G+ Migration Blog

Dicamba is totally safe . I don't know what people are making such a fuss about. #sarcasm https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/09/27/651262491/a-drifting-weedkiller-puts-prized-trees-at-risk https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/09/27/651262491/a-drifting-weedkiller-puts-prized-trees-at-risk

Omg, wtaf is WRONG with these people?! (Ion, Ross McKinney is a great person and great medical ethicist - I interacted with him at Duke and he's quoted in the article.) https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/651838889/health-and-human-services-says-its-reviewing-use-of-fetal-tissue-for-research https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/651838889/health-and-human-services-says-its-reviewing-use-of-fetal-tissue-for-research

This is an important article. And the important part should not be, but is this: This year, several members of Congress proposed bills that would unwind or limit changes made by the America Invents Act, though nothing is likely to happen before the midterm elections. The STRONGER Patents Act, introduced in both the House and Senate, would weaken the PTAB board by aligning its claims standards with what has been established by court rulings. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/28/652546095/drugmakers-play-the-patent-game-to-lock-in-prices-block-competitors https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/28/652546095/drugmakers-play-the-patent-game-to-lock-in-prices-block-competitors

I heartily agree. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/30/652201204/perspective-a-heart-device-can-save-lives-but-doctors-need-to-explain-the-downsi https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/30/652201204/perspective-a-heart-device-can-save-lives-but-doctors-need-to-explain-the-downsi

Because of this misery with Kavanaugh, many women and girls have spoken out. What led me to this article was a post by a dear friend of mine where she spoke out about her sexual assault and abuse and why she never told anyone or reported it. She said that when she read this article it made her feel that she had to say something, now. I wish I could share my friend's story with you, because it is horrible, because it should be known, because every single one of these stories should swell into an inexorable wall of undeniability so that no one can ever make excuses ever again for not confronting this, for not changing this. I can't share my friend's story, but I can share the article that moved her to tell it. Now, 32 years after my rape, I am stating publicly what happened. I have nothing to gain by talking about this. But we all have a lot to lose if we put a time limit on telling the truth about sexual assault and if we hold on to the codes of silence that for generations ...

I am only linking to this because that is an adorable dog. http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/09/what-will-happen-when-newspapers-kill-print-and-go-online-only-most-of-that-print-audience-will-just-disappear/ http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/09/what-will-happen-when-newspapers-kill-print-and-go-online-only-most-of-that-print-audience-will-just-disappear/

- mild locked - WARNING - deeply unpleasantness about situation with my mom about my dad - and planning funerals and my mother, in spite of neither being nor speaking Italian, waging a vendetta against my dad, me, and my siblings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I am not even really sure what to say, here, except that my mother randomly started a slightly bizarre conversation about planning a funeral and then openly stated that none of this is about my father, it's about her resentment towards my dad and us and her twisted relationship with my dead uncle. I don't think I gave her a sufficiently coldy angry glare at that moment. She is STILL totally wrapped up in and motivated almost exclusively by her resentment over our unwillingness to say it was a-ok to not only get involved with that man, but to spend 10+K dollars on him and get financially and legally involved which took money out of my parents' joint retirement monies and put the family in financial and legal ...

Interesting read. Actual headline: The Science Behind Home Disaster Preparedness Kits Is a Disaster https://www.wired.com/story/the-science-behind-home-disaster-preparedness-kits-is-a-disaster/?mbid=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_2 https://www.wired.com/story/the-science-behind-home-disaster-preparedness-kits-is-a-disaster/?mbid=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_2

FYI, the GOP passed more tax reform bills while we were distracted with Kavanaugh. Interesting breakdown of the GOP Reps in NJ and NY, 4/5 in NJ and 5/9 in NY voted against this one because property tax deduction. The one guy in NJ has been in re-election trouble ever since he voted for this the first time. It is instructive to look at the districts of the 4 from NY who voted for it, one of whom is Chris Collins. Personally, I am pissed off about the changing of supposed college savings accounts (529 plans) so you can now spend money in a 529 on homeschooling . For every part of this country where there is a child for whom that is actually an issue because they live an hour or more away from the nearest public school, there are dozens of children whose parents simply do not want them near those icky brown people and those horrible people who will teach them that other religions are not evil and that anyone who is different or from more than 20 feet from where you were born is not out t...

Pumpkin (spice) knish. From the farmers market this morning - made with actual pumpkin! It was quite tasty.

Yeah, right. Because terrorists always self-report. Makes you feel downright secure, doesn't it? Not to mention things do happen with computer screens, and people do make mistakes. Besides, I'd genuinely like to know from security professionals whether this kind of questionnaire ever stops criminals or catches any past or future terrorists. Seriously. According to Simon Calder, travel editor of The Independent, the question on the form is "completely pointless" in the first place as "nobody who was engaged in terrorism, espionage, or genocide would ever tick 'yes.'" However, he said: "Once you are on that list you are never going to get off it. America is completely unforgiving. If that box gets ticked for whatever reason, immediately it's as though the alarms go off, the shutters go down and you are into a spiral of despair." https://www.businessinsider.com/cancer-patient-accidentally-labels-herself-as-terrorist-ahead-of-bucket-list-t...

Things I always find curious - grumpy owners with super friendly dogs. Brought to you by the goldendoodle at the farmers market. He kept going over to people and even jumping up and wagging his tail like crazy, clearly wanting to interact and say hello. His owner, otoh, was all grumpy about having anyone near his dog. And totally effectively said, "Riley, down!""Don't jump!" I mean, clearly there's a little work to do on the training, but Riley doesn't care. Like, he doesn't really jump very hard, just, you know, wants to lick your face and get more pets. But he's also totally, like, whatever ok about getting down, too. Riley is obviously the more laid back and social of the pair. I do wonder, sometimes, if people think about things like am I getting a dog that is going to want to be social and friendly with everyone and anyone, or standoffish and only attached to me. That's a thing, you know? Some dog owners really don't want to interact...

Ded of cute. Golden Retriever adopted by lost koala joey. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/pets/hero-dog-saves-lost-koala/news-story/c62ce26ca56b748ba6ee916a10355277 https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/pets/hero-dog-saves-lost-koala/news-story/c62ce26ca56b748ba6ee916a10355277

Senator Coons is certainly making Jeff Flake sound good. Per him Flake got a lot of aggressive pressure from the GOP side not to even do as much as he apparently did to help move this toward any kind of FBI investigation. Apparently, there was a lot of hard, partisan fighting going on outside that room before the vote and Flake's statement. If you believe this (Coons is totally credible), Flake voted yes to move the nomination forward as a good faith gesture toward his side, while making it clear that he was not a guarantee on the main vote. Personally, I have seen too many GOPers cave and toe the party line, including Flake, no matter what they say before that. So I can't give Flake the benefit of the doubt right now. But I believe Coons that he thinks Flake really tried, and if Flake hadn't done what he did, we wouldn't be where we are. If that's all the bipartisanship we can hope for these days, that is incredibly disheartening.

I know it would be too much of a stretch for the people who run our government, right now, but this is why what happens with the Kavanaugh confirmation matters. It doesn't have to be logical, we're talking about human behavior, after all. Unwanted contact is violence, sexual assault is violence, rape is violence. And we ignore it because it supposedly only happens to/by people we can 'other', but women are killed in this country every day because our culture continues to make it very clear that a woman is less valuable than a man, that her only value is in direct proportion to the sexual utility any given man decides she has. It is not the same as other murders because somehow the woman must have some responsibility or fault for what happened to her, she needed to be taught a lesson, etc. This is not just something 'those backward foreigners' do. That's why it matters that a swimmer from Stanford is held responsible, that a preppie from DC is held respo...

The difference between my mom and toddlers - toddlers are presumed innocent. I left her a phone message from someone who clearly remembered talking to my mom and was returning a call from my mom. I had their name, company, just didn't ask for a phone number because this was a place I knew my mom had been in contact with. Fast forward. Mom gets the message and says nothing for several hours. Then, when I am literally trapped in a room from which I cannot escape, she stands in the doorway and proceeds to harangue me about not having a phone number and spend 15 solid minutes going on, and on, and on about how she has no idea who this person is and she called the company and nobody knew who the person was and oh, by the way, there was this other phone call where I did write down the person's name and number from a totally different scenario like a month ago but she called and nobody had any record of anyone calling us and that was very suspect because who was this person, anyway, a...

THAT'S DISGUSTING. Picture squicked me out. Be warned, the damn thing's a video and it autoplays. https://www.livescience.com/63706-moth-drinks-bird-tears.html https://www.livescience.com/63706-moth-drinks-bird-tears.html

The apocalypse is here, and it's riding on big, nasty mosquitoes. http://www.fayobserver.com/news/20180926/a-bad-science-fiction-movie-florence-breeds-mosquitoes http://www.fayobserver.com/news/20180926/a-bad-science-fiction-movie-florence-breeds-mosquitoes

- locked - Woke up still triggered by my confrontation with my mom yesterday. Spoke to a couple people for hours yesterday night, which calmed me way down and I went to bed, but man, woke up totally feeling triggered and threatened. Thing is, the original issue with her had to do with my dad suddenly losing his hearing. Which is a thing that has happened and is problematic. But she kept up with other things and finally decided that she wanted me to join her in her campaign to throw away my dad before he's dead. That includes several things, but in particular she wants me to agree that we should get rid of her car and then if I have to drive my dad around, she can take my car. Note, she will not be driving him around. I've learned to pick up on her not so subtle little comments. So, first of all, he's not dead. Psychologically, it's very important for him to have freedom of movement - that's a long standing thing for reasons. It's also important right now because...

I'm glad I got to see some in the wild before they disappear. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/09/pcbs-are-killing-killer-whales/571474/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/09/pcbs-are-killing-killer-whales/571474/

Awesome. I had to go past where my mother was to take care of something and now we've had the mini lecture on why we were wrong. See, an increased volume and altered tone do not indicate that someone is angry. The addition of aggressive body language is not indicative of a response similar to someone who feels threatened/attacked/challenged. What I don't understand (per her) is that she finds me irritating because she had a simple solution and you don't need to know everything to have simple solutions (to be fair, it is much easier to come up with solutions to a problem if you don't know anything about the problem). Also, she is not a textbook. (I was annoyed so I quietly said something about the description in a textbook of how one might interpret the body language/tone of voice business. I now know that many experts and years of research are all wrong, or at the least they certainly do not apply to her.) There was something a counselor said about not getting triggered...

Oh, ok. In the time it took me to walk away and write my last post my mother is literally throwing things around the kitchen and muttering to herself about everybody is mean to her, she's not stupid, etc. Better known amongst the toddler set as throwing a tantrum. Just fyi, this is a thing she does not infrequently. Sometimes for no identifiable cause or trigger. She'd be one of those terrible deities you were constantly afraid of and always apologizing to, just in case. Theoretically she'll wind down in 5 or 10 minutes, unless she's really pissed off. Then she might stomp off, slam doors, and possibly leave briefly.

I don't even know what to do with my mother. I really don't. It is beyond my comprehension that someone could be this impossible. She is determined to present herself as the long suffering martyr to anyone who is still buying that, or doesn't have enough info to know otherwise, when what she is really doing is trying to Grand Moff Tarkin everything (the more you tighten your grip, etc). Not to mention she has brilliant solutions to every problem, both as defined by her. She's not stupid, but she has demonstrated more and more often that she is an unbelievably easy mark for even a minimally skilled grift and is 100% anti-intellectual if it means she can choose to interpret anything anyone else says as somehow challenging or critical of her. She literally raised her voice at me to make sure I knew that she knew everything about anything to do with the actual concern that happened. Except that was all she could do - keep saying I know things, I know all about it! while bei...

Someone said elsenet that the (white, male) Senators see themselves in Kavanaugh. I have to say that that does not sound like an unreasonable insight. Beware unconscious biases. Beyond that, though, the whole tearful, righteous anger thing is not persuading me. Quite the opposite. Maybe it is more effective if you are watching it rather than hearing it on the car radio. (Gods help us this is even being covered on CBC radio.) Seriously indignant reaction to the snippet I heard, actually, primarily based on content.

I wasn't watching, but then I flipped on the TV anyway. It seems this may no longer be a slam dunk for Kavanaugh himself, depending on his testimony, but doubtless McConnell, et al have someone else lined up to rush through even if they ditch Kavanaugh. Meanwhile, it seems like a few people are considering caring for a hot minute about what happens to girls and women all the time, at all ages. (Gee, gosh, golly, we had no idea . Ugh.) Not gonna get excited, though, because Lindsay Graham is still standing up for Kavanaugh. And Rick Santorum is trying to make some argument about convicting someone without evidence and all that. Except this isn't a criminal trial, even if it's a legal proceeding. I probably shouldn't have listened even to the bit I did.

I am amused. https://votemeow.us/ https://votemeow.us/

I were stinky so is much bathed. So humiliate.

So a while back when I was in Ann Arbor, I tried the Thai rolled ice cream place at the mall (franchise of I CE NY). They have a standing menu of suggested combos, seasonal suggested combos, or you can make up whatever you want. This was one of their summer specials. It was coconut ice cream, coconut flakes, jackfruit, something I am forgetting, and butterfly pea flower sweet sticky rice. Butterfly pea flower is a thing in a few parts of Southeast Asia, like there's a tea in Thailand and a rice dish in Malaysia. Anyway, I never thought I'd ever taste anything made with it because the chances of my ending up in Southeast Asia are low. But it was right there in Ann Arbor, so yay! However, I can only report that the sweet sticky rice tasted basically like sweet sticky rice. I mean, there was a hint of something else, but all the sweet from the rice and the fruit and the sauce kind of made it hard to discern. Maybe it doesn't have a strong flavor, as its most notable quality is...

Well, now I want to go to PEI just to do this. #lolMaritimes #mirth http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/local/new-charlottetown-crosswalk-sign-encourages-silly-walks-244679/ http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/local/new-charlottetown-crosswalk-sign-encourages-silly-walks-244679/

Note: this is a not locked post, so it will be sufficiently vague as to irritate Kenneth Cavness (not really). Please to keep comments similar. Anyway, due to various and sundry experiences, I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that anyone who has to live or work with someone with mental/emotional illness on a regular basis who determines that this is simply something they cannot do because there is too much collateral damage - they get neither judgment nor criticism from me. To be clear, I am not talking about people who have an illness or condition and are actively participating in some kind of therapy or treatment, or maintaining something of the sort. I mean the people who, in spite of support and help and access are so ill or so lacking in insight that they not only refuse but actively fight any support, care, or treatment. I'm sure there are people whose situation is so challenging that even with active pursuit of therapy or treatment things may still be untenable, and I am ...

- mild lock - My sister and niece came for a couple of days to help out. I thought that might help my mom relax and not be so anxious. Instead, she has amped up her behaviors to eleven. Like, seriously? Apparently all her children are competition or an annoyance because we don't just run around focusing on her, what with her being the unwell person, and all. I just, wow. I keep feeling like I am a terrible person for thinking and feeling as I now do about her, and yet she insists on proving me wrong. The mind boggles. Truly.

Ok, the charley horse I've had in my left calf for 3 days now can go away. Any time. It really hurts and it needs to just bugger off.

Military sexual assault, another reason the handling of the SCOTUS hearing matters. A statement on a webpage for the National Center for PTSD, which is maintained on the VA website, argues that psychiatric service dogs might hamper recovery by rendering veterans unable to function without a dog at their side. "For example, if the dog keeps strangers from coming too close, the owner will not have a chance to learn that they can handle this situation without the dog. Becoming dependent on a dog can get in the way of the recovery process for PTSD," the statement reads. Ayfkm? I mean, fine. Do science, as much as can ever be done with mental and emotional issues. But would you ever blithely say medications might hamper recovery by rendering veterans unable to function without medications? Or how about 'for example, if the drug keeps symptoms from becoming disabling, the patient will not have a chance to learn that they can handle this situation without the drug. Becoming depe...

That'll be an awkward Thanksgiving. https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/21/politics/paul-gosar-siblings-ad/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/21/politics/paul-gosar-siblings-ad/index.html

This article is fucking depressing, not to mention rage inducing and triggering for anyone who has ever experienced assault or violence. It's also directly relevant to what is happening with the SCOTUS nomination. Rich, privileged kids and adults permit and enable totally unacceptable behaviors and castigate and cast out anyone who doesn't play by the rules. The chief of which is keep your mouth shut. And one reason it matters 'all these years later' is that we are supposed to get better as a society and stop rewarding and enabling this crap. Every person who gets a pass because 'the rules were different then' is one more time we perpetuate that behavior into the future, because there are no consequences. They do fine and live their life and get even more privileges for it. You don't stop it tomorrow, you already allowed it yesterday, so you stop it today. Right now. Otherwise you are saying it's really ok to behave that way, so keep on keepin' on. N...

It's fine, everything's fine, it'll be fine. (NYT has a simpler quick explanation of the coal ash goo). https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/us/coal-ash-spill-dam-breach.html https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dam-breach-raises-concerns-coal-ash-flowing-north/story?id=57989561 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dam-breach-raises-concerns-coal-ash-flowing-north/story?id=57989561

This is one aspect of tech permeating our lives that continues to be used as an insidious way to bias things in favor of one small group. How many jobs and peripheral industries existed because people could fix their own stuff? How many people did it impact their socioeconomic status and access to jobs or other resources that affected quality of life? Or, in this case, make the difference between keeping a farm and having to walk away? Because these things become monopolies or near enough and farmers aren't usually rolling in the dough, so the difference between fixing your own stuff and having to pay whatever John Deere wants to charge to get your critical equipment fixed could be the financial straw that broke the camel's back. Nothing is ever simple, but this is not just wrong, it's incredibly short-sighted. https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-farmers-right-to-repair/ https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-farmers-right-to-repair/

Bitter laugh of non-surprise. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/spokesman-gop-kavanaugh-nomination-resigns-has-been-accused-harassment-past-n912156 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/spokesman-gop-kavanaugh-nomination-resigns-has-been-accused-harassment-past-n912156

BIG POUFY CLOUDS

This is just from the high winds we've had today. Now, we're getting the actual storms. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have hit my car, even if it had been in its usual spot in front of this tree, but since they were relining the sewers today, nobody was allowed to park on the street. It might make you believe that sometimes things work out randomly well.

Elaborate google doodle today. #neighbor

- mild lock - I actually watched a bit of football with my dad tonight. Bigger deal than you'd think.

- mild lock - My mother does this thing where she says, "I need to eat." Because she is hungry but also because she is probably so far past the point when she should have eaten that she is now nauseated, woozy and dizzy, or about to pass out. She says, "I need to eat," and everyone says ok, go eat we will take care of anything if anything comes up. Not that there is usually anything to actually worry about but whatever. An hour and a half later she has still not eaten, and now there is something going on and other people are taking care of it but if she leaves she won't be able to make sure she's in the middle of whatever it is that is going on. So she won't leave. While repeating the I need to eat mantra. This is a long standing behavior of hers. Mostly, under prior status quo, we just ignored her. Now, though, it's more of a problem. After an hour and a half of nonsense and finally in the middle of something that needs attention, I finally say, ...

I have no particular trust for either side of this, but see my surprised face. https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-your-rising-health-care-bills-secret-hospital-deals-that-squelch-competition-1537281963 https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-your-rising-health-care-bills-secret-hospital-deals-that-squelch-competition-1537281963

Offs. Ask your parents, call or email and ask your local elections board where you obviously figured out how to get the ballot. Ask your university's many student whatever offices. Find out where there's a post office and ask them or take it there in person. You know that you're supposed to mail it back, it's too big a leap to figure out that you could ask the post office or UPS or your college mail room or wherever you mail it back how you get a stamp for it? Obviously reasoning and problem solving skills are not being successfully taught at college. Or college students don't actually care about voting. Really, I think absentee ballots should be pre-paid on the postage, but that kind of solution would require adults at elections boards to spend money. https://www.wivb.com/news/national/study-many-college-students-don-t-know-where-to-buy-a-stamp/1461653103 https://www.wivb.com/news/national/study-many-college-students-don-t-know-where-to-buy-a-stamp/1461653103

Local GOP must have whiplash. They certainly don't sound happy about this. Then again, Collins has a gerrymandered district that prior to this he was unlikely to lose. He's still probably going to win the district. I wonder if the way this works is that if he gets convicted of something it wouldn't be for a year or two and meanwhile he can continue his support of Trump, et al. Not to mention if he gets booted do we have to have another election or does the GOP get to appoint another GOPer? Not to mention does being a sitting Congresscritter give him some kind of legal or financial leg up that his lawyers thought he should hang on to? https://www.npr.org/2018/09/19/649653362/indicted-congressman-reverses-course-says-he-will-campaign-for-re-election https://www.npr.org/2018/09/19/649653362/indicted-congressman-reverses-course-says-he-will-campaign-for-re-election

- mild lock - Not currently a fan of chemotherapy. I can haz Opinions forming during this experience.

Man, not even eating plastic kills mosquitoes. We're doomed. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mosquitoes-could-carry-plastic-particles-into-the-food-chain/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mosquitoes-could-carry-plastic-particles-into-the-food-chain/

Mosquitoes and spiders. The end is nigh. (Picture blocked for arachnophobes - no actual visible arachnids, but arachnid adjacent materials.) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45572331 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45572331

Really gotta question why anyone would find it appropriate to give Jian Ghomeshi this kind of forum. It is way too soon to be giving him any such opportunity, if ever. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/arts/ian-buruma-out-jian-ghomeshi.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/arts/ian-buruma-out-jian-ghomeshi.html

This is from last week, but there have been more and more stories about the fact that North Carolina provides a majority of the country's sweet potatoes, apparently. Except they may be drowned and rotting, now. What I didn't know was that NC provides most of the turkeys, too? Thanksgiving may be about to get very expensive. Ham won't be an option, either, since NC provides a lot of that, as well. Hope you like tofurkey? Blech. http://time.com/5392851/hurricane-florence-thanksgiving-turkeys/ http://time.com/5392851/hurricane-florence-thanksgiving-turkeys/

Collateral damage. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-florence-migrants/in-florences-wake-uncertainty-haunts-migrant-workers-idUSKCN1LX2IM https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-florence-migrants/in-florences-wake-uncertainty-haunts-migrant-workers-idUSKCN1LX2IM

Even if I can't personally understand deeper issues that may be involved here, it seems very sad to me that the opportunity to be exposed to a different music and culture would be cut off like this. Maybe someone who would never hear it otherwise would hear the music and want to learn more about it. Threats over music make me sad. Threats cancelling concerts make me sad. It seems like so much more is lost than gained. https://www.npr.org/2018/09/18/647438130/indias-carnatic-singers-face-backlash-for-performing-non-hindu-songs https://www.npr.org/2018/09/18/647438130/indias-carnatic-singers-face-backlash-for-performing-non-hindu-songs

But technology is magic and pure. https://www.npr.org/2018/09/18/649158898/facebook-allowed-employers-to-exclude-women-from-job-ads-aclu-says https://www.npr.org/2018/09/18/649158898/facebook-allowed-employers-to-exclude-women-from-job-ads-aclu-says

Everything about this story is wrong. Full disclosure: I'm kind of irritable, right now. 1) What the frak is it with people thinking they can just film other people and post other people's lives online? Would they really want someone to do that to them? (See older story about spoiled brat who posted a naked photo of another woman in the gym locker room, as if her body was never going to age.) 2) Corollary: Why is it that it's always about mocking everyone else and thinking the meanest, worst possible thing about a total stranger as if you were some kind of anonymous deity dispensing social approval or disapproval judgments? Would you want people to do that to you? 3) Is GoFundMe where the anonymous hordes go now to expiate their extremely temporary concern about sins and purchase indulgences? Does giving money to a GoFundMe make everything all better so we can all go on our way and forget about the individual humans we mocked and the social or other problems they may have s...

- mild lock - There is something off kilter about the fact that I just put both my parents to bed. Did I mention my mom got sick starting in the middle of the night last night? Clearly, I have failed to offer sufficient quality or quantity of sausages to Offler.

The echthroi are messing with our farandole. (Mitochondrial DNA is circular, a Farandole can be danced in a circle, farandolae in A Wind in the Door dance. Coincidence? I think not.) #awindinthedoor #totallyscience https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brain-rsquo-s-dumped-dna-may-lead-to-stress-depression/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brain-rsquo-s-dumped-dna-may-lead-to-stress-depression/

Get off my lawn. Or the more nuanced response, much of which is scattered and buried in the article. That is, if a child has a diagnosable disorder, and that should absolutely be professionally evaluated without judgment, it's pretty likely that accommodation is already covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Proceed accordingly. Further, the environment in which the presentation is made needs to be addressed. That is, teach the kids in the class how to be a supportive and encouraging audience. Grade not only on each presentation, but on how each student behaves overall as an audience member and participant over the course of the entire unit. Create a flexible and objective grading for the unit that is basically just a pass fail but with constructive feedback on various aspects of researching, preparing, and presenting a topic as well as on attending a presentation and participating constructively in discussion. Consider teaching students about the fact that in real life si...

Maybe I missed it. You know what I don't see in here? Anything about the fact that even when you have health insurance it may not pay for all the things that can be done other than prescribe opioids for many people with pain issues. Not a word about the fact that one of the likely reasons this is the worst in poorer areas is that it costs $10 or $15 or $20 for an hour of yoga class - just one example of one possible adjunct, and a reasonable fee btw - and it costs as little as $2 for a copay on a week or more of oxycodone (real life example). It just makes me wonder, then, where the real pressure in the system exists? Because the best insurance in this country isn't going to pay for 3 yoga classes a week, or a chiropractor, or a physical or occupation therapy visit, or etc. for 6 months, or 6 years, or the rest of someone's life. They might not even pay for a weekly counseling visit to deal with the real emotional and mental effects of pain which have real physical effects....

- mild locked - Things are very, very painful right now and I am very worried. Also, some angry bits, of course, but right now very worried.

Run gator, run! https://www.13newsnow.com/article/life/south-carolina-woman-neighborhood-gator-ride-out-florence-together-kind-of/291-594744709 https://www.13newsnow.com/article/life/south-carolina-woman-neighborhood-gator-ride-out-florence-together-kind-of/291-594744709

Ouch feels. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article218445160.html https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article218445160.html

This did not have so much purple and red when I looked yesterday.

This is a powerful article, regardless of context. It could be about anyone, in any organization, at any level. The high stakes makes it more prurient, and makes more people forget that they are willing to sacrifice a living person on their political altar. No matter how important SCOTUS is, even if Kavanaugh was booted, the Federalist Society has a long list of look-a-likes to sub in. So if Feinstein respected a request for anonymity, that's hardly a conspiracy. Not to mention as noted in the article the system has not changed and the only person who might be hurt, here, is the woman in question. Really, I'm bothering to post this because for some reason my mother mentioned during an attempt at dinner conversation last night with me and my dad that "some TV guy" and "accusation" and "fired". I'm guessing, now that I've heard some radio news in the car that she was referring to Jeff Fager at CBS. My dad's immediate reaction was uncompro...

Hi, hope people in storm are ok. Currently need coffee but will wait until 1:30 so have energy to do needed things 2-4. Mildly nauseated. Not sure if that's the new glasses or not.

I am seriously missing watching 'Into the Badlands'.

- mild lock - I do not enjoy managing chaos, and I would be tempted to say I do not handle it well. However, in spite of hitting the wall Monday emotionally, and literally crashing/sleeping for several hours this afternoon, apparently I am handling whatever needs to be handled as well as I can manage it under the circumstances. It's far from perfect, but everybody else seems to be having a much harder time handling their stress and not making mistakes. Oddly, this does not make me feel superior, it makes me question myself even more. Maybe I should Ask A Manager. Mistakes upset me because the only way I see to prevent them at this time is to literally never sleep - obs not the solution. Frex, I made it clear to my mother that if my dad ate peanut butter it had to be the commercial jarred stuff from the store. Which is still organic and just peanuts but it has been jarred and therefore pasteurized. She fed him the fresh ground stuff from the coop because she forgot. I caught it by a...

- mild locked - I am running on caffeine and fumes, and I have to be careful with the caffeine because in this state it can make me ill if I overdo it. #fsckcancer

- mild lock - Much of my dad's care has been excellent, especially from the nurses, but boy can I see why people feel ignored and dismissed by the medical system. And it's utter bullshit that at an inpatient facility services are curtailed on the weekend and nobody can give a diagnosis and therefore specifically appropriate treatment for something. Let's just let something get worse until we have to call hospice in the middle of the night. Which we did last night. I have many frustrations. There is a small possibility that we are now at risk of having the house colonized with a resistant bacterium. Ok. It could be controlled with appropriate cleaning and hand washing if we get a jump on it. But that means old fashioned bleach and that damages a lot of the fancy new surfaces that they use to decorate bathrooms and kitchens. Which my mom is conflicted about and this one I understand. The one thing they saved up money for was to remodel those rooms after we were all out of the...

- mild lock - Well, mom was doing ok. I guess she really just can't handle anything that isn't a consistent, stable situation. She is being very inappropriate because my dad insisted on having a window covered so he could sleep (because light bothering) and my mother has trouble seeing at night and apparently there are no possible compromise options (there are, but she wanted what she wanted) and she is muttering at my dad and me about breaking her hip and then told me how counseling wouldn't help with this (I didn't bring it up - she did) and how she didn't want to "leave me with this" (ah, we're back to the threats of taking everything and leaving my father, again, I see - because those are totally appropriate ways to express her distress) but she can't handle this situation, etc. I do realize she has no inner monologue and that is why all these horrible statements come out of her mouth, but it still boils down to the fact that apparently under ...

- mild lock - Credit where it is due. Mom was appropriate last night and has been trying to be most of today. Of course, we also have a standing disagreement about whether it is "comfort care" to protect a neutropenic patient from infection. By washing your hands, cooking his food, washing dishes and silverware and so on. Nothing major but requires a bit of attention. She did agree that if I wanted to clean the kitchen and get paper plates to eliminate worrying about the dishes and such, that might be fine. I will never be able to get all the crap off the counters in the kitchen. To be clear, it is possible, indeed probable, that my dad can rebound enough from the neutropenia now that he is not doing chemo for us to be able to stop doing that in even maybe a week. Granted, that means we have to be able to get him lab tests and I'm not sure how to do that, but I am adamant that we need to give him that support and opportunity. He's not frakking dead, yet, and we don...

- mildly locked - Only update is that my brother is probably not coming this weekend, now, because of the hurricane. Regrets, but his codependency with my mom make the prospect of his staying here a bridge to far for my presently fragile psyche. Not that he shouldn't get to come see his dad, but it is also not at all ok for my brother to be here with my brother's issues if we cannot deal with some of the PTSD the medical system managed to trigger in my dad (thanks, medical system). It's hard enough dealing with my mom over this and that was with my sister here, who has had to go back to her job and her life in another state. I cannot have to take care of my dad and manage my mother and my brother. Otherwise too overwhelmed and too tired to torture you with the fun times to be had by all. To be clear, I am hugely relieved my brother will not be here.

Everybody in the path of the hurricane, be safe.

- mildly locked - This has not been a good week. Dad got sent home post chemo Sun night, was in the ER Tuesday, was in the treatment center getting transfused Friday, and readmitted to the cancer hospital Friday night with a probable infection that they have yet to pin down. He has no neutrophils. I don't mean low, I mean none, zero, all gone. I think they overshot the mark by a lot on the chemo. This makes essentially 2 weeks in the hospital and he feels worse, not better, and he told the cancer doctor to stuff it this morning. He felt horrible and he didn't have the reserve to not let his anger through when they were trying to tell him how his white count would recover and they'd treat the infection and he'd feel better next week. I mean, that was supposed to be last week, and the week before that, etc. So he told them all he wants is to not feel awful and if that means hospice and no more chemo then make him hospice, because he's not doing any more chemo. He also...

I did not get to spend nearly as much time with all of you as I'd have liked, but I am ever grateful for the time and fun last weekend.