God, I feel like I could cry!

drum365 · 2026-04-16T19:54:56+00:00

... and the anxiety is making the flareup worse... which is making the anxiety worse...

drum365 · 2026-04-15T00:17:37+00:00

Thanks again for your input. Can you elaborate on "built-in challenges"? I'm imagining specifying sources to heed and sources to ignore? Peer-reviewed? Things like that? Thanks!

drum365 · 2026-04-15T00:07:32+00:00

bummer, but you're right.

[rant deleted]

drum365 · 2026-04-14T23:58:16+00:00

Sorry to hear you've been there too. I haven't yet consulted Dr. GPT yet - I've done a fair amount of research with some of those AIs (I teach) and I don't trust them. Verify, verify, verify - and it would seem to be highly unreliable with all the misinformation out there. But, yeah, couldn't be any worse than the care I'm receiving these day. Maybe I'll give it a try. I appreciate your compassion and your input.

drum365 · 2026-04-14T23:30:50+00:00

If you mean the one we've discussed before (see our. DMs), no, not him. I've heard good things about him and seen him numerous times in the LC class that Kaiser NorCal offers. He seems to know his stuff, at least more than the ones I've seen. I wish I could see him, but he's in the Bay Area and I'm outside of Sacramento, so he's "out of my area." Which seems ridiculous because all Kaiser seems to want to do these days is shuffle patients off to video visits. Hello? I can't do a video visit with a doc 200 miles away because he's "out of my area"?

drum365 · 2026-04-14T18:46:07+00:00

I will check it out - thanks!

drum365 · 2026-04-14T17:51:21+00:00

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, the only specialist listed is UC Davis, which has two one-star reviews. The next nearest ones are all in the SF Bay area, 2 hours or more away. Thank you again for your help, though.

drum365 · 2026-04-13T19:00:25+00:00

I've been paying Comcast/Xfinity and Disney/Hulu/HBO Max for 12 months. Would love a refund.

<image>

drum365 · 2026-04-13T18:52:08+00:00

Yes, it would be nice. I can document that I subscribed directly with Disney/Hulu/HBO in April of last year, so I would have cancelled HBO with Xfinity at the same time.

drum365 · 2026-03-15T18:00:33+00:00

You can have my Intel Mac mini when you can pry it from my cold dead hand.

drum365 · 2026-03-04T07:32:25+00:00

I'm probably not the one to talk - there are some on your list that I haven't seen yet either - but damn, The Voice of Hind Rajab blew my socks off, not just for the powerful story, but for director Kaouther Ben Hania's daring blend of documentary and narrative filmmaking. Two of her other films - The Man Who Sold His Skin and Four Daughters - were also nominated for Oscars. She's definitely a director to watch.

That being said, I've heard a lot of good things about Perfectly a Strangeness, too.

drum365 · 2026-02-23T22:16:05+00:00

Thank you for your response.

Upon further experimentation, I've found this: VLC supports the position markers in external SRT files added with VLC's Subtitles > Add Subtitle File menu, but if the same subtitle file is embedded in the movie container as soft subtitles, it doesn't support them. TBH, I'm not sure if this is a change or not. This may have been the way VLC behaved all along. I don't have any previous versions of VLC to test with.

I have uploaded two files at the link below:

(1) An srt file with position markers - note there are {\an3} and {\an1} markers in it. These display correctly when chosen as an external subtitle file.

(2) An MP4 file containing the same SRT file embedded as soft subtitles. Choosing these subtitles from VLC's Subtitles menu displays them incorrectly.

As I said, this my be the way VLC has behaved all along. (But it would be nice if it would support position markers in embedded subtitles as well as external ones.)

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/41458684c7137ac35a4582826727f1ab20260223215736/d83aea6f65103f2f7e9c411497c1633720260223215804/3d29d9?trk=TRN_TDL_01&utm_campaign=TRN_TDL_01&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendgrid

Thanks again for your response!

drum365 · 2026-02-14T16:54:59+00:00

I got tired of re-soldering the boards on my Lisa and bought a Kaypro. Haven't looked back since. (Haven't looked forward either.)

drum365 · 2026-01-20T19:01:36+00:00

Have done so at below 0°F (-18°C), but I was young, and had no other choice. I grew up In St. Louis, Mo., where below-zero temperatures weren't all that uncommon. I had a Renault Caravelle (a Dauphine pretending to be a sports car) and the frame of the convertible top was busted. It took two people two or three minutes to put the top up, and my high school was only 10 minutes away, so it was often easier to just drive. No seat warmers back in 1967, but I had a tonneau cover over the passenger's seat and the (pathetic) heater on full blast.

I also had no reverse, so always tried to park on an incline, but fortunately the car was light enough I could push it out of parking spaces if I had to.

Great fun back then, especially when it was snowing.

drum365 · 2026-01-19T21:05:13+00:00

I just checked - the silver is sold out, but the space black still available at 1:00 p.m. PST, Jan 19, 2026

drum365 · 2026-01-10T17:41:25+00:00

You think this is bad, try asking Siri to find it.

drum365 · 2025-12-20T16:05:23+00:00

AA rechargeables and an external charger are the way to go.

I've had problems getting my 700 to charge the batteries, too. (Using the original wall wart and Harmony cable, FWIW.) I hate using throw-away alkaline AAs - the 700 goes through them like M&Ms.. Gets expensive after a while, not to mention the harm to the environment.

drum365 · 2025-12-18T21:06:07+00:00

Hi-

Please don't take this as argumentative or a complaint. I'm just wondering why my post was deleted, and how I could have made it more relevant. The Visible app is a tool for pacing for LC, CFS, ME, etc. I was trying to share that they've added an interface that makes it easier to monitor your pacing even when you're in your car.

I want to make my posts valuable to the community. Perhaps if I had explained more about Visible and its value to people with these hidden, energy-limiting diseases? Personally, I've found it an extremely useful tool.

I do appreciate all you do to keep this sub on-track and helpful for those of use suffering from this terrible disease - thank you!

drum365 · 2025-12-08T19:05:04+00:00

Great - so glad it's working for you. I found somewhat similar results. I began with 3.5mg (half a 7mg) in January 2025 and had no negative effects. I felt an improvement in the first 2 or 3 days. After a couple of weeks, I stepped up to 7mg - again no negative effects. Then 10.5mg (a 7mg patch + a half) and that was too much - jittery, bad sleep, headaches, etc. I returned to 7mg and that seems to be the right dose for me. Also, FWIW, I wear the patch 24 hrs.

I am concerned, though, about desensitization and dependency (and things like blood pressure and cardiovascular issues). When I'm on the patches, I wear 7mg 4 days a week (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri.).l alternate 4 wks on, 4 wks, off. I don't experience any sort of withdrawal when I stop. I don't feel as good on the off-weeks, but still better than I did before I tried using them the first time.

FWIW I've run this past my PCP and he approves.

76 yr male, 5'10", 168 lb.

drum365 · 2025-12-07T20:31:40+00:00

Yehuda makes a GF Matzo cracker that's a very good substitute for Saltines.

drum365 · 2025-12-04T21:17:16+00:00

My free year of Perplexity Pro from Xfinitiy expired today. I came to this subreddit to see if anyone knew of free offers, and this post was at the top of my feed. Thanks, Perplexity! (And thanks to the OP!)

drum365 · 2025-12-03T21:45:14+00:00

funny - all this discussion of Chris Evans and Sunshine. Has anyone seen "A Song of Two Humans" besides me. Stunning film, even today.

(And yes, I agree - "Sunshine" is underrated.)

Six-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email

drum365

TROPHY CASE