G+ Migration Blog

Ugh, dewpoint around 70 (F). #moist

Huh. http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/kingdom-of-loathing-spinoff-surfaces-on-steam-greenlight/#:zDoW0vR2Q0ORoA http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/kingdom-of-loathing-spinoff-surfaces-on-steam-greenlight/#:zDoW0vR2Q0ORoA

I guess it's not, you know, that hot out. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3099363/India-s-killer-heatwave-hot-causes-roads-MELT-Death-toll-soars-1-100-people-told-stay-indoors-crisis-continues.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3099363/India-s-killer-heatwave-hot-causes-roads-MELT-Death-toll-soars-1-100-people-told-stay-indoors-crisis-continues.html

Ugh, record high temps possible. We don't need more excuses for people to be irritable. #ftp

tiny locked circle Ok, I need some uninvolved perspective. Someone experiencing great anxiety and stress becoming very angry and throwing things. Discuss. (I genuinely need to hear from someone outside of me.)

TIL. Between this kind of stuff and the War of 1812, no wonder Canada worries about us invading. http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/riverside/little-known-invasion-launched-here-set-stage-for-irish-independence-20160525 http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/riverside/little-known-invasion-launched-here-set-stage-for-irish-independence-20160525

This is from March. It's not funny anymore and I apologize. I will do whatever penance to make this person go away. (It's the Springtime for Trump satire I posted.) https://plus.google.com/107085665537347703493/posts/gQUsgUPjXqC https://plus.google.com/107085665537347703493/posts/gQUsgUPjXqC

Swinging doodle today. #getheptothejive #savoyisnotjustacabbege

I suspect my exhaustion may not be purely physical. #brilliantinsights #poppsych

Did a another day where tried the juicing thing. 1) By the end of the day, I was chew my leg off to get out of this trap hungry. That didn't happen the first time, but I'm not sure what was so different. I certainly wasn't calorie deprived, but it might be from all the inherent sugars causing my body to get a sort of high/low thing. 2) It occurred to me that there are two things of possible concern about juicing, at least, if you do it regularly. One, there's a lot of fruit acid in this and that's an issue for erosion of tooth enamel. Two, even though the sugars are natural fruit sugars, it's still a lot of carbs and sugars. Probably not awesome? Definitely not for diabetics. 3) It turns out that cantaloupe and beets are pretty high in potassium, so that's a way of getting some of that in your juice. 4) I am pretty sure fasting for a day is probably less problematic if you really want to give your body a break. Esp if that means you do the kind where you are...

Wait, what? (Ftr, I would like a functional fm radio in my phone.) http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fm-radio-cellphone-telecoms-1.3577447 http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fm-radio-cellphone-telecoms-1.3577447

How to scare people about the future: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/spark/321-life-saving-fonts-ransomware-cars-and-more-1.3584113/your-car-can-be-held-for-ransom-1.3584114 http://www.cbc.ca/radio/spark/321-life-saving-fonts-ransomware-cars-and-more-1.3584113/your-car-can-be-held-for-ransom-1.3584114

Someone else's posting for some reason made me realize that, aside from the laser wrongness, that whole last scene in Real Genius with God talking to Kent in the popcorn house could probably be handled by anybody with a smartphone, now. It's so much less impressive. #the80swerealongtimeago

So it looks like the year is going to continue to hit all the genres. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/gord-downie-cancer-doctor-1.3597361 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/gord-downie-cancer-doctor-1.3597361

I got 6 hours of sleep. And I'm exhausted.

Ok, so juice thing. I've been yogaing more or less regularly so of course that came up. I was absolutely NOT looking at it as a lifestyle, although juicers are apparently cheaper than bicycles. Anyway, it was more of a reset and some how to deal with the craziness around here. The main yoga person who does this does it one day per week so I figured, ok, sure, why not. Things I think after doing this: 1) It's expensive. I mean, I know I had to buy the juices, but apparently it takes some ridiculous amount of produce to do this even if you do it yourself. Ymmv. P.S. Trader Joe's has some of the least expensive juices, although very few, and they are all cromulent cold pressed juices if you are buying, not making. 2) Ugh, so much liquid. No, really, it was actually difficult to drink that much. Especially since you are apparently supposed to try to drink an equal amount of water, or something? 3) Made my stomach all acid-y. I don't know who/how thinks some of this is supp...

the circle of the damned locked Great. Now I have to be careful what words I use. My dad now has become, understandably, sensitive to a number of things. You cannot say 'relax' or 'hyperventilate' because they have become trigger words. If it was just him and this situation, that would be both temporary and tolerable. However, you all know where this is going, it turns out that my mom really must have some issue with people telling her what to do. I have no idea of the origin of this issue. However, it turns out that you have to be exceptionally careful so that she doesn't immediately take things as you telling her what to do (or say or etc.). To be fair, the one context in which there was an actual discussion of ways to say things, or how to focus what one was saying to address what one needed addressed was in the specific medical context. This was asked for and established under prior situations, I stopped doing it, and got asked to do it again. So when certain t...

It's ok. It's not like I need sleep. The horrible nightmares when I did get some were fun, too.

Is it possible that, just for a moment, the writers of Legends of Tomorrow indulged in sophisticated subtlety and an attempt at auditory foreshadowing by having Rip listen extremely briefly to the second movement of Beethoven's 7th symphony (during the second to last episode of this season)? [somebody else's posting reminded me I had thought of this but not mentioned it]

for documentation - just handing me a bag of clothes through the car window - that was taking me for granted. That's when you should have asked first and said thank you after. Getting pissed off and directing anger and its energy at me when I said what am I supposed to do with this because I couldn't just put it on the seat next to me and it was problematic for me to turn around and get it into the back seat because I was belted in and pulled forward because I wasn't supposed to have to be getting out of the car, just stopping to bring you what you had asked for. After just being handed it and obviously assumed to just take it and do what you wanted. That was mean, nasty, presumptive and unacceptable. You just assumed you could bring this out to the car, hand it to me and walk away, because that's what you needed and you wanted and I was just conveniently there to make your life easier. Frankly, it's manipulative and abusive, too. But at the very least, it's usi...

Smooth, auto correct. "later" should be "Peter". Mm hm. We need to have a talk, auto correct.

I haven't got a good enough camera, but you can totally see the moon and mars again tonight. http://earthsky.org/tonight/blue-moon-from-dusk-until-dawn http://earthsky.org/tonight/blue-moon-from-dusk-until-dawn

Would plus again. http://mashable.com/2016/05/21/wwii-female-pilots-arlington/#lVALDKd68SqN http://mashable.com/2016/05/21/wwii-female-pilots-arlington/#lVALDKd68SqN

Ooookay. Now we are at the point where I have to deep breathe and not hate the mom's controlling behavior. While it helps to keep checking and reassure myself that I am not crazy, wrong, or screwed up, it also reinforces that you aren't going to change the other person. Therefore, will not change the metaphorical punchings that keeps running through my brain. Still makes it hard to get out of bed, though.

Transplanted a bunch of lettuce today, it was growing enthusiastically but getting over-crowded. Some of it does not seem to have appreciated the transplanting, so I don't know how much will survive, but I hope most of it, since it is tasty.

Garden looked a lot better last year. Weird weather does not help flowers.

[Hi locked circle] Well, it took 3 days for mom to get offensively controlling and defensive. Help me with this, help me with that, let me vent to you in person, on the phone, and via text, but don't respond to my expressions of concern or discussions of things to remember because you don't have to tell me what I could do, I know what I could do, I have experience. Ok, fine, this is me walking away because you are having control issues. Jesus Christmas, what don't I know about your growing up that makes you so damn defensive about people telling you what to do? Hardly anyone is ever telling you what to do when you get like this. (Better than half the time, they're not even suggesting anything. They're just breathing.) Eru, she and my sister are like twins with this. It still makes my sister unpleasant, but at least I know she had two abusive husbands that, shall we say, enhanced her paranoid tendencies (seriously, she imagined all sorts of weird threatening nonsense...

Oklahoma, rushing to land back in 1850 asap. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/19/478743035/oklahoma-lawmakers-pass-bill-that-makes-performing-an-abortion-a-felony http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/19/478743035/oklahoma-lawmakers-pass-bill-that-makes-performing-an-abortion-a-felony

So tired from stuff not being mentioned but some of you know, I did not go see Harmony tonight, even though I had bought a ticket (you had to buy them ahead). I wish they wouldn't do this only one night in one city special event nonsense for this stuff. Oh, well, maybe enough people saw it across the country that they will add showings somewhere, somewhen.

Hi, again, little circle of lockedness. I have deep breathed a bit and also the worst immediate situation did not go the worst, so that is huuuuuuge. I'm less wound, therefore, and will try to sleep or at least rest because I have to be up and dealing with again at 7am. So thank you for existing, because I was not ok. Not that I am, but I am not as not ok as I was. I'm ok enough that I think I will not need to torture any of you in person on the phone tonight, but I reserve the need for that for future usage plz and thanx u. My dad had surgery today. He was supposed to have surgery today. That almost did not happen because of some as yet to be fully explained weirdness amongst the litany of doctors. Why this bothered me - I am the one who got the initial phone call because my parents were already checking in at the hospital. So I got sort of blind-sided and had to decide in a split second sort of way whether or not to give my mother's cell phone to them to reach her for an ...

Hi, little locked group. Not time to obsess in detail. Need lots of deep breathing, may need phone calls. Need life to magically fix itself, please, k thx.

I like to occasionally check out the maker stuff online, and there was this one about someone doing a project to record women around the world speaking their native languages. She's an artist, and I guess it's sort of a mixed media thing. Anyway, she called it the World Women Project. The very first comment at the bottom, unavoidably present in my peripheral vision, from someone with an inescapably assumed to be male name - "Where's the World Men Project?" ... ... ... Not enough aunty faces in the world. (No, I did not respond with get off your duff and make one if it's that important to you.)

Jiminy Christmas, South America is falling apart. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/05/venezuela-is-falling-apart/481755/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/05/venezuela-is-falling-apart/481755

Annoyingly intelligent article. Best illustration: the graph of interest in gluten-free versus interest in celiac disease. http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/05/celiac-vs-gluten/482676/ P.S. The legend on that photo says those donuts are gluten free. http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/05/celiac-vs-gluten/482676

Way back ... weekend? Omg, I forgot about this. Still cracks me up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4xxym2tyEM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4xxym2tyEM

Lol, PBS. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.3575399/high-school-art-project-mistakenly-appraised-for-50-000-on-antiques-roadshow-1.3575677 http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.3575399/high-school-art-project-mistakenly-appraised-for-50-000-on-antiques-roadshow-1.3575677

Basically, today has gone from objectively flat and gray, to bumpy sheet of cloudy gray, to clumps of puffy gray clouds, to brief glimpses of sun between huge puffy clouds that are mostly gray but sometimes white, and kind of cycled amongst those. Accompanied by bursts of snow, or graupel, or something small and icy that could be rimed snowflakes, again, cycling randomly. Sometimes, there is no precipitation. Mostly, this is just sadness if it were weather.

Oh, good. Now it's sleet, or graupel, or something.

Oh, look. The sun came out. Almost, sort of, kinda. And it's a balmy 42 degrees. Woo.

Um, yeah, so that part where I said I didn't think it would snow here? I was wrong.

Oh, I forgot. Other interesting things I did today: eat cattails. Yeah, those cattails. Apparently, in spite of educating me on several wild edibles, Scouts neglected to mention they are edible. The tuber, the shoots, the lower stem, and I guess even more of it is edible. They had 'em at the farmers market. So I tasted. I would suggest that the processing methods involving cooking are probably a better way to go because they are way fibrous, although quite crunchy, but the fiber-ness borders on are you sure that wasn't shards of bamboo? This bothered my tummy for a bit. Otherwise, they taste kind of like a starchy cucumber. After looking it up I have learned that the starch content, esp in the tuber, is so high you can make flour out of it. In a serendipitous crossing of the streams moment, it is apparently a matter of debate as to whether or not cattail starch includes gluten. No, really, it's an internet rabbit-hole. Don't go there.

I grewed salad. The bitty plants are thai basil, chives, and savory that I planted from seed. The one lettuce pot had three survivors - one red leaf, one red romaine, one buttercrunch. The other, well, it's over achieving and I may have to re-transplant a bunch of stuff and hope it keeps growing because it is experiencing the usual overcrowding from explosive population growth.

See those? They are suckers coming off the roots of the apricot trees. They have exploded all over the lawn. My dad spent an hour hacking a bunch out yesterday, I spent several hours clearing all of about 1/3 of the lawn of them today. We're not really sure why this is happening, as it hasn't happened before. It is supposed to be a stress response, more common in grafted trees, which these are (a lot of fruit trees are). We haven't overpruned, we have been treating for peach borer but not with anything noxious (I hope this doesn't mean the treatment failed - stupid insects), the weather has been messed up and we lost all the buds but the trees leafed everywhere. This is a bad thing for the tree, and they have to be removed because they are pulling nutrition and so forth away from the main tree. You cannot just pull them up as they are growing off the tree roots. You have to get to the base where it is coming off the root and cut it there. I may need to call the arborist...

As per request, babby maple trees. You can even see the whirligig thing attached to one of them in the last photo.

Were you born? Facebook thinks so :)

I give up. I am going and getting coffee.

It was in the 80's earlier this week. It's supposed to be dropping into the 30's today. They are predicting possible light snow for tomorrow, although that probably won't get to right where we are. What is the deal, weather? U R Confuse.

Didn't want to gum up Alex Goddard's feed with commentary on this: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/science/synthetic-human-genome.html?_r=0 I don't know if it was really "secret", or not, but the first thought I had when I read "... attendees were told not to contact the news media or to post on Twitter during the meeting." was that somebody wanted to protect their IP. As far as breeding soldiers or reproducing Einstein, we are a long way away from that, baby. Still worth noting the ethics, though. It's entirely possible the intent of the meeting was misconstrued. "He said the meeting was closed to the news media, and people were asked not to tweet because the project organizers, in an attempt to be transparent, had submitted a paper to a scientific journal. They were therefore not supposed to discuss the idea publicly before publication." Ok, so that's a real thing, the not presenting before publication thing, although it's a lit...

On the upside, the rain means the birds weren't chirping at 5 am.

Regarding the main home webpage of things. Whoever decided the next great thing in web design was the infinitely endless scrolling picture tile home page should be shot. Even on my phone I don't want to have to scroll down to exhaustion to find things. It's also annoying that I've run across several that make very sure you can't just tell by a quick glance which pictures are content and which are ads. It's like having to go through an entire pile of leaves to find a forest. Probably in the minority on this. Don't care.

focal locking Yay. Not the only one nonplussed by this. Although I will say that in a purely goal-oriented sense it doesn't matter if Johns Hopkins is subject to opprobrium, since they have achieved the free press they were looking for. The second link is a brief interview with one of the authors. It includes some interesting info not in the press release. Best of all are things like this quote: We are deeply concerned about this particular messaging. Our work is very consistent with previous work showing that supplementation is critical to maternal health and child development and health, so at this point the recommendation is definitely to continue supplementation. Images of horses and barn doors come to mind. I agree with rather a lot of the Atlantic article and am again pleased that journalism may actually have occurred. Also, props for the pregnancy pun in the headline, there. http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/05/on-folate-and-autism/482307/ https://www.researchg...

Again, mildly locked. This is the link to Johns Hopkins' press release. I will pick a few of its nits below. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-05/jhub-tmf050916.php 1) Language, people. Consider the difference in impression created by "there could be serious risks in having far too much " versus "there could be risks in elevated levels". That last bit is my suggested, more responsible rewording of the same info. 2) Qualitative versus quantitative. "a very high level of folate" means what?What are the normal ranges, specifically in pregnant women, more specifically at particular time points? Or is it important to know what the steady state level is over time? 3) It's all about the timing. The press release itself says preliminary findings presented May 13, press conference scheduled for May 11. I don't even know what to say about this. Because what it looks like is a nakedly manipulative bid for attention unrelated to any genuine pu...

I guess today is National Limerick Day. But since it is really a larger celebration of Edward Lear, perhaps if you can find a runcible spoon, you should just eat some mince and quince in his honor. http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/days-2/national-limerick-day-may-12/ http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/days-2/national-limerick-day-may-12

Apparently there are concerns about an oldie but a goodie. Difference being we seem to have an existing effective vaccine, just not as much as we might need. I'm thinking that this would be a good time to go back and really reinforce the whole screens on windows, treated mosquito netting, no standing water public health initiatives. Although this would seem to have gone past the point of that being sufficient. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2522030 http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2522030

Bless their hearts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8pjGTYB_Bo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8pjGTYB_Bo

For reasons that may appear shortly, this is locked in a precise and focused way. In a triumph of science reporting (at least the major news networks got it right) over the institutions that do science, I give you: TOO MUCH FOLATE IN PREGNANT WOMEN INCREASES RISK FOR AUTISM, STUDY SUGGESTS (What, your conscience got you in the end so you put in the parenthetical post-clickbait?) This is a news release from Johns Hopkins and yes, that is the title. Yes, part of the money machine that is big research (including NIH) and big universities is blowing your own horn. Actual publicity from professional offices dedicated to it. Why these people are working for universities rather than deodorant companies is anyone's guess since the job is the same. OMG, YOU HAD NO IDEA THIS WAS MISSING FROM YOUR LIFE. YOU MUST SPEND MONEY ON IT NAO!!!!! Because science isn't interesting on its own, as so eloquently demonstrated by John Oliver's TODD talks. The unfortunate realities of competing for ...

Apparently none of you felt it necessary to tell me about this: http://www.pusheen.com/ Or this: https://www.heychickadee.com/products/pusheenicorn-plush-toy IT"S A RAINBOW UNICORN KITTY PLUSH. I can't even. http://www.pusheen.com

tight locked mental health While it is growth to develop the ability to recognize negative behaviors and interactions, the skills to address/deal with/respond/cope take a lot longer to magically appear. Meanwhile, all the recognition feels like is a coherent reason to want to strangle people, rather than indescribable, irrational flailing. I mean, I guess that's an achievement? I'd prefer to suddenly just not be affected by the behavior and coolly not care. Kind of in a Lauren Bacall sort of way. Yes, I am looking down on you, but you still want to be me. Peon.

Documenting so I don't feel insane. My mother is absolutely brilliant at passive aggressive manipulation. I made some dinner and told people it was available if they were interested. Later, I told people if they were going to have any, have it now or it wasn't available but if they wanted to grab it now, I'd wait to clean up. My mother indicated she'd already had some, my dad said he didn't feel like having any. My mother then proceeded to tell me to put some aside for my dad. I asked her if she had what she wanted for herself; she said yes. I asked my dad if he wanted any; he said no. My mother spun a variation on telling me to put some aside for my dad. I tried again to explain that this was not one of the given options. Eat now, if you want to, or there is no later. (Because if there were any left, I was freezing it to have for myself later.) She said she didn't understand. I tried again. This is a one time offer, this evening only. This cycled again and I sa...

Hm. http://www.nature.com/news/researcher-under-fire-for-new-yorker-epigenetics-article-1.19874 http://www.nature.com/news/researcher-under-fire-for-new-yorker-epigenetics-article-1.19874

I see your wayback, and raise you a worse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzfEMIPA6Bg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzfEMIPA6Bg

While making a solid point, this had numerous comments that cracked me up, like "Pray for me in my time of polyester need." Meanwhile, I know you shouldn't read the comments but the level of colloquial ignorance along with actual dictionary definition lack of knowledge ignorance was intense. Such as you wouldn't have this problem if you tried it on in a store. Yeah, no, sorry, untrue. It would look better if you had the right undergarments on. What is this? That scene from Titanic where Rose's mother is lacing her into an Edwardian corset that goes from her armpits to her knees? While there is a real kernel in here that is true - you fit clothes with the undergarments you intend to wear (or not) on, because what's under does change what's over - these are not custom made clothes. They are mass produced and chances are high they didn't even fit the model the way it looks in the photo. They are sized and, however loosely the term applies, shaped for an...

If any of you ride bikes, do you have any input on the purchase/riding thereof?

Our neighbor is having their driveway redone.  It's on my side of the house. Wanna know what jackhammers on concrete sound like? Since 9 am? It's So Awesome. P.S. Mix any miscible substances in a vessel, place on any surface anywhere in our house, ta-da shaken, not stirred.

Having failed spectacularly at sleeping since waking at 4:30 am, i officially give up and will see how being awake goes. I expect it to go just as well.

sigh http://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11639020/West-Point-cadets-investigation http://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11639020/West-Point-cadets-investigation

possible trigger warnings I heard this the other day when it was broadcast and it's very difficult and intense. I'm specifically talking about the main 30+ minute segment that starts about 9 or 10 minutes in. It's a woman telling her own story about experiencing her culture's practice of female genital mutilation. It's hard to listen to. She's right that people generally think it only happens in Africa; I did. She was born in Pakistan, grew up in Texas, ended up back in Pakistan. Is it condescending to call her courageous? I don't mean it to be, because I can't imagine what it takes to break a cultural taboo and survive all that. I found it very difficult to listen to, but I learned a lot and she needs to be heard. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/586/who-do-we-think-we-are http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/586/who-do-we-think-we-are

They were interviewing him on Canadian radio this morning and they played this. For those of you to whom this may apply. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGs1-bfiYFQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGs1-bfiYFQ

Oh, yeah, we really won the war on terrorism, there. 'Cuz, ya know, they use those devil symbols to cast spells and witchcraft and that foreign stuff. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36240523 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36240523

mildly locked Some days, it's very hard to generate any "I care". Even for my own sake.

- so locked - There are not enough fuck you's for the emotional and psychological bullshit in my life.

I can't decide which recent news media political moment is amusing me more: a) A talking head quoting Aaron Sorkin's "The American President", and I don't think he knew he was, either. or b) Sarah Palin saying Paul Ryan's political career was over. This from the person who couldn't even finish one term as Governor.

Dear Universe, Get Stuffed. No Love, me

Oh, good lord. Now, not only are there "official" "Neapolitan" pizza and pizza places (generally not in Naples), there is something called "Third-wave espresso", or, I guess, third-wave coffee in general. Somebody please shoot me. It's not that I can't understand the people who have a genuine philosophy, here, it's just the ridiculous pretension of the titles and then pretending it's not pretentious. See, apparently there's a whole "thing" about "genuine" Italian espresso culture versus (what I gather is basically Western) "third-wave" espresso culture. So, instead of having, let's say, authentic Italian-style espresso, and American or Modern or Small batch or (gods help me) Artisanal espresso culture, you're either right or wrong. And mostly, apparently, third-wave is "right", around here anyway. Oh, and I will be completely shocked if the originators of the term are referencing Plato. Un...

Today has been one of those horribly exhausting, energy sucking, soul destroying days of debilitating lassitude. Entirely due to mental and emotional things. Bad universe, no biscuit.

What's your favorite way to slice a mango?

Well, what I feared is true. A week of 60 degree temps followed by a week of 30's at night, including two frosts has killed every bud on the apricot trees. They are still beautiful with beautiful leaves, but NO FRUIT FOR YOU. #ihazasad

Do you guys know if you can get English language versions of Satoshi Ito's novels, like Harmony ?

so low energ.........zzz

Can't give answer until at least next week because 1) my sister and reasons (smh) 2) my dad's surgery may or may not be happening on the 17th but we won't know until next week headdesk headdesk headdesk

I don't think the worry is death panels. http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160505/NEWS/160509940 http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160505/NEWS/160509940

Fun facts that are pretty consistent with what I've heard all along. http://why-mosquitoes-attracted-people.blogspot.ca/ P.S. Disturbing bits of niche adaptation include that casual mention that yellow fever carrying mosquitoes are actually attracted to lactic acid, rather than repelled by it. Traditionally yellow fever mosquito meant Aedes aegypti, although since it can carry all the other fun new viri, Aedes albopictus probably has this nasty adaptation too. So much fun.

Even if the science weren't equivocal*, you know what red flags me? St. Louis. It has a less than savory reputation for venue, juries, and medical/science cases and awards. And I'm being polite. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/johnson-johnson-ordered-to-pay-55-million-to-survivor-in-talc-cancer-case-a7012411.html *I use talcum powder. In fact, I use Johnson & Johnson. I preferred a specific cornstarch baby powder that ceased to exist long ago because it was milled with a much better texture and no stinky perfumes, but all the alternatives I have found are expensive and no better texture-wise than standard "baby powder". For fairness, if you can find me a paper with strong evidence that this is a verifiable connection and broad risk to the population in general, I will rescind my consideration that the evidence is equivocal. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/johnson-johnson-ordered-to-pay-55-million-to-survivor-in-talc-cancer-case-a7...

Oh, hell no. Carpenter bees get away from my window. AUGH.

Geezus http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/catastrophic-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-surpasses-10-000-hectares-1.3566310 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/catastrophic-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-surpasses-10-000-hectares-1.3566310

Maybe having strong black tea with dinner wasn't a good idea. #stillawake

RuPaul's Drag Race - I am sort of torn over who I think should win. It was a pretty tough final four, too.

Some types of ignorance I just don't get. I've seen people allowed to bring guitars on planes and take up an entire overhead bin on a huge aircraft and not have to pay for an extra seat for the instrument, which cellists often do. And I don't get the nonsense about no you can't rearrange the overhead bin, either, since I see that happening all the time without anyone asking an attendant first. It's just stupid. You'd think by now American would have given her some kind of status thing for being a frequent flier where there wouldn't even be a question about the violin going in the overhead bin. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/04/30/violin-carry-on-crisis/83750264/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/04/30/violin-carry-on-crisis/83750264

Pollo al Chilindrón. A northern Spanish sort of stew. My version, anyway. It's made with sweet peppers and tomatoes and onions and garlic and chicken and ham, basically. There's some variations in the recipes I've seen, like whether you use red or green sweet peppers, or both, sometimes using some herbs, sometimes some wine. I used roasted pimentos I had stored from last summer, Pomi chopped tomatoes (you could use fresh diced or canned diced tomatoes), onions, garlic, bay leaf, chicken that I sprinkled with some garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper and browned in olive oil, some sherry, and Canadian bacon. There was a recipe recommending white wine and I ended up not having any so of course I used sherry. The Canadian bacon was instead of Serrano ham. One thing I learned from having ever so briefly visited Spain is that ham isn't meat, it's flavoring. Which is what it is supposed to be in this recipe. But I had Canadian bacon, which is an American thing, a...

We have an update. I was not precisely correct at the original posting due to a lack of certain info. It is both better and worse. The doctor who disappeared probably knew what he was planning to do, but he did NOT tell the practice. With one possible caveat. - He did, indeed, leave to tour with an orchestra. - He apparently comes from a very wealthy family and has never needed to work. - He did not "retire". He just left. 3 weeks ago. Except he might come in at night to help with reading imaging. For a little while. Maybe. - He was one of the founders of the practice, so presumably owns at least part of it? - The practice and staff are not best pleased. - The interesting caveat: his wife is the practice manager. She is still working there. It is unclear if she knew anything ahead of time. My personal opinion is that this has veered from merely unprofessional to something more problematic. However, the doctor who saw my dad said they have started looking for someone to replac...

I wish I was surprised. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/30/mormon-rape-victims-shame-brigham-young-university http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/30/mormon-rape-victims-shame-brigham-young-university

My mom has decided that everything everyone says is an "assumption" if it somehow bothers her, or she disagrees with it. For example, the other day I asked if she was going out (of the house) because I saw her standing near the door in outerwear with her purse. Deeply illogical. This was immediately critiqued as an "assumption", etc. Another trope is how she is, per her, constantly saying things that are "sardonic" or "sarcastic" or "satirical" but we just never get it. She's very funny, but it's lost on us. Which would fly except for the part where we all understand each other when we're being sarcastic. Also the whole non-family members with whom we are in complete understanding on the whole sarcastic/humor thing. Not necessarily correct logic, but it would seem that there's an extended circle of people who clearly don't understand sarcasm and humor. But only when she says it. Mm-hm. Armchair analysis in 3... 2... ...

One of my dad's doctors apparently retired. Without sending out letters to anyone. While there were appointments on the books for him (the doctor), and tests and other such stuff scheduled under his name. And the office staff said everyone was just supposed to see whoever the new person was. Without telling them ahead of time. Without ever having met them. Wtf seems inadequate.

Free from the repeat inspection nonsense. Which mercifully cut short my being subjected to the women of the Today Show pretending to be being every 1950's stereotype of a helpless female in the woods. They gave them knives, and fishing line, and hooks, and weights and other stuff and they would all be dead within hours. Awesome example to the nation of functional, empowered females. Could we get some 10 year old Girl Scouts out here to mock this reinforcing of nonsense stereotypes by their mere competence and presence?

Oh, good. The Today Show is on the TV in the waiting area and the anchors, the women anchors, are pick-a-little, talk-a-little chatting away about getting their ears pierced and going camping in Key West. Where they couldn't put up their tent or start a campfire until some men came and helped them. -_- The men in the waiting area are laughing out loud about this. Double -_-

Sitting at the dealer service department where the service adviser is just as annoyed with the DMV as I am.

Ok, weather forecasting. You said rain yesterday and it almost sort of kinda but not really had piddly bits of moisture. You said there'd be some light rain tapering off this morning, maybe and it is absolutely pouring soaking so dark you're not sure it's daytime. Either we've developed severe micro-climate problems, or you are sucking seriously since the old guy retired, new weather people.