Wisecrack-cum-bit of research written in preparation for the Deep Hurting Project Exorcist II: The Heretic review that ended up becoming aborted because nobody at my local library noticed it was missing since 2018:

Pazuzu is not a scary name. It sounds like Harlequin's embarassing mentally challenged cousin in a particularly bad commedia dell'arte. There's a reason the 1973 film never used it. Namely, it sounds really fucking stupid. Yes, I know Pazuzu was actually an evil spirit in the ancient religions of Mesopotamia, but frankly, looking into the actual Pazuzu legends makes the connection make even less sense, since, according to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, "Pazuzu was the most popular of these protective deities. He was mainly called upon to keep Lamashtu from murdering unborn or newly born babies but seems to have also been invoked against disease, impotency, and the ill effects of the west wind and south-west wind which blew from the direction of the land of the dead; the very winds Pazuzu himself controlled.He is imagined as an especially frightening figure capable of scaring off any lesser demon or ghost."

Received a piece of mail today from the hospital where I spent a few hours in the ER a couple weeks ago. It is a letter letting me know they are going to send me a bill. I suppose the way our health system and insurance works these days they feel the need to send the medically fragile a warning.

sigh

(February 21, 2020 at 7:58 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: Received a piece of mail today from the hospital where I spent a few hours in the ER a couple weeks ago.  It is a letter letting me know they are going to send me a bill.  I suppose the way our health system and insurance works these days they feel the need to send the medically fragile a warning.  

sigh

Maybe your medical costs could be lowered if they sent just the bill and not the notice PLUS the bill. 'Here's a piece of mail telling you that you're going to get a piece of mail' seems kind of wasteful.

Boru

(February 21, 2020 at 8:13 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(February 21, 2020 at 7:58 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: Received a piece of mail today from the hospital where I spent a few hours in the ER a couple weeks ago.  It is a letter letting me know they are going to send me a bill.  I suppose the way our health system and insurance works these days they feel the need to send the medically fragile a warning.  

sigh

Maybe your medical costs could be lowered if they sent just the bill and not the notice PLUS the bill. 'Here's a piece of mail telling you that you're going to get a piece of mail' seems kind of wasteful.

Boru

Indeed. My medical insurance provider encouraged me to sign up for autopay (did that) and electronic notification (did that, too). I get an email notification telling me to go pay my bill every month, even thought it's an autopay...and I get a paper bill as well, both of which (when I log in to my account or open my mail) clearly tell me that I am enrolled in autopay!

(February 21, 2020 at 8:20 pm)Fireball Wrote:

(February 21, 2020 at 8:13 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Maybe your medical costs could be lowered if they sent just the bill and not the notice PLUS the bill. 'Here's a piece of mail telling you that you're going to get a piece of mail' seems kind of wasteful.

Boru

Indeed. My medical insurance provider encouraged me to sign up for autopay (did that) and electronic notification (did that, too). I get an email notification telling me to go pa my bill every month, even thought it's an autopay...and i get a paper bill as well, both of which (when I log in to my account or open my mail) clearly tell me that I am enrolled in autopay!

Even in businesses this is a thing.  The office where I work part time gets a lot of bills via email.  I can pay for a variety of things, often using a link embedded on the email, online and no paper changes hands.  Many are set on autopay but not the ones that have a lot of variation (our choice so we can better monitor fluctuations).

Insurance - health, auto, general liability, etc. comes via email, snail mail, smoke signals, etched on marble tablets, texts, morse code....often all of the above.  

Sheesh.

The Andaman Sea, The Andaman Sea, Oogly Boogly, The Andaman Sea.

I don't think, therefore I am not?

I think I think, therefore I think I am. I think. (The original Latin seems to have been garbled.)

Boru

It the UK, it is illegal to wear a suit of armour into either house of Parliament.  Shame.  It could make question time a helluva lot more interesting.

Boru

Hey guys, what's going on? It's me, the antichrist! I've come to purge the planet of all human life. I will be dropping nuclear missiles very, very soon on every single human being. Death means nothing! Why are you all so scared of death for? It means absolutely zero in the interim. Why do you think I made Trump president? We're about to get some fireworks real soon!