1
Well, hypothetically, spending the body's resources producing more antigens, etc., for something you are already immune to because you already had it without symptoms might leave those resources unavailable for fighting off routine exposure to the ordinary run of freshly mutated versions of the usual strains.
Posted by: PatBuckman at Wed May 26 16:22:10 2021 (6y7dz)
1
We can only assume that some generations ago, one of your ancestors violated the tomb of a vengeful ancient god, urinated in the sacrificial bowl, and then threw it through a mirror. That might possibly explain your luck.
May your boxes be light and easily moved, your stones likewise small and easily passed, and your wrist free of pain as soon as possible!
Posted by: David at Sat Apr 10 21:37:54 2021 (t/97R)
My Baby Sister Just Had a Heart Attack
She's 40 and has 2 kids.
I've let work know I'm going down to look after the children.
UPDATE: Well she's been released on her own recognizance and has a series of stress tests and such today and tomorrow. I called work while at the gas station and told them I can come in but they said that staffing was fine and I was already listed as off for the day. My FMLA application is obviously on hold. I'll know more tomorrow.
On the Wisdom of Grip Safeties
So, one of the trees in the front yard had grown to where it was in the same time and space as my roof.
This was not readily apparent from the ground. However, during the weekend windstorm, I heard it dragging against the roof and after closer inspection realized what was going on.
So I borrowed a polesaw from my brother-in law, got on the ladder, and, after determining both that I wasn't underneath or in the swinging path of the branch, and that said branch would not damage my roof or my car, I started chewing away at it. The polesaw is like a chainsaw greave, and as I cut away at the first, and then second branches, I could not help but imagine how awesome this would be as a polearm in a minimally realistic martial arts film.
At this point in the process, the tree decided that it had had enough and that physics did not apply to it and the branch fell, not directly down, not to the side that I was cutting on, but, as near as I can tell twisted the cut out towards me, swung towards me and swatted me off the ladder. The polesaw made a long arc through the sky before deciding on the ballistic trajectory that would place it on me. I caught a gimps of it just before it impacted. My heart skipped a beat and I now have a much greater appreciation for the final moments of Elric of Melniboné. However, because I was not holding the grip safety, it was not running, thus I was not disemboweled; escaping with some scrapes bruises and a coating of sawdust and dirt.
1
Amazon? There are two Ramune flavors in our local Kroger in middle-of-nowhere Newark, Ohio. I always made them a treat for my girls when they did someone reward-able.
Posted by: Clayton Barnett at Fri Oct 30 14:11:34 2020 (ug1Mc)
2
Years before The Dark Days Cometh, there was a "World Market" store here in Duckford. Not only were they the very best source for rubber ducks in the world, but they also carried foreign beverages and snacks.
Pocky, of course, was plentiful, but they also sold Ramune by the bottle in at least half-a-dozen flavors... for $1.00 each. I know this price exactly, because in Pond Central's fridge are three bottles of some melon or lemon (I just realized those are anagrams!) flavored thing that are a dreadfully unappealing yellow in shade. AND in taste, I might add, which is why they're in the fridge after many years.
Why haven't I tossed them out? A fine question, that.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Fri Oct 30 22:42:51 2020 (vNkOW)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Fri Oct 16 12:07:04 2020 (PiXy!)
8
Pete, don't let that get away from you, get it looked at!
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Fri Oct 16 13:38:27 2020 (5iiQK)
9
Best wishes to all concerned, and glad to hear Corona-chan wasn't involved.
I paid attention to the heart noises, and after demanding *just one more* test in the ER, they *finally* detected the markers saying I'd survived the first attack, and the blockage at fault was known as a "widowmaker".
So yeah, never ignore the chest pains, particularly when the rest of the Four Horse...err, Symptoms...are riding along.
Posted by: DougO at Sat Oct 17 16:50:41 2020 (ynBkT)
Wait. There's a TAG for That?
Someone sent this J-List link to me saying, "I found that game you got that cute snake girl from!"
Uhh? What?
Oh.
Actually, I've never played the game and got the image from Danbooro, which was how I was able to credit the artist when I used Hygieia the cute snekgrrl as a reaction image or something....years ago.
But that's not important now. We live in a world where there's actually a category for Tsundere Lamias. I don't know how to think about that.
Dispatches From the Shipping Industry
I'm frequently working more overtime than straight time. Our building has been consistently breaking its all time record for volume. On a personal note, I'm handling over 10,000 parcels a day. This is problematic due to the fact that both my plantar facitis and kidney stones have been acting up in a big way, though I have not called out since the 10th of April.
With higher than Christmas volume and what was initially March level staffing, work has been rather hectic. Eventually the company became convinced that this was a long term issue and began hiring new people about a week ago. 12 people have been hired for our building over the last two weeks of which four lasted one full day and three are still with us. This has not caught us up from the attrition of those who quit due to the workload.
We have the worst economy since the great depression and jobs starting at ~$16.00 with annual pay increases, full medical coverage, actual sick leave (unlike some places) and opportunities for advancement can't get filled because people come in and are horrified by physical labor...or they cant past the drug test or background check.
What is wrong with these kids today?
What is that? It's a CLOUD! DAMN YOU STUPID CLOUD GET OUT OF MY SKY WITH YOU'RE SMUG WHISPY CUMULUS FACE!!
Anyway, I got the grass cut. I have to be to work in 6 hours so I should probably eat or go to bed or something.
1
Years ago, when I was even poorer than I am now, I did apply to Big Brown for a position, and got an interview. However, the HR person doing the interview was so dismissive, if not borderline insulting, that I refuse to ever choose Big Brown for anything that I have a say in to this day.
Also, I had former co-worker who had worked for Big Brown before and then went back part-time a while later, to earn a little extra cash. One of the politest, well mannered, even tempered person I personally know - who quit Big Brown after two weeks into his second go-around with them because his supervisor was a massive jerk.
God knows I seen too many terrible new hires come and go at work, and a lot of people are not going to cut it in the working world. But I do not think all of them are...
Posted by: cxt217 at Mon May 11 21:24:20 2020 (4i7w0)
2
My thanks to you and your colleagues. I wave at my neighborhood's UPS driver whenever I see him.
Posted by: Matthew Cowles at Mon May 11 21:50:48 2020 (irynM)
It Ends
Just a quick update on last night's post. In lieu of actual content here is something pleasantly disturbing by Tokyo Gensou. Buy his art book here.
Posted by: Rick C at Sat Apr 11 00:00:38 2020 (Iwkd4)
3
Yay, glad to hear you're improving. That kind of thing is scary, especially when you can't run screaming to the hospital to get properly treated.
Posted by: David at Sat Apr 11 03:48:37 2020 (UmjNG)
4
Yeah. I confess I was a bit concerned. There are other things it could have been, most of them bad, and normally this would involve a battery of x-rays, tests, and a urinalysis rather more comprehensive than "Yep! Blood. Lots'o blood. That ain't right." What's even better is that having the worst of the bleeding taper off a day and a half after I started the antibiotics is entirely consistent with an infection. The arm is a scrape, the stones are just pain, the knee and ankle can be dealt with via ace bandages, but all that blood, with everything else going on, that's just not fair. Knowing what it is is a relief. Having the arm finally stop bleeding is just icing on the cake.
That healed remarkably fast. It's current lack of severity does not bear any relation to the amount of blood I had to clean up in the kitchen sink.
As an added bonus, I just now found my Moleskin, which I REALLY wanted Wednesday morning. Even so, in the future I need to figure out a technique to apply a dressing one-handed and not make a birds nest of bandages and waste a bunch of gauze, pads, and tape. If that cut on the elbow had been deeper, I'd have needed to do a stitch and I couldn't even apply adhesive tape one handed without looking like a fool.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Apr 11 08:55:57 2020 (5iiQK)
5
Glad to hear you're doing better, keep it up! Rest well and recover. Happy Easter.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at Sat Apr 11 12:19:38 2020 (045dC)
Dressing wounds one-handed may be pretty awkward. The guy who cut out his own appendix in Antarctica had both hands available. Still, a backup can come useful.
On that note, I relayed our gracious host's tale of woe to my wife and she said, "Why is he living alone? He's not married?" She forgot how she went to ER by herself because I was in Japan.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sat Apr 11 18:29:57 2020 (LZ7Bg)
Adventures in Boomerism
Last night, I finally got my twitch, Discord, and Steam accounts to sync up in both Epic, and New Moon.
No big feat that, however, in keeping with established theories regarding the Dunning-Kruger Effect; this morning, thus emboldened by this junior varsity facsimile of "productivity", I resolved to sync and tether the Kyocera Smartphone and my iMac.
Well, that was non-intuitive.
Most every online guide I found turned out to date from before Mojave and 'Grea' is using the newest iteration of Android. I get the impression that Apple and Google really don't want you to do this.
That aside, Holo and Grea are now talking to one another, ALL of my pictures from the old Blackberry's SD card are saved and I can begin the process of deleting unwanted/obnoxious apps, and possibly installing new browser.
The Plumbers Have Left
This is the second time (the first time they had to have the city come in and do some things on the city side of the line). They've all left again now, but THIS time everything flushes. The bathroom is now clean and the poo smell is leaving.
I'm letting the nominally clean tub soak in bleach water for a few more minutes, but soon I will take a shower for the first time since Saturday.
This, has been hell.
Out of consideration for our readers the picture is unrelated to the recent unpleasantness and instead looks forward to a brighter tomorrow.
It's Over
This young lady exquisitely exemplifies how I and most of my coworkers feel this evening....
Art by is by Itou,who understands what Christmas is like today.
I believe I personally lifted over 10,000 parcels today, mostly in 50 pound bags of small packages. This was a light day compared to previous weeks. I got home, sat down in the chair to take off my shoes and...suddenly it was six hours later. I am SO tired of all the winning, but can take solace from the fact that the hurting will soon fade.
1
Bit late to the party here, but I note with interest, Amazon has a brand new delivery facility in a former warehouse here in Houston. I estimate 50k internal sq.feet, and that's assuming the original single-floor arrangement still exists. There is plenty of room for them to have modded a second floor for personnel offices. Dozens of vans are parked there, and they appear to be hiring. Next Xmas might be less strenuous for you...
2
Oops. Cant edit.... I was waaaaaay off; forgot the second part of the building and was only counting the original showroom floor... make that 175k sq ft. Also, the Google Map pics are way out of date; the large covered marshaling area for the vans that got added isn't shown.
A Few Christmas Anecdotes
I've been an employee at U.P.S. for 27 years. In all that time I've never seen a Christmas like this one. I've seen it get heavy, but I'd never seen every day for over a week be higher than our peak day last year, nor heard the belts grinding from too much volume all day for three days. I have never, ever, until Tuesday, seen a 53 foot trailer come onto our lot bulging like a can with botulism. The other day one of the drivers from one of the big sort hubs came in to help after dropping off a load. He said that the hub was so packed that it took him 25 minutes to get from the bay door where the trailer was parked to the guard shack at the gate.
Young lady who understands what Christmas means to me is by Itou.
I honestly don't think I've been this sore every day since basic training.
Frankly, this is not any failure on the company's part, we're just experiencing the biggest Christmas EVER and our physical plant wasn't designed for an economy this good. It does bring a smile to my face to see all the Amazon packages coming through though. It seems that after declaring that they didn't need us and were never going to ship with us again...well... it looks from my modest vantage point that the Bezos brigade completely choked, as we've been getting trailer upon trailer of Amazon boxes that Amazon couldn't handle, and, despite this unexpected surfeit of cardboard, at least at my building, we haven't rolled anything over to the next day yet. Everything's gotten delivered. The hours are quite insane though.A few years ago I worked some double shifts and still didn't make as much overtime as I have this week. Today was odd, we actually finished early, however, as a result Monday's start time has been moved up to Sunday.
Monday's gonna suck.
On the other hand, I've lost 13 pounds and my pants are threatening to fall off.
Meanwhile, my current mastery of basic household chores, web-presence and Christmas preparations can be described thussly...
If I Vanish Mysteriously, Please Avenge Me
When I got in from work this morning, there was part of a dead animal on my porch. I think the parts used to belong to a rabbit. I'm not sure,
I'm not an important member of the blogosphere, haven't posted anything involving actionable evidence about the Clintons, and in any event, there was no note attached
A WinRar is Me
Last week I received an E-mail apologizing and informing me that me that my confirmation
E-mail had gone to spam and that the snacks were in the mail.
Allow me to explain...
BILLY VERSUS SNAKEMAN is one of the many less than productive slices on the time allocation pie-graph of the Walter Mitty LARP that is my life.
It's a fun little anime themed browser game where one vicariously lives the life of a text based ninja living in a text based ninja village working with one's fellow ninja villagers to protect the village from attacks by other ninja villages, rampaging Kaiju, zombies, snowstorms, petitioners, sketchy peddlers, gambling schoolgirls and renegade tattoo artists, all the while going on quests and missions (to other anime genres) that pit you against the malign elder deity that is The Random Encounter Table. There's a TV Tropes page for it.
The game is actually surprisingly well designed. It's fun and despite the limitations of a text based browser game, it affords considerable freedom and a surprising ability to cooperate with other players in your village, and occasionally others villages as well.
It's run by Hammergirl Anime in Rochester New York which is relevant to this explanation because on the very day I had it confirmed that I'd graduated from college, I was informed that I had won "25 Dollars in Weird Japanese Snacks From Hammergirl".
And today...
Huh...
This box from Hammergirl Anime contained a whole bunch of 'Weird Japanese Snacks'.
But that's exactly what was promised!
"So. As a video game company Hammergirl is already way ahead of Bethesda."
Indeed!
If you're interested, you can play Billy Versus Snakemanhere. Pixy and I are in Snowflake Village. Which is...totally not for snowflakes. Hopefully, we will be accepting memberships again this evening or tomorrow.
Update: Snowflake Village is accepting new members. Thanks Pixy.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Sep 30 19:41:15 2019 (YUAc9)
5
A buddy of mine has had Hammergirl as his friendly local shop for ages and ages. I remember when I was playing BvS and told him about it. "Oh, it's that game that (11DB) made!"
I learned to play hanafuda AND mahjongg from that game.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Tue Oct 1 01:37:36 2019 (v29Tn)
6
So, what is the "Mini Bromaid" Pizza-taste Snack with a picture looking like corn?
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tue Oct 1 17:05:39 2019 (LZ7Bg)
7
The "Mini Bromaid" was a puffed cheese thing with a taste that is not quite mozzarella but very close. It wasn't bad at all.
The "Umai" (The Doremon themed confections) came in three varieties:
Tonkotsu, which was a crunchy thing that one might be persuaded under duress to describe as that of pork Ramen.
The Cheese variety was surprising as it was the most cheddary thing that ever cheddared. It as more cheddary than Cheese-Its. I never encountered cheddar in Japan and was quite surprised to see them get cheddar right.
Both the above would likely go well with a soda or sweet tea.
The chocolate "Umai" was an amorphous cookie-esque thing wrapped in chocolate. I can't overstress how non-dense the cookie part of this is. I imagine that eating an aerogel coated in chocolate would be similar. The chocolate was, well, perfectly serviceable chocolate. The effect is similar to eating a chocolate KitKat if the cookie portion had the same tensile strength, but the density of cotton.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Oct 1 19:43:00 2019 (YUAc9)
Old Habits and Telescreens
Things went unusually well at work this morning.
After about an hour, management decided to send extra people home. Out of habit, they told me I could go, as I always asked to be one of the first ones cut loose and am at the top of the seniority list.
Also out of habit, I walked out the door, got in the van, drove down the interstate towards the school to camp out in the library and study when it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I don't go to school anymore....
Anyway:
When I got home, I somehow managed, in a bizarre feat of PEBKACery, to wake the malign elder god Siri on my iMac.
Below the fold is the Siri information page on my iMac user guide, which is replete with all the ways to access and help Siri to utilize the data that Siri is collecting on me.
Note what is missing.
Any way to turn the damned thing off.
I've gone through Preferences
and cut off everything that I can but this only disables the interface as
far as I can tell. I have the uneasy feeling that I've merely removed
the reminder that my every keystroke is being logged and assessed.
I'd promised myself I'd never get another Mac. But my paper was on the
lightning-struck iMac, and I needed to salvage it, which I did...but
that paper was declared unsuitable, so I actually gave 1700 dollars to
Tim Cook (who hates me and people like me) and helped him to spy on me
for no benefit.
I cannot be an example to you, gentle reader, but I can be a horrible, horrible warning.
more...
1
Have some spam comments, apparently.
Have you tried asking Siri how to get her to go away? (I am assuming you're past the return period on the new machine.)
Posted by: Rick C at Wed Aug 28 11:27:01 2019 (Iwkd4)
2
How to disable Siri on macOS manually
Open the main Apple menu from top right corner.
Choose System preferences.
There’s a new Siri icon, click on it.
From the right pane uncheck Enable Siri option.
Uncheck Show Siri in menu bar.
Now Siri should be disabled and hidden.
I don't have a Mac, so no idea if this really works or still works.
The site where I found this had recommended that you also get some kind of cleaning or blocking app for your Mac.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Wed Aug 28 18:27:36 2019 (sF8WE)
3
Not the best instructions, given that the Apple menu is in the top left corner.
I think this is more about not trusting the preferences panel than not being able to find it. Apple makes it easy to turn this stuff on, not so easy to make sure that it's off. For instance, I just ran the latest software update, and on reboot, it tried to get me to log into icloud, which I know from long experience will result in adding back some cloud features I've deliberately turned off half a dozen times already. And every time I update the watch software, it "helpfully" reminds me how easy it is to make Siri listen to my every word...
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Wed Aug 28 19:11:05 2019 (LGSd2)
4
All those places where it says to make sure listen for Siri is turned on can be where you make sure it's turned off.
Posted by: Mauser at Wed Aug 28 21:42:17 2019 (Ix1l6)
5
Sure, Mauser, they *can* be, but they *aren't*, because that would hinder Apple's spying on you.
Personally I would disconnect the mic, but I realize not everyone wants to do that.
Posted by: Rick C at Wed Aug 28 22:19:52 2019 (Iwkd4)
I think this is more about not trusting the preferences panel than not being able to find it.
Yes. Exactly.
Personally I would disconnect the mic, but I realize not everyone wants to do that.
Here's the thing. the iMac consists of a sealed magic smoke container with a 2 dimensionally adjustable stand and some USB ports and there is no physical switch other than an oenoefef button.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Aug 29 04:08:14 2019 (YUAc9)
7
"the iMac consists of a sealed magic smoke container"
Yeah, I know. I guess if you were determined you could jab a needle into the mic or something to break it.
Posted by: Rick C at Thu Aug 29 10:35:11 2019 (Iwkd4)
Hobby Space News of the commercial space industry A Babe In The Universe Rather Eclectic Cosmology Encyclopedia Astronautica Superb spacecraft resource The Unwanted Blog Scott Lowther blogs about forgotten aerospace projects and sells amazingly informative articles on the same. Also, there are cats. Transterrestrial Musings Commentary on Infinity...and beyond! Colony WorldsSpace colonization news! The Alternate Energy Blog It's a blog about alternate energy (DUH!) Next Big Future Brian Wang: Tracking our progress to the FUTURE. Nuclear Green Charles Barton, who seems to be either a cool curmudgeon, or a rational hippy, talks about energy policy and the terrible environmental consequences of not going nuclear Energy From Thorium Focuses on the merits of thorium cycle nuclear reactors WizBang Current events commentary...with a wiz and a bang The Gates of Vienna Tenaciously studying a very old war The Anchoress insightful blogging, presumably from the catacombs Murdoc Online"Howling Mad Murdoc" has a millblog...golly! EaglespeakMaritime security matters Commander Salamander Fullbore blackshoe blogging! Belmont Club Richard Fernandez blogs on current events BaldilocksUnderstated and interesting blog on current events The Dissident Frogman French bi-lingual current events blog The "Moderate" VoiceI don't think that word means what they think it does....but this lefty blog is a worthy read nonetheless. Meryl Yourish News, Jews and Meryls' Views Classical Values Eric Scheie blogs about the culture war and its incompatibility with our republic. Jerry Pournell: Chaos ManorOne of Science fictions greats blogs on futurism, current events, technology and wisdom A Distant Soil The website of Colleen Dorans' superb fantasy comic, includes a blog focused on the comic industry, creator issues and human rights. John C. Wright The Sci-Fi/ Fantasy writer muses on a wide range of topics. Now Read This! The founder of the UK Comics Creators Guild blogs on comics past and present. The Rambling Rebuilder Charity, relief work, roleplaying games Rats NestThe Art and rantings of Vince Riley Gorilla Daze Allan Harvey, UK based cartoonist and comics historian has a comicophillic blog! Pulpjunkie Tim Driscoll reviews old movies, silents and talkies, classics and clunkers. Suburban Banshee Just like a suburban Leprechaun....but taller, more dangerous and a certified genius. Satharn's Musings Through TimeThe Crazy Catlady of The Barony of Tir Ysgithr アニ・ノート(Ani-Nouto) Thoughtful, curmudgeonly, otakuism that pulls no punches and suffers no fools. Chizumatic Stephen Den Beste analyzes anime...with a microscope, a slide rule and a tricorder. Wonderduck Anime, Formula One Racing, Sad Girls in Snow...Duck Triumphalism Beta Waffle What will likely be the most thoroughly tested waffle evah! Zoopraxiscope Too In this thrilling sequel to Zoopraxiscope, Don, Middle American Man of Mystery, keeps tabs on anime, orchids, and absurdities. Mahou Meido MeganekkoUbu blogs on Anime, computer games and other non-vital interests Twentysided More geekery than you can shake a stick at Shoplifting in the Marketplace of Ideas Sounds like Plaigarism...but isn't Ambient IronyAll Meenuvians Praise the lathe of the maker! Hail Pixy!!