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05:32 pm
docbrite
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/67347263/948997) [Link] |
A Snip & A Trip
Sigh. I just called the vet and made an appointment to get Frankie fixed on Monday. This should have been done ages ago (he's ten months old and has great big bouncing cojones), but first I didn't do it because Augie was sick and I didn't want to separate them for even a day, and then Augie died and I just couldn't bring myself to turn loose of Frankie knowing he would have to be anesthetized. Gotta be done, though. He hasn't started spraying -- in fact, I've never known an Oriental Shorthair to spray -- but I suspect the macho pheromones he's emitting may be responsible for all the unauthorized peeing and pooing that has gone on around here lately.
Also just made reservations for my birthday trip to Grand Isle week after next. Our usual hotel is booked until next year (! -- it's an apartment-style hotel, and apparently some corporation has put up all their people there, the lucky bastards), so we decided to stay at a place closer to the bridge, on a wilder part of the beach. When we stayed there once before, we would float on our backs in the water as Brown Pelicans dipped down to check us out and Magnificent Frigatebirds soared and swirled far above. I need to cleanse my soul with some Grand Isle time; it's been far too long ... in fact, we haven't been there since my 40th birthday last year, when the picture in my icon was taken.
Oh, and reader Leah H. asked if I would help spread the word about Cat House on the Kings, an amazing but underfunded no-kill, no-cage cat sanctuary in California. Happy to. Here's the video her brother-in-law made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwM6f0liHpo#GU5U2spHI_4
My favorite line: "Basically, it's like Planet of the Cats." I know the feeling.
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05:19 pm
elfwench
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/2773521/255808) [Link] |
Happy birthday!
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Current Mood:  cheerful
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06:14 pm
iscari0t
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/67144755/272394) [Link] |
Posted using TxtLJ
Flattop's GOGOGO
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05:50 pm
zoethe
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/45929432/446406) [Link] |
I amuse myself
My friend ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) vrax just put up a very silly poll in which he asked, What are the Cannibalism equivalents of "Pitcher" and "Catcher". You know in the stereotypical male gay sex sense, that is.
I thought about it for a minute, and came up with the perfect answer for this, the era of cat macros:
"Nom" and "nominee"
Current Mood:  amused
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05:48 pm
shadesong
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/74583552/505856) [Link] |
Informal survey
Bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day - sweet and thoughtful, or cat toy that will rot within a week (when a book would last for much longer, be cheaper, and not be shredded by felines)?
(Flowers are from parents, who I swear I've told by now. Adam knows better.)
I post survey because I was chatting with zarhooie, and she apparently loves getting flowers. Me, I'd prefer a living plant, if someone really wants to send greenery. And yes, I admit that it is a nice thought. But. Cats. Cats will destroy. When we get sent flowers, the vase generally sits in the bathtub with the door closed so the cats will not destroy. And I don't like the idea of killing plants so our table can be more colorful. Y'know?
EDIT: Looking on the site and not seeing it; it's a bouquet of mostly carnations with those purple crinkly things in a blue vase. The site has a rosemary bonsai. I would have loved a rosemary bonsai. I know, I know. Ungrateful brat.
Current Music: Sophie B. Hawkins - I Want You
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04:56 pm
drwho_virtadpt
[Link] |
Anti-vaccination, part II.
http://drwho.virtadpt.net/archive/2008/05/09/antivaccination_part_ii Remember my rant about people who don't get their kids vaccinated because they're afraid for the health and safety of their children? Guess what? The health and safety of kids who attend the East bay Waldorf School in El Sobrante, California are at risk due to an outbreak of whooping cough. Students and a teacher were diagnosed with the disease, which lead to the school being closed until rounds of antibiotics can be administered to everyone who came down with the disease. School officials went on the record as saying that an unusually high number of students weren't vaccinated for pertussis at that school, which is something that California state law permits at this time.
Let me break this down for everyone: When They (yes, the omni-present They whom Everyone is afraid of - see, I can make sweeping generalizations, too!) say that a disease has been eradicated, it doesn't mean that every last bacterium or virus which causes a disease has been eliminated from the face of the planet. Short of sterilizing the entire planet with nuclear weapons, that simply isn't possible. It means that so many people are either immune to a disease or have been vaccinated against it that the virus or bacterium can no longer affect the populace in any meaningful way. When you don't vaccinate children against diseases, you expose them to the risk of contracting the disease. If they're lucky, their lives will suck for a while because they'll have to be treated and time will be necessary to get better. If they aren't so fortunate, they might die. One of the reasons that vaccines were invented was because some of these diseases were known to be lethal.
What's going to break out next? Polio?
On second thought, don't answer that.
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08:12 pm
newsfromme_com
[Link] |
Briefly Noted...
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_05_09.html#015199 The other night, Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama in the Indiana primary by a measly 2%, right? Nope. The final tally has Clinton at 637,814 and Obama at 626,642 — a difference of 11,152 votes. That's 50.4% to 49.6%. A difference of .8%.
This apparently doesn't change the delegate allocation but it may change the way the results are spun. And it makes you wonder if the networks didn't call the race a bit early, even if they were ultimately proven correct. They sure didn't predict "less than 1%."
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05:11 pm
ericmonster
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/43264765/595055) [Link] |
Streaming posts ...
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03:44 pm
jarodrussell
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/8867709/1030377) [Link] |
Can has Djano?
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04:43 pm
moominmuppet
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/43891346/582512) [Link] |
Migraine experiment, continued:
So, I've continued to nurse that Spicy Hot V8, and my headache is still substantially better than it was at 3:15pm. I'm definitely going to try this experiment again in the future. Need more data.
Oh, for my own reference, mostly. A conversation with my brother about our migraines:
I identify migraines as lancing pain through my eye sockets (behind the eye itself), usually the left side, strong associations with light and sound pain. My sense of smell is already very acute and I don't notice any difference there, but certain smells become more offensive. I don't seem to suffer the "halo" effect, but any light becomes pain to me when I'm in a full blown migraine so I couldn't care less if there is a halo around something. Besides I've always had a mild halo effect from my glasses.
Weather and pressure changes in particular make me more susceptible to migraines, frontal boundaries and shifting high pressure zones in particular. These cause more of the "mild" migraine effects, though I've had severe weather shifts drop me like a pole axed steer. (snipped from a locked entry by jajy1979, with permission)
All of that is true for me, especially the light and sound sensitivity, and the eye pain generally being on the left, often expanding to make it feel like the inside of my left ear hurts, too. It's why work in front of a computer on a headset is hell for me when I've got one. I also get the tension headaches, and migraines that I can't control often actually trigger tension headaches in response. I medicate with high-dose ibuprofen, flexeril (to alleviate the tension headache), and caffeine. I can't generally go to sleep with a migraine or I wake up with it even worse, which is infuriating.
I've tried imitrex, but didn't find it all that much more effective than anything else I'd tried, and it was $5/pill even after my insurance, so I basically said "fuck that".
I find that laying down with my neck entirely straight (no pillow) seems to help, as does dark and quiet (logically). When they're ungodly bad, I find wrapping something tightly around my head (usually a towel) to be oddly comforting, although I makes me feel a bit like Ford Prefect.
Oh, and I get nauseous, but kind of like carsickness for me, it's not really in my stomach, and I don't throw up. I usually describe the feeling as "nauseous in my head".
Tags: health, myhealth
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04:42 pm
moominmuppet
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/43387836/582512) [Link] |
Got Pills?
Anti-Choice Groups Launch Deceptive Campaign against Oral Contraceptives
Anti-choice extremist group the American Life League launched a campaign against oral contraceptives that will culminate with protests on June 7 outside clinics that distribute birth control. The Pill Kills Babies falsely labels oral contraceptives as abortificants, claiming that oral contraceptives are the same as abortion except that it "kills a preborn baby" earlier.
Reproductive Health Reality Check points out the disturbing lies that the campaign proclaims. The American Life League falsely claims that the pill is dangerous to women's health because it causes breast cancer, cervical cancer, infertility, birth defects, and "much more."
The anti-choice extremist groups chose June 7 as the protest day because it is the anniversary of the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut case that overturned a Connecticut law banning the use of contraceptives on the basis of marital privacy.
Just in case you were confused about who in this country is actually working to decrease abortion rates (here's a big hint: We're the ones being called murderers, jezebels, and immoral sluts).
I think it's really, really crucial that everyone know that not a single national "Pro-Life" organization in the US endorses contraception use. Most actively agitate against the most reliable forms, and often against all forms.
Outside the clinics, it's not at all uncommon to hear anti-contraceptive ranting almost as often as anti-abortion ranting (sometimes only anti-hormonal contraception, sometimes larger rants about what women really ought to be doing with their time and priorities). And a decent number of the signs and pamphlets are specifically anti-contraception as well.
So before you decide the folks screaming in front of the clinic are so very extreme from the major organizations on the "Pro-Life" front, let me repeat that: Not ONE national pro-life organization endorses contraception as part of a plan to minimize abortion.
If there's an exception out there I haven't heard about, please pass me the links; I'd be happy to see any of them actually showing signs of sanity.
In the meantime, keep in mind that the above group is NOT protesting on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Even if you could never or would never choose an abortion yourself, these people are trying to change your life. They are protesting the court decision that made it legal for a doctor to prescribe contraceptives to a married couple. Did you know that was still controversial? Surprise.
If you think you have a right to private and accurate medical advice from your health care provider, keep in mind that the interpretation of a right to privacy is relatively new. I agree with that interpretation, some wish the courts had gone another direction, or supported their arguments differently, but either way, there's an entire body of law dependent on this argument, and trust me, you want most of that law, and if you live in the US, you tend to assume so deeply that you have these rights that it's hard to imagine not having them. Go ahead, give it a try. Because that's the world these paternalistic fucks would like to give us.
Current Mood:  infuriated
Tags: reproductive rights, sparkly, vent
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03:09 pm
force_of_will
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/54695841/731978) [Link] |
I am sporting a sheen of sweat from...
Bowling a wii 228 and going pro as a bowler. I now have a ball with stars on it!
Whuppin some butt on the ball diamond. I went three for three and pitched a nice 6-2 complete game...
Shot my first under par for three holes...
Went marathon on tennis. There were some stupidly long volley battles. My backhand return is WICKED!
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04:04 pm
yendi
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/4284115/458650) [Link] |
Friday afternoon poll
It's been a long day to end a long week, with all sorts of fun stress (for a value of "fun" that includes "sucktastic").
So let's end with a frivolous poll:
Poll #1185345
Open to: All, results viewable to: AllWhich is the better song?
Current Music: Combat Rock - Sleater-Kinney
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03:52 pm
yendi
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/33854016/458650) [Link] |
Donnie Darko 2: Because you demanded it. Why the fuck would you do a thing like that?
Yes, there's a sequel coming out to Donnie Darko.
It has no Richard Kelly involvement, and it looks like Daviegh Chase is the only returning cast member.
Hollywood continues to beg for a collective kick in the crotch.
Current Music: Chicago Bump (Bootie Edit) - dj magnet
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03:46 pm
vrax
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/67679159/11033953) [Link] |
Cannibal Query
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Tags: questions. sillliness
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03:29 pm
moominmuppet
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/43387857/582512) [Link] |
Migraine Experiment:
Since I have a-friggin'-nother one...
Way back here (and in the comments), the topic of how much better Spicy Hot V8 seemed to make my head feel came up.
Well, I've only got half my meds with me, and despite what I've taken, my head's been getting worse all day, but I think there's a bottle of spicy hot in my backpack. Join me in my experiment:
3:14pm. Squinty and brain-foggy and ouchy up the back of my neck and behind my eye (my migraines seem to trigger tension headaches, and then they meet in the middle; I find flexeril very handy for short-circuiting half of that, at least). Two sips, moderate improvement on both relatively quickly (so not ruling out the placebo effect here, but if it gets me through the day, I'm all in favor of it!). Tension headache climbing up my neck still definitely present, but migraine pain behind my left eye reduced. Still sipping my way through, but slowly, since this is the only bottle I have, or can get until I get home. Certainly seems to be a decent improvement; I'm going to have to make sure I keep this around more often. It's no panacea, but it definitely lessens the pain some, at least temporarily. I could live with a couple of "headache-breaks" a day on bad days, even if it does contain enough sodium for the next week!
3:35pm. Effect seems to be slowly wearing off, but it's still better than it was. No improvement to tension headache portion, though.
Anyone else with migraines want to try this and tell me if you find it to work for you? Now I'm very curious.
Also worth exploring: would I get the same effect (cheaper, more portably, and with less sodium) if I kept a bit of powdered hot pepper around? I could learn to cope with some mouth burn if it helps notably with the head suck. (semi-ironically, I'm really exploratory with food, except for capsaicin, which I have a low tolerance for, and generally don't like much).
Current Mood:  curious
Tags: health, myhealth, science
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02:46 pm
the_xtina
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/66074303/8860087) [Link] |
This is seriously how I think.
Tacit: Can you really prove that you are you, though? I mean, really?
Xtina: Depending on what philosopher you read, I am the only real person in the universe, there is no single "me" to respond to this, or there's no cohesive "me" to respond to this.
Xtina: So I'm not sure!
Xtina: I can prove I am me right now. I am not the me who started this conversation, although we have a lot in common. If I were to be more non-social than social, then that would be a different aspect of me, so you could argue that we would be different people entirely.
Xtina: And if I accept as true that I am myself, then I am the one giving anything meaning in this world, from disasters to the shapes of these letters, and so not only am I me, you are only you because of me.
Xtina: Depends on the hour, really.
Tacit: *blink*
Xtina: You asked. :)
Tacit: I did, it's true.
Current Music: Men At Work - No Restrictions
Tags: chats
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11:33 am
coffeeinhell
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/39367681/575708) [Link] |
Really?
Dear Wholesale Chocolate Purveyor (and anyone else who does Internet sales):
Please do not ask me to choose a shipping method and then say "Shipping will be added to order" as you ask me for my credit card number.
Really. You want me to commit to a purchase without telling me how much you're adding for shipping. Really.
See, I won't give you my credit card number until I know exactly how much you'll be charging me for the shipping. Which means that you just lost a $200 order, because I was going to buy 50 pounds of chocolate from you.
Really.
Best of luck,
Dawn
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10:26 am
silmaril
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/25894631/435111) [Link] |
With apologies to self
It's raining heavily enough around here that I had to wear sweatpants for the commute-walk, bring jeans in my backpack, and change at the lab.
Yesterday's experimentation went well. In comparison to Wednesday's experimentation, which had gone really, really weirdly bad. Lesson learned: If you laid out an integrated circuit that uses bonding pads with built-in electrostatic discharge protection diodes, bias said diodes appropriately, dimwit, otherwise you end up measuring their response instead of your devices' and find yourself wondering why on earth you seem to be obtaining diode IV curves from NMOS transistors. (On the other hand, I did feel slightly smug when I saw the problem---even though it was a PEBBAC problem [1], I figured it out myself.)
Office hours now. Advising someone else about circuit design later.
[1] Problem Exists Between Breadboard And Chair.
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06:12 pm
newsfromme_com
[Link] |
Today's Political Thought
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_05_09.html#015198 I'm not sure Barack Obama has won the nomination so much as Hillary Clinton has lost it. Reportedly, prominent folks in her campaign are dickering to write books about it, which is being taken as a sign that they know it's over. I may even buy one of those books as I have a certain curiosity to know how such savvy politicos as the Clintons managed to take an inevitable win and turn it into a "bad loser" loss.
A lot of folks seem to think she's staying in because she wants to be offered the vice-president slot. I don't know if she does and I don't know if Obama would be nuts to offer it. It might be a "unity ticket" but it also might be two strong forces uniting to keep working against one another. My guess is we won't find out.
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05:56 pm
newsfromme_com
[Link] |
This Site Gets Results
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_05_09.html#015197 This morning when I awoke, I had two e-mails from the staff at Turner Classic Movies telling me that they read this posting and that the schedule will be changed and those Laurel and Hardy films will air in the proper sequence.
That's one of the reasons that's such a good channel. These folks really care about what they broadcast. A couple of times when I've criticized their programming or the choice of prints, I've heard from TCM staffers about how awful they felt about screw-ups and how they were scurrying to re-air the material in question soon and do it right. I won't mention their names because I'm not sure they'd want me to...but they're obviously film buffs who are trying hard to do right by a wonderful film library.
By the way: On June 11, TCM will be reairing one of the notable clunkers in that wonderful film library. It's Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title starring Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie, and as many of Morey's friends as he could dragoon into one of the worst movies ever made. We wrote about it here and will remind you when we get closer to that date in case you want to make sure your TiVo doesn't record it. Thanks to Daniel Sachs for sending me the alert/warning.
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01:44 pm
ericmonster
[Link] |
Streaming posts ...
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01:43 pm
ljgenie
[mightywombat]
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/44520474/408731) [Link] |
LJ Genie: reducing heat of a soldering iron
O, Great LJ Genie, in whose copious knowledge all answers lie, I ask you this:
I want to create a variable temperature soldering iron with a dimmer switch. Okay, I know that wasn't a questio, but it's coming. If I connect a dimmer switch to the soldering iron am I correct in assuming that the reduction in voltage at the dimmer will have a corresponding reduction in heat at the soldering iron?
I remember something about how dimmer switches work that makes me think a simple dimmer switch from Home Depot won't do the trick. I also can't remember if perhaps I should leave the voltage alone and reduce the current to the iron instead. Help?
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01:03 pm
asim
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/3604717/53454) [Link] |
Two Thoughts.
There was a long post I wanted to make on the parallels between many recent events -- Open Source Boob Project, Rev. Wright, Ferraro, and so on.
But the news on a potential breakthrough in Holocaust research (WARNING: all kinds of triggery!), which I got to from this post, which came from someone on my Friend's List, makes we want to say two things, briefly:- I'm convinced America's coming to a Turning Point. Sub-cultures issues over the last 50+ years are still growing, yet they are also starting to really, and honestly, merge. Feminists can't escape dealing with issues of Color, Africans Americans can't escape the lessons of Obama in dealing with the mainstream, and the mainstream is starting, slowly, to be confronted with the issues hidden under centuries of bitterness and ignorance. It's ugly, but generally healthy.
How we deal with it, how we start the long process of listening and defusing everyone's issues and complaints, will say a lot about how we grow as not just Americans, but as Sentient beings.
- The underlying issue with attacks is the potential for demonization. We don't like to think of ourselves as capable of going along with atrocities, and we want to be the "good guys". And that urge, combined with easy communications, can do both harm and good. But it's fast, so fast that issues quickly become devastating attacks on a person's character.
And what makes it weird is that these fights can quickly objectify a person, or a group. For example, there's always a fight about making Hitler into a "nice guy" in fiction. And what these fights miss is that Hitler was, in being a human, not a demon. He is a lesson for future generations in so many horrific ways that it's hard to remember that he was, in the end, of flesh and blood.
It's not fun to think "there but for the Grace of God go I", and no, I don't think ordinary folks will ever be as evil as Hitler. But it's easy to enable such kinds of evil, to allow it to pass. And in doing so -- as Amanda Marcotte recently found out, is a lesson in learning to be humble, and to listen.
And that never hurts.
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10:26 am
coffeeinhell
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/44378674/575708) [Link] |
Morning Commute Conversation #9,712
Patrick is sharing the trevails of changing out the headlamp in his work car. (Note: This conversation will only make sense if you've seen Iron Man.)
Patrick: ... so I have to reach into this headlight hole, but since I have the hands of a normal American male, I could barely do it. I got cuts and scrapes across all my knuckles.
Dawn: You needed Gwyneth Paltrow to help you, with her tiny hands.
Patrick: Yes. But I don't have a Pepper Potts.
Dawn: Uma Thurman wouldn't have been able to help you.
Patrick: No. Uma has enormous hands. She has man hands. Uma has transvestite hands.
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[<< Previous 25 entries] |
8 (22.9%)
police officer Jim Adkins did not believe it.
... "He regurgitated in his plate of food when I asked him about it," Adkins said. "So I knew there was some truth to the story."