Lonelygirl15″ wants you to fight poverty’ ” profiles a 16-year-old California girl named Bree who is really a 19-year-old Kiwi actress named Jessica Rose. Rose productively uses a webcam in a bedroom to educate the viewers about worldwide poverty, telling them what can be done about it. — http://news.com.com/2061-10802_3-6126049.html

I would first like to critique her evolution from a United Nations representative out on a limb inland California as a socially conscious New Zealand native aspiring to the Holly-hills - then on to the European syndicated mini-series pump-up millionaire online at most any vlog (video blog). You can catch LonelyGirl15 at any of these locations - varying your lasitudes anywhere from Season 1 to Season 3 (2006-2008). This year is season 3 for LG15: titled, “She Lost A Lot Of Blood” is the first episode uploaded by lonelygirl15 on February 11th, 2008.

It is as though a micro community sprouted out from the humble beginnings of a United Nations sponsoree.

I would like to congratulate _anon MSD for his imperturbably absent criteria as a blogger who refused to attend one of my BlogBuilder classes. I suggested vlogging for his posts, rss, editors, and quick online FTP answers to his long and arduous cross linking and histories surrounding daily routines in San Francisco. In fear of crossing the line again, I will refuse to quote his diaries. Yes, but I have saved many a reference to short clips on Youtube.com and other artistries that appear in the city like a wi-fi limelight. Still, I thought of _anon MSD when I further blogged on Home Bloggers:

Scobleizer blog, a weblogger with a Wordpress blog reports on Josh Wolf (there’s a link to his blog), a blogger who was jailed, and is now suing the county of San Francisco because…”[He was] thrown in jail for refusing to hand over some videotapes he made of a July 2005 demonstration in San Francisco.” — article link at http://scobleizer.com/2006/08/01/videoblogger-jailed/

This was of course in 2006, and how things have changed. The before and after links for LonelyGirl15 are ever-reminders of this ongoing blogosphere and how the local interests of one person can overwhelm the networks.

Personally, I look forward to the e-mails from _anon MSD. Maybe I will ping him a copy of this blog entry, though am never sure if he reads all I write, he is generally a diligent responder.

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