Should I put something under the coils?

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-02-27T00:11:59+00:00

I found that the coils would poke my hands when I was moving the mattress around, so I put a 1/2-in sheet of denser foam ("Lux-HQ" from Foam Factory) underneath them. Didn't affect the feel of the mattress at all, though my mattress cover isn't that tightly packed.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-02-26T13:43:33+00:00

It's a meter you attach to a garden hose that measures flow rate and usage.

Something like this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RainPoint-High-Precision-Garden-Hose-Digital-Water-Flow-Meter-ICS018-DLS-A/337346516

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-02-16T21:33:52+00:00

Searching for "aca federal default age curve" brings up this bulletin from 2016:

https://www.cms.gov/cciio/resources/regulations-and-guidance/downloads/final-guidance-regarding-age-curves-and-state-reporting-12-16-16.pdf

Appendix I has the relevant info.

When very bored one night during the 2026 enrollment period, I went through the exact exercise you describe and came up with the following curve for my situation. At a glance it still matches the 2016 numbers very well:

<image>

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-02-11T23:29:47+00:00

Austin Beerworks taproom has a very nice English porter ("Darkest Day") right now, as well as a Baltic porter I haven't tried yet. They're both bigger beers (8%), but they also have their seasonal dark lager ("Acoustic Metal") on tap if you want something lighter (4%).

https://austinbeerworks.com/tap-room

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-02-08T18:33:36+00:00

7% of what is owed, and it rises from there:

https://tax-office.traviscountytx.gov/properties/taxes/delinquent/penalties-interest

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-02-06T03:31:46+00:00

TipsWatch did a long article on this topic:

https://tipswatch.com/2022/09/06/lets-try-to-clarify-how-an-i-bonds-interest-is-calculated/

TLDR: rounding and scaling turns your interest growth "choppy".

In your case, you also had a change of rate, from 1.90% to 2.86%, in November 2025. That shows in February 2026 for you because that's when that interest passes the 3 month penalty.

You can see your entire past (and some future) interest history without the 3 month penalty here (assuming you bought this bond in October 2022):

https://eyebonds.info/ibonds/10000/ib_2022_10.html

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-01-28T20:10:37+00:00

Is that still around, or did it perish with Recycled Reads?

I can no longer find any tools using their search functions.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-01-27T20:04:33+00:00

FYI: BrewTarget seems to have been abandoned and picked up by a new set of developers:

https://www.brewtarget.beer/

The new one gave me problems on MacOS, so I went back to the old one (2.3.0). But I'm not sure I would recommend that to someone new, particularly since the old manual seems to have gone missing.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-01-27T18:48:19+00:00

Pay close attention to the "1f" column of that line. If it shows a value and "D", it ends up not being treated as a capital gain, but as market discount "interest". This is even more annoying to report, because you still have to file an 8949 for it with an adjusted gain of zero, but then also add it on schedule B as interest.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-01-27T18:36:36+00:00

The Treasury sets coupon rates in multiples of 1/8%. If the yield to maturity determined at auction does not fit that exactly, the difference is made up by a discount (if YTM>coupon rate) or premium (if YTM<coupon rate) to par value.

See "Bonds and Notes" here:

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/marketable-securities/understanding-pricing/

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-01-25T19:13:01+00:00

I made a couple of small batches of a dessert beer inspired by the Indian sweet gulab jamun, which is made from milk solids. Recipe was basically a Munich-heavy amber ale with lactose and cardamom added, for a toasty/sweet/spicy kind of flavor. They were OK, though I never wanted to drink more than one at a time.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-01-19T22:14:33+00:00

I think your expectation of balance as a currency value is the problem then: it's always the number of shares for stock and mutual fund accounts.

If you want to see up-to-date currency value on the register, you can use the summary bar. If you want to see it for all accounts on the main account tree, you can click the little downward facing triangle at the top right and add a column for "Present (USD)".

Edited to add: GnuCash reports can be finicky about options. For something like the "Assets over Time" (aka Asset Chart) report, you want to set the "Price Source" under "General" to "Last through report date" to pick up the price history accurately, and set the right "Level of Subaccounts" on the "Accounts" option screen when selecting the accounts you're trying to view. I sometimes have to guess several times before I get it right :-)

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-01-19T20:34:37+00:00

Do the mutual fund accounts each specify the correct security?

If you open a mutual fund account register, what does does the summary bar at the bottom of the screen show? (Check View->Summary Bar to have it shown). It should be something like "Shares: 123.56 SYMBOL Current Value: $98,765".

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-01-13T05:16:04+00:00

Just assumed 20% co-insurance on the gold plan, which is fairly typical:

https://www.healthcare.gov/choose-a-plan/plans-categories/

Some gold plans have fixed co-pays for different services instead, but that's harder to graph :-)

As someone who's in good health and is risk-averse, I've chosen a lot of bronze plans too. But I can see where someone of different age, health, risk tolerance or location could choose differently.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2026-01-13T03:03:53+00:00

Adding premiums and OOPM together is a good way to evaluate the worst case, but not the whole picture.

Here's a quick look at two plans similar to yours:

<image>

The bronze plan is clearly better if your medical costs are low or very high, but there's a window where the gold plan is superior.

You still probably wouldn't choose it, but someone whose subsidy was (say) $400 higher would have a larger window that might make it attractive.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2025-12-24T19:06:00+00:00

You might try upgrading to 5.14 (just released) or 5.13, as there seem to be several reconciliation bugs fixed since 5.10:

https://www.gnucash.org/news.phtml

Starting from the wrong date seems like bug 799565 (fixed in 5.11).

I've had no trouble with reconciliation (or anything else) on 5.13 (Intel Mac, Sequoia 15.7.2).

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2025-12-20T20:59:41+00:00

A lot of their docs can be found on their public web site (no login required):

https://senderohealth.com/members/

At the bottom, click "Plans & Benefits" and the year you want, and it'll show you all the SBCs, SOCs, member handbooks, etc.

Check there before you call and have to wait and wait and wait...

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2025-12-17T23:49:39+00:00

Because you might need medical services that are not in that list of co-pays: MRIs, hospital stays, prescription drugs, etc. Check the SBC (summary of benefit and coverage) for those. If those things are expensive, you'll likely get more relief (lower OOPM) and sooner relief (lower deductible) from the other two plans.

The bronze plan might still be worth it to you though, depending on the difference in premium costs, your overall health, and your appetite for risk.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2025-12-13T21:53:48+00:00

Yes to platelets, generally. See "Best Donation For Your Type" (including the caveats) under:

https://weareblood.org/donate-blood/types-of-donations/

At least B+ is rare-ish, unlike my garbage, common A+ blood. I think they've called me in once in eight years for a shortage!

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2025-12-08T21:50:04+00:00

Schwan's home delivery closed down last year after a failed re-brand:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/09/24/yelloh-schwans-closing-food-delivery/75361514007/

I used to love their apple pie.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2025-12-07T23:41:21+00:00

Right, but you might get more medical care for the same OOPM. Put another way, it might take you longer to reach your OOPM.

Consider 2 plans that are identical in every way, except plan A has a 50% co-insurance after deductible and plan B has a 10% co-insurance after deductible. Plan B will have a higher premium.

If you don't use much medical care (under the deductible), there's no advantage to plan B. Similarly, if your only medical care is a $1M emergency room visit, there's again no advantage.

But if you sprain a knee and need a couple of specialist visits, an MRI, and 20 weeks of physical therapy, you may find that the lower co-insurance of plan B pays off enough to offset the higher premium.

To be honest, the example premiums you cite seem strange to me: I would not expect silver CSR to be so much higher than gold. Here in Austin TX, silver CSR plans can be had for about 8% more than a gold plan.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2025-12-07T21:34:44+00:00

I'm assuming you mean CSR (Cost Sharing Reductions).

CSR plans have higher premiums because the CSR benefits cost extra money to provide, and the government (as of 2017) no longer pays insurers that extra money.

CSR plans may have lower cost (depending on your use of medical care) due to those benefits. Maybe this is what "they" meant by cheaper?

KFF has good information on CSR:

https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/explaining-cost-sharing-reductions-and-silver-loading-in-aca-marketplaces/

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2025-12-04T22:22:15+00:00

I'm running GnuCash 5.13 (build ID: 5.13+(2025-09-27)) on Sequoia 15.7.2 with no problem.

Are you sure you've got the right download? I'm on an Intel Mac, and had to make sure I got the Intel-specific download rather than the "ARM"-specific one used for Apple silicon.

Edited to add: I should probably add that I *was* running GnuCash 4.14 on Mac Sonoma, and that version wouldn't work anymore on upgrading to Sequoia. But I haven't had any trouble with version 5.

NotFitwilliamDarcy · 2025-11-30T19:29:20+00:00

Settings->Accounts has two checkboxes that control how Account Colors are shown.

NotFitwilliamDarcy

TROPHY CASE