Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

“Alexa, change the president.”

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

We still have time to mess this up!

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

In my day, never was longer.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Late Night Open Thread

Late Night Open Thread

by | 132 Comments

This post is in: ,

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I need to back off from the intense stories. My Twitter feed just now has been full of nuclear deterrence theory and why we don’t need the smaller nuclear weapons that the Trump administration seems to want. And Irma and José. There is a new model out that suggests that José will smack into New York in ten days, just when many national leaders converge for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly session.

Today was laundry day, as most Saturdays are in my house, and the cats love it. They don’t have the internet. They also had their first venture outdoors with leashes and vests. It went reasonably well.

 

Open thread! Doesn’t have to be good news – that’s not how things are going now.

Reader Interactions

132Comments

  1. 1.

    Gin & Tonic

    We’ve always had indoor/outdoor cats. No leashes, no vests, they come and go.

    If someone’s going to post about how that’s bad for the cats or for the birds or for my neighbors, don’t waste your time.

  2. 2.

    efgoldman

    Gawds I hate having to study and analyze every goddamned nutrition label for hidden bad ingredients.

    Avoid potassium; avoid phosphorus; AVOID SODIUM!

    At least I’m basically not carb limited, at least not for now.

    /whine

  4. 4.

    Tenar Arha

    I saw Columbus tonight at the Brattle theater (art house).

    It was a really really good slice of life film, but before you go to see it know that it begins with the sudden hospitalization of an aging father as part of the story. I wasn’t prepared for that. Almost too close to home for me. Friend I went with said that John Cho was superb, shameful he isn’t a bigger star, & I agree. Really hard to do that kind of interior acting conveying deep emotion without over emoting. Also Haley Lu Richardson is young actor to watch.

  7. 7.

    Sab

    @Gin & Tonic: ^I have had three cats squashed by cars. None since we stopped letting them go out. However, my Dad’s cat insists on being indoor/outdoor, and will shred screens and interior walls if he doesn’t get his way. I will be sad if a car squashes him or a fox eats him, but it will be his choice. Bad choice, nonetheless.

  8. 8.

    Aleta

    @efgoldman: Yeah and there’s 20 different varieties on the shelf; the info is in a different place on each box; finding the simple thing you already know you want takes way too fucking long.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    On the better news front –

    A remarkable ancient Egyptian tomb has been discovered in the necropolis of Draa el-Naga, near Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings.

    The tomb consists of a small room at ground level and a burial chamber eight metres below containing four mummies. Its principal occupant was a goldsmith named Amenemhat from the 18th Dynasty (1550BC to 1292BC), the time of Tutankhamun, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut. The tomb also contains skeletons, funerary artifacts, including 150 ushabti statues,
    [snip]
    Of the 50 funerary cones discovered, 40 belong to four other officials from the period whose bodies have not yet been found. “This is a good sign,” said Mostafa Waziry, who is leading the excavation. “It means if we keep digging in this area we’re going to find four more tombs.” The find was hailed by the present Egyptian minister of antiquities, Khaled Alnani, as “an important scientific discovery”. Source

  10. 10.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Gin & Tonic: Outside cats don’t last long where we are because coyotes.

    ETA: FlyingToaster got there ahead of me. I don’t let my dog out unsupervised either, again because coyotes. And owls.

  13. 13.

    MobiusKlein

    Two outside cats in San Francisco, both seem savvy about cars and coyotes. Skunks were a longer learning period for on, but she got it eventually.
    They both enjoy it, so we live with the risks. And the occasional live or dead mouse.

  15. 15.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 6

    I am really tired of my Dodgers losing.

    Tired of statisticians thinking they know baseball.

  18. 18.

    catclub

    So I have to be the one to ask for pictures of cats in vests on leashes?

    Ok, I am asking. Cats pictures, with vests, indoors or out.

  21. 21.

    NorthLeft12

    @Gin & Tonic: @FlyingToaster: My wife will not allow our cat to go out at night anymore due to the threat of coyotes. One of my wife’s relatives posted a video of their cat being chased across the roof of their garden shed, and that was pretty much the end of Lucy’s [that’s the cat, not my wife] evening forays. And there have been a number of neighbourhood cats that have disappeared.

  22. 22.

    raven

    Our Ft Myers people have 3 old dogs and 2 cats. So far the Bohdi doesn’t seem wise to the cats being here but he did discipline the yappy chihuahua.

  24. 24.

    RandomMonster

    @Gin & Tonic:

    If someone’s going to post about how that’s bad for the cats or for the birds or for my neighbors, don’t waste your time.

    Unless you live in badlands where mountain lions and bobcats live. Then listen to me. Just sayin: context matters

  25. 25.

    Mike J

    @FlyingToaster:

    every family in my neighborhood who tries it gets their pet eaten by the Walker Pond coyotes.

    You just can’t escape product placement anywhere these days, even embedded in a blog comment.

    Store brand coyotes work just as well at half the price.

  26. 26.

    ThresherK

    We have one cat who will crawl into the empty dryer when it’s warm so for the very few times we use it we need to watch out.

    My father told me we have some (heretofore unknown to me) Danish blood. I am honor bound to choose a team from the Danish Superliga to root for. If you have a case to make,let me know.

  27. 27.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @catclub: It has been complex enough to get the vests on the cats and then the cats outside that I have taken few photos. And the cats have had strange reactions to the vests, so I have posted only one, a while back, to preserve their dignity and privacy. As they become more graceful with their vests and leashes, I’ll post more.

  29. 29.

    efgoldman

    @Aleta:

    Yeah and there’s 20 different varieties on the shelf; the info is in a different place on each box

    Not quite THAT bad; I read the labels on line, then decide what to buy.

  31. 31.

    frosty

    @efgoldman: I’m with you. At my last physical the doc said I had to limit carbs, she suggested 40. I’m trying instead to cut my previous amount in half, from about 200 to 100. Hopefully that will do the trick. I can give up potato chips, but red beans and rice????

    And if you have to go 40g low carb, limit sodium, and cholesterol, there’s nothing left!

  32. 32.

    Karen

    there must be a law or rule that says both dogs and cats will get hair all over freshly done laundry and ignore dirty; I can drop dirty sheets on floor and dog will ignore but let the freshly laundered be where she can get to them?

    side note; so far the police have found over 50 dogs tethered to trees to wait out Irma while owners have evacuated. grrrrrrrrrrrrr

  35. 35.

    Sab

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Our four cats were rescues. Three of them were sort of feral, and had brief experience with Midwestern winter. Only the fourth guy would even consider going outside. The other three run for the basement when a door to the horrible weather prone outside is opened.

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Karen: Don’t judge. Would you die for your pet? Some of us might. I doubt most would. Cocker spaniel vs. child, call it.

  37. 37.

    LaNonna

    Had a very large grey Maine coon cat while living in NYC on a houseboat. Smoky happily walked on a lead with harness when we traveled by car. Bsst comment, at a NYS Thruway rest stop, “damn, that’s some handsome dog, what kind is it?”

  38. 38.

    Origuy

    The father of a childhood friend of mine died the other day. He must have been in his eighties; I hadn’t seen him in years. He was an immigrant from Norway, professor of music at Indiana University, and an opera singer. Most people in Indiana would never have heard him sing opera, but for many years he sang the national anthem at IU basketball games. The broadcasts nearly always included his performance. Roy Samuelsen

  40. 40.

    The Dangerman

    @burnspbesq:

    …Living Colour…

    Best live show I’ve ever seen (probably because it was in a fairly tiny bar when they were just coming off a long hiatus).

  44. 44.

    FlyingToaster

    @Mike J: Branding is second only to location :) In the census packet every January, our neighborhood gets an insert about the coyotes.

    Watertown is weird; we have the coyotes in Bemis; there are turkeys in East Watertown, Coolidge Square, and the Arsenal. Coyotes don’t go east of the Square; Turkeys don’t come west.

    I understand that Allston (neighborhood of Boston, across the river from the Arsenal) would like to trade us their rats for our coyotes, but noone has been able to agree on an exchange rate. We think 1:1 would be fine (there are ~5-6 coyotes year around); Allston wants it like 5K:1.

  51. 51.

    NorthLeft12

    My wife and I had to take a shuttle to the airport in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan last Tuesday and the driver in an attempt at small talk asked us if we knew why the moon was so bright. It was near a full moon and the sky was clear, but before I could say that, he said something to the effect of “the Sun’s rays must be pretty strong to shine through the moon like that.” Now it was three in the morning, so I tried to quickly say that the Sun’s rays were being reflected by the moon, because the Sun is on the other side of the Earth, because that’s why it is dark here, right? He paused for a moment, and said “That sounds possible.”
    I am really not sure that I convinced him of anything and frankly the hour was too early and the ride too short to convince him completely. I am glad that my daughter the High School Science teacher was not with us [we were returning home from a family reunion] or we would never have made the flight.

  52. 52.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Okay y’all: the kittehs are demanding their royalties for photos on Balloon Juice, and it’s my bedtime. See you tomorrow. Irma will really start hitting Florida then. Stay safe!

  55. 55.

    Sab

    @Omnes Omnibus: Tether them to tree where they simply drown? That’s not a child/pet choice.@Omnes Omnibus: Save the kids first. Pets loose maybe? Certainly not tied to tree if storm surge approaching.

    By the way, I am very happy not to be in your pie filter, because I was a bit obnoxious to you a while back when you were poking at a sort of troll. I agreed with you at as to the trollish behavior, but that particular troll goes on and on if prodded, as it did. I just wanted you to stop prodding so the troll would go away. But then the next night it turned up, you said nothing, and the thread was very very boring because nobody said anything at all for hours on end. I was wrong, and I was also rude to you and I am sorry.

  56. 56.

    Achrachno

    @Omnes Omnibus: OO, you’re not making a lot of sense tonight. Nothing NL said was offensive, and your pet/kid argument made no sense at all. Don’t be afraid to explain what you mean and to connect the assertions to facts with some bits of logic.

  59. 59.

    GregB

    Please stay safe Florida folks.

    Raven sounds like you are going to be a Dr. Doolittle refuge. Peace be unto you.

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Achrachno: What did NL’s comments have to do with what is happening? If nothing, then I was wrong and I should apologize. But, if they did, and why else would they be posted here, I don’t feel the need to say anything.

  61. 61.

    Sab

    @RobertDSC-iPhone 6: I would agree, but not to the Sooners!@Omnes Omnibus:

    I know you don’t pie, but I was obnoxious.

    If I had to abandon a pet to approaching floods, I don’t think I would tie it up. Let it have a chance to save itself.

    I agree there is no good choice here. Loose frightened pets are a danger to neighbors, but tethered pets are dead.

  64. 64.

    efgoldman

    @Regnad Kcin:

    for the different double feature daily HSq Theatre

    When mrs efg and I were first dating, we sat thru a double feature of Godfather 1 & 2 at the Harvard Square.
    I also went regularly to the Warner cartoon compilations at the Brattle. Started taking my daughter when she was eight or nine, introduce her to the important culture and make sure she was brought up right.

  70. 70.

    Karen

    @Cheryl Rofer: I now have a pit bull, who loves to burrow into bed, she will lay on top of quilt unless the sheets are fresh then she will find a way to get between the fresh sheets. I did laundry the other day and fresh sheets were in basket on top of unmade bed, she got into basket and left “magic hairs” on fresh sheets

  76. 76.

    Karen

    @Ken: yes, and to give the gift of finding hair in your underwear because you didn’t get it all folded and put in drawer imediately

  77. 77.

    seaboogie

    Okay Cheryl – I know you said Zooey and Ric were reasonably comfortable about the leashes and vests. Imma tell you that the pic says otherwise. Kitty splayed on the floor was all ” Could you Adam and Eve that bullshit?”, and curled up kitty was all “Don’t even get me started – I need a nap.” I speak cat, FWIW.

  79. 79.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    Well, the vet gave some variation of, “I don’t know,” to pretty much every question I asked, so the ball is back in my court. The one thing she did commit to is that she doesn’t see any evidence that he is currently in pain, so it’s not a decision I have to make right now. So, I’m going to take a few days. I just don’t want that delay to extend as an excuse not to make a decision, because I’m pretty sure that the time has come to put Dirk to sleep. However, I’m probably going to do it later in the week so that I don’t have to face going to work and training in a complete stranger right after he goes.

  80. 80.

    seaboogie

    First kitty (age 5) was indoor/outdoor and lived to 24.
    Second one got hit and killed by a car at 3.
    Third one also indoor/outdoor was taught to be afraid of cars (& in fact used to get out and wander on one of Trump’s Doral golf courses – taught the pooch to find her) and made herself a solely indoor cat when she lost her hearing. Lived to be 21.

    BUT – I will not get another cat right now because I reside 1 block away from major traffic, and am unwilling to confine completely and make miserable.

    There is a fine balance between respecting the cat, and keeping it safe – and I think Cheryl has it right, much as the kitties might chafe at their boundaries.

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I thought this was just the NYT, but apparently the Washington Post is getting in on it, too. I’m a little surprised at Costa, I thought he was smarter than that

    Robert CostaVerified account @ costareports
    In spirit, Pres. Trump isn’t a Democrat or a Republican. He’s a freewheeling, transactional pol who looks for wins.

    he’s getting smacked around as much as the NYT

    Ken Tremendous‏Verified account @ KenTremendous 3h3 hours ago
    In spirit, Pennywise isn’t a murderer or a clown. He’s a free-spirited entertainer who has his own way of relating to children.Ken Tremendous added,

  82. 82.

    chopper

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    so what about his story wasn’t appropriate for an open thread? what is this requirement that his post “have to do with what is happening”? what the fuck does that even mean here?

  83. 83.

    seaboogie

    Anybody who tethers a pet to a tree or doesn’t let it otherwise roam free if they make the horrible, irresponsible (the shelters take pets now) choice to abandon it, should be shot. And I will purchase my first gun and at least make them shit their pants for the inhumanity of their decision. Possible they might lose some toes-just to keep them eternally off-balance.

  85. 85.

    Millard Filmore

    @seaboogie: I used to have an indoor-outdoor cat, in a safe apartment complex. Then the neighbor went and got 2 Siamese kittens. They were energetic, playful, rambunctious little things. Now my cat is an indoor cat. I can’t push him outside.

  86. 86.

    joel hanes

    Thirty-two years of indoor/outdoor cats in Silicon Valley (I won’t “de-claw”).
    One of them hit by a car.
    Four, like Tunch, killed by one or another of the neighbors’ dogs when the dogs got loose.
    One poisoned somehow.

    The current six year old orange guy gets in territorial fights, has to go to the vet twice a year to treat some facial abscess

    If I ever have another cat, probably completely indoor.

  89. 89.

    Czanne

    The good news: my 70+ aunt and uncle (Bostonians) were in S Florida, taking care of my cousin’s (their only kid)’s 7 month old baby while cousin and spouse were in Europe presenting at a trauma med conference. Aunt, Uncle and baby are now outside of Savannah with my sibling, niblings and the Spouse In Law. Niblings are enjoying the baby when they’re not at school. We’re all hoping Jose decides to give Georgia a skip; they did okay last fall, but the lowlands don’t need another hit so soon.

    Bad news: Aunt and Uncle are dealing with SpouseInLaw. Who has turned goldbuggy, conspiracy minded, and prepper. My bets are on Aunt and Uncle.

    Ambivalent news: I’m glad cousin and spouse are in Europe. They’d be on duty at hospital with this. S Florida will need them afterwards.

  90. 90.

    JGabriel

    Cheryl Rofer @ Top:

    … the smaller nuclear weapons that the Trump administration seems to want.

    That is the first time I’ve ever heard of Trump wanting something smaller.

  92. 92.

    CaseyL

    All of my cats have been indoor-outdoor. I’ve lost one to a car.

    The others… well, I did try keeping Jazz indoors after I moved (it seemed like a good time to try, when he was in a new place and already unsettled). He pined so horribly – crying ALL the time, moping, not eating – I gave up. And if he was allowed outside, then Ariel also had to be allowed to go outside. (Jazz died at age 14 of cancer; Ariel, of old age at 19+.)

    Anyway, I live in Kitty Paradise: a landscaped townhouse complex, with trees, gravel paths, and wide lawns, and a huge parking lot between us and the street. My current cats can play Jungle Kitty to their hearts’ content without ever going near asphalt. I’m more worried about the coyotes who live in the greenbelt at the other end of the complex.

  94. 94.

    JGabriel

    Cheryl Rofer @ Top:

    There is a new model out that suggests that José will smack into New York in ten days …

    The GFS also spent quite a few days sending Irma into the NE seaboard between Philadelphia and Boston – several of those early Irma runs (8-14 days ago) ran smack into NYC too.

    So take any runs showing Jose will hit NYC with a very large grain of salt. It may happen, but the models are still too many days out to have any accuracy regarding Jose’s eventual path.

  95. 95.

    chopper

    @remima:

    there’s a difference between ‘i can’t bring my dog to the shelter’ and ‘i guess i’ll tie her to a tree so she’s guaranteed to drown in the floodwaters’.

  99. 99.

    Amir Khalid

    I’ve been hearing about “tactical” nukes for decades now. How much smaller than the full-sized article does one of these nukettes get? Would they be sufficiently less unpalatable than a big’un to use in an actual war?

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @efgoldman:
    I’m supposed to eat weeds, nuts and berries. Low carbs at least low sodium, no red meat, no chocolate, no ice cream, no chocolate ice cream……… IOW I’m supposed to eat what food eats.
    What I’m wondering is, does it make you live longer, or does it just feel like it?

  103. 103.

    ericblair

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    In spirit, Pres. Trump isn’t a Democrat or a Republican. He’s a freewheeling, transactional pol who looks for wins.

    Frankenstein’s monster isn’t a real Frankenstein. He’ll transactionally rip the head off of anybody standing in front of him. Fuck. (Yes, I know the “real” Frankenstein’s monster was far smarter than Trump.)

    It’s truly amazing how they manage to dress up a gibbering ignorant bigoted egomaniac with no consistency or loyalty, but have fun trying to toss the Trump base into the woodchipper, guys.

  105. 105.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:
    We had a lot of that sort of stuff 40+ yrs ago. I think they stopped making that sort of very small nukes because you can get the same level of bang for far less money and with out the same level of risk. The ship I was stationed on for two years was supposedly nuke capable for one of it’s weapon systems, but I don’t believe they ever bothered during that 2 years. It just wasn’t worth the hassle. Plus the more nukes a country has and the smaller they are, I believe the risk goes up, maybe even exponentially, that one might get captured and used against the very people they stole it from. Now that’s a sobering thought.

  106. 106.

    seaboogie

    @remima: I stand corrected. Harvey seemed more pet-friendly because they realized that people would not leave without their pets.
    I’ve made much better and wiser housing decisions because I had pets in tow to care for. My sweet landlord encouraged me to get another cat after my elder kitty passed away, and I was all “not here, not now”. It’s a commitment. Not entirely sure I would outlive a new charge, and grateful that I have already outlived my beloved longtime charges.

  108. 108.

    Ruckus

    @Major Major Major Major:
    The ones from decades ago were stronger than the weapons they were meant to replace but I don’t believe they are a lot stronger than current day weapons can be. And as I said it is a major hassle from the handling/operating end, so I think they figured out long ago that they just aren’t worth the effort.

  109. 109.

    Suzanne

    My dearly departed Nico had a hard time transitioning to being an inside cat, but where I lived had lots of dangers…. a major roadway, and then later I lived in an apartment complex directly adjacent to the Rillito River, which is typically dry, and is a major thoroughfare for allllllll the scary-ass desert wildlife. Gila monsters would just waddle through the complex like, “What’s up?”. So I got her a harness and leash and would take her out for carries (which is like a walk, but I schlepped her the whole time).

    Later, I had PJ, who was always an inside kitty, until the day she got out when Spawn accidentally didn’t latch the door all the way. Went looking for her, couldn’t find her…..until about a month later, when she came home on her own. Dirty, hungry, and totally traumatized. She was too scared even to come up to us. She came right up near the door but was too scared to come out from under the plant she was hiding under. She lived about four more years, but was never the same again. She had always been really lively and outgoing and affectionate, but after that incident, she was skittish and terrified and shy. I moved when I got married and tried to bring her with me to our apartment, and she never adjusted and spent all her time under the bed. So my mom took her. One day my mom went to the store, and came home, and PJ had died. She was only about six years old. We never knew what happened, both when she was out in the world for that time, or how she died.

    Now we have Scout and Zellie. Scout is gloriously lazy and doesn’t ever try to escape. Zellie is a total shithead and tries to sneak out, but after the paint water incident, she is a bit…. special. I think it also affected her sight, so I don’t want her to go out.

  110. 110.

    joel hanes

    @Amir Khalid:

    How much smaller than the full-sized article does one of these nukettes get?

    The eight-inch howitzer battalion for which I repaired electronics back in 1974 was “Special Weapons” capable.

    Very roughly, because I was never entrusted with exact information : Tapered 20 cm cylinder, 75cm long, 100kg, 1/4 kiloton, range 10 km plus a smidge.

  111. 111.

    seaboogie

    @remima: I’ve learned that what you do is insist, persuade or evade when it comes to our beloved critters.

    When I moved to the SF Bay area from Miami, we had to find hotels to stay in. La Quinta was accomodating, but their rules were quite various. When we told them we had a dog, we were sometimes told “35 lbs, max”, and I was all “sure, fine”. So I escorted my 85 lb golden up the back stairs, and nobody was the wiser.

    When I rented that 1st apt in SF Bay, I asked my new landlord about an open space on the deck that needed repair. He said “you don’t have a cat, do you?”. To which I replied, yes – I do – but I also have this dog, and showed him a picture of the most beautimous golden. And my landlord fixed the space, and then – imagine this – attached his Friday night “fat off the steak trimmings” to my doorknob, in a paper towel bound by an elastic band, every week for about eight years for our mutually beloved pooch.

    I will flat out get ballsy for a voiceless pet, and have never been let down. There are rules, and then there are rules. My critters more than lived their full lives, but if they were still in my care – I’d find them shelter, and me alongside them.

  112. 112.

    trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid:
    I’d delineate them as to whether they’re for battlefield use or for the MAD doctrine (civilian-political). Tactical will be smaller and lower yield due to practical considerations. We (the US) had nuclear artillery shells in the arsenal and it’s a fair question whether their kill radius exceeded the cannon’s range.

    There are nuclear land mines, torpedoes, etc.

  114. 114.

    seaboogie

    @Suzanne: I hear you. My critters seem to live a beyond full measure of their lives (except for the kitty hit by car at 3). I’ve only had a few, and their lives have been long. So I undertake the responsibility of a furry lifetime with great gravitas. Why I don’t have a new one now. Maybe a rat, with 4 years max? But I have a pet-sit this month with two pooches and a kitty – so I’ll get a dose of the four-leggers.

  115. 115.

    Karen

    @seaboogie: My last move I had no trouble finding places to spend the night that would take pets, I found Holiday Express the best since they always gave me room near back door and lawn/pet walk area. They never asked size of dog, guess they never figured that I would have a mastiff that was almost the same weight as me. My problem was finding place to rent, nearly every place got in contact with was under 25 pounds; which is how ended up where am at. I told them had 125 pound mastiff, they said “no problem” it is small dogs that cause a lot of damage.
    She collapsed last December and I had to put her to sleep, so I rescued a “small” dog that owner wanted to rehome. Now have a 65 pound pit bull

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid:
    IIRC they were a last resort for NATO before the USSR broke up, in case they were to overrun the eastern defenses during an invasion. I don’t think they really thought it through.

    Once worked with a former Navy aviator who flew anti-sub missions in the Pacific and his plane (Hercules outfitted for the purpose) was armed with nuclear torpedoes. Didn’t know they even existed.

  117. 117.

    SectionH

    @seaboogie: It’s why our last rescues have been older kittehs.

    The last one I volunteered for (18 yr old) up in LA was snapped up before I needed to drive up there. That was an encouraging sign.

    I only have 2 cats now. Both are ~16. One we’ve had since she was 6 months or so, and insisted on being let into join the 4 other cats already in residence. The other one we’ve had for 4 years. I love both of them so much.

    We’d never commit to taking care of a young cat now, unless fostering, but there are so many older cats who need a place, I don’t think that will be a worry.

  118. 118.

    remima

    @seaboogie: Oh I know, I was relieved to hear that Houston responders were prioritizing reuniting pets with owners as a way to help people who had lost everything material at least have the comfort of being with the creatures they love.

    Yesterday, I was disturbed to learn that Florida shelters were turning away people with pets. No offense to you intended at all! I just can’t imagine being in a situation having to decide between saving my little boy or my sweet dog. Although if I had to leave my pup to fend for himself I do have the common sense not to tie him to a tree.

    Now I’m sobbing just thinking about this. God/FSM help everyone in harm’s way.

  119. 119.

    SectionH

    @Suzanne: It’s one thing to let cats out somewhere “safe”. Of our clowder of randomly lucky 5 cats who found us, 4 out of 5 survived to die of natural causes. The youngest one is still with us. But we’re in San Diego now, and no, outside is not a friendly environment for small furry animals.

    Our other cat, ~ same age but we’ve had her for 4 yrs, so hates “outside” that if I open the window in our bedroom, she goes and hides in the closet.

  120. 120.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Amir Khalid: Blowing up autobahn viaducts.

    US 155mm howitzers were nuclear capable. You cannot imagine how happy the decision to eliminate nuclear rounds for them after the Berlin Wall came down made the officers of the division artillery I was the signal officer of.

  121. 121.

    Mel

    @Karen: We adopted a “full-grown, appx. 15 months old” very tall, long, strong kitty from a small rescue many years back. He looked suspiciously like a Maine Coon mix to us, so we weren’t surprised by his 16 pound weight. He had a very kitteny looking face, so we suspected that he might be closer to 13 months of age.

    Surprise, surprise – our big boy turned out to be only about 10 or 11 months old, and our vet placed a final weight guess at about 22-26 pounds.

    Kitty grew. And grew. And grew some more. Full grown, he was 25.5 pounds of gentle giant. He loved everybody. It puzzled him so much that my mother’s tiny miniature Dachshund would flee in terror from him. He must have looked like a Puma to the poor Dachshund.

  123. 123.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:
    There were supposedly nuclear rocket powered torpedoes, which is what the ship I was on was supposed to be able to fire. Called ASROC, we did fire off conventionally armed ones for practice.

  124. 124.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JGabriel: The GFS and European models have ensemble versions where they take a bunch of runs and tweak initial conditions slightly to see how they spread out over time. It’s a good way to gauge uncertainty.

    The GFS ensemble for Jose right now makes it clear that the direction it goes in after its loop-the-loop is as good as a roulette spin. Some go back to the Caribbean, some hit the Northeast, many go out to sea. In maybe five days it will be more clear. I’m probably going to do some more basic prep, it never hurts.

  125. 125.

    bemused

    We’ve had cats for several decades and our first five cats were indoor/outdoor. Pretty amazing none of them died due to anything that transpired outdoors. Our two present kitties are indoor only. We made that decision because we now have a lot more predator birds, bald eagles and owls and sometimes coyotes which folks here call brush wolves.

    We do have to watch one of the kitties though. On occasion when she is in wildish, playful mode, she will quickly run out the front door and stop at bottom of steps. We think she doesn’t quite know what she wants to do next in this unfamiliar territory. She hasn’t been any further outside than 10 ft before we scoop her up.

  126. 126.

    Silent no more

    Our beloved cat was leash-trained from a kitten, and would throw herself down on the ground when she saw the leash, eager to get suited up and ready for walkies. Of course, usually that meant 20 minutes of watching her stalk grasshoppers and eat grass. Other than on the leash, she stayed indoors.

  127. 127.

    Cheryl Rofer

    For a while in the fifties, sixties, and even into the seventies, there was a nuke for every purpose. I am so bummed out at that that I probably won’t write a post, but will keep my eyes open for articles. Some of it’s covered in the comments here. What I was thinking about writing last night was just how dumb these animosities look when you step a few feet back mentally. I did a twitter essay last night about the people who want to destroy the Iran agreement, starting with the tweet below. Crazy, all of them. But also likely to get us into WWIII.

  128. 128.

    Ken

    @Amir Khalid:

    There are nuclear land mines? For the love of God, what for?

    For when you want to deniably transfer 10 kg of plutonium to your enemy?

    (The concept of leaving behind a nuke where you hope the enemy will travel… I must be missing something. I assume they had tamper fuses, at least.)

  129. 129.

    TerryC

    @Amir Khalid: Back in Vietnam days with UDT-13 I was promised training in hi-lo parachuting and then underwater delivery of a mine version of a 55-pound tactical nuke that was derived from the Davy Crockett tactical nuke artillery weapon.

    Didn’t take me long to wonder how it was that I would get awa, aftery. Needless to say the enlistment incentive wasn’t great enough, even though it include a promise of also being on the splashdown team for Apollo 13.

  131. 131.

    MoxieM

    @efgoldman: And one of the few remaining theaters in the US using a rear-projection system–excellent for old movies designed for that kind of viewing. (Daughter did a summer internship there. So I can say also, the owner/managers are terrific, awesome human beings.)

  132. 132.

    J R in WV

    @trollhattan:

    There’s a place in eastern Europe called the Fulda Gap. It’s a low lying level area where tank armies can flood from Russia into Western Europe. And Russia during the Cold War had huge armies of tanks capable of over-running NATOs stationary forces in a surprise attack.

    That’s why special weapons installed as giant land mines. To destroy a majority of incoming attacking tank corps, and remove the possibility of using the Fulda Gap as a wide open door to Western Europe.

Comments are closed.