Your ballet is in the mail, duly tabulated!
I watched a short clip of Walz on The View. I guess he is now the official authority on what is Weird since he invented the term. They asked him what he's noticed that is weird lately, and he brought up vegetarian turkey-substitutes for Thanksgiving as if it was something he had just found out about. I thought it was phony and annoying, which probably means it was good politics.
2: Well, I was hoping to vote for his dog, Walter, but it turned out he wasn't on the ballot, so I had to settle for voting for Sherrod Brown.
3: It was a positive experience. There was a fairly long line, but it moved quickly. Whoever was in charge of setting up the system at the Morse Road early voting location did a great job.
What happens if everything goes wrong and lots of people suffer unnecessarily as a result?
My brother died about a month ago,* and then there has been a fairly long period of associated delays and hassles around that with the investigation. The funeral was about 10 days ago, and was very nicely done with a woodland eco burial.
So, not the most jolly of check-ins.
On the other side, my son started high school at the start of September, which has been a positive thing. He's definitely much more into it than he was into his previous school.
* he had long running mental health issues, and unfortunately, killed himself the day after he was admitted to hospital. Which should definitely not have been able to happen when he was under observation in an acute admissions ward.
I'm so sorry. That's awful, especially in the hospital.
9 is awful. I'm so sorry.
(I was going to say that I feel unable to ignore the election right now but, in comparison, that feels minor).
I just got a video of my 2.3-year-old niece on a beach, approaching from a distance to very close to the camera, inadvertently recapitulating the "It's..." guy from Monty Python.
--
So sorry, ttaM.
9: Really sorry that happened - especially in a psych ward.
I am so sorry, ttaM. You've said he had a hard time for a long time.
13.1: How do you know it's not advertent on the part of her or her parents?
9: That's so tragic. And must feel even worse to happen in the hospital. I'm so sorry.
Thanks everyone.
Re:15
Yeah, off and on for at least a decade, with long periods in hospital and one period in jail. He was generally doing better over the past 18 months, though, until his most recent episode.
An uncle and aunt of mine - once married to each other, and parents of my cousins - both died in the past week. One had moved away and become semi-estranged, so I hadn't heard his health was failing; the other had a stroke a couple of years ago and had been miserable since, until falling and hitting her head more recently, which precipitated the final decline. It's sad, but for both I had already kind of registered missing them, as they were gone for all practical purposes.
I haven't seen an obituary for my uncle, but my cousin did update his Wikipedia page with the death date. That's very much his style but still odd.
The question now is how much to tell my mom, who has a notable degree of Alzheimer's and bad short-term memory. At least once, we think, but maybe best not to keep mentioning it. And she's just gotten home from rehab after slipping and breaking her leg, which was no fun but seems slight in comparison.
21: oh, that sounds rough with your amok all the same. A lot on your plate.
My wife is having a rough time of it; both her Dad and step-Dad are in the hospital. Step-dad has ICU psychosis right now, so she is reliant on her brother for updates since he's not texting and lacks access to a phone. (It does sound like his lucid periods are lasting longer.) Her Dad checked in with a hole in his lung, but he's almost ready for discharge. They're both several states away.
On our end, we had a pair of successful break-ins that led me to waste most of my Sunday attempting to harden the shop's back door. Most products didn't work - it looks like the standard backset has reduced from 2.75 to 2.375 inches since the door was installed, so the in-stock at big box store products were poorly sized. The latch shield did work, with some remedial drilling in the door jamb.
Thinking about a particular also divorced uncle and aunt of mine. The relationship blew up at some pretty bad behavior by my uncle (hurting his wife and child in a major way, only financial as far as I know) which soured pretty much the whole extended family on him; he still comes to the very occasional sibling get-togethers but I used to have a relationship with him and now I don't. Then my aunt is a very hard-to-get-along-with person who I haven't talked to for possibly over a decade now, and even those other relatives trying to maintain a relationship with her ended up mostly throwing in the towel, especially once her son grew up. Either of them could easily die in the next 10-20 years, and it would probably just be a small ripple for me. I can live with that, but it feels weird.
21: My condolences. I don't have any useful advice, but I do recall that the worst part of my dad dying other than my dad being dead was having to tell my mom that he died every day for weeks.
My MSc supervisor died recently. It was one of those 'oh huh that small thing turns out to be cancer and you have a month to live' things. So while I knew he was sick before he died, I didn't know for long. He was also a top scientist (stable isotopes) and was a career mentor for me and I had just visited him in April. I wouldn't be a scientist without his support (and reputation). Anyway, it was too soon and it's hard to grieve.
Also a woman I work with (remotely) who I really hit it off with committed suicide so that is also weird to grieve.
I have a therapy appointment this week (and couples therapy next week) and have lots to talk about!
Sorry to everyone else too. People dying is bullshit. Also pets dying. Shouldn't be allowed.
It's not going to be fatal, but this bronchitis can go away any time really, and the sooner the better. Breathing is nice, breathing without a hacking cough is nicer still, and breathing without a hacking cough or a fully blocked nose would be the very thing.
Condolences to tt4M et al.
So sorry, tt4M, and sympathy also to hydrobatidae, mooseking, nathan and others going through hard stuff.
Does anyone know the Scranton area at all? I'm planning a trip there on November 1 to volunteer for the Dems.
I've never been to Scranton in my life.
30: The train station downtown (now the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel) is worth a look in the lobby.
So sorry, ttaM, and everybody.
As long as we're on the subject: An oddly pivotal figure from my youth died last night -- car accident. I hadn't communicated with him for 25 years, but found out through the miracle of Facebook.
Gene was the original space cadet -- no doubt on one spectrum or another. And the sweetest, kindest person you'd ever meet. There was a whole lore built up around his failures of comprehension. One story: He was asked to check the temperature hourly on the thermometer on the roof of the building. As the night went on, the temperature kept going up. They ultimately realized that as it got dark, Gene was using a lighter to see the thermometer.
Another story: Gene was asked to fetch one of the company cars from a distant location. He accomplished this by taking his own car, alone, and driving each car down the street one at a time, alternating between cars until he got back to the office.
I got my foot in the door at his company -- hired as a clerk myself, like Gene had been -- when Gene ran the company's records office. I was a mess -- going to school full time, working full time and drinking full time. Plus, I was a bit of a space cadet myself. It was my first office job, and I probably also occupy a spot on one spectrum or another.
So they told me that they were letting me go.
The one clerical job I was good at was filing, which nobody else liked to do, and which Gene supervised. So Gene went to the boss and insisted I be retained. And I was. This was a huge break for me. It is no exaggeration to say that the entire rest of my career was built on the second chance I got because of Gene.
Gene was significantly older than me. I'd guess he made it well into his 80s. People sometimes found his eccentricities annoying, but everybody liked the guy. I'm sad about his passing, but I can't think about him without smiling.
9: I'm sorry for your loss; I hope the funeral was helpful.
21: That sounds like a terrible conversation to have more than once; I hope it goes well. I think you're right to duck it if she forgets.
26: Those both sound like hard losses; I hope the therapist is helpful!
33: Gene sounds great, actually - I'm glad that he was there for you, and that he got to live a full life.
On the election, Insane Clown Posse just endorsed Harris. So I think things are looking better.
33: Sorry about Gene. Did he have the car crash while driving two cars in tandem on the same route?
I'm sorry about these losses.
Last week I backpacked a loop trail in north central Pennsylvania, the Quehanna, 70+ miles in five days. Pretty fall colors and cold nights. M one other group of hikers, on the fourth day. A friend wisely said that now I can rest up after my vacation...
Yeah, I'm going to get to that one.
Sympathies and condolences to all those with sad news.
I've been sick the past couple weeks with a relatively minor but annoying respiratory thing. I suspect it started as flu or something similar then I got a secondary bacterial infection as that was clearing up. I took two days off work last week and went to the doctor, where they prescribed me some antibiotics that seem to have done the trick. I'm still slightly sniffly but nothing like last week.
Which is good, because I had a fantastic day at work today where several things I've been working on for months started to show real results. Very happy about that.
My sincere condolences for the losses shared here.
My gardener, well the guy who cuts my grass & helps with yard work, committed suicide two weeks ago. I didn't know him deeply, but I knew him well enough to know he was sad. I saw him the day before and the morning of the day he hung himself. So I wish I had known to do more. To give him a hug. His daughters (20s) looked absolutely lost at the funeral.
Meanwhile my mother is moving from early to mid-stage dementia and is in final stages to get permission for "accompanied" suicide in Switzerland since she is adamant that she does not want to end up in the late stages. And she seems to be rushing toward it to make sure she doesn't miss the window. Not the worst possible path from here, but heavy and weird. Like a scheduled Caesarian for death.
And I have voted (overseas absentee) in NC, as have my wife and son. And I have shifted from hopeful about Harris to anxious and obsessive that T is gonna take it. I hate how the Harris campaign has shifted to a completely negative message about the opponent. I remember when the truism was that a winning campaign needs offer a convincing positive vision of the future. I'm sure not seeing that.
I'm so sorry, ttaM. My sympathies also to everyone else experiencing loss or other sadness.
41.3: i feel like the consultants have taken over as they try to appeal to moderate Republicans.
That said, she has come out with a fantastic policy on care gor the elderly and disabled which went beyond what Biden called for. She said she wants to add Home Care to Medicare. Right now, you need to ho
On no Medicaid which requires either spending down all of your money or hiving it all away and hiring fancy lawyers 5 yrars before you need the help. Biden had wanted to expand Medicaid to include home and community support.
This is hugely popular in polls, but unfortunately many people assume thst Medicare does cover these services, so they don't push for it. Howard Stern commented on it to Harris. Jon Stewart told Walz it was the policy proposal he was most excited about, but it's gotten very littlr coverage.
A big problem is that we are unlikely to keep the Senate. And with Chevron deference gone, a lot of sdministrative actions are going to be scrutinized. Just stopping Trump right now feels like all that is possible.
Fucking worst check in thread ever.
My condolences to everyone, especially ttaM.
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North Korea has sent troops to Russia. Please put up a thread to discuss. I don't think Harris is going to be able to do anything positive, because foreign affairs are going to dominate.
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33 is great.
Good luck with the thieves, Mooseking. I guess I shouldn't be surprised burglar-proofing is a DIY thing in the US, but in Mossheimat you get pros who tailor the steel to your building.
ROK being the only country in the free world with a working military-industrial complex, I am, very slightly, cheered.
ROK has a frankly ludicrous artillery park, including a variety of missiles that I'm sure Ukraine would find very useful (especially as they probably wouldn't be limited by the US's insistence that Ukraine can shoot weapons, just not at its enemies).
Just to lighten the mood a bit, I have a hot first date this Sunday
In Arakkis, all dates are hot.
Also, after over 9 years here I finally spent some money on decorating https://x.com/barryfreednyc/status/1848332473303773337?s=46&t=nbIfRG4OrIZbaPkDOwkgxQ
Ok. Just found out that I am not needed as a poll worker this year. Have mixed feelings on that. Was out of town for the primary, and found in the pass missing one usually leads to them losing your name so I should have checked earlier. In a way, it is a relief, but am concerned some "poll watching" R freaks have been assigned in my stead (had one guy like that for one election). I have a lot of institutional memory that would probably help for what will probably be a busy election. On the other hand, I do find my utterly visceral disdain for people voting R is not a great feature (not that I even know in a general election or act on it, but one year I came home so repulsed and grossed out that it did give me pause).
And that palpable hatred is bothering me a bit, whether I'm working the polls or not. Many thoughts on the election. much useless anxiety, but in the event of a T win, I cannot fathom any kind of civil engagement in any way with his voters. Especially the quite economically comfortable assholes who tend to be the known Rs I encounter. Not healthy. not good, but fuck those fuckers. Also I can no longer spell out his name, apparently.
On the campaign, I have many thoughts, but find it extremely counterproductive to voice them now for God's sake. The information space in this country is so warped that I have no idea what is good or bad. And hate the headwinds--misogyny, media, perceived economic malaise, the actual real cluster of the Middle East. Bazzfazz.
Maybe the problem with society today is we need to spend more time combing the fungus out of one another's undercoats. (non-metaphorical)
52 me. Still hiding out in Vermont and when I use computer instead of phone it is my wife's and I keep forgetting to remember personal info.
Heebie, in case you're still looking for places to donate money, I donated this cycle exclusively thru Balloon-Juice campaigns. They put up ActBlue thermometers, and do what appears to me to be serious vetting. Most of their campaigns are for GOTV groups, but late in the cycle (like now) they also support individual campaigns. All pretty much in swing states. I feel like this is a good way to get bang-for-the-buck. They have a "targeted fundraising" page https://balloon-juice.com/2024-targeted-political-fundraising/ with all the campaigns they've run, and on the right-hand-side of the site there is always a list of the campaigns they're currently running.
This has simplified my decision-making down to "how much do I want to donate this cycle?" from a zillion questions and decisions about which candidates, which GOTV orgs, whether it was a good use of my money, etc, etc, etc. No more giving the Federal max to Sarah Gideon in Maine (yes, I did that, stupid me).
55: I see why that would be, but didn't Balloon Juice's picks have a really bad track record last time?
My condolences to ttaM, and everyone else dealing with death and tragedy.
In my family, my oldest aunt died last week from what should ot have been a life-threatening situation. She went into a hospital after falling and needed hip surgery. While in recovery, still at the hospital, she apparently choked on some medication they gave her, ending up in critical condition and then dying after apparently acquiring pneumonia while on a respirator (or ventilator?). It all happened in the space of a week, and the communications between the hospital and my relatives were never particularly clear, plus there was a language barrier. She was 90 but quite healthy for 90 and no one was prepared for it.
56: I was unaware of that. By "last time" do you mean 2022? I thought they did OK in 2022? And from what I was told, they sent about half their $$ to Georgia in 2020. The other half, yeah, was (they acknowledged) wasted, but that's why they decided to revamp how they chose where to send $$, to focus on GOTV orgs and not on candidates.
Yes, I might be thinking about 2020. How did they measure success in 2022 though?
Actually, I may be entirely mixing up Balloon Juice with Idle Words and its Great Slate.
57: that's horrible. Hospitals are not safe places - but especially not for elderly people. One of the big concern in diabetes control for elderly people is that if you're too aggressive they'll get hypoglycemic, fall, wind up in the hospital and everything will go downhill from there. They should be watching for swallowing issues in an elderly person. That makes me angry.
58: I tried to give to the Native GOTV vote in Montana, but their thermometer wasn't up.
If you go to the targeted fundraising page and search for Montana you will find a thermometer there for it. The geotv group is four directions Montana.
61: Out of context and unfair shot at hospitals but I laughed.
https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/1g8ljby/go_to_your_nearest_witchdoctor_instead/
Sogn saying "Stop. Please do not enter our hospital if you are feeling unwell."
Sorry, everyone.
As for political engagement, in addition to donating money, I've written 100 postcards and started on another 100.
This feels too frivolous for this thread, but I was amuses to learn just now that Pulitzer-Prize-winning serious journalist Spencer Ackerman is now writing the latest series of Iron Man.
Chris Sununu was already on my 'knowing but completely transactionally evil' list, but his Hitler remarks response cements his position at the top (that that kind of thing from Trump is already baked in).
Many others on the list iof course, but in particular his campaign chairs Susie Wiles and Chris La Civita--as campaign chairs they *really* know the unfitness. (Both get hailed as smart and savvy in the press, although La Civita imay be actually in the cult.)
Obviously, white people as a group are just broken. But if I put that in the Christmas letter, I'm the asshole.
65: I learned that just a few days ago, and wow, v strange. I mean, the money may be both better and steadier, but it's still quite the trajectory.
Did he ever comment here very much? Or was he more friend-of-the-blog?
I could try to search for comments he made, but I just put some codeine in me for reasons detailed at 28, and searching is contraindicated.
35: Insane Clown Posse just endorsed Harris. So I think things are looking better.
My peeps! This is actually a truly heartening endorsement for a very problematic demographic for her (see 67). But will mostly resonate with "low propensity voters." Very low.
Internet searching is the new heavy machinery?
I did donate a bunch more money yesterday in an attempt to make lemonade from my gloom. But I stuck with local and statewide candidates, plus Harris.
Also I voted this afternoon. Went to a polling place that's usually dead and it was hopping. Within what they could handle, there was basically no wait, but it felt like a good turnout for a wednesday afternoon.
Did he ever comment here very much? Or was he more friend-of-the-blog?
I think more friend of the blog, but he was at the first UnfoggedCon.
75: I'm pretty sure I remember him commenting here when Megan critiqued their party. He seemed to want to throw down. He was probably lucky she was back on the other coast by that time.
65.3: Probably can be blamed (or credited) to Ta-Nehisi Coates who created the journalist to superhero comics writer pipeline.
Supposedly, there's video of Trump groping a minor at a diner with donors. Out of an abundance of caution, I have circulated this rumor which I cannot prove.
In the new American political epistemology, it's not necessary to prove the truth of a rumor, it's only necessary to prove as true that there is a rumor.
78: Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.
I just found the Washington Post's donations map. There are $500,000 in donation to Biden/Harris from this zip code. And, mathing it out on a per donor basis, I'm above average.
Wasn't he wearing a flak jacket and asking people to punch him to see if it absorbed the blow?
Bethesda came in at $1 million but Potomac only $900K.
We're just simple Appalachian people here.
$2 million for Chevy Chase and also for various zip codes in Northwest.
$100K in my current zip code, which is pretty good, actually.
Deepest condolences to ttaM and everyone dealing with losses.
The barrage of outreach here in PA continues. Dozens of calls, texts, polls, postal mailers... I even received a handwritten postcard the other day urging me to vote.
I think someone at the Voter Participation Center screwed up this year, though. I talked to three people at my volunteer job, in addition to me, who got multiple mailers from them claiming that public voting records showed we hadn't voted in the 2022, 2020, 2018 elections. I am 99% sure whoever programmed the computer script to pull voter records from the VAN accidentally set the parameters to "Did this person vote AT THIS LOCATION before?" instead of "Did this person VOTE IN PA before?" It's very irritating and doesn't instill confidence in voting records to get a mailer like that that you know is blatantly wrong.
I got a very extensive phone poll today. I don't know who is was, but it was creepy that at the end they asked if they had my name right. Which they did.
I voted in PA in the 2012 election and still get some texts about it. Certainly more than I get about IN elections.
If you google "Trump grope fundraiser", Google gives you a not warning that "Results are changing quickly" and how I should be careful to use reliable sources only. Which, I think, means the rumor is true.
My sympathies for the other losses mentioned above.
Gene sounds like a wonderful person to have known
Oh yeah, I forgot. I also got polled by the Sentinel Action Fund yesterday. They asked if I had noticed that prices on gas, groceries, and homes had gone up. I said no. They thanked me for my time and hung up.
I wish I had just said gas prices were lower, which is true. The funny thing is that I do agree that house prices and grocery prices have gone up, I just don't agree with their diagnosis or their prognosis.
The pee tape is real but can't be released because The Lion King is playing on a screen visible in the background and Disney has lawyers.
78: today in groping news https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/23/donald-trump-accuser-stacey-williams-jeffrey-epstein
I'm in Brussels. It's confusing that the Bruxelles-Midi train station is in the south, and not the middle. (Yes, I know why, but I still get confused.)
NMM to Geoff Capes, but still OK to imagine getting in a fight with the fucker.
There's a new neko atsume out. But I still have so much old neko money, and there's no way to transfer it. We need a neko-neko-torinote free trade agreement.
Ugh, at what point do I cancel my LA Times subscription?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/10/24/la-times-editor-resigns-mariel-garza/
My aunt died last night. Pancreatic cancer. She's had a rough time the last couple of years. It was fast in the end. It is very sad, and she and the family had reached a point of accepting it.
She is the first of her siblings to die, so that is hard for all of them.
I am so sorry. To all the grief in this thread, really.
78: I keep coming back to the wisdom of Tommy Lee Jones' sheriff in "No Country for Old Men." Asked if he had told a true story, he responded, "It's true that it's a story."
The other one that resonates with me nowadays: "You can't make up such a thing as that. I dare you to even try."
My condolences again, everyone. This seems horrible. What's going on with all the death among commenters here?
Re: postcards, all those Cassandane and I are sending this cycle are to people registered in Michigan and Indiana, but there have been a few with a mailing address out of state. I was amused to find one that I could have hand-delivered if I wanted. I feel like most of the ones I'm sending are less creepy than the one in 89. The campaign we're in gives us three scripts to use. The one I've used the most is, "Hi [person], Thank you for being a voter! Your friends and family may need your reminder to vote. Please ask them to vote in the Tues. Nov. 5 election!"
I hope they only do so if their friends and family agree with us, but I'm not supposed to put that on the cards.
Nobody cares if I vote, judging by postcards I get. Conversely, everyone wants my money. I'm getting multiple texts a day and probably an average of more than one mailing a day. I'm curious if people in swing states get similar appeals, or if campaigns reduce that to avoid pissing them off.
103: Sorry about your aunt. Cancer is horrible.
I get so many fundraising texts. The real ones will stop if you reply "stop", but there's always another race or PAC.
I am terribly sorry for everyone. What a grim thread.
Meanwhile, in petty complaining and humblebragging, I have been working more or less continuously since the 7th because of the conjunction of long-haul trips that caused me not to meet up with you in San Francisco or indeed in Boston and now I have the same cold as Doug.
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NMM to Gary Indiana. What a writer and critic. What a loss.
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Managed to get my Twitter account locked by directing abuse at Sam Stein for some stupid snarky comment of his. Should take it as the final straw but the best election night vote interpreters are still only on Twitter.
112: I only barely knew the name, but just found this -- https://granta.com/five-oclock-somewhere/ - his last essay, I believe. So much of it reminded me of things my mother has said to me in the last year, but beautifully expressed.
Good lord the essay in 114 is grim. I couldn't get through it, though it is yes, beautifully written.
114: 1. wow, that writing.
2. Today I learned the word plangently
3. There's a little internal contradiction between the mind he describes and the mind capable of writing prose like that. Somehow the contradiction is resolved by his photo at the bottom of the essay, though.
Yeah. He should go to Turkey for cheap hair transplanting.
Maybe some orange pancake make up.
i am so sorry for everyone going through it with death here, so heartbreaking. esp ttaM, to lose a sibling like that, devastating.
Essay/prose poem in114 is nice, thanks.
VAN is awful.
My aunt died earlier this month. She had to swerve to avoid a motorcyclist who pulled in front of her, and rolled her car. She and my uncle had fallen for each other as 9th graders. She was 87.
Things here could be worse, I guess. The main reason I went back to Maine recently was to see my favorite uncle one more time. He just keeps declining and declining, and his quality of life seems pretty lousy, but he's still vaguely ambulatory, so I guess that's something. I feel so awful about not reaching out to my other uncle for several years before his death in 2023. My cousins assure me that I wasn't missing much at the end, but that just makes me feel worse about not being in touch while he was still his old self. My friend with the really bad heart is trying to get enough money to move back to the Bay area, because even the Mayo clinic doesn't seem to be able to do anything for her now. She's been back in hospital three times in the past couple of months.
I guess the main bright side to everything in my world is that I did a stress test for my heart and there didn't seem to be any significant blockages, despite the intermittent brief chest pain I get nowadays. But I am pretty resigned to having a major health failure some time in the next few years. Most likely a fourth heart attack from work stress. Days like today certainly don't help. The fraud just never stops. Big uptick this week for some reason. Maybe the election? Or the comet? It's bleak.
Fraud and heart disease are often on my mind too, but so far less directly. Take care.
If Lenin were alive today, he'd probably write about how late capitalism leads to fraud because there less colonialism that can happen.
121: I guess she could have hit the motorcyclist, but that would probably be bad too. My condolences.
I'm sorry for your loss, Charley
Thanks
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Walk off grand slam!
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