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Edit: clothed post.
This is damn near precisely like listening to my mother talk about my grandmother in the last year of her life.
Yes, she's become completely revisionist since Gigi died.
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** spoiler omitted **...
Poor mog.
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Death sucks, went through the same thing with our dog.
It's tough, but at least you're handling it.
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On a lighter note, I learned a valuable lesson about vetoing character ideas.
I'll be running a game for Crookshanks and her friends and one of them wanted to make a stuffed poppet named Pooh Bear, and I said "no,I don't want Disney Adult Thugs busting down my door".
So,instead they made Poe Bear, an oracle of the cosmos that quotes Edgar Alan Poe.
Yup, lesson learned.
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Last night Impus Major left WhimseyShire open and built a makeshift staircase so the Cranky Calico could theoretically get onto the bed. When he went to bed, he found her in WhimseyShire looking longingly up at the bed. He picked her up, put her on the bed, and gently rested his head on her like he used to...
...and in spite of her state, she started purring vigorously!
I checked on her this morning and she seems to finally know what's up and be accepting it. So we turned on the electric blanket under her, and she's contentedly passing away in warmth and comfort on Her Boy's bed.
It's very appropriate, and feels much better than it did yesterday.
In lighter news, Global Megacorporation just sent out its Halloween costume guidelines for dressing up for work:
(1) Wear costumes that allow security to identify you.
(2) Do not wear costumes that look like security uniforms; e.g., police officers.
(3) Do not bring weapons, even fake ones, to work.
So apparently dressing as Lady Godiva is AOK, horse included.
In lighter news, Global Megacorporation just sent out its Halloween costume guidelines for dressing up for work:
(1) Wear costumes that allow security to identify you.
(2) Do not wear costumes that look like security uniforms; e.g., police officers.
(3) Do not bring weapons, even fake ones, to work.So apparently dressing as Lady Godiva is AOK, horse included.
Wouldn't that be too much identification?
Anyway, aren't there some kind of restrictions on taking animals to work that would hinder the horse aspect... (unless that's someone's work-partner in their own Halloween costume?
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In spite of all adversities he's faced, Talky really did grow up all right. He got home with Impus Minor and the very first thing he asked when he walked in the door was, "I hear you're digging Cranky's grave. Did you need help with that?"
Considering I'd been at it half an hour and gotten all of 6" into the hard-packed clay, my answer was an obvious, "Yes."
And yes, I do wish I had a teleportation machine so I could teleport Captain Yesterday here and have it done in half an hour with minimal effort.
I've learned over the years that ditch digging, paver moving, wheelbarrow rolling, and other "manual" activities really are skill-based, so an experienced person can do it in 1/4 the time with 1/10th the effort.
But we have no such person here today...
EDIT: And now he's Tom Sawyered the Impii into helping...
In lighter news, Global Megacorporation just sent out its Halloween costume guidelines for dressing up for work:
(1) Wear costumes that allow security to identify you.
(2) Do not wear costumes that look like security uniforms; e.g., police officers.
(3) Do not bring weapons, even fake ones, to work.So apparently dressing as Lady Godiva is AOK, horse included.
Denying the antecedent. Jason with a machete is banned. Lady godivia is unknown, not allowed.
I always find the no weapons at work thing funny because I used to bring my own axe, someone brought their own chainsaws. I brought a claymore and used it to clear brush. It was surprisingly effective.
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A kriegsmesser might be better still.
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On a lighter note, I learned a valuable lesson about vetoing character ideas.
I'll be running a game for Crookshanks and her friends and one of them wanted to make a stuffed poppet named Pooh Bear, and I said "no,I don't want Disney Adult Thugs busting down my door".
So,instead they made Poe Bear, an oracle of the cosmos that quotes Edgar Alan Poe.
Yup, lesson learned.
But I want thugged out Pooh.
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In spite of all adversities he's faced, Talky really did grow up all right. He got home with Impus Minor and the very first thing he asked when he walked in the door was, "I hear you're digging Cranky's grave. Did you need help with that?"
Considering I'd been at it half an hour and gotten all of 6" into the hard-packed clay, my answer was an obvious, "Yes."
And yes, I do wish I had a teleportation machine so I could teleport Captain Yesterday here and have it done in half an hour with minimal effort.
I've learned over the years that ditch digging, paver moving, wheelbarrow rolling, and other "manual" activities really are skill-based, so an experienced person can do it in 1/4 the time with 1/10th the effort.
But we have no such person here today...
EDIT: And now he's Tom Sawyered the Impii into helping...
a sad day.
May she die in her own time and under her own terms.
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I've learned over the years that ditch digging, paver moving, wheelbarrow rolling, and other "manual" activities really are skill-based, so an experienced person can do it in 1/4 the time with 1/10th the effort.
That one day I spent working on a construction site in UK, at one point I was given a shovel and asked to dig a... I have no idea what was it supposed to be? A ditch next to a road? Clearing for a future sidewalk?
Anyway, the guy I worked for on that day, and some other guy either underestimating either my English fluency (another unreported worker on that day was a Portuguese guy, who didn't speak English at all, but as he was clearly experienced construction worker, either communicated with gestures, or simply knew what he was supposed to be doing anyway), or the distance they were standing from me, and commented on my clear lack of knowledge of what the hell I am doing.
EDIT: And now he's Tom Sawyered the Impii into helping...
You mean that Talky talked them into doing something?! Unconceivable!
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I always find the no weapons at work thing funny because I used to bring my own axe, someone brought their own chainsaws. I brought a claymore and used it to clear brush. It was surprisingly effective.
You probably need to set it up in right direction.
Oh, wait, wrong kind of claymore...
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You mean that Talky talked them into doing something?! Unconceivable!
That word... I don't think it means what you think it means...
OK. Best election joke I've heard so far.
I always find the no weapons at work thing funny because I used to bring my own axe, someone brought their own chainsaws. I brought a claymore and used it to clear brush. It was surprisingly effective.You probably need to set it up in right direction.
Oh, wait, wrong kind of claymore...
Dad used to set those up. Then people started sneaking out at night and turning them around. So they started setting them up backwards.
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You mean that Talky talked them into doing something?! Unconceivable!That word... I don't think it means what you think it means...
Would you say that I have a plethora of piñatas?
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R.I.P. Cranky Calico. Circa April, 2006 - October 29, 2024.
Passed away surrounded by her family while resting on Her Boy's bed.
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There are some constants in life even more inevitable than death.
As Cranky Calico was lapsing into unconsciousness for the last time, Impus Major desperately wanted to give her her favorite toy. So of course, as is the nature of the universe, this toy that we'd been finding everywhere for the last 17 years was nowhere to be found. Impus Major and I tore the house apart looking for it and it was simply gone.
Now Impus Major is obsessed with burying her with it, so I'm spending my work day literally moving every single piece of furniture in the house trying to find it.
And I know I won't.
And I know that in 2 weeks one of us is going to step on it because it will mysteriously reappear in plain sight.
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It was pre shipped to Valhalla.
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That or it was her phylactery.
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That or it was her phylactery.
Considering the tales, I am leaning in this direction
Well, it's been one hell of a rough week, but I'm finally starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks in huge part to Talky, Cranky's grave is all ready and cleaned up so we can put her to rest once the whole family is home. I've done due diligence on the toy so I can bury her without it conscience-free. My Joakim haircut looks "good enough" for tonight's Sabaton movie and tomorrow's Halloween, the decorations are ready, the kids' costumes are ready, and I'm unlikely to have to deal with anything significant again before Sunday. I'm thankful that I managed to finish my major work for the week yesterday morning so I got to take yesterday afternoon off to be with the Calico, and today's just recording and editing a video from a storyboard, which is both very time-consuming and very low-stress, so a good task for the day.
I need a nap, though.
EDIT: "But what about next week's election," you ask? We already voted and nobody's going to know the actual results for weeks yet, so nothing worth stressing about at the moment.
In lighter news, my co-worker sent me two interesting little formulae:
(1) Cat Years: Cats follow approximately a 15-9-4 rule of human aging: Their first year is equivalent to 15 human years, their second is another 9, and from then on you add 4 years a year.
This works out remarkably well: Most of our cats die from 14-16, which works out to 72-80 using the formula. The Cranky Calico was 88. The Fluffernutter is a spry 84.
Extremely old cats are outliers (a 30-year-old cat would be a 136-year-old human), but otherwise it tracks very well.
(2) How old is "old"? This is a really interesting one. Ask yourself, "How old is an 'old person'?"
Don't open the spoiler until you've answered as honestly as you can.
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RIP Cranky Calico
(Our two are around four, and still behave in what you'd call a very teenagerish manner, were they human, but maybe that's me projecting)
(2) How old is "old"? This is a really interesting one. Ask yourself, "How old is an 'old person'?"
Don't open the spoiler until you've answered as honestly as you can.
** spoiler omitted **
Various people keep saying at different occasions that I was born old.
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(2) How old is "old"? This is a really interesting one. Ask yourself, "How old is an 'old person'?"
Don't open the spoiler until you've answered as honestly as you can.
** spoiler omitted **
It's very simple. Anyone younger than me is a child, and anyone older than me is a relic.
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Well, having moved into an apartment since the divorce I no longer have a lawn, thus unlocking eternal youth.
I have a deck, but that's where I keep my rock and molten metals collections, so good luck scaling that!
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I've learned over the years that ditch digging, paver moving, wheelbarrow rolling, and other "manual" activities really are skill-based, so an experienced person can do it in 1/4 the time with 1/10th the effort.
Neighbor "That logs too big for an axe let me get the chains
WATHUNK WATHUNK WATHUNK WATHUNK WATHUNK WATHUNK CRACK
"..sssaww....."
Half the difference is in sharpening. What you can do with a "new" out of the box tool and what you can do with something that is actually sharp looks like witchcraft if you've never seen something actually sharp. (VERY few tools and knives come sharp out of the box)
(The other half is angled cuts. You have to go in V shaped. Some people just keep hitting the same spot, which is actually kinda impressive but not how blades work on thick things) and the other other half is brute force.
Strongman the beast tries timbersports
It was really bad in mauritania. For some reason all the knives were chunks of badly tempered metal (I wish forged in fire had been a thing before I went) I sharpened the families knives with a pocket stone and had to spend a week bandaiding people before they got used to it. I'm not even very good at sharpening.
I tried to buy a sharpening stone in a hardware store and they handed me a file...
I tried to buy a sharpening stone in a hardware store and they handed me a file...
My father was obsessive about sharpening every tool he owned; even individual drill bits.
And he used a file to sharpen all of them. (An extremely fine-grain metal file he'd bought for the purpose, but still, it was a file.)
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I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.
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I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.
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I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.
♫I hate every ape I see
from chimpan-A to chimpan-Zno you'll never make a monkey out of me!
Oh my god, I was wrong
it was Earth all along!
Yes you've finally made a monkey out of me!♫
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I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.♫I hate every ape I see
from chimpan-A to chimpan-Z
no you'll never make a monkey out of me!Oh my god, I was wrong
it was Earth all along!
Yes you've finally made a monkey out of me!♫
While I have *no* sympathy in this day and age for people who click on "banking" emails that trick them into providing their login credentials to scammers, I'm far more sympathetic towards the more clever attacks designed to target the semi-wary.
I got a text from an international number saying (in poorly broken English), "We cannot confirm your delivery address. Please click here to confirm your address," and a bit.ly link. You'd have to be an absolute moron to fall for it.
But suppose you're young and you think you're clever and you're tempted to follow the link and provide them with a fake address because you know you're being scammed.
Unfortunately, I'm almost positive that link takes you directly to a ransomware installer that'll pwn your unpatched device, or possibly even your patched one depending on how advanced their attack is.
"It's never OK to click on a link, even if you know it's fake," is a much harder lesson for kids who think they know what they're doing.
(If I still had my Linux box I'd love to try the link in Firefox on Linux with NoScript going full bore so no scripts can run at all, just so I could look at the site sourse code, but my Linux box got wiped years ago and I'm not spending hours getting it set back up again just to see how nasty that link is.)
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I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.
YoU MoNsTeR!
We had some very polite trick-or-treaters around tonight; the kids went out too, and Sonic (dressed as Michael Jackson in 'Thriller') did splendidly, though he got in a proper grump when we wouldn't let him eat the whole sackful in one sitting.
I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.♫I hate every ape I see
from chimpan-A to chimpan-Z
no you'll never make a monkey out of me!Oh my god, I was wrong
it was Earth all along!
Yes you've finally made a monkey out of me!♫
I enjoy all the meats of our cultural stew!
Dooo dooo dooodee doooo dooo dooo...
I tried to buy a sharpening stone in a hardware store and they handed me a file...My father was obsessive about sharpening every tool he owned; even individual drill bits.
And he used a file to sharpen all of them. (An extremely fine-grain metal file he'd bought for the purpose, but still, it was a file.)
Yeah, I knew someone who did that too. If it was a knife he would finish it off by stropping the blade on his Levi leg. The thigh, with the cloth pulled tight.
What you can do with a "new" out of the box tool and what you can do with something that is actually sharp looks like witchcraft if you've never seen something actually sharp. (VERY few tools and knives come sharp out of the box)
(The other half is angled cuts. You have to go in V shaped. Some people just keep hitting the same spot, which is actually kinda impressive but not how blades work on thick things) and the other other half is brute force.
It was really bad in mauritania. For some reason all the knives were chunks of badly tempered metal (I wish forged in fire had been a thing before I went) I sharpened the families knives with a pocket stone and had to spend a week bandaiding people before they got used to it. I'm not even very good at sharpening.
Where/how would someone who lives on her own learn how to sharpen things properly without (excessive) risk to her fingers? To the best of my knowledge, all of my friends are spoiled office types, so while we (I) might appreciate the idea of properly sharp things, none of us are trained in getting there on our own. My granddad was a butcher, but he’s no longer with us, and my dad wasn’t brought up to follow in his footsteps, so there’s no generational transmission of that skill here. :(
I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.YoU MoNsTeR!
I’m not a huge musical girl (light opera, maybe, but that’s probably an even harder sell to teenage guys, I imagine), but surely there must be some musicals out there that wouldn’t send boys screaming in terror? Granted, we were forced through a bit of Rodgers & Hammerstein in my music classes in high school, but where I grew up was – although a stone’s throw from the metropolis – decidedly neither a cultural nor a pedagogical hotspot. I would hope that things have improved since then, but then I’m not quite that naïve.
On a related note, I’ve been enjoying Lin-Manuel Miranda’s adaptation of The Warriors, but that is a concept album rather than a musical as such, and the protagonists are genderflipped and… OK, so maybe I have no idea what boys want, after all. ;)
I’m half tempted to bring in some spooky(ish) music for my class tomorrow, but my tastes run horrifically nerdy, so it’s probably for the best if I don’t.
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Where/how would someone who lives on her own learn how to sharpen things properly without (excessive) risk to her fingers? To the best of my knowledge, all of my friends are spoiled office types, so while we (I) might appreciate the idea of properly sharp things, none of us are trained in getting there on our own. My granddad was a butcher, but he’s no longer with us, and my dad wasn’t brought up to follow in his footsteps, so there’s no generational transmission of that skill here. :( 0
Youtube has been amazeballs for bringing back things that used to be generational knowledge but skipped a generation. Anything from how to sharpen a knife or a million things you can use as a strop. Apologies to the library, but words and pictures can only do so much to show you something in motion. Being able to do it in person so someone can see what you're messing up is handy, but embarrassing to some. You can then find a reddit community snap a picture and say "alright what I screw up..."
I'm very bad at seeing and feeling if/when something is sharp. But I have a self growing fur coat on my belly that is occasionally sacrificed in small patches to see if I've got it right.
For years my problem was I'd sharpen a knife just like it showed in the instructions and get nowhere.... because stainless steel doesn't take/hold a great edge to start with, the hallow grind they use on most knives is hard to sharpen, you don't just need to run a new knife on a stone gently a few times you need to apply pressure and you're going to be there filing it for a while. I've also had a much easier time running the knife backwards over sand paper than proper sharpening
I got a worksharp , which is a little mini belt sander. I didn't have the best luck with the guide, but if i pop those off it gets a knife to sharpenable really quick.
Survival situation tip: If you're lost in the woods sit down and sharpen your knife. Someone will pop out of the pushes to tell you you're doing it wrong in about 15 minutes.
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What you can do with a "new" out of the box tool and what you can do with something that is actually sharp looks like witchcraft if you've never seen something actually sharp. (VERY few tools and knives come sharp out of the box)
(The other half is angled cuts. You have to go in V shaped. Some people just keep hitting the same spot, which is actually kinda impressive but not how blades work on thick things) and the other other half is brute force.
It was really bad in mauritania. For some reason all the knives were chunks of badly tempered metal (I wish forged in fire had been a thing before I went) I sharpened the families knives with a pocket stone and had to spend a week bandaiding people before they got used to it. I'm not even very good at sharpening.
Where/how would someone who lives on her own learn how to sharpen things properly without (excessive) risk to her fingers? To the best of my knowledge, all of my friends are spoiled office types, so while we (I) might appreciate the idea of properly sharp things, none of us are trained in getting there on our own. My granddad was a butcher, but he’s no longer with us, and my dad wasn’t brought up to follow in his footsteps, so there’s no generational transmission of that skill here. :(
I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.YoU MoNsTeR!I’m not a huge musical girl (light opera, maybe, but that’s probably an even harder sell to teenage guys, I imagine), but surely there must be some musicals out there that wouldn’t send boys screaming in terror? Granted, we were forced through a bit of Rodgers & Hammerstein in my music classes in high school, but where I grew up was – although a stone’s throw from the metropolis – decidedly neither a cultural nor a pedagogical hotspot. I would hope that things have improved since then, but then I’m not quite that naïve.
On a related note, I’ve been...
I live a ways from, but travel regularly to, the area the warriors protect, this adaptation better be good
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Ah, the fun of, "The support person claims you're wrong."
I reported an error in application behavior. I tested and confirmed the issue three times before reporting it. Support asked for access to my machine and sent a response of simply, "You're wrong. Your machine is working fine."
So this morning I get to record a video of the bad application behavior. Because I honestly believe the support person never actually checked the behavior. He should have done 4 tests and according to his own records they should have only generated 2 emails to the end user, and I see 3.
Ah, well, a video is worth a week of debate.
This is oh-so-mildly political but I think I can get away with it.
While I consider most threats of political violence in this country to be little more than hyperbole ("We're going to have a Civil War!"), given the events of January 6 and the massive political maneuvering to already declare the election "corrupt unless we win", I'm very concerned about violence in major cities in swing states. So when Impus Minor told me he was going to visit his girlfriend on November 6, I was quite concerned, as she's in one of the really critical swing states in a city with a recent history of upheaval.
Except... she's going to college in one of the reddest of the red states, so it's pretty much guaranteed to be chill.
When you prefer that your son visit highly polarized states over purple ones, something is screwy.
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I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.YoU MoNsTeR!I’m not a huge musical girl (light opera, maybe, but that’s probably an even harder sell to teenage guys, I imagine), but surely there must be some musicals out there that wouldn’t send boys screaming in terror? Granted, we were forced through a bit of Rodgers & Hammerstein in my music classes in high school, but where I grew up was – although a stone’s throw from the metropolis – decidedly neither a cultural nor a pedagogical hotspot. I would hope that things have improved since then, but then I’m not quite that naïve.
On a related note, I’ve been...
It's West Side Story since we just read Romeo and Juliet. I'm pretty sure gang fights are as close to interesting as it'll get for them since I'm not allowed to bring in Sweeney Todd.
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And so it did befall that ye Giant FROSTEBOL did Ravage ye Londe, makyinge ye people cry O Wo, and trembble at his Hoarye Breath, and no wight wit how he might be vanquishyed.
Then did ye Enchantresse FINANCELLA speake unto Sir Limey de Longears, saying, Good Knihgte, I hath summoned ye spirit of ye Sage PLUMBEROTH, who telleth unto me that, to rout FROSTEBOL, thou must travel unto ye Relyquerie of St. BOILERIA, and depresse ye Briyghte Jewel thereonne.
Quoth Sir Limey, why me, surely anyonne can presse an Brigyht Jewel, or Mystic Buttonne
Quoth FINANCELLA, because thou art a most Doughye, I mean Doughtye Palladin, and Eques Salutis et Salutis, only Thou mayest Presse ye Mystiyq Buttoune.
So Sir Limey de Longears did so Presse Ye Buttonne, and St BOILERIA did come unto Lyfe, and FROSTEBOL was laid Low, and there was much Rejoicing throughout all ye Kyngedomme.
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It's West Side Story since we just read Romeo and Juliet. I'm pretty sure gang fights are as close to interesting as it'll get for them since I'm not allowed to bring in Sweeney Todd.
I have apparently hit on true horror for Halloween: forcing sophomore boys to watch a musical.YoU MoNsTeR!I’m not a huge musical girl (light opera, maybe, but that’s probably an even harder sell to teenage guys, I imagine), but surely there must be some musicals out there that wouldn’t send boys screaming in terror? Granted, we were forced through a bit of Rodgers & Hammerstein in my music classes in high school, but where I grew up was – although a stone’s throw from the metropolis – decidedly neither a cultural nor a pedagogical hotspot. I would hope that things have improved since then, but then I’m not quite that naïve.
On a related note, I’ve been...
i went to a very(and still one of the best) theatre forward high school.
The first theater performance I ever saw as a sapient mind was Sweeny Todd, put on by my high school.
The actor playing Sweeny Todd in that performance has since gone on to minor movie fame.
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And so it did befall that ye Giant FROSTEBOL did Ravage ye Londe, makyinge ye people cry O Wo, and trembble at his Hoarye Breath, and no wight wit how he might be vanquishyed.
Then did ye Enchantresse FINANCELLA speake unto Sir Limey de Longears, saying, Good Knihgte, I hath summoned ye spirit of ye Sage PLUMBEROTH, who telleth unto me that, to rout FROSTEBOL, thou must travel unto ye Relyquerie of St. BOILERIA, and depresse ye Briyghte Jewel thereonne.
Quoth Sir Limey, why me, surely anyonne can presse an Brigyht Jewel, or Mystic Buttonne
Quoth FINANCELLA, because thou art a most Doughye, I mean Doughtye Palladin, and Eques Salutis et Salutis, only Thou mayest Presse ye Mystiyq Buttoune.
So Sir Limey de Longears did so Presse Ye Buttonne, and St BOILERIA did come unto Lyfe, and FROSTEBOL was laid Low, and there was much Rejoicing throughout all ye Kyngedomme.
Every time Sir Limey de Longears posts, I hear it in Bill Bailey's voice, because of the Chaucer Pubbe Gagge.
In Milwaukee to catch Beat. Pretty excited.