Anyone else over 60 that has been priced out of the Marketplace? Anyone else considering just not having insurance?
Looks like I may be $680 over to qualify for my previous subsidy. I paid $550 per month for a crap policy but now am staring down the possibility of no subsidy, $1400 per month for crappy insurance. I can self pay routine stuff, but I don’t qualify for catastrophic coverage. I will be 65 in March of 2027. Anyone else in this boat?HidingoutfromtheCIA
Get a bronze plan and open a HSA. Drop a few grand in it and lower your MAGI below the 400% federal poverty limit and regain your subsidies.jhkayejr
A bronze plan for me is $1,700 a month. The idea that I’d then also be able to put money in a HSA is insane.LadyMaggieMae
Unfortunately that exact plan leaves me $680 over. With the smidge of SS COLA, my modest pension fund and again modest interest rates the $4400 HSA will not get us there[deleted]
This. You can actually put $5400 in your HSA since you’re over 55. It sounds like you don’t have earned income, so IRA/401k contributions wouldn’t be an option for you. Also, if you take the standard deduction, starting in 2026, you can do an above line deduction for charitable contributions ($1000 if filing single; $2000 for married filing jointly). That’ll reduce your MAGI. Edit to add: the charitable contributions have to be cash. Thanks for the clarification below, PeacefulCW.Responsible-Bid5015
For you the HSA contribution limit is $5400 in 2026. You can also look into using the BOXX ETF for some of your cash savings to get extra margin. Note there is some risk to BOXX since the IRS has not really decided if it is a valid scheme. BOXX pays capital gains on withdrawal but no interest/dividends. So if you withdraw the full amount next year, there is no benefit.
Tag: How We Live Now
Best Books I Read in 2025 that Weren’t Published in 2025
Selections mine. Comments via Amazon. In order of publication date.
The Night of the Gun
David Carr
Publication Date: August 5, 2008
Amazon Best of the Month, August 2008: In his fabulously entertaining The Kid Stays in the Picture, legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans wrote: “There are three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth.” David Carr’s riveting debut memoir, The Night of the Gun, takes this theory to the extreme, as the New York Times reporter embarks on a three-year fact-finding mission to revisit his harrowing past as a drug addict and discovers that the search for answers can reveal many versions of the truth. Carr acknowledges that you can’t write a my-life-as-an-addict story without the recent memoir scandals of James Frey and others weighing you down, but he regains the reader’s trust by relying on his reporting skills to conduct dozens of often uncomfortable interviews with old party buddies, cops, and ex-girlfriends and follow an endless paper trail of legal and medical records, mug shots, and rejection letters. The kaleidoscopic narrative follows Carr through failed relationships and botched jobs, in and out of rehab and all manner of unsavory places in between, with cameos from the likes of Tom Arnold, Jayson Blair, and Barbara Bush. Admittedly, it’s hard to love David Carr–sometimes you barely like the guy. How can you feel sympathy for a man who was smoking crack with his pregnant girlfriend when her water broke? But plenty of dark humor rushes through the book, and knowing that this troubled man will make it–will survive addiction, fight cancer, raise his twin girls–makes you want to stick around for the full 400-page journey. –Brad Thomas Parsons
Planet Funny
Ken Jennings
Publication Date: May 29, 2018
In his “smartly structured, soundly argued, and yes—pretty darn funny” (Booklist, starred review) Planet Funny, Ken Jennings explores this brave new comedic world and what it means—or doesn’t—to be funny in it now. Tracing the evolution of humor from the caveman days to the bawdy middle-class antics of Chaucer to Monty Python’s game-changing silliness to the fast-paced meta-humor of The Simpsons, Jennings explains how we built our humor-saturated modern age, where lots of us get our news from comedy shows and a comic figure can even be elected President of the United States purely on showmanship. “Fascinating, entertaining and—I’m being dead serious here—important” (A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically), Planet Funny is a full taxonomy of what spawned and defines the modern sense of humor.
The Art of Logic in an Illogical World
Eugenia Cheng
Publication Date: September 11, 2018
In a world where fake news stories change election outcomes, has rationality become futile? In The Art of Logic in an Illogical World, Eugenia Cheng throws a lifeline to readers drowning in the illogic of contemporary life. Cheng is a mathematician, so she knows how to make an airtight argument. But even for her, logic sometimes falls prey to emotion, which is why she still fears flying and eats more cookies than she should. If a mathematician can’t be logical, what are we to do? In this book, Cheng reveals the inner workings and limitations of logic, and explains why alogic — for example, emotion — is vital to how we think and communicate. Cheng shows us how to use logic and alogic together to navigate a world awash in bigotry, mansplaining, and manipulative memes. Insightful, useful, and funny, this essential book is for anyone who wants to think more clearly.
The History of Bones
John Lurie
Publication Date: August 17, 2021
In the tornado that was downtown New York in the 1980s, John Lurie stood at the vortex. After founding the band The Lounge Lizards with his brother, Evan, in 1979, Lurie quickly became a centrifugal figure in the world of outsider artists, cutting-edge filmmakers, and cultural rebels. Now Lurie vibrantly brings to life the whole wash of 1980s New York as he developed his artistic soul over the course of the decade and came into orbit with all the prominent artists of that time and place, including Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, Boris Policeband, and, especially, Jean-Michel Basquiat, the enigmatic prodigy who spent a year sleeping on the floor of Lurie’s East Third Street apartment.
New York Times Talks with Food Bank Recipients
speaker 12
There’s already people that have to decide between food and their medicine.olivia natt
Have you ever had to make a choice like that?speaker 12
A couple of times. A couple of times.speaker 2
And it wasn’t for this food bank, here about two months ago, if it weren’t for this food bank, me and my little grandson would have starved for about 10 days. We ate mashed potatoes and macaroni for four days out of this food bank. And I wouldn’t have had nothing to eat with that little boy if I hadn’t’ve — and most of the time, I didn’t eat it all because I’d make sure he had something.anna foley
I’m so sorry.speaker 2
And yes, it’s very upsetting. You can understand that, right? And I think it’s a sad state of affairs when poor people that are not able to work anymore, and I worked, believe me, my whole life, can’t even get a way to eat.[MUSIC PLAYING]
See also:
https://www.foodbankrockies.org/
Food insecurity is the lack of consistent access to enough nutritious food for an active, healthy life due to a lack of money and other resources. It can lead to reduced food intake, disrupted eating patterns, and severe consequences like hunger, poor health, and developmental issues, especially in children. It can be caused by factors like high food prices, unemployment, conflict, and climate change, and affects various populations disproportionately.
— Google AI
Obama Discussing Current State of Affairs
Obama: They never miss a chance to scapegoat minorities and D.E.I. For every problem under the sun. You got a flat tire? D.E.I.. Wife mad at you? D.E.I..
Miscellaneous Chicago Anecdotes – Chaotic Marriage Lamp and Red Line Exorcism
Times are brutal right now- so in an effort to get our minds off of the situation at hand- I have a question. What’s your most bizarre Chicago story- that at the time you didn’t think twice about (because well, Chicago is Chicago)- but later realized the insanity of the situation?
byu/checkyourfuckingbag inchicago
h2opolodude4
I was near the gold coast, walking home from a party at probably 3am on a Tuesday in November. I worked in a bar so weeknights were our party time.
A dude is sitting in an alley, on a kitchen chair, reading a book. A 3rd floor window is open and a woman is screaming/shrieking and I can hear things breaking.
She comes to the window and screams something and throws a lamp at the guy. He’s as calm as a cow at a vegetarian convention and barely reacts other than to catch the lamp.
I ask what’s up, and he says occasionally she gets really mad, kicks him out and throws all sorts of stuff out or at him. They’ve been married a while and he’s used to it, he just waits for her to stop throwing things, and stays at his sister’s place until things calm down. Apparently it’s an annual occurrence and has been for a while.
He doesn’t want to stuff the lamp into his SUV and offers it to me. How could I turn down a chaotic marriage lamp at 3am?!? I still have it, it’s at my parents house in the suburbs plugged in in the basement.
TJ_Fox
I was new to Chicago and exploring the downtown area. A torrential downpour forced me to shelter in an alcove, so I opened the door in hopes of getting further away from the rain. It let to a totally nondescript corridor, like a service corridor, so I followed that around a few corners, down a bunch more blank corridors, until I came to another door. Opened that and suddenly I’m standing in the vast, deserted lobby of a magnificent 19th century hotel, with high, painted ceilings, columns, crystal chandeliers and mirrors on the walls.
Laster research confirmed that I’d simply accidentally entered part of the Pedway and ended up in the lobby of the Palmer House hotel, but it was a surreal time-travel moment when it happened.
svckafvck
I was working at a cupcake shop in wicker park during college, the front windows can open completely like super tall doors. We had them open since it was super nice outside when I just start to hear Elvis playing in the distance. It gets louder and louder, and then I start to hear motorcycles too. All of a sudden, like 100 motorcycles start flying down Milwaukee ave and all the riders are dressed in FULL Elvis costumes, wigs, outfits, the works, and they all have the same Elvis song blasting from their stereos. It passed quickly and I was left just standing at the open windows staring. Honestly hilarious and I was dumbstruck. I was also alone so I had no one to be like … wtf just happened?!?
chimamax
Not terribly exciting, but I always chuckle when I remember it. Years ago, when I was on the blue line headed into the Loop, the train stopped in a tunnel and the lights went out. Probably just 30 seconds in the dark.
When the lights went back on, there was a pigeon sitting in the seat right next to me. Just chilling, as if it was also commuting into the office. It finally moved when I excused myself as my stop was next.
bombyx_amore
I got exorcised on the red line.
I was getting off at the Jackson stop and hadn’t eaten breakfast that morning. Standing up to get off the train took all the blood out of my head, and I passed out about 5 feet onto the platform. Someone helped me to a bench, but I didn’t want to be late for work. So, stayed until I could see again and headed to the escalator. Passed out again at the top and woke up sitting against the wall behind the empty attendant desk.
This woman comes up to me, maybe 50s, small, and asks if I’m ok. She says she’s a nurse. I tell her I’m just lightheaded and will be fine in a minute. She asks if she can lay hands on me. In the back of my cloudy head I knew that sounded familiar, but my dumb ass overrode the warning signal and figured hey, she’s a nurse, she’s just asking permission to help you up.
Nope. She locks eyes with me and presses her hand into my forehead, hard. I think she’s trying to feel for fever but her hand doesn’t move, and then she starts speaking in tongues. Something about Satan is all I catch. She’s yelling now, and I’m definitely awake now, and if the devil were here like she says he would be crazy to stay. At this point the attendant who belongs to the desk runs over and pulls her off of me. I am cured.
I called off work, went home, and took the longest, hottest shower my blood pressure would allow.
Majestic-Selection22
Remember Tilapia and Ryan? A woman overhears another woman (Tilapia) talking about breaking up with her boyfriend Ryan. Reddit tried to warn all the Ryans in Chicago of the impending doom. We will never know if we succeeded but it was a fun couple days.
Wearable Recording Technology – With Artificial Intelligence
Both Ikeda and Comans are software engineers in suburban Sacramento and are just generally really into AI. When Ikeda first broached the idea of buying an AI wearable, partly to record and summarize their conversations about tech, Comans was reluctant.
“I said ‘absolutely not,’” said Comans. “This is a horrible idea. Like, why would I invite this in my life? And why would I put the most intimate moments of my life onto a server on the internet where I don’t know what’s going to happen with it?”
But Ikeda eventually convinced him. They were already sharing so much information online anyway. And at the very least, the Limitless transcripts were supposed to be only accessible to them.
While the technology isn’t perfect — it often mistakes Comans and Ikeda for one another, and doesn’t really understand sarcasm — the couple says, for the most part, it’s been helpful to have their conversations recorded.
Even the fights.
“The fact that it records the like, deeply unflattering things that you say right in a moment of weakness, or when you know you’re being really defensive, is kind of the stuff you really, actually need to see,” said Ikeda.
The Limitless Pendant is just one of a new generation of always-on AI wearables that have recently hit the market. There’s the similar Amazon-backed Bee, a bracelet that records and transcribes everything you say. And there’s the yet-to-be-seen device OpenAI and iPhone designer Jonny Ive are reportedly collaborating on.
The covert recorder wasn’t one of the newest generations of AI wearables. But Miller sees the possibility of a near future where everyone needs to assume they’re being recorded at all times.
It’s made her less trusting and more careful about what she says.
“It’s a strange thing that part of being a human is a weak memory,” said Miller. “We did not evolve to have every single thing we’re saying or doing to be remembered.”
From her perspective, even if AI never forgets, maybe humans still should.
What it’s like to have an AI wearable record everything you say
A new generation of wearable AI gadgets can record, transcribe and analyze your every interaction. Here’s how early adopters say it’s changing their relationships.
No Kings Rally – Denver – October 18, 2025
Hundreds of Thousands Demonstrate – March for Palestine
In the Netherlands, an estimated 250,000 people, most dressed in red, gathered in Amsterdam to press the government to take tougher action against Israel.
Sunday’s protest and march through the Dutch capital comes less than four weeks before national elections. Two “Red Line” demonstrations in The Hague earlier this year also drew tens of thousands of people.
After packing the central Museum Square, the protesters walked through the city center, holding Palestinian flags and peace emblems. One placard read, “Ashamed of the government.”
Sunday’s demonstrations came a day after hundreds of thousands marched in Rome, Barcelona and Madrid in a show of growing international outrage at Israel’s two-year military campaign in Gaza. Smaller rallies took place in Paris, Lisbon, Athens and Skopje, North Macedonia, and in London and Manchester.
Hundreds of thousands march across Europe in support of Palestinians
New York City Bar Association on Unlawful Attacks on Venezuelan Vessels
This September, President Donald J. Trump ordered U. S. military strikes against three private Venezuelan-flagged vessels on the high seas, killing at least 17 individuals and severely damaging or sinking those vessels. A fourth attack, which killed at least four more people, was carried out on October 3. None of these attacks was authorized under U.S. law and, as explained below, each of them appears to be an unlawful summary execution prohibited by both U.S. and international law. Although the President has, without proof, characterized the victims as “terrorists” and drug traffickers, that claim, even if true, provides no justification for these unlawful executions. Even if, as recently reported, the President has communicated to Congress that he has “determined” that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, absent congressional authorization of these military actions, they remain unlawful…
Because the recent attacks on Venezuelan vessels and their crews were unauthorized by U.S. law and in violation of binding international law, they were illegal summary executions – murders. It is imperative that Congress act promptly, as pending legislation proposes, to make clear to the President and the nation that the President’s threat of similar attacks on Venezuelan vessels (and on Venezuela itself) are unlawful and must not be repeated. Only by doing so can Congress bring our nation into compliance with the Constitution and international law, reduce the risk of hostilities with neighboring countries and assure that similar abuses of Presidential power do not expand to American shores.
https://www.nycbar.org/press-releases/unlawful-attacks-on-venezuelan-vessels/
Swimming in Chicago River – First Time Since 1926
DOWNTOWN — For the past 98 years, swimming in the Chicago River was unthinkable.
The once-contaminated river was a dumping ground for industrial pollution and sewage, creating toxic smells that kept would-be swimmers far away.
But today, the Chicago River is cleaner than it was decades ago, and Sunday marked the first time an open-water swim has been held in the river since 1926. Organized by nonprofit A Long Swim, the event celebrated the city’s progress toward cleaning the river while raising money for ALS research and youth swim education programs.
For Olivia Smoliga, a two-time Olympian from suburban Glenview, the opportunity was too historic to pass up. After finishing her one-mile race in first place, she felt ecstatic to be part of history.
Swimmers Return To Chicago River For 1st Time In A Century, Marking Dramatic Transformation
Hundreds of swimmers dove into the Chicago River on Sunday to raise money for ALS research and highlight the river’s rebound after years of pollution and unsafe conditions.
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Member of Antifa
I Know a Guy Economy
Cringe – Fake vs Authentic – Viral Hit Interpretation
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/20/nx-s1-5507263/it-pays-to-be-cringe-lean-in
According to the internet, Brendan Abernathy was unequivocally cringe.
Abernathy is a singer-songwriter living in Texas who went viral earlier this year for an earnest performance of his song “married in a year.” He was relatively unknown before this moment, but the video garnered millions of views along with countless parody videos from comedians and social media users.
Ramtin Arablouei, co-host of NPR’s Throughline, spoke to Abernathy about how to cope with the criticism and shares his insights with It’s Been a Minute host, Brittany Luse. They also get into the rise of cringe culture: where it comes from, how it’s hurting us, and how leaning into cringe is good for art.
Episode Highlights
What happens when a “cringe” video goes viral?BRENDAN ABERNATHY: It was really hard. Also, some of it was really funny. And I can recognize both of those things at the same time.
ARABLOUEI: Well, what parts of it were hard?
ABERNATHY: People were treating me like I’m selling out stadiums … I’m struggling to sell a hundred tickets, and people are acting like I’m some massive industry plant who they can just tear down. It’s like, you can’t tear me down, guys. I’m poor. I lived out of my car for four years. You can’t really tear me down any more than I’m already down.
ABERNATHY: You hope for a long time that you’re going to get a breakthrough into – just more ears having an opportunity to hear your music. And then when it happens and you’re getting mocked, laughed at, told to take your own life, you know, whatever, it – it’s just really confusing because everything that I know about myself and my music, the internet is saying the polar opposite of that. If you searched my name on TikTok, the third result was, Brendan Abernathy fake. That’s what hurt the most, was that everything I’ve built my life on, which is being authentic and being vulnerable, I was being viewed [as] the complete opposite of that. That’s what hurt. And most people who reacted negatively – it created this, ew, cringe.
You Never Know with Limp Bizkit Fans
Memes as Form of Business Communication
And organized levity is now an expected part of professional life, especially in sectors like tech. A friend of mine briefly worked for a massive Internet search company that will remain nameless. He told me that the buzzy new time-waster at work was trying to handle as much internal communication as possible not with e-mail or instant messaging, but with funny memes. A whole platform was designed from scratch to facilitate this dubious-but-“fun” goal. If the boss from Office Space pops up on your screen saying “That’d be great,” that’s a Level Three problem. But if Rambo pops up, uh-oh. That’s a Level Five. You might be working late tonight. “Considerable time and effort has gone into developing this tool,” my friend said, smiling ruefully.
Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our Culture
Ken Jennings