76 thoughts on “December 6, 2016: Beat Them With Sticks”

  1. My bro called me last night with news that his marriage is over. Completely shocked me, and the rest of the family. Happy holidays, everyone.

    5. Sorry to hear about your brother, meat. On another sad note, last night the wife and I went to a funeral -- the fiance of Elder Daughter's best friend dating back to kindergarten (and father of their 7-month old daughter). Clean and sober for almost a year, one relapse and he's dead of a heroin overdose. Just turned 23. Elder Daughter is distraught that she can't be here for her friend. Happy holidays, indeed.

      1. Yikes. There but for the grace of god.

        That's a tough reminder of just how close mental health and substance abuse challenges are to all of us.

        1. What the doc said.

          I lost one of my best friends and my grandmother, who was also one of my best friends, in the span of two weeks my freshman year of college. That experience still weighs heavy on me, and has shaped my understanding of mortality and grief. I hope your daughter is able to find positive outlets for the pain she and her friend are experiencing.

    1. Fortunately for the Wolves, they didn't draft him #1. They got a "Rudy Gay" level player on a rookie contract for K-Lub, who would not have been with the club long-term. And they picked LaVine (which I didn't like at the time, but who is surprising me now).

    2. Definitely wouldn't call him a bust just because it looks like he won't be as good as a handful of players. Bust is way too strong of a word. I think what makes Wiggins' situation unique and could be slowing his development is he is on his third coach in three years, four if you count him trying to learn the Cavaliers' system before the trade. Hopefully, Thibs will help him turn his athleticism into better defense and more production in things other than scoring.

  3. It's strange how well some people can hide it when they want to. My brother and his ex-wife only lived under the same roof for about two years of their six-year marriage, and none of us knew.

    This past week she got engaged to a guy who looks, dresses and acts like my brother. I mean, they really look alike. I guess those close to her have been joking a lot about this.

    Their marriage fell apart because she cheated repeatedly (which is the same reason her first failed). I don't wish her ill, but I'll be shocked if this one sticks.

    Anyway, I wish your brother well. This is a hard time of year for that crap, not that there's ever a good time.

    1. Yep, it takes all kinds.

      My brother was unhappy in his (first) marriage for a long time. Lots of blame on both sides, I'm sure. He eventually began cheating on her, then moved out and divorced her, and married the Other Woman. Not a strategy I would recommend to anyone, but at least he seems to be a much happier, much less angry person now.

      Best wishes to your bro, meat. Life is short. Everyone deserves to have a shot at happiness while it lasts.

      1. One thing I haven't talked about much (anywhere?) is that one of my sisters was having a tough time in her marriage shortly (~1yr) after they were hitched. She called me to talk about it, and I'm so glad she did. I mean, my first loyalty is to my sister, but I also stood up at their wedding and, along with everyone else there, promised to provide support to their marriage too. We talked about this fact at the time - how it was good that she felt she/they could talk about the problems in their marriage with supportive people who wanted to see them succeed. Some number of years ( 5 - 10?) and they've been doing good for quite a while. Seems like too often there's a taboo against not having the perfect marriage, but that kind of approach... well, it doesn't work in other areas of life either. (Not meaning to make any assessments/judgments of any specific unions here, just generalizing from things I've witnessed).

  4. AMR, I can't decide what I think of those new sculptures across the street from your office.

    1. Like something you'd find at Ikea, only Ikea's wouldn't have such gaudy lights inside.

      BTW, I left two specimens of Trametes pubescens on the trash receptacle on last Wednesday or Thursday morning. You walked right past.

      1. You know . . . that describes them perfectly.

        And I need to improve my vigilance! I have stopped examining that receptacle as closely as I used to. (In addition, my schedule was really messed up last week. I believe Friday was the only day I succeeded in taking my usual bus at the usual time.)

  5. When we moved into our place, our realtor said the day before closing essentially "Hey...don't be mad I just found out like 5 minutes ago but the seller is leaving two barn cats behind. She's also left a few months worth of food for you to take care of them."

    So we were like "Uh...OK? We wanted barn cats anyway." Turns out they're very accustomed to humans, so I we've wondered how much she left them to fend for themselves vs. how much she just took care of them. We've tried to get them to be more self-sufficient and not really get too attached to them (they're working cats not pet cats, right?). I occasionally feed them cat food, and occasionally I find a half-eaten mouse in the barn so I know they're catching some stuff themselves. They've got lined, insulated shelters with straw piled around them in the barn, so they've got shelter. There are two - Black Cat and Yellow Cat. Yellow Cat has a weird bent-under paw. We debated for a long time about taking it to the vet, but decided against it for financial reasons. He never seemed in pain, and ran around just as fast as Black Cat, so we just decided to let it live its life.

    Well, the last two days we've not seen sight of Yellow Cat. Black Cat has been acting very squirrely. Last night he would not leave the porch. So I figured he was hungry, so I went to feed him. Instead of his usual rush to the barn, he would only go like 5 feet then stop and look back, like "Hey, you're still following me right?" I went into the barn, still no Yellow Cat. Popped the wet food tin, opened the storage bin where the dry is, shook the bag - all very distinct "Hey, there's food over here!" noises. Nothing. Black Cat ate and I left it at that. He must have just been really hungry. Well, this morning he's waiting for us on the porch again. The PR is convinced Yellow Cat is dead (a decent bet) and it's our fault (she also admits to being crazy hormonal right now, so she's taking it extra hard). I'm torn between "Eh, that's the circle of life" and "I'm a terrible person for not helping that poor cat more."

    When I get home tonight, I'm gonna take the flashlight out and see if I can find Yellow Cat. I hope he's (we don't know the sexes of the cats, but we've taken to calling them both male) OK. Sadly, my second hope is that he's already passed so that he's not in pain.

    1. You are handling them exactly like my in-laws. Some food, but the cats can fend for themselves too. Sometimes they go away. Sometimes they come back. Sometimes they live, sometimes the die. Sometimes they eat the other animals, sometimes the other animals eat them. Almost sounds to me like if Black Cat is being unusual that maybe it witnessed/was a near miss for a predator that got Yellow Cat. But that's pure speculation. Certainly doesn't sound like anything y'all could have/should have done differently. You are right in line with the "these cats are thriving" approach my in-laws take.

      1. I'm just having trouble shaking the feeling that Black Cat is trying to get Yellow Cat help by getting me to follow it somewhere.

        1. But Black Cat isn't actually having you follow it somewhere, right?

          Also, in my experience on the farm, I have never seen that. My experience is far from total though.

          1. Based solely on my experience, that would be very peculiar behavior from a cat. I have a cat with some very dog-like traits, but I wouldn't expect something like that. I suspect a near-miss from a predator (whether the same or not as what may have found Yellow Cat) is possible. I'd look around for owls.

              1. Presumably some hawks. My thought with owls, though, is that cats (like owls) are nocturnal.

              2. Unless they're kittens or already injured, Hawks and Owls should leave them alone. Too big to pick up, and eating something you can't take with you leaves you exposed and at risk for piracy and predation.

                Hunting at night by sound, I'd venture many Owl attacks are due to misjudgement or protecting breeding territory.
                I'd rank probable predators as Coyotes, feral dogs, feral cats in that order above eagles. And motor vehicles above the rest put together.

                1. My grandparents witnessed an eagle picking up a cat in their yard, so that one always strikes me as an option.

                  1. I saw a woman walking a small dog with what looked like a little puppy life preserver. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was actually a talon guard from diving hawks, something that both amused and horrified me.

                    1. Like a Coyote Vest?

                      One of our (30 pound) dogs was attacked by a coyote about 3 years ago, in our fenced-in backyard. Our dog survived the attack, but not by much. We now don't let them outside after dark on their own. I've thought about getting vests for them, but I don't think there's any way we could actually get them on the dogs.

                  2. Note that I didn't exclude eagles. They're big enough for normal-sized cats, though it'd be more opportunistic or desperation.

                    1. Right. Though I have read that in suburban settings there are lots of collars to be found in eagles's nests.

                    2. That sounds unlikely. A scourge of Eagles taking collared pets (enough for "lots of collars") would probably be well reported. Could be that one or two have been found that way if those particular Eagles found that pets were easy pickings.

                      Snopes has more.

                      Crows' nests (and those of other Corvids) might have lots of shiny collars in them if they've been left unguarded off the pet.

      2. You are handling them exactly like my in-laws. Some food, but the cats can fend for themselves too. Sometimes they go away. Sometimes they come back. Sometimes they live, sometimes the die. Sometimes they eat the other animals, sometimes the other animals eat them.

        You have an interesting relationship with your in-laws.

    2. I've seen enough Disney movies to know that yellow cat had kittens and black cat is looking to you to help him out.

    5. The house Lady Friend is renting came with a friendly barn cat. She was not a cat person, but warmed up to the beast over the past year. A few weeks ago Scotch (because its a butterscotch colored cat) disappeared and was fear killed by the coyote that roams around her area or the hawk that is always perched down the road on the telephone line. Last week Scotch returned and everyone was happy.

        1. The hawk has swooped at her two little Yorkies, I can't see why he/she wouldn't go after a cat roughly the same size.

  6. The Poissonnier was baptized over the weekend. The number of Orthodox (Greek & Russian) present was fewer than the number of non-Orthodox, which wasn't too surprising since my in-laws are much less mobile and a fairly small family anyway. What is only striking me now is the realization that she is a member of a church that to which I do not formally belong. I don't feel any anxiety about it, as I find myself more drawn to its particular framing of the broader religion I grew up in than the actual denomination that is technically still mine. I just haven't made the commitment to begin my own initiation, the reasons for which might be a worth reevaluating.

    1. Congratulations to you, your bride and the Poissonnier ... my MIL (since passed) refused to attend Kernel's baptism as her faith (my wife's growing up ... though not now*) did not believe in infant baptism. Also had quite a few other 'ahem' misunderstandings about Catholicism to go along with her own beliefs. For instance, no amount of conversation (with a then more actively practicing Catholic CoC) could convince her that veneration of Mary did not equate to worship of Mary ... yeah.

      *She's not a Catholic, nor currently a participant in the church she grew up in, but supported my interest in having Kernel baptized.

  7. Sturgill Simpson got a Album of the Year nod from the Grammys today. So there's that. Maybe a slight ray of hope poking through the dark clouds of 2016.

        1. I'm saying this nominations now is for the 2017 Grammy(TM)s. To be awarded in March or something. For music released from September 2015-August 2016. But it's the 2017 Grammy(TM)s.
          So it doesn't really fall into the 2016 is a $#!+$#Ø\/\/ meme. More a response to HJ, I guess.

    1. That's an interesting suggestion. I wonder if the guy Trueblood suggests is motivated by challenge, or by $$$. If it's challenge, he certainly has the work cut out for him.

    2. I don't understand why the executive of the MLBPA is doing the negotiation. The commissioner doesn't have to, see the current commissioner being the former negotiator in the three previous CBAs.

  9. To add to the bad news train, our house was broken into yesterday while we were at work. Looks like they shimmied open a window in the back of the house to get in, even though they had to crawl in directly next to the dog crate. I'm sure the dogs barked their head off, but they were in the crate, so it's not like they could actually do anything to an intruder.

    They opened up drawers all over the house, seems to be searching for jewelry. They took some but not all of my wife's jewelry, but none of it has any real value. The only things of any actual value they took were old phones and ipods we keep for the kids to play with when we travel, and older iPad, $30 in cash I had sitting on my nightstand, and a jar of change. We also have been getting meals through Plated/Blue Apron for the past month or so, and I think they took our food box for the week as well. But, they left the TV's, desktop computer, apple TV, Xbox, Wii, etc.

    The biggest problem for us is they took our two fire safes, which hold all our important documents for me, my wife, and my kids (marriage certificates, birth certificates, SS cards, passports, car title, etc.). I'm sure they thought they got of with something expensive when they found two fire safes, but they're going to be sorely disappointed when they open them and there are no guns or jewelry, and the only money inside is $5 worth of Euros, $2 worth of pesos, and $10 worth of dollar coins.

    But, we're now going to be spending the next 2-3 months contacting various states and counties to replace everything. Bah.

    2. Ugh, how horrifying. My apartment was broken into when I lived in Brooklyn, but fortunately my roommates and I were all young and poor so there was very little to take. The worst was my camera (a film camera) because I'd taken a number of post-9/11 photos that had emotional significance.

      Good luck replacing the documents--that sounds like a major headache.

    3. I'm glad none of you were home when it happened and that the dogs are okay. Obviously it's a huge hassle to replace all those documents, and most of all the sense of security in your own home. Hang in there.

    4. Oh, man. We were broken into three times over 9 months in Buffalo. Before the third break in we put signs out that said, "we ain't got any more shit for you to steal". Turns out we were wrong.

      2016 is the effing worst.

    5. Yuck.

      We have a pair of fire safes in the basement, and they also only have documents in them; I leave the keys in the safe. Our titles, etc are in a box at a local bank.

      1. I leave the keys in the safe

        I need to institute that. We likewise have documents in a fire safe, but nothing "valuable". But no safety deposit box. I think we stopped using a safety deposit box when we moved back to California in 2000.

  10. We need some good news up in here -

    The PR had her 25 week ultrasound yesterday. Got the 3D version too. The thing looks like a more potato-y version of me. We're both leaning towards "boy" at this point.

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