Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 01:41:15 -0400
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Telnet and Insurance [was: Re: [WSFA] Re: Minutes]
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

At 12:43 AM 5/12/05 -0400, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
>"Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com> wrote:
>
>> What application is it?
>
>IE under XP.  I simply type telnet://panix.com/ for the URL.  I'm
>pleased to see that it defaults to light-on-dark, unlike everything
>else.

That's probably running the same telnet software you get in the command
prompt with "telnet".  From what I've seen, it's a pretty basic telnet
implementation.  If you want to try another, check out TeraTermPro.  It's
free, and you can set the screen colors.  It's still pretty basic, but more
configurable than the Windows built-in...one thing for instance is being
able to set what happens with newlines on send and receive.  There's also
an add-on (also free) that adds SSH capability, making it TeraTermSSH (SSH
1 only though...it doesn't do SSH 2).  Info and download here:

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html

I know it runs under NT, and probably 2000.  I haven't tried it on XP, but
I suspect it will work...it's not a complex Windows app.

>> Have you considered IMAP or POP to access mail remotely?  IMAP might
>> work better from work, as it leaves the mail in your mailbox on your
>> other machine rather than relocating it as POP does.
>
>I'm using a shell account, which doesn't relocate anything.  Panix is
>effectively my home machine -- all my important files, including the
>complete archives of this list, the WSFA website, my email address
>book, my web bookmarks, and my last seven years of incoming and
>outgoing email and saved newsgroup postings are stored there or on
>another ISP.  When I check my email, I'm using the PC at work only as
>a dumb terminal.  It's nice that that PC has enough spare disk space
>to store several centuries of my email, but I don't plan to use any of
>it for that.

Well, you could always set up a Linux machine at home, on a DSL connection
with a static IP address and use something like Fetchmail to get your mail
onto it, then use POP and/or IMAP to read it from elsewhere...or not. ;-)

>And I like to sit at the table, so I can take notes without
>losing the ability to raise my hand.

Pilots use a clipboard strapped to one thigh...I have a couple of them from
when I was learning to fly.  Not as good as a table, but usable.

>I have two more weeks to decide whether to opt for medical insurance.
>It would take a big bite out of my meager salary.  Perhaps I'll see if
>I can get it just long enough to get new glasses, then cancel.  Since
>being uninsured only subtracts a month of life expectancy on average,
>it's not really worth having if it costs enormously more than one
>earns in a month.

It's not the life expectancy (i.e. end of life treatments) I worry about,
it's the cost of treatment for less-than-life-threatening conditions...like
broken bones, infections, cuts, burns, etc., and the
only-life-threatening-if-untreated ones, like minor heart attacks, ashthma,
treatable cancer, etc. that I want insurance for.  It changes the gamble of
all I own, and will earn, into a sure loss of an afordable amount.  Without
insurance I may pay nothing, or I may pay tens or hundreds of thousands of
dollars, depending on what happens to me.  With insurance I lose a fixed
number of dollars out of every paycheck instead.

If you don't go for the insurance benefit and self-insure yourself, you
might want to at least look into an "umbrella" policy that kicks in after
some large deductable (whatever you are prepared to cover on your own...if.
 The higher the deductible, the lower the premiums for the umbrella) so you
don't end up in debt for life due to a single event.  When I was 25 I
didn't care a lot about insurance...sprains from sports were my most likely
medical issue, and actually happened.  These days there are a lot more, and
more expensive, possibilities.  Insurance isn't perfect, and getting worse
all the time, but it's better than nothing IMO.

-- Mike B.
--

"Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity.  It eliminates
 dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the business of hate,
 debauchery, and self-annihilation."
                                            -- Johnny Hart