katiezookat

[katiezookat]

I got my car Hades back in 2015. My previous car got T-boned and I went hunting for a car that would tick my boxes. First box: it had to be a manual. They’re more pleasant to drive, cheaper to fix, and generally get better gas mileage. The nice lady at the dealership tried to argue automatic transmissions are the same cost to fix. Sure, Jan.

My new car also had to be a hatchback because I liked the shape and because it opened the door to adventuring as well as providing better storage if I needed to fit bigger stuff in the back.

Last, it needed to be a fun color. Truthfully I wanted green or orange or purple, but cars are woefully boring these days.

So I went out and I found Hades, a bright red Ford Fiesta. I loved her at once and she’s been a plucky and reliable vehicle for ten years at this point, seeing me safely along on road trips and daily commutes.

My beloved wife had a Ford Focus which died unexpectedly a few months ago, and we acquired Pomegranate, a pretty burgundy Nissan Leaf. Now, Pomegranate was intended to be my beloveds new commuter. But the kid at the dealership fully lied about her range and the reality is that unless my beloved wants to charge for an hour after they get off work they need to take Hades.

I don’t mind. I can’t park Pomegranate worth a damn but she gets me to and from my much closer commute just fine.

My beloved grouses about taking Hades though. “She’s your car in spirit, I wish I were taking Pomegranate.” I commiserated. If we move to get closer to my beloveds work we can switch back.

One day we got into Hades to go run an errand and my music started playing on Bluetooth. My Bluetooth had previously been turned off but it often automatically pairs to Hades.

My beloved huffed, “That’s how I know Hades is your car. I have an intricate ritual to get her to acknowledge my Bluetooth but for you she’ll just turn it on and play.”

It’s cute. I’m sure there’s a real tech answer for this phenomena but I don’t want to hear it. I like to think my car loves me.

[katiezookat]

Big Insurance Uses AI to Quickly Deny Claims, One Man Fights Back with AI App That Quickly Appeals

"The idea that American health insurance companies are using AI to analyze and adjudicate claims for approval or denial sounds terrifying, but one North Carolinian is using AI to fight back.

When Raleigh resident Neal Shah had a claim denied for his wife’s chemotherapy drugs, he thought it was rare, that he was the only one, that it was just bad luck.

Litigating his case on phone calls that lasted for hours changed the husband and father, and he set about creating a sophisticated app that uses artificial intelligence to compare claims denial forms against health insurance contracts, before automatically drafting an appeal letter.

“For a doctor to write this, it’s not rocket science, but it still takes hours,” Shah told ABC News 11, adding that a well-written appeal letter, sent in immediately, can sometimes get denials reversed within days or weeks, but most people either don’t know they can appeal, or don’t know on what grounds they can appeal.

In fact, according to Shah’s research, 850 million claims denials occur every year, and less than 1% are ever appealed.

That’s where Counterforce Health comes in, a startup that’s created a free-to-use app for claims denials.

It’s all the more critical a service now that health insurance companies, already armed with statewide government-protected pseudo monopolies and duopolies, are using AI to deny claims within seconds of them being filed.

“Before, you used to have a reason you would deny it, and you used to have a doctor review or a nurse review it, but once AI rolled out, they could just have AI deny it,” Shah explained.

For Counterforce Health, Shah brought onboard Riyaa Jadhav, a Jill of all trades who has helped grow and expand the undertaking through her experience in both the business world and working alongside patients at Johns Hopkins University Hospital.

Together, they’ve built Counterforce to the point where it boasts a 70% success rate in appealing claims.

Thousands have already logged on; many going on to use the service.

“Sometimes when enough people get loud, enough people put pressure, then I think all of a sudden society wakes up, so I really feel like it’s really about to click,” Shah said.

-via Good News Network, August 5, 2025

Here's the link to this organization, by the way. According to their numbers, less than 1% of denials in the US are appealed, but 75% of appeals are approved. This could do so much good.

And another source for validity:

-via NBC News, July 18, 2025

[katiezookat]

what do I have to do to go to events where people are dressed nicely and there are plates of free cheese cubes

[katiezookat]

the weed dispensaries should ask if you would like to round up your purchase to donate to PBS. and if you say yes you get to scan a QR code that gives you 30-day free access to the full run of antiques roadshow. this is how drugs can win the war on drugs again.

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If it ain't broke, Trump'll break it. #immigration

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I'm volunteering for a literary journal right now and there's two things I think you all should know.

1. Most people that submit to literary journals are cis white men. We know this because our journal has an anonymous survey about demographics for people that submit.

2. Most things that get submitted to the creative non fiction section are on the level of middle school "What I did over the summer" essays.

I cannot see the demographics of the people whose essays I'm reading, but guys, if you are wondering if you should submit your work to a literary journal or not, I promise you that just in terms of statistics there are a lot of mediocre cis white men and people in general confidently submitting weird crap that isn't literature to literature magazines. Do it. Submit your work. Please. If you want there to be more diversity in literature, be the diversity. Do it. Do it do it do it.

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Y'know Dracula got lucky with the fact that his name is still reasonable backwards. Imagine if Godzilla, Frankenstein, or Mothman had to do that shtick? Allizdog, Nietsneknarf, and Namhtom would not be very inconspicuous. Any you can think of that could pull it off?

I can't come up with a cogent response because I'm stuck on the mental image of Godzilla needing to adopt an alias in order to buy real estate.

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not to be a dirty commie or anything but i don't think any one person should have enough money to solve world hunger and then get to decide not to

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kids deserve so much more respect and it turns out that saying that is a great way to locate the horrible people in any community <3

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"this thing is rare and only affects 1% of the population" dude that's 80 million people can you shut up

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This is literally my favorite tweet of all time. It’s so powerful.

She Freaken Forgor Me

[katiezookat]

bro LMFAOOOO

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A quiet life..

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10000 YEAR OLD ROCK ART OF GIRAFFES FOUND IN LIBYA LET'S GO