Communities

I’m very conflicted, I just signed up for a “service” that I would ordinarily want to have, especially at the monthly cost I’m going to be paying, but I’m so very extremely annoyed at the fact that I’m FORCED to purchase this “service”, or else. I’m sure you have figured out I’m talking about healthcare, or as it’s more commonly referred to as Obamacare.

So what is the “or else” if I choose not to participate? Near $700, that would be my fine if I don’t sign up, and having the IRS come after me, something the IRS was NEVER meant to be part of. I concretely believe that this is unconstitutional, forcing citizens of the USA to purchase healthcare or any other commercial service, but as one tiny blip on the radar, what can I do? I don’t mind having the coverage, I rather like having inexpensive healthcare, and if it were available without the “or else” hanging over my head, I would be first in line to sign up, it’s the “or else” that is just plain wrong.

Today is the last day to sign up to get in for the 2017 coverage starting in January, being the procrastinator that I am, I waited until today to sign up. I have been getting the email reminders as well as the automated phone calls telling me that today was the last day I could sign up… they make it sound so dire, as if the world might come to an end if I ignore their pleas, who knows, it just might.

When I got to the website earlier today, it was quite clear that I’m not the only procrastinator, I was put in a queue (line, on hold for those in the USA) to wait my turn for the website to accept me. I waited less than an hour so all in all it wasn’t terrible. I actually started to do this last night, there was no wait time, I got right in, but I was on a tablet, I needed some information that was difficult to get on my tablet so I gave up, figuring I would finish today with my laptop.

I actually signed up last year, for much the same reasons, the “or else”, I ended up never using my healthcare insurance all year long, for a variety of reasons, the main one being I never needed to use it, of course I understand that anything could have happened, an accident, an illness and I would have used it then, but as a healthy 50 something year old, I have just never had the need to go to the doctor much in my life. I also understand that the premiums I paid went into a pool to help offset the costs of other people who did use their healthcare coverage.

I wonder how things might change …

The lowly P38 (or P51 depending on the size), I would say that all military folk and most preppers know what these are. This is a very simple can opener for those of you who don’t know. It is small, portable, and people powered (ie not electric). It has 2 parts that hinge together, they are great if you are opening a small to medium can, raise your hand if you have ever opened a #10 can with one, LOL, my hand is raised.

You can keep them in your pocket or like me, on your key ring, the problem comes in with the sharp pointy end that loves opening up at inopportune times, either tearing a hole in your pocket, your pants or whatever it has decided to catch upon. Years ago I decided that it was only an emergency backup tool, not something I would use on a daily basis so I taped it closed, each time I wanted to use it, I would remove the tape, clean off the tape residue, use it then tape it back up again. If I didn’t use it for a long enough time, the tape would deteriorate, I would often notice when it snagged my pants or shirt. I knew there had to be a better way.

Enter the era of the earbuds, everyone had them, everyone used them, everyone threw them away when they failed working. I had my fair share of them. One day, as is typical of me, I decided to take one apart to see how it worked. Low and behold, I found a little, tiny, magnet inside of it. I should have known, speakers have magnets, earbuds are merely tiny speakers that go in your ears.

The magnet is very small, the flat ones shaped like a washer with a hole in the center are my favorite, but you might find a solid magnet, it will work too. It didn’t take long to decide it would be perfect for my P38, the magnet fit perfectly between the two parts, it wasn’t strong enough to catch other items, it would be reusable and wouldn’t wear out.

All you have to do is find a broken pair of earbuds, if you don’t have any yourself, ask around. Disassemble the earbud, you are likely to find what appears to be 2 magnets per earbud, but only one of them is actually a magnet, the other is a duplicate shaped piece of metal, it’s easy enough to figure out which is which. Then place the magnet between the moving parts and viola, your P38 (or P51) is now safe to carry around.

https://youtu.be/8AuH6yV9qZc

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