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televisionrulesthenation · 3 years

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S1E9 - “The Unwelcome Houseguest”

Original air date: November 21, 1961

Episode recap

Rob, Buddy and Sally are leaving the office, excited for a three-day weekend. Buddy mentions he and his wife, Pickles, are headed to Niagra Falls but don’t have anyone to watch their dog, Larry. He asks Rob. Rob says no because Laura wouldn’t like it. Buddy lays it on thick about having the dog around would be good for Richtie.

Back at home Laura and Richtie are in the kitchen discussing the potential for trip to a motel in Connecticut. Laura says it’s not settled until they run the plans by Rob. Meanwhile Rob enters the house with Larry, a German shepherd, walks into the living room and overhears Laura’s and Richtie kitchen conversation. He hastily takes the dog back out to his car.

Rob comes back in the house, Laura and Richtie join him in the living room. They ask about a trip to Connecticut. Rob makes excuses about needing to get things done around the house. Laura excuses Richtie so she can talk to Rob and get to the bottom of his hesitation. She notices dog hair on his suit and deduces Rob has brought home a dog.

Richtie is scared. He thinks Larry is a wolf that is going to eat him. Laura is not happy. Larry has to stay in the garage. Rob is completely unprepared for this dog weekend but is committed to making it work.

Larry, crying from the garage, wakes up Laura in the middle of the night. She wakes Rob to have him deal with the situation. Rob brings Larry to the kitchen. The whining doesn’t stop. He brings him to the living room. The whining doesn’t stop. He brings him a baby crib and gets Larry in. The whining doesn’t stop. Rob realizes Larry whines whenever he can’t see Rob. He wheels crib with Larry into the bedroom next to him and goes to sleep.

The next morning Laura asks Rob why there’s an empty baby crib in their room. Rob freaks out that Larry is gone. They frantically jump out of bed to search. They find Richtie and Larry together in the kitchen. Richtie is feeding him chicken salad. Turns out Larry made his way to Richtie’s bed overnight. When Richtie woke up to seeing a sleeping Larry, he realized the dog was a dog not a wolf and was OK with him.

Everything is about me

Richtie mentioned he was five-and-a-half years old in a recent episode, so that puts him in kindergarten I suppose. He acts too much like a baby if you ask me.

To be fair my youngest is in fourth grade and acts too much like a baby. He is a smart kid in the gifted class at school and decently athletic, playing on a competitive soccer team.

But whenever he makes a mistake, he reacts badly. Whether it’s not being able to figure out his math homework problems quickly or making the wrong decision on the field resulting in a goal for the other team. He takes it really badly.

We try to tell him, you’re nine, you’re not supposed to be good at everything yet. This is the time of your life to embrace learning through failure. We’ve been saying this forever to all of our kids, not sure how much it’s sinking in.

I had a long talk with him a few nights ago, and I think he was sort of getting it. I struggle sometimes meeting him where he’s at, talking to him on his level. I know my tendency toward rationalism is not necessarily the right approach for a kid. But I think I went over it in my head enough times that I think I got the message right.

I think I got it right this time because typically these types of talks with our kids elicits the response of things along the lines of, ok, right, got it, I understand. That is, the response of someone being lectured to, not someone in a two-way conversation.

But this time, toward the end of our long talk, he confided to reacting the way he does--getting sad when he makes a mistake--because he is worried he is not good enough and doesn’t belong on this soccer team. I reckon he has similar inferiority feelings about advanced math sometimes.

I don’t want to exaggerate the meaning of this conversation, but it feels like a breakthrough to me. We need to pump him up, tell him he belongs. I did that in the moment, but in the long run, she will be better than me for that with our kids.

But I’m going to do my rationalist thing--what I’m good at--and work with him more on specific soccer skills that his team is not specifically working on to boost his confidence. Give him the peace of mind that he is good enough and belongs.

Episode observations

Life before cell phones

OK, this Larry situation would have devolved into a litany of text messages between Rob and Buddy to get to the bottom of what the heck was going on and how to get the dog to settle down.

Clothes and fashion

Robes. Rob and Laura spring out of bed when the notice Larry is missing. They obviously know he’s somewhere in the house, and they know Richtie is terrified of him. They are wearing pajamas that would be fine to wear around the house nowadays. People would probably walk around the neighborhood in those pajamas in this day and age. But Rob and Laura, even though they’re in terrible hurry to check on Larry and Richtie, they still find time to put robes on before leaving the bedroom.

Pop culture references

Rob tries to convince Laura to give Larry a chance. Rob says if she’s not captivated by him, he’ll send him back to Buddy. Laura emphasizes the word captivated, indicating that’s a high bar. Rob lowers the bar giving himself some wiggle room and says, it’s not Carry Grant, it’s just a dog.

Vocabulary lesson

Not sure if this one fulfills the spirit of this category, as it’s supposed to be about words that are used in an ordinary way in 1961 that sound interesting to me 60 years later. The word is tripe. Trying to find something for Larry to eat, Rob is asking Laura if they horse meat or lamb kidneys or tripe. Laura scoffs at tripe. Tripe is the edible stomach lining of farm animals.

Best joke/funniest moment

Rob: Honeymoon? You’ve been married 10 years.

Buddy: We wanted to see how things would work before we spent the money.

(Probably the least funny episode yet. Though the audience seemed to like the physical comedy with the dog. That was probably more of a novel thing back then.)

Other assorted thoughts on life in the 1960s

Rob tells Buddy Laura wouldn’t want a dog at the house because they just got brand new carpet.

The suitcases don’t have wheels.

Newspaper as distraction device. When Rob is trying to shut down conversation about traveling for the weekend, he pulls out the New York Times and skims it like someone nowadays would scroll social media on their phone.

Rob is so unprepared to keep this dog for the weekend. He has no idea where it should sleep. He has no food for it. He feeds it leftover spaghetti on a paper plate. Richtie feeds it chicken salad the next day. I know we spoil our pets these days, but really, Buddy wouldn’t have provided Larry with some dog food or other supplies for Rob to use for the weekend? I can’t tell if this poor planning--which was frustrating to watch--was simply a plot device to put Rob in stressful situations with the dog, or if people in 1961 just fed the dog whatever.

Final thoughts

Everything works out OK at the end of a sitcom episode.

#s1 #e9 #the dick van dyke show #sitcoms #tv #dick van dyke #mary tyler moore #1960s #parenting #kids #pets

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

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Humans are Space Orcs, “The Wrath of Conn.”

Lol, I couldn’t resist. Anyway this is for the multitude of you Conn groupies who wanted a little something form his perspective. Well cue a couple pages of him sort of being an asshole. But also it is totally plot relevant so there is that.

Hope you all enjoy. This was actually kind of difficult to write, and I had to re-write it at least once :)

The ship was a strange place now, months had gone by without his presence, and without his connection to their thoughts, and in that time, things had changed. Conn wasn’t entirely sure he appreciated it, but only because that meant he had to re-gather all the information he had originally collected on his human crew members to begin with.

It had been a difficult few months, the most difficult the ship had ever experienced. Conn wasn’t exactly displeased at that fact considering that it was the collective fear and horror from the Cannibal incident that had finally broken him out of his Coma, but he was also displeased to find that things had changed somewhat. Conn didn’t lie change, especially the change that he saw within the Commander. The only person aboard the ship that he could actually communicate with mind to mind.

Well actually scratch that, there were a few others he could speak with, but currently the weighed about fifteen pounds and had language ability so rudimentary it was like trying to talk with the dog.

Regardless, the last few months had absolutely ruined what tentative trust the two of them had garnered.

After returning to the ship, and after putting the Commander into a sort of psychological coma to deal with shock, a HAZMAT team from earth had been called to deal with the issue. Ensuing autopsies had proven that the crew had, in fact, been eating each other despite their being plenty of food left in storage. The remaining survivor, who the commander had been forced to kill in self defense was one Captain Everett Malaney Ex UNSC officer and current freelance ship contractor for both tourist and colonist divisions. By all right he had been an upstanding decision.

His autopsy had shown that advanced scurvy including kidney failure was the main reason for his monstrous appearance, bruised skin, thinning hair, infected gums and so on. As for the behavior of the crew, it could only be put down to some sort of exaggerated mass hysteria when people realized they would likely die alone in space billions of miles from home in the blackness of space.

Commander Vir had been….. Ok at that point, but the subsequent venture into a border-world prison had shattered his already cracked composure.

Conn was the only one who had been able to experience the fall from the man’s own perspective. Watching inside his head as he careened into a psychological spiral that had eventually brought them to the earth for treatment.

Generally conn would have said that he totally didn’t care about anyone’s mental status, and he still would say the same upon being prompted, but this was something that needed to be taken care of and it needed to be done quickly. It wasn’t his fault he was the only one who would truly be able to handle it.

So there he floated in the darkness of early morning, down the hall and towards the mess hall, a ghost town in the early morning devoid of both the sleeping crew-members and the skeleton crew who were off working at their perspective jobs.

He could sense five minds on approach to the room. Three rudimentary and childish minds, and one completely alien guided primarily by smell and hearing. She was the one to sense his first, with that powerful nose of hers. She didn’t like his smell, it was a burning and caustic thing that made her uneasy, and generally caused her to sneeze.

The next to notice were the spiderlings underdeveloped noses that were already almost as good as the dogs. They were strange creatures to be sure and Conn wasn’t sure how he thought about them.

Tendrils billowing at his back he floated into the room.

With a whine of agitation, the dog lifted her head from where she had been grooming one of the spiderlings cradled between her two forward paws. Her tongue was still out from where she had been dragging it down the monstrosity’s back. Finally recognizing that he wasn’t going to leave she went back to her grooming. The soft scritch scritch scritch sound of her tongue on fur echoing around the room. She hadn’t originally known how to feel about the spiderlings, but they did smell oddly like Adam, and they looked enough like puppies that she could almost ignore the fact that they had extra legs.

He floated a bit closer to where the commander was sitting alone at one of the tables pen in hand making soft scratching noises as it moved across the paper.

Clinging to his back, like some sort of grotesque backpack, was another one of those little monstrosities. This one’s name was Glados, and Conn was almost sure that she was entirely a creation of anger and hatred aggressively protective of the commander even more so now that they considered his current psychological state.

Conn was only halfway across the room when the scratching of the pen slowed.

Adam paused, and Conn listened as a chill went up the man's spine. He could feel something watching him. And Conn marveled at that fact not entirely sure how the human could know that he was here when he had made no noise. Glados turned her head and hissed at him, but Conn flicked at her with his mind making her shrink back with a whimper.

Setting down his pencil, Adam turned slowly in his seat.

His expression registered absolutely no shock upon seeing Conn floating towards him. On the surface, he looked older as if he had aged ten years in the past month. He was slightly disheveled too hair mussed over his head, skin pale, with dark circles under his eyes. Everything about him seemed washed out.

“Conn.” The man said, his voice echoing about the room. It was soft, flat, and uncharacteristic of him.

Conn paused glancing through the man’s mind to get a good look at the paper. His vision wasn’t so good in the dark confines of the ship. Generally his species spent much of its time in the direct light of stars, so much of his world was seen through other people’s heads. He saw the sketchy line drawing of a zombie head with hesitant crosshatched marks of shading.

:”Still haven't bothered to tell your therapist about that?” Conn projected into his mind.

He felt a sudden flash of anger in the man before it faded away dimmed as soon as it had come. That fact made Conn displeased.

He didn’t like the man without some sort of passion, and if he couldn't get happiness he would have settled for anger.

Not that he cared of course.

“No…. I haven’t.”

“Why not?”

“You should already know the answer to that.” The commander said turning back to his drawing, “Go on, I know you’ve already looked.”

Of course Conn had taken a look.

“Why do you insist on getting over this yourself when someone payers her a truckload of cash to help. It seems stupid and prideful.”

“Keep going.” The man prompted.

“Well consider now that I am here you no longer have privacy, so there is no reason to try and hide it anymore.”

There was a deep sigh, and the man tilted back his head. Inside Conn could hear his inner monologue urging his anger down. Conn couldn’t understand what kind of privacy invasion this was, in fact he should have seen this coming, but he still didn't want to explain himself to the strange creature and it’s freaky black eyes.

“Why do you want me to explain myself when you can just read my mind anyway. Why do you need to hear it from me.”

“I don’t need to hear anything, you need to hear it.”

The man paused setting down his pencil and turning again to look at Conn, one of his eyebrows was raised and the expression he had taken on was almost one of a disapproving father, which was a strange expression on a man that spends most of his time in the mental headspace of a 12 year old.

“Why do you care.”

Con kicked his feet a little causing himself to float upwards towards the ceiling, “ I don’t care accept for your constant inner pity party is putting me off my relaxation time. I did just wake up from a coma after all, and the last thing I want is to have to deal with your dysfunctional thoughts invading my snooping. You see it is very difficult to dig up juicy secrets on the rest of the crew when your ‘oh woe is me’ attitude keeps breaking into my concentration.”

Another little spark of anger, this time a little stronger.

yes , that was good, better to have to moving out and being destructive that way than moving in. However, the human locked down his troughs with an angry twist of his lips, “Will it get you out of my head.”

“Alright.”

“What do I need to do.”

“Nothing really. I am going to say something to you and you are going to respond, that’s it.”

The human hesitated his chin lowered a bit, but eventually he sat back arms crossed, “Ok seems easy enough.”

“Bitch”

The human frowned, “Hold on.”

“Bitch.”

“Hey,” Another flash of anger, “What the hell kind of statement is that.”

“Whiny pathetic bitch.”

The human stood, “Hold on, I said I would play your game, and then you just come at me with insults.” That little spark was growing inside his chest heating up nice and warm. Conn could almost feel it as if it was his own. He liked the sensation. Human emotions were so fun to feel, so fun to play with. They gave him physical sensations he was physically incapable of having.

“Whiny- pathetic - bitch.” he repeated

“You know what Conn screw you and the horse you rode in on because I have no idea where you are getting this.”

“Really. Someone once told me that actions speak louder than words and here you are moaning to your therapist about how hard your life is, and how hard it is to sleep and how hard everything is wa wa…. Wa.”

The human thrust a finger at him, “You shut your trash mouth. I am not going to be shamed for getting myself help. What I had to go through was rough, and I wasn’t ready for it. I could sit in the corner and cry about it, but here I am getting help holding myself together, so you can just shut up.”

“Doesn’t seem to be working.” “What the hell is that supposed to mean.”

Conn held out his hands to either side, “Look around Commander. Here you are sitting alone in the dark at three in the morning drawing pictures of cannibal zombies. I mean honestly you have gone and lost it. If you really wanted to get better you would probably tell her that you keep seeing him when you look in the mirror.”

“Fuck you Conn. I needed time, I STILL need time, and I will TAKE all of the TIME I NEED.”

If he could have cracked his knuckles he would have. This was fun, “No you can’t. You have a job to do, and by acting like this you are letting the entire crew down.

“Id let the crew down more if I took over not being ready.”

“Then why aren’t you ready?”

The human stepped forward right up in his face. The spark had lit into a flame fanned. The anger was billowing outwards, “I think I deserve to feel like shit for a little while. I watched a man die.”

“You mean the man you killed.” Conn went on smuggly

The human was even closer to him now, chest to chest, “I DID-NOT-KILL-HIM. I survived. That man may have deserved what he got and maybe he didn’t, but no one died and made me GOD so it's not my place to decide.”

“You didn’t help him though, did you.”

“No, I didn’t, but why was it MY job to help him. Me against an entire prison. The guards weren't going to stop them, they hated that guy just as much as the rest of us, and while we are on the subject. YES I wanted him dead, any normal person would. I’m not a saint, I’m not perfect and yes I have those sort of thoughts. In fact, I got what was coming to me; my punishment was the beating I got. Anyone who blames me for any of that can go right to hell.” The flame was roaring nice and warm now. It was anger, and it was making both of them feel light. Blood ran through their hands and into their heads.

It felt sort of nice to be mad.

“Oh please, if you really believed that, you wouldn't feel so guilty.”

The human snarled. The dogs and the spiderlings on the floor had retreated under a table, but Glados hissed along with him. “You think I feel guilty because of HIM, no. I feel guilty because I didn’t live up to my own standards. If I really am who I thought I was, I would have helped him no matter what, but I didn't and that's why I am frustrated. I am not the man I thought I was, and that PISSES ME OFF.”

Conn floated a little closer two dark eyes looking into one green one, “You know who you remind me of?”

“Oh please tell me more, I am DYING to know.”

Conn paused allowing the tension to build, “Mr. Everett.”

The room had gone very silent. Glados stopped growling, and her little ears went back, “Take…. That…. Back.” The human hissed in a horse whisper.

“Make… me.” Conn whispered back

He watched from the Commander’s peripheral vision as Glados crawled across the floor and under the table. He was getting into dangerous territory, but that was no matter. He would manage just fine, “Come on, just look at his career, mirrors your own now wouldn't it. I can just imagine it, the ship goes dark and poor little Adam Vir loses his mind and starts eating the crew.”

A vein was pulsing just above the man’s good eye, “I would not.”

“I wonder what the Drev taste like. I mean Sunny is small enough, you could probably catch her and chop her up into bite sized pieces if you really wanted to.”

‘I said SHUT UP.” “Why should I!”

The man lifted his hands as if he was going to choke Conn, but held back balling them into fists, “I would never do that, and I don’t give a damn what you say. I would keep my cool, and we would find a way out because that is what we always do.”

Conn shrugged intentionally and quite completely blowing him off as if it was nothing.

“You know it’s just sad. You trying to justify yourself.”

“What do you want from me Conn. Why are you her. Does messing with people get you off or something. Is this some kind of sadistic pleasure for you?”

There was silence in the room for a long moment.

Waffles whined below the table, and the spiderlings chirped nervously along with her.

“No Commander.” His voice lost it’s edge, he let it slip take on a more distant quality inside the man’s head.

“These thoughts aren’t mine…..” The human looked on in confusion, the flame in his chest pausing.

“They’re yours.” The flame was snuffed blown into smoke which rose into confusion on his face. He took a step back.

“What are you talking about?”

“None of those words were mine. I stole them all from your own head. All of the insults all of the illogical assumptions.” He grinned, “they made you mad, didn’t they because they didn’t make sense.”

The man just stood there mouth agape jaw working furiously though no sound came out

“You argued pretty heavily with me didn’t you. Thought I was being some sort of asshole….” Laughter, not that he could make the sound, but inside the man’s head he could sound like anything, “I’m not the asshole, Commander...you are. Calling yourself names, doubting yourself. Personally my opinion is that if you are allowed to do it, than I am. I mean if it’s inside your own head than you must believe it.”

“But I don’t.” the man whispered

“Than what do you believe commander?” He waited there, knowing the answer but watching as the human struggled to find it inside his own cluttered head. Parts of his subconscious doing its best to hide the truth, but then he snagged it. Just a tendril, but it was enough.

He sighed deflating, “I want to feel normal again, I want to get back to work. I wanted someone to be angry at me, someone to yell at me like I won't shatter. I want them to tell me that I am NOT doing as well as I could. I want people to expect MORE from me not less because less means that they believe in me less. Even if I can’t reach it, I want people to honestly believe that I can because maybe if someone believe it, it’s true.”

“You feel like people have been making excuses for you.”

He threw his hands in the air, “Exactly. They’ve been going so easy, they've been so nice, but that's not what I want… It’s not what I need. I know it sounds stupid, but I want someone to come in here and tell me to my face that I need to do better because they'd be right. All the doctors and all my friends they think they are being supportive, and they are, but that’s not what I need. I need expectations.”

Conn crossed his arms, “Fine, do better. Get off your ass and get back to work.”

He sighed, “it’s different coming from you.”

“Why?”

“Because You know exactly what I want, but you're probably don’t mean it. I don’t need platitudes Conn.”

More laughter. He liked the sound it was fun, and it was a great way to mock people, “Platitudes. Do you honestly think I care about your feelings enough to give you platitudes. I am being honest. I think you’re being a selfish asshole sitting here all alone in the dark coloring when you have a job to do. Do better.” The man was glaring at him again. That little spark in his chest had come back easier than it had before, Conn reveled in the feeling of his anger.

“What do you want Commander, right now what do you feel right now.”

“Probably the desire to strangle you.” Conn didn’t even bother flinching.

“You don’t really want that.”

He sighed in annoyance, “Fine, I don’t want that…. I….” Conn waved a hand trying to prompt him on. Conn could feel it, a sort of buildup of emotion inside the man. Physically it felt like a cap on a shaken up bottle filling his entire body up till just under his head, like he was trying to keep his face out of the water in order to avoid drowning.

“You now what, honestly I’M PISSED OFF. IT’S NOT FAIR DAMN IT. If I could just…..”

“Come on….” Conn coaxed.

“If I could just, clear it all out then maybe I’d feel better, but I have to act all civilized because of my rank. I have to be in control.

Conn waved a hand dismissively and motioned around the room, “Well go on, no one is stopping you.”

“Not on the ship.” The man hissed in return.

“It’s your ship isn’t it. Look around, Commander what is the worst you could do, break a couple of chairs bust the coffee machine , nothing you couldn’t pay for.”

“What if the crew sees.

“Screw them.” Conn said, “everyone will be better off if you get a little destructive now versus not doing it and being a lot more destructive later.”

THe man held his eyes for a very long moment, “It won’t be pretty.”

“I’m inside your head, I have seen plenty of things that aren't pretty.”

There was silence for a few seconds before.

“You should probably step back.”

This time Conn did as directed floating back and high watching as the man turned on the spot. His head was bowed, his hands curled into claws at his side. He watched from the sky as one dog and three spiderlings slunk across the room and hid under the salad bar.

He allowed himself to feel the buildup as the man’s hands began to shake uncontrollably, his breathing grew heavy, blood rushed into his face and neck, and then, the cap burst from the bottle….

WIth a scream of anger, almost inhuman the man lashed out with his prosthetic leg kicking the table. The power was enough to snap some of the bolts holding it in place and it hit the floor on it’s side with a crash. Chairs went flying along with creative curses Conn would have to save for later. Silverware crashed onto the ground. Lights hung from exposed wires. Metal screeched as it was dented. Paper was rent and scattered about the floor like confetti.

Minutes passed by followed a reign of destruction so impressive Conn admitted he actually underestimated what was going to happen.

The commander stood at the center of the room surrounded by carnage. His hands were bleeding. He tilted his head back towards the ceiling screamed again and fell to his knees breathing hard. There he went quiet and Conn could feel as the last bit drained from him, dripping onto the floor and dissipating away.

The red faded from his neck and face, and with an exhausted sigh he flopped onto his back one bloody hand resting on his stomach, the other resting on the floor as he stared at the ceiling. Conn floated over, adjusting the gravity field so he sunk to the floor, and lay down as well. Their heads were side by side, though their feet were going in opposite directions.

They lay like that for a minute.

After a few moments, There was a soft shuffling on the floor as waffles slunk from under the salad bar crouched close to the ground, her tail sweeping fast and slow to the ground her ears back.

She scooted closer to the commander, whimpering and yawning with agitation.

The commander patted her ears as he stared up at the ceiling, and she lay against him in the crook of his arm.

Noise down in the hallway, along with the sound of rushing feet and a group of humans charged onto the deck carrying an assorted array of weaponry. They paused in the doorway to the mess hall from two doorways looking both worried and confused spotting the commander lying amidst the carnage.

“Commander wha-”

The man held up a finger, “SHHH…. Shhhhh.”

The humans went quiet looking between each other with confused expressions. Dr. katie poked her head around the door frame and glanced around the room, then with tentative steps she walked quietly into the room and towards where the commander lay. She didn’t say anything but paused, then shrugged and slowly lowered herself to the ground, adjusting herself till she was flat on her back staring up at the ceiling. The other humans looked between each other in surprised confusion, but one of the marines shrugged walked forward and lay down on one of Conn’s other sides resting his hands atop his stomach in silent contemplation.

Following their baser social instincts, the other humans followed until, one by one, he was surrounded by an array of human bodies all staring up at the sky in deep contemplation. Conn reached out to them feeling their solidarity to their commander, and then connected the two together allowing the Commander to hear them for one brief moment.

There was silence and then, inside his head.

“Thank you, Conn.”

“don’t mention it.”

...

“Conn.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t EVER try that on anyone else.... ever again.”

“You have my word, Commander.”

Whatever..... its not like he cared.

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doberbutts · 4 years

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quichehound replied to your post “It’s not that I don’t want there to be improvements or that I dislike...”

are there any guesses for why? or is it not as big of a concern because down a kidney is not as lethal as the heart problems?

I don’t know if there’s any guesses to why people are starting to find this outside of that it’s possibly been in the breed for ages and only with modern medicine are we figuring this out. That wouldn’t be too far-fetched a guess as that’s literally how we got into this situation with the hearts- dobes have dropped dead since the start of the breed. It was assumed it was something different- heat, poor feed, etc- and allowed to continue, dogs that dropped dead were not singled out and removed from lineages, and now we have a 50% statistic. Kidney failure and kidney disease is not new to the breed either and having some dogs be missing an entire kidney would certainly point to higher instances in kidney issues as the line progresses. I only found this out when Creed had his monster UTI- his breeder had reached out to a few people behind dogs in his pedigree and we found out that his maternal grandfather was born with a single kidney and no one knew until after he died and was cut open. Thankfully Creed’s issue was not his kidneys and we did an ultrasound to ensure that he did actually have two healthy kidneys in there (he does) but this wasn’t the first I’ve heard of a missing organ in the breed and hasn’t been the last either.

But as to your second question- no, being missing certain organs, especially doubled organs, is not necessarily lethal. Being born without a kidney is also not too uncommon in humans- in fact, a former roommate of mine was born with a single healthy kidney and a smaller, shriveled kidney that began to rot inside her body and needed to be removed when she was a toddler. Outside of needing to pay extra attention to any UTI that she may develop in the future, she lived a normal life and you’d never know if you didn’t see her scar and ask her about it. I also had a kidney issue as a child and nearly needed a transplant, so even though I have two functional kidneys I have to follow the same protocol she does if I ever do get a UTI. You can also have a single kidney removed and return to life as normal once you heal from your surgery, even if that kidney was healthy upon removal (this is common for transplant donors!) provided that, once again, you report any potential urinary issues immediately as that can get very bad very fast.

However as said I do wonder how the stress on the body and the aging process changes when an organ that should be there is... not. Queenie, my last GSD, had her spleen removed after it was crushed and outside of being at higher risk for pancreatitus she would have lived without just fine if she’d recovered well from the surgery (she did not, but there were other complications which killed her, not her missing spleen). A friend in elementary/middle school had about a foot of his intestines removed and, again, outside of needing to take a little extra care in his diet, lived a completely normal life and needed no special considerations. A body without certain pieces can survive for quite some time and be almost indistinguishable from one born “normal”- BUT it does up the chances of something happening being much more dangerous than if the body was “complete”. And without that organ performing its job inside the body, it changes how the rest of your organs work too.

If Creed was discovered to have only had one kidney like his grandfather, that UTI could have been deadly instead of just very annoying and expensive. If my former roommate were to have kidney disease, she would need to be selected for transplant much faster than someone with two. If my friend ate certain foods, he’d definitely be in digestive distress. If Queenie ate certain foods, she would have needed hospitalization and could have died.

And knowing these things makes me wonder how many times dogs are born without an organ and have weird symptoms no one can figure out but aren’t quite “life threatening” status. Dogs that seem to need special diets even though everything else about them seems fine. Dogs that tend to get sick sooner, faster, deadlier. There’s a reason all of the pieces of our bodies are in there and arranged in the way they are, changing even a single piece affects all the others, and how many time is a “huh, weird but okay” issue eventually linked to something that seems way more important than a shrug and a different brand of treats? We don’t see everything that goes on inside of our dogs’ bodies and that’s honestly kind of scary to think about.

Or maybe I’m making a mountain out of a molehill. This is the part of animal biotech and anatomy I always liked when I took those classes, how changing even a single piece can have consequences you’d never even think of. How things can hide until they get so exaggerated that you HAVE to pay attention now.

#quichehound #hey this is also why we found out that removing gonads can affect adrenal glands #you can never just remove one piece and expect it to be fine #there's always a consequence

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liberace19 · 3 years

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Liberace, wearing a green brocade velvet evening suit with a rhinestone-studded , collar, moves elegantly and flamboyantly into the massive sitting room of his sumptuous Waldorf Towers suite. The famous toothy grin is a familiar greeting. Liberace's symbolic diamond jewelry is obviously a projection of his millionaire musician status. The oversized diamond candelabra ring, which lights up the knuckles, has shiny flames made of large blue-white diamonds. The face of the piano-shaped watch is entirely of diamonds. Rays of bright sunshine, like an accidental heavenly spotlight, flow into the room and focus on the sprawling gilt grand piano that dominates the room but not the man. Liberace, at 54, seemingly untouched by the steep rigors of time and pace, appears happily ensconsed in the jarring environmental opulence. All this super-showmanship is very natural, right? Wrong. "It's just a way of laughing at myself," says Liberace about t; - , ...... i 7. , i, i a k 'jn Z 'fA A 7 - ' "V ''A J Jf t ? ' $ i I4 ' C" ' . ; ' . b. ..i: y f i i t L. FLASHY - The fabled Liberace's fashions are matched only by the entertainer's the great put-on of being fashion's original peacock. "I'm all embroidery, brilliants, sparkle and fur. It startles people into a sense of amusement. I've adopted fashion in its most extreme exaggerations and made it part of my performance. It's outlandish I admit it. But I get my audience caught up in my world. First it's oh's, Then it's ah's. Then deafening applause. Liberace's stage clothes valued at $1 million are designed for him by an old movie lot . tailor, Frank Acuna, who created cinema clothes for Rudolf Valentino and Tyrone Power. Acuna has created everything from a red velvet tuxedo with knickers ($10,000 because the buttons are diamond studs) to a maxi length tiered ermine coat that's $35,000. Offstage, a semi-conservative Liberace wears clothes by Pierre Cardin or Bill Blass. They're usually bought off-the-rack. On his non-conformist style that brings fanfare: "In 1963 I tried to revert back to what might be called sensible onstage clothes," he says. "That year my income dropped by $800,000. My public felt it was being cheated. Not to see Liberace 'done-up' is like coming sparkling smile. across Marlene Dietrich in a baggy old housedress." Liberace, who uses only his last name as a performer, has just completed an atuobiogra-phy (G. P. Putman) under his own name, Waldziu (Walter) Liberace. It tells of his climb to the top despite tremendous odds. "All people really know about me is: I like fashion. I'm good to my mother.. I have a brother named George. I never play piano without candlebra," he says. "Look , I've faced death. I know what it is to be a failure. I come from a family where divorce is rampant. My beginnings were humble. I achieved this pinnacle by believing in myself. My book tells it all." Liberace's mother, now 81. is his life's inspiration. She has been near death several times in the last two years but has great recuperative powers born of an abiding faith. "I kid her that she's going to bury us all," says Liberace. Ten years ago Liberace had an acute kidney failure. He was given the last rites of the Catholic church. His mother prayed. Liberace baffled doctors by one of those overnight recoveries. "But I was resigned to dying," he says. "I faced it. What was the most emotionally disturbing thing was the pros- pect of having to start life over again. "At that point, money was scarce. But when I went back onstage, some sort of magic happened. My performances took on a depth they didn't have before. "Suddenly I was huppy really happy to be alive. People responded. It's miraculous. Now I work less, get more and enjoy it the most." Liberace, who earns $150,000 a week, has three antique-filled decorative villas two in Los Angeles and one in Palm Springs. Liberace who won a libel suit against a British columnist in 1959 for casting aspersions on his masculinity has been engaged three times. "Something always happened to prevent the marriages," he says. His true love, Moulin Rouge dancer Joanne Rio the girl who lived across the street from him in Sherman Oaks, Cal. couldn't come to grips with the personal impetus behind his fame and fortune. "My career has always been a cause for great jealousy with a woman. It's like the third party, he says. Why has he never married? "I don't believe in divorce. Marriage is a final step. Look, when I was 21, I discovered that my father had a mistress. To my horror, I then found out that he'd had that mistress for 20 years. We never had words. But it shook my soul. A man of 21 is deeply impressionable on the subject of marriage." George, his brother and onetime partner, had a $1 million estate which was wiped out hv a succession of five wi"cs. w;s sister, Angie, has had three The Girls "That's his en big fault h feels he's being Ignored whenever I talk to guests and leaps all over them now, as I was saying. . ." husbands. "Some people are just losers when it comes to weddings," he says. "I refuse to be." Liberace's hair, a soft brown, is fluffy and impeccably cut. Six years ago he invested money in a beauty salon, "The Barbery Coast," in Los Angeles. Hairdressers there taught him how to do his own coiffures. "Now I can do anybody's" he says. "Sometimes I fix Mama's chignons. And I've gotten Angie to wear wigs." "Even the hard hats have shoulder length hair today," he says. Remembering the lawsuit, he adds, "I understand why those stones were thrown at me. I was a fashion pioneer who blazed a trail for ostenta-tiousness. Finally I laughed and coined the phrase, 'I cried all the way to the bank!' " Liberace's Italian-born father, now 91, is in a convalescent home in Sacramento. Once he was a French horn player with the Philadelphia Orchestra. When Liberace was 16, he made his piano debut with the Chicago Symphony. My father liked serious music and I wanted to be an entertainer," says Liberace who did his own thing and disenchanted his father. "As he became older, he mellowed. Now he lives in the past. When I visit him he remembers me only as a child." About his current lifestyle: "When you reach the to?, you feel there is still more you can do to come in contact with humanity. When you're sick, you learn to value every bit of energy in your body. When you recover, you learn to spend energy meaningfully. If you've got all these values straight, you're at the peak of life." 1974

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womanhood-and · 5 years

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Medical Discrimination (My Experience)

I'll most likely be making multiple posts about my experience in getting medical treatment, but to start with, I'll talk about something specifically related to my anatomy.

Endometriosis runs in my family, as does cancer. My mother had her uterus removed after my younger brother was born due to lifelong pain and discomfort from endometriosis. My grandmother had multiple miscarriages due to untreated endometriosis until late in her life. My aunt has been treated for ovarian and cervical cancer, and is in chemotherapy currently for breast cancer.

So two years ago, when my body was suddenly ripped with pain so severe I felt like I was being stabbed, my parents came and picked me up from school. I was brought to the car by a wheelchair, and then wheeled into the ER, where they gave me pain medication and nausea medication after my mother asked, and told me it would be a couple hours until a doctor could see me. We were all scared out of our minds. I had only had one period- my first- about three months ago. My mom was on the phone with her sister, my dad with his mother, and I sat there, hunched over and crying.

I had never felt that kind of pain before. Not when I had to get stitches in my foot. Not when I fell down a hill and scraped up most of my body and sustained a head injury. Not when I bruised my kidney. This hurt so much I could barely stand it, and they told me they couldn't give me pain medication until a doctor saw me.

We waited and waited and waited. They wouldn't let me use the bathroom in case the doctor ordered a urine test. I got to the ER at about 3pm that day. I was brought back around 7pm.

The doctor asked how I rated my pain on a scale of one to ten. I told him ten. My parents told him to believe me. He said I was probably overreacting.

They did an ultrasound and they did, in fact, test my pee. They didn't see anything. So I was discharged and told to come back if it happened again.

Which it did. Again and again. And each time they said the same thing, not telling me what's wrong and saying to put up with it. So we stopped going to the ER. We'd be in the store and I'd find myself on the ground, curled up in the middle of an aisle, struggling to breathe as I was overwhelmed with pain. I let myself have a minute and then had to get back up again and start walking. I'd been the adult in my house for a long time.

About a year later, it mostly faded, and was replaced with crippling back pain. I could barely move. I couldn't sit in my chairs at school. I had to go to the nurse's office every couple days. I laid on the back counter in one of my classes because I had a teacher who took pity on me. My mother brought me, struggling to stand upright, to Urgent Care. They asked me how much it hurt, I said six. They asked if I was nauseous, I said yes. They asked how long it had been going on and I said a week. I was denied any pain medication. (1)

Then I laid in the mostly empty waiting room for hours. We got there at two thirty. I was seen just after nine o' clock, the last patient in the waiting room. A nurse looked at me, told me to buy extra strength advil, and told me that I either pulled a muscle or was in kidney failure. It was too late to run tests. But I should come back if I started vomiting blood. My mother asked for the doctor, and the nurse said that he left and asked her to see me, the last one there.

It's been two years of on and off pain in my lower stomach and/or back. It comes at random times and can be debilitating. I've mentioned it to countless ER and Urgent Care doctors, have told my GP. They always ask me:

When was your last period? Are you sure it's not period cramps? Are you sure it's that bad? (2)

But my father, he walks into Urgent Care and tells them his knee hurts. They look at the record of a decade old surgery, give their sympathy, and prescribe him a dose of Norco that doesn't last.

My brother, he broke his arm and they asked him right away if he wanted tylenol for the pain. Grape flavored or bubblegum?

My sister, she had a deformation in the cartilage of her knees that caused her constant pain, made her extremely susceptible to dislocations and ligament damage, and was steadily getting worse due to her playing volleyball. My parents took her to the doctor for pain for the first time when she was six years old. The deformation wasn't identified or treated until she was seventeen. If they caught the deformation when she was six, or seven, or eight, she could have been saved a lot of pain, injury, and grief. But no one took her seriously (3) because they believed a young girl's pain must have been exaggerated.

Doctors do not believe women about the pain they're in and it causes real damage.

Sources that these are not isolated incidents:

(x)

#radical feminism #feminism #discrimination #radfem not terf #me.txt

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hiddenreligion · 7 years

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This is going to be long, and I’m just putting all this out because this is how I’m coping. No one has to read this if they don’t want to. The TL;DR version is my grandma is dying and I’m having work problems on top of that and I’m not in the best frame of mind. But for anyone curious, I am about to put everything out there under the cut.

This summer has been really rough. I moved from GA to SD last year for a promotion and to get away from really really bad family drama that had finally taken it’s toll on me and was making me severely depressed. I hid it well because I had to. Me and my grandmother (mama pronounce mawmaw because I am good ol’ southern trash yall) have always been close. My mother and father divorced when I was one and she was a young mom. So young that she had to take an unpaid internship, mow lawns, and work two convenience store jobs while she worked on becoming a teacher. We were piss poor on food stamps and almost lost our home, apparently, but I was 2 when she finally went to Mama and asked for her help. Mama and Papa literally raised me until I was 4 and my mom had a stable job, was able to get off government help, and she fell in love with my dad. BTW, there is a huge difference between father and dad for me so when I say dad, he is the man that wanted me and actually was there most of my life unlike the sperm donner that is my biological father. Gonna leave that for another story, maybe. Needless to say, I am really close to my grandmother. So, when her health started failing, I was there. We lived together for 11 years, basically from 18-29. I held two jobs, finished a bachelors, and lived and took care of her that entire time. It was hard and I missed my entire 20s. During this time, my family was in denial that anything was wrong for 8 of those years. They were too caught up in a toxic divorce and family drama which they always somehow drug me back into. I’ve always been the family peace maker whether I wanted to or not, so when I say I knew every intimate detail and scandal, I literally heard EVERYTHING. Then, about three-four years ago, Mama had a string of problems ranging from heart attacks to falls. One black Friday, I was getting ready for work at 3am and heard her scream for help. She had had a stroke of some sort and a pin in her spine moved and temporarily paralyzed her from the waist down and made her memory go completely. She recovered a bit, but after that she was walked bound and they diagnosed her with early onset dementia. The rest of my family was STILL in denial, even after all of the hospital visits, the doctors, everything. They said I was over exaggerating and I should just go live my life. Anyone living with someone with dementia or memory problems knows how much of a struggle it is just to do every day chores. Mama would cry and try to follow me outside if I left her sight. Once, when I went for groceries, she somehow got in her old car (I had hid the keys and this still happened) and she backed into our brick mailbox. I was completely useless and unable to go do anything even if it was to get her medicine. It was tough. Finally, they couldn’t deny it any longer when I literally had to resuscitate her on the living room floor when she tried to die in my arms. Yeah. My basic CPR certification was not the type of nursing she needed. After that happened, my mom moved in with us and, despite me and my mom generally not getting along for more than an hour, it was a tremendous help. Mom finally helped me get a nurse for mama through her insurance and helped with all the paperwork. It was such a relief. Still hard, but much better. Then we came to the conclusion that I needed to finally start my own life and quit putting it on hold. I have a degree and nothing to really show for it other than numerous retail jobs, food service jobs, and endless amounts of stress. It was a good, but hard decision and it took alot for me to move. I did, though. No one will ever understand the freedom I feel not being afraid to go for a walk or the PTSD like flashbacks every time I go to do something by myself. My home city was also a terrible, crime-ridden place. All of that was long behind me when I moved and I even got a promotion and started thinking of life past the moment. But I am also so alone up here. I have my sister, but other than her, I knew no one. And uh...I’m not the best at making friends because I am a reclusive, blunt, eccentric, cave-creature. I don’t even know how to have a life anymore and suddenly had all this free time. I already know how to do taxes and adulting, how to get chores done at 7am before work so I don’t have to worry about anything, how to keep things clean and take care of myself and others. (except cooking *cough*cough*) But the past few months, my Mama’s been in steep decline. She also was diagnosed with congestive heart failure before I moved and she’s been in and out of the hospitals. And my fudging work decided to turn down my request to see her this month before my 30th birthday. I am so livid right now. She fell yesterday and broke her hip and was taken to the hospital ER again. Since then, they have determined that she can’t have pain meds because they cause her heart to nearly stop. AND NOW I woke up at butt-crack of dawn to a call telling me her kidneys are failing. Things have been really really bad at work this week, too. Every single day 1-4 employees have called out and we were down two managers because they both went on vacation at the same time AND approved 6 employees for vacation at the same time. People have been showing up 2-3 hours late if at all, people have been sick, throwing up, unable to come in due to car troubles--just anything you can imagine. I was already seriously mad about the scheduling and now I’m angry, sad, and just...done. I got “coached” (basically yelled at for ten minutes) because I couldn’t finish the 48 hours of planograms we had scheduled this week. Surely that had nothing to do with no one being there to work? Yeah. Right. Also, been working in overtime all week and got yelled at for that, but it was damn near unavoidable and I just want to get everything at work fixed. I have been crying all morning and talking to my grandma on the phone, but I have never felt so far from someone I love. She had been like a mom to me, better than my own mom. And she is the bravest, strongest woman I know. Sassiest, too. I could go on and on about her. I have told my work I am going to see her and it’s a family emergency. She may not last long now, at least that’s what the doctors have said. The ticket was outrageously high, but I couldn’t give two shits right now. She has kept me together all these years and I have to be there for her. Sorry this is so long for anyone that actually read all of this. I rarely talk to anyone about all of this and I needed to get it out somehow. She’s sleeping right now and I have to prepare to go see her and find a cat sitter. Prayers and thoughts are always welcome.

#personal

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garywonghc · 7 years

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Joy in an Age of Anxiety

by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

REAL PEACE IS IN OUR MIND

How can we have joy? Transform your mind. How you want to use your mind is in your control. We all face ageing, we have no choice but to go through it. We cannot change this fact. But how we face it or how we react to getting old is up to us.

When a person faces a problem, typically the person will think that it is the worst situation he or she can face and find it hard to cope. The mind exaggerates due to our belief that our happiness depends on our external circumstances. But really, the main cause for our happiness or suffering lies within us.

So we have to understand the essence and quality of our own mind. My father once advised me, “Do not look for a solution in the external situation. The real peace is in your mind.” He gave me this piece of advice as I was at that time suffering from panic attacks. I realised then that panic itself was not a problem, but how I related to it was the issue.

THE TWO CAUSES OF OUR SUFFERING

My motivation to learn meditation then was to rid myself of panic. So when I meditated, I did it with the intention of “Hello panic, get out! I’m meditating.” My teacher told me not to meditate in that manner as the panic would only become worse So I changed and started meditating with the intention of “Hello panic, welcome. I accept you. But why are you still here?”

Later I realised, our unhappiness stems from two things:

One, it is disliking, resisting and being averse to a situation or an object, for example the panic I am experiencing. Or what I called the panic of panic.

The second is craving for something else that we do not have, such as in my case: the desire or attachment for peace and to stop the panic.

In the end, I truly accepted my panic and learnt a lot from it. Panic has become my teacher and friend. I learn awareness, loving-kindness, compassion and also wisdom from my panic.

I am then able to be with my panic when it comes. I am happy too when it comes visiting because my meditation also comes along.

TRANSFORMING SOMETHING NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE

For example, pain is generally unpleasant. But you welcome the pain from foot reflexology because you know it is good for your heart, liver, kidneys and other organs. So such sensation of pain becomes pleasant. The same thing goes for chilli. When you are young, you don’t find chilli nice as it is too spicy. But now, as an adult, if you don’t eat your food with chilli, you don’t find it as tasty. It is the same with panic. You can change it to become your support for joy, just like foot reflexology and chilli. Even if someone points a gun to your head, that person may harm your physical body but your mind is in your hand.

So how do we do the actual practice? First, cultivate awareness of the body. Normally our mind is up there, jumping between past and future. When we are busy, it is even harder to stay in the present moment. So how do we focus our mind on the body? We need awareness and that is the essence of meditation.

Awareness is with us all the time. Our awareness is with us 24/7, even as we sleep. But we don’t know it. So the main thing is we have to recognise our own awareness.

MEDITATION IS ABOUT RECOGNISING AWARENESS

Meditation is all about recognising that awareness and maintaining that recognition. That’s it. In order to recognise awareness, we need some form of support, such as our body. You don’t have to block any thoughts or emotions. If you do that, it becomes worse so just let them come and go. Just don’t forget your awareness of the body. After a few seconds you may forget the body. It’s okay. Just come back to it again.

So now, let us begin the practice. Sit gently with your spine straight. Place your palms, joined together on your lap, or place them lightly on your knees. Close your eyes, relax your body. Feel your body and know your body. Be aware of any sensation within the body and relax. Bring your awareness on your body, part by part.

First, begin by bringing your awareness to the top of your head. Relax the muscles on top of your head. Be aware of any sensation on top of your head. It doesn’t matter what sort of sensation. Slowly bring your awareness to your forehead. Relax the muscles in the forehead. Be aware of your entire face, and relax. Be aware of the back of your head and relax. Then bring your awareness to your shoulders and relax. Next, your chest and relax. Be aware of your back and relax. Then focus on your stomach and relax. Then be aware and relax your arms. Next, be aware of your legs and relax. Be aware of your entire body and relax. Be aware of any feelings, sensations and emotions within the body and just watch and let them be.

If you can relax your body, good. If you cannot relax, it is okay too. Allow anything to happen. You do not have to pretend to be somebody or act to be someone else. Just be yourself and be free. You are free and in control of yourself.

SIMPLY WATCH

As long as you are aware, you are meditating. That is the essence. Just watch and be aware. If you can see the river, it means you have not fallen into it and have not been carried away by it.

For instance, you cannot stop toothache just through meditation. But it can transform toothache as a support for awareness and become a cause for happiness. It’s not easy, especially for beginner meditators. But we can try. Only by trying and making mistakes can we have success in the future. The more failures the better as it means we did try and will lead to success eventually.

So when you watch — positive emotions, negative emotions, crazy monkey mind, peace, joy or whatever experience, feeling or emotion you have — it doesn’t matter; just watch. Don’t block them because it is impossible and needless to do so.

For example, if I ask you to think of anything except durian in your meditation, the one thing that will come up in your meditation is durian. Not having any thoughts is not the path of meditation. It is an experience of meditation. Just like peace, joy and bliss are experiences of meditation but not the essence of meditation.

Awareness is the essence, and is the heart of basic goodness. We all have wonderful qualities that are with us all the time such as love and compassion, abilities, power, wisdom, skills and lots of other good qualities.

We are more capable than we believe, and more good-hearted than what we feel. But people usually focus on and exaggerate the negative aspects, which generally make up just 10 percent of their lives, instead of the positive. So we have to learn to think, talk and act positively. Only then will you discover good qualities within.

In a nutshell, first, find joy and peace within you rather than seek them in the external environment. Second, utilise meditation as a tool to find that peace within you. And third, appreciate our basic goodness, appreciate our lives and be grateful that we are still alive and breathing and able to experience wonderful conditions such as living in a delightful country like Singapore.

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bijesperfahey · 4 years

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Sometimes I think the facebook posts describing the struggles of my days are like....Exaggerations, you know? But then days like today happen

7:45 am- Come into work. Neglect case from the shelter has pooped all over his cage and he danced in it all night long. He is an angel but he is So Stinky

8:01 am- ‘Hi my 9 year old, unspayed female dog has had bloody vaginal discharge today and I’m not sure if she’s in heat (because she hasn’t had one in the 6 months I’ve had her) or if it’s a pyometra. I have $100.

8:14 am- ‘Hi I was doing something outside with my dog and when I turned around I saw my dog with a block of bromethalin based rat poison in her mouth and she definitely ate some’

8:50 am- Hello yes my 15 year old cat with hyperthyroidism and kidney failure Isn’t Acting Right I know there’s something wrong and I need you to find out what it is today

9:30 am- The dog that’s been urinating in the house finally brought us crystals. In addition to her (previously existing) issues with making urinary crystals she is diabetic. She also hasn’t been on her prescription diet in six months

9:45 am- Dog with hyperparathyroidism isn’t eating well (probably because of his crazy calcium levels). Parents will not treat but also do not comprehend how the condition progresses despite multiple explanations.

And that wasn’t counting the appointments that began at 12:30. I did not get a lunch. Hardly had time to drink water. No bathroom break until after we closed. Had to (lovingly) put the fear of God in a few people. Got my hand torn up by a cat on top of it all.

I love my job but I am So Tired send help

#vet tech blogging #animal neglect m/

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literateape · 6 years

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American Shithole #16 — The Lord of the Rings and Beautiful Things

By Eric Wilson

“Maybe if I take a day off, I won’t have to write about Giuliani?” I thought to myself.

Life had been kicking me in the shins for weeks, and my legs were starting to buckle. It would be an ancillary benefit while hibernating and trying to nip this cold/flu in the bud — the coughing fits alone had me at the brink of exhaustion. Surely someone this revolting and stupid will implode and go away if I just slept for a few days?

“Nope,” said the Universe.

Instead, each coming week I will expect Giuliani to be a tornado touching down during an earthquake in the middle of a raging brush fire during a biblical flood — at least until Trump shitcans the idiot for what I could only imagine to be practicing law without an intellect.

Perhaps this relatively quiet week from the president’s new lawyer is a sign he is fading into the woodwork already… it’s Tuesday, and I’ve barely heard a peep.

Well I’m not biting.

Besides, he is definitely going to do something even dumber than he already has, which for an average idiot, I wouldn’t even consider possible, what with the hush fund and slush fund gaffes. Rudy Giuliani is no normal C-grade idiot though, so it’s a near-certainty this limelight hog is going to fuck up even worse (given the chance) and it seems that ol’ Trumpy is willing to keep Giuliani off the executioner’s block — for now.

Perhaps it’s part of the Don’s master plan — a plan that as much as we can piece things together, seems to center almost entirely on using the presidency as a front for mafia-like activities.

Which is of keen interest to American Shithole, this revelation that goons involved in the Trump campaign were running an extortion racket for an all-access pass to the presidential signing pen. The same pen he uses to chicken scratch his name on all manner of obscene laws and executive orders — producing a series of sharp vertical lines that look less like a signature, and more like a problem child’s drawing of the Gates of Mordor.

Good lord, did you hear his Mother’s Day message? Mom was “basically a nice person?”

Donny, can you show us where your mother never touched you?

Everything Trump does is like a comical, farcical, exaggerated take on our already over-the-top villains of film and literature, so it’s easy to dismiss some of his actions in the wake of so many others. Everything he does is some varying degree of terrible. He is the great eye, lidless, wreathed in orange flame.

Which I suppose makes Giuliani the Mouth of Sauron — I mean, he is a dead ringer.

I’d like to have been a fly on the wall during conversations with his dentist.

“Now about your teeth Mr. Giuliani, it appears that you have been chewing on broken glass and petrified dog shit for 70 years, so I have surgery scheduled for…” “No, I’m good.”

“OK, well, at least let me set some dentures for your uppers?”

“Fine, but you’re ruining my Halloween costume.”

Meanwhile, in Mordor on Monday afternoon — thousands injured, 60 dead and counting during protests at the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, and Washington is focusing on the first lady’s kidney operation.

Gosh, I hope she’s OK. Be Best, kidney!

Mordor by the way, is what the Trump Effect feels like for me at times: a painfully long slog through the shittiest part of Middle-earth. Somewhat like watching the films. Randomly fast-forward to a point in any of the three LotR movies, and more often than not, you will land on a scene of people walking somewhere.

I’m worried the Mueller investigation hasn’t even reached Gondor yet. The fucking congressional hobbits are still dicking around with the Nazgul at Weathertop? Shit, we’ve got months, maybe years to go.

Perhaps there is hope in this analogy as the Mouth of Sauron doesn’t appear until near the end of the Lord of the Rings saga.

Anyway, instead of dragging Giuliani through the mud prematurely, I’m going to focus briefly instead on this past week’s big reveal: presidential protection for your business interests is not only available; it’s quite affordable by today’s measure of corporate expenditure.

Hell, it’s a fire sale.

At least two separate LLC shell companies were created by different members of the Trump organization (Lewandowsky; Cohen), apparently in part, to shake down American businesses and industry. Both of which attempted to extort money from AT&T (Cohen was ultimately successful, where Lewandowsky was not), with the likely promise of favoritism from the administration for the Time Warner merger that Trump nixed anyway.

I don’t know how many times I am going to say it, but are you fucking kidding me?

I foolishly thought I was done being surprised by this embarrassing presidential failure of epic proportions only America could muster, but we have dropped trou for all the world to see — and the festering boils on our wrinkled, flaccid democracy are cause for retching from here to Timbuktu.

And it wasn’t just AT&T, it was everybody.

They shook down the auto industry, the pharmaceutical industry — they pimped access to Trump as if the Office of the President of the United States of America were simply some glory hole for anyone that’s got the cash and a stiff business proposal.

Essential Consultants LLC, Cohen’s limited liability corporation that paid Stormy Daniels the hush money, also received funding from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, Novartis, Korea Aerospace Industries, as well as AT&T — and these are likely just the tip of the iceberg.

Also, was Cohen looking at his daughter’s Barbie Dream House when he named that fucking company? Is there a Ken working the phones at Essential Consultants?

"Essential Consultants, this is Ken speaking, how may I direct your bribe?"

Holy fucking shit. I am sick to my stomach just writing about this latest addition to the shame bucket. Nothing shames these people. Absolutely nothing.

Which brings me to my missed deadline, and what I plan to do about it in the future. First, my apologies, if you were looking forward to a fresh American Shithole last week — for whatever reason, I was unprepared. As I previously imagined, there are going to be weeks that I just don’t want to write about these evil fucking assholes. I may be under the weather, but let’s be honest here:

Writing about these evil fucking assholes every week, is quite often just as much of a slog as living with these evil fucking assholes every week. It’s not cathartic; most of the time I feel like I’m cleaning an outhouse with my brain.

So, between coughing fits and Nyquil-fueled fever-dreams, I figured on occasion I would write about the things in America that are amazing to me. The beautiful things that are not tied to this fucking nightmare we are living through. I’ve tried this before, but I always seem to be waylaid with fresh hell in the news cycle each morning on my now broken toilet.

The Beautiful Things will be an occasional, sporadic reprieve from Komàndant Bonespurs and his daily efforts to ruin my once blissful morning dumps. It will be an exploration of old and new, of the simple pleasures, and the timeless beauty of various creative efforts that for me, make life worth living.

It is my hope that you too, dear reader, will occasionally need a week away from the insanity; where together we can celebrate our artistic beauty unscathed by the ravages of this administration. This will also serve as an opportunity for me to pen a few backup articles that can be published in a pinch, the next time Ari brings the walking death home from one of her business trips — or the next time I don’t care to write about one of Trump’s boot-licking sycophants.

C’mon Mueller, throw the fucking ring into the fires of Mount Doom already.

B. S. Report

Heroes meeting heroes. Let us all celebrate Emma Gonzales meeting with James Shaw Jr., as the Parkland survivors gathered to celebrate another brave American. As the voices of our youth unite across our country, I worry less and less about the deadly opposition they face. Once a towering impenetrable monolith, the NRA of today seems more like a soon-to-be abandoned outpost of a dying empire.

4LWjr

#Giuliani #TRump #Mouth of Sauron #English teeth #Lord of the Rings #Michael Cohen #The Beautiful Things #Emma Gonzales

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theliterateape · 6 years

Text

American Shithole #16 — The Lord of the Rings and Beautiful Things

By Eric Wilson

“Maybe if I take a day off, I won’t have to write about Giuliani?” I thought to myself.

“Nope,” said the Universe.

Perhaps this relatively quiet week from the president’s new lawyer is a sign he is fading into the woodwork already… it’s Tuesday, and I’ve barely heard a peep.

Well I’m not biting.

Perhaps it’s part of the Don’s master plan — a plan that as much as we can piece things together, seems to center almost entirely on using the presidency as a front for mafia-like activities.

Good lord, did you hear his Mother’s Day message? Mom was “basically a nice person?”

Donny, can you show us where your mother never touched you?

Which I suppose makes Giuliani the Mouth of Sauron — I mean, he is a dead ringer.

I’d like to have been a fly on the wall during conversations with his dentist.

“Now about your teeth Mr. Giuliani, it appears that you have been chewing on broken glass and petrified dog shit for 70 years, so I have surgery scheduled for…” “No, I’m good.”

“OK, well, at least let me set some dentures for your uppers?”

“Fine, but you’re ruining my Halloween costume.”

Gosh, I hope she’s OK. Be Best, kidney!

Perhaps there is hope in this analogy as the Mouth of Sauron doesn’t appear until near the end of the Lord of the Rings saga.

Hell, it’s a fire sale.

I don’t know how many times I am going to say it, but are you fucking kidding me?

And it wasn’t just AT&T, it was everybody.

Also, was Cohen looking at his daughter’s Barbie Dream House when he named that fucking company? Is there a Ken working the phones at Essential Consultants?

"Essential Consultants, this is Ken speaking, how may I direct your bribe?"

Holy fucking shit. I am sick to my stomach just writing about this latest addition to the shame bucket. Nothing shames these people. Absolutely nothing.

C’mon Mueller, throw the fucking ring into the fires of Mount Doom already.

B. S. Report

4LWjr

#Giuliani #TRump #Mouth of Sauron #English teeth #Lord of the Rings #Michael Cohen #The Beautiful Things #Emma Gonzales

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graciedroweuk · 7 years

Text

Thomas Cook holidaymakers in Turkey hit with extreme vomiting bug at five-star resort leaving 11-week-baby in hospital and man with kidney failure

A large number of travellers that were terrified have dropped significantly sick having a vomiting disease after browsing with a five star holiday including an 11- a guy being hospitalised with malfunction along with week-old infant suffering serious contamination.

In the last week Sunlight continues to be inundated from visitors staying in Poultry throughout Oct declaring to possess been suffering from an at the Freedom Lykia Lodge.

A large number of individuals have dropped sick while staying in the Freedom Lykia Resort in Bulgaria

Visitors state everyone was therefore sick they certainly were projectile vomiting along paths as well as in shrubs

They declare Thomas Cook did ‘nothing’ to prevent herpes scattering and refused something was occurring

They’ve documented people, children as well as babies vomiting within the pool as well as in shrubs – in addition to several being not able to actually depart their areas after having been held from the nausea and diarrhea bug, along paths.

Throughout Oct visitors have now been dropping – that was sick but state staff and from Cook, did nothing to prevent it spreading and proceed to refuse an issue is there.

One visitor, who came on April 21 with another household but have requested to stay unknown, stated her stepdaughter was struggling with diarrhea within hours of having to Poultry and “projectile vomiting”.

Some travellers documented bad cleanliness problems including wasps throughout food

This isn’t the very first time exactly the same resort continues to be affected by nausea – it just happened in 2010 and 2014 aswell

Using the insect four out-of their number of six have been hit along inside a couple of days.

others yet the mother declare they certainly were informed they’d to fork 50 Pounds out to determine 100 Pounds for that team, or the resort physician to go to them within their space.

She stated: to contact an ambulance on her immediately and said it had been dual what it ought to be and also “They examined her heartbeat.

“They didn’t request if we’d insurance or an E111 or something they simply informed us to create our passports

“At a healthcare facility they went assessments and set her on the trickle, stated she’d a bloodstream disease or something similar to gastroenteritis

Based on visitors a few of the sick wasn’t cleaned-up for times

Lots of people endured horrible nausea and diarrhea plus some have needed clinic therapy

Kid wheeled out-of Turkish resort after severe nausea bug sweeps through resort

“My spouse continues to be truly sick this season with center problems had I not completed we’d will be in difficulty so of this was coated and so I have increased our health care insurance.

“It was only if I informed them when he gets this disease he might expire they transferred us to a different resort – many more haven’t been therefore lucky.”

Based on Thomas Cook it’s “standard process” for clients to declare the price back through travelinsurance and also to cover a visit.

Many households record having while video clip demonstrates young kids being transported by ambulance a minumum of one member of the family being taken fully to clinic.

36, McCarthy, informed us her wedding was nearly named down after the including Clare introduced along many people of the celebration.

The team, who journeyed out to Poultry between Oct 3 and June 26, filled on just as much medicine because they might just-so the special day might proceed.

The mother-of-four from Worcestershire, stated: can’t that was “I think how badly Cook has all handled us, like a marriage party we possibly invested 000 together, about £30. It’s surprising. They’ve a to guard us and they’ve totally didn’t do this.

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“We returned months before and that I am struggling with gastroenteritis.

Wedding been preparing it for 2 decades and they’ve was almost named down.

“It could be unique when they had believed to us they were conscious of the issue and were performing everything within their capacity to cope with it however they didn’t.”

34, who’s mother to 14 Mom, Paul and Billy, 8, included: concerning the wedding is the fact that everybody was ill “It’s truly unfortunate since all anybody recalls. It’s everybody keep referring to.

“One by one everybody began getting sick. There have been 48 possibly around half got along and people available for that wedding ill.

Thoughts that are “Those can’t be changed. I were my two kids and thus had been sick. I couldn’t consume the meals I’d taken care of or beverage in the wedding.

A large number of individuals have fall using the insect, including Selina McCarthyis child because they were out their on her siblingis wedding

The household had flown out for that wedding at the start of Oct but had their journey destroyed

Among Selina’s kids skipped the marriage because of the disease

“We attempted to terminate the marriage since I couldn’t get free from mattress however they informed us when we ‘didn’t get married tomorrow then we didn’t get committed at all’.”

Selina promises a buddy of the 11 – week old infant suffered from such serious contamination the pilot needed to create an urgent situation phone for once they landed on October 8, to ensure that paramedics were and captured herpes.

She added. The infant required a change for that worse whenever we arrived and also the pilot required an ambulance to become there. All of us needed to delay while they got off the infant first. Fortunately there is a health care provider along with a nurse up to speed to watch on her behalf while we were flying.”

Samantha Batey, 41, from Manchester statements she actually handed bloodstream she was therefore poorly suffering from the condition, and claims she’ll discover within the forthcoming months whether she’ll have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) for a lifetime.

But this isn’t the very first time the 645- hotel continues to be struck with a crisis that was vomiting.

And the resort was shut at for related factors round the same amount of time in 2010.

Saint John’s Ambulance staff Jean Pickard, who had been out in Poultry on the £2,300 split with her buddy Suzie and boy Port, furthermore arrived along using the vomiting disease that was unpleasant.

Because the episode of herpes travellers have criticised how it’s been managed by resort team and Thomas Cook

They declare the rooms in hotels and typical places were not washed correctly

Denise, who lives in Stockport with Port and her parent boy 16, David, stated after her entire household fell sick using the parasite in the SAME resort in 2008, she successfully sued Cook with help. Since the vacation from heck quit Wayne also struggling with IBS for a lifetime she gained a shell out.

Denise stated: “We fell sick a few times after and got there on April 20.

“Thomas Cook at every stage were attempting to refuse anything was incorrect

“We requested for that space to become cleaned once we were nevertheless being ill as well as for them to depart the disinfectant however they weren’t cleaning precisely and there is still ill showcases and decorated up the doorways.

“Susie and that I both had shots and received tablets that have been antibiotics, anti-nausea and Buscopan but we were still sickness and getting diarrhoea.”

This week, Denise, who’s nevertheless caught in Bulgaria until, included: since everyone was being ill throughout them-and within the shrubs “Only on Fri did they begin cleaning the pathways.

“It is definitely an outbreak, you will find countless people here-but the majority are caught within their rooms.”

Lawyer Farnworth Rose established it pursued 40 instances of individuals suffering disease while staying in the Freedom Lykia and also the negotiation procedure is on going.

However are “coming in fast” and heavy to ensure that quantity will probably develop as travellers go back to the united kingdom and find out their GPs.

After months of individuals getting sick, a notice was apparently pushed under doorways a week ago

A lot of those who’d headache vacations are seeking lawful activity against Thomas Cook

Jackie Sleigh, another Cook client, had her vacation destroyed when her friend Harvey, she and 16 -year old child Georgina Mead’s friend Evans captured the nausea bug.

The 46-year old primary-school instructor from Hampshire “At the pleasant assembly about the Sunday it stank of vomit also the youthful repetition tried to get individuals to speak in a large part.

“When why and he or she simply stated they’d we questioned got an issue using the cleansing.

Fran turned sick, she experienced any food or hadn’t experienced the swimming.

“When she satisfied using the resort supervisors they informed her she was ill since she ‘had an English tummy’.

“They wouldn’t reveal just how many everyone was ill but every team we talked to had a minumum of one individual sick, that’s no exaggeration.

“It was surprising, we thought what’ve we experienced below? Children were seen by us everywhere from wherever they’d drains within their hands with plasters.

“The location have been suggested in my experience with a buddy and since my additional child is autistic and doesn’t prefer to travel her dad is taking care of her which means this was said to be a unique journey absent for Georgina, it had been quite a bit of cash for all of US once we usually simply visit Devon but this price people about £2,800.”

Jackie promises that despite a gathering being organized using the supervisor he insisted it had been just an and declined to cope with worrying visitors like a team.

The most recent ‘crisis’ uses 42 people gained a mixed negotiation of £100,000 in-May after enduring an identical disease in March 2014

Denise Prickardis boy Port, 8, turned sick throughout their journey, destroying their household vacation

Denise effectively charged Thomas Cook after her household got sick in the same resort in 2008, departing parent boy David with everlasting IBS

She claims that though in the beginning everyone was for medication at the conclusion of the journey as well as being billed to determine a health care provider delayed a week ago everything “suddenly turned free”.

Fran, who functions in medical-science study and has become struggling with another disease that could be tonsillitis or from acidity from vomiting so significantly, included: “I was informed I had a need to visit hospital-but they’d just obtained my blood-pressure which was it, they didn’t request basically was on any medicine or had any pre existing problems or something.

“If after 5.30pm you couldn’t you desired to visit a physician in the resort, they simply desired to contact you an ambulance although you didn’t require one.

“When I did so get medicine and so I didn’t everything returned in Turkish understand just how much I had been designed to consider and so I really named a medical buddy in the united kingdom and requested them to discover for me personally or what it had been.

“We nevertheless don’t actually understand what it’s or what triggered it.”

Clare McCarthy’s wedding was destroyed when she and half her visitors turned sick your day before

She stated it’s the one thing everybody today recalls in the special day

Concerns are increasingly being elevated about how exactly exactly the same influx in some instances leaves them with sustained health conditions, as well as of nausea which damages people’s vacations, continues to be permitted to proceed for such a long time.

A spokesperson for Jones Cook says the hotel set up raised cleanliness and cleansing steps to reduce the spread of disease pursuing elevated reviews of disease from visitors.

He included: “Nothing is very important to us compared to security and wellness of our clients.

“We’re conscious of a rise in documented instances of client disease in summer in the Freedom Lykia resort. A completely independent review was organized for by us, and we shall take-all required actions to correct any problem year prior to the resort reopens for summertime while it didn’t determine any particular trigger related to food or cleanliness.

“We’re calling our affected customers all to the united kingdom on the go back.”

The resort closed on Friday for that end-of the growing season.

The Freedom Lykia Resort was approached for remark but didn’t react.

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from network 4 http://shorenewsnow.com/thomas-cook-holidaymakers-in-turkey-hit-with-extreme-vomiting-bug-at-five-star-resort-leaving-11-week-baby-in-hospital-and-man-with-kidney-failure/

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