Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

I really should read my own blog.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Everybody saw this coming.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Let’s finish the job.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread- I Have a Mancold and I am Dying

Reader Interactions

222Comments

  4. 4.

    kindness

    Thank the FSM his kids will take care of him for us…..Oh….wait a minute. Unless it is dindin time for the kids.

  6. 6.

    dork

    Wait, didn’t you just post pix of a beauty sunset and were waxing on about Fall somethingorother?

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne

    I went to a writing thing this weekend and was gone two nights. I came home to discover that G had all but convinced himself that he will never finish his thesis on time and he’s a total failure who never should have gone to library school.

    Some Mexican food and cuddling helped fix that for the moment, but I am preparing myself for the next freakout and wondering what supplies to lay in. Chocolate? Potato chips? Additional microbrew? Top-shelf gin and artisanal tonic? ?

  11. 11.

    Couldn't Stand the Weather

    John, I hope you feel better.
    Steve will call 911 if things get any worse. No mopping in the meantime.

  13. 13.

    Pharniel

    I know ur feel bro.

    I’ve been fighting ear pain, headache, & sinus drainage since August. This hot/cold bullshit is just making everything worse.

    Hope it fades quickly.

  14. 14.

    Aimai

    Neti pot, learn it, live it, love it. Also: buy some chicken broth, a roasted chicken, two heads of garlic, green or red chili peppers, and tons of cilantro and lime. Sink chicken in broth, add sliced garlic cloves, simmer and add the cilantro and lime, and then drink the broth and eat the chicken. You will be better in no time.

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    Top-shelf gin and artisanal tonic?

    Learn how to make your own tonic water. It’s not that hard- the hardest part is finding a source for cichona bark- and you can make it to your own personal taste.

  16. 16.

    seefleur

    I feel like taking a drill to my sinuses

    Lurker delurking to top your issue: my spouse had his second total hip replacement done last week Thursday. (First one was done last March.) Initially the hospital suggested discharging him that afternoon. Apparently the newest “thing” in medical care is to try to get rid of the patient ASAP. Given that in the last 18 months my husband has had 2 episodes of DVT (the second one ended up with him having a clot from his ankle to his groin) and an issue with cardiomyopathy that resulted in nearly 2 weeks in 2 different hospitals (included was an ambulance ride from one to the other), I had to put both my feet down and decline the early discharge since I am NOT a registered nurse in any way. shape or form. It’s now been 72 hours since he came home, and I am about ready to go ballistic on the next “home health care person” who comes in and is patronizing towards both my husband and me. We are intelligent humans in our late 50’s who do NOT need to be told about basic hygiene. Spouse is a retired civil engineer and I work with law enforcement… give us a little credit for brains!! I guess the issue is that he’s been prescribed opiods for the initial pain – which he is using minimally because as a member of AA he KNOWS the underlying issues. So I guess my beef is with idiots who assume ignorance in medical situations and go for treating us like morons.

    Meantime, my sincerest hopes that your nasal passages unclog and you regain some equilibrium. Have you tried the old fashioned remedy of a towel over your head, a pot of steaming water and breathing in the steam? Sometimes simple works… Meantime, best of luck in unclogging your sinuses!

  17. 17.

    jacy

    Is this the thread where we can whine about our treacherous physical forms? I’ve been getting sicker and sicker over the past couple of months — my exhaustion and brain fog is almost as bad as when I was doing chemo. The two likely possibilities: autoimmune disease (most likely) or the cancer has returned (much less likely). I’m hanging on to being functional while waiting to get to the new endocrinologist which I am seeing — FINALLY — tomorrow. After that it’s back to the oncologist to rule out cancer. Lab test show I have no Vitamin D and that my anti-thyroid antibodies are 300 times what they ought to be, so hopefully it’s something they can at least diagnose without another couple rounds of pointless exploratory surgery. Although I think if I get one more exploratory surgery, that fills out my punch card and I get a free organ transplant. Or maybe it was free jello. I forget.

    I feel like shit and all I want to do is nap.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    Hope you feel better soon.

    Have just started reading the (overly!) long version of Stephen King’s The Stand. Maybe not the best choice for these living through Trump days.

    But don’t come down with what they have!

  22. 22.

    evap

    John, I second the neti pot. I have occasional allergy attacks and it is a life-saver for blocked sinuses. If you’ve never used it, it takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be glad you tried it. Also, ginger tea works wonders. Also, also, pour some boiling water in a sink, add a few drops of eucalyptus oil, drape a towel over your head and around the edge of the sink to keep the steam in and inhale. Feel better!

  26. 26.

    Mnemosyne

    @Pharniel:

    Have them check you for asthma. It turned out that my persistent non-allergic rhinitis and migraines were because I had mild untreated asthma.

  27. 27.

    Roger Moore

    Long-time blog followers know that John owns and knows how to use a Neti pot. If using one was going to fix his sinus troubles, they’d be fixed already.

  28. 28.

    Mike in NC

    Haven’t had a cold or sinus problem in a very long time, but today the dentist replaced two 1970s-era silver fillings in the back of my mouth and it still hurts like hell.

  29. 29.

    Fleeting Expletive

    Sorry about your cold. Pure misery.

    I wanted to watch Pulp Fiction again last night with the On Demand feature of my cable company. It was only available on Sundance, and was bowdlerized to oblivion–you just cannot have Samuel L.’s “tasty beverage” scene where “screw” is substituted for “fuck”–it’s pathetic.

    Then, there’s an outfit called “Common Sense Media” that purports to offer parental guidance for parents on the movies. For Pulp Fiction, here’s one of the things: “The director seems to mock product placement by featuring original brands created for the film.” (e.g., Red Apple cigarettes), Dude, that’s what you got out of watching this movie? They even counted the number of “fucks” uttered–417? I couldn’t watch after about 30 minutes, it was so butchered.

    I recall that Sundance studio was Robert Redford’s company originally, don’t know if he’s still affiliated or responsible, but it was awful.

  30. 30.

    oldster

    A variation on Aimai’s prescription:

    Hot and sour soup.

    Plenty of ginger, garlic, chili oil. Broth of your choice. Make it salty. Works wonders.

    If you are lame in the kitchen, you can start with the flavor packet from ramen noodles. Then rsmp up the heat.

    Rice wine vinegar helps, too.

  35. 35.

    bystander

    Vick’s Vapo Rub under each nostril. And don’t be a baby!

    The panel on Ari just excoriated Warren for diverting attention to her genetic test results. The message is Health Care, and no Dem should be discussing anything else. Plus her naked ambition is tinged with entitlement. Sound familiar?

  36. 36.

    debit

    @oldster: John is not lame in the kitchen.

    My go to soup for a cold:
    Saute some onion and garlic
    add fresh oregano and a generous pinch of red pepper flakes
    throw in some sliced carrots
    add chicken broth and bring to a simmer
    then add shredded rotisserie chicken and a cup of orzo
    when orzo is tender, squeeze in the juice of a couple lemons and serve.

    Minimal prep (because who wants to when they’re sick) and very comforting.

  37. 37.

    ruemara

    @oldster: Oh, that’s one of my fave comfort soups for illness. I love it over a bit of rice. It’s been so long since I’ve had any though, too much salt. Second the recommendation, but I also make a ginger chicken broth with tons of garlic, ginger & scallions. Just clear broth with shredded fresh ginger, crushed garlic & sliced scallions. Perfect if you’re also feeling nausea. You can toss in spinach or taters or bits of chicken as you feel up to eating meals.

  40. 40.

    dmsilev

    @Mnemosyne:

    I came home to discover that G had all but convinced himself that he will never finish his thesis on time and he’s a total failure who never should have gone to library school.

    That sort of self-doubt is traditional for most graduate students to go through at some point. It’ll pass.

  45. 45.

    Mike in DC

    Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, has died of Hodgkins Lymphoma. He was 65. Philanthropist, sports team owner, Jimi Hendrix fan.

  47. 47.

    trollhattan

    @Mike in DC:
    Oh crap, am sorry to hear that. PA seemed like a solid dude and one not turned into an uberdouche by his billionaire status. And yikes, he had a lot of projects going. Special kudos preventing Ken Behring from dragging the Seahawks to Oakland.

  49. 49.

    satby

    Well, we care John. Sorry you feel so shitty. At times like this I take nighttime sinus medicine and just sleep it off, getting up to feed the critters and take the dogs out only. Try that.
    Spicy food of any kind could help too, if you’re so inclined.
    Hoping you feel better soon.

  51. 51.

    Gvg

    What kind of air conditioning furnace filter do you use? Try using the super scrubber types. Also get an allergy mattress cover and pillow cover.

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    You’ll laugh, but I have never heard Dave Brat’s voice before. Thanks, no TV. It’s …. not what I expected. Tinny and grating. He’s already brought up immigration and Nancy Pelosi — twice now in 90 seconds.

    The vagenda! Nancy just got a third shout out.

    Tax cuts gonna give us all a new refrigerator.

  53. 53.

    opiejeanne

    Oh Gawd, some guy named Huppke is fussing over Elizabeth Warren not checking with the Cherokee Nation before releasing her DNA results. I don’t know who he is but this is an idiotic take.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    The failed Obama era.

    Open borders.
    Sanctuary cities.
    Gangs.

    He’s gone there. Obamacare. Nancy Pelosi for a fifth time. Socialized takeover of healthcare.

  56. 56.

    geg6

    People, Cole has had a neti pot for years and I’m sure he’s tried it.

    I suspect he may have come down with a flu. I came down with it in September, sinusitis, coughing fro the post nasal drip, a low fever, aches and pains. Took me about three weeks to feel normal, just in time for the fall allergies to start. And those are exacerbated by the massive amounts of mold in the air due to the incessant rain we’ve had as the leaves are falling. My yard looks like a mushroom farm. I’m still blowing my nose and coughing up phlegm almost as much as when I had the flu. This, despite seeing my doctor and taking my allergy meds faithfully. I’m with Cole. Bring on the cold weather to kill all this shit.

  57. 57.

    opiejeanne

    @debit: My goto soup for sinus trouble or bad colds is a take-out of wonton soup from the local Chinese restaurant. I don’t usually have the desire to cook when I feel that lousy.
    Or, a tamal with a spicy salsa. Either one will clear those sinuses.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    I am halfway through the first episode of Doctor Who with the new doctor. I have never watched Doctor Who before. I have no idea what is “standard” and what is new to this incarnation, or is just relevant to this one episode, but I am liking it so far. It seems like they are incorporating things to educate us newbies.

    I remember seeing the first episode of Homicide Life on the Streets, years after the series had run. It was so cute seeing them teach us about the murder board, etc. in that first episode, so I can recognize what they are doing here to help bring us along.

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    Brat just mentioned Nancy Pelosi a sixth and seventh time. He’s bloviating on free market healthcare.

    Abigail’s opening statement was biographical and optimistic. Ended with country over party, personality, and special interests.

  62. 62.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: Pretty sure Nancy Pelosi is running everywhere.

    I will also not be surprised if Elizabeth Warren starts getting the same treatment. Everywhere.

    I guess if you have nothing to run on, you run against straw men. (women)

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    @Gin & Tonic: Apparently so. Dave Brat is almost parody. Uh, not almost.

    You guys should check it out. 2018 politics, distilled. The competent woman vs. FoxWorld wacko economics guy (who thinks he’s running against Nancy Pelosi).

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @VeniceRiley: At my first bartending gig, an older fellow told me that when he starts to get sick, he buys a pint of rye, runs a hot bath, stays in the bath until the rye is gone, then goes to bed. He swore that when he woke up, he was cured.

    Thinking maybe he slept for a week?

  68. 68.

    Gin & Tonic

    @WaterGirl:

    I remember seeing the first episode of Homicide Life on the Streets

    One of my favorite shows ever. As things would develop, my daughter ended up moving to Baltimore, and now lives in more or less walking distance of the building that was used for the exterior shots of the station. It has since been extensively remodeled, and is a very upscale hotel – one of those places with $14 artisanal cocktails. Of course when I’m there, I refer to it as the Homicide Hotel.

    Maybe the Saudis would prefer to stay there?

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    Florida Man strikes, channels his inner Zimmerman.

    A Florida commissioner who opposed gun control protests spurred on by the school shooting in Parkland was caught on video shooting and killing a suspected shoplifter at his military surplus store. The Tampa Bay Times reported that on October 3, Lakeland Commissioner Michael Dunn shot 50-year-old Cristobal Lopez after the man allegedly stole a hatchet from Dunn’s Vets Army Navy Surplus shop in the Tampa suburb.

    Police released the security footage of the incident after questions arose whether the commissioner was justified in shooting Lopez.

    Dunn reportedly confronted the alleged shoplifter and asked if he was going to pay for the hatchet he tried to pocket. In the surveillance video, the commissioner is seen grabbing Lopez’s shirt and fires at least once before the man falls to the pavement just outside the store’s door, shakes for a moment, then falls limp. In the last three minutes of the video, Dunn is seen pacing in and out of the camera’s range and does not attempt to resuscitate him. By the time police arrived, Lopez was dead.

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL: Abigail Spanberger v. Dave Brat. Allegedly on CSpan, and streaming via wtvr.com

    Congress, 7th District VA (central VA)

  76. 76.

    laura

    @Elizabelle: so, how was the music festival- specifically, how was Mavis Staples?
    Also, cold-wise, the Dr. McNeill nasal wash and bottle delivery system is fantastic and ginger in all forms great and double stacking breathe right strips should help with the sleeping.

  77. 77.

    jacy

    @Mary G: Elliot Alderson (the security expert named in the article) is also the name of the hacker on the TV show Mr. Robot. coincidence?

  78. 78.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    The common cold virus’s die at 103f.

    The theory is that the hot bath long enough raises your body temp, the alcohol makes it tolerable enough that you can sleep.

    The brain dies at 106f however.

  79. 79.

    Schlemazel

    It was nice knowing you

    No it wasn’t. Don’t try to turn over a new leaf on your death bed. Remember we are the jackals that make your life hell

  80. 80.

    Ohio Mom

    @seefleur: Oh god, those visiting nurses. The first one they send has an advanced degree and is knowledgeable. Then comes the switch part of the bait-and-switch: after that, it is one barely licensed practical nurse after the other. If you are lucky, they don’t make things worse.

    I know it’s claimed that going home as soon as possible is supposed to be better for you. Less time in the hospital means less possibility of picking up a nasty infection. But I remain unconvinced.

  86. 86.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL: She does. If we can turn out the population centers (Chesterfield — a red county turning purple) and Henrico, both adjacent to Richmond. Rural likely gonna go for Brat. She’s well funded, and sharp. Has outraised Brat, who’s now whining about special interests.

  87. 87.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I refer to it as the Homicide Hotel. Maybe the Saudis would prefer to stay there?

    Have you heard the rumors of how they destroy entire hotel floors with wild parties and insane behavior?
    From what I’ve heard, everywhere the Saudi’s stay could be called Homicide Hotel.

  88. 88.

    Elizabelle

    Nancy Pelosi agenda, for about the 12th and 13th references. WRT gun violence. Big cities have problems!

  89. 89.

    Schlemazel

    @seefleur:
    Dumping patients out on the street is not new. It has been the standard since insurance started calling the shots.

    20 years ago they expected Mrs to remove 42 staples from my broken hide

  90. 90.

    debbie

    @Schlemazel:

    I remember my mom having to remove the stitches from my chin. I’d bet it was because the doctor didn’t want me to hate him. Coward!

  93. 93.

    trollhattan

    @JPL:
    They really, really stretched broadcast television with “Homicide”–quite before its time it was.

    “Pembleton in the box” was always cause for celebration–who knew chess could be so riveting?

  94. 94.

    John Revolta

    @Elizabelle: @WaterGirl: I keep getting ads online for some local Congresscritter where they claim the Dem candidate is “just another Nancy Pelosi” and they show Pelosi’s picture and then it all fades away except for the words “Nancy Pelosi” in scary green letters on a black background for about five seconds. Real subtle.

  95. 95.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Mnemosyne: Connie Willis tells this story about how she and her husband were living apart while he was getting a graduate degree. Her publisher rejected The Doomsday Book on the grounds that everybody dies. She went to visit her husband for the weekend and he’d just flubbed some grad school exam. They sat in a restaurant and held hands across the table and cried. It’s a comforting story to me because it’s such a low moment for things that turned out all right.

  96. 96.

    Ohio Mom

    @jacy: My bout with breast cancer was followed by RA. Apparently there is an as of yet not understood relationship between breast cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. RA of course is an autoimmune disease.

    I diagnosed myself. Both my internist and oncologist dismissed the idea. The oncologist’s nurse humored me and gave me a referral to a rheumatologist, who was also skeptical. But she took some blood tests and I was vindicated.

    I didn’t appreciate how tired I’d gotten until the RA med kicked in.

    Good luck to you with your doctors. Sometimes you really have to ride them.

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    @WaterGirl: Glad you are catching that the new showrunner of Doctor Who is trying to make the show novice friendly while also just trying to make a good show. I’m still a relative newcomer (this is my third Doctor) and I have no patience for people who want to make this show into a mystical cult.

    Loved Homicide. Used to call my sister and discuss the week’s episode. Ran into one of the stars of the show and told him how much I enjoyed the program.

    ETA. Love the new Doctor.

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    OK, if you had Nancy Pelosi in your drinking game, you are now officially blotto. Abigail just spoke the name. As in, Dave is not running against Nancy Pelosi.

    If you have Obamacare too — oops, two more Nancy Pelosis while I was typing this sentence — you are blotto too.

    The Nancy Pelosi Agenda.

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    Governor Northam — along with Nancy Pelosi — wants to provide sanctuary.

    Sanctuary is now the sacred word.

    Lizard brain speechifying.

  100. 100.

    Ohio Mom

    I vote for John to visit a doctor if this sinus thing is an annual event triggered by seasonal allergies.

    There is probably something he can take prophylactically through the fall. Western medicine has plenty of shortcomings but when it works, it is very, very nice. But as I’ve said, first you have to demand a doctor do something.

  101. 101.

    Schlemazel

    Just had dinner at Primanti Bros. I love capicola and saw that they offered it.

    Calling that stuff capicola should be a capital offense. As a bar sandwich it was passable but the menu is a lie.

  102. 102.

    jacy

    @Ohio Mom:

    Luckily my gen practice doctor is really good — she notices when I’m going downhill before I do, because I’m used to overcompensating when I’m not well and just pushing through it. She’s been giving me every test known to man for the past two months to make sure we’re not missing anything. We’re hoping it’s just my stupid, treacherous thyroid. (They took half of it out when they took out my parathyroid). I’ve got a notebook of questions/info for the new endocrinologist. I’m pretty used to being insistent with doctors, and the fact that I have a degree in immunology helps when I start arguing with them…..

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne

    @dmsilev:

    Only 5 weeks left to go — everything has to be turned in to his advisor by 11/19, IIRC.

    Technically, it’s not a thesis, it’s what they call an “e-Portfolio.” Basically, it’s 15 mini term papers demonstrating that you understand different subject areas. He’s behind because his internship got extended and that ate up a lot of his available time, so that’s why he’s freaking out, poor guy.

    He’ll get it done, he’s just in that pit when it feels like it will never end. Been there, done that with my MFA.

  104. 104.

    FlipYrWhig

    @John Revolta: I would like to have ONE of these goobers explain what exactly Nancy Pelosi does or did. It might as well be “Emmanuel Goldstein” or “Keyser Soze.”

    ETA: Every Republican ad is like that meta-joke about how in prison everyone has heard the jokes so many times you can just yell out a number and get a laugh.

  108. 108.

    trollhattan

    @FlipYrWhig:
    Keep a stuffed doll under the dais and at the appropriate time, offer it and intone “Now, can you show us on the doll where Nancy Pelosi touched you?”

  109. 109.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    Got my absentee ballot in the mail today. Do any of you bother voting for someone running unopposed? There’s three seats up for the County Court and only one is contested. No fewer than six people are running for the one judgeship.

  110. 110.

    debit

    @JPL:

    She’s from San Francisco.. Every one knows what that means.

    That she pays a fuckton of money for housing?

  111. 111.

    Brachiator

    @Elizabelle: The GOP tipped their hand early that they were going to try to demonize Pelosi. I don’t see a lot of political ads, but the counter attack to this nonsense should be pretty easy. The GOP are liars who cannot be trusted to run the country.

  112. 112.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @debit:
    No silly. She’s a flaming lesbian atheist socialist feminist libtard!

    // edited for clarity

  113. 113.

    Elizabelle

    I am so going to count the “Nancy Pelosis” and, secondly, Obamacares, in this transcript. It is out of control. And amusing.

    ETA: I think Brat worked 3 Nancy Pelosis into his one minute rebuttal.

  115. 115.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Brachiator:
    I remember reading a few articles here that said that polling indicated that the attacks on Pelosi were largely ineffective and more voters cared about things like healthcare.

    Huh. Which party has been focusing on healthcare? ;)

  116. 116.

    Marcopolo

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Yes. Vote in every race where you support the candidate. Obviously if some @sshole D is running unopposed you could blow that off but there will be folks, even in local races, who look at how many people vote for specific candidates. Also too, it should go without saying that if it is an @sshole D running against an R you have to vote for the @sshole. As recent as 2000 I might have said different.

  117. 117.

    Jay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    The Trumpist cantidates are trying to copy The Insane Clown POSus, unaware that Trumpist’s want the genuine article and the Insance Clown POSus’s meagre win was due to Enemy Action.

    They have lived so long inside Radio Rwanda’s bubble that they have forgotten that the koolaide’s only supposed to be for the proles.

  118. 118.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Schlemazel:
    Primanti Bros has really good pizza. I usually like their sandwiches and can’t say I’ve had a bad meal from them but then again I have low standards : D

  119. 119.

    sempronia

    @Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ: A Saudi prince came to the fancy-schmancy cancer center at my hospital for surgery a couple years back. He had an entire floor cleared of other patients and brought an entourage with him. After surgery, he asked the anesthesia resident who did his case if she would like to join his harem. We never let her live it down.

  120. 120.

    Brachiator

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:
    Interesting to see confirmation that Pelosi bashing may not be working.

    And of course it is not just that one party is focusing on healthcare. It is that the GOP FAILED at health care reform. They lied and they failed.

  122. 122.

    Marcopolo

    Apparently unlike Cole, Paul Allen has actually died.

    Paul Allen, the man who co-created Microsoft with Bill Gates, one of the largest and most impactful technology companies in history, has passed away. He was 65.

    Allen had been ill with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma since 2009. After successful treatments of the disease, it returned earlier this year and, according to a statement released by Vulcan Inc. today, it is the cause of his passing.

    Vulan Inc. was one of Allen’s most recent ventures—a parent corporation that served as an umbrella for his holdings including his ownership in the Seattle Seahawks, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the Flying Heritage Collection.

    For the past 36 years, Allen invested in some of the largest (and often most maligned) technology companies—including a significant stake in Ticketmaster and Charter.

  123. 123.

    seefleur

    @Ohio Mom:
    I have been reduced to making comments like “well, having grown up with medical parents, I am fully aware of the wisdom you are espousing” … WHY do so-called medical professionals have to patronize the rest of us??? And this is why I prefer dealing with my fur kids over the rest of the outside world – even if they give me the side-eye, it’s usually because I forgot their treats.

  124. 124.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I would like to have ONE of these goobers explain what exactly Nancy Pelosi does or did.

    She’s a woman with power, and she does not use it as a figurehead, at that.

    I learned something watching the Kavanaugh nomination. Or rather, things I already knew rearranged themselves in importance. Traditionally, the refrain has been that conservatives want ‘control over women’ to explain their general War On Women attitudes. Other than evangelicals, who do believe a woman should be chained in the kitchen, this does not fit my extensive and unpleasant experience with conservative men. They (mostly) don’t care what women do in general and would prefer that women remove the threat of fathering a child without them having to spend any thought or effort on it. What they do care about is that women be sex objects. This was obvious enough in the younger generation, with GamerGate and MRAs and so on. The Kavanaugh hearings made me realize that the entire conservative male set values one specific kind of control over women, their ability to sexually harass (even rape) them and get away with it. The other types of control were baubles. But like the freakout as America approaches majority/minority status, women are gaining ground demanding the right to not be sex objects. It’s gotten close enough that conservative men feel like it might happen, and they are losing their shit about it. Like a black president, a woman with the power to bring consequences for abusing women is a demon in their eyes. Anything that gives women any power must be destroyed, lest the right of men to use women be taken away forever.

    It’s weird to me that a very large number of white women are completely on board with this. I hear the refrain that they had to suffer through it, so the next generation should, too. I think it’s a mix of that (since conservatism IS cruelty), and the race freakout, where the situation is too dangerous to challenge any particular detail of the conservative philosophy they don’t like. The whole thing must be defended to the death.

  125. 125.

    debbie

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Mine too. I went back and rewatched most of the episodes earlier this year. They still hold up. The hand-held camera work wasn’t half as jerky as I remembered.

  127. 127.

    The Dangerman

    @oldster:

    Ditto on the hot and sour. If you aren’t sweating bullets, it isn’t hot or Do it enough. Load it up and dive in.

  128. 128.

    JeanneT

    @oldster: I second the hot and sour soup recommendation for clearing sinuses.

    And my go-to for colds in general is hot lemonade with honey, sage and just a touch of cayenne. That helped me through a bad bought of viral laryngitis a few weeks back.

  129. 129.

    WaterGirl

    @Brachiator: Finished episode 1. Will definitely watch more. Loved the scene where she says she is The Doctor. Also love the quick scene where she was choosing her outfit. Well done, Doctor.

  131. 131.

    WaterGirl

    @Schlemazel: That’s how I feel about Italian Beef. If it’s just a fucking beef sandwich with au jus then call if french dip or a hot beef sandwich, but DO NOT CALL IT ITALIAN BEEF.

  132. 132.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Brachiator: @Brachiator:
    Absolutely. I wonder if last year’s vote to repeal the ACA is still fresh in voters’ minds? I still remember how crazy those town halls got. People were PISSED at the Republicans. It wasn’t very long after Trump’s win either so there was already a lot of energy in the kind of people who supported the ACA. I can’t believe these morons actually thought their constituents wouldn’t care about their insurance being taken away once they’d actually found out how great the ACA actually was.

    Perhaps the ACA has reached third rail status, like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid?

  133. 133.

    Mnemosyne

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    The whole thing must be defended to the death.

    Exactly. If white women are allowed to complain about how white men treat them, then non-white people will be allowed to complain about how white women treat them, and then the hierarchy gets blown to hell.

    Many white women have decided that if preventing white men from abusing them and their daughters means that non-whites will be treated as their equals, they’ll put up with the abuse. Sad but true.

  136. 136.

    Marcopolo

    FYI Bedknobs & Broomsticks, the lesser known of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang/Mary Poppins type Disney movies is now showing on TCM.

  137. 137.

    burnspbesq

    I’m sure Vontaze Burfict would be happy to clear Cole’s sinuses for him. With extreme prejudice.

  139. 139.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    @sempronia: LOL Doesn’t surprise me in the least. A friend of mine (and former head of security for a hotel in Central Florida) said that the Saudi royals would come at least once a year. They’d reserve an entire floor, throw parties full of drugs, booze, hookers and completely trash the hotel. Sometimes the hookers got beat up. When they would leave they would write one big check to cover the damage. Nobody every stopped them or got in their way. Not the cops, not security, no one. That’s the kind of mentality that Trumpov and the Saudis share. Might/Money makes right.

  140. 140.

    Elizabelle

    Hearing that the debate audience was laughing at all the “Nancy Pelosis.” Was not audible to me.

    Someone has got to show the video to Nancy Pelosi.

  142. 142.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    It wasn’t very long after Trump’s win either so there was already a lot of energy in the kind of people who supported the ACA.

    What I’ve noticed is that nobody has calmed down. The special elections suggest that everyone with a liberal lean has gotten more and more angry as time goes by, and it’s been channeling more and more into electoral activism.

  146. 146.

    WaterGirl

    @Jay: Here’s what I want to know. This is supposedly a group of Independents and here’s the money quote by one of the women:

    Republican Stephanie Martin said, “I’m more feeling embarrassed as a lifelong Republican and I consider myself part of the religious right, and now the values that I see coming from the White House just don’t mesh up with what I believe.”

    How the hell do they choose these so-called INDEPENDENTS?

  150. 150.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    CNN’s been exposed many times for this sort of “stunt”,

    Their “average Republican women’s” panel on Rapey McJudgy was stuffed full of average Republican Party Chairs, Consultants and other operatives.

  151. 151.

    WaterGirl

    @WaterGirl: And now a 2nd person — a guy this time, says he has been a “lifelong Republican” since he “turned 18”.

    Those people are not independents!!!

    On the other hand, for them to run this now? They don’t seem willing to run things that go against the chosen narrative, so I wonder if this might be a turning point for Trump.

  152. 152.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: I absolutely know that. But to many places around here, they think if you get a little cup of tasteless beef broth they get to call it Italian Beef!

  156. 156.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I have a friend who just confided, shamefacedly and reluctantly, that her two little girls (appr. 5 and 8 or thereabouts) have both picked up headlice at school.

    She seems to feel that this is somehow a moral failing. Even though I’m itching and scratching at the very thought, how do I reassure her that it’s no reflection on her as a parent or on her social/economic status? Without actually saying that.

  157. 157.

    Marcopolo

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: So judges. Judges are a little different. Typically the vote on judges is on whether to retain them or not. At least that is how it is w/ the judges on my Nov 6 ballot.

    Where I live there is a non-partisan group of lawyers who rate judges up for retention. Out of the 15 or so judges on my ballot, only one was rated under 70% (the rest are all over 90)—I will be voting no on her—yes on everyone else..

  158. 158.

    eemom

    @Schlemazel:

    Could be worse; you could be Ray Liotta at the end of Good Fellas. (“Ordered spaghetti marinara and got egg noodles with ketchup.”)

  159. 159.

    Dan B

    @Brachiator: A friend of ours, Ric Weiland, was in the computer club at the private school Paul Allen and Bill Gates attended. Later Ric became their first (or second, depending) employee. Ric was a real nerd and also a hunk – diver at Stanford. He told the story of hiw he was persecuted as a gay man at Microsoft confabs. He became one of the first openly gay people in tech thanks to the support of Paul and Bill. Microsoft went on to hire people based upon their abilities not on who they are so we ended up with lots of people from Asia and especially lndia because of that attitude, some creeps but nobody’s perfect.
    I thought about Ric today when I heard the news about Paul Allen. Both gone too early.

  160. 160.

    WaterGirl

    @Walker: Yeah, I know that, but they aren’t supposed to be that blatant about it, are they? I thought they didn’t get to say that out loud.

  161. 161.

    Mnemosyne

    @Marcopolo:

    The Book Was Better. (TM) Yes, I actually read it and remember it fondly.

    I remember hearing a funny story from the set about Angela Lansbury’s harness breaking and the director having to catch her … except that his face ended up in her crotch. Luckily, she thought it was funny, especially since she realized he had just saved her from a potentially nasty injury.

  163. 163.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: I think you can just come out and say that. I think if you have kids that go to school, that’s what happens in the fall.

    Even my neat freak sister’s kids had head lice. And yes, I would itch just talking about it, even from afar.

    P.S. Never try on hats at a store in the fall!

  166. 166.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Elizabelle:

    Brat just mentioned Nancy Pelosi a sixth and seventh time

    Republicans have no issues to run on that are actually new, interesting or substantive. So they drag out the old, never fail “Whip them up” speeches to get folks all scaredy.

    All they can do right now is two things: 1)threaten the end of the world if Democrats win cuz we’ll go after their Dear Leader King Emoluments. And 2) flog the names of certain Democrats who are guaranteed to get a Pavlovian rage response out of the base. This election it’s “Nancy Pelosi! Nancy Pelosi! Nancy Pelosi!” and “George Soros! George Soros! George Soros!”. “Hillary Clinton” is also usually good to go to really stir up that frothy mindless hate that get’s people to the polls.

    Apparently if you’re a dumb-as-fuck Republican you need a worn out tired cliche of a boogey-man/woman to work you up or you can’t vote.

    Thing is, if a few of them would just say “hey, I am not a fan of Trump and if elected I’ll go to DC and hold him accountable” they’d likely drag a few R’s and Indies their way who are now finally realizing the simply cannot vote Republican right now, for the sake of the country, because they’re all fucking traitors who don’t perform their Constitutional duty.

  173. 173.

    Mike in DC

    @Jay: Well, begins to die at 106. Typically death occurs above 106, around 108-110, though one man with heatstroke had a 115 temp and managed to survive(after 24 hours of intensive medical care). Humans have a somewhat greater tolerance for hypothermic body temperatures, going below 90 is when problems start and body temps in the 70s are typically fatal.

  179. 179.

    JCJ

    @Ohio Mom:

    I have seen several patients over the years who noted arthritic symptoms following chemotherapy for breast cancer. When I asked one of the medical oncologists about this possibly being related he said he had never heard of it. I asked my brother who is a medical oncologist elsewhere who had noted that many of his patients had such symptoms. It is confusing now because post menopausal women with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer are nearly always treated with an aromatase inhibitor (anastrozole or letrozole) which are known to have joint pain as a side effect. Women with previous arthritic complaints do have more problems with joint pain when taking these medications.

  183. 183.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dan B:

    The La Brea Tar Pits….

    I’ll respond to this as soon as I get cash from the automatic ATM teller machine.

  186. 186.

    Ohio Mom

    @JCJ: Yes, estrogen blockers made my joints stiff and achey (curling my fingers into a fist took extra effort), and my oncologist reminded me often that was a common side effect. It is probably why she did not take me seriously when I complained about the two fingers that had become alarmingly sore and swollen.

    I feel years younger since finishing my five years last April. Part of me wonders why I insisted on an Index Test to see if it would be best to go back on it for another five years (still waiting for those results, there were a lot of preliminary insurance hoops).

    My rheumatologist told me that having had breast cancer makes one more likely to get RA, though no one knows why.

    Your comment makes me wonder why doctors in different places seem to operate on such different sets of assumptions. The prevailing wisdom isn’t so prevailing.

  189. 189.

    Steve in the ATL

    @WaterGirl:

    @Omnes Omnibus: Hahaha In all this time, I never thought of you as a princess.

    Seriously? That’s his whole identity here!

  190. 190.

    NotMax

    @Jay

    Pfeh. Temp peaked at 107 during one particularly nasty bout with some bug when I was a teen. Still here. Vocal cords did become paralyzed as it moved north of 104, however. Weird illness as it came on full bore with no warning symptoms, like a switch had been flipped, and 72 hours later was history.

    Remember the doctor suddenly turning very, very pale when he read the thermometer (yes, they still made house calls then). Think he emptied the entire supply of penicillin in his little black bag then and there.

    Have a history of rarely running a fever, but whenever I do the bod goes all out and it is always high.

    Now, about your apostrophitis…         ;)

  192. 192.

    opiejeanne

    @SiubhanDuinne: Lice don’t really discriminate although we were told that if kids are blond they’re more likely to get lice from kids who have them. My son had a thick head of blond hair and the notice came home to check for lice when he was in first grade. I didn’t know much about lice then and about fainted when I checked his hair, but quickly realized he had sand in his hair and not lice.

    My mom got lice when she was a kid and had her hair cut very short and kerosene rubbed into it to kill the lice and nits. Her brother had his head shaved.

  196. 196.

    Spanky

    Btw, lying with my strained back on top of a heating pad feels magnificent. If I try to get upright though, everything goes to hell.

  197. 197.

    opiejeanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: A Mancold is a cold that’s far worse than a cold caught by women or children. Far, far worse, and they just might die, but nobody cares.

  201. 201.

    Mary G

    @Ohio Mom: The number of things most doctors don’t know about RA would fill several sets of encyclopedias. My first five years were a nightmare of maybe lupus, maybe gout, maybe RA, your joints are swollen and degenerating and you’re not even 30 yet, we can’t figure out why, yada yada yada. I only made progress once I started seeing a board certified rheumatologist recommended by the Arthritis Foundation and he just started trial and error treatment to see what worked.

  202. 202.

    MomSense

    John, go to the doctor and get some nasonex. It’s an inhaled steroid. I was reticent about trying it but I was also sick of dealing with sinus pain.

  203. 203.

    jk

    @Gin & Tonic: @bystander:

    I don’t give a flying fuck about the results of Elizabeth Warren’s DNA tests because she’s too damn old to be President just like Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are too damn old.

    Democrats have lots of great options such as Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, and Kamala Harris just to name a few. So why the fuck must we waste all this time obsessing over 3 political dinosaurs?

    No to Warren, Biden, or Sanders in 2020.

  205. 205.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Marcopolo: That’s such a weird movie–it’s so obvious through the whole thing that they’re trying to make another “Mary Poppins”, they got the Sherman brothers to write the songs and everything, and it’s just… not… quite… working. There’s some charm to it, but it just doesn’t hang together well enough.

    Then there’s this one absolutely wonderful musical number, “The Beautiful Briny”, and it turns out that was a leftover song that was cut from “Mary Poppins”.

  206. 206.

    Matt McIrvin

    @SiubhanDuinne: It’s really, really hard for kids who play in kid ways not to get head lice when there’s an infestation. I’m not sure how to express that to someone who’s ashamed of it, but my daughter got head lice once in summer camp.

    I looked up all sorts of information about it and it seems as if there’s basically nothing for it but to keep combing out the hatched lice as assiduously as you can with a lice comb and magnifier, keep the hair as clean as you can (mostly to clear out any debris that you might confuse for bugs or nits; you can’t really wash the nits away), try to keep any of them from making it all the way to fertile adulthood on the kid’s head, and wait out their life cycle. My wife remembers using some kind of horrible insecticidal shampoo as a kid, but apparently that stuff doesn’t work; the lice have long since evolved resistance to it.

  207. 207.

    Gvg

    @JCJ: um, my chemo pre treatment booklets specifically listed joint pains and arthritus, plus my doctors kept asking for several years after. Also a lot of other symptoms that I didn’t get. I laughed when I read it because it seemed to say every thing could happen including a lot of opposite pairs. I did feel like I had aged a decade at least and it took over a year to feel somewhat normal.

  208. 208.

    Mnemosyne

    @MomSense:

    I’ve been forgetting to use my Nasonex in the morning and now I’m paying for it with this migraine. Ugh.

    They briefly gave me Flonase, but the floral smell of it was so strong that it was able to trigger migraines all by itself. ?

  209. 209.

    JaySinWA

    @WaterGirl:

    How the hell do they choose these so-called INDEPENDENTS?

    Perhaps they consider them newly emancipated? Instead of Republican no-longer Trumpers? Who am I kidding, they don’t know any non-Republicans obviously.

  210. 210.

    opiejeanne

    @Mnemosyne: It smells like linden trees when they bloom, which is an icky-sweet aroma. There’s a street here that is lined with them and they stink.

  211. 211.

    NotMax

    @Mnemosyne

    Used to use Flonase but have found the Kirkland brand of the same thing from Costco (at about two-thirds the price, or less as it is often on sale) to possess no significant difference when it comes to effectiveness.

  214. 214.

    Mnemosyne

    @opiejeanne:

    I don’t know exactly what the flowery smell was, but it was WAY too strong. It felt like it went straight to the migraine part of my sinuses.

    And to answer a question from the writer thread: yes, my best friend died of pneumonia when I was in preschool. I have at least 4 very clear memories of the events surrounding his death, including his mother coming to our preschool class to tell us the news and parts of his funeral.

  221. 221.

    Waynski

    @SiubhanDuinne: Tell her pests happen no matter how clean you keep your body, your hair or your house. Nobody gets all moral on you if a beehive shows up in your yard. Plus its like a cold or the flu, someone got it before you did and it wasn’t that person’s fault either. You treat it. You move on.

Comments are closed.