I don't want Fop! I'm a Dapper Dan man!
And they can heap endless scorn on townie bars.
Sometimes I am quite happy to be not-fashionable. The name is cute, though.
At some point the cops'll naturally catch wind of this perversion and try to shut the place down in a tweed raid.
Which will only briefly keep them down, of course, and they'll soon enough come back with a literary evening called The Books Twaddle.
Don't be absurd, Sifu. Chronic flatulators will not be admitted.
It could also be called "The Cheeky-Chic Spoke."
The rear member of a pair is encouraged to engage in vigorous stoking.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the new bi-cycle trend sticking around for much longer.
Certainly the current enthusiasts will probably move on after they graduate from college, but more will be on hand to replace them.
You're not going to have modern heating?
Will these fashionable bicycle enthusiasts wear bespoke clothing?
If I ever get enough money to wear bespoke clothing, I'm going to start commuting to work on a Segway. Because if you dress nicely, you can be an "eccentric" or a "character" instead of a "tool".
Maybe even a bespoke suit cannot make a Segway plausible. What if I got a nice hat also?
My uncle wears custom clothing made from bespoke fabric and a waxed moustache.
Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity. Two weeks from everywhere!
17: Even the fabric is bespoke? And how does the clothing incorporate the waxed moustache?
Carefully woven in, that's why he has to have bespoke fabric.
It turns out that the story I heard regarding the etymology of "bespoke" is incorrect.
I have a couple of custom suits, but I prefer to walk. Because I am a man of the people of letters of affairs with a mission feminist.
I had hoped to keep my high-end tailoring business a secret.
If I'm riding a Segway, it's not with a helmet. Sheesh.
Can you do a James Bond cuff? I am reluctant to patronize any establishment with "Asser" in the name.
I'm told I affect sophistication to great effect.
I evince a sophisticated affect, of which I have taken advantage the better to effect elaborate cons in high society.
Damn! pwned in my pointing out of pwnedness.
Will moustache bars be barred or will it be a moustache bar kind of bar? Because I do like moustache bars.
OF, but what the hell: please join me and The Turn of the Sue in welcoming to this world, our brand new baby girl.
36: Congratulations. I did not mean to imply that you or your co-parent were Pwnbot 5000, but I must say it would be a charming name for a little girl.
We don't know anything about the child's politics.
What if I got a nice hat also?
Only a porkpie will do.
Yay, baby commenters! Soon, Unfogged will take over the world!
OF, but what the hell
Off Foppic?
So sorry, sifu-OT. Some placenta got in my eye.
36: Congratulations! I hope all her Jacobian intrigues are happy ones.
To the OP: Ben, you might want to stop in to my place if you're ever in flyoverland. We've got superciliousness, condescension and a hell of a lot of bicyclists.
Some placenta got in my eye.
After the birth it's the afterbirth.
Thanks heaven for little girls. Congrats.
20: bespoke fabric is practically old hat.
53: Jesus Colorblind Teddy Boy Christ.
36: Warmest congratulations. May I suggest some names?
53: This wins Most Fatuous of the Day in my book: The Specials collection will change each season and is inspired by the zeitgeist.
56: "Zeitgeist" does not exactly translate as "The Great Golf Pro in the Sky."
Congratulations on the littlest Jacobian! I predict that her derivatives will be large at the beginning, and then taper off.
53: I admit to having a soft spot for fops, dandies, Beau Brummels, Dapper Dans, and fancy boys (see "porkpie hat," above), but there's nothing that's okay about this.
It's your birthday. Go baby.
Yay for babies! Is this y'all's first or a repeat?
63: "repeat" seems a little harsh. Maybe there's something about having multiple kids I'm unaware of?
64: can we go ahead and acknowledge that the whole site linked is hideous? I am ready for that.
"repeat" seems a little harsh
Like repeat champions, yo.
Vital stats: 9lbs 14oz, 21.25" length, 15" head circumference. Delivered at home following about 9 hours of active labor. Apparently we can highly endorse the use of a labor tub.
Holy shit. Home delivery of a nearly 10 pound bundle of joy? Mom is a superhero!
Congratulations, TJ! Welcome, baby girl!
Great news, TJ and Mrs. TJ and little girl TJ!
Congratulations to the whole Jacobian family. Those are some impressive stats!
Thank you all, and boy howdy was Susan amazing throughout.
¡Enhorabuena, TJ y familia!
"repeat" seems a little harsh. Maybe there's something about having multiple kids I'm unaware of?
I've almost certainly mentioned this, but my mom sometimes jokingly refers to me as The Spare. I always reply that my older brother was The Rough Draft and that I'm The Final Copy. (My family's weird, but so is everyone's.)
Welcome, new young person! Congrats to Mom and Dad!
Congrats TJ and Sue! Hello little Jacobian!
Congrats, Turgid J! 10 pds!?!?! Wow!
Have you made the stew yet or did it all get in your eye?
86: no,no stews for us. Though midwives insist we feed the mother as much red meat as possible in coming days-there was some slight trickiness for a few minutes.
72: Sue is teh hero! (Sorry, apo.)
I'd be scared to do a home birth. Might be willing to do a birthing center or something with a tub. Mrs. TJ is brave.
Home births seem much less scary after reading a bunch of the doula's books like this and this.
We didn't, but I'm definitely open to it.
While I have the same reaction, and Sue is teh hero, if you look at the stats home births are safer for someone without risk factors. I think the deal is that there's enough time to get to a hospital for most real emergencies, and at home your odds of iatrogenic infections or other complications go down. So, while it feels scary, it's actually pretty cold-bloodedly sensible.
and at home your odds of iatrogenic infections or other complications go down.
And particularly of debatably warranted interventions.
Indeed. On the flip side, your home pain control options are limited. So, six of one, a half dozen of the other.
It's an ongoing, intermittent source of frustration to us that we didn't do a home birth with Kai. I've told you about how the hospital was too stupid to get our doctor there on time - our doctor whose office is, literally, a five minute walk from our house (and less if there were, say, some reason to rush). We'd never planned for one*, so we didn't even think of it in the event, but we were fine with the concept. All in all, we would have been much happier with, "Stay here, I'll go get Dr. A." The only complication was that Kai had ingested some meconium, but that's not exactly a critical situation.
Oh well.
* And, tbh, I don't know where we would have done it - I don't think our tub's big enough, and we weren't ready at that point to throw away our old bed
I've wondered about the mess factor, but things I've read about homebirthing make it sound like it's not that bad- a waterproof matress cover, some old towels or those big disposable absorbent pads hospitals use, and no problem. I think Asilon homebirthed a couple of hers, maybe all of them.
The one thing about the hospital is that I was really glad to stay there for the next 24 hours. I was so dazed, and the mess keeps coming for quite a while, and it was actually very comforting to be there with a scary newborn.
I don't think I would need that particular comfort the second time, though.
and at home your odds of iatrogenic infections or other complications go down.
Yeah, I'm feeling a bit sensitive about this because Mrs OFE has just had an operation postponed because half the hospital has been shut down due to norovirus. You wouldn't want your baby in the middle of that I guess.
Yeah, I wouldn't want a first time homebirth without a husband and at least one other competent adult (doula, relative) around full time for a couple of days. I bounced back much faster after Newt, but there was certainly a day or so of "WTF just happened? And is this thing breakable?" after Sally where I wouldn't have wanted to have to cope with much, and being in the hospital with people bringing me disposable underpants was nice.
99: Oh, how maddening. Nothing very serious, I hope.
93
While I have the same reaction, and Sue is teh hero, if you look at the stats home births are safer for someone without risk factors. ...
Unless this is the result of an actual random trial I am a bit skeptical as I expect home birth mothers are quite atypical compared to all mothers.
97: I mostly meant what we would have done on the fly - we don't exactly keep a spare waterproof mattress cover around.
Actually, I guess we could have done it on Iris' bed.
As for postpartum assistance, we did kind of love when the nurse came and insisted on taking Kai away for a few hours. As I'm sure I've mentioned, the L&D nurses were awful, but the postpartum ones were, almost without exception, nice and helpful and competent. But I think we'd have given that up in exchange for a much better birth with Dr. A.
Plus, of course, a better story.
an actual random trial
"And you, Mrs. Adams, will be delivering at home."
"WHAT?!?!?!"
Obviously it's not random, as JRoth points out. As far as I recall, the cohorts are matched for medical risk factors. I'm sure you're right that home-birthing mothers are distinguishable on social factors, being much more likely to be DFH than the rest of the population, but unless there's some medical import to the social difference, it doesn't seem as if that should make much difference.
Home childbirth is more erotically rewarding, too.
101. Non-trivial but routine and not life-changing except for the better, thanks. She's already been rescheduled for next week, due to the inefficiency of our terrible socialised medicine. Oh wait...
Well, let's just pray that OFEw doesn't lose her job and her right to medical care before next week. It's tough to have these things up in the air for so long.
I'm planning on having a pretty crunchified hospital birth (as long as nothing should gang too far agley) and felt like this put me smack in the boring middle of the Overton window, especially because it is so thoroughly in line with the norms of my very nice OB practice. I was therefore shocked when we went to a childbirthing class, run by a doula, and (a) we represented the hippy-est extreme in the class, and (b) the doula spent ten minutes enthusing about epidurals and how if they had any drawbacks, doctors wouldn't use them so much. ?!
The quintessential children's book on the subject. A lovely, gentle, matter-of-fact story for DFH families everywhere.
Wholly unsuitable for those discomfited by soft pencil drawings of a naked woman standing up to give birth, toddler watching.
104
"And you, Mrs. Adams, will be delivering at home."
"WHAT?!?!?!"
Obviously the random asignment would be done well before the baby was due.
Congrats to the Js.
Both ours in the hospital; no complaints, no regrets. Well, my self-disciplined wife wonders how she ended up with a couple of dreamy procrastinators . . .
112: It is standard to keep group assignment hidden for as long as possible. You want to keep the topic studied as clean as possible, so you would not want to risk conflating 'at home delivery' with 'preparation and anticipation of at home delivery.' You wouldn't tell the mother (or let the people administering the pre-delivery questionnaire) know to which group they had been randomized until it was time to drive to the hospital or not. So, you'd have to have everyone with a set-up for a home delivery regardless of their assignment.
111: What makes it so quintessential? I really liked the books in 92 and now I feel like I should have praised them with stronger adjectives.
113: Yes, but the only people willing to be randomly assigned to homebirthing would be the same people who wouldn't be scared to homebirth in the first place. Women willing to participate in a trial in which there is some risk they would be told to birth at home are going to be much more similar to homebirthers than they are to the general populace. You can't do a really random trial unless you're prepared to compel unwilling women to birth at home. Which no one is.
110: I think YBirthingClassMV all over the place. I had the same experience you did, pretty much -- aiming for a crunchy but hospital birth, and found myself way at the hippie end of birthing class, but Apo in a prior conversation reported (IIRC) birthing class involving pressure to commit to no pain relief at all.
105
Obviously it's not random, as JRoth points out. As far as I recall, the cohorts are matched for medical risk factors. I'm sure you're right that home-birthing mothers are distinguishable on social factors, being much more likely to be DFH than the rest of the population, but unless there's some medical import to the social difference, it doesn't seem as if that should make much difference.
It made a big difference for Hormone Replacement Therapy .
Clinical medical practice changed rapidly and dramatically with the results of the two parallel WHI studies of postmenopausal HRT. Prior studies were much smaller, and many were studies of women who were electively taking hormones. This self-selected group tended to be composed of women who were more health-conscious, which was a possible factor to explain why these women tended to be healthier than the average. The WHI studies were the first large, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of HRT in healthy, postmenopausal women. The WHI estrogen-plus-progestin trial and estrogen-alone trial were both halted early (in July 2002 and February 2004 respectively) because preliminary study results indicated that the health risks of the conjugated equine estrogen and progestin exceeded benefits.
115: The books in 92 are for adults, right? My 111 was about picture books for young kids.
It was also sort of tongue-in-cheek because I read about 30 waiting-for-baby books last year when shopping for my niece, and this was the only one I found that concerned a home birth (which was not planned, nor did it occur, for her sibling).
114
Perhaps you are not being serious but this is nonsense.
See, that sounds like a description of cohorts not matched for other medical risk factors. Now, there's a limit to how well you can do that sort of after the fact matching, but where random assignment is ethically impossible, you do what you can.
119: Yes, it is nonsense. But I'm certain that a biostatistician would have to be smacked (metaphorically or literally) up side the head before they would admit that it is impossible.
116
Yes, but the only people willing to be randomly assigned to homebirthing would be the same people who wouldn't be scared to homebirth in the first place. Women willing to participate in a trial in which there is some risk they would be told to birth at home are going to be much more similar to homebirthers than they are to the general populace. You can't do a really random trial unless you're prepared to compel unwilling women to birth at home. Which no one is.
Any random trial requires that the participants be willing to receive either treatment. In this a case a random trial would show which option is safer for women willing to do either.
93: I think I'd want the epidural. I knwo someone who was having her baby at a birthing center which was run by midwives but sort of attached to a hospital in Beverly, MA. I think I might be comfortable with that.
The point is that women willing to do either are going to be very similar to women who homebirth, and so probably different on all the same factors from the general population as homebirthers. The random assignment doesn't get you anywhere in terms of correcting for that difference, because you're taking a random draw from a non-randomly selected pool.
120
See, that sounds like a description of cohorts not matched for other medical risk factors. ...
Being poor and uneducated are not always recognized as risk factors.
The random assignment doesn't get you anywhere in terms of correcting for that difference, because you're taking a random draw from a non-randomly selected pool.
Shhh. If I get unemployed, I have to go to law schhool.
118: I missed the word "children's" in your original comment. Whoops.
124
The point is that women willing to do either are going to be very similar to women who homebirth, and so probably different on all the same factors from the general population as homebirthers. The random assignment doesn't get you anywhere in terms of correcting for that difference, because you're taking a random draw from a non-randomly selected pool.
I think you are missing the point. It is possible that the sort of women who home birth also have better than average outcomes in hospitals. A random study would compare like to like.
There is a separate issue in that home birthing may be safe for the population currently practicing it but would prove unsafe for many women if it became more widely practiced.
Fortunately, there are countries - Holland, I believe - where 98% of all births are done at home. So you could use their statistics, which are wildly better than our statistics in many different ways - number of C-sections, infant and maternal mortality, etc, etc.
||
Holy smokes, awful news from the Africa Cup:
Togo have withdrawn from the Africa Cup of Nations following the gun attack on the team bus that is understood to have killed one player, two staff members and the driver yesterday as it crossed the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.
||>
pressure to commit to no pain relief at all
Well, not so much commit, but a drug-free birth was clearly being presented as the optimal outcome and goal.
I'd be really surprised if any first world country was close to 90% home births.
Oh god, by posting 104 I didn't mean we should have that discussion again! And certainly not with JBS in the role of D²!
but a drug-free birth was clearly being presented as the optimal outcome and goal.
For ours, too. But ours was not given by the hospital - it was given by our doula, and the other couple was having a home birth.
124: random trials frequently compare people within a preselected pool. They still give valid results for that population, which is valuable. Internal vs. external validity.
I have to choose between my current job, which is stressful, insecure, gives an uncertain future, but is action-packed and very interesting, and another job offer which is more secure and better paid but less exciting. Not really flat-out boring but much less exciting.
I'd take the more secure and better paid job and use the additional money for more excitement outside of work.
re: 93
I've certainly had my own bad luck with iatrogenic complications after an op last year. Surgical emphysema _and_ a staph infection that meant I had to get readmitted for days of intravenous vancomycin.*
However, there's been at least one birth in my family which, if it had been a home birth, would have been certain death for the mother. The birth went perfectly, but then there was a massive haemorrhage which required a LOT of blood to be infused, and quickly, and which even then was touch and go. There wouldn't have been time for a hospital transfer.
So, I suspect I'd be inclined to agitate for a hospital birth [if/when the time comes].
* which is a really shitty drug to be on.
137: Me too. Do you have to relocate for the other job? That's always a factor, especially if the other place is kind of boring.
DINKS kind of have the best situation in some sense. If one loses a job, they can afford (usually) to make it for a while, but they don't have to worry about supporting their kids and may have more of an opportunity to build up savings. Plus, you can just switch to your spouse's/partner's health plan instead of going on COBRA.
Since you don't have a spouse, secure and more money sounds good to me.
PGD, which provides more opportunities to stick it to the Man? Which allows more opportunities to help your friends at the Mineshaft?
The thing which shocked me most is the number of people I know who, self-reportedly, thoroughy researched their birthing options, and then announced on which day they were planning on getting induced.
(In cases when they were not forstalling complications. Just for scheduling purposes. Usually "these are the dates my mom will be in town." Which is totally understandable. But I'm still pretty judgemental, because of the cascade of interventions, etc.)
What's the cascade of interventions?
Buzzword describing how each intervention - epidural, pitocin mostly - up the odds that you'll get the other, and together they up the odds that you'll end up with a C-section. Tends to happen at trigger-happy hospitals, like ours, where the C-section rate is (was?) around 40%. C-sections aren't the worst things ever, but they certainly up the odds for some of the worst complications, and also repeat C-sections can become really bad (apparently) because of scar tissue, etc, and once you have one, it's hard to find someone (probably impossible in our area) who would let you deliver vaginally.
I bet Jammies still lets you deliver vaginally, amirite
Like, does he let me have sex? He does. Our sex life is robust.
Well, not so much commit, but a drug-free birth was clearly being presented as the optimal outcome and goal.
Is there a way to clearly present the facts about various birthing options without this message coming through, at least implicitly?
(Probably there is, I'll grant. Although I can certainly see why some people--even if they're trying to be scrupulously fair--might feel the need to put a finger on the scale in favor of these options, since they're working within a broader culture whose message is roughly: "any woman who doesn't opt for every available pain med. is insane".)
spare waterproof mattress cover around.
Shower curtain.
something with a tub
Again, Susan can't recommend this enough--we rented a 125 gallon temporary tub and the moment she got in it she said: "this thing was worth every single penny."
Presenting any medical information in a nonjudgmental fashion is extremely difficult. Few people try to do it, any many many people have dedicated their careers to doing the exact opposite: presenting medical information in the most judgmental fashion possible. There are many medical issues, I bet, where no one has even figured out the format for presenting the information in an objective format that does not push people toward a desired choice and cast aspersions on those who make a different choice.
149: I'm sure that there are. It's just very difficult to know the scope conditions that constrain the validity of many types of research. And by the time you add all of the caveats and side effects, you scare a fair number of people shitless if you give them neutral information. I mean, have you ever read a consent form for anything riskier than a blood draw?
Blood drawing may cause a small amount of pain. In addition, you may get a temporary bruise or "black and blue mark." Rarely, people faint when their blood is drawn. Very rarely, the vein may become red and swollen, or infected. Giving too much blood can lead to anemia (low red blood cell count). People who have anemia may feel weak and/or tired because they don't have enough iron in their blood. This can be corrected by taking extra iron. Taking iron may cause stomach upset, constipation, or black stools. If you frequently give blood, tell the study doctors so they can talk with you about when it is safe for you to donate blood and about possibly taking extra iron.
Saturday Night Live had a skit on potato chips that had some ingredient said to cause anal leakage. I think the product advertised caused less anal leakage than the other leading brand -- the big selling point.
It was a long time ago, and I might have been impaired.
Of the range of interventions, pitocin and epidural are way way different from C Section. Sure high school graduation leads to grad school -- which is often a bad idea.
I'm kind of amazed that insurance carriers tolerate a 40 percent C section rate. Ime, carriers have pushed hard for as little as possible to be done, and as short a hospital stay as possible. Stingy people who don't care about The Patriarchy think this lessens lawsuits (ie serious complications)? I don't know why they put up it, but I know that they have a shitload of data.
I once saw a guy faint from the thought of giving blood. This was in Britain and they didn't seem to care as much about privacy. Anyway, they had all of the potential blood donors in a line and were asking the usual 'can you donate' questions. He passed out and hit the floor pretty hard. I could have easily grabbed him as he was right in front of me and about my size, but I sort of froze. Sorry guy.
152.1: Probably around the time Olestra was introduced.
153: Maybe it wasn't blood, but the thought of having sex with a dude. Or maybe they have different questions in Britain.
I wonder how vividly the average straight male has pictured having sex with another guy. Just on his own, in the course of letting his thoughts drift.
The most difficult question for Britons:
Have you spent more than six months in Britain from 1980 to 1997?
155: Or maybe they have different questions in Britain.
They had a big poster with the HIV-related disqualification criteria. In addition to Haiti and Africa, they previously had listed "New York, NYC, U.S.A." as a high-risk place*. NYC was covered with a strip of thin, glued-on paper, but was still clearly readable. I don't know how long NYC was listed, but they must have done it at some point.
*I can't remember if you weren't allowed to donate at all or if you just got more detailed questions about what you did while in the high risk location. Ironically, I can't remember how the blood screening goes because I cannot donate blood anymore because of my time in a high-risk location. I spent too much time in Britain, so I guess I have mad cow disease.
The intense fear of needles that some people have is hard for me to wrap my head around. It shouldn't be, because as a kid I was quite reluctant to get shots, just like so many other kids. But maybe that's just it--I feared needles as a kid, but I grew out of it, and so now I judge people who haven't done the same. E.g., when the roommate talks about he thinks getting a flu shot would be a good idea, but he really hates needles, or how he broke his collarbone in HS, and his first concern in the hospital was whether he'd have to get any shots, my internal monologue is all, "Really, you're afraid of a puny little needle? It's just a little poke and it's over! Wuss."
You may now judge me for being terribly judgmental. But it's a needle! It's a sub-second duration sting!
156: A little, I mean, I don't linger over it. But I think about it, sometimes, a little. why? What are you getting at? Why are you looking at me like that?
I can't donate bc of sex with gay dudes. Come on! My HIV results have stayed clean for several intervening years; can't I get on a safe list? OTOH, I know gay dudes who give and just lie about sex.
I like to impress all the laydeez with my fearlessness in the face of 30 gauge needles.
I wonder how vividly the average straight male has pictured having sex with another guy.
Probably roughly as vividly as the average straight female has pictured having sex with another women, I'd guess.
I'd take the more secure and better paid job and use the additional money for more excitement outside of work.
I'm bad at this (I'm sure you're better). Also, I haven't noticed much of a connection between money and excitement.
Since you don't have a spouse, secure and more money sounds good to me.
Interesting -- I've always thought of it the reverse way, that being single allows you to take more risks in your career choices. Knowing me, I'd be unlikely to get married until I wanted kids, and judging from my previous relationships I'd probably end up the bigger earner.
PGD, which provides more opportunities to stick it to the Man?
The exciting job, of course...that's the whole point! Although sticking it to the man is a lot more complicated and difficult than it's generally presented as in the media.
It's just a little poke and it's over!
But think how different life would be if this always assuaged everyone's doubts.
Needles don't bother me, but losing lots of blood does. You could give me vaccines all day long and I wouldn't complain, but if you take more than a trivial amount of blood I'll start feeling woozy. But I have very low blood pressure, so.
The intense fear of needles that some people have is hard for me to wrap my head around.
I'm not scared of needles per se, but I am way squeamish about blood and guts. I was fine until my early 20s, and now my stomach flip-flops over the most innocuous triggers. It's totally ridiculous.
I'm sure I could get desensitized if I worked in a hospital or something, but for the time being it's unpleasant enough that I avoid donating blood, but I feel bad about that.
You do get desensitised to this stuff. I need to have blood taken (roughly) once a month. When this started I used to bite my lip and look away; now I carry on the conversation about any damn thing that I happen to be having with the nurse without missing a beat. People who wet shave nick themselves occasionally - no big deal.
I think the specific thing about needles in veins is that it forces one to realize that the body is a series of tubes.
I don't think that's it for me. For me, I've gotten over-conditioned to feel that moment when it dawns on you that you or someone else is seriously injured, and their insides may be flapping in the wind, or leg at weird angles, or generally something is not right.
I give blood fairly often. I hate the finger stick where they're testing your iron -- I'm always afraid I'm going to jump or wince embarrassingly. The needle in the arm isn't as bad, but I admit I really don't like looking at the needle going into my vein -- the way they drape a piece of gauze over it is helpful to me.
169. Maybe, but so does having sex or eating a good meal, and most people don't freak out about those.
[Yes, I recognise that some people do.]
Don't forget pooping! Of course people freak out about all these things.
eating a good meal,
Boy did last night's meal make me realize that my body is a series of tubes.
Shit, I forgot poop! (or vice versa)
Really, maybe we'd all be happier if we were jellyfish without any tubes. Me, I think my tubes are what makes it all worth while.
169: really? I think eating and excreting are much more likely to do that. The thing about needles and veins is that they hurt and there's blood involved. YOUR blood, dark and flowing, and you see it flowing out.
All of the little blood tubes are nothing but infrastructure for the infrastructure for the big food tube.
OK, then what are sex tubes for?
In many creatures the sex tubes are just the food tubes again. Indeed, even in humans the sex tubes are also the drink tubes. They've been pressganged into service so as to propagate food tubes.
180. Creating more big food tubes? Clearly the nosflovian universe is a very big food tuby place (with BLOOD).
OTHER TUBES AND THEIR USES:
Ear tubes, nose tubes: used to help locate input for food tubes and avoid danger to food tube integrity.
I don't think you can deny that the drink services provided by the female sex-drink tube are clearly subjugated by form to the sex services.
Bone tubes: site of production of blood tube occupants.
This conversation is engorging my confusion.
We need to bring back "totally tubular" as an expression of approval.
Way to make that explicit, Neb.
In that case I don't think I know enough anatomy to assent to or deny 184.
OMG he's right! My legs are tubes, my arms are tubes, my neck is a tube, and even my chest is sort of a squashed tube! I'm looking out the window of my living room and I see tubes emerging from the roofs of buildings! Tubes, everywhere tubes!
Don't be snide, heebie. AWB could have been talking about a different sort of drink service the female sex tube provides.
AWB could have been talking about a different sort of drink service the female sex tube provides.
Cock-tail service?
So anal sex is the mixing of the drink tube with the food tube? No wonder it's a sin.
AWB could have been talking about a different sort of drink service the female sex tube provides.
Ahem.
In that case I don't think I know enough anatomy to assent to or deny 184.
Is there any conceivable reason why I can't go to NBC's website and get a live feed of whatever they're currently broadcasting (which, at the moment, happens to be an NFL game)? I'm more than happy to watch their goddamn commercials.
(I know what you're going to say: NBC doesn't really broadcast anything, they sell content to local affiliates who broadcast it, and it's the local affiliates who air the commercials, not the network. Well to that I say BULLSHIT.)
Personally, I enjoy giving blood (which is a good thing since I'm O-), and I very much like giving plasma as well, since then they give you saline to make up for the lost volume and I enjoy tracking how long it takes before the coldish saline mixes with my blood enough that I can no longer feel it being drawn up the series of tubes in my arm. If I wasn't afraid of the deleterious effects of IV-drugs I'd probably be a heroin user just for the thrill of feeling something enter. Or perhaps not. Maybe I could be a saline addict, instead.
Is there any conceivable reason why I can't go to NBC's website and get a live feed of whatever they're currently broadcasting (which, at the moment, happens to be an NFL game)?
Sure. Their business model is about seven years out of date. And your point is?
I faint at the sight of a plasma tv. And I don't even own one.
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When the movie first came out, I obtained and read a copy of Watchmen. Whatever. Now the movie has come around to HBO tonight I am wondering if I should watch it, or be in a hurray to watch it.
Last night I had a bad experience with a movie titled Mysteries of Pittsburgh. There were no real opening credits, I knew nothing at all about it previously, the lead was dull, but I stuck with it when Peter Sarsgaard came on. Looked to have possibilities.
Only at the end did I see the name Michael Chabon, which interested me enough to go online into the webweeds.
The movie was below average. Sarsgaard was doing his usual best, but I kept waiting for the intellectual or criminal charisma to show up. There was none in the script. At the end, I said "Dean Moriarty sex helped me stand up to my father and become a man, with much lyricism." Meh. I am not fond of coming-of-age books or movies anymore. I wish professors would tell their students to write about what they don't know.
Online I learned more. For those who only know the book, the movie merged Cleveland and Arthur, with Chabon's blessing, which was why Sarsgaard was lurching like Steve Martin in All of Me. The coming out angle was understated, the ambiance was reduced. And apparently 90% of what made the novel worth reading, language, observation, insight, voice, was not translatable to screen. Although I am told they did better with Wonder Boys
But I may stop watching movies. They seem uglier today.
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Bob, my friend the comic book guy said that the opening sequence to the Watchmen was alone worth the price of admission. For whatever that's worth.
Observation of adults suggests that there is no such thing as "coming of age."
Bob, you see "All the Real Girls"
203: My wife keeps trying to get me to read "Mysteries of Pittsburgh." I'll probably get around to it, but lately I haven't been able to read anything that requires concentration. On your advice, I'll skip the movie. It will never replace "Striking Distance" as the ultimate Pittsburgh movie.
It will never replace "Striking Distance" "Innocent Blood" as the ultimate Pittsburgh movie.
"Striking Distance"
So bad. So, so, bad.
Somewhat per bob, I'd go with Wonder Boys.
Shouldn't you be really busy or tired or something?
211: I'm both! And I don't even own a baby.
208:I was sad, I was starved. It was time to treat myself. Then I though - "What about... Italian!"
Terrific movie.
Everybody has more energy than me. But insulting "Striking Distance" is a sure sign of either exhaustion or good taste. The last of those is pretty rare.
Yes to exhausted. Not that busy, as MIL is helping with toddler, and wife's needs are predictable, periodic, and simple!
May not be equitable, but only one of us has functioning mammaries... Plus, the wife is a bit drained from the exercise so mostly just sticks to bed. Though now she's enjoying dinner while the baby sleeps on my chest.
Mineshaft, I ask thee: Black Hawk Down or Carlito's Way? I've never seen either one (in each case, to my shame). I'm drunk, to the extent that impacts the decision.
WHat the fuck ,Mineshaft? Do you know what you are? You're useless to me. That's what you are.
I think you should watch whatever NBC's website gives you access to. And be thankful for it.
You're either not the real Brock Landers, or you're not really drunk. Everyone knows the real drunk Brock Landers goes by Btock Landerf.
Based solely on hearing Mark Bowden speak, I say Black Hawk Down.
Is this place still on?
Brock has likely made a viewing decision by now, but I have to say that I wouldn't watch Black Hawk Down when drunk. It just goes on, and on, and on. And on. Worse and worse with the screaming and the shooting and the oh-shit-this-is-really-fucked-up .... Not quite the thing for drunken viewing.
Based solely on having been drunk before, I say Black Hawk Down.
If you want a whole-mind-body experience. I think I may have watched it at 1 a.m. or something, so I just became increasingly horrified.
Carlito's Way I don't remember. It is therefore drunken viewing.
207-209: Sudden Death started at 10 on Encore. Striking Distance might not even be the worst Pittsburgh movie with initials 'SD'.
Wow, even for a war movie, BHD featured a lot of gunfire.
The movie format just isn't for me.
It's just a passing fad--probably won't be around for very long.
221: drunkenness is like pregnancy, in that it's not something where you either are or you aren't, in binary fashion. There are degrees. I'd like to tthink I don't have to be vomiting down the ha;;way to be classifed as "drink". Besdies, this computer has a nice automcomplete feature frot my name, so I'm not sliekly to misslep it.
Wow, Btock, 231 is really something wonderful.
Damn. I frogger to mention is also a new compulter, so I"m not very good at typing on tits.
Oh my god. Please keep commenting.
I hope your foraging for food continues to keep you alive.
now playing: "More Bounce to the Ounce"
I, frogger. To mention is? Also, a new compulter, so? I'm not very good at typing on tits.
i had a few more beers. tits s/d it
Taken during pregnancy is part of the binary. Welcome once. You do not need to tthink me ha vomiting;; how to "drink" and to classifed. I Sliekly Besdies is convenient, this computer is frot misslep automcomplete my name.
Besdies, this computer has a nice automcomplete feature frot my name, so I'm not sliekly to misslep it.
I can't get over this sentence, even before the tits-typing.
I even feel like I ought to be getting work done.
I just tried typing on tits. It was, indeed, quite difficult.
I am in fact very goods at typing on tits. LAYDEEZ. ///////
Besdies, this computer has a nice automcomplete feature frot my name, so I'm not sliekly to misslep it, my malenky droogies.
let's list all the ways you could "type on tits" and Sifu can rank them in order of difficulty
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Was my evening ruined by actually seeing GW Bush celebrating in Jerry Jones' box, or was it ruined because I imagined it.
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For years many have contended that the Dvorak layout would make tits easier to type on, but there is actually surprisingly little data to support this assertion.
239: Damn. Forgot, "and then come back and report on it".
Typing on tits is all well and good, if your message can be phrased using only the honk! and aoogah! keys.
Holy shit. Too many results from my innocent search for "qwerty tits" led me to discover the following usage of qwerty (from Urban Dictionary): QWERTY is a secret code word used by pedofiles and porn junkies. It is added to the end of file names as a method to return more porn results when using file sharing programs such as WINMX. Also used to disguise illegal child porn files.
I'm also envisioning something like nyotaimori, only with keyboards instead of sushi being placed on the naked woman's breasts. Perhaps I should open a cafe in Silicon Valley based around this idea.
Did Btock get lost in the kitchen? Poo.
I'm finally getting slightly tipsy. This riesling must have the lowest alcohol content evar.
As most of you already know, the UK Life on Mars seems to be worth watching. Much better accents than the US version.
Too back Btock Lamerf isn't going to entertain us more. Is mcmanus around? I've wasted entirely too much mental energy trying to figure out if there's any way the ending of Dollhouse can fail to suck.
226: I did not know that was set in Pittsburgh.
260: Civic Arena baby. Folks like Mike Lange and some Pens (Jay Caulfield for one) were in it.
I am sobbing with laughter. Bless you, Btock Landerf.
239:The final episodes of Dollhouse look likely to be rushed and indulgent, i.e., suck.
Watchmen was magnificent. I am not sure whether it is a generational or personal difference, but the static panels of the graphic novel only moved me intellectually.
The film made me feel Moore's vision of an existence containing unspeakable horror with the only escape into an unbearable banality.
The messianic Bright, the misanthropy of Rorschach, the transcendent Manhattan, and omigod, especially Niteowl & Spectre, were a stab in the heart with boring anguished pleading mediocrity. One more thrillfuck by a couple too irresponsible, shallow, unconcious to love, impotence fixed with a superhero costume and the rescue of little children from a burning building, to the fucking cliche of Cohen's "Hallelujah", made me want to off myself and take the world with me.
This abbatoir we inhabit is illuminated with a whitehot flame, an eternal flame, a pillar to heaven...of the stupid.
Watchmen, in its totalitarian irony, helped me rethink Zach Snyder's previous masterpiece, 300. On a board somewhere somebnody told the crowd:
"You don't get it. 300 is a joke."
1) a joke on its intended audience of repressed, aggressively insecure comicbook geeks, with its homoeroticism on a homophobic surface, its absurd stylized violence, etc
2) But even more, a joke at the expense of Western Civilization itself. For those who know the truth of Sparta, 300's deconstruction of the myth of Thermopylae, the pathetic brutish absurdity that is the heart of everything we are, was Zach Snyder pissing the ancient stone of the epigram of Simonides, that hallowed burial mound, expressing his generation's attitude with urine on his ancestor's grave.
"Go tell the Spartans...to fuck off!"
"...that here obedient to their laws we lie."
Obedience? Honor? Freedom? Noble sacrifice for the greater good?
Sheeeeeeet
"I ain't dying for no white man."
I'm reading applications for our Honors program. So there is not nearly as much to make fun of as usual, because these are basically good students.
But this sentence is just so cute. She is explaining why she is excited about the interdisciplinary work:
I think being a well-rounded individual is extremely important, and since the professors will be from two different disciplines, that would be a great way to increase my wholesomeness.
Yes! Your wholesomeness will probably increase, it's true.
231, 233 should be enshrined somewhere. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. Classic Brock.
