5092 Almost finished with chemo.

Saturday, February 4, 2017

We get heavier as we get older because there is a lot 

more information in our heads.

So I'm just really intelligent and my head can't store 

all that information, so it has to be stored other places.

That's my story and I’m sticking to it.

================================================

Well, a major update.  I'm in the middle of my seventh round of chemotherapy, will start the eight and last on February 14th, and then on to the daily radiation.  I am tolerating the chemo so well that for the past two rounds we skipped the Neulasta (immune system stimulater) because I figured out that it was that shot that was causing me to feel so icky in week one of each round, and on every previous blood check my numbers were (to use the doctor's term) robust.  

Round five was interesting - I had an allergic reaction to one ingredient of the mix that resulted in itchy red hives all over my entire body.  Claritin quickly took care of that, so now I take one tiny Claritin every day.

They had told me that my hair would "thin" some, but I wouldn't go bald.  "Thin" turned out to be about 90% of my hair.  I have very little left on my head, and I'm pretty much bald in other interesting places.  The doctor was happy to hear that, actually, because he was beginning to worry that I was tolerating it TOO well.  I gave up on my hair and cut it to about two inches, and just slick it back with gel to cover the nearly bald spots.  Doesn't bother me at all.  I can tell it's trying to grow back, because there are short fine angel hairs that stick up here and there.

Yeah, the fatigue is building.  I don't want to go anywhere or do anything, but it's not so bad that I want to take naps.  Don't care to walk very far, for some reason my thighs rebel, so early in January I got a handicap parking placard, but that's when we started skipping the Neulasta, so I haven't had to use it yet.

There was a question as to why I was getting CMF, when there are newer treatments out there.  CMF has been around since at least the '90s.  It's OLD!  Well, when the oncologist told me he chose CMF because it wouldn't cause the side effects that the newer ones did, I got worried that I got CMF because of my age (frail little old lady that I am (NOT!)), and maybe he thought I couldn't handle anything more nasty, so I did some research.  There are clinical trials comparing CMF to other newer chemotherapies, and, in particular for what I have, triple negative breast cancer, it turns out that CMF works just as well as all the others, with fewer side effects.  Any differences in outcome were like 1% or less, which is negligible, really.

The biggest news is that Memorial Sloan Kettering has just in the past few months opened a cancer center only 7 miles from my home, an easy 13-minute drive.  The surgery and chemo was at a breast center a 40-minute drive away, which wasn't so terribly far when I'd make the trip two days in every three weeks (Daughter went with me only for the first cycle).  But daily?  For like seven weeks?  That's a trek.  So I'm looking into having the radiation (prone, must be prone) at Sloan Kettering.  We'll see.  I'll also be able to get second opinions there on other stuff, too, like the follow-on treatments.

--------------------------------------------------------

Politics.  I've been freaking out just like most of the world, but funniest thing, it wasn't until yesterday that I realized, "This is REAL!  It's not a comedy skit that'll be over in a few weeks!  This is IT!  It's not a joke!"   Well, it is a joke, but it's no longer funny.   Chemo didn't nauseate me but what's happening in Washington does.  Bannon?  Cheney redux, but with less political savvy and fewer brains.  http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/report-bannon-had-to-be-reminded-he-wasnt-the-president.html

(Does anyone know what happened to the Hatch Act, a 1939 federal law holding executive branch employees must "maintain a federal workforce that is free from partisan political influence or coercion"?)


I sort of was for Bernie, but I knew he'd never get the nomination.  I think the DNC realized that as soon as he was nominated the RNC would be screaming "Socialism!  Communism!", and the exact same people who voted for Trump would fall for it.  Bernie might have got even more popular votes than Hillary, but the electoral college fallout would have been the same.  Same people, in the same states. 

The website https://www.track-trump.com/ is updating daily on promises made, and actions taken over the first 100 days.  It's an excellent source for what's going on, presented without commentary.   

---------------------------------------------------------

Remember Matt and his dancing around the world?  At 0:14 in this video, Matt is dancing in Philadelphia, and if you look very quickly, you'll see a little girl in a striped dress on the left, directly in front of a guy in a grey-beige shirt, dancing up a storm.  That's my Nugget.  I don't know how Hercules (in the grey-beige shirt) knew Matt would be there, but, well, there they are.



---------------------------------------------------------

This is Tom Scott.  He mostly does science-oriented videos from fascinating places around the world, and I'm subscribed to his channel on YouTube.  He posted this one after the election.  And his fears are justified.  All over the internet, a certain group of people have become nastier.  Much much nastier.  It's like they think they have been given PERMISSION to be ... well, nasty.   And the one person who could tell them to knock it off, is ignoring the problem.  I despair.




---------------------------------------------------------

Several of the nurses have, after seeing the "age 72" on my records, remarked on my facial skin.  The left side of my face was torn up in a bicycle accident in my teens, and with age the scars are showing up now, finally, as a network of fine lines and pits.  The right side of my face is smooth.  I have the usual sagging along the jawline, but the nurses remark that "You have no wrinkles!"  

They'll ask if I moisturize, and I say no.  I'd hate to tell them why I think I have few wrinkles.

This is terrible to admit.  I rarely wash my face.  I don't wear makeup like foundation or blush, so it's not like I have to wash that off at night.  In a bath or shower I often forget my face - it gets washed as a side effect of washing my hair.  So, I guess, rather than moisturizing, I just don't wash the oil out.

I also won't exfoliate.  Jay had a theory that it was very bad to exfoliate, because your skin all over your body is naturally protected by a thin layer of dead skin cells, and if you remove that layer, the top layer of live cells die to reform the protective layer, and then the skin has to regenerate new cells to maintain skin thickness.  Cells generate by division, and any cell can split only so many times (look up "telomeres") and when it reaches that limit, the cell dies.  Exfoliation causes early cell death, so your facial skin will thin and age faster.  

Chemotherapy has affected my skin.  It seems to be thinner and saggier all over my body, probably because chemo will prevent regeneration (a good thing, I guess, as far as tumors go).  I've obviously lost some fat under my skin, even though I've lost only 2 or 3 pounds over the past seven months.  I'm hoping it will all go back to normal after this is over.

--------------------------------------------------

Well, I hope to be better about posting.  I will try, anyway.  
.

5081 Lots of little stuff

 Saturday, August 20, 2016

"The big thieves hang the little ones."

-- Czech Proverb -- 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The breast.  I had hoped that after the surgery and lab reports I'd have a better idea of what's going to happen.

Nope.

I got a tiny bit of additional info, and it's not the best.  The stage is still good, at T2aN0M0, and it's stage 2a instead of 1 only because it's .2 cm too large in one of three measurements to qualify for T1, and there's a lot of other good indicators.  So that's good.  However, there's a bunch of stuff they look at after it's removed to judge the grade of the tumor - how active it is, how "deformed" the cells are and so on, and I score 8 out of 8.  It's a very nasty tumor, high grade, as high as they get.  Not so good - or so I thought.

So, last week I had my first visit with the oncologist.  The first thing he said was, "Congratulations!   You are now cancer-free!"  

I gave him a look that said, "Yeah, sure, so why am I sitting here?  Let's not play that game, ok?"

I found out nothing useful.  I had assumed that cells would be sent out immediately after the surgery for an Oncotype DX test.  They check the genetic makeup of the cells and it gives all kinds of information, like the likelihood of recurrence, susceptibility to various treatments, and so on.  In fact, most oncologists no longer base treatment on the stage and grade any more.  Oncotype DX, although expensive and not covered by some insurance, is now considered the standard of care.

Anyway, it was NOT ordered automatically, and he had just received my files, and just ordered it (duh?) so it will be another week or two or three before we get the results and I find out whether I'll need hormonal therapy and/or chemotherapy.  In the meantime, I do still have to have radiation (Grrrr! Because I had the lumpectomy instead of the mastectomy I wanted.)

No one has contacted me yet about starting the radiation.  And I'm still having some kind of nasty reaction to the blue dye.  I don't know if that will delay stuff or not.

Sigh.

------------------------------

How to thread a needle.  Someone will say they can't thread needles, and then you see them hold the needle in front of them, squint, and try to push the thread into the eye.  Yeah.  That doesn't work.  It especially doesn't work if you wet the thread.  Here's a hint I've never seen anywhere before, but it always works.  

First, make sure the end is cut super bluntly, no trailing fuzz.  Now note the way the thread is twisted.  Put the end of the thread between the sides of your thumb and index finger, and roll it slightly, a tiny bit, in the direction that will tighten the twist.  Then pull the thread down until you can just barely see the tip between the thumb and finger.  Take the needle and slip the eye over the tip of the thread, holding the thread tightly and pushing the needle down between the thumb and finger.  Roll the thumb and finger a tiny bit up, so it's past the needle, but still gripping the tip of the thread.  Pull the needle down more, and you should find it on the thread.

Might take a little practice, but once you get it, it works first time every time.

My eyes are so bad right now (I'm about three years overdue for a prescription upgrade) that I can't even manage the huge eye on the sewing machine needle any more.  So I just remove the needle, thread it using the above method, and then put it back in the machine. 

----------------------------

Want to have a little fun?  Look up the word "trumpery" in the dictionary.  It'll probably be definition #2.

----------------------------

Donald Trump has been talking about an ideological test of "American values" for visa applicants (he doesn't seen to understand that there are different types of visas, oh well), to verify that they agree with things like religious freedom, gender equality, gay rights, and so on.  

I'm frustrated because I can't find exactly what values Mr. Trump is interested in testing.  Most pundits seem to think it's stuff like the short list above, but that can't be it, because those are all "disgusting liberal" values.  If we can't allow people into this country who would fail a test like that, then most of the population of the southern states and almost all of his supporters should be deported.

It's been Republicans who have fought and legislated against all those "values" over the past few years.  So it's gotta be other stuff, but what?




Comments from Trump supporters on this video insist that it's fake, that the interviewed people must be actors.  Uh, no, I've talked with a few Trump folks, and this is exactly what you get.  From the article linked below, "...current Republican congressional Rep. Jody Hice said that a woman should run for political office only if her husband consents to it since husbands have “authority” over their wives. Before you dismiss Hice’s views as being an exception, he easily won his election in 2014 and was vocally supported by well known conservative Erick Erickson."

This article is interesting, but I can't figure out how to link only the pertinent article, so ya gotta look fast, because it might scroll off the page:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/15/trump-s-ideological-vetting-plan-would-banish-most-republicans.html

----------------------------------

This is super cute. I guess I didn't realize tortoises could have so much personality and would stand up for their rights. "MY ball!!"

5058 More Bits

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

"It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value."

-- Arthur C. Clarke --

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in June, 2012, I mentioned in post 3542 that I'd visited, on maps.google street view, the house I had lived in 40 years ago (I'll put the address in a comment) in the St. Louis area and was shocked to find that not only all the trees, flowering shrubs, and window boxes I had lovingly planted were gone, but the bare lawn now had a 20' totem pole smack in the middle of the front lawn.

I visited again this morning.

Now the totem pole is gone.  There's a stump-looking thing where it had been.  What trim had once been painted red or white is now a putty-tan-gray, and the shutters on the living room and upstairs windows are gone.  

The house looks so cold and bare.  I feel sorry for it.  Poor little thing. 


------------------------------------------------------

Daughter came home from school one day, 2nd grade I think, and asked, "Mommy, what's a spanking?"  I asked her where she'd heard about spanking, and she said one of her friends had said she couldn't do something or "she'd get a spanking.  So, what's a spanking?"  

So I turned her over my knee and swatted her bottom twice.

She gave me a look that said "What the #$%^&??!!"  
Me: "That's a spanking, but it's usually harder and a lot more swats.  Remember when you were little, and I told you that if you ever ran out onto the road, you wouldn't sit down for a week?"
She: "Yeah?"
Me:  "Well, that's what I was talking about."
She: "Oh.  I thought you meant you'd take my chair away." 

So I asked the Nugget (she'll be 5 in two months) the other day if she knew what a spanking was, and she said yes, and described it exactly.  I asked her if she'd ever had a spanking, and she said no.  I asked how she knew about spankings, and she just shrugged and said everyone does.   I told her that I wouldn't ever spank her, except for one thing.  If she ever ran out into the road when a car was coming, I'd give her a spanking.  "And do you know why?"  She said no, so I explained that a spanking would hurt a lot less than getting hit by a car, but she'd be alive, and she'd remember it long enough that she'd always think of it before running out onto the road again.

So, yeah, I'd spank.  But not in anger.  It's more like assessing a huge fine on an adult who breaks the law.  You let them know that doing that thing carries huge costs they don't want to pay, so they are less likely to do that again.  Monetary fines don't work with little kids, and taking cherished things away from them, or withholding love and approval, banishment, causes longer psychological pain which I don't see as being any better than a few swats on a covered bottom, that they knew ahead of time was the exact price of that act.

Nugget thought about that a while.  Sometimes (well, actually often) when she wants to do something that I know her mother would not approve or might be dangerous, I'll say no, we can't, because if your mother finds out she'll be mad at me, or if you get hurt, she'll kill me.  (Usually these are things that are just fine with me, like sharing a root beer float after Daughter had said "No sugar.  She's had enough already today.")  So somehow Nugget decided that I'd spank her if she ran in front of a car because I was afraid of her mother.  She struck a deal, "Tell you what.  If I run in front of a car, I won't tell Mommy, then you don't have to spank me.  Ok?"

Our final deal was that she'd try extra hard not to run in front of cars.  We shook on it.

--------------------------------------------------------- 

The pregnant mares are back, at http://www.marestare.com/fcam.php?alias=pacificpintos.  If you go to that link, you'll get a photo of a pinto for a few seconds while the cameras load, and then you get real time video of four mares in stalls.  The little lady currently in stall 4 is overdue.  I noticed they've wrapped her tail, which means she's showing all the signs, so it could be any time now.  If you're lucky, you might see the delivery.

These are miniature horses, not ponies.  They're about knee-high to an average person.
They sleep a lot, so if they're not moving, check the ears.
If nothing is moving the feed might have dropped.  Just reload the site.
The stalls are cleaned often, so if there's no mares visible, just wait.  They'll be back.
.

4090 Catching up

Sunday, August 16, 2015

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

-- Plato --

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It must be the end of summer.  The cicadas, both of them, are buzzing.  Yeah, both.  There's one cicada a bit north down the street, and one to the east on the next street over.  North starts buzzing, then East answers, then they both stop and there's nothing for five or ten minutes, or more.

Poor cicadas.  Such a long time to wait underground anticipating this, your debut year, you dress in your fanciest flashiest clothes and then arrive at the party ready for your big once-in-a-lifetime chance at romance ... and find no one there.  Except another guy who keeps stomping on your song, and he's too far away to punch.

-----------------------------------------------------

My back is still iffy.  I got a little worried because I felt a sharp pain under the last rib on the right, where the "good" kidney is.  But I ran my fingers along my spine on the right, found a tender spot, pressed there, and the pain went away for several hours.  I guess it's just an angry nerve.  I guess.

----------------------------------------------------

Catching up on saved stuff.


This one makes me smile every time I watch it.  I didn't realize walruses were built so similarly to humans.  Note especially the leg lifts and situps.  It's from opinionsofallkind, titled "Walrus fitness", 1:29.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X67R7m4C8Ug]

This is so incredibly cute, especially his first attempt, it makes you want to run right out and kidnap a little kid.  From ChildrenVids, titled "Little Boy Trying To Break Board In Taekwondo", 1:54.

[https://youtu.be/1ZLN9AzxVa8]

This is from CGP Grey, titled "The trouble with the electoral college", 6:30.  Fascinating.  He shows several ways the electoral college can really screw up an election.  We know this is a problem, and there's no way to fix it short of an amendment, but enough states benefit from the problems that it's not going to be that easy.  What's maddening is that the founding fathers planned it that way on purpose.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wC42HgLA4k]
.

4087 For discussion --- Go!

Friday, August 7, 2015

Nostomania - An overwhelming desire to return home or to go back to familiar places.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following video from CGP Grey, "Humans Need Not Apply", is 15 minutes long, but if you're interested in thinking about the future of society, it's worth watching.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU]

Don't bother reading the comments on the video.  They're not worth your time.  Mostly a bunch of idiots rhapsodizing about never having to work again, fun fun fun.  Obviously they hadn't thought it through.

What do you think will happen?

----------------------------------------------

Incidentally, CGP Grey has a number of interesting videos on a variety of subjects.  Sometime when you don't feel like reading in your down time, or if you're sick and looking for diversion, check him out:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CGPGrey/videos
.

4072 Cat scratch

Sunday, July 19, 2015

No matter how far wrong you’ve gone, you can always turn around.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I just wanted to share this video.  The people who put it on YouTube titled it "Man Turns into Cat", which was a bad title because it gives away too much information.  On Cute Overload, they introduced it as "Sometimes ... It is just a cat Scratch", which is much better.

[https://youtu.be/lA7F-6gaQ9Y]
.

4065 Drums and the cost of war

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact." 

 -- Sherlock Holmes --

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an interesting video, entitled "How Much Does War Cost?"  The numbers are amazing.  Trot them out the next time some fool complains about Obama and the national debt.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkax1QTEszw]

-------------------------------------------------

This is some guy on taiko drums in an arcade in Japan.  He's really into it!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGY1gmVZVlo]
.

3833 I want one!

April 1, 2014

Apparently these automobile accessories have been around for at least 8 years, yet I had never heard of them.  They look very handy.

There are several commercials on Youtube.  This is a ten-minute compilation:


[If that doesn't work, go to YouTube and search for "trunk monkey".]
.

3798 Little Drummer Girl

Sunday, November 17, 2013

This is Nugget playing the bowl drums.  The first selection (13 seconds) is from earlier in the week when it was just the two of us.  It's short because the battery in my camera suddenly died (no warning!). 

The second (26 seconds) was a few days later when her daddy was watching, too, and she seems a lot more restrained.

It was windy outside, and the wind sometimes catches the flap over the dryer vent and makes a banging noise.  At the end of the clip, the flap banged and startled her, and she jumped up and ran for her daddy's legs.

[I don't understand why the Youtube logo is on the lower right.  If you click on that, you don't get these videos. Blogger did that all by themselves, and these videos are not on Youtube.  I don't understand.]
.

3782 Catchy little tune

Friday, October 18, 2013

The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words.

If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

--Philip K. Dick--

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMoK0focAFE&

 From an NPR article:

In November 1972, Italian pop star Adriano Celentano released a song that hit No. 1 in his home country, despite the fact that it wasn't performed in Italian.

It also wasn't performed in English.

In fact, it wasn't performed in any language at all.

The song, called "Prisencolinensinainciusol," was written to mimic the way English sounds to non-English speakers.

From "Now I Know" (a great place to visit, by the way): [A better link for the same place: http://nowiknow.com/archives/]

Despite the fact that the words aren't actual words, the song was incredibly popular in Italy and in other parts of Europe, cracking the top 10 on the Italian, Belgian, French, and Dutch charts (peaking at #1 overall in Italy) and hitting number 46 in Germany. Perhaps the listeners didn't know that the words were made up. Perhaps they didn't care. The song was catchy, regardless, and as any American non-Korean speaker can testify (think Gangnam Style), sometimes the "words" don't matter all that much.

...

Bonus fact: In 1963, a group named the Kingsmen covered the song "Louie Louie," originally recorded by Richard Berry eight years prior. The Kingsmen's version is a classic and you've almost certainly heard it (but if not, here you go) and likely can sing the whole thing -- kind of. You probably have no idea what the actual words are because they're a garbled mess which is impossible to understand. But that didn't stop an angry parent from writing to then-U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and insisting that the lyrics were obscene. For some reason, this lead to an FBI investigation (!) which concluded, no, the lyrics are just unintelligible. The FBI was right, but they missed something. At about 0:53 into the song, Lynn Easton, the band's drummer, dropped a drumstick and yelled out the f-word. It's audible (but not obvious) in the recording (which if you didn't click to listen to before, you probably will now).

Wikipedia puts it a bit more humorously:  " In June 1965, the FBI laboratory obtained a copy of the Kingsmen recording and, after four months of investigation, concluded that the recording could not be interpreted, that it was "unintelligible at any speed".

----------------------------------------

Back in maybe the late 60s or early 70s there was a Japanese song that was very popular, all in Japanese, and no one knew what it was about.  I heard it on the radio constantly, and I can hum the tune now, but I never learned the name.  It was one of my favorite songs ever, and I may never find it again.

Anyone know what it might be?

Later - The Queen  nailed it in the comments! I had the years wrong, but she still got it.  It's "Sukiyaki", by Kyu Sakamoto, on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zpOc9n7dlI.  Same version with Japanese and English subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35DrtPlUbc.  I was almost afraid to see the translation, afraid the real words would spoil the song, but they didn't.  The English is pretty, too.  Sad, but pretty.

(Note that there are a few English covers of the song, but they changed the lyrics entirely.  Same tune, but NOT THE SAME SONG AT ALL!)
.

3781 Getting up to speed.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

--Hermann Goering--

----------------------------------------------------------

Later last night I installed GMarks on the new laptop, and all my 2,375,984+ bookmarks were there!   But, in looking for the code to download, I came across some disturbing forum discussions - it seems that the guy who wrote it hasn't been maintaining it, and Google has changed some interfaces, and although GMarks SAYS it bookmarked a site, and the bookmark is there when you look, the next time you start up it may or may not be there anymore.  Uh oh.

In the meantime I figured out how to make folders on the Firefox bookmark toolbar, and put some of the most important there, so maybe I'll just slowly transition to that.

------------------------------------------

I also discovered that my favorite online shopping site - the rather expensive boutique with a great online outlet, with nice sales, who gives me discounts and free shipping because I'm a favored shopper, and most importantly whose sizing runs pretty much the same across all items - yeah, that place - the place where with outlet, discounts, sales, and specials I have actually received a box containing seven items with original tags totaling over $400.00, for a total cost to me of $5, which led me to ask how the heck they are staying in business - well, they may not stay in business.  They are in big trouble.

Actually, I'm not surprised.  Not because of the deals, but because the quality of their stuff has fallen badly over the past three years, but the catalog list prices haven't.  They still have boutique prices on chintzy stuff.  It's getting harder to find the quality pieces, so customers are dropping out.  I've been frequently disappointed lately, but I pay so little it doesn't bother me if half the lot is crap.

But - everything always fits, and I am hard to fit.  I am really going to miss them if they disappear.

(Fifteen or twenty years ago, Speigel was like that.  Really nice stuff that pretty much always stayed true to size.  But then it all turned to crap.)

I'm still fussing over my documents.  Commenters "Z" and "Rocky" say there are some Word  knockoffs available, but I haven't looked yet.  Those green quotes at the top of my blog posts are randomly generated from a Works document.  I have something like three more post drafts set up, and then I won't be able to get to the quotes for a while, I guess. 

------------------------------------------------

I'm rather proud of my calmness with this system transition.  I still hate the "apps", but it's easy to get to a desktop interface, and that's familiar.  I haven't freaked out yet, not like this person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GabihXDzkHY

It's true.  She really did take a hammer to a brand new $1300 MacBookPro, right out of the box, because she couldn't get it to immediately play a Lady Gaga video.  The guy she's talking to, who isn't responding, is her husband of three weeks, and I suspect she's really wanting to bash him, not the laptop. Notice how she starts with threatening little taps.

 (There's a video on her channel from just before this one, where you do hear him respond, and a video after this on Lamarr Wilson's channel (to which I am subscribed, that's how I found it all).  Lamarr had seen this video, and rushed over to her place to find out if it was true.  She seemed to think Lamarr could get it to work after she'd bashed it all to Hell.  Lamarr was pissed, because he's been saving for a MacBookPro for ages and isn't there yet.  Lamarr's involvement convinces me that it is for real.)

Yup.  Proud of my restraint.  I would NEVER wear green lipstick, either.
.

3727 Nugget

Saturday, May 11, 2013

With capitalism man exploits man.  With communism it's the exact opposite.

---------------------------------------------------------

She's bringing me a mothers' day card she made for me all by herself.  When I walked in the door she ran excitedly to the dining room to get it.  It's snips of colored paper glued to the front.  Her mommy helped cut the paper, but Nugget did the color selections and placement design, and the gluing, all by herself.


She was very proud of it. I was very impressed and told her so. It's now displayed on my refrigerator.

Daughter said that at the nursery school the teachers are very grabby.  The kids make things, and then the teachers grab it and write all over it.  Nugget finds that very frustrating.  She made it very clear to Mommy that she wanted it left exactly as she made it.  ("No! Mine! Ahma! (Ahma is me))  So there's no writing inside, which is fine with me.  I don't need no freakin' writin' to get the idea.

They took me out for a Mothers' Day brunch Friday. 
As you can see, she's walking with the cast.  The cast itself is purple, but her mother is obsessed with keeping it clean, so it's covered with a white daddy-sock.



[http://youtu.be/Ajq5oLOZJV0]

The white bag the Nugget is carrying is my doggie-bag.  By the time it got to the car, the home fries, shrimp omelet, and strawberries & bananas were all mixed together.  Oh well, at least it made it to the car.

-------------------------------

In that first photo, note the forelock.  Then take a good look at my profile photo.  Same forelock (if you can manage to see it....).
.

3719 Some are more equal than others, or something....

Thursday, April 18, 2013

We should not write so that it is possible for the reader to understand us,

but so that it is impossible for him to misunderstand us.

-- Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus), rhetorician (c. 35-100) --

---------------------------------------------------------------

There was a huge explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant last night, at about 8 pm.  Authorities predict between five and fifteen dead and more than 160 injured, but they're still pulling people out of wreckage, so those numbers could go much higher.  The ones they are sure died are firefighters and a police officer.  It's a small town, and a large part of the town was flattened by the blast, including a nursing home.  So far, it is believed to be a chemical accident.

I shall wait to see if there is a big national fund set up for the injured and families of the dead, the people who lost their homes and possessions.  I shall watch for biographies of victims.  I shall wait for the politicians and their speeches.  Will there be people praying all over the nation?

I shall wait for someone to explain how a hurricane or a bomb attack is more terrible than an accident.  It isn't to the people involved.

Story at http://entertainment.verizon.com/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CDA5NSA5G0%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=931&page=1.  (And what a slap that Verizon put this under "entertainment".)

------

Later:  I turned on the TV at noon to see if they had better info, and found the entire newscast was about a memorial service for Boston.  If I lived in that little Texas town, I'd feel very ... snubbed.

------------------------------

On Holy Thursday, before Easter, the Pope went to a youth detention center and washed the feet of young prisoners, both male and female.  The washing of feet by the pope, usually those of other priests, is a Holy Thursday tradition.  The washing of female feet most certainly is not, and many church traditionalists were horrified and angered.  Like spitting-mad.

Ok, ladies.  How does that make you feel?

------------------------------

I spent some time one late evening wandering around "Dumb Political Quotes"-type sites, and I discovered something odd.  Members of one party seem very prone to really ridiculous statements, while members of the other party sometimes says things that that pretty stupid.  The difference is that the first party is prone to declarations demonstrating a complete lack of knowledge and logic, while the other party just gets names wrong, or uses the wrong word or terms offensive to the audience.

 For example, we have these from Dan Quayle:

"Mars is essentially in the same orbit . . . Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe."

"The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century."

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."

Not a simple slip of the lip. The first one is stunning, literally.

I could fill this page with Bush-isms of the same amazing quality. Palin, anyone?

When you look at stupid quotes from the other party, there's very little to be found, and those that exist are just things like calling a female reporter "Sweetie", or getting a town or person's name or a country's language wrong. Or trying out a German phrase and calling yourself a sweet roll.  Obama's worst stupid statement seems to be referring to the 58 states. That's not so hard to understand. His mind runs ahead of his mouth. He was probably thinking of the 48 contiguous states, so it came out 58 (actually, "57 and one more to go"). Big deal. A far cry from a Mars atmosphere, or the impossibility of pregnancy from rape.

Am I biased?  Well, I know I'm biased, but I mean is my bias coloring what I observed?  Or DOES one party tend to promote their most stupid people?

-----------------------------

I have discovered Susie Sampson and her Tea Party Report videos.  They're funny.  Susie, in the guise of a conservative reporter, comes off with some real zingers.  Try this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjshdQc5cjg&list=UU1J66cMCW46dOueINxNbFtw, or this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aRDaSPuGKE&list=UU1J66cMCW46dOueINxNbFtw.

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3705 Influence

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

"To influence the masses, aim first at the least intelligent. ...

Undermine the faith of the masses in their leaders."

-- Foxy Loxy, in Disney's 1943 "Chicken Little" --

----------------------------------------------------------------

The green quote above is from the 1943 Disney short (8:48) "Chicken Little", at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnp4kj5lLOU.  It's definitely not the Chicken Little we all knew.  It's very political, and very much relevant to today's politics, although when it came out, I suspect it wasn't supposed to be about us.

It's scary.

---------------------------

A lot of people think this next video is cute. I find it sad. There's no proof that the little guy did it, but there does seem to be evidence that he's not at the cool kids' table, and he knows it.  That may be what's actually going on.  Maybe he's sad and resigned and maybe a bit afraid, not guilty.

 [http://youtu.be/_kLdO3EsECs]
Notice the ingratiating grin at the very beginning? Dogs who have been abused will react like that when anybody raises their voice.

Opinions?
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3704 Worthless gleanings from around the web

Saturday, March 14, 2013

Chinese Proverb: "We are fools whether or not we dance, so we might as well dance."

------------------------------------------------------------------

This post is bits and pieces of things I've found.

---------------------------------

Have you heard about the Iowa female dental assistant who was fired because the dentist's wife thought she was too attractive?  The dentist had said some inappropriate things to her, mild sexual harassment, and the two had engaged in some innocent texting outside office hours, but I don't think the (married) assistant had any idea what was going on in the dentist's head.  The wife did.  I suspect the dentist mentioned her too often at home, and that worried the wife, so she insisted that he get rid of the assistant.  The dentist went to his pastor, who advised him to get rid of her, so he did.

The dentist's attitude is, "I sexually harassed you, therefore I have to terminate your job to stop sexually harassing you. You will be missed."

The assistant sued for sexual discrimination in her firing, and the Iowa supreme court found for the dentist!  Story at  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/iowa-court-oks-firing-female-worker-irresistibly-attractive-article-1.1226068.

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Effects of digital connectivity:

Anomie -  social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals.

Nihilism - a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless; a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths; a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility.

--------------------------------------

Regarding that rape story out of Steubenville, Ohio, I am shocked and saddened that so many people believe that "digitally raped" means the guy penetrated her with his cell phone.

---------------------------------------

You know how when you make an online purchase you can opt in or out of getting email updates or the store newsletter?  I always look for that, and I always check NO.

I always still get the damn things.  That's gotta be illegal.  Who would I report it to?

---------------------------------------

People who brag that they've never had any psychological counseling annoy me.   It's like people with a mouthful of rotting stumps bragging that they've never been to a dentist.

----------------------------------------

This is pretty cool.

Hasidic rap:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ULIw0Zgaw]

-------------------------------------

Funny cringe-worthy item on Amazon.com.  Read the customer reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WCW4FK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000WCW4FK&linkCode=as2&tag=natdee-20

--------------------------------------

This is the Weeping Prophet's dating video.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9latbDpu5s&feature=youtu.be]

---------------------------------------

I am ashamed to pass this little item along.  Because then you know I watched it.  Several times.  On the other hand, how can I not share it?  There's no way to describe it.  On YouTube it says, "No description available." Sums it up nicely.

The following is a selection of comments on the thing, from YouTube and Cracked.com.  Read these comments before you watch the video.    Um, absolutely not safe for work (even muted- the sound is necessary), or for children or square fogies in the vicinity.  Everybody but the Queen should watch it in privacy.  (The Queen probably won't care if her reputation is destroyed.)  The song is catchy, and there's a danger that it will become an earworm if you are prone to that, and you must must must resist.

Comments:

This is a few guns short of being the most American thing on the internet.

The bassist seems to be thinking, "Oh god, this is going on the internet, isn't it? Yep, this is going on the internet."

I say we let Texas secede

Ahhhh.... What a love song! What lyrical prose! The official love song of the crystal meth generation!

My IQ hurts after watching this. I may be screwed up, but the first thing I thought was "Why ain't there a guitar player?"

A Tomahawk missile would have been a perfect finish. Just blow them all up.

Where the f**k was this when I was looking for wedding procession songs?

I've listened to this song about 10 times now. I can feel myself just falling down the the ladder of success. I also can't get this thong off that magically grew on me.

It's at http://youtu.be/mSnRq6iyHKg.  If you've already seen Captain America in a thong singing "Quack Like a Duck" and it scarred you forever, you might not want to go there.

IF YOU ACTUALLY WATCHED THAT LAST VIDEO, yeah, that one just above, the one that asks your age before allowing you through, CONFESS IN A COMMENT!


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3683 A is for...

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground,

and I'll show you a man who can't get his pants off.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

People who have phobias often feel that their fears are reasonable, not irrational at all, especially if they don't interfere too much with life.

Like, I have two:  spiders (arachnophobia) and edges (*not* the same as fear of heights).  And they are absolutely reasonable!

Ever notice that if you see a spider walking past, and you think, "I should kill that spider", the damn thing will stop, turn, and look at you?  Spiders can read minds!

Edges are treacherous.  You can't convince me otherwise.  If you are standing at the edge of a roof, or cliff, or balcony, or if you've just stepped out of an elevator on the highest part of the Eiffel Tower and discover that the floor you're supposed to step out onto is an open grid (ok, I'm getting a little carried away here, let me get my breathing back under control), well, you never know if a strong wind is going to come up and blow you over, or if you might have a dizzy spell, or step on something slippery, or if someone might bump you, or if the guy who tightened those bolts was maybe drunk, or too many other things.  Edges are very dangerous.

Oh my yes.   Phobias are absolutely based on real dangers.  Not silly at all.  (I can control mine by breathing and being careful, but if I am surprised by an edge, I can panic and I stop breathing and freeze, I can't move.  I don't mind spiders in my house because they eat other more destructive bugs, but they'd better not come close to me, and being mind readers, they mostly don't.  I can climb a ladder and get onto my roof, but then I can't get off the roof unless the end of the ladder extends well above the roof, so I can climb down past the edge, not have to go over it.)

Well, I found these little videos by accident the other day.  I don't know for sure who made them, but Disney has selected them as "Disney Shorts".  They are about a little fellow named Figaro Pho who has phobias, and what can happen, or what he imagines can happen.  There's one for each letter of the alphabet (except for some reason there's no "R", and Disney skipped the "fear of poo" one).

You can watch them all right here, or go to the link after the video and watch them at your leisure. (Toward the end, there are some duplicates, and the "poo" one is tacked on at the end.)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk3pIQ1Xq5Y&list=PLWninjceejEhlkniXEJ3klP6D76h0cQQI&index=1]

I love Figaro's house!

---------------------------------

Math is treacherous, too.

In the post on menopause, I had said I stopped taking HRT when the medical community got all het up about it up to doubling the incidence of certain cancers.  Well, the link for the report that explained what it really means explains the numbers (and now makes me wish I had stayed on HRT).

Doubling isn't necessarily as bad as it sounds.


Let's say the incidence of cancer A is 30%, or that 30 in 100 people can expect to get it if they live long enough.  Doubling the incidence, doubling your chances to get it, means that you now have 60 chances in 100.  Yikes!

Let's say the incidence of cancer B is .001%, or 1 in 100,000. Doubling the incidence of cancer B means that now 2 people in 100,000 can expect to get it.  Um, weighed against the benefits, that's a chance I'm willing to take.

It turns out that the cancers that might be increased by HRT are of the very rare variety.

My doctors were freaking about the word "double", without, apparently, asking "doubling from what to what?"
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3678 Paths

Saturday, December 8, 2012

A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in 2006, I met a few guys through online dating sites, one of whom I called B00ker, because he owned a bookstore somewhere in the Berkshires.  He was handsome, intelligent, charming, all the good stuff, but he had some kind of problem with his legs, so I ended up turning him down and then beating myself up for it.  The post(s) about him and my angst are here.

I didn't know then what was up with his legs.  Judging from what little I saw of his feet and ankles, and based on a series of random links I followed yesterday, I think now it was probably lymphedema.

There is therapy to reduce the swelling, but it's a lifelong thing.  If you stop the massage and the wrapping, it'll just come back.  If not treated, the swelling just gets bigger and bigger, and you can die from it, usually from infection.

So now, if that is what it was, and if I had known that then, would I have tried a relationship with him?  Maybe.  I don't know.  I might have stuck around long enough to get him into therapy to the point where he saw some improvement and was encouraged to keep with it, and by then I'd have a better idea.

But, I'm pretty certain he didn't have health insurance, so it would have been moot anyway.

Since I've read up on lymphedema I've been thinking about him.  Wondering how he's doing.  If he got treatment, he's probably doing just fine.  If not, he's probably dead.

-----------------------------------

This is the season most people think of charity.  This video is not about throwing money.  This is about thinking about what is needed.  It made me smile.

[http://youtu.be/XOLOLrUBRBY]
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3677 Rambles

Friday, December 7, 2012

There’s a difference between free speech and hate speech.

--  Joy Behar  --

------------------------------------------------------

From Fred Reed, at http://www.fredoneverything.net/Croaking.shtml:

"Among non-scientists there is a vague notion that a beneficent evolution moves us ineluctably toward ever higher intelligence and understanding, though in fact evolutionary theory does not say this—evolution has no direction and science promises only an eventual dull entropic boredom—but the onward-and-upward popular belief appears to satisfy the need for an overarching explanation of everything."

You know, he's right.  Evolution promises nothing.  I doubt that mankind in general is any smarter now than, say, 200 years ago.  @00 (that's a capitalized "200") years isn't much in evolutionary terms, but I do believe that on average we are already demonstrably more stupid.  We know more "stuff", but we are in general, overall,  less logical, less understanding, less interested in understanding, and less capable than we used to be.  It's like thinking is evolving out of us.  Like we don't need it any more.

(Keep in mind that incorrect conclusions are not necessarily due to faulty reasoning.  Often it's due to faulty assumptions.  So if great-great-grandfather had some nutty notions, it may have had less to do with his intellectual abilities than with the "facts" he started out with.  Contrast that with today, when people are perfectly willing to start with "facts" that they already know, or should know, are false, and it doesn't seem to bother them in the least.)

Ever see "Idiocracy"?  That's one way evolution could go, and I see no evidence that it's not.

--------------------------------

This is fascinating!

"Ringing all 10 down in peal at Rochester Cathedral"

[http://youtu.be/movK5nf32k0]

The first time I watched this I didn't have the title, so it wasn't until about the 3:40 mark that I noticed that the bells were no longer going to the balance point (straight up) and suddenly realized what they were doing.  The title confirmed it.  Cool.

---------------------------------

I recently read that the viral "Gangnam style" dance video and its clones had surpassed all records for views on YouTube, probably because people were playing it over and over to learn the moves. (If you want to see what it's about, this is a better illustration of the dance:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=bjQKCLvtLN0&NR=1.)

Of course my immediate reaction was an annoyed "Why?"  It's pretty stupid, and apparently the moves fit only with that particular music, so why would anyone want to work so hard to learn it?

Thinking about it a bit changed my opinion.

I grew up in the era of waltz, fox trot, 2-step, jitterbug, swing, twist, frug (my favorite, and ignore Wikipedia's opinion that Bob Fosse's Rich Man's Frug is "a perfect example" -it's not.  In fact, I didn't even recognize it as the frug), and the group dances like the Madison and the stroll.  I never really danced much anyway, because I'm so short and so couples dancing was awkward, and separately I kept getting smashed into on the dance floor.   Along about the 1980s (my 30s into 40's), I was running with a much younger group, and was shocked to find that "dancing" had somehow devolved into simply jumping up and down in place.  I was further shocked when, in the '90s, dancing became nothing more than simulated sex on the dance floor.  Just rubbing body parts together.

At that point I stopped paying attention.

So if young folks are interested in something that moves to the beat, has actual "steps", and doesn't involve rubbing against relative strangers, well, maybe I should cheer.

---------------------------------

The Nugget loves to dance.  She has danced, bouncing on her bottom and swaying her upper body whenever she heard music, even before she was able to stand.  Now she tucks a tiny African drum under her left arm and plays with her right while she dances and sings along with the music.

"Dancing" right now involves swinging her bottom left to right while she sways and takes big steps side to side or in a circle with her legs far apart.  She's just now learning about jumping, so now she throws in a little hop here and there.

What's cutest about it is that she doesn't dance for approval or attention.  She forgets you're there.  She's completely focused on the music.

---------------------------------

I'd been a little worried because at 18 months Nugget still was making no attempt to talk, beyond "mama" and "dada" and "ammah" (me), and even those words were rare.  I hoped that it was because her mother had taught her sign language as an infant, so she felt no need to talk.  It was obvious that she understood a lot of what was said to her, though, even rather complex statements, even with future tense.  (Her mother had been speaking in grammatically correct three to four word sentences at 10 months, so that's what I was comparing to.)

This past month has been much more satisfying.  It started with "Baaaaall!"  She had to identify every ball for us.  Even round buttons - "baaaaall!"  Oranges - "Baaaaall!"  As far as I know that's the only new word she says spontaneously, but she does repeat words to herself when we say them.  "Do you want a cookie?  Cookie?"  Fierce nod, "Cooooogie!"  Cats, however, are still "Eeeeow!" no matter what we call them.

Oh, almost forgot.  "No!" has appeared.  Spontaneously.  Sharp, clear, and distressingly often.

--------------------------------

I was just about to file this when, from my left, where the TV was nattering to itself, I heard a woman say something about 300 people in the room and "...not no one didn't see nothing".

My toes literally curled.  I don't know what that means!  Logically it means some one saw something.  I think.  If the Nugget ever says anything like that, so help me I will spank her!
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3675 Hibernating and noise

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone.

-----------------------------------------------------

I'm turning into a hermit.

I go nowhere and do nothing.  I see Daughter and the Nugget almost every day, and say hello to neighbors on either side, and I go to stores, post office, and bank as necessary. There are occasional visits with The Man.  Other than that, nothing.

Every day is like the day before.  Nothing gets done, and I'm surprised at how fast the weeks and months are passing.

I joined a bunch of Meetup groups, but nothing they plan interests me.  I get the monthly local Mensa group's newsletter and calendar, but find nothing interesting.  None of it seems worth the effort of getting there, wherever "there" is.  I have not found the people interesting.  In fact, I find them annoying.  I'm not going to fight traffic just to be annoyed.

I don't think I'm depressed, because the Nugget and I have fun, and I enjoy my reading.  I enjoy the changing scenery and the beasties that visit my yard.  There are no negative feelings or thoughts.

My legs seem to get tired a lot.  I can still walk decent distances without difficulty - it's the getting started that just doesn't happen.   My legs say, "Nah, let's just sit here."

Or maybe it's the cold.  My bones are cold.  I hate winter.  I long for warm breezes.

--------------------------------

It's noisier at the city house than at the country house.  Leaf blowers, traffic,sirens, parties, firecrackers, kids, dogs, airplanes, all that.  Even the birds and squirrels are noisier.

It's so quiet at the country house that I can hear the trains passing five miles away, beyond two ridges and tucked into the river valley.  The house is on the helicopter path between Albany and NYC, and they tend to fly very low and shake the glasses in the cupboards, but that's maybe twice or thrice a month unless something's going on.  Bird sound is mostly crows and raptors calling, and somehow that's a pleasant sound.  The little birds sing, but not so loudly, and they prefer the woods and farm fields to yards around houses.  Tree frogs and katydids, crickets and whippoorwills.  Turkeys.  Chipmunks singing.  No sound is constant.  They all have their times, their seasons.  Those sounds are so much more relaxing than constant sirens, leaf blowers, traffic, and loud music.

The noise here is tiring.  It's aging me.  Wearing me down.

This morning being Sunday, I realized there's a sound at the country house that I miss at the city house.

Church bells.

Aren't there any churches with bells around here?

At the country house I used to drive into Rhinebeck occasionally to hear the noon carillon at the Episcopal church in town.  Beautiful.  I doubt that there's anything like that around here.

I don't have a bucket list, but if I did, I'd put visiting famous carillons on it - real bells - and I'd love to hear changes rung from an old country church somewhere in the British Isles, 6 to 10 bells so I can follow the pattern.

This is 10 bells at Cambridge -

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Bix3S52VHsE&feature=endscreen]

This is 12 bells at Liverpool -

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pugRM2Nsnyo]

This is a guy learning to ring, "It's harder than it looks".  It also explains how the bells are rung from a balanced "upside down" position. That makes it possible to control the timing.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IJGSdn6KNk]
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3670 HOTW - Sugar Ray Leonard

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up,

he'll never be able to merge his car onto a freeway.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

We haven't had a Honey of the Week in a very long time.  Boxer Macho Comacho's shooting and death have been in the news for a few days, and that brought to mind the only boxer whose career I had followed.

Sugar Ray Leonard.

Isn't that just the cutest face you've ever seen?  I had a terrible crush on him in the '80s.  I suspect this photo is from his Olympic days, in his late teens.  He looks about 10 years old.

In his early thirties he had surgery for a detached retina, and so he decided to retire from the ring.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  Then, the next year, he un-retired.  I yelled "No, no, don't mess up that pretty face!"  I really was upset about it.

I needn't have worried.  He was GOOD!  That pretty face rarely got touched.

He's now in his mid-50s, and he has aged well.  He's still pretty. 

He published his autobiography last year, in which he reveals for the first time that he had been sexually abused by an Olympic trainer, and the effect that keeping that secret had on his life.  The NY Times article on the book is here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/sports/in-book-sugar-ray-leonard-says-coach-sexually-abused-him.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1353772940-XYsSyQho07lvcjNeTgiACg&_r=0

Now that he has told his story, he is involved in child abuse prevention activities.  This is a video of his speech at the October 29, 2012 child sexual abuse conference at Penn State:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JKaquBpYeQ.   Skip to 5:19 to skip the intro and see how pretty he is.

Sigh.
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