Witness1970

Why don’t we write in cursive anymore? https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQgMCXPRmXnbcBbFrxPXcljqRJJ

I was thinking of someone who already had a mortgage from years ago which was a fixed rate mortgage. Currently the mortgage rates very high with no hope of them going any lower in the near future.

I would only have a fixed rate mortgage. The adjustable-rate mortgages can get you in trouble in later years if the rate increases. With a low fixed-rate mortgage, it would be better to invest the money in an index fund and let it grow. Eventually you would have a paid off house and a large amount of money invested. If you are barely able to pay your mortgage, there would not be much left to invest.

With the transfer portal, a player might start for the Georgia Bulldogs one season and start for the Miami Hurricanes the next. (That player was known for winning games but never could deliver a championship.) It is really hard to keep up with players. Another thing that caused me to start losing interest a decade ago was all the injuries. Seeing a really good player get drafted by the pros and play one season, then he gets injured and now he functions mentally the same as a ten-year-old child is not acceptable. College age players dying due to an injury is too much for me. How about a game where the defense controls the ball and the offense can score without ever touching the ball???!!!

The TSP plan at the Post Office never had a ROTH option until this year. I am looking at my TSP (401K) and the taxes to decide how much, if any, to convert. It's best to convert right after you retire and before RMD's start coming out. Too late for me.

I am actually doing away with the CD's. When each one matures, I put the money in stock investments. On the CDs you have to pay taxes on the interest each year. On the stocks you just pay capital gains taxes when you sell them. If you don't ever sell them they just keep growing. If you're brave you can take out a loan on the assets and invest that money also.

One problem right now for retired people is Required Minimum Distributions (RMD's). It depends on how much money you have in a traditional IRA or traditional 401K. The RMD's affect the amount of taxes you will pay on Social Security. If you have a very large amount of money in the traditional IRA or 401k it can also trigger an Income Related Medicare Adjustment Amount (IRMAA), The income used to determine IRMAA is your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) — which is your AGI plus tax-exempt interest and dividends from muni bonds — from two years ago. Your 2024 MAGI determines your IRMAA in 2026. Your 2025 MAGI determines your IRMAA in 2027. Your 2026 MAGI determines your IRMAA in 2028. https://thefinancebuff.com/medicare-irmaa-income-brackets.html At age 73, you have to take out 3.77% of the money in that year. At age 120 you are required to take out 50% of whatever is left. RMD tables can be seen here. You can avoid RMD's by doing a ROTH conversion, but you have to pay the taxes on the full amount of the conversion in the year you make the conversion.

There are some people that eat fast food very often. And you will note that I said I walked to a ball game and stopped at Dairy Queen for a hamburger and a drink. When I was still working, I would drive by several fast-food restaurants. I am not saying the fast food is the only cause but for some people it is a major contributor. Also walking to a ball game and driving to work was also important. Unlike you there are people who eat fast food almost daily. I agree about the High fructose corn syrup being the biggest problem. But i think there are other things that also contribute to the problem.

Type 2 diabetes is the adult-onset diabetes. It is not insulin dependent and is much easier to treat than type 1 diabetes. I had a niece with type 1 diabetes which she had from the time she was a teenager until she died at the age of 40. I have believed in "fasting for your health" for the past 35 years. I have fasted on 3 occasions, but only for 3 days each time. If I tried fasting now, I would have to stop my medication. I went without eating once (just for one day) while still taking prescription medicines. It upset my stomach really bad.

In the 1960's was also the time when fast food franchises started popping up everywhere. In the 1950's eating at Dairy Queen was rare treat for many. For me it might be once a week when I was walking to a ball game across town. In the 1960's you would drive by a fast food joint constantly.

A All of the answer I gave came from ChatGPT. I am no expert, but what I got from ChatGPT seemed reasonable to me.

ChatGPT answer You can’t exactly “reverse” diabetes in the sense of making it disappear permanently—but you can control it very effectively, and in some cases (especially with Type 2 Diabetes), people can achieve remission. What that means depends on the type of diabetes you have. First: Which type matters Type 1 Diabetes This is an autoimmune condition. It can’t be reversed—you’ll always need insulin—but you can manage it very well with medication, diet, and monitoring. Type 2 Diabetes This is often linked to lifestyle and insulin resistance. This can sometimes be put into remission with consistent changes. How people improve or reverse Type 2 diabetes (remission) 1. Weight loss (if overweight) Losing even 5–10% of your body weight can significantly improve blood sugar. Larger weight loss (10–15%+) has been shown to push some people into remission. 2. Diet changes Focus on stabilizing blood sugar: Cut back on sugar, refined carbs (white bread, soda, sweets) Eat more: Vegetables Lean protein (fish, chicken, beans) Healthy fats (nuts, olive oil) Consider structured approaches: Low-carb diet Mediterranean diet Portion control 3. Exercise regularly Aim for 150 minutes/week (like brisk walking) Add strength training 2–3×/week Exercise improves how your body uses insulin almost immediately. 4. Improve insulin sensitivity Sleep 7–9 hours Reduce stress Avoid smoking and excess alcohol 5. Medication (if needed) Doctors may prescribe: Metformin (commonly first-line) Newer drugs (GLP-1 or SGLT2 inhibitors) Even if your goal is remission, medication can help you get there safely. 6. In some cases: bariatric surgery For people with obesity, surgery can lead to dramatic improvements or remission. What “remission” actually means Normal blood sugar levels No medication (or much less) But you still need to maintain lifestyle changes—diabetes can come back Important reality check There’s no quick fix or supplement that “cures” diabetes overnight. Be cautious of anything promising a miracle reversal.

Many years ago I had a sleep study. I went to a sleep clinic and had wires attached to my head. I slept there one night and about 2 AM I was fitted with a CPAP machine. I was told that I was waking up about 50 times per hour. Not coming completely awake, but just enough for my body to start breathing again. I was totally unaware that I was waking up at all during those times. After the failure of the original CPAP machine, I was told to stop using it. They were supposed to send me a new machine that did not give off poison gas. I waited several months and then talked to a doctor about it. I have a watch that measures oxygen level while I sleep. It showed my oxygen level going below 90% several times at night. I was told by a worker at the medical supply that "sounds like you need oxygen." I didn't bother to try to explain that if I stopped breathing that oxygen would make no difference. After 10 months I finally got a new CPAP from a different company. The original company finally got caught up enough to send me a new CPAP machine. I sent it back and kept using the machine I had recently received. I had told them that I no longer needed a replacement machine, but they sent me one anyway. The second sleep study was done with a small nickel sized device that was taped to my finger. I had to use it 2 nights but was not required to leave home for the test. I mailed the device back and a nurse wrote a prescription. She had the machine set for 20 instead of 10 like the original machine. I struggled to breathe with the machine set so high. They refused to change the pressure until the nurse wrote a new prescription. One thing that should be known about the oxygen meters that are used on the finger. One black woman was constantly showing 98% oxygen level whenever she went to the doctor. She was having health problems, and it was finally figured out that her oxygen level was low. The oxygen meter at the doctor's office read wrong because of her black skin. It would always read 98% but it was not getting good readings. A little off the subject is the So Clean devices. They use a process with ionized air. I could explain it better if I had a better understanding. The So Clean device has never been approved. Is it safe? I don't know. It has never been approved for use by any agency.

23 and Me didn't have much of a business plan apparently. That's why it is a failing company. Ancestry is still thriving because they had other things working for them. The DNA was just an added feature. Connecting some part of DNA to a region is a little different then connecting your DNA to a certain parentage. You get 50% of your DNA randomly from each parent. After several generations that mix gets more diluted. You might not share ANY DNA with an ancestor that was 50 generations back that would show that he was a relative. Some DNA that controls the body would be similar. If he was bipedal, had blonde hair and blue eyes that would not prove ancestry. A lot of DNA has nothing to do with ancestry. Comparing the DNA of a horse and a dog would have some common DNA such as what controls the fact that they both have 4 legs, eyes, ears, and a mouth, etc. Those similarities do not prove that a dog is related to a horse.

DNA is a very complex thing. Can we actually say that we have Neanderthal DNA? Some of the DNA controls how many legs we have. That part of the DNA would be the similar for all bipedal animals. Everyone gets 50% of their DNA randomly from each parent. You might not have any DNA in common with an ancestor that lived a thousand years ago. A DNA test might not be able to tell someone was your ancestor that long ago. Of course, there is more to DNA than just the tests that find relatives. It is a very complex subject.