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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”
If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.
I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.
Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.
“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.
It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.
Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.
I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.
Let’s finish the job.
The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.
Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.
The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.
When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?
I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.
Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.
No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.
“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”
When the time comes to make an endorsement, the pain of NYT editors will be palpable as they reluctantly whisper “Biden.”
There is no right way to do the wrong thing.
Everybody saw this coming.
Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.
We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.
American History and Black History can not be separated.
The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!
Zzyzx
Westboro Church (the god hates fags “people”) are protesting a synagogue in my neighborhood this morning. Well this Jew wakes early and will be at whatever counterprotest there is.
Comrade Stuck
An interesting post by Hilzoy on one possible scenario unfolding in Iran. And a very scary one.
Otherwise blah blahy bloggity blahg.
Comrade Stuck
linky WM
Brian J
Here’s an interesting article from The New York Times Magazine about the efforts to redesign Paris, possibly to make it a denser, greener city. I have no idea what to make of these proposals, since I’ve never been to the city and can’t map out the descriptions in my head, but perhaps one benefit of the effort will be to bring some possibly loosely connected immigrants more closely into society. (Is that even a big a problem as I think it is? I have nothing but an outsider’s perspective.)
On a somewhat related note, here’s an article about efforts to shrink cities, especially ones like Flint, Michigan. This is one of a few I’ve seen recently, and while I used to think it was a little extreme, it may make sense, at least for places that have extreme problems like Flint or Detroit. But why would a city like Pittsburgh be on the list? I thought it was a city that had, generally speaking, rebounded.
Suffice it to say that all of this talk makes me somewhat hopeful that we can put people to work if necessary. Maybe it won’t be as big a source of possibly necessary stimulus as I think, but if you think about legitimate efforts to make cities better, improve transportation networks, and improve infrastructure networks, it seems like we are leaving a lot on the table.
On a completely different note, why isn’t Ahmadinejad trying to guarantee his opponent’s safety? Does he live in that much of a bubble that he doesn’t realize what a good public relations move it is?
JGabriel
I know this is probably terribly shallow, but one thing I’m struck by, over and over, while looking at photos from the Iranian elections, and now the rebellion, is how beautiful many of the Iranian people are – especially the women.
.
Krista
Are you male? If so, your sign should read “Fred Phelps once grabbed my ass.”
Zzyzx
@Krista: the request is that signs be positive and about tolerance, not confrontational because that’s what they live for.
omen
@Comrade Stuck:
that steve clemons piece hizoy linked to took my breath away. clemons paints a bloodier scenario.
asiangrrlMN
@Krista: This is funny.
@Zzyzx: Then, how about just, “Yahweh loves you, too.” Why are they protesting the synagogue? Just because it’s a synagogue?
Zzyzx
Yes, that’s why they’re protesting. They were at a JCC building yesterday…
Brick Oven Bill
Campbell’s chicken noodle soup that is two years out of date tastes great, and, as of the morning after, has had no negative gastro-intestinal effects. Way to go Campbell Soup Company.
Hilzoy’s personal biases color her view of the Iran situation. The 1979 Iranian revolution was about faith in a Belief System that contains a system of government as a subset of its core texts. The fight in these societies is over who gets to make the judgments. These internal fights are of no real external consequence.
‘Students’ and ‘youth’ are not strong enough to take this Belief System on. Personally, I see economic collapse or war with Israel, followed by Russian ‘peacekeepers’ who will finally secure that warm water port. That and a lock on the world’s energy supplies. There are four lifelines connecting Middle Eastern oil supplies to Europe and the West:
1. The 22-mile wide Strait of Hormuz;
2. A pipeline in Saudi;
3. Another pipeline in Saudi;
4. A pipeline that goes through the Republic of Georgia.
Putin is very smart. This is another reason to pursue our 400 years of North American shale oil and get out of the Middle East.
asiangrrlMN
Ok. I’m just putting this out there. I need to get quality sleep. I have tried almost everything under the sun. I need to do the sleep study, but other than that, I have tried sleeping pills, valerian, melatonin, rosemary, lavender, napping, not napping, staying up until I literally fall asleep, chamomile tea, sleep charms, alcohol (not on purpose, but just trying to sleep after coming home from drinking), ambient music, deep breathing, scrying, and a bunch of other things. I sleep with a white noise machine, ear plugs, and an eye mask. The cats do not sleep in my bed with me.
Any suggestions? I’m getting desperate.
asiangrrlMN
@Zzyzx: Man, that’s just sad. Really. What empty, horrible shells of human beings they must be.
Why was my last post about my sleep problems moderated? Argh!
asiangrrlMN
Damn. I need sleep help, and my post is being moderated for some unknown reason.
@Zzyzx: Man, those are some sad, horribly empty shells of human beings right there. Good luck with the peaceful protest.
Comrade Stuck
@Brick Oven Bill:
And what might those biases be, BoB?
It sounds like the brand of glue you’re sniffing has colored your view of the situation.
omen
@Brian J:
i ran across an article back when gas cost an arm and a leg. i wish i could find it again. they predicted because of the high cost of gas, the suburbs would eventually turn into the poverty stricken ghettos, abandoned because of lack of public transportation. and that the elites would reclaim the inner cities because of ease of central locality. such a pattern is can be seen now, they claimed, in how paris is set up.
i don’t know if things will play out that way, but i thought the concept of white flight turned on its head interesting.
burnspbesq
@Comrade Stuck:
Scary.
If you think that the pressure on Obama from wingnuts and neocons to Do Something will be immense, just imagine the pressure that is being exerted on Netanyahu. I absolutely don’t rule out a massive strike by Israeli forces against the Iranian nuclear establishment, which will inevitably lead to an invasion of northern Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah forces, which will inevitably lead to … who the fuck knows.
JGabriel
Possible Scenario from Gordon Robinson via Comrade Stuck:
I don’t get the feeling that this is what’s happening there. What seems more likely is that Khamenei stole the election on Ahmadinejad’s behalf. Juan Cole reports that there has been bad blood between Khamenei and Mousavi for 30 years, and speculates that Khamenei found the prospect of a Mousavi victory “unsupportable”.
I find that more believable than the idea that Khamenei unwillingly acquiesced and then publicly supported an Ahmadinejad coup.
Not that the idea of Khamenei rigging the election to block refore is such a wonderful prospect either.
.
beltane
Can someone please wake-up Andrew Sullivan? His coverage of the situation in Iran has been riveting, but he hasn’t posted anything yet today. Hey, Sully, get yourself a cup of coffee and report to your keyboard ASAP!
JGabriel
Relevant, on topic post caught in moderation. Please release, it was probably flagged for having too many links (4).
Brick Oven Bill
She helps villagers in Pakistan and, as a female, views society as collections of people. Ahmedinejad and the male Iranian power structure instead view society as nations formed in accordance with the core texts of their faith.
Both views are correct in their own way, but only one side has an army.
JGabriel
Brick Oven Bill:
But since the referenced quote is actually from Gordon Robinson at Mideast Analysis, you’ve just slandered Hilzoy based on an incorrect attribution, BOB.
A retraction and apology might be in order?
.
omen
bill, who is “she”?
you need to read more about amadinejad doling out money to the rural poor.
Comrade Stuck
@Brick Oven Bill:
You are vying fer trouble this Sunday morn there BoB/ Keep it up and Krista will put a spell on your misogynist arse.
JGabriel
Brick Oven Bill:
I view society as, among other attributes, collections of people. Does make me a female?
If so, someone really ought to tell my penis.
.
Cain
@JGabriel:
I was thinking of the same thing, both sexes look very beautiful. Especially the women.
:)
cain
omen
“she” could mean bhutto, but pakistan also recently elected their first women speaker of parliament, who, coincidentally, looks a lot like bhutto.
Bob In Pacifica
JGabriel, the same thought crossed my mind.
Brick Oven Bill
I do take that back, the text represented as Hilzoy’s above, was in fact one of three possibilities she discusses at her site. I do believe she discounts the power of faith as a general statement however.
omen
so that y2k mountain of supplies you ferreted away is depleted now?
Bill E Pilgrim
@Brian J:
Thanks for that link, I hadn’t seen that article. Interesting to see something on the subject in a US newspaper, especially a long and detailed article.
Like many other residents of Paris I shudder whenever I hear about efforts to change things, and at the same time welcome the efforts especially in terms of the rich vs poor and central-versus-outer divides. (The terminology gets complicated there, “suburbs” gives the wrong impression in English.)
For why the fear of change, a good example from the article is Les Halles. Mistakes are rarely made as large as that one. Others include the Montparnasse Tower, and the entire Disneyesque vertical industrial park known as La Defense.
For examples of why change is needed and welcome, see the rest of the article. The outer sections and the division between immigrants and natives, rich and poor, and so on, is just as they describe and a big problem.
The fact is that the very thing that many of us love about Paris is caused, partly, by this reversal of the US inner city diagram. In Paris the center is the most expensive part. The President and Mayor often live there, and everyone else in those kinds of positions. It makes for a city center that’s clean, reasonably safe (insanely so if you compare to downtowns in most US cities), and in some ways utterly charming. This is partly however because all of the US-style “inner city” problems have just been pushed to other areas, mostly along the edges just outside the freeway that encircles the city.
I’ve lived in areas almost entirely populated by immigrants from Africa and the Middle East, and loved them. These however were still just within the circle of the périphérique , the encircling freeway, and are in fact the most trendy areas for most young people today who are at all edgy or plugged in, as they say here. Some of the areas outside the périphérique are a different story. I’ve hung out there, gone for shows and concerts, but never lived in these areas. The poverty and built-in segregation are a huge issue.
Brian J
This is probably the most immature sort of response possible, and it probably violates a few harassment laws, but I’ve wondered why people haven’t tried to simply annoy the shit out of organizations like the ones headed by people such as Fred Phelps. Put their addresses on the mailing lists for every organization possible. Send them every single newspaper, newsletter, and magazine possible, particular if it involves something gay. Find out the e-mail addresses associated with the organization(s) and type them into those sites that promise free electronic equipment for using ten offers, multiple times.
If that sort campaign was even remotely successful, the amount of irritation and financial pain it would cause for people like Fred Phelps would probably be pretty extreme. And damn funny, too.
HRA
ZZyzx: Where is this happening? It seems so unreal to me.
I was born and raised till my preteens in an area where there were Jews living on my street, a synagogue within walking distance, a Jewish school close by and many schoolmates who were Jewish. In fact I was curious as a child of 9 about the synagogue and a schoolmate snuck me in to see it.
omen
Are you male? If so, your sign should read “Fred Phelps once grabbed my ass.”
i can think of a more graphic visual.
i’d love the see the look on their faces.
Brian J
@omen:
Is it this article? If not, read it anyway. If so, I think it makes some interesting points, but it’s probably a little overblown.
burnspbesq
Not sure who this guy is, but he is nuts.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6497271.ece
There is no role for the United States to play in the sorting out of what is going on in Iran. None. The events of 1953 still resonate with the Iranian people, and any action we take will be spun 180 degrees around by Ahmadinejad and the Revolutionary Guards.
I don’t rule out that the Revolutionary Guards are behind the rigging of the election, and will be right out front in the bloody supression of public opinion. That is one heavily corrupt establishment, and Moussavi was threatening to expose them.
The correct response to anyone who suggests that the United States should Do Something is “are you out of your fucking mind?”
Brian J
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Not to sound like the opinion page of The Wall Street Journal, but I wonder what influences the private sector will have in this? Not that it’s a matter of one or the other, but if the planning is smart, and the local economies do well, that will probably do more to more to ease any tensions than any amount of fields or parks will.
asiangrrlMN
Ok, I gave Sully shit last week when he deserved it, so I have to praise him when he deserves it as well. His blogging on the Iran election has been exemplary. Major kudos to him.
Mojotron
Can someone please wake-up Andrew Sullivan?
It was “Capital Pride” weekend so chances are he’ll be rising late and hungover today.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Brian J:
Well, yes and no. To your last, I mean, and mostly no.
People living in large, ugly box-like projects in a concrete wasteland with no particular feeling of being in Paris at all, just any faceless suburb (again, wrong word but you get the idea by now) feel all the more isolated from French society as a result.
If they could all commute into jobs on the French stock market, then presumably yes things would change just from economics alone. However I bet the first thing they’d do with the money would be move.
Either that or start planting things.
However, of course they’re not given those jobs at all, and so just making it feel less like two entirely different cities architecturally could be a start instead. Also I’m not sure if “local economies” even applies, these are basically you realize just outside of the city, adjacent to it.
I really don’t know, not being an architect or much up on the theories, but that’s my two centimes.
BDeevDad
Frank Rich nails it and takes conservatives to task.
Anton Sirius
@Brick Oven Bill:
Shorter BOB: “Having reflexively commented on something, I will now go back and actually read it.”
HRA
Burnespbesq:
There is an article by Stephen Hayes over at Andrew Sullivan saying President Obama should address the Iranian election.
Sure and I do remember who Stephen Hayes supports and its the Republicans.
BDeevDad
@Zzyzx: Do they realize that Jews go to synagogue on Saturday more than Sunday. What a bunch of ignorant asses. But that was already a given.
Found this. The synagogue has a stellar attitude about the protests.
omen
@Cain:
was this beautiful woman supporting admadinejad at a rally? i noticed her too.
i felt sorry for the women constantly tugging and adjusting their head covering. man, that’s gotta be a pain in the ass. and stuffy too.
geg6
Brian J: Pittsburgh would be on the list because it is struggling with that very issue even in the midst of our current success in finally pulling out of the twin disasters of the collapse of the steel industry and the Reagan administration. The city has too many areas that haven’t recovered and leaders must make plans if these pockets of blight aren’t going to put a tarnish at all the good that the good news is doing. An example of the blight and what can be done to battle it are visible right there in the city center. The Fifth Avenue corridor is a formerly busy retail center that hasn’t been vibrant or populated even in the midst of weekday work crowds. Tons of office buildings and retail spaces, uninhabited and falling to seed just blocks from busy Grant Street and Gateway Center. In contrast. The decades of decay of the Lawrenceville area, where Mellon Arena sits, is being transformed into a medical and entertainment mecca. Our brand new Children’s Hospital is gleaming and beautuful with green areas and the new arena is sprouting just across the street from Mellon Arena. Restaurants and clubs and hotels are springing up in its wake, again with plans for large green areas for public use, such as when the Pens put up Mario’s Screen so the 10,000 fans who can’t fit into the arena can bring their chairs and families and experience the communal hockey experience together in a safe but fun and beautiful environment. The PA legislature and Pittsburgh and Allegheny County governments have passed legislation to make tearing down dilapidated and abandoned buildings easier so that those very quality of life issues that have turned around New York make the downtown area more attractive to residential investment. After forty or so years of declining population in the downtown, the last few years have seen a large spike in the number of people living in the center city, a feat derided for years as utterly impossible. I think we’re a good example of how to do this downsizing in a way that makes the city and the region more successful over the long run and a blueprint for other smaller urban areas, especially in the Rust Belt. Pittsburgh may still be called the Rust Belt, but we’re ready a hub of high tech, medicine and medical research, and education. Not the blue collar mecca that is our reputation and the mantle and mentality we wrap ourselves in.
Brick Oven Bill
I did not misrepresent those words as Hilzoy’s Anton Sirius. Go yell at Comrade Struck. In any case, personal views color our opinions on most subjects. Except perhaps math.
In either case, I did read Frank Rich’s piece:
What he reported was this: his e-mail from viewers had “become more and more frightening” in recent months, dating back to the election season. From Wednesday alone, he “could read a hundred” messages spewing “hate that’s not based in fact,” much of it about Barack Obama and some of it sharing the museum gunman’s canard that the president was not a naturally born citizen. These are Americans “out there in a scary place,” Smith said.
In light of this, would it not be reasonable to ask for the President to put an end to the rumors by simply showing his birth certificate? It would take less than an hour of his time.
Seeing that the confusion surrounding the Birth Certificate may have contributed to the death of the security guard at the Holocaust Museum, releasing it now may prevent future loss of life, and would be the responsible thing for the President to do.
linda
david gregory is insufferable. and that bullshit game of ‘gotcha’ by digging up years old quotes should have been buried with russert.
BDeevDad
Shorter BOB: It’s always Obama’s fault.
Englischlehrer
Watching South Africa and Iraq play a world cup qualifier and am rooting for Iraq. How could I not?
I am reading Mila 18 by Leon Uris right now, it is about the Warsaw Ghetto during WW2 and it is so disturbing but you get wrapped up in it. One week in Israel and two Leon Uris books and my German girlfriend is telling me to read something other than Jewish persecution! haha
Cain
@burnspbesq:
It’s not our fight and none of our business. They have to resolve it themselves and figure out where they want to take the nation. The mullahs though have fucked things up and I think people are finally sick of it.
Every time though I see bullshit with Iran, I can’t help but think back about our stupid coup we put in to put some asshat in charge just because of oil. If western powers would stop interfering for their own benefit we wouldn’t have half the problems.
cain
geg6
linda, I quit watching MTP months ago and Gregory is why. My Sunday headache and blood pressure problems have, coincidentally, disappeared, never to be suffered again. Try it, you’ll like it.
PaulW
There’s not much news right now coming out of Iran. Stores and schools are closed down. Massive curfew in effect, massive police crackdown. This is not good. Of course, bloodshed and riots aren’t good either. What would be good is Zeus getting off his ass and tossing a few lightning strikes at the liars and cheats claiming to be God’s clerics.
Somebody get Neil Gaiman on the phone. He knows the Gods, maybe he’s got Zeus on speed-dial.
IndieTarheel
@BDeevDad: Good link, great article. Sums the whole thing up as well as anything else I’ve seen. One can only wonder what manner of asshattery the Wingluarity will foist upon us this week.
Steeplejack
@Englischlehrer:
Thanks for pointing me to the game. I was sitting here reading Balloon Juice threads and having it dawn on me that the Premiere League is done until the fall. I like to have a game on in the background, with DVR replay when crowd noise indicates it’s appropriate.
Well, drag out W.G. Sebald’s On the Natural History of Destruction and see how she likes that. (It’s a good book, aside from the potential shutting-up-girlfriend factor).
Sorry if I sound cruel, but I would hate anyone–especially a girlfriend!–telling me what or what not to read.
Comrade Stuck
@Brick Oven Bill:
No more Cambell’s Soup for you!
bob h
ABC: “Rising generation of Republicans”, “New generation of Republicans” Ha-ha-ha.
Cain
@PaulW:
One good thing is that U.S. politicans have been restrained in commenting on Iran. Although I wish Biden would shut his mouth and say nothing. This is just the kind of guy the press would love to go to get some kind of stupid shit that they can misrepresent.
I see the lack of coverage by the U.S. press to be a good thing. Since I much prefer the stuff coming out of Sullivan and others than some endless, mindless bullshit from what passes as commentary from Fox/CNN/MSNBC and so forth.
cain
rachel
@asiangrrlMN: Calculus textbooks always did it for me.
WereBear
Good Rich piece, thanks for linky.
In return, I have this link to the appalling true story of Fred Phelps.
Phelps is a classic paranoid sadist bully, whose “church” consists of the 3/4ths of his own children who did not escape, and their descendants. They all live together in what I can only assume is a wildly dysfunctional compound nightmare of beatings and abuse, with the law kept at bay by Phelps’ willingness to sue any living creature which crosses his path.
The “church” keeps its tax exempt status through the same official reluctance to tangle with a raving loony who lives for struggle and never gets tired, as a normal person would. He made quite a bit of money by sending his children out in the street to sell candy, which he got from a wide variety of candy distributors who he then stiffed for payment, and kept them at bay until they gave up collecting on the debt, or went out of business.
I would assume this same strategy, perhaps with different products, and with it proving so successful in the past, is what keeps him afloat now.
He needs to be locked up. Yet any moves against him would make the Christian Right, who finds nothing wrong with beating their children, scream with rage and rally around him.
Quite the conundrum for a civilization. Until we assert our true values, and apply the laws designed to uphold our true values, Fred Phelps will continue to force his Sick Dad dynamic not only on his brainwashed relatives, but on the rest of us, as well.
burnspbesq
@Englischlehrer:
What you are watching is actually the Confederations Cup, which starts today in South Africa. It is an eight-team tournament that serves as a test of facilities and services for the host nation, a year ahead of the World Cup. It includes the six most recent winners of confederation championships, the host nation, and the holder of the World Cup. Spain is heavily favored.
The United States plays Italy tomorrow.
asiangrrlMN
@rachel: Hm. But I liked Calculus! However, a good economic textbook (or paper as I am editing) might do the trick. Actually, not right now as I am very interested in economy at the current moment. Hm. Danielle Steele, maybe?
burnspbesq
Andrew is back on the case, and Iran is looking like the Baskin-Robbins of suck – 31 flavors of bad news.
rachel
@asiangrrlMN: Bleah. And anyway, you want to go to sleep, not be driven into banging your head against a wall to make the pain stop.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Three things:
1. Alcohol may help you get to sleep initially, but it disturbs your sleep later on–your sleep is more fitful and you tend to wake up earlier.
2. Like me, you are something of a night owl, and there is some research that suggests that the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. are prime sleeping hours. So you might consider rearranging your schedule–if only as a test–to see whether being in bed during those hours helps.
3. Exercise. Being tired from physical exercise is much better than being tired from mental fatigue, stress or overstimulation from media, partying, other people, etc.
Good luck. Try simple, (maybe not so) obvious things, then move up to the complicated and esoteric.
Preëmptive apology if you have already tried these things. Then, yes, you are a very special case, and you should get over to the Mayo Clinc stat!
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
You may have tried this too, so sorry if it is the same old damn advice that everyone gives you until you want to scream:
1) Exercise. Hard. In the late afternoon, for at least 35 minutes (not right before bed though).
2) Hypnosis. Sounds kind of frou-frou, but in my experience actually works for sleep problems. You can probably find a reputable therapist in your area.
Good luck – insomnia is a bitch.
omen
@asiangrrlMN:
hot baths?
tc125231
@asiangrrlMN: You NEED to get a sleep study. There is a high probability you have sleep apnea, or some other readily treated disorder.
I did.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack:
@Betsy:
Thanks, guys. I have tried all but hypnosis. I am not a good candidate for it, but I will give it a whirl. I try to exercise every day. Aerobics, weights, and taiji.
Steeplejack, I am going to bed by one right now, and it’s killing me. When I used to get to bed by ten or so, it killed me more. I wake on average four times a night and can’t fall back asleep at least one of the times for an hour. It takes me an hour to fall asleep in the first damn place. I was kidding about the alcohol. I only drink once a month or so.
I have been a night owl since I was a child. I also have thyroid issues which messed with my sleep. I also have nightmares ever night.
Better question: How do I avoid having to sleep?
@rachel: Yeah, true. Any kind of reading is stimulating to me, so I guess that’s out.
InflatableCommenter
So, another day of Brick Oven Bill posting cover for racist lunatics with his birth certificate crap?
Great.
WereBear
@asiangrrlMN: In stressful times, I found Valerian root to be relaxing, leading to a restful sleep, and with no “hangover” effects the next morning.
Your mileage, of course, may vary.
And yes, if you can, get a sleep study. Have nightmares? Wake up with your heart racing? Have no trouble dropping off to sleep, but wake up exhausted?
These are signs of sleep apnea.
If the problem is getting to sleep, or getting back to sleep, that’s a different problem. In the absence of medical difficulties and mattress problems, (we found a cheap solution was to get a futon mattress to put over our existing mattress. It solves the lack of support with futons, and the “lumpy hardness” problem with our old mattress,) it can be from letting our minds nibble at stress when we should be turning them off and letting our body deal with it.
asiangrrlMN
@WereBear: Valerian root made me suicidal. I have trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. I know I snore and most likely have sleep apnea. However, you nailed it on the head with the last comment. Stress. It’s what’s bad for you.
P.S. I may change my mattress, too. We’ll see.
omen
@tc125231:
mr. omen got diagnosed with that. his cpap unit did wonders for his sleep.
asiangrrlMN
@tc125231: I missed your reply. Thanks. I know. I have been told to take one for years. I was just waiting until I could do it at home, and now I can. I need me one of those masks.
tess
@asiangrrlMN: Are you not sleeping at all or is it unrestful sleep?
If it is unrestful, it could be low thyroid levels–I was recently diagnosed as hypothyroid, which explained why I would sleep and still have the same brain fuzzies I would get when I had consecutive nights of insomnia. The informal research I did seemed to indicate that the “normal” level not only varies between drs & labs, it is also somewhat specific to a person.
My level–that left me lethargic and dumb–is the same level that a friend of mine maintains to feel good, and yet my GP wanted to put me on a fairly large dose of meds to start to “quickly” fix the problem. I’m not sure that’s how the body is supposed to work, especially when dealing w/hormones, so I insisted on the smallest dose. I probably need it to be upped a bit more, but easing into it made the most sense knowing what I know about my body.
If you aren’t sleeping, do you feel like your brain won’t turn off? Do you start to obsess about not being asleep but needing to be asleep? You mentioned a lot of white noise, but not distraction noise.
I can only tell you what works for me–and it sort of goes against most sleep advice–but I often find that turning on the radio news in the morning will, eventually, put me back to sleep. (Admittedly, my natural sleep time seems to be between ~7am-10am; I’m a nightowl.) The sound of the news lets my brain focus, but (now that Morning Edition mostly sucks) I also can’t stay entirely engaged in it, and will fall asleep. It does mean I sometimes end up with weird dreams that incorporate what I’m hearing, but that’s usually not a big problem.
Anyway, I hope this helps. If none of this seems to apply to you, go for a sleep study. I know several people who, upon being diagnosed with sleep apnea, just had their whole lives seem to change once they got their breathing machines.
Maude
@Englischlehrer:
I read that and it was painful. Next, if you haven’t, read Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I have a copy and do look at it once in a while. It makes your hair stand on end.
asiangrrIMN – I have no solutions, but it’s gotta be awful. I hope the sleep place will help. They watch your sleep pattern and they can find out what keeps you awake and how to stay asleep.
WereBear
asiangrrIMN – Snoring is a SERIOUS problem, despite our culture’s lighthearted attitude towards it. Getting air into our lungs is pretty damned important.
Your body might not be able to handle the stress simply because it can’t get enough sleep. These are overlapping issues that should be attacked from all angles, but snoring is a big clue, in my opinion, and is certainly the body’s loudest cry for help.
Redshirt
@asiangrrlMN:
Re: your sleeping issues.
I had similar issues for a couple of years a while back, and got through them the following way. But, please note, I have no professional training in this area, and my advice here is just my opinion, nothing more.
Have you identified any reasons you’re having trouble sleeping? I think it’s important to find out, for yourself. For me, it was stress at work, clearly. It dominated my life and literally kept me from sleeping. I got over this by doing two things in general (in addition the other advice given here about exercise, good diet, and of course avoiding caffeine, etc): Meditation during the day, and what I call “the counting sheep technique” while going to bed. Counting sheep I find really works (fun observation: try counting sheep, but make the sheep change directions en masse; see if you feel any difference), but can be mundane and easy to slip out of.
I figure the key to the effectiveness of this technique is that you are engaging your brain in a harmless, trifling way, preventing yourself from thinking about more stressful matters. Thus, your more relaxed, and more likely to fall asleep. So, getting easily bored by counting sheep, I instead concocted various hypothetical scenarios in which to employ the same technique. For example, what would I do if I landed on a desert island with a chest of pre-selected tools? How would I survive? What tools would I bring? What kind of shelter would I build? And so on (I’m a big Survivor fan). I absorb my mind with the minutiae of practical detail — building a fire, catching a fish, etc. I never focus on the emotional/personal details of this scenario (loneliness etc). And that’s key — you should make up your own scenario, something that appeals to you, but in no way leads to any kind of emotional response.
Another example: It took me a while to find the right scenario that worked for me. I started with a scenario of “What I would like in my dream house if I could have anything I want?” But this led quickly to real world concerns about money, the future, responsibilities, etc, and I would thus get stressed out, worrying about retiring or whatever.
Sorry for going on so long. To wit, seriously: Count sheep. Put effort into it. If you get bored with that, construct your own harmless, distracting scenario. And only think about this when going to sleep, nothing else.
Finally, I’d recommend ensuring your bed is “sacred space”, that is, mainly for sleeping. For instance, avoid reading in bed. Read in a chair in your bedroom instead.
Hope this helps! It worked for me, and I’ve been sleeping great for a few years now, and this made a world of difference for me.
Anton Sirius
@Brick Oven Bill:
Why? You’re the one who commented on it before you actually read the source material.
hilzoy
“She helps villagers in Pakistan and, as a female, views society as collections of people.”
For the record, I help teach courses in bioethics in Karachi, a city of around 18 million, mostly to health professionals. Or I did, before the security situation got worse than even I was prepared to deal with.
But hey: who needs facts?
AhabTRuler
@hilzoy: Ignore B.O.B., He is the local pet troll. Many of us have pie-filtered him, but there is a dedicated contingent here who love to bait (not debate) him.
He is “Full of sound and fury…”
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
I think hilzoy is already more than familiar with his nonsense …
AhabTRuler
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse: Sorry. I don’t get around much (in comments that is). ;-)
JGabriel
Cain:
Ambiguity Alert! Are you talking about the Shah in 1953, or Bush in 2000?
.
D-Chance.
OK… “christian-filipina.com”?
At least, it’s a step up from the cartoon lesbians with one’s head stuck under the other’s crotch, and the dominatrix sitting on the submissive male from that other ad…
Comrade Stuck
Just got back. And BoB, whatever lack of precision by me on who made the quote in Hilzoy’s piece (I had been awake 10 minutes) it was cleared up beforehand by Omen, JGabriel and others, in addition to you not following my link in next comment.
Consider it an inadvertent, yet illuminating Ric Roll on you. Study your internet trads.
asiangrrlMN
@tess: I have thyroid issues. I was hyperthyroid, got my thyroid radiated, and now, I’m hypo. I’m on meds for it, and I know it’s a big impetus to my sleeping problems. I also know that my chattering brain is part of the problem as well. Both to your question. I don’t sleep much (insomnia) and when I DO sleep, I feel worse when I get up.
@Redshirt: I have never slept well. Ever. I like your idea of actually counting sheep, though. I will try that.
@Maude: Thanks. I know I really need to do the sleep study. I just want to do it at home.
@WereBear: My dad has the mask, and yes, he snores, too. It runs in the family.
Thanks to everyone who replied. I really need to take care of this now.
Yutsano
I SWEAR this is not just a swipe at your heritage, but meditiation might also be a good idea, especially since you seem to have the brain quieting issues I have as well. Just another friendly suggestion (and no you can’t stay up late reading it).