From commentor Bootlegger:
March Madness is upon us (at the very least if you have 8 and 9 year old boys who are chased indoors by the rain you are going mad).
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Register now for the Balloon Juice NCAA tournament pool, brackets will be ready for pickin’ on Sunday.
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I also created a pool for the women’s tourney here.
Reminder: This week’s NIXONLAND discussion group meets Monday evening, 8pm Eastern Daylight time. Chapter under review: “The Sky’s the Limit”.
Gail Collins’ evisceration of “Eye of the Newt” is entertaining:
Anyway, you can see how the topic of Gingrich’s home life would come up. Generally, he doesn’t seem all that thrilled by the invitation to explain himself. But he was very chatty on the Christian Broadcasting Network. Perhaps this was because of the way the interviewer, David Brody, phrased his question.
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“Talk about a forgiving God?” he asked.
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Newt was quite forthcoming about both God’s readiness to forgive him and the much, much better lifestyle he has embraced now that he’s found true love with Wife No. 3, converted to Catholicism and “learned an immense amount.”
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People, can we all agree now that men who spend their early and middle ages betraying women right and left are not allowed to get credit for discovering the joys of monogamy at about the same time that they receive their first Social Security check? …
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Gingrich offered up his analysis of the cause of his sexual indiscretions when he appeared with other presidential hopefuls at an event in Iowa sponsored by the Faith and Freedom Coalition. This is a group established by the former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, who is recovering from a fall from grace himself. Reed’s involved secretly working with the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to block a ban on Internet gambling. Which I do not believe is the sort of thing you can blame on a heavy schedule and the flag.
And finally, if you are living on the left-hand coast (or just generally feeling apocalyptical) Farhad Manjoo at Slate reviews earthquake survival kits.
4jkb4ia
It’s five minutes from Selection Sunday, so we have Come Dancing, a piece of boomer nostalgia from the very first days of your humble commenter’s listening to Top 40 radio.
The best thing about “Eye of the Newt” may have been the title.
And I am in the complete doghouse with my husband.
Yutsano
I suppose I could come up with some witty or pithy comment about Newt running but all Obama has to do is sic Clinton like an attack dog and every single idiotic indiscretion will come flying out. And popcorn futures go through the roof.
Comrade Luke
Go Zags!
srv
I’ll forgive the Intellectual Newt once he blames the Lewinsky affair on Bill’s excessive love of country.
Yutsano
@Comrade Luke: I’ll drink to that!
Comrade Mary
@4jkb4ia: I still remember one of the best nights I ever spent in a theatre was when Ray Davies toured to promote his memoirs. He just told stories from the book, played some songs, told some more stories, then played some more songs. It was awesome.
RandyH
If you could use a little laugh right about now, check out Mark Fiorre’s “How To Be A Media Pundit” cartoon thingy. Funny and so true.
Yutsano
@RandyH: How unfortunate it’s just a fill-in. Funny as hell though.
Ross
I just joined up. Thanks for setting it up, Bootlegger!
Mike E
@RandyH: Good’ern
Origuy
If you live around St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, or anywhere else near New Madrid, Missouri, you might want to check out the earthquake kit info, too.
Having said that, I don’t have some of that stuff, and I live in San Jose. Most of what I have, though, is with the camping gear in the detached garage. It’s likely to be standing even if the house goes.
Edit: I just got two banner ads in a row for one-way rental cars, one leaving Arizona and one leaving Florida. Is there suddenly a demand for those?
Nutella
We can assume that Callista will continue as Mrs Gingrich III as long as she doesn’t get sick. Newt has a pattern of dumping his wives for a younger model then. I wonder if they customized their vows to take out the ‘in sickness and in health’ wording?
And surely the excuse about “excessive love of country” has one syllable too many?
FlipYrWhig
@Nutella: Newt is single-mindedly dedicated to country matters.
Mnemosyne
We have a couple of good human emergency kits that I bought from the Red Cross a couple of years ago, but we’re definitely deficient in our kitty emergency supplies, so I’ll probably be buying some of those tomorrow.
Yes, between the Christchurch earthquake and this one, I am extremely freaked out right now. Flashbacks to Northridge have not been pleasant.
RandyH
To those interested in emergency supplies, I recall reading something a while back about how Wal-Mart regularly registers major runs on Pop-Tarts when a hurricane or tornado is coming. It makes perfect sense. They have a shelf life of a couple years, their packaging is water-proof, they require no cooking and are quite tasty even when they’re old.
Since then, I keep several cases of bottled water (1 liter bottles from Costco) and a few 48-packs of Pop-Tarts plus a few other favorite non-perishables stashed away in case of Armageddon.
In case of serious tragedy, you should normally need about a weeks worth of food and water for everyone in your household before you might expect some aid or for stores to come back online.
Go Pop-Tarts!
Calouste
@Nutella:
Mark Sanford took the bit about fidelity out of his wedding vows according to his now soon-to-be ex-wife. I guess it’s one of those things they teach at C-street seminars.
Martin
His earthquake survival kit review was pretty weak. Better than nothing I suppose.
People really need to consider their specific issues. Here in SoCal, loss of power is a big issue. Any serious quake is going to knock San Onofre out for a few days, and likely a few of the gas plants as well (especially if there’s a tsunami). With no power you can’t get money and you can’t (easily) get gas. Water supplies are a bit marginal as well. Some areas here have their own aquifer, but not many, and the water into the area could well get knocked out.
There are few means of egress from the area – not many freeways out – and they’re going to be jammed solid, if they’re even passable at all due to the kinds of problems we saw from Northridge.
So – food, water, gas. Food is easy. MREs and some bulk dry goods in a large well sealed container. Fancy would be these (come in different sizes). Non fancy would be these. Works with any cheap 5 gallon plastic bucket. I like the former because they’re more space efficient and they perfectly fit in my car. We have one we use for dog food and they’re really fantastic products – airtight, easy to use. Easy to keep 1-2 weeks worth of food for the 4 of us.
Water isn’t too hard either. Three 5-gallon Jerry cans gives us a decent amount to transport. Keep them full. Get a super siphon to easily move water. A jar of water purification tablets. A small portable filter. For water and food, get a MSR WhisperLite International Multi-Fuel Stove. It’ll run on damn near anything – kerosene, unleaded gas. Cook food and distill water. We’ve got a swimming pool down the street which is saline treated instead of chlorine. There’s 100K gallons of water there that just needs a bit of boiling and I can easily siphon it out and transport it 15 gallons at a time – fill up the bathtubs if need be.
Gas. Three 5 gallon Jerry cans means that even if I’m on empty, I could normally get at least 200-300 miles. But assuming the roads are jammed, it’s going to be much less than that. Odds are between our two cars, we’d be able to fill one and have the 15 extra gallons. With no power, gas stations won’t work, but you can still open up the fill covers and siphon some up with a long enough hose.
You’ll want a big first aid kit. A small backpack or messenger bag is good for this. Mine is in a hard storage container w/handle that fits perfectly under the back seat of my car. It’s gotten a lot of use.
I’ve got a 12v inverter and solar charger, along with a 12v DC AA and AAA battery charger. Radio, flashlights, etc. all use AA or AAA and there’s always a dozen Eneloops charged up. Don’t get shitty flashlights. Pay for good ones. Get some Fenix or 4Sevens lights. These aren’t cheap, but 180 lumens is a LOT of light for a pair of AAs (about what the old four D Maglites would put out) and they’re small and easy to keep on you. The single AA one can go in a headband to be a headlamp. Put a good multitool in there, a K-Bar, sharpener, fire starter. Make sure you have an acceptable toolkit for your car. Stuff a bunch of paracord in there – handy stuff. For fun, make a few paracord bracelets you can strap on people. I have a daypack with a 3L water bladder. If need be I can load it up with water, food, first aid, tools, etc. and head out for a specific task. Have a bunch of dripless candles. Even tealights can go a long way to lighting up a room or the inside of a car if you’re sleeping in it for a night. Get a real zippo windproof lighter.
Have 3 egress plans. Get paper maps for all 3 and put them in your kit. Don’t count on your GPS working. If people have prescriptions, have those in your kit but also have your prescriptions written down, including generic names, etc and put in your kit. Since ATMs may not be working, have a fair chunk of cash ready. Get a USB drive and put your important files on it – account numbers, etc.
Odds are, you won’t need to go all that far. If you can get to a major city over 250 miles away, odds are that they’ll be so less impacted by the disaster that food, water, gas, etc. will be fairly straightforward. But here from LA, that’s the hard part. There’s not a lot of roads going east out of the basin and not many going north either. I once spent 11 hours sitting on the grapevine stuck behind an accident. A lot of people ran out of gas just sitting there. Expect that times 1000.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Man, I would pay good money to see that. Hi, hon. I’m working on my platform for my run to the primaries. Plus, I have a back-up groom if you get cold feet or have a wardrobe malfunction. But, you better not.
How you be?
asiangrrlMN
FYWP. I’m not joining March Madness this year. My enjoyment in the games drastically decreases every time I play the brackets.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I may or may not monkey around with the bracket even though I don’t really seriously invest in it. I’ll do one, but it’s mostly a join-up thing.
Oh and I saw on the news they’re stalling the forced vacation for another three weeks if it passes the House again.
Martin
Oh, I forgot to add to my lengthy moderated comment that the emergency kit should be maintained every 6 months. Do it when you change the clocks – like with your smoke detectors. Check the food and rotate it out if needed. Empty the water and refill. Put the gas in your car and refill those. Check your egress plans and update. Update the info on that USB drive. Recharge the batteries. It’ll take a few hours, but get the whole family involved – it helps them remember whats in there and what the plans are.
Yutsano
I get your FYWP. Edit is once again fucking up.
Does anyone think that Newt’s first two wives are gonna keep quiet about him? I don’t see that they have much incentive to do so.
asiangrrlMN
OK. Just how long do we have to edit now? FYWP.
@Yutsano: Seriously? How can you enjoy the arrival of the enforced vacation if they keep changing the date?
Calouste
@Yutsano:
Do you think that the MSM is going to talk and/or listen to the two ex-Mrs. Gingriches? That would be too dangerously close to actually doing work.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: The sad part is they can basically keep kicking this can forever. The worse part is that means no healthcare funding. Plus if this passes now it will also hit when the debt ceiling reaches its limit. Then shit will get real serious real fast.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Nope. The second one has already given interviews that have been quite scathing about him.
Martin
@RandyH: Pop tarts are remarkably good for that kind of thing. But there are also other easy items. Dry bulk sweet peas will keep for quite a long time in an evacuated bag and you can eat them raw after soaking in water. You can eat brown rice raw and nuts raw and lentils plus a rice or nut is a complete protein. Might not be the most exciting meal, but if you’re aiming for a week, you’ll need to get off of pop tarts before long.
jwb
@Calouste: Too tempting not to, I would think, even for our media.
Chris Grrr™
Seeing as God forgave Newt, there’s really no need to have an election at all.
asiangrrlMN
@Calouste: Sadly, it came and went without a splash. Here is Mrs. Ex-Number Two in Esquire.
@Yutsano: It’s so Damascus figs frustrating. Gr.
jwb
@asiangrrlMN: New edit policy totally sucks. It was working fine earlier today. Didn’t even have to open a new window. I wonder if it is WP troubles with daylight savings time kicking in.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: The Galtian overlords will start making serious phone calls if there is any sort of balkage about the debt ceiling. Hell they’re not totally sold on the notion of budget cuts either. I get the feeling things are about to get really entertaining really fast, especially if the teabaggers balk at the second extension.
asiangrrlMN
@jwb: Hm. That’s possible. Who knows with FYWP?
@Yutsano: This whole ‘bagger v. Galtian overlords thing would be funny if it weren’t such a furloughing big deal.
jl
The first survival kit I ever heard about, I was a little kid watching old movies on TV:
“Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days’ concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/quotes
All the ones I’ve heard about since then seem kind of boring.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: And checking the reports on the three week bill, even the ‘baggers are raising a ruckus because it doesn’t force birth or stop death panels. This thing might not make it out of the House clean, and Harry has stated funding only, no extras, or no dice. I might have to get the popcorn ready early.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Popcorn all around!
Martin
@jl: That’s the first survival kit I ever learned about as well. 2 grams of gold would be pretty hard to hold onto, though.
Calouste
@jwb:
Tssk. And risk Newt not appearing on the Sunday shows anymore? And risk no longer being invited for Beltway cocktail parties becuase you are considered to be the first reporter to bring this into the national concious? This will only appear in the MSM when it is clear to everyone smarter than Bobo Brooks that the remaining lifespan of Newt political career is less than that of a pint of milk.
ranger3
Women’s basketball is an abomination. It’s right up there with all male cheerleading (I’m looking at you Texas A&M). For one thing, why on earth do women basketball players in the US wear baggy shorts?
Prior to the early 1990’s all basketball players wore short shorts, that was the fashion. Then, several men’s teams started wearing longer shorts. Good call. Short shorts look stupid for guys. But then women also changed to long shorts. WTF? Male tennis players don’t wear skirts, why would female basketball players wear shorts which were made specifically to address the problem of men? Namely that short shorts look dumb on guys.
Then there’s the game itself. Boring doesn’t describe it. I’d rather watch paint dry. It’s like some ungodly cross between Ivy league basketball and the East German Olympic Swim Team. There’s a reason the WNBA has never turned a profit. It’s not because people are sexist. It’s because people don’t enjoy watching some ungodly cross between Ivy league basketball and the East German Olympic Swim Team.
I look forward to the tournament. I think Washington will surprise people. Notre Dame is going nowhere.
JPL
God might have forgiven Newt but I wonder if she has forgiven the media who knew Newt was screwing around while preaching to Clinton? I think not.
A Humble Lurker
Figure I’ll post this here (Warning, kind a disturbing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muW3RPkvoaU
These folks are rather shrill, but quite funny.
MikeJ
On the deck I have a plastic storage thingy for keeping the cushions of the deck chairs in. Talk of stockpiling water and food make me think a second one would be an ideal place for quake supplies. Just need to get one the raccoons can’t get in.
One thing to throw in your emergency kit that many people haven’t thought of: those big blue tarps, preferably with brass cringles. The thick kind of tarp. Even if you aren’t blessed enough to live in a place with non stop drizzle nine months a year, you might need shelter from sun, or even just for privacy around your latrine hole.
You can not have too many big blue tarps.
nancydarling
Don’t forget to grind the coffee beans! I was without electricity for three days during a bad ice storm a couple of years ago. I thought I was totally prepared. Since storms give warning, I always run a bathtub full of water for flushing, lay in a supply of wood for heat, and fill containers of water for drinking. I had a cowboy coffee maker and a Coleman burner that uses those little green bottles. It had not occurred to me that I would not be able to grind beans without electricity. I drank tea for a day til guardian angel neighbors made it into town and brought back Folgers. An emergency radio that can be powered by cranking as well as batteries is available for around 70 bucks. You can also charge a cell phone with it if you have the proper adapter. Alas, none of the adapters fit my phone, and I had left my car adapter somewhere. Again, neighbors to the rescue. Just as important as food, water, etc. is community. I could search a million years and not find better neighbors.
PurpleGirl
@jl: That is one of the great bits from Dr. Strangelove. But you have to “say” it with a country-ish twang just like Slim Pickins.
Southern Beale
My 20-year-old kitty has suddenly descended into renal failure. His kidneys have always been weak and we’ve pulled him out of these spirals before with subcutaneous fluids. But I don’t think he’s pulling out this time.
PurpleGirl
@Southern Beale: Sorry to hear about your kitty.
Svensker
@asiangrrlMN:
That is a fascinating article. Thnx!
Also, too, wadda creep. Eeep.
Southern Beale
@PurpleGirl:
Thanks … I’d give him more sub-Q fluids but we are out of needles.
Svensker
@Southern Beale:
So sorry. Cyber hugs.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Mnemosyne:
We are well aware of the earthquake potential for our area (south Oregon coast) and keep things stocked up here at home. A well loaded pantry and large deep freeze, generator, one car modified with a tap off of the fuel pump to keep the gen fueled, LED lighting, extra batteries, water (filtration/storage system), plenty of camping gear, two grills (one a camping style) with plenty of propane, lighters, medical supplies, vitamins and lots more. The wife cooks everything from scratch, so nothing would get wasted. No pre-packaged stuff, good solid supplies with good variety.
You have to be ready when you live close to the ocean (we’re at 100 feet above sea level here), about 500 feet inland on a high bluff. There aren’t many options in getting inland (and up!) on short notice. The last thing you would want to do is head inland along the Chetco river. You have to go eleven miles inland to get 600 feet up. Heading south isn’t much better because that takes you out onto the Harbor Bench, which is wide, low and flat land, mostly farmed. There are hills backing the bench but the roads are primitive, making for a slow go for the distance inland for the increase in altitude, plus the time to get there.
Our best route is north on 101 just to the north end of town (about two miles) and head inland on the old 101, Carpenterville Road. That would get us just over 1,000 feet up in just over five miles driving. From there you can take the forest service roads all over the backside of the county (we have a Pittmon map for that) to get just about anywhere you need to, even inland to I-5 (though it would be quite the adventure).
It pays to be prepared for a disaster but no matter how well we plan, shit happens. That’s why it’s worth the time and investment to have plenty of ready supplies in case of a disaster that you hope never comes.
If nothing else, you have great camping gear to use every summer and backup power for the inevitable winter power blackouts during storms.
@Southern Beale:
I’m really sorry to hear that. Twenty years? That’s a long friendship to lose. Wishing for the best.
JPL
@Southern Beale: Hugs to you and your kitty.
Omnes Omnibus
@Southern Beale: Very sorry to hear that.
Southern Beale
Thanks, all.
Frasier is really old and we’ve been through a lot together. He’s bonded to another cat in the house though .. she joined the family when he was around 2 years old and she was half wild. But she fell in love with Frasier. She was an itsy bitsy thing and he’d let her “nurse” on his belly. She will be heartbroken when he goes.
Southern Beale
Here’s a pic of Sylvie and Frasier in their usual snugglebunny pose. Sylvie is the one looking at the camera.
Cermet
There are only three main items any and all emergency supply kits MUST contain; a few five gal tanks of gasoline, a small portable generator that’ll run both the frig and microwave, and suffiecent quanties of extra water (again, a few five gal containers. The fuel handles both the generator and a vehicle.
Failing that, a gun to steal what you need. That covers it.
Cermet
By the way, I see that the reactor in Japan has melted down (partly) and the other four have/are losing coolant. With seawater in them now (they did that, unbelievable!), can’t see those puppies holding together for long.
This is the best reactor design and hardened for earthquakes that the most advanced tech country in the world can produce? Fuck, we are screwed here with ours … and assholes here want more? (come on and justify the stupidity of reactors … see, no one ever dreamed there’d be an earthquake and a wave when a reactor is on the sea coast and besides, who ever thought safety systems would fail and and and – your stupid assholes all. You can’t Engineer any fission plant based on a sub reactor to be safe – you asswipes have been 100% proven wrong so STF up from now on.)
I’ll take AGW rather than nuke waste and melting cores … besides, as a complete indifferent asshole – read as typical amerikian christian – only a few million brown/black people who can’t even speak god’s language are going to die anyway, so who gives a rat’s ass … .
Steeplejack
Is the time stamp messed up?
. . . Ah, yes, it is. Good old Balloon Juice.
4jkb4ia
Commenter Women’s Basketball Sucks has clearly never seen the 2009 UConn women’s championship team. I was there in person and it was a thing of beauty to watch. And, with Brittney Griner and company, women can also dunk now.
Another condolence for Southern Beale’s cat.
(I am in the doghouse and no one cares /sniffle)
Svensker
@Southern Beale:
Wait, there are 4 ears there, must mean two kitties. Sylvie’s gonna miss her pal.
Southern Beale
@Svensker:
Yep Sylvie’s permanent position is snuggled right up to Frasier’s side. The original Adam and Eve. If I didn’t know better I’d say Frasier spared a rib to make her.
Johannes
@Southern Beale: What beautiful kitties, and how I feel for you about Frasier. My fiancee (yay!)had a mama-cat whose life was extended by giving subQ fluids too, and it only buys so much time. You Frasier and Sylvie are in our thoughts here at the Cattery.
piratedan
@PurpleGirl: reminded me of an old Steve Landesburg bit, how he stated that certain phrases seemed to lack any meaning unless they were said with the proper accent, kinda like “hang him” simply doesn’t sound menacing enough unless you use redneck sheriff voice et al….
piratedan
@Cermet: from what I understood, those were built in the 60’s and the seawater as coolant option was an indication that the country was going to write those off as a loss and do a complete decommission once the coollant issue was solved.
Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude
… and this just in. Good times in Japan.
Mike in NC
Because scamming never goes out of style! Where’s my damn checkbook?
ppcli
@asiangrrlMN: It was an interesting article, but I did found it hard not to go full Ann Landers at many points: “Lady, you were doing the bedtime boogie with this guy while he was still married to a woman who was undergoing chemotherapy. Don’t expect any sympathy when he treats you the same way.”
asiangrrlMN
@ppcli: I know what you mean. Still. What she had to say about Newt and his rationalizations was interesting. I do hope the exes speak out more if Newt does run for realz, but I suspect no one will care or will want to do the Ann Landers thing as well.
@Svensker: I cannot imagine getting it on with the Newtster. He is so repulsive on so many levels. I never got the power as an aphrodisiac thing.
@Southern Beale: Oh my. Sylvia and Frasier make a beautiful couple. My heart goes out to you and your family, and especially to Sylvia.
4jkb4ia
Pitt got the #1 seed in the end, but will have to play Butler. Holds head in anguish.
Wile E. Quixote
@PurpleGirl:
You’re a Dr. Strangelove fan? Will you marry me? I’m not pretty but I do have my hair, my teeth and three quarters of my limbs and I’m told I “clean up well”.
Wile E. Quixote
@jl:
Fun facts about Dr. Strangelove:
1) Originally that line was “Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff.” This was changed because of the Kennedy assassination. If you watch closely you can see that Slim Pickens lips are out of sync with the dubbed in version of the line.
2) Originally Peter Sellars was on tap to play four roles in the movie, the eponymous Dr. Strangelove, President Muffley. Group Captain Lionel Mandrake and Major Kong. One day while filming Sellers got into an argument with Stanley Kubrick and stormed off the set, unfortunately the set they were filming on was the B-52 set which was suspended 15 feet off the floor of the studio. Sellers fell and sprained his ankle and was unable to play all four roles and in fact this is why his scenes as Doctor Strangelove were filmed with him in a wheelchair so he could take weight off of his injured leg.
So Kubrick needs an actor to play the part of Major Kong. He had worked with Slim Pickens before and contacted him to ask if he’d be interested in playing the role of Major Kong. Pickens assented and travelled to England for filming and showed up on the set wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and until people got to know him everyone was thinking “My God, this man is an incredible method actor! He’s always in character, even when we’re not filming.”
Wile E. Quixote
@Calouste:
No kidding. God forbid that you ever print anything that counters the village media wisdom.
Paul in KY
@ranger3: I disagree. I like watching the women’s teams play. Certainly a different game than the men’s, but alot of tension & heart out there when they compete.
The pedal pushers the women wear now do look silly (especially on a short stocky player).
Paul in KY
@Southern Beale: Hope this isn’t the end, but getting 20 years out of your cat is beyond what most of them do.
Please give him a kiss for me.