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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Happy Ending

Happy Ending

by Betty Cracker|  May 29, 20142:10 pm| 120 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Now this is the type of riveting reportage I’d like to see more of:

Firefighters pulled three dogs and a guinea pig from a Davis Islands house fire that was sparked by an unattended pot on a stove Thursday morning, authorities said.

[snip]

No one was home, but rescue workers found two Cairn terriers and a West Highland terrier taking cover under furniture. The dogs were removed from the home and firefighters began administering oxygen using a pet mask.

Firefighters also retrieved a Guinea pig who was alert, unharmed and eating vegetables in its cage.

Yeah, a guinea pig would continue munching carrots until the flames were licking around the food bowl. And it probably dispensed a steady stream of pellets during the entire ordeal. Glad the beasties were saved. Open thread.

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Reader Interactions

120Comments

  1. 1.

    Thoughtcrime

    May 29, 2014 at 2:16 pm

    And, as a Californian, this is the type of “Red State” I love:

    http://www.sacbee.com/2014/05/27/6435979/see-where-in-california-the-republican.html

    More of a pink, actually, but we’re working on it.

  2. 2.

    Trollhattan

    May 29, 2014 at 2:17 pm

    Did the Guinea pig whistle for the fire department? That’s one heroic pig, they should name him Hero!

  3. 3.

    shelley

    May 29, 2014 at 2:19 pm

    Guess they’ll get no thanks from the Guinea Pig. “Where’s my friggin’ carrots?’

  4. 4.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 2:20 pm

    @shelley:

    Classic looter and moocher behavior!

  5. 5.

    LanceThruster

    May 29, 2014 at 2:21 pm

    No one was home…

    That is one unattended pot.

  6. 6.

    Jay C

    May 29, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    @Thoughtcrime:

    About 28.6 percent of the state’s voters are registered as Republicans, down from 35.7 percent a decade ago

    Cool: only 1.6% to go til they reach their floor constituency number!

  7. 7.

    Mary G

    May 29, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    That gave me a laugh, thanks, Betty.

  8. 8.

    Trollhattan

    May 29, 2014 at 2:24 pm

    @Thoughtcrime:
    One immediately thinks of George Costanza with such talk of “shrinkage.”

    And speaking of “prominant” California Republicans, yet again, their leading candidate for governor professes his love of all things gun and gunnish:

    When Tim Donnelly was asked at a debate this month about the plight of a Marine Corps veteran jailed in Mexico on a gun matter, Donnelly said if he was governor he would go to the border to lobby for the American’s release.

    “We need to make a lot of noise,” Donnelly said, “and if I was the governor of the state of California, I would have taken a helicopter, and I would be landing on the border and holding a protest and demanding that they free our Marine.”

    On Wednesday, Donnelly said on Twitter that he called in to just such a rally, in San Ysidro, south of San Diego. He lacked the imprimatur of the governor’s office but took the opportunity to make noise.

    “Just spoke via phone at the SD protest rally demanding his release!” Donnelly wrote. “Let us not rest until he is home! Godspeed.”

    The controversy surrounding the incarceration of Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi involves not only a border crossing but carrying guns where they are not allowed. Donnelly knows something about that: The former member of the anti-illegal immigration Minuteman Project is on probation for carrying a loaded firearm into Ontario International Airport in 2012.

    http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/05/tim-donnelly-phones-in-to-andrew-tahmooressi-rally.html#storylink=cpy

  9. 9.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 29, 2014 at 2:24 pm

    What? Nothing about the bratty Persian that set the fire in the first place?

  10. 10.

    Comrade Mary

    May 29, 2014 at 2:25 pm

    Phone call from my sister at 3 PM yesterday:

    S: [No hello or other greeting] Are you watching Anthony Bourdain’s show on CNN these days?
    M: I don’t get CNN.
    S: Oh. Well, he does this show where he goes to different countries and eats unusual things.
    M: Oh, yeah. I’ve seen several older episodes.
    S: But he went to Peru in the last show. And do you know what he ate?
    M: Guinea pigs.
    S: YES! The little things were squeaking in their cages, and then they took them out and cooked them and ate them.
    M: You know that we haven’t had any guinea pigs for decades. You can let this go.
    S: I know. I just miss Angie. How could anyone eat a guinea pig?

    When S. was in grade 4, she took home the classroom guinea pig for the summer. but as she was already 5 years old, the teacher said we should just keep her. Angie ate, shat, squeaked, whistled, peed on us while she snuggled under our t-shirts after a bath, and worked her way into family life and dreams. My mother had more than one dream where she opened the fridge and Angie was already in there, squeaking and whistling.

    The day before we were to go to our cousin’s wedding, when Angie was 7, she just slowed down a lot and showed no interest in the grass when we took her out to graze. The morning of the wedding, she lay down and wouldn’t get up, and breathed her last while our Mom petted her. We were inconsolable and insisted that her cage be left in the bathroom, with the lights on, just in case she wasn’t really dead. We cried a few more times at the wedding and reception, and when we got home, opened the bathroom door in hope, but poor little Angie was stiff and cold.

    Yep. You can get attached to a guinea pig.

  11. 11.

    MikeJ

    May 29, 2014 at 2:25 pm

    @LanceThruster:

    That is one unattended pot.

    Dave’s not here, man.

  12. 12.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 2:25 pm

    @Trollhattan:

    “We need to make a lot of noise,” Donnelly said, “and if I was the governor of the state of California, I would have taken a helicopter, and I would be landing on the border and holding a protest and demanding that they free our Marine.”

    Ever get the impression that Donnelly didn’t get enough attention as a child and is now making up for lost time?

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    May 29, 2014 at 2:26 pm

    How African-American Success Stories Undermine Sympathy for Racial Inequalities

    This article is by Clayton Critcher, an assistant professor of marketing, cognitive science, and psychology at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
    ——————–
    In his majority opinion that struck down the Voting Rights Act, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “Our country has changed,” essentially stating that the 1965 civil rights legislation was outdated. But the recent racist rants of Donald Sterling and Cliven Bundy have had some wondering just how far we have actually come.

    What these episodes may most clearly illustrate is how difficult it is to gauge the prevalence of racism in modern America. Do Sterling and Bundy reflect a widespread racism that typically resides just outside of the limelight, or does the swiftness with which the NBA and Republican Party distanced themselves from these pariahs reinforce Roberts’ claim?

    University of Chicago professor Jane Risen and I, recognizing that the racial climate is difficult to assess, set out to understand what guides people’s beliefs. After all, it matters whether you see modern America as a nation plagued by racism or as one where equal opportunity is real. It affects how you make sense of why racial disparities persist (and thus what, if anything, you think can be done about them).

    We found that when non-blacks were exposed to African-American success stories—tales of those who defied the odds, like Merck chief executive Kenneth Frazier, Brown University President Ruth Simmons, and even President Obama—they became less sympathetic to more average African-Americans, without even realizing it. They unknowingly reasoned, “If he can do it, so can they.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2014/05/20/how-african-american-success-stories-undermine-sympathy-for-racial-inequalities/

  14. 14.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm

    @Trollhattan: Go to the border? What, he wouldn’t call up the militia and stage a rescue mission? Can’t he find a Charles Bronson lookalike to stage a breakout at the prison to get the guy out? Protest at the border? WTF is he, some sort of hippie wuss?

  15. 15.

    catclub

    May 29, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    @LanceThruster: Meth lab? or Meth Cairn terriers?

  16. 16.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    Apparently the Swiss are to blame for the Hobbit, as well as the cuckoo clock and Heidi:

    http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20140523-in-alpine-villages-hobbits-lurk

    Naturally, the stunning Alpine villages of Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald and Wengen – and the soaring Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau peaks that guard them – are not some sort of hidden secret; travellers have been exploring these valleys since the Berner Oberland Bahn railway opened in 1890. But their role in the creation of Tolkien’s fantastical Middle Earth epic is less known. The author acknowledged as much in the 1950s in a little-known letter to his son, Michael. “From Rivendell to the other side of the Misty Mountains,” he wrote, “the journey… including the glissade down the slithering stones into the pine woods… is based on my adventures in Switzerland in 1911.”

  17. 17.

    PaulW

    May 29, 2014 at 2:38 pm

    per open thread, did anyone here know that Maya Angelou wrote cookbooks?! When I set up my library’s tribute table to Ms. Angelou yesterday, I found two cookbooks and only one book of poetry. whoa.

  18. 18.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 29, 2014 at 2:41 pm

    @rikyrah: We’ll judge by individuals when its to our advantage to do so, in the sense that we can still say the vast majority of the blahs are shiftless, lazy, and moochers.

  19. 19.

    satby

    May 29, 2014 at 2:42 pm

    @Comrade Mary: I worked about 10 years ago with a woman who had lived in apartments her whole life, and so the only pets they had were guinea pigs. She had pictures of her fur babies and they clearly had personality and were as much a part of the family as any dog would be.

    And then she got sent to South America for work (forget precisely where) and at her first dinner someone attempted to serve her roasted guinea pig. She took a picture of that with her phone I think to prove it to skeptics, and only would eat avocado the rest of the trip.

  20. 20.

    Betty Cracker

    May 29, 2014 at 2:43 pm

    @Comrade Mary: Awww. RIP, Angie.

    My daughter had a guinea pig that was my office mate for years (I work at home). I used to give him treats before I had conference calls because if he heard me talking, he’d assume I was speaking to him and squeak and whistle in response, which was hard to explain to people who weren’t there.

    That animal could produce more turds that it seemed possible for a critter that size to contain, but in his defense, they were pretty inoffensive little turds (as far as shit goes). I do miss the little bugger.

  21. 21.

    Citizen_X

    May 29, 2014 at 2:43 pm

    Needs moar dramatic hamster chipmunk fucking rodent.

  22. 22.

    Trollhattan

    May 29, 2014 at 2:44 pm

    @Morzer: @Villago Delenda Est:

    Before selflessly heeding the call to public service in the Leg, Donnelly was a honcho with the Minutemen, yelling at Mexicans to stay the hell on their side of the border. I can only imagine how they’d welcome him now, as an Elected Yet Still Somehow Free-willed Official.

    And yes, he’d make for a thinner, better armed Chris Christie.

  23. 23.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 2:45 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    If I wanted to watch rodents fucking, I’d check out Karl Rove’s webcam show, thank you very much.

  24. 24.

    rikyrah

    May 29, 2014 at 2:46 pm

    Sonoma County Man Battling Cancer Denied Coverage By Anthem Blue Cross After Paying $100K In Premiums
    May 28, 2014 9:23 PM

    CAMP MEEKER (CBS SF) — A Sonoma County man battling more than a dozen tumors in his body is fighting a new battle with his insurance carrier, who has denied coverage for his treatments.

    Jeffrey Rusch of Camp Meeker knew the news was bad when an MRI found 20 tumors in his brain. Two days later, a C-T scan at Sutter medical center in Santa Rosa brought another devastating blow, discovering a large tumor in his lungs, and more in his liver and bones.

    Doctors told Jeffrey he would need to be hospitalized immediately.

    “My husband was having a lot of difficulty breathing already, and he was getting a lot worse, so we went to the hospital and they admitted him immediately,” Jeffrey’s wife Zoe Keating said.

    In the hospital, doctors removed a half-liter of fluid from Jeffrey’s lungs, and gave him steroids to reduce brain swelling. Doctors administered emergency chemotherapy.

    Then came even more devastating news: Anthem Blue Cross was denying their coverage for the treatments.

    The family received a letter from the insurance provider, saying his hospital stay didn’t meet the criteria for medical necessity.

    http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/05/28/health-insurance-provider-denies-cancer-treatment-premium-mri-scan-tumor-sonoma-county-man-battling-cancer-denied-coverage-by-anthem-blue-cross-after-paying-100k-in-premiums/

  25. 25.

    Suffern ACE

    May 29, 2014 at 2:48 pm

    @Trollhattan: They honestly think that being in the service entitles you to a lifetime get out of jail free card, don’t they? Do they honestly think other countries are supposed to respect that?

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    May 29, 2014 at 2:50 pm

    @PaulW:

    anyone here know that Maya Angelou wrote cookbooks?! When I set up my library’s tribute table to Ms. Angelou yesterday, I found two cookbooks and only one book of poetry. whoa.

    yes.

    she had a recipe for smothered chicken that was DIVINE.

    I tried her caramel cake….the cake part was delicious. I can’t do homemade caramel.

  27. 27.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    May 29, 2014 at 2:50 pm

    @Trollhattan: Been following the brave saga of Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi. At best, he is a hopelessly stupid idiot who wanted a cop to come and explain to Mexican troops that the guns in his truck were legal. In America. While he was in Mexico, because Mexican laws don’t apply to Americans (he really has said this).

    Now, a fair number of our San Diego locals do treat Baja as though it was just another state, but not even the dumbest of them are under the impression that Federales are just some dumb San Diego cops with funny accents, nor do they think that Mexican laws do not apply to Americans.

    Based on his original story and some of his subsequent actions when jailed (attempting to escape, attempting suicide, assaulting guards) my gut feeling is that this jackhole is a wannabe gun smuggler who got caught and is now in way over his head.

  28. 28.

    Trollhattan

    May 29, 2014 at 2:52 pm

    @Suffern ACE:
    Yup, Also free burritos and a heartfelt “Gracias for your service” as they gently carry him back across the border in a sedan chair. Other countries have laws that differ from ours–who’da thunk? (I thought “Fast und Furious” kinda depended on that concept to become a SCANDAL.)

  29. 29.

    Trollhattan

    May 29, 2014 at 2:55 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:
    Well then, that puts it in a whole different light. (And yeah, I’ve crossed the border into TJ a few times and it’s not as subtle as going into the Chevron lot against the out arrow. You definitely know you’re leaving the yew ess aye.)

  30. 30.

    Amir Khalid

    May 29, 2014 at 2:56 pm

    @Morzer:
    Grindelwald — hmm, that’s a name out of Harry Potter. Gellert Grindelwald was a friend, or (as J.K. Rowling has hinted) maybe more than that, of the young Albus Dumbledore.

  31. 31.

    rikyrah

    May 29, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    The Newark School Reform Wars

    The city has a new mayor with a progressive mandate, but its schools are reeling from the market-based reforms Cory Booker introduced.

    Owen Davis

    May 28, 2014

    Every time Newark shows up on the national radar—from Cory Booker’s celebrity turn to Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million gift to Ras Baraka’s victory in the mayoral race earlier this month—its schools have been in the spotlight. In Mayor-elect Baraka, the school reform project inaugurated under Booker and Governor Chris Christie has met its most formidable opponent yet. But despite Baraka’s win, not to mention a flurry of sit-ins, walk-outs, protests and pickets, the transformation of the school system into a showcase of neoliberal ideas about education is unlikely to stop anytime soon.

    That’s troubling news for students in the district schools, such as those at the Hawthorne Avenue School.

    Hawthorne could have been a model for urban education. The Newark, New Jersey, K–8 school has raised its test scores in each of the last three years. The hallways that teachers describe as “chaos” four years ago are now quiet, save occasional bursts of laughter. Its performance on last year’s tests, on which it met all state benchmarks, compelled an assistant superintendent to make a personal visit to congratulate the faculty.

    So the community was stunned when the district leveled the educational equivalent of a death sentence on the school.

    At a public forum last December, the Chris Christie–appointed superintendent Cami Anderson announced that about a quarter of Newark’s schools would be closed, repurposed, consolidated or otherwise transformed. Hawthorne would lose grades 5–8, and two outside operators would assume management of younger grades. Every teacher would have to reapply.

    “It won’t be Hawthorne anymore,” says Grace Sergio, a Hawthorne parent association leader whose eighth-grade son plays basketball and often stays at school till well after six. “This is a village.”

    Since principal Grady James took the reins in 2010, the school has experienced a renaissance. “It was failing badly when he first started,” says Sergio. “He’s turned the school around.”

    Housed in a stately though decaying four-story brick schoolhouse built in 1895, Hawthorne draws its enrollment from the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Newark’s impoverished South Ward. Nearly 90 percent of its pupils are African-American and 94 percent are economically disadvantaged. Although less than a third of its students score proficient in reading, Hawthorne’s growth puts it in the ninety-fourth percentile of comparable schools statewide. Its roster has grown consistently for three years.

    Now the school is in limbo. “Teachers don’t know where they’re going, students don’t know where they’re going,” says Sergio.

    Why has this school, whose academic gains outstrip those of every school in its local peer group, been targeted for turnover? Parents have lobbied officials, penned letters and protested to get an answer, but Superintendent Anderson hasn’t relented. “She doesn’t know what our kids need,” says Sergio.

    http://www.thenation.com/article/180044/newark-school-reform-wars#

  32. 32.

    Iowa Old Lady

    May 29, 2014 at 2:59 pm

    Friend of mine worked in Ecuador for a while and witnessed a ceremony that involved rubbing a guinea pig all over an ailing person to draw the bad stuff out. Sadly the guinea pig was then sliced open to see what the bad stuff had been.

  33. 33.

    Trollhattan

    May 29, 2014 at 3:00 pm

    “Paging Jenny McCarthy. Please report to the nearest What-the-fvck-did-you-think-you-were-doing? phone.”

    Public health experts in the US are urging people to get vaccinated after a spike in measles cases in the country this year. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 288 cases of measles in the first five months of 2014 – the largest number for 20 years.

    The outbreak is thought to be linked to US citizens travelling to the Philippines. The CDC says timely vaccination is the best way to prevent measles. Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC’s National Centre for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, said many US healthcare providers had never seen or treated a patient with measles because of the country’s robust vaccination efforts and rapid response to outbreaks.

    Measles was eliminated from the United States in 2000, meaning that for more than 12 months there was no longer any continuous measles transmission.

    “The current increase in measles cases is being driven by unvaccinated people, primarily US residents, who got measles in other countries, brought the virus back to the United States and spread to others in communities where many people are not vaccinated.”

    –BBC

    [emphasis added for venting purposes]

  34. 34.

    Suffern ACE

    May 29, 2014 at 3:00 pm

    @Trollhattan: You know, the Mexicans we round up could work legally in Mexico. Perhaps in exchange for recognizing his right to carry in Mexico, we can recognize their right to work in this country as an extension of Mexican national sovereignty.

  35. 35.

    El Tiburon

    May 29, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    UPDATE: Later that evening, Davis Islands SWAT Team raided the same home based on allegations of drug use. After ramming in the door and throwing all occupants to the ground, they gunned down all of the animals, including the guinea pig. No drugs were found and all officers are expected to receive accomadations for not killing any humans.

  36. 36.

    RSR

    May 29, 2014 at 3:03 pm

    FDNY had to stop awarding promotional points for animal rescues because the members were taking unnecessary risks. At least according to my wife, who whose father and two brothers were all FDNY.

  37. 37.

    Roger Moore

    May 29, 2014 at 3:05 pm

    @Suffern ACE:

    They honestly think that being in the service entitles you to a lifetime get out of jail free card, don’t they?

    No. They don’t think other countries’ laws should apply to Americans. He got in trouble for something that wouldn’t have gotten him in trouble in the US. To a reasonable person, that means he failed to know the law where he was. To a Republican, that means the other country is being unreasonable by enacting laws that are different from ours.

  38. 38.

    MikeJ

    May 29, 2014 at 3:09 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: The dumb fuck claims he parked his car in the US, walked across the border for dinner, walked back to the US, then got lost and accidentally wound up in Mexico.

    This responsible gun owner claims he left three guns with 400 rounds of ammo unattended in his car while he was out walking around near the border.

  39. 39.

    burnspbesq

    May 29, 2014 at 3:09 pm

    @Thoughtcrime:

    Too bad about Lassen and Modoc. Beautiful country (drove through there earlier this month).

  40. 40.

    Comrade Mary

    May 29, 2014 at 3:09 pm

    @rikyrah: Thanks for the link! The more people hear about this, the better.

    I wrote about it in another thread, and included some links to Keating’s resources. In addition to spreading the word about this horror show, those of you who like her music might be willing to buy some.

  41. 41.

    ? Martin

    May 29, 2014 at 3:12 pm

    American Exceptionalism, bitchez!

    For Americans in Mexico, the lesser of Mexican and American law should apply. When Mexicans in America, the greater of Mexican and American law should apply.

    It is of course an outrage that Mexico is holding this individual for violating Mexican laws, but Jesus himself blessed the various Mexican nationals that the State of Texas has executed over the years.

    Disclaimer: they assure us they are not racist.

  42. 42.

    ? Martin

    May 29, 2014 at 3:14 pm

    @burnspbesq: There’s at most 40,000 people there. I think we can tolerate a Republican leper colony in the lovely corner of the state.

  43. 43.

    Trollhattan

    May 29, 2014 at 3:15 pm

    @Comrade Mary:
    Friend with similar-sounding cancer just lost his battle two weekends ago, leaving behind a wife and two young kids. I hope Mr. Keating’s fate is a better one and that the insurance company quickly does an “oops, our bad!” These folks have trouble enough.

  44. 44.

    Belafon

    May 29, 2014 at 3:17 pm

    @rikyrah: I haven’t read the article, but did they try the same thing comparing whites? I’m asking this from a control standpoint. Does Bill Clinton’s rise make people think that other whites are just as capable?

  45. 45.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 3:18 pm

    @? Martin:

    All you need is a border fence and a moat filled with alligators….

  46. 46.

    Trollhattan

    May 29, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    @burnspbesq:
    They’re so sparsely populated a couple of good-size hippie enclaves could flip them.

    Friends inherited a big chunk of Modoc County sagebrush from her father, who had put in an RV pad, storage shed and reeeeeeellly deep, quite dry well. He was planning to ride out the forthcoming nuclear war with the Soviets there (nope, not kidding).

  47. 47.

    burnspbesq

    May 29, 2014 at 3:23 pm

    @? Martin:

    Almost 45K per the 2010 Census, 35K in Lassen and 9,700 in Modoc.

    There’s actually a pretty good Italian restaurant in Alturas.

  48. 48.

    cckids

    May 29, 2014 at 3:24 pm

    @rikyrah:

    I tried her caramel cake….the cake part was delicious. I can’t do homemade caramel.

    I don’t do it often (the homemade caramel bit), but the whole caramel cake recipe is just insanely good.

    Edit to add: in her cookbook that I have (Hallelujah, The Welcome Table) Ms. Angelou has an infuriating, sad-then-triumphant story to go with the Caramel Cake recipe. One of my favorite cookbooks.

    She also has a recipe called “Fresh Peas and Lettuce” that sounds so amazing, but I can’t find really good fresh peas, and without those it isn’t worth it.

  49. 49.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 3:25 pm

    A depressingly predictable experience was had by a reporter who checked out a forum of Elliot Rodger’s little non-fuck buddies:

    http://jezebel.com/lessons-from-a-day-spent-with-the-ucsb-shooters-awful-f-1582884301

    10:05 AM

    First reference to “going Elliot.”

    [10:05 AM]: if you are here after 31, consider going elliot. day 31 of may. thats the deadline

    [10:05 AM]: guys. manifestos are currently being drafted by men out there

    [10:06 AM]: if you are here in june, just off it

    [10:06 AM]: dont think this is the the last. men realize they have nothing to lose

    [10:07 AM]: i dont know why divorced men dont go on rampages

    [10:07 AM]: that blonde was a total bitch but father claims she is a nice girl

    [10:07 AM]: because older men get called old pervs, like george sodini

    [10:07 AM]: *started a YouTube-video: Elvis Presley – It’s Over..*

  50. 50.

    Keith G

    May 29, 2014 at 3:36 pm

    @Citizen_X: Oh lordy. Your rodent video let me to a list of suggestions that included this, Never Say No to a Panda. Funny-awesome!!

  51. 51.

    Punchy

    May 29, 2014 at 3:40 pm

    Firefighters pulled three dogs and a guinea pig from a Davis Islands house fire that was sparked by an unattended pot on a stove Thursday morning, authorities said.

    See…this is what happens when you legalize the Mary Jane.

  52. 52.

    Keith G

    May 29, 2014 at 3:44 pm

    @Morzer: There are many, many fetid pools of the miserable to be found on the inter-webs. If one chooses to search them out and hang out there, one deserves the soul-sucking yuck that is encountered.

    But, to feel that they are emblematic of a greater phenomenon is more than a stretch.

  53. 53.

    chopper

    May 29, 2014 at 3:45 pm

    @Morzer:

    and these guys wonder why they never get laid.

  54. 54.

    catclub

    May 29, 2014 at 3:49 pm

    @Trollhattan:

    insurance company quickly does an “oops, our bad!”

    Isn’t that just the standard policy of insurance companies to deny all initial claims? I thought I saw a movie ( and a book!) with that theme.

  55. 55.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 29, 2014 at 3:50 pm

    @MikeJ:

    This responsible gun owner claims

    OXYMORAN ALERT!

  56. 56.

    acallidryas

    May 29, 2014 at 3:50 pm

    Since this is a pet-related open thread, any advice for dealing with a cat with a UTI? We’ve taken her to the vet and had her checked out for a host of other issues, but it’s just a persistent UTI. She doesn’t love to drink water, is her main problem, and in the mean time she’s miserable, and everyone’s miserable because she keeps getting in trouble for peeing all over the place.

    So, any time-honored remedies for dealing with a UTI in a cat? Or getting her to drink more water? Or, to make us happier, convince her to use the litter box again, or at the least not try to pee on my kids’ stuffed animals?

  57. 57.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 29, 2014 at 3:50 pm

    @catclub: Double Indemnity?

  58. 58.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 29, 2014 at 3:52 pm

    @chopper: It’s a mystery, for sure.

  59. 59.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 3:52 pm

    @Keith G:

    I think you are wrong in your conclusion. There are lots of guys who have a fucked-up attitude to women – and that little group is part of a spectrum that is much more prevalent than we might want to think. Do all of them turn into Elliot Rodger, or George Sodini? No – but that isn’t the measure of their full impact on women’s lives.

  60. 60.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 3:53 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Guns aren’t responsible, people are responsible. Therefore, we must ban guns from owning people. At least, that’s what the NRA keeps telling me.

  61. 61.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 29, 2014 at 3:54 pm

    @? Martin:

    Disclaimer: they assure us they are not racist.

    Pardon me while I spit on their assurance.

  62. 62.

    Roger Moore

    May 29, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    @acallidryas:

    Or getting her to drink more water?

    The best approach there is to make sure she has plenty of fresh water available. Cats don’t like water that’s sitting around for a long time; they want water with some sign of being moving or transient. The pet drinking fountains really seem to work, and if you get one that’s dishwasher safe it will probably be less effort than putting out fresh water all the time. If it’s safe, leaving the seat up on the toilet also seems to help.

  63. 63.

    catclub

    May 29, 2014 at 3:57 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: I larfed. The Rainmaker.

  64. 64.

    Calouste

    May 29, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    @chopper:

    These guys aren’t losers because they don’t get laid, they don’t get laid because they are losers, incapable of connecting to other people. Can’t we just send them to the pub to have a couple of drinks to loosen up and talk to real people? They might even get a chance to talk to a girl.

  65. 65.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    @Calouste:

    I dunno, putting alcohol into those sad sacks strikes me as more likely to produce a lot of slapped geek wannabe faces and deeply irritated women than anything else. And that’s probably the best outcome available.

  66. 66.

    Eric U.

    May 29, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    @chopper: we need to round up all the guns. Too many losers that think they are the answer. Guns only at gun clubs. Hunters get single-shot and have to check it back in at the gun club. Cleaning only performed by paid pros in bulletproof bunkers.

  67. 67.

    Calouste

    May 29, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    @Morzer:

    Yes, if you want to get an idea of how many f’ed up guys are out there, and how f’ed up they are, go on a dating site and create a profile as a somewhat attractive female.

  68. 68.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    May 29, 2014 at 4:03 pm

    @acallidryas: Contrary to belief, cats aren’t big on drinking water and really aren’t supposed to do it often. What you need is to put the poor little feline on a wet-food diet (I assume she’s on dry, as that’s the biggest cause of feline UTIs). And change the litterbox everytime she uses it. Tedious but necessary.

    She’s peeing everywhere but the litterbox to let you know there is a problem.

    Also, if this has been treated and isn’t going away, have the doc check for MRSA. Pets can get it too.

    The last time I had a cat with recurring UTIs, it was because she was old and her kidneys were failing. No cure for that, and it doesn’t take long before you have to take them on that final trip to the vets office. I sincerely hope this is not the case with your kitty.

  69. 69.

    scav

    May 29, 2014 at 4:03 pm

    @Calouste: You got the magic brew that guarantees they’re not mean drunks? I’m not exactly sure the situation will be improved by any ‘loosening’ of personality or lowered inhibitions on their part.

  70. 70.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 4:07 pm

    @Calouste:

    I might not take you up on that idea. My wife has certain standards of decorum and civility that she maintains with an iron hand.

  71. 71.

    catclub

    May 29, 2014 at 4:08 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: Inappropriate nym for that message.

  72. 72.

    ruemara

    May 29, 2014 at 4:12 pm

    @Keith G: ever the dismissal. That’s part of the problem.

  73. 73.

    WereBear

    May 29, 2014 at 4:18 pm

    @acallidryas: I wrote a post about that:

    Dear Pammy, How can I help my cat with their urinary issues?

  74. 74.

    Cassidy

    May 29, 2014 at 4:22 pm

    @ruemara: Move along. Nothing to see here.

  75. 75.

    Mnemosyne

    May 29, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    @rikyrah:

    As I said in the other thread, Mr. Keating’s family needs to report this to the California Department of Insurance, ASAP. Anthem Blue Cross of California has been fined by the state multiple times for these kinds of shenanigans, and the regulators will be delighted to have an opportunity to crack down on them once again.

  76. 76.

    Keith G

    May 29, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    @ruemara: Not dismissal. It’s skepticism of broadly painted generalizations. I have been around long enough to see many claims end up with less actual support than commonly thought. When someone makes a claim that (implicitly or explicitly) begins with “all”, “most”, or “many” I get curious about where the data comes from and how it will hold up.

    I grew up hearing (and even being taught) all sorts of things that didn’t hold up about differing groups in society. I like caution. I like knowing how the data was gathered and tested.

  77. 77.

    Cassidy

    May 29, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    Levar Burton raised almost 2 mil in 24 hours to bring back Reading Rainbow.

  78. 78.

    Yatsuno

    May 29, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    And Word Press is oppressing me again. FYWP. I really mean it this time.

  79. 79.

    Liquid

    May 29, 2014 at 4:31 pm

    Non sequitur: Why does she always have to be referred to as “Alison Lundergan Grimes?” It’s not like she shot Kennedy. I mean the first name/middle name/surname thing is usually reserved for that kind of thing. Or did I just answer my own question?

  80. 80.

    jl

    May 29, 2014 at 4:33 pm

    @Morzer: Tolkein found his schlock in Switzerland? Oh dear, my people have even more to answer for than I knew. I’ll go smash my fondue pot, using it now makes me fell…unclean…

  81. 81.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 4:34 pm

    @Keith G:

    You can actually read what these people are thinking on a forum where they congregate – and you don’t think you have enough data on them? You have an active member of that very forum going on a killing spree and acting out their vision of how things should be done – and you don’t think you have enough data on them?

    How many more field trips into the fucked-up world of these people do you need with your tweezers, calipers, and butterfly net?

    And, by the way and for the record, that is far from being the only PUA or MRA forum or blog out there. Just so you know that before you try and tell yourself that it’s a small group of people who don’t connect to any wider demographic.

  82. 82.

    catclub

    May 29, 2014 at 4:35 pm

    @Liquid: My surmise, without knowing for sure, is that she is a member of a prominent Kentucky family, and the complete name shows how.

  83. 83.

    catclub

    May 29, 2014 at 4:36 pm

    @Yatsuno: Maybe you can change back to Yutsano.

    I always preferred that.

  84. 84.

    Yatsuno

    May 29, 2014 at 4:37 pm

    @catclub: It’s also the name most Kentuckians know her under, as she is the sitting Secretary of State. I also want to say there’s a strain of Southern tradition here but not familiar enough with that to know for sure.

  85. 85.

    burnspbesq

    May 29, 2014 at 4:37 pm

    @Liquid:

    Why does she always have to be referred to as “Alison Lundergan Grimes?”

    It reminds people of her connection to longtime KY state Democratic chair Jerry Lundergan. See also Shelley Moore Capito. In contrast Kirsten Gillibrand doesn’t use her maiden name, perhaps in order to downplay her ties to her Republican lobbyist father.

  86. 86.

    Yatsuno

    May 29, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    @catclub: FYWP hated that name for a spell. I’m not sure if that’s been resolved. I can try tho.

  87. 87.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    @Liquid:

    I suspect that ALG has her husband’s name prominently displayed for the same reason HRC now does, Kentucky not being exactly known as a haven of “radical” feminism. Jerry Lundergan, her dad, was a pretty big wheel in Democratic circles in Kentucky, so she kept her family name to remind the voters.

  88. 88.

    Amir Khalid

    May 29, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    @Liquid:
    my understanding was that the all-three-names thing was for white male serial killers, and the middle name always had to be Lee even though he had no Asian family connections: e.g. Luther Lee Boggs.

  89. 89.

    Ash Can

    May 29, 2014 at 4:41 pm

    And in other news, Edward Snowden did indeed send an email to NSA officials, and it has been released. And yes, the original title of this article, “Paper Trail? Email Backs Snowden’s Claim He Sent Concerns to NSA” has been changed.

    In all seriousness, though, I would be very interested if NBC’s FOIA request for more emails turns up anything. That would be something with actual potential to be enlightening.

  90. 90.

    Roger Moore

    May 29, 2014 at 4:43 pm

    @scav:

    You got the magic brew that guarantees they’re not mean drunks?

    It’s called chloroform.

  91. 91.

    jl

    May 29, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    @Trollhattan: Yes, God works in mysterious ways, and even Tim Donnelly will do his part to further bury the CA GOP. Amen.

  92. 92.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    @jl:

    You just wait, Soon enough we’ll discover that Thorin Oakenshield was really the name of a Swiss banker Tolkien met while barhopping in Geneva. As for where Smaug came from….

  93. 93.

    scav

    May 29, 2014 at 4:48 pm

    @Morzer: Smaug? Clearly his favorite raclette chef on the trip.

  94. 94.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 4:52 pm

    @scav:

    Willkommen im Gasthaus Morgoth!

  95. 95.

    Roger Moore

    May 29, 2014 at 4:54 pm

    @Liquid:

    It’s not like she shot Kennedy. I mean the first name/middle name/surname thing is usually reserved for that kind of thing.

    In her case, as in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s, it’s first/maiden/married, not first/middle/last. In Grimes’s case, I assume some of it is because her father was also a politician and she’s trying to cash in on the goodwill from his name.

  96. 96.

    Calouste

    May 29, 2014 at 4:58 pm

    @scav:

    Well, they might discover that there are other things in life worth talking about than whether you get laid or not. One thing I can’t get my head around is that these guys seem to make their “involuntary celibacy”, to use their term, the core, the centerpiece, the defining attribute of their existence. There are other things in life to do, even for early 20s geeks.

  97. 97.

    Ash Can

    May 29, 2014 at 4:58 pm

    @Roger Moore: Entirely possible, since she’s in politics herself. But there’s always the possibility that she simply likes the name she grew up with and wants to hang onto it.

  98. 98.

    Roger Moore

    May 29, 2014 at 5:03 pm

    @Morzer:

    You can actually read what these people are thinking on a forum where they congregate – and you don’t think you have enough data on them? You have an active member of that very forum going on a killing spree and acting out their vision of how things should be done – and you don’t think you have enough data on them?

    I’m not willing to assume there’s going to be a second killing spree just because the people there are a bunch of assholes; any group could have one evil member. If Villago Delenda Est finally carried through on his promises by going on a killing spree in a Georgetown cocktail party, I wouldn’t necessarily assume that the rest of the posters here were going to do the same, even if they made up excuses for him. That’s a sharp contrast to Stormfront, which has produced several mass murderers and thus loses any benefit of the doubt.

  99. 99.

    jl

    May 29, 2014 at 5:08 pm

    @Morzer: I only know the Ring junk from the movies, all of which I think I’ve seen by now in bits and pieces (air trip here, hotel stay there, kids watching at a party over someplace else.

    Are the books as boring as the movies? It’s all monsters and fights and corny fantasy BS.

    No hot chicks, not even in forms suitable for a youth fantasy book. I saw a lot of hot chicks while in Switzerland. How come he left that out?

  100. 100.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 29, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    @Roger Moore: For one thing, you’d have to find out who it was who financed both my trip to DC to do the deed and the tool I used to carry it out.

    Which might just be tainted cocktail weenies.

  101. 101.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Actually, they talk admiring about George Sodini, who also went on a killing spree, for which you can find the details (and his own words on his views and motives) here:

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8258001

    Elliot Rodger is the second, at least, of these sad losers to go on the rampage – and I would be surprised if there weren’t more. The point isn’t that one blog/forum produces multiple killers – it’s that the movement/group call it what you will of which these men were a part is producing killers.

  102. 102.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 29, 2014 at 5:13 pm

    @jl: The books are…

    Ponderous. Especially the really boring parts with the Ents.

  103. 103.

    Morzer

    May 29, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    @jl:

    I know quite a few Ring “purists” who hate what Jackson did to the books with his simple-minded schlock and gratuitous additions. I don’t know that the Ring is perfect (and it certainly has some indifferent stretches) but overall I do think it’s a great work that isn’t standard, B-league fantasy at all.

  104. 104.

    jl

    May 29, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    @Morzer: OK, so no good or interesting women characters, then. Amirite, or what?

  105. 105.

    catclub

    May 29, 2014 at 5:25 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Robert E Lee is the non-asian Lee in those names.
    I bet you knew that and were just waiting.

  106. 106.

    Suffern ACE

    May 29, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    @Morzer: It does make sense that Smaug represents UBS. All the money is hidden away and banking secrecy laws prevent regulators from finding out how much is actually inside the mountain.

  107. 107.

    Trollhattan

    May 29, 2014 at 5:33 pm

    @Cassidy:
    Buddy of mine pushed him out of a tree when they were kids. Because, kids.

  108. 108.

    Comrade Mary

    May 29, 2014 at 5:45 pm

    @Mnemosyne: That’s a good link for anyone in California, and good to post, but I think the family has already done that. Reaching out to the media was smart, too. Latest from Keating: “Thanks to the news coverage I got a call from @AnthemPR_CA that said not to worry, these denial letters are standard procedure. (Why??)”

  109. 109.

    scuffletuffle

    May 29, 2014 at 6:31 pm

    @acallidryas: See if she will drink the water from a can of tuna. Also, pet fountains (ie moving water) and/or fresh water with an ice cube in. I have one cat that loves ice water.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    May 29, 2014 at 7:24 pm

    @Comrade Mary:

    It’s my thing right now: make sure people complain to the state and federal governments so all of this crap is on record and we can tighten up the restrictions on the insurance companies. Anthem Blue Cross is a known bad actor in California, so there’s probably a team assigned by the state just to keep an eye on them.

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    May 29, 2014 at 7:35 pm

    @acallidryas: My boy kitty has a chronic UTI condition that makes him very prone to infections and crystals, which are very dangerous.

    I not only switched to wet food, but I add water to their wet food every time they eat. Feeding smaller meals, more frequently, is also recommended.

    And my vet prescribes cosequin, which helps reduce inflammation and reduces likelihood of infection. It comes in capsule form and I sprinkle it on their food. Both kitties love it!

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    May 29, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    @Yatsuno: Did you see that WP is also oppressing Ommes now? And Mike J? (I think the initial is J,)

    I can kinda see ignoring it when it’s just one person, even though it’s heartless, but by the time it’s 3 people or more, you’ve got a problem. Paging mistermix, paging mistermix…

    Edit: I hope you can get back to being Yutsano, soon!

  113. 113.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 29, 2014 at 8:08 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    If it’s not Lee, it has to be Wayne, e.g. John Wayne Gacy.

    If you ever meet someone named Wayne Lee Smith or Lee Wayne Johnson, run as fast as you can in the other direction.

  114. 114.

    acallidryas

    May 29, 2014 at 11:44 pm

    Thanks all, for the kitty advice! She’s only 9, and in otherwise good health. We’ve had her checked out a couple of times and there are no stones or other indications of more serious problems, just a chronic and persistent UTI. She’s been drinking out of the running faucet, I just hate to waste that much water, and we switched to wet food. I’ll try adding a bit more water to it. The vet thinks more liquid, if not the answer entirely, will do a world of good.

  115. 115.

    Paul in KY

    May 30, 2014 at 9:13 am

    @Comrade Mary: Guinea Pigs are very cute. If they didn’t crap once every 10 seconds, I’d have 2.

    Nice story on Angie.

  116. 116.

    Paul in KY

    May 30, 2014 at 9:17 am

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: He needs to stay down there & serve his time. He also needs to be discharged for failure to appear at his post, etc.

  117. 117.

    Paul in KY

    May 30, 2014 at 9:18 am

    @Amir Khalid: She didn’t hint. Grindelewald & Dumbedore were lovers at one time.

  118. 118.

    Paul in KY

    May 30, 2014 at 9:22 am

    @acallidryas: You can salt her food. Should make her want to drink water. If she can’t not pee inside house, then outside she must go.

  119. 119.

    Paul in KY

    May 30, 2014 at 9:28 am

    @Morzer: I’m a Tolkein nut & I generally don’t mind the changes Mr. Jackson made. The one I don’t like is the change to what happened to the Witch King & the other Naxgul (those idiotic tombs Gandalf/Radagast go to). Totally unnecessary, IMO.

  120. 120.

    Paul in KY

    May 30, 2014 at 9:30 am

    @Comrade Mary: Standard procedure is to send you one to see if you are a defeated idiot who will not contest & just die quickly.

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